Arne Slot Addresses Mohamed Salah's Comments Ahead of Brentford Clash
Arne Slot walked into his pre-match press conference knowing the first question before it was asked.
Not Brentford. Not the Champions League. Mohamed Salah.
Days after Salah’s pointed social media post calling for a return to “heavy metal football” – a clear nod to Jurgen Klopp’s era – the Liverpool manager finally faced the cameras and the subtext: had his star forward just taken aim at his philosophy?
Slot refused to bite.
“You are doing a lot of assumptions,” he said, when it was put to him that Salah’s words implied Liverpool needed a style different to his own. “First of all you say that he wants to play that style and then say it is not my style.”
The Dutchman pushed back on the idea of a rift and instead reached for the one thing that still binds them: last season’s title.
“I think Mo was really happy with the style we played last year as it led to us winning the league,” he said. “Football has changed, football has evolved, but we both want what is best for Liverpool and that is for us to compete for trophies, which we haven’t done this season and which we did last season.
“He and the team – and I was included in that – brought the league title back after five years and we would like to challenge for that again next season and continue to evolve the team. That is my take on it.”
Style, scrutiny and a stuttering defence
Salah’s post, coming on the back of a 4-2 collapse at Aston Villa, landed at a delicate moment. Liverpool’s title defence has unravelled, their place in next season’s Champions League still not mathematically sealed heading into the final day.
A point at home to Brentford on Sunday will be enough for a top-five finish after Bournemouth’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City in midweek. Lose, and the Cherries would need at least a six-goal swing in goal difference to snatch it. The odds remain firmly in Liverpool’s favour, but the mood around the club has been anything but relaxed.
The reaction inside the dressing room to Salah’s message only fuelled the noise. Twelve senior players liked the Egyptian’s post, sparking talk of a squad drifting away from its manager.
Slot insisted he has seen no such fracture.
“I don’t know if it had an impact on the group but what I have seen is that the team trained really well this week,” he said. “We hope to continue really well in the upcoming two days so we’re as best prepared as possible.
“But we are also aware we didn’t have the same level this season. What we want, what he (Salah) wants, what I want is for the club to be as successful as we were last season. That is where my main focus is now because the game on Sunday could give us a really good base going into next season. That is where I, we, should focus.”
A manager unhappy with his own team
If Salah’s critique was veiled, Slot’s assessment of Liverpool’s football this season was brutally clear.
“I have to find a way to evolve this team now and definitely in the summer and in the upcoming season to be successful again,” he said, “and to play a brand of football that I like and if I like it then the fans will like it as well because I haven’t liked a lot of the way we played this season as well.
“There were far too many games where we dominated ball possession but it didn't lead to anything special or any moments.”
That admission cuts to the heart of the debate. Liverpool still see plenty of the ball. What they have lacked is the chaos, the incision, the relentlessness that once terrified opponents. The scoreboard reflects it. So does the table.
Slot, though, pointed to a broader shift across the division.
“In general we don’t see the 3, 4, 5-0 games anymore,” he said. “It’s a close game every single time, not only with us but any single game.
“But we try to evolve the team in a way that we can compete but definitely also play the brand of football, the style of football the fans, I, and hopefully Mo if he's somewhere else at that moment in time will like as well.”
The line was telling. Salah is out of contract this summer and expected to leave on a free. Slot did not challenge that reality. Instead, he framed the task ahead: build a new Liverpool that still thrills the player who once defined the old one, even if he is watching from afar.
Salah’s role and Sunday’s stakes
Salah is at least back on the pitch. He returned from a minor hamstring issue with a cameo at Villa Park and is pushing to start against Brentford.
Slot, typically, refused to reveal his hand.
“I never say anything about team selection,” he said. “So it would be a surprise to you if I did that right now.”
What he did make clear is that the final 90 minutes of this campaign carry weight beyond the immediate prize of Champions League qualification. A strong performance and a result against Brentford would not erase a flat title defence, but it would steady the platform for what promises to be a summer of change.
Slot knows he must do more than just survive the conversation around Salah’s post. He has to reshape a side that has drifted from its own standards, restore edge to a team that has become too safe, too sterile in possession.
Salah has already fired his warning shot in public. On Sunday, at Anfield, Liverpool have the chance to answer it where it really counts.
