Mohamed Salah’s latest unprompted public outburst will ratchet up the pressure on struggling Liverpool head coach Arne Slot by several notches.
Salah first laid bare his frustrations with Slot and Liverpool after the 3-3 draw at Leeds United in December, claiming he had been “thrown under the bus” after being dropped following the Premier League champions’ poor start to the season.
This time Salah, who is scheduled to play his final game for Liverpool against Brentford at Anfield on the closing weekend of the season, took to social media after Friday’s 4-2 loss at Aston Villa to launch a thinly-veiled attack on their style under Slot and the failures this season.
Slot has been losing credit fast since winning the league in his first season after succeeding Jurgen Klopp.
And now Salah has called for a return to the kind of football Klopp made his trademark – a “heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear”, to use the Egyptian’s words.
“The identity that needs to be recovered and kept for good,” he added.
The contrast was sharp between Unai Emery’s vibrant Aston Villa – who confirmed Champions League football next season with victory at Villa Park and are in the Europa League final – and porous, weak Liverpool.
And then came the latest twist in this troubled, turbulent Liverpool season.
This sort of pronouncement could justifiably be seen as Salah repaying his head coach by throwing Slot under the bus, the breakdown of their relationship providing a fractious backdrop to a season in which Liverpool’s title defence has disintegrated.
If Salah’s attack clearly does not help Slot, who has lost the faith of many fans as the Anfield atmosphere becomes increasingly toxic, then his analysis of “us crumbling to yet another defeat this season” hardly reflects well on his team-mates either.
The sub-plot to Salah’s post is a large number of those same Liverpool supporters saw Xabi Alonso as Slot’s natural successor.
But the former Real Madrid manager has now confirmed a move to Premier League rivals Chelsea.
Alonso has long been touted as a future Reds boss, having won the Champions League as a player and then impressed hugely during his time in charge of Bayer Leverkusen.
Some hoped he would replace Klopp two years ago, but he instead opted to remain with Leverkusen and Slot was appointed.
It would seem again the timing just would not quite marry up for those dreaming of a fairytale return for Alonso.