Mohamed Salah claimed on Saturday that he has been ‘thrown under the bus’ for Liverpool’s poor form in an explosive interview at Elland Road. What does this mean for the Egyptian’s relationship with the club?
As Ao Tanaka’s 96th-minute equaliser plunged another dagger into Liverpool hearts in a season that has been largely made up of agony to this point, few would have anticipated that it would end up being almost an afterthought at Elland Road.
The Premier League champions played pretty well at Leeds for 70 minutes, dominating the first half before a brace from Hugo Ekitiké early in the second seemingly put them in control.
However, a rash challenge from Ibrahima Konaté that led to a Leeds penalty turned the momentum and ultimately the whole game, which ended in a dramatic 3-3 draw that did nothing to improve the mood in the Liverpool camp.
That mood was turned even further for the worse afterwards by a player who hadn’t even been involved in the match.
Eyebrows were raised when Mohamed Salah was left on the bench by Slot in the recent win at West Ham, then again when he sat on the sidelines during an insipid first half against Sunderland. Salah came on at half-time in that 1-1 draw at Anfield, but was once more on the bench at Leeds, and like at West Ham, he didn’t come on.
That was more than the 33-year-old could bear, and as Liverpool fans know, when Salah makes a beeline for reporters in the mixed zone after a game, it rarely leads to helpful comments.
“I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame [for the team’s recent struggles],” Salah sensationally told reporters. “I don’t know why but it seems to me, how I see it, that someone doesn’t want me in the club.
“It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That is how I am feeling. I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame.
“[The situation] is not acceptable to me, to be fair. I don’t get it. It’s like I’m being thrown more under the bus. I don’t think I’m the problem. I have done so much for this club.
“I don’t have to go every day fighting for my position because I earned it. I am not bigger than anyone, but I earned my position. It’s football. It is what it is.”
It is somewhat understandable that Salah would feel aggrieved. He has given the club and the fans some of their greatest moments in recent history. His 250 goals and 113 assists in 420 games for Liverpool have helped them to win two Premier League titles, a UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, an FA Cup and two League Cups in his eight and a half years at Anfield.
In the time Salah has been at Liverpool, only Sadio Mané (107) has also managed three figures for goals, while only Ian Rush (346) and Roger Hunt (285) have ever scored more goals in the entire history of the club.
Whether Salah will have the chance to add any more to his total has suddenly become the biggest topic in football.
His stunning form last season played a huge part in Liverpool sauntering to the title. He recorded the most goal involvements in a 38-game Premier League season (47 – 29 goals, 18 assists), and 57 in all competitions (34G 23A)
However, his form this season has not been as proficient. Salah has just five goals and three assists in 19 games in all competitions.
In fact, since his new deal, which reportedly put him on over £400,000 per week, was announced on 11 April, Salah has just seven goals and four assists in 26 games. Prior to that, he had 32 goals and 22 assists in 45 games under Slot.
Salah’s argument that he is being made a scapegoat is likely related to other underperforming players not being taken out of the team, though the only two you could argue that is the case for are Cody Gakpo and Konaté. The former does seem to have the manager’s trust, and in fairness, Gakpo does have more goal involvements this season than Salah (9 – 4 goals, 5 assists). However, he has hit the target with just 11 of his 45 shots in all competitions, and has a shot conversion rate of only 11.1%, the same as Salah.
In fact, the two players’ shooting outputs are almost identical. Five goals each from 45 shots, averaging 2.66 shots per 90 and having even played exactly the same number of minutes (1,523).
Each of Gakpo’s five goals have come from shots taken when he is between the posts. Of his 29 efforts from outside the left-hand post, none have found the net, which isn’t ideal for someone who plays on the left.
Gakpo played well last season when in competition with Luis Díaz for a spot on the left of the attack, but for all Liverpool’s spending in the summer, they didn’t directly replace the outgoing Colombian. That has left the other options as Federico Chiesa, who Slot clearly doesn’t trust to start, Ekitiké, who isn’t really a winger and the manager has been playing through the middle with success, Florian Wirtz, who has clearly been brought in primarily as a 10, and 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha, who like Chiesa, Slot only currently rates enough to sit on the bench.
As for Konaté, as his manager put it post-game, he was at the “scene of the crime” again against Leeds, and has generally looked uncomfortable this season, which is due to be his last on Merseyside unless he and the club agree a new deal. The France international has made five Opta-defined errors leading to shots in all competitions this season, at least two more than any other Liverpool player.
However, his continued selection is also likely due to a lack of options, with Giovanni Leoni out for the season with a knee injury and Joe Gomez only recently brought back in by Slot, and he was needed to fill in at right-back.
