'Discipline him' - Alan Pardew slams Mo Salah and compares Liverpool crisis to Newcastle United saga
Mohamed Salah has raised doubts over his Liverpool future following an explosive post-match interview.
Former Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has defended Arne Slot after Mohamed Salah’s latest bombshell caused carnage at Liverpool.
A thrilling 3-3 draw between Leeds United and Liverpool was overshadowed by Salah’s explosive post-match comments. The Egyptian - benched for the previous three fixtures - hit out at Slot and his perceived mistreatment in recent games.
Salah suggested he has been scapegoated for Liverpool’s poor form - also opening up about the breakdown of his relationship with Slot. The issue has divided football fans, with the 33-year-old’s future at Anfield now in doubt.
What Mohamed Salah actually said
When asked what he cannot believe, Salah told a media huddle: "That I'm sitting on the bench for 90 minutes! The third time on the bench, I think for the first time in my career. I'm very, very disappointed to be fair. 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's how I am feeling. I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame. I got a lot of promises in the summer and so far I am in the bench for three games so I can't say they keep the promise.
“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. I don't know why, but it seems to me, how I see it, that someone doesn't want me in the club.
"This club, I always support it. My kids will always support it. I love the club so much. I will always do. I called my mum yesterday - you guys didn't know if I would start or not, but I knew.
"Yesterday I said to them, come to the Brighton game (on 13 December). I don't know if I am going to play or not, but I am going to enjoy it. In my head, I'm going to enjoy that game because I don't know what is going to happen now. I will be at Anfield to say goodbye to the fans and go to the Africa Cup of Nations. I don't know what is going to happen when I am there."
Alan Pardew defends Arne Slot
Speaking to talkSPORT, ex-Toon boss Pardew urged Liverpool to discipline Salah for his outburst. He said: "First of all, what is the crime (of Slot) here? The crime at the moment is that the manager assumes that, for the team, he's better to be on the bench. That's what the manager's done.
“He's made a decision that Mo Salah, for all his stats and records that he's produced for Liverpool, at the moment deserves to be on the bench. Mo Salah's reaction to that has been to, and I know this from the training ground actually, that he's been sulking around, hasn't taken it well, been a bit of an issue behind the scenes.
“And that's compounded by him not actually getting on the pitch because if I was the manager, I would probably go the same route. I'm not going to put him on because that would be a bad example to all the other players. Now he goes in the press and he says quotes. I think Liverpool should discipline him.
“He (Slot) hasn't come out and said anything and done some sort of damage to you as a person in the media or to your family or to anything, he's just actually left you out of the team and the spotlight is on you because you're such a big player. So he understands that and to take you out of the team is actually opening himself up for criticism actually."
Alan Pardew reflects on Newcastle United saga
Pardew also reflected on a similar situation he endured with Loic Remy during their time at Newcastle. He added: “I want to give an example of how this could have been handled. I had a player at Newcastle who wasn't playing at the time, Loic Remy, and he wanted to be in the team.
“He was on the bench, he was frustrated and his agent called me and said, ‘can I come in to meet you with Loic and talk this through, why he's not getting the opportunities’. And they both came in to see me and were quite forceful, and didn't think I was giving him enough opportunity, not giving him the opportunity or chance to expose his ability and we handled it.
"So there's different ways of handling it through your agent, through your team. The one thing you mustn't do is after a game when your emotions are high anyway, he's frustrated, he hasn't come on.
"They've got a late equaliser, and it's a disappointing result for him. Then to go into the mixed zone and express all of that frustration… If they don't discipline him here, then I think they've got problems coming down the line."