Mohamed Salah’s spiky leaving of Liverpool puts Slot in awkward spot

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Liverpool and their besieged head coach could do without inflaming a potential mutiny at Anfield.Salah decided to draw up battle lines before his departure, with Saturday’s social media post criticising Liverpool’s direction under Slot. To adopt Salah’s description of his own team, Slot’s stock has crumbled during a campaign that has featured 19 defeats (all coming in the past 48 matches) and the most goals Liverpool have conceded in a 38-game Premier League season: 52.

The ease with which Aston Villa sliced through Liverpool during Friday’s 4-2 win at Villa Park underlined the structural flaws Slot has been unable to remedy all season, whether dealing with an extensive injury list or not.But putting personal grievances aside and Liverpool’s interests first, as Salah claimed to be doing while taking another parting shot at Slot, hard-headed sporting and business reasons dictate that the Egypt international should be involved against Brentford on the final day. Liverpool’s place in next season’s Champions League would be confirmed thanks to help from elsewhere.

If the stakes are lowered on Sunday and the afternoon is all about celebrating Salah’s and Robertson’s outstanding Liverpool careers, why poison the mood to demonstrate some authority over a player who is leaving anyway? Slot was involved in that decision.Mohamed Salah came on as a substitute during last week’s defeat at Aston Villa.