‘Disrespectful’ – Graeme Souness rips into Mohamed Salah and outlines major concern after bombshell Liverpool interview

Liverpool icon Graeme Souness fears Mohamed Salah’s actions could have a detrimental effect on the attitude of his teammates.

As part of Salah’s bombshell outburst following Liverpool’s 3-3 draw against Leeds on Saturday, the Egyptian claimed he is ‘not bigger than anyone’ but insisted he doesn’t need to ‘go every day fighting for my position because I earned it’.

Getty

The remarks, one of many in which he declared he has ‘no relationship’ with Liverpool boss Arne Slot and kept the door open for an exit from Anfield, left several prominent figures flabbergasted, including Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney.

But for Souness, it is the fact Salah, one of the club’s superstars who only signed a lucrative extension in April, has drawn his line in the sand so emphatically when it comes to his place in the team.

Souness, who made over 350 appearances for the Reds as a player and managed them for just shy of 160 matches, felt Salah’s comments will now allow those on the fringes of the starting lineup who may be slightly disillusioned at not playing to down tools to an alarming extent.

Graeme Souness’ fear over Mohamed Salah’s claims regarding he ‘earned’ the right to start

“The really damning thing for me was when he said he doesn’t have to turn up every day and fight for his place in training because of what he’s done for the club,” Souness said on talkSPORT Breakfast.

“I’ll throw this at you, as a manager you’ve always got half a dozen players that are not quite with you because they feel they should be starting every week.

“So he turns up, the star man turns up and they’re not at it in training. It’s an excuse for those five or six that are not quite with you to do the exact same thing.

“He should be setting the standards, there was a responsibility as a senior player.

“You must have good senior players at your football club, they have to take the responsibility of setting the standards for every single day in training.

“We had a guy called Phil Neal who would go to war every single day in training, he could fall out on him quite easily. Every single day in training, you’re led from the front every single day in training. That’s what he has to get back to.”

Whether Salah can get back to his absurd levels, which have propelled him to four Premier League golden boots and a litany of other individual accolades, remains to be seen.

talkSPORT

The Egyptian superstar is on track for his worst goalscoring season since moving to Anfield in June 2017, having netted just four times in 13 league appearances this term.

His lowest tally for goals in a Premier League season as a Reds player sits at 18.

Whether it be Father Time catching up with the 33-year-old, part of a collective dip in form across Liverpool’s entire team or questionable tactics from Slot, Salah is becoming more removed from the phenom he has previously been with each passing game.

Souness added he felt Salah’s decline was evident before Liverpool had kicked a ball in anger this Premier League season as he took further aim at the Reds superstar.

Mohamed Salah is ‘disrespecting’ everything connected to Liverpool

“He’s playing for a football club that is an institution,” Souness said.

“He’s disrespecting first of all his teammates, he’s disrespecting the supporters, that football club and all the great things that that club has achieved in its history.

Getty

“He’s not been at it this year, he has to accept that, for whatever reason he’s not been at it.

“I went to the Community Shield and I came away scratching my head thinking ‘I hope that’s just him not quite ready for the season yet’ because he didn’t take part in the game… You don’t need a mathematician to work out his numbers are very very poor.

“He’s got to get back to where he was. Now he has no one else to blame but himself.”

Souness also addressed Salah’s frustration at being benched, given the Leeds match marked the third-straight match in which the winger was named as a substitute.

Slot boldly benched Salah for the Reds’ 2-0 win over West Ham United and did the same in the 1-1 draw with Sunderland, with the latter marking the first time in the Egyptian’s career he’d been benched for two consecutive Premier League fixtures.

Even though Souness knows the star power and quality Salah possesses, it should not be enough to earn an automatic inclusion as he provided an example from his own playing career for the reason why.

“Let me tell you how it was in our day and how it should be if you want to be super successful,” Souness said.

“When I was a player I was captain of that football club (Liverpool), I’m getting changed, I’m looking at the substitutes, there were two in those days.

“There had been a midweek international, those two subs both played for the country in midweek. There were another five or six players not getting changed at all, they had all played for the country in midweek.

“I knew if I had two back-to-back games where I had been bang average, they’d be talking about me in the boot room. Three bad games it’d be a major concern, four bad games I’d be one of those guys not getting changed for match day.

“That’s how it should be, the pressure is on at big football clubs to turn up every single game.”