The OFFICIAL Liverpool FC thread - Salah says goodbye

[J70]

And Alonso confirmed for Chelsea.

They're walking into an 2015 summer situation where they deludedly gave Rodgers a reprieve. Except this time, there is no elite, generational manager heading out on sabbatical whom they can persuade to come in around October and revolutionize the club.

Part of me is hoping they don't scrape top 5. They need some sort of kick up the arse to shake them into action.

Question is who though?

Would Areola be worth a shot? Yes, Liverpool is a different level of pressure and scrutiny and, it appears, a quite entitled dressing room, but he has coped admirably with an ever-changing squad and has Bournemouth playing a good and entertaining system. And he's a free agent next week.

[Armamike]

Agree completely J70.  This has big echos of the Rodgers era.  There was/is a window now to find a good replacement but it looks like the owners will stick with Slot into the new season. In all likelihood the malaise will continue and they'll be forced into action when supporters start voting with their feet.  It's easy to understand a club being reluctant to sack a manager who won the title the season before but it's clear that he's lost the players. Injuries and circumstances aside, the team he's putting out week after week are not being properly coached and organised.

[SaffronSports]

Def looks like Slot is staying. Think if moves were happening behind the scenes, Alonso would have been in the loop.

[statto]

And Alonso confirmed for Chelsea.

They're walking into an 2015 summer situation where they deludedly gave Rodgers a reprieve. Except this time, there is no elite, generational manager heading out on sabbatical whom they can persuade to come in around October and revolutionize the club.

Part of me is hoping they don't scrape top 5. They need some sort of kick up the arse to shake them into action.

Question is who though?

Would Areola be worth a shot? Yes, Liverpool is a different level of pressure and scrutiny and, it appears, a quite entitled dressing room, but he has coped admirably with an ever-changing squad and has Bournemouth playing a good and entertaining system. And he's a free agent next week.

Definitely feels like 2015 again. Liverpool have a reputation for not being knee jerk in relation to managers, however, losing 9 out of 12 games earlier in season and they stuck with Slot but the second half of season has been very underwhelming. I believe the intention was to keep Slot but if don't get a result against Brentford that narrative may change.

[seafoid]

Jason Burt
Arne Slot should drop Mohamed Salah for Liverpool's final game
Anfield will always treat its 'Egyptian King' as a hero but he has to pay a price for trying to weaponise fans against the head coach


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Arne Slot and Mohamed Salah
Arne Slot does not need to bow to Mohamed Salah's extraordinary record at Liverpool for Sunday's farewell: he has to sideline him for the sake of his own credibility Credit: Phil Noble/Reuters
Jason Burt
Chief Football Correspondent
Jason Burt
Jason Burt is one of the most senior and decorated football writers in the UK. See more

Published 18 May 2026 2:36pm BST
Arne Slot should drop Mohamed Salah for Liverpool's final Premier League game of the season. The head coach, backed by the club, needs to assert his authority.

Champions League qualification might be secured by then, so Sunday's match at home against Brentford will have less riding on it than was feared after the difficult defeat by Aston Villa on Friday.

That might make it easier for Slot to select Salah and that would be the generous thing to do, giving him the send-off that he would deserve. But Salah has forfeited that right after his social media post on Saturday. It was 190 words long, but can be summarised in two: Sack Slot.

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Also, in those 190 words Salah writes "I" 10 times – which has not gone unnoticed at Liverpool – and "me and my" three times. OK, it was a personal statement. But it was not selfless and it could have waited. Salah made it all about him at a moment of weakness and vulnerability for Slot and for Liverpool. And that is where the line in the sand must be drawn.

The statement did not read like someone who deeply cares for the club and their fans, and takes responsibility for the underperformance this season, to which he has contributed.

Instead it read like an attempt to weaponise disgruntled Liverpool supporters further against Slot and – to use Salah's phrase when he first hit out after the draw with Leeds United in December – throw him under the bus. A whole fleet of buses, in fact.

A fan of Liverpool holds up a sign which reads 'Thanks for great times,  Mo Salah + Robbo, YNWA, Taxi for Slot"
Salah's statement poured fuel on the fire of Liverpool fans' disgruntlement with Slot Credit: Carl Recine/Getty Images
At the same time Slot and Liverpool need to find out why so many players liked the post: 11 in all, including Florian Wirtz, Giovanni Leoni and Jeremie Frimpong, who were all signed under Slot. Did they read it? Did they agree with all of it or just that it has not been good enough and Liverpool have to get back to playing better? They should clear that up.

