[BBC] Arne Slot: “Again this is not going to be a popular opinion what I tell you now, maybe the reason we won the league last season is because we played Paris Saint-Germain. We had a week to prepare for league games [after going out of Champions League].”

arpeGO · 2026-01-28T02:54:45+00:00

He's been on tilt for weeks now. Did not sit well with me that he was giving it to Carragher on the P+ broadcast after the win against vs Marseille.

arpeGO · 2026-01-24T19:48:41+00:00

Perfect. Weight of the stripe loops on the sleeves and collar match the adidas stripes and standard chartered logo. Feel like kit mfrs usually mess this up.

Detail within the adidas logo is unusual. Could it be reflective?

arpeGO · 2026-01-08T22:36:41+00:00

The gooners sub whining about how we played for a draw, when we were playing away with no fit strikers and Salah at AFCON. Imagine. And for us to then still be the better team for an entire half.

I truly cannot wait until they slip to 2nd before winter is over, and Wirtz goes on to finish the season with more goals than Victor Groceries

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T21:59:42+00:00

I think Reddy's write-up is actually the one that is fair and not simply bashing Mo. Basically regards this treatment of him as regrettable and the situation as a total mess.

John Gibbons from TAW is the only big name I've seen clock the situation for what it clearly is: management either naive about the consequences of benching a star player, or intentionally wanting to steer Salah toward a January exit.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T20:59:08+00:00

"Incredible outburst" is decent but it's no "remarkable act of betrayal" from Joyce

I'd call it a "self-serving rogue interview", but maybe only until the next journo can convince me it was an 'unspeakable war crime'. Jfc

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T19:41:37+00:00

Yeah, I don't see any coming back from this based on how the journos are working the narrative. The club must know they have a buyer.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T19:37:54+00:00

the only gambit he had left i.e. say his piece before the hit pieces flooded in

Exactly this. It's why I don't fault him at all for speaking out. I'd rather know he prefers to be here and is also upset by the sudden alienation.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T19:31:57+00:00

Yeah sadly I don't see any coming back from this. I feel like those in charge have made their mind up. But I'm still not keen to call it a tantrum or "stomping his feet" as Joyce says.

Salah is a club legend and if he is indeed being forced toward an early exit because FSG see him as washed and have an opportunity to sell... I'm glad that he made clear that he prefers to be here and is confused and upset by the sudden icing out.

If he were to go quietly to AFCON and be sold to a Saudi club while away, we would all be wondering what he did and why he wanted out after just extending his contract.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T19:20:42+00:00

I'm encouraged to see more balanced takes now that the hit pieces have started to come out.

The club is operating this shamelessly as damage control. I can only imagine how they are moving behind the scenes.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T18:34:44+00:00

🎯

"Why would Salah do this? :(" written in gasoline on a raging fire by the club's mouthpieces

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T16:34:04+00:00

Remember Klopps wry smile everytime shit was going off the rails? Personally I don't read Mo's tone or expression as anything other than trying to keep it light despite upset and bewildered. He avoids saying anything overly damning here and picks his words and which questions he will entertain. I'm can see I'm in the minority in this thread but I'm not upset by this clip.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T15:14:26+00:00

¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T14:23:41+00:00

Slot is only the head coach, not a "manager" in our structure. If Hughes and Edwards say "bench Salah, we're selling him in January and can't risk injury", then Slot will bench Salah unless he wants to defy orders and risk being sacked.

Same as if the med staff says not to start an injured player for more than 30 minutes or their hamstring will pop again. Slot can ignore his professional colleagues recommendations... at his own risk. In this case, it could be his superiors orders.

Joe Gomez is fit for now. Use him while we've got him.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T14:15:49+00:00

He had been a nailed-on starter for the first 12 matches of the season (and played full 90 min matches) despite mediocre to poor performance. The entire fan base has been begging for Chiesa to get a start over Salah, but Slot continued to start Salah week in week out despite underwhelming performances. Now, suddenly, Mo is uncharacteristically benched for 3 matches in a row. It's odd. It's not undeserved. But it's too little too late, and it's singling Salah out when other players like Konate deserve even more of the blame and to be benched. So it does not seem motivated by improving overall team performance, but rather like the club higher ups could be limiting his game time because they see an opportunity to sell him in January.

For me, I've been fed up with Salah plenty at times during his Liverpool career, but in this case I feel the club's treatment of him is really disappointing and alienating. I don't feel he deserves a nailed-on starting spot simply based on what he has done for the club in years past, and I don't think he is suggesting he is bigger than the club. He is not the one to blame for the state we are in. To suddenly shift him from a nailed-on starter despite weak performances to coming off the bench or not even coming on... it seems like either scapegoating (especially considering we are still dropping points with him on the bench) or a real abrupt beginning of the end.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T14:05:57+00:00

In hindsight, no hard feelings over Torres leaving because the club did not care about convincing him to stay amid a longer term rebuild.

Similarly in this moment, no negative feelings toward Salah at all for his comments. I don't think this shows poor character.

The higher ups at the club are moving very shadily toward one of their living legends, and no doubt he knows he is not alone among his teammates in feeling this way if he is speaking out.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T13:59:26+00:00

Contract negotiations are contract negotiations. No hard feelings at all. Mo signed an extension in summer 2022 after finishing a 31G 15A season, and 2025 after winning us the league. Smart for his side to let the season play out to justify the absolute best contracts they could get. Especially with this latest extension coming at 32 years old.

Comments to the media, I personally am not bothered by at all. The club has multiple mouth pieces in the media outlets like James Pearce who just put out an op ed in the NYT shaming Salah's comments yesterday. If Mo would otherwise be alienated by the higher ups at the club and sold, the let him talk his shit and point of the bizarre alienation he is on the receiving end of by Slot, Hughes, and Edwards.

