‘Who do you think you are?’ – Sam Allardyce calls for Mo Salah ‘ban’ after social media comments | OneFootball

Sam Allardyce has called for the Liverpool hierarchy to ‘ban’ Mo Salah from making what’s set to be his farewell appearance for the club on Sunday, in light of his recent comments on social media.

Last weekend, the winger aimed a thinly-veiled swipe at his head coach Arne Slot over the Dutchman’s tactics and the Reds’ demise this season, calling for a return to the ‘heavy metal’ football which was prevalent under Jurgen Klopp.

DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL EMPIRE OF THE KOP APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAY

The 33-year-old has been criticised by numerous pundits for airing his grievances in public, with Wayne Rooney even saying he should be dropped from the matchday squad against Brentford, and the former England manager has recommended a similarly draconian punishment.

Allardyce echoes Rooney’s calls for Salah to be punished

Allardyce let loose about Salah’s actions on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast as he grumbled: “If you’re gonna say it, say it when you’ve left. Don’t say it when you’re still there, as if you’re bigger than the football club. If I were the owners, I would ban him. I’d go, ‘Who do you think you are? You’re not bigger than this football club.'”

“[Slot] has brought him back from the spat he had before and he’s still been crap this year. He’s been crap, for what he was and what he used to be and what he did last season, he just hasn’t done it [in this campaign]. He should be looking at himself and how bad he’s been this year.”

The 71-year-old added: “You can have that battle in the office. You can have a disagreement and shout and scream, but don’t make it public. If he did that in the [Sir Alex Ferguson] days, he’d never play again. He’d be finished.”

Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust

Salah still deserves the most rousing of farewells at Anfield

Salah’s actions have been unwelcome in the week leading up to his Liverpool swansong, but the notion from Allardyce and Rooney that he should be excluded from the Brentford game on Sunday is preposterous.

We’d much rather the Egyptian have kept his opinions in-house until after his Anfield farewell, but few would disagree with what he actually said – the Reds have been all sorts of terrible this season, in terms of results and performances. The last few months have been a soul-destroying chore for the fans.

That he aired his grievances on social media last weekend won’t diminish any of the goodwill and adulation which’ll come his way when he and Andy Robertson – two genuine legends of the club – say their goodbyes in L4 on Sunday afternoon.

If Allardyce were in a position of power at Liverpool and wanted to deny Salah his Anfield farewell, that’d be his prerogative. Thankfully, we don’t envisage Slot being so petty as to exclude him because of what happened a few days ago.

The Reds still need a result against Brentford to make absolutely sure of qualifying for the Champions League, so the head coach must put out his best team for that fixture, and that means starting our number 11 in attack.