“I’m probably more out than in.” Mohamed Salah’s words after scoring twice in a 3-2 win at Southampton in November 2024 were, in essence, repeated and expanded upon as he spoke to reporters having sat on the bench throughout Liverpool’s 3-3 draw (which very much felt like a defeat) against Leeds at Elland Road.

He talked of being thrown under the bus, of broken promises and people wanting him out of the club. He spoke of his love for the club, a breakdown in his relationship with the manager and of saying goodbye to the fans at Anfield. It was a sad end to a sad night and, regardless of the rights and wrongs of Salah speaking out, it served only to increase the pressure on a night when the team on the pitch had done a good enough job of that already.

For much of the night it had looked like the game would be used as eivdence that things were slowly, slowly beginning to inch in the right direction again. Worries that Liverpool may have wasted their chance having had the better of the first half but failed to score were soon put to bed by Hugo Ekitike’s brilliance – and a helping hand from Joe Rodon. The Reds were 2-0 up, in a tricky away fixture against a team playing a back three and eager to make the most of set pieces – Liverpool’s kryptonite since they sealed their 20th league title.

Then Leeds changed shape, Liverpool made substitutions and all of a sudden, Ibou Konaté happened. Wilfried Gnonto was heading towards the byline in a position of minimal danger and all Konaté had to do was either watch him run the ball out of play or block any cross attempt he managed to dig out. Instead, the Frenchman slid in, took player not ball and gave Leeds what they had done nothing to deserve – a lifeline.

From the point that Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted the penalty, the rest seemed inevitable. Liverpool’s fragile mentality took over and within minutes, Leeds were level. Despite a rally that saw Liverpool retake the lead through the best goal of the night, Arne Slot’s side continued to give their opponents encouragement and Leeds duly obliged in the 96th minute, turning Liverpool’s seven points from nine and a turning of the tanker into successive failures to beat newly promoted teams.

The loss of a lead – twice – against a struggling side such as Leeds, resulting in the dropping of yet more points, was the final straw for many a Liverpool fan. Discourse again turned to whether it was time to call an end to Slot’s reign. I was trying to figure out the mechanics of how exactly Konaté could be fired into the sun. Others bemoaned the repeated insistence of Cody Gakpo cutting in onto his right foot and shooting against a defender. The mood was brutal.

Meanwhile, Salah spent nearly a minute applauding the away fans, waving to them and looking sad. He headed inside, walked over to reporters, poured every drop of petrol he could find over the situation and then dropped a match on it.

We may all have our thoughts on whether Salah was justifed in speaking out or not, but on the back of what had been a testing night for Slot, it felt like a power play by one of the greatest players to ever wear the Liverpool shirt. Though he didn’t explicitly say “it’s him or me”, the implications of Salah’s words were clear. It’s tough to see any way that the two of them can continue any sort of working relationship.

So should it be Slot or Salah who is packing their bags and leaving Anfield for the final time? Or just maybe, and this is an idea I’m slowly coming round to myself, it should be both.

Though it must be galling for Salah to sit on the bench and watch others – Konaté and Gakpo highest among them – continue to be picked despite being in arguably worse form, there is no questioning that the Egyptian King’s performances have been far from his best this season. It’s true that, with the changes in the squad over the summer, Liverpool are no longer playing to Salah’s strengths as they were last season, when he has had the ball, he’s been far less effective with it. For instance, although he isn’t underperforming his xG for the season, he’s been taking fewer shots (2.56 per 90 compared to 3.46 last season) and his shot accuracy – one of his great strengths throughout his Liverpool career – has dropped from 47% in 2024/25 to 31% so far this season, per FotMob.

Teams have been continually attacking the space behind him, doubling up on whomever is playing at right back and having plenty of success in doing so. Without the likes of Luis Diaz or Diogo Jota relentlessly leading Liverpool’s press, there simply hasn’t been the room to carry Salah’s lack of defensive contribution this season – and it wasn’t just Slot who wanted to see him dropped from the team.

But neither is this an exoneration of the manager over a rebellious player. Arne Slot has made countless mistakes since the start of the season. He has stuck by the underperforming Konaté despite, in the manager’s own words, the defender being “too much at the scene of the crime” this season, and having bombed Jarell Quansah out of the team after just 45 minutes of the 2024/25 campaign. He refuses to drop Gakpo despite the Dutch forward’s infuriating decision-making in the final third. He continually asks his full backs to do a job they’re not comfortable with and he rarely seems to have the team play to the strengths of either of the number 9s bought this summer.

His man management has been called in question on more than one occasion and, with his team having taken just 8 points from a possible 30 since the Merseyside Derby victory over Everton in September, it is perfectly reasonable for fans to be questioning whether he can be the person to turn this whole thing around.

In the end, that’s where I land in this whole mess. My confidence in the manager resurrecting the season has never been lower and the only thing that might save him from being on the next flight back to Rotterdam is the current lack of attractive alternatives. (A quick tangent, anyone suggesting that the job be given to Steven Gerrard on an interim basis should be flung into the Mersey.)

And despite being one of the very best to ever wear the Liverbird on his chest, despite the many, many incredible memories he has gifted us with, if Mo Salah’s ego can’t deal with a diminishing role in the team as his performance declines then perhaps it is best that there’s a parting of the ways.

It’s sad to see Liverpool in this kind of a mess so soon after they were on top of the world and felt like domination was next on the agenda. It’s sad to see a club legend feel the need to speak out in such a manner. It’s sad to watch the Reds fall over every time they seem to have turned a corner. If big change is required to end this sadness, then reluctantly big change it has to be.