Arne Slot told to banish Mohamed Salah for final Liverpool game after social media barb at boss

Wayne Rooney believes Mohamed Salah should play no part in what is set to be his last match for Liverpool.

The Reds legend, who is leaving this summer, appeared to take aim at head coach Arne Slot in a post on social media at the weekend.

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Salah said: “I want to see Liverpool go back to being the heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear and back to being a team that wins trophies.

“That is the football I know how to play and that is the identity that needs to be recovered and kept for good.

“It cannot be negotiable and everyone that joins this club should adapt to it.”

Liverpool host Brentford in their final Premier League match of the season on Sunday, which is geared up to be Salah’s Anfield farewell.

However, England and Manchester United legend Rooney thinks that Slot should omit him from the squad in response to his post.

“I find it sad at the end of what he’s done and what he’s achieved at Liverpool,” he said on the Wayne Rooney Show. “It’s not the point for him to come out and aim another dig at Slot.

“He wants to play heavy metal football, so he’s basically saying he wants Jurgen Klopp football. Now I don’t think Mo Salah can cope with that type of football anymore.

“I think his legs have gone to play at that high tempo and high intensity. If I was Arne Slot, I’d have him nowhere near the stadium in the last game.

“I had it with (Sir) Alex Ferguson. I had a disagreement and fall out and at Alex Ferguson’s last game at Old Trafford, he left me out of the squad for that reason.

“He’s almost just dropped the grenade and said he doesn’t trust and believe in Arne Slot and almost thrown his teammates who are going to be there next season and let them have to deal with that as well and put them into a position.”

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Salah faces ‘a tough week’

Reacting to Salah’s post on The Final Word for talkSPORT, former Premier League manager Alan Pardew said: “It is like a knife to the back and one that’s gonna hurt.

“I think he got liked by a couple of other players in the squad, which is never fun. That’s a tough tough thing to take as a manager when you know it is criticism of the style and the heavy metal drift references obviously related to Klopp and what he did at the football club.

“I do think there’s some intensity that’s come out of the team. That’s evident. Whether that’s being reflected in training and mirrored onto the football pitch.

“That’s what I would suspect. It’s gonna be a tough week to get through the last game and to get himself to the summer where he knows he’s gonna have to really really start the season strong next year if he stays here.”

On the other Liverpool players liking the post, Pardew added: “It is certainly a kick in the teeth for the manager, there’s no doubt about that.

“There’s no way you can walk into training tomorrow and just pretend everything’s okay. That’s painful.

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“If I were him, I would get a few lieutenants in my office and say, ‘Look, I’m not particularly happy about those comments. What’s it all about? Let’s get to the bottom of it. Let’s try and address it’.

“You can’t ignore it. It’s noise that’s coming from within his dressing room.”

Mixed relationship between Salah and Slot

Salah won his second Premier League title with Liverpool in Slot’s debut season as head coach, scoring 29 goals and assisting 18.

However, just months later as the reigning champions collapsed in their title defence, he claimed the club threw him under the bus.

The Egyptian was named a substitute for a third consecutive match in their 3-3 draw with Leeds United in December.

Salah also said that no longer had a relationship with Slot, and did not know the reason why.

Slot then dropped him from their squad to face Inter Milan in the Champions League and had ‘no clue’ if he would play again.

Salah did in fact return to action, and recently sparked fear that an injury meant he had made his last appearance before leaving.

However, he returned as a substitute in their 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa on Friday night, a day before releasing his social media post.