Arne Slot said Liverpool have “moved on” from the furore caused by Mohamed Salah’s explosive outburst at being dropped and are showing signs of growing into the side he wants to see.
The Reds begin what could be up to a month without Salah, who is representing Egypt at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), away at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Saturday.
After a run of nine defeats in 12 games, Slot has steadied the ship in a five-game unbeaten run, during which Salah did not start a single game.
“Actions speak louder than words. We moved on,” Slot told reporters on Friday, referring to his decision to bring Salah on as a substitute in last week’s 2-0 victory over Brighton.
Salah said after the 3-3 draw at Leeds United – the third consecutive game for which he was benched – that he had been thrown under the bus for Liverpool’s woes this season. He was dropped from the squad that travelled to Inter Milan in the Reds next match. Subsequently, interest was shown from Saudi Arabia about bringing Salah to the Saudi Pro League.
“Now he’s at the AFCON playing big games for himself and the country,” Slot continued. “All the focus for him is over there and there should not be any distraction of me saying anything because we moved on after the Leeds interview and he played against Brighton.”
Despite a difficult second season for Slot in England, Liverpool sit seventh in the Premier League and would move into the top four with a victory against struggling Spurs.
The English champions transformed their squad over the summer transfer window, spending nearly 450 million pounds ($602m) to bring in Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez.
Apart from the impressive Ekitike, all the new signings have struggled, and Slot conceded he had been overly optimistic over how long it would take for his new-look squad to perform consistently.
“I think we are getting closer and closer to the team I want us to be and that has gone with ups and downs,” said the Dutchman.
“But for me, that makes complete sense because all the changes we’ve made during the summer, and we made them on purpose because we thought we needed to.
“If I’m completely honest, maybe I didn’t expect it to take maybe as long as it did, but, looking back on it, reflecting on it now, I think I’ve been too positive because if you go with a new group where not all of them are completely ready to play every single game, 90 minutes in this intensity, you have to adapt.
“Sometimes he can play, then he cannot play. So it takes maybe a bit of time, and we’ve been very unlucky.”
Joe Gomez and Cody Gakpo will miss the trip to Tottenham due to injury, but Slot is hopeful that Dominik Szoboszlai will be fit to start. Frimpong returns after a two-month absence.
