‘It’s disgusting what they’re doing to Mohamed Salah’: Fans react to Liverpool star’s benching row | OneFootball

Independent readers have reacted with shock and disbelief after Mohamed Salah accused Liverpool of “throwing him under the bus” and making him a scapegoat for the team’s poor form.

The Egyptian, who has been benched by Arne Slot for the last three games, said he no longer has a relationship with the manager and accused the club of breaking promises made to him.

Salah indicated he could be leaving Liverpool after the African Cup of Nations, with next weekend’s Brighton game potentially serving as his farewell.

Readers were divided by his comments. Some expressed sympathy for Salah, highlighting his 250 career goals and record-equalling 47 goal involvements last season, and criticised Liverpool for sidelining a player of his calibre.

Others argued that age and form inevitably affect a player’s starting place – and that no individual, no matter their previous contributions, is bigger than the team.

Slot doesn’t know his best team. Should never have sold Quansah. Konaté is a liability that we can’t trust anymore. Also, we should never have pursued the Isak deal once we’d signed Ekitike.

We’ll be lucky to get top six. The amount of money that’s been spent in the summer on so few players is criminal. We would never have been fast and loose with the club’s money if Klopp was still there!!

So Salah ends a glorious association with Liverpool by throwing his dummy out of the pram because he’d been dropped – for underperforming. Very sad. And rather pathetic. No player’s bigger than the club. He’s never grasped this.

VitusVerdegast

It’s disgusting what they’re doing to Salah, after everything he’s given them, his entire heart, and it’s so clear they’re pushing him out!

I’m so disappointed in Liverpool – this is not how we treat our players! A lot of our players have been off form but they’re still playing every match, yet they keep putting Salah on the bench and don’t even bring him on! It’s a massive slap in the face for everything he’s done for them!

What’s baffling is why they paid him a fortune to stay and then paid another fortune for two strikers nowhere near his quality, yet didn’t look for a quality replacement or back-up for Van Dijk, who through injuries or age has lost a yard. Still a decent player, but nowhere near his best.

They should have cashed in on Salah if Slot – or whoever – didn’t think he was good enough. Salah, now a seriously wealthy man, does himself no favours bawling like a bairn.

Both Salah and Virgil expired at season’s end and now they’re only running on fumes. They were great players, but it’s time to move them on now.

Riding on the back of Klopp’s team

Winning the EPL last season sort of papered over Slot’s inadequacies.

Klopp left a complete and total team, one which had just won both the Champions League and the Premier League a couple of seasons prior, and was primed for more success. Slot rode on the back of Klopp’s team to claim the trophy and not once acknowledged Klopp’s brilliance.

Then, trying to prove he could build a better team, he disembowelled the squad Klopp left behind, spent a fortune in areas Liverpool didn’t need to improve (attack) and ignored areas needing urgent attention (defence).

Jurgen Klopp never spent, and never would have spent, the kind of money Slot used.

He is now out there trying to scapegoat Salah while ignoring Van Dijk’s and Konaté’s poor performances. No mention is made of his greed in chasing Isak even after getting Ekitike. No mention of Florian Wirtz being a waste of money.

Instead of admitting he made grave mistakes signing both players, he gives excuses. Salah should move on and let’s see Liverpool try to win another league or CL. Truth is, Arne Slot will never win another title at Liverpool.

Time to bring Klopp back – if Liverpool want exciting, free-flowing football again.

By the way, I’m an Arsenal supporter.

One could accept Slot’s decision to put Salah on the bench more easily if there were improvements on the field. It has not made a scrap of difference to the way Liverpool play.

Benching Salah only makes Slot look petty and vindictive. When I’ve seen Liverpool this season with Salah playing it has been noticeable that they haven’t got the ball to him as often or as quickly as in previous seasons.

Alexander-Arnold was a big part of what made Salah effective and his departure has weakened Liverpool despite bringing in Wirtz, Isak and Ekitike.

Liverpool are also missing Luis Díaz or Jota on the left causing havoc – that’s where Salah used to get chances created. Gakpo doesn’t have the same impact.

Liverpool gambled on three massive summer signings totalling over £300 million and apart from Ekitike it hasn’t paid off. In my view Isak doesn’t suit Liverpool’s style and they should have dropped their pursuit once they had Ekitike.

Salah deserves better than this.

Rooney warned them

Rooney picked up on this a while ago when he said Salah’s legs are shot and he is a lazy player, then showed examples. Liverpool got sentimental with Salah in a way Sir Alex at United never did. When a player waned, they were out the door and they cashed in.

Chelsea did it with Hazard – they’d seen the best of him and took mega money from Madrid. Liverpool should have done the same with Salah when the Saudis offered silly money. His worth is now greatly reduced, if anyone would buy him.

I think Jota dying has hit him really hard. He can’t possibly mean he doesn’t have to fight for his place. On the other hand, Slot seems like a terrible man manager and not the greatest manager in general.

No one is bigger than the club. Salah’s form has been iffy for a while. He needs to accept he can’t always start in the twilight of his Liverpool career. No one is pinning all the problems on him. Our defence has been poor and other players look fatigued. The manager is just trying to get the best balance with what he has.

Football is a team sport. The team plays as a unit and one cannot blame any single individual other than the manager. Salah has fallen out of grace because of who he is and who Slot is.

Even when Salah doesn’t play, Liverpool are no better. Meanwhile the average Gakpo – who always tries to score from ridiculous angles instead of passing – keeps his place. His stats confirm it.

Liverpool’s problem is Slot. He has sold his best players and paid huge amounts for others who don’t cut it in a Liverpool shirt.

Time for Salah to move and show he still has what it takes in the Premier League.

The tragic loss of Diogo Jota has deeply affected everyone at Liverpool.

Secondly, no matter how good a player like Salah is, eventually his legs will go.

Slot won with Klopp’s second great team. His egotistical poor man management and greedy buying is to blame. With Salah, Gakpo, Ekitike, Chiesa and Rio he had enough in attack, and those five won the first five games. There was no need to buy Isak and Florian Wirtz.