Former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch had advised Mohamed Salah to start to thrash out his issues with head coach Arne Slot
Former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch says there will have been “no way back” for Mohamed Salah if he hadn’t thrashed out his issues with Arne Slot following his explosive post-match interview. Salah’s bombshell at Elland Road saw him claim he has been “thrown under the bus” by the club and that his relationship with Slot has broken down after he was selected on the bench for three successive games against West Ham United, Sunderland and Leeds.
Prior to the 2-0 win over the Hammers late last month, Salah had started 53 consecutive Premier League fixtures for the Reds but he was left out of the travelling squad for Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Inter in the Champions League due to his exchange with reporters following the 3-3 draw with Leeds.
Crouch, who won the 2006 FA Cup with Liverpool, says the Egyptian superstar needed to show contrition toward the head coach and after the pair conducted positive talks on Friday afternoon, Salah is now set to return when the Reds host Brighton on Saturday afternoon.
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“There’s no way back if he doesn’t apologise, as a manager Arne Slot can’t lose face like that,” Crouch, who was speaking exclusively to Paddy Power, said.
“I was very surprised to learn that they hadn’t spoken to each other since the interview, for me that seems very strange.
“Surely the first thing you do (as a manager) is speak to a player after something like that? It does look likely he’ll move on now unless they speak and there’s communication.
“I think this has to get addressed before AFCON one way or another before Salah goes away. They need to have a sit down conversation like adults, I just can’t believe they haven’t had it yet.
“I can understand Salah’s frustration. I’ve been in that circumstance before and there’s certainly been top players who have fallen out with their managers before.
“It was just the public nature of the comments.
“You’re well within your rights to say what you’ve done for the club, but you say that to the manager, you don’t do that in the press.
“Emotions were running high, but I definitely think the interview was calculated. It certainly wasn’t an accident.”
Slot confirmed on Friday morning that he was set to hold face-to-face talks with Salah ahead of Saturday’s visit from Brighton, which is the Egypt international’s final Reds game before the Africa Cup of Nations gets underway in Morocco.
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