Mohamed Salah played in his first match for Liverpool since announcing he was leaving, but things could not have gone worse for the Egyptian at Manchester City
Mo Salah
Mohamed Salah endured a nightmare afternoon against Manchester City(Image: PA)
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Ally McCoist has described Mohamed Salah's performance against Manchester City as "sad" after Liverpool were destroyed in the FA Cup quarter-final. Nearly two weeks after announcing he was leaving the Reds, Salah was deployed against the Cityzens on the blue side of Manchester.
With less than a dozen matches left in his Liverpool career, many thought he would have a huge performance against Pep Guardiola's side. However, in front of goal, he was just as gun shy as he was before his announcement.
He hesitated and lashed at an effort when in front of goal in the first half and saw a weak toe-poke effort be beaten away by James Trafford. With Liverpool trailing 4-0 after Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick and Antoine Semenyo chipped in a wonderful finish, Salah had an opportunity from the penalty spot.
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The Egyptian's spot-kick lacked both accuracy and power and Trafford guessed right and saved his effort comfortably. After the England international convincingly stopped the ex-Chelsea forward from scoring a consolation, McCoist said he was left feeling uncomfortable.
Speaking on TNT Sports, he said: "I didn’t fancy him. I didn’t fancy him at all. It’s a shame because he looks a shadow of the man that has lit up this league and lit up this country.
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"It’s a shame he’s going out this way. He doesn’t look like a confident man or a confident player at this moment in time.”
Last season, Salah was handed a new Liverpool contract after hammering in 29 goals and 18 assists in 38 Premier League appearances.
He has not been anywhere near as prolific in, what will be, his final season in charge. Salah has ten goals and nine assists in all competitions, which is below his usual standards.
His campaign was also marred by a bitter public falling out with Liverpool boss Arne Slot, which took place just before the Africa Cup of Nations started. Before the clash against City, Slot admitted he has no regrets about any of his decisions leading up to that dispute.
He said: "Yes. I look back at this season thinking that I made a few decisions that could have been better but I’m not talking about this specific thing with Mo. I don't regret many things I did during a little longer than one-and-a-half years together.
Liverpool's Egyptian striker #11 Mohamed Salah leaves the pitch, substituted during the English FA Cup quarter final football match between Manchester City and Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on April 4, 2026
Salah was taken off and replaced by Federico Chiesa in the 78th minute(Image: AFP or licensors)
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"Again, the assumption that if he's not playing that he wants to leave – that's the assumption being made – then he would have left one-and-a-half years ago. I can remember West Ham away when he wasn't playing.
“I wasn't there. He didn’t decide to leave (Salah had a fallout with Jurgen Klopp ). The assumption is if you don’t play these games and all of a sudden want to leave, it is an assumption and maybe it is true or maybe it isn’t.
"But history has shown that he did not do that previously and had a great season after that.”
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