Arne Slot sends pointed message to Liverpool board over Mohamed Salah's contract
Mohamed Salah scored two goals as Liverpool produced a 3-2 comeback win over Southampton to go eight points clear at the top of the Premier League and Arne Slot was full of praise for the forward
by Matthew Cooper · The MirrorLiverpool boss Arne Slot highlighted the importance of Mohamed Salah after he scored a brace in their 3-2 comeback win over Southampton.
Salah is out of contract at the end of the season, has spoken about a lack of forthcoming offers, and it remains to be seen whether he will stay at Liverpool. However, the 32-year-old remains a hugely important player for the Reds and came up trumps once more against Southampton.
With Liverpool losing 2-1, Salah scored two goals to earn his side the victory and send them eight points clear at the top of the Premier League. His first came after he latched onto a pass from Ryan Gravenberch and slotted the ball past goalkeeper Alex McCarthy. Salah then converted a penalty to seal the win after Yukinari Sugawara handled his ball into the box.
And Slot appeared to send a very pointed message to the Liverpool hierarchy about Salah's future after the game, outlining just how crucial he is to the team.
"We always know we can trust him when things are difficult for us," Slot said. "After we went 2-1 down I didn't really feel that that was the moment we would score.
"It was a fantastic pass from Ryan Gravenberch, but the timing of the run and the finish was special. That really helped us back in the game, and we needed that goal to play the last 25 minutes that we played, because for me then it was only a matter of time until we scored."
The Dutchman was left "really happy" with his side's performance, insisting they "dominated the whole game" and did not deserve to be 2-1 down after an hour. "We're really happy, especially because after an hour we were 2-1 down and maybe that wasn’t a reflection of how the first hour went," Slot added.
"I think we dominated the whole game, which is not that easy. I've seen many Southampton games where they have dominated the game. But if you're 2-1 down after an hour you're maybe over the moon if you win 3-2.
"We know what we have to put into it to get the (eight-point) lead we have at the moment and to get these wins.
"There have been one or two games that were wins by a big margin but the rest were small margins, so we know how difficult it is to win a game."
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