Mohamed Salah has highlighted his worries about Liverpool to the club and the evidence is that they're already here
Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai after a Liverpool game
Dominik Szoboszlai's post-match comments after the Man United defeat back up Mohamed Salah's worries about Liverpool(Image: Getty Images)
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As Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson prepare for their final hurrahs in a Liverpool shirt, the Reds face an uncertain future. Two senior players departing, potentially three if Alisson Becker leaves amid ongoing speculation over a move to Juventus, means that others have to step up.
However, as evidenced on Sunday during the 3-2 defeat to Manchester United, there are reasons to be concerned about the dressing room culture at Anfield and if the players can drag Liverpool out of the mire. The Egyptian was in front of the cameras prior to the defeat at Old Trafford, where he highlighted concerns about the standards at Anfield when he rides off into the sunset.
While the 33-year-old played no part in the dour display in Manchester due to injury, his words pre-match reverberated even louder when an 11th Premier League defeat of the season was inflicted on Arne Slot's side. Salah said: "I spoke to a member of staff and also the guys up there, I told them, ‘When I leave you need an example here. You need people to come early and go to the gym'.
"If this doesn’t happen, it will be tricky for the club, because it’s very necessary you put the standards high’."
After forty-five gutless minutes, with the misery compounded by goals from Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko, Liverpool had a mountain to climb against one of their fiercest rivals. For too many times this season, the Premier League champions have been rabbits in the headlights and chaotic for all the wrong reasons.
There are leaders within the team but the leadership group will be decimated with the departure of Robertson and Salah. It was Dominik Szoboszlai who spearheaded the fightback in the second-half, when Liverpool could have rolled over, sparking the initial comeback before providing Cody Gakpo with a tap-in after Senne Lammens' mistake.
Comments from the Hungary captain and Liverpool's Player of the Season may point to a crisis, somewhat, over a lack of leaders at Anfield.
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He said: "You have to ask the other ones (other players about showing leadership) - I try to do my best, I try to, as you say, drag them with me, take them with me and hopefully set an example day by day, game by game.
"That’s what I want to do and that’s going to be my plan for the last three games as well."
With the majority of the title-winning squad still in the building, it would have been expected that they could continue raising the bar, irrespective of the new players finding their feet. During the early stages of the season, the commitment and relentlessness saw them snatch victory from the jaws of defeat on more than one occasion, but when luck ran out, some have gone into hiding.
In light of Jurgen Klopp's departure, many questioned the degree to which Liverpool would struggle after a key figurehead departed. Slot's debut season eradicated that doubt but with Salah among the influential figures heading for an Anfield exit, one would ponder what impact it will have on performances next season.
Mitigating factors aside, how many times have players other than Szoboszlai, Salah or Van Dijk stepped up? Hugo Ekitike, you could argue, did but his form tailed off before the Achilles rupture and he will now be out of action for a significant period.
Already, the signs are there. Szoboszlai has contributed in crucial moments with big goals and assists but it is clear, as the fallout from his gesture toward travelling supporters after the 4-0 FA Cup defeat at Manchester City showed, that he still has room to grow.
Captain Virgil van Dijk is the one figure who can be looked to in the Liverpool line-up but with the Dutchman 35 in July and entering the final year of his contract, it won't be long before another important figure in the Reds dressing room fades away.
Alexis Mac Allister and Ibrahima Konate are two players who have seen it and done it at Anfield but with their significant drops in form, their contribution to matches and to the team has been more detrimental than impactful.
Liverpool face another huge summer with more significant transfer business expected but Salah's warning is echoing loudly. While Van Dijk knows that they have to turn it around, the writing is already on the wall.
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