Even if Salah has been harshly treated compared to those two, he could still take a leaf out of Ekitiké’s book. The former Eintracht Frankfurt striker has been Liverpool’s most potent attacker this season with eight goals, three more than anyone else, but he has also been left on the bench in three of the last five games as Slot tries to get Alexander Isak into form and fitness.
With many discussing Salah’s apparent decline, it’s worth looking at his stats compared to last season.
Just looking at his Premier League form, Salah’s per-90 average for goals has more than halved, from 0.77 to 0.32, while his assists per 90 have dropped by two-thirds from 0.48 to 0.16.
He has almost been creating as many chances, though (2.25 per 90, down from 2.37), but those opportunities have generally not been as good, as evidenced by his big chances created per 90 dropping from 0.72 to 0.40, and his expected assists per 90 going from 0.24 to 0.15.
He is also struggling with his dribbling, which may not be all that surprising at 33 years of age. Salah is averaging 3.8 attempted dribbles per 90 in the Premier League this season, more than any campaign since 2021-22, but he is only completing 0.9, with a dribble success rate of just 23.4%. That is his lowest success rate ever in a season at Liverpool, with his next worst being 31.8% in 2023-24.
Goals are where Salah has made his name, though, and his reduced threat in front of goal is shown in the fact that he is taking fewer shots (2.57 per 90, down from 3.48) and generating less than half his previous xG (0.31 per 90, down from 0.68).
It initially feels like Salah simply isn’t as involved in Liverpool’s play as he was last season, but he is actually averaging slightly more touches per 90 in the Premier League (50.9, up from 49.7 last season). However, fewer of them are coming in the opposition box (7.3, down from 10.5), which has had a big impact on his and Liverpool’s output.
In fact, his per-90 averages this season for goals, goal involvements (0.48), shots, shots on target (0.8), shot conversion (12.5%), touches in the opposition box, and dribbles completed (0.9) are all at their lowest since Salah joined in 2017.
With Salah feeling he is being singled out, though, let’s look at how he compares to his teammates in 2025-26.
Of Liverpool players to feature for at least 180 minutes in the Premier League this season, only Ekitiké (0.57) is averaging more goals per 90 than Salah (0.32), while no one is averaging more chances created (2.25) or chances created from open play (1.93).
Only Gakpo (0.22) is averaging more expected assists per 90, though the Dutchman, Isak and Ekitiké are all averaging a higher xG per 90, though it is a small difference.
Plenty have questioned Salah’s defensive contribution, suggesting that without goals and assists, he doesn’t offer enough to justify a place in the team. Again, the Egyptian has made far fewer tackles than any of his fellow Liverpool forwards in the Premier League this season (0.16 per 90), but only Gakpo (3.01) has won possession more often per 90 than him (2.73). Meanwhile, none have won possession in the opposition final third as often as Salah (0.80 per 90).
He also does his fair share of pressing. Only Dominik Szoboszlai (751) and Florian Wirtz (733) have recorded more pressures than Salah (592) for Liverpool in the Premier League this season – defined as when a player on the defending team approaches an opposing player in possession with the aim of either winning back the ball or limiting their passing options. Pressures are always measured at the moment of an on-ball event, such as a pass or shot.
Of those, 377 have been ‘high-intensity’ pressures, meaning the opponent is within two metres – again, only Szoboszlai (518) and Wirtz (479) have more for the Reds. Salah’s 170 high-intensity pressures applied in the opposition final third are the most for Slot’s team in the league this season.
Something that could be of comfort to Slot and Reds fans is that since Salah joined, Liverpool actually have a slightly better record on the rare occasions he hasn’t started.
Just looking at Premier League games (because many of the cup games Salah hasn’t started have been against lower-league opponents, so somewhat skew the numbers), Liverpool average 2.1 points per game in the 283 matches Salah has started, opposed to the 2.3 average in the 36 he hasn’t. They also average 2.3 goals per game without starting their star man, very slightly higher than with him (2.2). They haven’t lost any of the three games without Salah in this recent run.
Whether this is just another Salah storm that will blow over, like when he argued with Jürgen Klopp on the touchline at West Ham in 2024, or if this really is the beginning of the end, it is a headache the struggling champions really could have done without.
They will be forced to be without Salah soon, as he heads to the Africa Cup of Nations after next Saturday’s game with Brighton. It could just be the start of life after their Egyptian King, though.
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Were Mohamed Salah’s Fiery Comments About Arne Slot and Liverpool Justified? Opta Analyst.
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