Exclusive: Ex-Liverpool player Ince ‘shook’ by Slot’s treatment of Salah; Carragher ‘threw’ him ‘under bus’ | OneFootball

Ex-Liverpool midfielder Paul Ince has revealed what has “shook” him about the Mohamed Salah saga after Jamie Carragher “threw” the forward “under the bus”.

Plenty has happened at Liverpool over recent months, with the Salah situation being one of several headaches for head coach Arne Slot to deal with.

Salah’s form has declined significantly since he was the best player in the Premier League last season, as he has been ineffective in most of his appearances this term.

This led to Slot dropping Salah to the bench for three consecutive Premier League games, a decision that contributed to an upturn in form for the Reds.

However, Salah reacted poorly to his omission, publicly hitting out at Slot and Liverpool over supposedly being “thrown under the bus” by the club during their dire run of nine losses in 12 matches. This sparked an angry response from club legend Carragher. 

Liverpool responded by leaving him out of their squad for last week’s win against Inter Milan, but he returned against Brighton at the weekend. This reportedly followed peace talks with Slot, who felt it was better for the team to have the forward involved.

Salah impressed off the bench, but it remains to be seen whether a long-term resolution has been found or if the issues have been kicked down the road until he is back from the African Cup of Nations.

Now, Ince has backed Salah and explained why he thinks Carragher actually “tried to throw” him “under the bus”.

Ince, speaking on behalf of the Covers.com World Cup betting team, said: “What Mohamed Salah said wasn’t wrong. But what was wrong was the fact that he aired it out in public. He had a point – Liverpool were drawing 2-2 at Leeds and Arne Slot brought on two other players and not Salah – that shook me.

“Jamie Carragher tried to talk about Salah and say that he threw his team-mates under the bus, but actually Carra tried to throw Salah under the bus.

“Mo’s problem was that he made things public and caused a situation, but all parties have now put it to bed. When Salah came on against Brighton, the Liverpool fans were great. It’s water under the bridge and it’s time to move on.

“I fell out with Sir Alex Ferguson so many times, a lot of players under Ferguson did, but it was always behind closed doors.”

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Ince also spoke generally about the relationship between players and clubs in the modern game.

“It’s the player. We’ve seen it many, many times – if a player wants to leave, they leave. We saw that with Alexander Isak and Yoane Wissa,” Ince added.

“Players can let their agents give information to the press, players can go on strike. I couldn’t have imagined that during my time at Manchester United, it just didn’t happen. And it that situation, the clubs have no choice.

“They get the right money, like Newcastle did for Isak. If they try and keep players who are sat on the bench or in the stands, their value depreciates.

“It’s tough for the clubs, and sometimes they want to stay strong, but 99.9% of the time, the player gets what he wants.”