Arne Slot kept the focus on Liverpool\u2019s result but left the resolution of the Mohamed Salah situation squarely with the player after the Reds\u2019 1\u20130 Champions League victory over Inter Milan.<\/p>\n
Slot conceded \u201ceveryone makes mistakes\u201d when pressed about Salah and said he had told the forward in a \u201cshort\u201d conversation at training that he is \u201cnot weak\u201d. Dominik Szoboszlai converted a late penalty in place of the Egypt international to secure the win.<\/p>\n
The manager emphasised that recognition of an error and the initiative to move on are matters for the squad and the individual. He said: \u201cWell, you say everyone makes mistakes in life but the question is should the players also recognise that as well? And should the initiative come from the player or me? That’s another question. Ibou Konat\u00e9 has had some difficult moments lately but he played an outstanding game [against Inter].\u201d<\/p>\n
Slot pointed to a change in trajectory after he left Salah out of the team, noting the results since that selection decision. \u201cAfter PSV and Forest games, where we conceded seven goals in two games, it was time for us to concede less and that\u2019s what we did against West Ham,\u201d he outlined. \u201cThen we played Sunderland and their first chance came in the 86th minute. Their first goal wasn\u2019t even a chance and then came Leeds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe showed character in the second half and changed the tactics a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
On how public scrutiny affected the squad, Slot added: \u201cThere was a lot of things been said,\u201d Slot added. \u201cNormally, that affects players as well because he\u2019s [Salah] been so influential for the club and the players so it\u2019s never nice when something happens to their teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Captain Virgil van Dijk declined to assign blame and described the matter as collective. \u201cIt\u2019s not up to me to say who should apologise,\u201d Van Dijk said. \u201cIt\u2019s [Salah] airing his feelings. The club has to deal with it and him as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a collective situation. Things between Mo and the club are going on and he is obviously not here today helping us get three points.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Mo a long time. He is a friend. We have had highs and lows. We speak, those type of things will stay indoors. We have to brace ourselves and be against the outside noise.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is unclear whether the 33-year-old will be included in Slot\u2019s squad ahead of the upcoming Premier League match with Brighton & Hove Albion, with Salah due to depart for the Africa Cup of Nations next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After Liverpool’s 1-0 Champions League win over Inter, Arne Slot said the next move must come. soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,969],"tags":[1211,1304,1047],"class_list":["post-5005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-premier-league","tag-africa-cup-of-nations","tag-benching","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}