Allardyce hits back at Carragher over Salah criticism
When Sam Allardyce chooses to enter a debate, it is rarely to sit on the fence. The former Premier League manager has waded into the conversation around Mohamed Salah’s form and taken aim at Jamie Carragher, branding the Sky Sports pundit’s verdict on the Liverpool forward “pathetic”.
Carragher has been one of several high-profile voices to question where Salah now fits into Arne Slot’s evolving Liverpool side. The statistics this season are stark when placed alongside his previous campaign, and the forward’s recent omission from the starting line-up has only heightened scrutiny.
Yet Allardyce, speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, took exception to the suggestion that Salah’s legs have gone. For him, the language went far beyond fair analysis into something that underestimates both the player’s quality and what he has delivered for Liverpool over the years.
He was unequivocal in his response. Carragher, he argued, “should know better” than to reduce Salah’s current struggles to a simple narrative of physical decline. In Allardyce’s view, that kind of line is less about insight and more about staying in the conversation, keeping one’s name and soundbites at the front of the debate.
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Salah’s numbers and the wider context
It is impossible to ignore the drop-off in Salah’s goal output this season. After blistering returns in previous years, his current league tally looks modest by comparison. The contrast between double figures at this stage last season and a much leaner return now provides an easy hook for criticism and questions about his future.
But numbers never exist in isolation. Liverpool as a collective have not fully found their rhythm. A new head coach, tactical tweaks, fresh combinations and different starting roles all feed into how frequently and how clearly chances fall to the senior forward. When a team is slightly off, it is usually the highest-profile attacker who becomes the lightning rod.
Supporters and pundits alike have noted performances where Salah has been quieter, with fewer explosive moments and less of the constant menace that defined his peak years. In such a context, the temptation is always to reach for the most dramatic explanation – that a player has fallen off a cliff rather than taken a dip.
Allardyce’s line is essentially that this is too simplistic. For a forward who has carried Liverpool’s attacking burden for so long, a spell of fatigue, adaptation or simply variance is hardly unthinkable. The idea that one of the club’s greatest modern players has nothing left to offer feels premature at best.
Legacy, expectation and the language of decline
Carragher’s role as an analyst is to be honest and, at times, cutting. He has never shied away from criticising his former club when he feels standards are dropping. To that extent, his questioning of Salah’s place in Liverpool’s best XI is not entirely out of character. When others such as Dominik Szoboszlai or Florian Wirtz shine in similar areas of the pitch, conversations about succession are inevitable.
Yet Allardyce’s frustration taps into something more fundamental about how we talk about ageing stars. The phrase “legs have gone” suggests a definitive line: that a player has moved irreversibly from world-class to surplus. For someone who has repeatedly delivered in elite matches, from domestic title races to European nights, that wording jars.
Salah’s legacy at Anfield is already secure. He sits among the most prolific forwards in the club’s history, with goals and moments that will define an era. That status does not place him beyond criticism, but it does demand a certain level of nuance when assessing a difficult spell.
There is also a human element. This is a player who has consistently embraced responsibility – taking penalties, playing through dips in team form, carrying expectation on his shoulders. To frame his current situation purely as decline risks ignoring changes in system, squad balance and tactical demands that have come with a new regime.
What comes next for Salah at Liverpool
Stripping away the noise, the real question is what Salah’s role should be in the months ahead. It is reasonable to argue that rotation may become more common, that certain fixtures or tactical plans might favour different profiles in forward areas. Impact appearances from the bench could become part of his reality, particularly if younger players earn extended runs.
At the same time, writing him out of Liverpool’s strongest side altogether feels hasty. Experience, decision-making in the final third and the sheer fear his presence generates in defenders are not easily replaced. Even when the numbers are not spectacular, those qualities can tilt tight games.
Allardyce’s defence, then, is less about blindly protecting a star name and more about contesting the rush to final judgement. He sees a narrative forming around Salah that implies the end is already here, rather than something approaching on the horizon. For a player who has repeatedly answered questions with goals, that conclusion may yet prove premature.
Carragher has sparked a debate that will follow Salah through the rest of this season and possibly beyond. Allardyce has, in turn, challenged the tone of that debate. Somewhere between the pundit’s blunt assessment and the manager’s fierce defence lies the more uncomfortable truth: that great careers rarely end neatly, and that Liverpool are now navigating the delicate transition between what Salah has been and what he can still be.
