Shearer understands Salah ‘having the hump’
ALAN SHEARER believes Mohamed Salah is right to feel aggrieved about being left out of the Liverpool starting line-up on Saturday.
Salah, for so long the Reds’ chief attacking inspiration, was involved in a touchline row with manager Jurgen Klopp after being named on the bench for the Merseysiders’ damaging 2-2 draw at West Ham. The result dealt another blow to Liverpool’s already slim hopes of winning the Premier League title in Klopp’s final season.
The flashpoint came just before Salah was introduced to the action in the 79th minute, with fellow substitute Darwin Nunez stepping in to act as peacemaker.
Shearer, the Premier League’s record goalscorer, told BBC Match of the Day: “We don’t know what Klopp has said to him – he’s obviously said something that’s riled him. He’s obviously got the right hump with being left out and probably rightly so, even though he’s not hit the heights that Mo Salah has done over the years.
“We’re guessing as to what Jurgen has said to him but I understand if Mo has got the right hump because of the number of times he’s been Liverpool’s saviour, Liverpool’s superstar. He’s got 17 in 25 league starts. Anyone else looking at that would think that’s unbelievable. It’s a shame that it’s going to end like that.”
Salah added further to the controversy when he refused to discuss the matter, saying only: “There’s going to be a fire today if I speak.”
Klopp, however, tried to play down the incident, saying: “We spoke about it in the dressing room and that is done for me.”
Former Reds defender Jamie Carragher labelled Salah’s post-match comment “daft” but called on all sides to move on from the incident.
Carragher wrote on X: “MO Salah & Jurgen Klopp are both @LFC legends. We don’t need to take sides!
“Salah is frustrated & angry with Jurgen that he’s not playing & at that moment didn’t want to fully embrace the boss, Jurgen understandably took exception. MO was daft with his comment in the mixed zone but lets let them sort it out & enjoy the last few weeks together. They’ve been a massive help to each other in all that’s been achieved at the club!”
Across the city, meanwhile, Everton defender James Tarkowski admits there were no celebrations after securing their top-flight status for a 71st successive season as they do not believe they should have been in a relegation fight. A 1-0 victory over Brentford put the
Toffees out of reach of 18th-placed Luton, who are 11 points behind with three games to go, but was greeted by muted scenes on the pitch.
Without a combined eight-point deduction for breaching profitability and sustainability rules, Sean Dyche’s side would be level on points with Brighton in 12th. But Tarkowski believes the strides which have been made in the last year, having only escaped the drop on the final day last season, show the club is heading in the right direction.
“We’re not in a relegation battle if we don’t lose eight points, so we’re not here to celebrate staying up,” he said. “It’s not really ‘job done’ as such because we weren’t really considering that. We were only down there because of the deductions.
“We can only do what we’ve done on the pitch – control the controllables. The way we’ve responded at times, like this week, has been unbelievable.
“You can see the difference from last season to this. Progress has been made and that’s what we’re going to take into next season.”
A third successive home win in a week has transformed Everton’s season and came on the back of a 6-0 drubbing at Chelsea which prompted frank exchanges within the squad.
“When you hit rock bottom like that, the only way is up,” Tarkowski added. “We had a meeting a day or two after and he [Dyche] sort of said, ‘Fit in or don’t’ and the lads have all fitted in like we had to... The Chelsea game was a disaster for us but we turned up and got three wins.”