Liverpool have sacked Arne Slot after an end-of-season review concluded his style was no longer the right fit, a sharp reset that has put the club’s football direction back under the microscope. Mohamed Salah had already made clear where he stood, saying Liverpool should return to the heavy metal attacking game that frightens opponents and wins trophies.
That is why Salah’s social media post on Saturday, May 16, now looks like more than a passing opinion. He said the football he knows how to play is the identity Liverpool need to recover and keep for good, and that it cannot be negotiable for anyone who joins the club. The message landed at a time when the club was already weighing whether its trajectory under Slot still matched what Liverpool wanted to be.
Salah did not hide his frustration in that post. He said winning some games here and there was not what Liverpool should be about, a line that cut against the more cautious feel of Slot’s approach and pointed instead to the high-tempo style that helped define the Jurgen Klopp years. That view has been central to his thinking for some time, after he had already said he felt scapegoated for Liverpool’s poor results and that the club had thrown him under a bus. He also warned the hierarchy that standards could slip once he left.
The reaction around the squad showed how widely that message was felt. Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Hugo Ekitike, Andy Robertson, Jeremie Frimpong, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Giovanni Leoni, Calvin Ramsay and Wataru Endo all liked Salah’s post, a sign that his view on Liverpool’s identity resonated inside the dressing room as well as outside it. On the last game of the season against Brentford, he had already waved goodbye to the Anfield faithful and appeared emotional as he applauded fans after what was then his final appearance for the club.
Liverpool’s decision came last Saturday shortly after 12pm, when the end-of-season review led to Slot being removed. The club said the team’s trajectory was best addressed through a change of direction and stressed that the move was not a reflection of Slot’s talents. It was an abrupt conclusion to a spell in which the coach had often leaned on a pragmatic approach, even as Salah kept pushing for a return to the more ferocious attack he associated with Liverpool at its best. For readers who want the wider arc of Salah’s Liverpool story, including the highs and the later doubts, the account of his rise, setbacks and late heroics is laid out elsewhere on MogazMasr.
Now Liverpool have handed the job to Andoni Iraola, who signed a two-year deal on Thursday and said he would not want to lose the club’s identity, intensity, aggressiveness and organisation. He added that having spent three years in the Premier League gives him an advantage because people have already seen Bournemouth play. The question is no longer whether Liverpool want change. It is how far Iraola can alter the side’s approach in practice without stripping away the identity he has promised to preserve — the same identity Salah insisted must be recovered and kept for good.
