How the national media reacted after Mohamed Salah claimed he has been “thrown under the bus” by Liverpool after not starting a third successive game under Arne Slot in Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Leeds
Liverpool were pegged back twice by a stubborn Leeds United on Saturday evening as they clinched a 3-3 draw in the closing stages at Elland Road.
Having initially trailed 2-0 to Hugo Ekitike’s double, the hosts responded through Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s penalty before Anton Stach levelled up two minutes later.
And after a classy Dominik Szoboszlai goal looked to have given the Reds a battling three points, Ao Tanaka registered Leeds’ third in the final seconds to earn a share of the spoils for Daniel Farke’s men.
All of that, though, was merely a prelude to the main event as Mohamed Salah shocked the football world, post-match, by declaring that he has been “thrown under the bus” by Liverpool and also revealing that his relationship with Arne Slot has now totally broken down.
READ MORE: Egypt FA send clear Mohamed Salah message after bombshell Liverpool interviewREAD MORE: Michael Owen makes Mohamed Salah feelings clear after Liverpool outburst – ‘Bite your lip!’
It was bombshell interview that leaves Liverpool supporters wondering what both the short and long-term future holds for the third highest scorer in club history.
The ECHO, of course, have given their verdict on the developments. Our chief Liverpool writer Ian Doyle produced this piece from Elland Road on the night itself, while our Reds correspondent Paul Gorst, who was in the huddle with Salah and a handful of other reporters, dissected the interview in more detail on Sunday.
Our colleagues from the national media have also been giving their own takes on a remarkable and developing story that will see Slot likely inundated with questions when he faces the media in Milan on Monday before Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Inter at the San Siro.
Oliver Holtwriting in the Daily Mailsays: “Timing is everything for a goal scorer and from Mo Salah this couldn’t be worse. As such, it absolutely stinks.“Standing in the rain by a team bus – as his manager and team-mates come to terms with another dismal afternoon – Salah decided to do what no truly great footballer should ever do. He piled on some misery of his own. He put his own needs first. How desperately selfish and self-defeating. How depressing.“In the space of a handful of short but premeditated and deliberately impactful sentences he has brought more pain, stress and misery to the door of his manager Arne Slot and brought his own Anfield legacy into question in the process.“Just an hour after the whistle had blown on Liverpool’s 3-3 draw at Leeds, Salah accused Slot of throwing him ‘under the bus’ and spoke of having ‘no relationship’ with his manager.“The second part of that may be true. Who knows? It happens in football.As for the first part, Salah has merely been taken out of the team, that’s all. Thrown under the bus? With Salah in the team, this has been a bus running on three wheels. Something had to give and it did.”
ESPN‘s What lindop reflects: “Mohamed Salah always picks his moments. It is that impeccable sense of timing which has propelled the Egypt international to dizzying heights on the football pitch, where he has – over the past eight-and-a-half years – cemented his status as a true Liverpool great.
“Likewise, Salah’s track record for rare but often explosive interactions with the media indicates that the forward knew exactly how much carnage he would trigger by telling reporters he had been ‘thrown under the bus’ by his club amid their torrid recent run of results.“After Liverpool twice surrendered their lead in a six-goal thriller that ended 3-3 against newly promoted Leeds United, it is almost inconceivable that a player who watched the whole affair from the bench should dominate the postmatch headlines. But Salah is no ordinary player, and both for him and for Liverpool, these are extraordinary times.“It is less than eight months since Salah and head coach Slot enjoyed one of the finest days of their respective careers as Liverpool sealed the Premier League title in front of supporters at Anfield.“At that point, the ink had barely dried on the bumper two-year contract extension Salah had signed in early April, amid a stellar campaign in which he scored 34 goals in all competitions and claimed a host of individual prizes, including the PFA Players’ Player of the Year Award.“But with Liverpool’s title defense having veered drastically off course, it seems all cordiality between the Reds’ talismanic forward and his boss has been eroded, with the pair’s relationship now seemingly irretrievable. Last term, Salah pointed to Slot’s willingness to absolve him of defensive responsibilities as one of the reasons for his scintillating form.“In February, the 33-year-old’s notoriously outspoken agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, took to social media to publicly praise Slot, describing the Dutchman as being ‘excellent at his job.’“Now, though, with Liverpool having won just four of their last 15 games in all competitions, it is clear that Salah has no intention of being the scapegoat for the club’s drastic fall from grace.”
