Reaction to Mohamed Salah’s argument with Jurgen Klopp on Saturday continues to roll in.
There was shock all around as two of Liverpool’s real icons of the modern era openly quarrelled on the touchline against West Ham.
It was the culmination of a disastrous couple of weeks for the Reds, which has seen them tumble out of every competition. This was not how Klopp’s farewell was supposed to go.
Nevertheless, it happened. Salah was obviously unimpressed with his manager’s decision to take him out of the starting XI at the London Stadium. But after his poor form recently, we’re not sure Mo could argue too much.
Anyway, as you might expect, the player is the one to have come out of this looking much worse. And with Salah’s attitude in question, former teammate Micah Richards has explained what Liverpool’s No.11 is really like behind the scenes.
What has Micah Richards said about Mo Salah
Richards has openly spoken about his time with Salah in the past. The pair briefly played together at Fiorentina back in 2015.
Although they only spent six months together in Florence, the future Liverpool legend clearly made a big impression on Richards.
And with Salah’s spat with Klopp dominating talk, the former Manchester City defender told The Rest Is Football podcast of his memories of Mo.
“I have been in a dressing room with him (Salah). He is a great person, he is a great pro and he is a winner,” Richards gushed.
However, although he remained positive about Salah, the 35-year-old did condemn his actions towards Klopp on Saturday.
“He is a winner and because of the fact that he is not playing and he wanted more minutes, he was acting in the way which in unacceptable,” Richards added. “I don’t think his legacy should be tarnished by this one moment. It was just a lack of respect for the manager at the wrong time, I thought.”
What should Liverpool do with Mo Salah
It should be said that not everyone sided with Klopp over this incident. Peter Crouch was one who claimed that he too would have been ‘fuming’ with the manager after being benched in the manner that Salah was.
However, common sense suggests that a player should never so publicly berate their manager like that.
As a result, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Salah were punished in some way, shape or form by Liverpool. Perhaps that’s something that will never come to light.
For the time being, journalist David Ornstein has reported that the Reds are unconcerned by Salah’s show of petulance.
With Mo now set to stay at Anfield next season and Klopp about to depart, we think it’s best for everybody to simply now move on. As Richards can attest, Salah is a good egg. He’s not about to make a habit out of this.
