Mohamed Salah's words may have hit the headlines over the past week, but Liverpool will always be about more than just one player writes Andy Dunn
Arne Slot has one-and-a-half years left on his contract at Liverpool
Arne Slot has one-and-a-half years left on his contract at Liverpool(Image: Offside via Getty Images)
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This is a story about Dean Saunders, chicken, steak, fish and the Liverpool ethos. Pre-season 1991. Sweden. Team hotel. Ronnie Moran is taking meal orders from the players and backroom staff. Ten for steak, eight for chicken, six for fish. Squads were not as big in those days.
Deano has ordered steak but when the food comes out, the chicken looks more appetising. He has one of those. Saunders had only signed a week or two ago, for a British record £2.9million from relegated Derby County. As the dinner-order inquest begins, Saunders confesses, claiming an innocent mistake. Ronnie reckons otherwise.
“Ah, there you go, there’s a shock. You’re at a proper club now, son. That’s selfish. “And by the way, you will take that on the pitch with you. You will be selfish on the pitch. You have nicked someone’s chicken.”
Saunders loved Moran and loves telling that story when explaining what made Liverpool a great club.
Under Graeme Souness, Saunders only had one season at Anfield but never forgot the principle that underpinned everything the club did.
The same principle applies at every club but Saunders never knew it to be enforced with such passion and discipline as it was at Liverpool.
There are far too many compelling testimonies from current and former Liverpool players to believe Mohamed Salah is selfish.
The latest came from Luis Diaz, who recalled Salah’s welcoming words.
“If ever you need my help, I’m here for you.”
And that is typical. Harvey Elliott, for example, has told a similar tale.
Speak to his team-mates past and present and no-one has Salah down as some sort of egotistical prima donna.
But there is no denying it has all been about him recently. He made it that way with his comments after the match at Elland Road.
And he made it that way with his theatrical lap of the stadium after the win over Brighton.
Arne Slot pointed out the fact that other players toured the ground to show their gratitude. True, but none did it as slowly and as melodramatically as Salah.
He was always going to be the last to leave the field.
An immediate reaction to the acclaim given to Salah was to dismiss the idea fans would show any disapproval of his post-Leeds comments.
They clearly don’t hold his ‘under-the-bus’ tirade against him.
But, on reflection, it is hard not to wonder what Slot made of the adulation for Salah.
Publicly, he would say he was happy about it and, even privately, it probably did not bother him one iota.
But it is an interesting dynamic. In any future differences of opinion between the manager and his marquee player, it is not a given that the former will have overwhelming support.
Slot, though, is known to have the overwhelming backing of those in the Liverpool ownership group.
And now would be a good time to see emphatic proof of that backing.
Now would be a good time for Slot and the club to agree on a new long-term contract.
Not because it would send some sort of message to Salah that Slot’s position has not been undermined - although that would be a positive bi-product.
But because Slot is the right fit for Liverpool, a manager who gets the club, a character who seems capable of creating a dynasty.
It was something of a surprise that Slot and Fenway Sports Group did not sort out a new deal last summer, both as a reward for his Premier League-winning campaign and as confirmation that the owners are convinced he is the leader for the long term.
But doing it now would be a smart move.
Not least, because it would show that, despite the hero-worship of one player in particular on Saturday, the most important figure at Anfield was in the technical area.