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The Salah Fallout: A Breaking Point in the Slot Era

The collapse at Elland Road was damaging. The reaction afterwards may well be fatal, especially given all that has come before this term. Mohamed Salah — Liverpool’s most dependable superstar of the modern era, the figure who has delivered season after season without complaint — finally broke his silence to a carefully selected group of journalists. And in doing so, he may have delivered the clearest indication yet that Arne Slot’s tenure is entering its final hours.

This was not an emotional outburst born in the heat of the moment. It felt prepared, deliberate, and carefully sharpened long before he faced the cameras. Salah spoke like a man who has run out of patience and out of respect for a manager who has systematically eroded one of the most vital relationships in the dressing room. For a player who rarely courts controversy, to publicly state that his bond with Slot has “fallen away” and that he feels “thrown under the bus” is nothing short of seismic.

Yet this isn’t just about selection. It’s about authority, trust, and a manager who is rapidly losing both.

A Power Struggle Slot Could Never Win

Let’s be clear: Mohamed Salah has underperformed this season. Many have. But to treat a generational talent as if he is some disposable squad option is a miscalculation so vast it borders on managerial negligence, something which will not bode well with the rest of the squad.

Three games in a row Salah has been named on the bench. Three games in which Liverpool have only amassed one win against a relegation-threatened West Ham side. The last two? Draws against newly promoted sides in fixtures that demanded leadership, quality, and a killer’s instinct — all traits Salah has delivered consistently for seven years. Instead, he watched Cody Gakpo meander his way through another ineffective outing while Alexander Isak flitted in and out of influence when he arrived from the bench. To add insult to incompetence, Salah wasn’t even brought on against Leeds, despite the collapse happening in slow motion.

If this was Slot attempting to “make a point,” then the point has spectacularly backfired.

We have seen this story in English football before. When Ruud Gullit benched Alan Shearer, his fate was sealed before the final whistle. Slot looks destined to share that same fate — not simply because he benched a star, but because he misread the entire emotional landscape of a club that still relies heavily on Salah’s presence, standards, and aura.

This was a power struggle that never needed to happen. Slot picked it anyway and perhaps misread the room.

A Manager Out of Ideas and Out of Time

Beyond the Salah controversy lies a broader truth: Slot looks lost. His strange post-match comments, the confused tactical messaging, and the growing detachment between him and the squad paint a bleak picture, one that looks unlikely to right itself. He speaks like a man who doesn’t fully understand the problems, let alone how to solve them. His decisions reek of desperation — not clarity.

The Leeds draw wasn’t just two points dropped. It was the latest indictment of a season collapsing under the weight of tactical drift, mental fragility, and increasingly fractured relationships. To watch Liverpool concede three goals in such chaotic fashion, after previously leading 2–0 and then 3–2, was to watch a team no longer responding to its manager.

And now Salah isn’t responding either.

When your most important player turns publicly against you, when the dressing room mood is souring, when the performances are unrecognisable, there is only one direction left for a club with Liverpool’s standards.

Arne Slot has lost the team. He has lost Salah. He has lost the confidence of the fanbase.

The next step writes itself.

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