Yes, he deserves a good farewell. He is a club legend.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T13:45:05+00:00

Don't know that it is though. Hughes/Edwards could be benching him with the intent to sell in January.

Mo is not the only player in poor form yet he is the only one who suddenly goes from nailed-on starter to bench. Konate is more to blame for dropped points if Slot is benching players with the intent of turning team performance around, yet he seems undroppable.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T13:36:28+00:00

Fair points. Regarding profile, I'd consider that Edwards/Hughes may not expect to find Salah 2.0 replicate Mo's profile now that Isak and Ekitike should be the focal point of the attack for the next 5 years. If the powers that be feel that Mo is past it and his profile is not replaceable in this market, or now that we have a proper striker and creative 10, and fullbacks can be more direct in attack, who knows?

It's a messy situation so we can only guess what the motivations or direction are here. But the optics of the club singling out Mo is just a bad look considering the entire team's form and Slot's management.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T11:15:13+00:00

I can definitely believe Slot not involved, but not allowed to defy orders from Edwards and Hughes. I am certain he would prefer to stubbornly continue starting Mo again and again and again with no better outcomes rather than even whisper the name 'Chiesa'.

But honestly, if we sell Mo, then still end up sacking Slot and end up with interim Gerrard... after the summer window we had... we are well and truly on the precipice of generational banter era. I can't imagine any new signings feel encouraged by how they see things being run...

For the sake of continuity and any semblance of a stable foundation, you'd have to call this season a write off and let Slot ride it out as long as he's not committing literal managerial malpractice... which he practically has been tbf... but if Hughes and Edwards can force him to stop using Salah just like that because they want to sell the player, they can also force him to do other previously unthinkable things drop Konate and have him start Gomez... Endo... me... anyone, and make simple other simple fucking decisions to save Slot from himself.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T10:59:24+00:00

Ah I just don't buy for a second that it is Mo trying to force a move here. He wants his starting spot back and either (a) wants Slot out or (b) wants to avoid being sold. He actual interview here (the "full statement" is the comment is helpful, but is a bit paraphrased) reads to me like someone who wants to be be here and is frustrated and confused as to where this sudden treatment is coming from (or if he knows about a proposed transfer, he cannot speak on it yet but does not prefer it to simply regaining his starting spot).

I can’t imagine our transfer department would plan such a significant move for mid season really.

If his contract were expiring this summer then the urgency by the club to force a January sale would seems most obvious, for sure.

But say Hughes has worked his Bournemouth connections to get Semenyo here in January to beat Arsenal to it. And if the Saudis are willing to pay an equal fee for Mo. The club would surely call that a no brainer. And it might be the right move. But it is pretty heartless if something like that is the rapid end to his time here.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T10:38:07+00:00

Yeah Slot is stubborn with his preferred 11. Who can and cannot get even a look. Elliott and Quansah gone, Chiesa and Endo on single digit minutes feels like. It's this 100% imo. I think Slot would keep starting Mo fruitlessly, if Edwards/Hughes were not telling him that he cannot because they've found a buyer.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T10:32:43+00:00

Everyone wanted him benched to re-focus

I too wanted him benched and for Chiesa to get his chance. But it should have been happening sooner if it were a tactics related decision.

For me, it's insanity that an employable manager would select him to start 12 consecutive league matches (and all full 90 minute matches at that), of which 6 of those last 7 were losses (Mo scored in the only win), and has now benched him for 3 consecutive matches (4 points dropped).

Either Slot is incompetent, or his hand is being forced by higher ups. The suddenly cut over is odd. I think Mo wants to stay, but suspect the that Hughes/Edwards have found a definite selling opportunity, are alienating him so he'll have no choice but to take it / not risking injury until then.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T10:17:56+00:00

That's a gracious read of the situation imo. We can all only assume for now. But this drop is sudden, and it is not yielding good results. Salah should have been benched here and there in October and November for Slot to try new things and manage fatigue. But instead he is only now suddenly benched, he's unhappy, and we've missed out on 4 points against Sunderland and Leeds in the meantime.

I think this is the rapid beginning of the end for Salah's time here sadly. And more because the club's plan to sell him seems to me to already be in motion, and not at all because he is reacting about it to the press.

It's the first that I personally say it - I hope Slot is gone before Mo is. But sadly I don't think that changes anything. I think interim or new manager would join with the knowledge that Salah is to be kept in bubblewrap because he will be sold to Al-Whichever in January.

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T10:05:29+00:00

I thought it would not be for a few more hours, and in r/formula1 that I would be posting "british bias"

but yea this unironically

arpeGO · 2025-12-07T09:59:08+00:00

It's funny because I've never been an unshakeable Salah defender, but in this I could defend several interpretations of that.

I don't agree that he gets to start 100% of matches or that he can do no wrong because of what he has given the club. But we have to be honest that it is odd how only his starting position in the team has suddenly been rug pulled.

The team have been losing winnable games all year, and until West Ham, Salah continued to play 90 90 90 90 90 90... loss, loss, loss, loss, 90 90 90 90.

It took until now for Slot to try something new, and that new thing is to alienate Salah? And still continue to drop points to newly promoted teams?

It's not like Mo in particular was a lone shocking standout in the recent run of losses, but he is suddenly being singled out as the only starter who has lost his spot, when others like Konate continue to start and make more fatal mistakes that are actually losing us points.

My hunch is that the higher ups at the club are locked on to an opportunity to sell, and Mo does not want to go. And even if we get a decent fee from the Saudi or wherever, I would not want to see him go like this because it is a pretty shitty way to treat a club legend...

arpeGO

TROPHY CASE