Mohamed Salah, Arne Slot, Erik ten Hag, and Cristiano Ronaldo (Photo by Julian Finney, Steve Bardens/Getty Images)
Liverpool manager Arne Slott and star player Mohamed Salah have had a public falling out, and it’s no surprise given Cristiano Ronaldo’s exit from Manchester United.
Salah was left out of Liverpool’s squad to face Inter Milan on Tuesday night following his outburst at the end of the Leeds United match at the weekend, which also followed a three-match streak that Slot was left on the bench.
It now seems inevitable that Salah will eventually leave Anfield, with his future to be decided after his participation in the AFCON during the winter.
But it really should be Salah who makes the way here, or is Slot the wrong one?
How the Salah vs Slot line up is different from Ronaldo vs Ten Hag
As much as this story shares similarities with Ronaldo’s altercation with Erik ten Hag towards the end of his second season at Man Utd, this situation also has some important differences to consider.
With Ronaldo, United were dealing with an aging star who didn’t fit into the new manager’s plans. Ten Hag was new to the job, and, even if it was not wise to choose to fight with such a big person in the dressing room, he was also under pressure to enforce his philosophy, and that meant building a future without someone who would not suppress or track back.
Even if Ronaldo had his moments under former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, it was still a mistake to resist re-signing him and disrupting the promising squad that had been built at Old Trafford, so in many ways it was commendable for Ten Hag to show how much he meant business by thinking long-term about making his style of play work.
With Slot and Salah, the situation is completely different – this is a player who just fired the Reds to the Premier League title last season while winning the Golden Boot and generally enjoying one of his best campaigns at the club. He was duly awarded a new contract before the summer, so you can forgive him for now wondering why he is no longer considered a key player a few months later.
But is Slot also worth the patience?
In fairness to Slott, he is also not the Ten Hag, who proved to be a disaster at United. Slot immediately brought the Premier League title in his first season in charge, so maybe he got the chance to make this big call on Salah.
The Dutch tactician might have handled things differently, however, considering Salah’s role in the club’s success over the past few months. Although the 33-year-old has not had a good start to the season, he is far from one who deserves to be ruled out for a few games. The obvious attempt to single out Salah in this way seems unfair and baseless.
Ultimately, however, the manager is paid to make these difficult decisions, and Salah could have handled his response better than he did. Sometimes big names will sit out a few games before returning, and any coach should be able to do that without fear of a major setback. Salah has achieved very little with his public outbursts – it makes it easier for him to continue to miss games, and it’s also confusing for Slot at a time when he’s already under pressure to improve the morale of this struggling club.
