Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has replied to Mohamed Salah, following the Egyptian King name-checking the Sky Sports pundit.
Following Liverpool's 3-3 draw at the weekend to Leeds United, Mohamed Salah made all the headlines following Arne Slot's decision to drop the forward at the weekend.
“Tomorrow Carragher is going to go for me again and again and that’s fine,” Salah claimed, referencing the pundit's recent criticism of him – and now Carra has had his say on Monday Night Football.
Everything Jamie Carragher said in response to Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah
“I thought it was a disgrace what he did after the game. Some people have painted it as an emotional outburst. I don't think it was. I think whenever Mo Salah stops in a mix zone, which he's done four times in eight years at Liverpool. It's choreographed with him. And his agent to cause maximum damage. And strengthen his own position.
“He did that 12 months ago, and I called him out on this show about it. And he played on the heartstrings of Liverpool supporters. Liverpool were top of the league. He'd scored the winning goal at Southampton. That was the time to come out and put pressure on the Liverpool ownership, so for the rest of the season you have banners in the crowd, give Mo his dough. He's chose this weekend to do this now, and he's waited, I think for a bad result with Liverpool, conceding the last minute goal, Liverpool supporters, managers, the manager, everyone involved in the club feels like they're in the gutter at the moment, and he chose that time to go for the manager, and maybe try and get him sacked. That's the way I felt about it.
“The one line that stands out for me is ‘thrown under the bus’. He's tried to throw the club under the bus twice in the last 12 months, with the situations that I've just mentioned, now. Going after the owners initially, these are owners who've been paying him hundreds of thousands of pounds for six years. Hee's complained a year ago because they haven't given him a contract at the age of 32 – they're more than entitled to do that – and with the manager right now. He should be doing as much as he can to help the club get out the worst run of results they've had since the 1950s, and he hasn't done that.
“But when I've thought about it over the weekend, and I've put myself in Salah's position, or how I was as a player. I'm not Mo Salah. Mo Salah is a world-renowned player who was famous around the world. And should those players be treated differently? I think they should. I think they should be treated differently. And when you think of the players in that bracket. Over the last eight years, I would say Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe. I wouldn't put Salah alongside them, but he's very close for what he's done for Liverpool, so a legendary figure.
“And all those players, I think, get a privilege. Exactly the same one Mo Salah gets at Liverpool. He doesn't have to defend. He doesn't have to chase back. So that's the privilege he has. With Liverpool. But when we're talking about throwing people under the bus. He's threw the Liverpool right-back under the bus for eight years. Can you imagine playing behind him for eight years? But we accept it because he's a superstar, and he scores 250 goals, and he's given me as a Liverpool supporter, some of the greatest nights of my life watching him and what he, what he's done.
“And that's why we accept it. But also then when you think of the ego of these type of players, Ronaldo, Messi, Mbappe, Mo Salah, I think they have a feeling. That the success of a football club is down to them. Now I have no problem with that because I think that drives them on to score more goals and get more success and it benefits Liverpool. It then becomes a problem. When you're in a situation like this, and when Mo Salah's talking about how many goals he's scored, I've got more goals than anyone in the Premier League, what I did last season, he's always speaking about himself.
“One thing I just wanna sort of remind Mo Salah, maybe his agent. Is that before he came to Liverpool. Mo Salah was known as the guy who failed at Chelsea. That's just a fact. He'd never won a major trophy before he came to Liverpool. He's also the greatest player his country have ever had in Egypt. In the Africa Cup of Nations, the most successful nation – he's going there in a couple of weeks –Mo Salah's never won the AFCON. That is not me trying to put Mo Salah down as a player. I've just said he's one of the best players in the world in the last eight years, very few better. But what it tells Mo Salah and his agent is, it's not about an individual. You weren't a big star before you come to Liverpool. You haven't really won anything.
With Egypt anyway, and all that's telling you is, no matter how good a player you are, you need help from your teammates, your manager, and fans, and I think that's really important that he remembers that, and when he's talking after the game there in the mix up, all it's about is me, me, me.
[Dave Jones: You will be aware, Jamie, I'm sure as well that there will be those listening to you speak passionately there that say that Jamie Carragher was always gonna attack Mo Salah or criticise Mo Salah tonight. Mo Salah said it himself, didn't he, after the game, he said, oh, “Jamie Carragher will go for me again and again”]
“Have I ever criticised Mo Salah on the pitch?” [Well, a couple of weeks ago you said his legs had gone] “No, I don't class that, as that's something that happens to every player. That's not a criticism of him as a player. I've never criticised him for not working back. I've never criticised him when he's gone for games without scoring. I've never criticised him when he hasn't passed to someone when he should pass to people at times, because he's an absolute legend of the club, and what you get from him, you have to put up with certain bits.
“I think some of the criticism this season of Mo Salah has been excessive. I've said that publicly, but I will go after Mo Salah when he tries to throw my club under the bus off the pitch and just think about himself. So I certainly will do that.”
[What do you think he should have done, Jamie, then?] “What should he have done? In terms of this season, in terms of how it's, how it's played out, you know, he's he's, he's such a proud guy, he's, as you say, he's got this huge ego, he's been left on the bench for three games. OK, let's understand number one, right, Arne Slot, right? Arne Slot, three games before this run of three games, has conceded 10 goals in three games. One of them is against PSV. Salah's embarrassing in terms of the challenge he puts in. He then goes to West Ham away. Nuno team, big on set pieces, OK, what do we need to do? We need to keep a clean sheet, that's all he cares about. What's the one thing you're gonna do as a manager? You're gonna take out the one player in your team who you've, you've allowed not to defend. OK, so that happens.
“You play Sunderland at home. I would have played him, but it's understandable you keep the same team. OK, what's he do? He brings them on at halftime. You then go to the away game, OK. So West Ham away and Leeds away. Why would you bring him on when you're winning those games? You don't need a goal, you need not to concede. So if you bring Salah on, you're bringing on a guy who can't defend set pieces and who doesn't run back.
“But the one time I wanted to be really critical and held back this season about Mo Salah on the pitch – as I said before, I've never been critical of him on the pitch. He is a legend of the club, right? His legacy is there. If he doesn't score another goal or make another assist for this club, I don't care. He's been amazing. But where he really let himself down in my eyes was this season in Frankfurt and another game where there's a guy who's signed for Liverpool who needs a goal better than anyone, Florian Wirtz. Instead of just being a great player for the club, be a great ambassador for the club and roll that ball to him. An easy tap in and go over, give him a hug and a kiss and say, you know what, you're the guy who's gonna take this Liverpool team forward. I don't need any more goals.
“I've seen Barnes at the end, I've seen Ian Rush at the end, I've seen Steven Gerrard at the end. Do you think they were the same players in their pomp? Of course they weren't. Do supporters think any differently of them now when they see them, they say no, you are the top five or six players to ever played for Liverpool, and the same will be said of Salah. So in terms of on the pitch, the one criticism I've got help the other players, help Florian Wirtz, help Isak. Don't be obsessed with your own numbers and don't.
“As I said, what he's done off the pitch, I think the club have made the right decision in terms of him not going abroad now, and whether he will play for Liverpool again, I don't know. I hope he does because he's one of the greatest players we've ever had. But if you continue like that and statements like that, if he doesn't play, as I said, who cares, who knows?”
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