Liverpool told to drop Mohamed Salah against Paris Saint-Germain as Roy Keane theory proved correct

Liverpool have been told they must drop Mohamed Salah for their crunch Champions League clash on Wednesday night.

The Egyptian endured a horror show during the 4-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester City in what was his first match since announcing he would be leaving the club this summer.

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Salah, who only signed a two-year deal last year, will cut his contract short to leave Anfield as a free agent at the end of the season.

The 33-year-old was widely honoured for his glittering nine-year spell at Liverpool and is deemed a Premier League all-time great.

However, Manchester United icon Roy Keane criticised the timing of Salah’s announcement and claimed the general sentiment towards the forward could turn if Liverpool finish the season poorly.

And the instant fallout from the Reds’ first match since those comments suggests that Keane’s assessment may come to pass.

Salah’s Liverpool exit could turn ‘NASTY’

Liverpool suffered their heaviest FA Cup defeat in 80 years on Saturday to surrender one of only two remaining opportunities for silverware this campaign, and their talisman endured the brunt of the critics’ ire.

Salah had been looking to be the first Liverpool player to score in four consecutive FA Cup appearances since Emile Heskey in 2000/01.

Against Man City, he also boasts his second-highest goal involvement rate of any opponent in his career with 13 goals and eight assists.

However, Salah missed a gilt-edged chance to open the scoring at the Etihad Stadium before fluffing a second-half penalty.

On Liverpool, talkSPORT’s Henry Winter told Sunday Edition: “They’re running through quicksand at the moment. Mo Salah, I think, embodies that.

Salah ‘just didn’t look right’

“I was watching on TV, and you just looked into his eyes when he was taking that penalty, and he just didn’t look right,” Winter added.

“He didn’t look like the confident Mo Salah of old. Good save by James Trafford. And City were terrific, but that was poor.

“Talking about fans leaving early from the boxing, I’ve not seen Liverpool fans walk away like that.

“Obviously, there were a lot of them because you get an increased allocation. But still… Arne Slot should look at that as well as his underperforming players.”

Salah has now failed to convert either of his last two penalties, having also missed against Galatasaray in the Champions League.

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That competition is now Liverpool’s only salvation to rescue their season, with the first leg of their quarter-final clash against Paris Saint-Germain taking place on Wednesday night, live on talkSPORT.

Tony Cascarino has even told the club to drop Salah for the trip to PSG as Slot’s men have been carrying him this campaign.

“You have to deserve your space in the team,” he told talkSPORT’s Weekend Breakfast.

“You need to have done enough to be a manager’s choice, where he goes, ‘he’s playing’.

Salah not playing well enough to justify his spot in the team

“At the moment, I think he’s spinning plates over Mo Salah, and he can’t quite work out what’s the right thing to do.

“Being loyal to him, which he’s done, Slot. He’s played him when at times he shouldn’t. So now he’s got PSG.

“But one thing you can’t have, and it’s a hard thing to say, but I’ve had it said to me.

“Like, at the moment, Liverpool are carrying Mo Salah. And that is not a good place for the team to be in, because he’s not playing well enough to justify his spot in the team.

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“I got left out of Celtic, and rightly so, because I wasn’t playing well enough.

“And I remember thinking, I had a chat with [manager] Liam Brady, sat down, we had lots of discussions about certain things, and it basically came down to, you’re not playing well enough.

“And if you’re not playing well enough, you can’t go out against PSG and expect suddenly he’s going to just turn it on.”