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Salah made his return from a hamstring injury against Villa and, normally, would expect to be in the team taking on Brentford and not least because of what he has contributed to Liverpool over his extraordinary nine years at the club. It could be a party atmosphere in an otherwise frustrating season.

Similarly Andrew Robertson, who is also leaving but stayed on the bench against Villa, should start and surely will. He deserves that send-off.

If Slot does not include Salah, it will feel sad, it may even anger players and fans and it will certainly be awkward as the Egyptian's name will be sung regardless of whether he is on the pitch and that will sting the head coach.

But Slot has to make a stand. The breakdown in his relationship with Salah is out in the open, if there were ever any doubt about that, and the head coach needs to say: "Enough." It is not about coming out fighting but standing up for himself, and the club, in a situation where the blame is being piled on him.

Slot may feel he is in a weak position to say what he truly feels about Salah, but it is impossible to imagine other elite managers in world football letting this slide. Pep Guardiola would not. Neither would Luis Enrique, Mikel Arteta or Thomas Tuchel. And, by the way, certainly not Jürgen Klopp, who had his moments with Salah.

Klopp and Salah
Jurgen Klopp's relationship with Salah was not without its fractious moments Credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
No, they would assert the importance of the team over the individual. They would talk about Liverpool rather than an individual, no matter the status of the player and the scale of his achievements.

There are plenty of examples of this happening. In his last home game as Manchester United manager in 2013, Sir Alex Ferguson made a point of dropping Wayne Rooney completely because of the problems he believed he had caused him.

For now, Slot retains the support of the club's owners and decision-makers. Were he to fail to qualify for the Champions League, that could be different.

Liverpool have gone backwards this season. No one is denying that. Although it has been portrayed as a stupendous fall-off, it is not as severe as that and Slot has earned the right to remedy it. He won the league title in his first campaign, only the second they have won this century, and there have been a number of mitigating circumstances.

Not least was the death of Diogo Jota. The tragedy has had a profound effect. Gary Bloom, the sports psychologist, predicted in November that it would be a "grieving year" and that cannot be dismissed. There has also been a number of injuries. Just take one: Alexander Isak. Not a like-for-like replacement for Luis Díaz, a player Liverpool did not want to sell, but a huge signing who has barely been fit. Trent Alexander-Arnold refused all contract offers and left for free to join Real Madrid.

Alexander Isak  breaks his fibula in a challenge from Micky van de Ven
Alexander Isak broke his leg in a tackle by Micky van de Ven in December but had injury problems before that and has broken down again since his comeback  Credit: Justin Tallis/AFP
Salah did sign a new deal. A bumper new two-year contract on the back of scoring 32 goals in 45 appearances and winning the Premier League's Golden Boot, as well as his second title. He also averaged the most goal involvements per 90 minutes (1.44) and scooped all the individual awards, including the PFA Player of the Year, the FWA's Footballer of the Year and Liverpool's Player of the Year.

Who was the Liverpool manager when he did all this? Arne Slot.

And this season? Yes, Slot is still in charge, but Salah's form and contribution, his numbers, have fallen off a cliff to such an extent that all parties are happy for his contract to be ripped up and for him to leave. It is a joint responsibility.

It is an unnecessarily sad end. But not as unnecessary and self-serving as Salah's statement. If it has been misinterpreted, he needs to say so. But there has been nothing. So it was clear what he meant and what the consequence should be.

[RedHand88]

Maybe Mo Salah should drop Arne Slot for the last game.

[Armamike]

Slot is in a no win situation for this game whether he plays Salah or not.  Regardless of what Salah thinks, these posts show a selfish and nasty streak, with no regard for what's good for Liverpool.  He threw the dummy out with Klopp too, so maybe he should reflect on a pattern of behaviour. 

[johnnycool]

Slot is in a no win situation for this game whether he plays Salah or not.  Regardless of what Salah thinks, these posts show a selfish and nasty streak, with no regard for what's good for Liverpool.  He threw the dummy out with Klopp too, so maybe he should reflect on a pattern of behaviour. 

Maybe Salah is reflecting the mood of most of the squad and knowing that he's leaving is in a position to do so.

If he's not one for tweeting much, then maybe he is doing it for the team.

Either way, it's not a good thing for Slot who will be glad to see the back of Salah, but Salah isn't the only one pissed at Slot, was Curtis Jones not also annoyed with some of his decisions?