Arne Slot’s tough stance on Mohamed Salah leaves Liverpool star with one option

No more Mr Nice Guy, perhaps. If Arne Slot can cut a friendly figure, the Dutchman feels he has an inner toughness. In his most testing time, the Liverpool manager may have demonstrated that, even if the explanation was delivered in his usual mild-mannered fashion.

“Usually I’m calm, I’m polite but it doesn’t mean I’m weak so if a player has these comments about so many things, then it’s about me and the club to react,” he said. “We reacted in way you can see: he’s not here.”

The player in question, of course, is Mohamed Salah : indisputably one of the greatest in Liverpool’s history, but a man Slot first dropped from the team and then, after Salah’s explosive interview on Saturday , removed him from first-team contention. Salah had accused Liverpool of throwing him under the bus. Slot responded by not taking him on the plane . Liverpool arrived in Milan to face Inter without three wingers, with Federico Chiesa ill and Cody Gakpo injured. It could have offered a reason to give Salah a reprieve.

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Slot opted not to. The conversation at training on Tuesday was, Slot said, “a short one”. He elaborated: “We have let him know that he is not travelling with us. That was the only communication from us to him. Of course, before Saturday the two of us have spoken a lot, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter.” But brevity sufficed after a breakdown in their relationship.

The Egyptian had claimed he does not have one with his manager any more. Slot’s perspective was different. “That is not the way I feel, but he has the right to feel how he feels things,” he said. “I haven’t felt that at all until Saturday evening for sure.”

Slot’s explanation for the situation was tactical, not personal . He had dropped Salah, a man who felt his past deeds should earn selection now, in a bid for solidity. “We looked very vulnerable, in my opinion, with all the things I’ve tried against [Nottingham] Forest and PSV [Eindhoven], and I decided to play with an extra midfielder,” he said. Now he is shorn of wingers, he may have to take that policy further.

The short-term decision, which Slot agreed with the Liverpool hierarchy , was to take Salah out of the equation for selection: for Inter and, presumably, for Brighton on Saturday. Then the 33-year-old goes to the Africa Cup of Nations.

Last week’s cameo against Sunderland has the potential to prove Salah’s last appearance for Liverpool. “I have no clue, I cannot answer that question at this point in time,” said Slot; his view is that, as the forward signed a new contract as recently as April, Salah brought his own future into doubt. “I am a firm believer that there is always a possibility to return for a player.” But it is far from definite.

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And, as Slot has got the backing of both the Liverpool powerbrokers and his other charges, with goalkeeper Alisson saying they believed in his knowledge and style of play, that may require Salah to accept he was in the wrong.

Slot insisted that while he is not weak, he is not weakened either. “I don’t feel my authority is undermined,” he said. “It is not the way I feel it. He has every right to feel what he feels but he doesn’t; have the right to share it with the media.”

A coach professed himself bemused by the idea Salah had been pushed under a rather different type of coach. “Then I should know what he exactly means with it,” he said. “That’s why it’s difficult for me and why he says it and who he’s referring to.”

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Alisson was in a position to offer some perspective. Arguably no Liverpool player knows Salah better. As the goalkeeper pointed out, they were team-mates at Roma before being reunited at Anfield. “We are good friends. We share good moments, happy moments so that creates a bond,” he said.

And yet the Brazilian’s sympathy seemed to lie less with Salah. “You have the freedom to talk but you need to deal with the consequences,” he reflected. “Him not being available is just a consequence of what he did and he is smart enough to know that.”

Alisson was otherwise effusive in his praise for Salah. “A great guy, great character, a legend with Liverpool,” he added. “Of course, the situation isn’t nice. We were a little bit caught by surprise but we know it is a personal situation between him and the club.”

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It is, though a personal situation with consequences for a club who have lost nine and won only four of their last 15 games, who are suddenly short of players, who are very much underdogs when they take on Inter. Liverpool have bought themselves a little time by exiling Salah in the short term, but not disciplining him. Beyond then, even his good friend does not know what will happen.

"I don’t think anything but I hope he plays again for the club,” added Alisson. “We as his team-mates and his friends, we hope the best thing happens for him, but as Liverpool players we want the best for the club as well. We want a win-win situation for everyone." And of late, it has been a lose-lose scenario for Salah and Slot. But, if the manager emerges stronger from his show of strength, he could get a benefit of sorts.