The Athletic‘s James Pearce pens: “On the previous occasion Mohamed Salah publicly vented his frustration over being relegated to bench duty at Liverpool, he limited himself to seven words.“‘If I speak, there will be fire,’ he said without breaking stride after a bust-up with Jurgen Klopp on the touchline as he waited to come on against West Ham United at the London Stadium in April 2024.“But when the Egypt forward emerged from the away dressing room at Elland Road on Saturday evening and made a beeline for reporters it was crystal clear that he was in no mood to keep his counsel. This time he stopped and had plenty he wanted to get off his chest. He has never spoken to the UK written media for so long during a Liverpool career spanning more than eight years.“It was premeditated and the fire just kept on coming.“Without even being asked about Arne Slot, he offered up that his relationship with the Dutchman had completely broken down and revealed that he had asked his parents to attend next Saturday’s visit of Brighton & Hove Albion, admitting it could be his Anfield farewell as “someone doesn’t want me in the club”. He left the door open to a possible January move. It was incendiary.“This was no angry rant. The third-highest goalscorer in the club’s history was calm and composed throughout. ‘Thank you, guys,’ he said at the end of a remarkable seven-and-a-half minutes.“As Salah walked away, he left a towering inferno in his wake.”
On The Telegraph‘s pages, Sam Wallace writes: “Of all the things he could have done, Mohamed Salah must surely have known that for a Liverpool manager under pressure, and a club in trouble, this was among the most damaging of them all.
“It was an extraordinary eruption from one of the greats of English football who has barely uttered a word to the media in 10 years. He left no doubt as to his fury at being parked on the bench by Arne Slot for an unprecedented third game in a row. For the first few hours of this latest Anfield crisis it will be what Salah says that dominates – and then gradually it will be what his words say about him.“The theme of his argument was what Liverpool owes him, as its greatest modern goalscorer, third on the all-time list and the star in the club’s revival of the second half of the previous decade and this current one. There is indeed much that a club, even one with as many greats in its history as Liverpool, owes Salah.“First being the most lucrative deal in its history that Liverpool judged Salah worthy of with his two-year extension in April and then there are other elements that do not show up in pounds sterling. The club’s eternal thanks. A place in the pantheon. But the one thing none are granted unconditionally is a place in the team.“If the deal to keep a player of Salah’s status is that he has to play each and every game, then he is asking the single thing that no serious club can grant him. As for the respect that Salah thinks is missing, this is a club that renewed his contract this year on a salary comfortably more than it had ever paid any player, and then put him on a throne in the middle of Anfield with a crown on his head. Quite what part of that says ‘thrown under the bus’ is not clear.”
And as part of the ECHO‘s exhaustive coverage, Ian Doyle says: “For a player so accustomed to being the main man, Salah is having to reconcile an inevitable decline in output and the plain fact he is simply not going to be part of a future Liverpool hope will be spearheaded by Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and the raft of other summer arrivals.“Salah has never taken it well when benched, infamously declaring ‘there will be fire’ if he spoke after being among the substitutes at West Ham United in April 2024.“But no player enjoys being dropped. And few respond in this manner, even if some allowances can be made given his outstanding contribution over the last years.“Evidently the prospect of becoming a squad player – albeit one that would presumably feature more often than not – does not sit easily with the Egyptian.“The question now is whether Salah has burned his bridges not only with Slot but also the Liverpool hierarchy, with whom he clearly has taken issue over what he believes are broken promises from the summer.”
The ECHO’s post-match talking point from Elland Road is also dedicated to Salah’s interview: “Salah didn’t just rock the boat, he turned it stern first towards an enormous iceberg. And at such a turbulent time generally at Liverpool, the question is why now? For reporters gathered at the scene, it is manna-from-Heaven to hear a player of such status speaking so candidly about a desperate situation.“Salah was not angry when he spoke, there was no sense that he had let his mouth run away with him or an idea that the bus journey back to Merseyside from Yorkshire would be filled with regrets inside the head of a player who has plundered 250 goals for the Reds. No, this was a preemptive decision to go nuclear.“But for supporters and colleagues, his astonishing interview only creates more headaches. The 33-year-old has only succeeded in pouring petrol on what looks, at present, like a dumpster fire of a season and Salah’s broadside at Slot and other unnamed club officials has only added to the mess the Premier League champions find themselves in.“Monday afternoon will see Liverpool fly out to Milan before Tuesday night’s important Champions League clash with last year’s runners-up Inter and an embattled Slot could well do without the sideshow that Salah’s words will now inevitably cause.“In that sense, it was selfish from Salah, who has been several rungs below the otherworldly standards he produced so often last season en route to the title.”
