Mohamed Salah spoke after Liverpool drew 3-3 with Leeds and said he feels unfairly blamed for the team’s slow start. He was left out of the starting line-up for the third straight game and made clear his disappointment.
“I can’t believe I’m sitting on the bench for 90 minutes,” he said. “The third time on the bench, I think for the first time in my career. I’m very, very disappointed. I have done so much for this club down the years and especially last season. Now I’m sitting on the bench and I don’t know why.
“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.”
Salah praised his past record with Liverpool but said he now doubts his place at the club. “I said many times before that I had a good relationship with the manager and all of a sudden, we don’t have any relationship,” he added. He hinted that the home game against Brighton could be his last before he joins Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations.
“Come to the Brighton game. I don’t know if I am going to play or not but I am going to enjoy it.”
When asked if he might leave, Salah kept his answer short. “In football you never know. I don’t accept this situation. I have done so much for this club.”
He said the team promised things when he signed a new deal, but those promises had not been kept. “I got a lot of promises and so far I am on the bench for three games so I can’t say they have kept the promise,” he said. He added that he felt other clubs would protect a player in his position.
“It is not acceptable for me. I don’t know why this is happening to me. I don’t get it. I think if this was somewhere else, every club would protect its player. How I see it now is like: ‘You throw Mo under the bus because he is the problem in the team now.’ But I don’t think I am the problem. I have done so much for this club.”
Salah said he wants the respect he thinks he has earned. “The respect, I want to get. 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. I am top goalscorer, best player, winning the league in such a style, but I am the one who has to defend himself in front of the media and fans.
“After what I have done for the club it really hurts. You can imagine, really. After going from home to the club and you don’t know if you are starting. I know the club too well, I have been here many years. Tomorrow [the Sky pundit Jamie] Carragher is going to go for me again and again and that’s fine.”
He noted that other top players have been treated differently when they went through form dips. “I have been at this club, scoring more than anyone in this generation, since I came to the Premier League. If I was somewhere else, everybody would go to the media and defend the players. I am the only one in this situation. Can I give an example?
“It’s silly but I am sorry. I remember a while ago, Harry Kane was not scoring for 10 games, and everyone in the media was like: ‘Oh, Harry will score for sure.’ When it comes to Mo everyone is like: ‘He needs to be on the bench.’”
On interest from abroad, Salah declined to say if he would move to the Saudi Pro League. “I don’t want to answer this question,” he said, “because the club is going to take me to a different direction.”
Asked if he regretted signing his new contract, he said no but showed his pain. “Imagine how bad I feel that I have to answer it, honestly,” he said. “That hurts, even the question hurts. This club, signing for this club, I will never regret it. I thought I’m going to renew here and end my career here, but this is not according to the plan, so I’m not regretting signing for the club for sure.
“Somehow it will end but the thing in my head is like: ‘Why it should end this way?’ Because I am too fit, just five months ago I was just winning every individual award so why should it go this direction?”
Fans and club officials will now watch the Brighton match closely to see if Salah starts and to learn more about his future at Liverpool.
Leave a comment