‘I can tell you…’ – Arne Slot outlines how Mo Salah reacted to being dropped on Sunday | OneFootball

Mo Salah had the rare experience of watching an entire Premier League match from the substitutes’ bench on Sunday as Liverpool triumphed over West Ham.

Having been ever-present for all but five minutes of the Reds’ top-flight campaign prior to the weekend, he was conspicuous by his absence from the starting XI at the London Stadium, and he wasn’t summoned by Arne Slot at any point during the 2-0 win.

Although Wayne Rooney had been calling for the Egyptian to be dropped amid an unusually subdued goal return at this stage of the campaign (just five), Sky Sports reporter Peter Smith still claimed that the decision to bench him against the Irons sent out ‘shockwaves‘.

Slot praises Salah’s reaction to being dropped

Slot faced the media on Tuesday morning ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League fixture against Sunderland tomorrow night, and he was inevitably asked whether Salah was unhappy about losing his starting place on Sunday.

The Reds’ head coach replied (via Liverpool Echo): “It’s a fair assumption and a normal reaction for someone who can play for us. Of course a player isn’t happy when he isn’t playing. He wasn’t the only one, I can tell you.

“The way he behaved was as you would expect from the professional he is. He was very supportive for his team-mates and handled himself really well. 

“You can’t play that well every three days if you go with your emotions, but Mo is so disciplined. He will always be that top professional as he was in the last few days.”

(Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Salah will feel he has a point to prove after surprise omission

While it’s natural that Slot will defend Salah in public and that the player won’t have taken kindly to being dropped, we’d expect nothing less than for the Egyptian to accept the head coach’s decision with good grace and vow to earn back his place in the starting XI.

The Reds boss sent out a message that nobody in his squad can be guaranteed a starting berth, such is the depth at his disposal and the requirement for everyone to play to a high standard.

The Dutchman alluded to Liverpool’s hectic fixture schedule, with three matches to come between now and next Tuesday, and rotation will be vital as he seeks to keep everybody fresh and manage the workload of those playing most regularly.

Salah will obviously have been disappointed at his omission from the line-up against West Ham, but he’ll be honest enough with himself to know that his form hasn’t been at the levels we’re used to seeing from him, and that the quick turnaround will likely see him back in the team quite soon.

As Lewis Steele pointed out in Mail Sport on Monday, dropping the Egyptian could instigate an added determination to show Slot that he can still be our main man in attack and that he ought to be in the starting XI whenever he’s available to play for the Reds.

Even if the 33-year-old doesn’t start tomorrow night, it surely won’t be long before he’s back in the side, and don’t rule out a decisive impact off the bench either!

You can watch Slot’s full post-West Ham press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: