Liverpool

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Mohamed Salah's social media post saying Liverpool must return to being a "heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear" after "crumbling" to a defeat at Aston Villa was a "knife in the back" for Arne Slot, says former Premier League midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker.

"When you look at this situation specifically, Mohamed Salah is very calculated," he told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast.

"He only speaks when he needs to speak and when things are going well you don't really hear from him whatsoever.

"You only heard from him when he wanted his new contract, not when things were going wrong.

"What people need to understand is footballers are idolised and have the best job in the world but are human beings as well. Some can get their egos bruised and can get very emotional and insecure about certain things. When you go through something like that with a manager, not every footballer has the ability to be the bigger person and lay it to rest.

"Mo Salah is an absolute Liverpool legend, but when it comes to speaking out in the media he is very calculated and knows when to do it.

"For me, this was perfectly calculated and perfectly timed for him to know exactly what he's doing - taking a dig at the manager.

"When you look at the performance against Aston Villa as well, it's kicking someone when they're down.

"It's very difficult for a manager to deal with something like this involving a legend at the club. For me, this isn't a coincidence and this is basically a knife to the back to Slot before Salah leaves the football club."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Sami Mokbel
Senior football correspondent

Not for the first time this season, Mohamed Salah seems to have taken a thinly veiled dig at the manager. I think it's pretty clear to everyone, at least from the outside, that his relationship with Arne Slot is at rock bottom.

It just leaves an unsavoury taste in everyone's mouth heading into the final week of the season.

Here we have a Liverpool legend who is arguably in the top 10 players to have ever played for the club. To go out in this manner is unfortunate really. You can't apportion blame when we don't know the full story and why Salah feels the way he does.

It will now be interesting to see in that final game of the season at Anfield, his farewell to the supporters and the City, how Slot reacts in terms of team selection and how the fans react to a legend going out in unsavoury fashion.

You just wonder if the Liverpool fans will have taken too kindly to it.

It is calculated because Salah will know Slot is not the flavour of the month at the moment with large sections of the Liverpool supporter base. A lot of fans will believe Slot should not be manager heading into next season.

On the back of that, Salah has probably sensed an opportunity to apply even more pressure on a guy who he has effectively fallen out with. He's sensed that opportunity and I think he's taken it.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

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We asked for your views on former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso agreeing to become Chelsea's next manager.

Will the 44-year-old ever be able to manage the Reds after managing the Blues?

Here are some of your opinions:

Marc: Xabi Alonso has now gone from being a Liverpool legend to a former hero, just like Michael Owen did. Going to one of your club's biggest rivals is always a big no-no. It makes you think that he would've gone to Manchester United, if they had come in for him. That's how to tarnish your reputation for 30 pieces of silver. Even before this news, I was hoping we would go for Andoni Iraola. He is young, he improves players, and he plays football like Jurgen Klopp.

Stuart: It will be extremely difficult for him to manage Liverpool now, at least maybe not straight from Chelsea. He might have to manage elsewhere a couple of times. However, I didn't really see him as a manager we needed at this moment in time. We need a Luis Enrique or an Unai Emery to instil some much needed discipline into this squad.

Shane: It's not great from a Liverpool supporter's perspective, but he who dares wins while the FSG board sleeps. I'm really not looking forward to another season with Arne Slot at the helm though, considering what I've seen this year.

Richard: It was a great opportunity to bring in a thinker, a serial winner, and an ex-Liverpool player - but the owners seem to have bought into 'Mr Dull as Dishwater' and his dreary, insipid tactics. He keeps changing the team and their positions, which is why there are so many injuries and why so many players are playing below par. I don't think the players like his tippy-tappy style of play. Fast, incisive and accurate football is a memory now.

Jay: Xabi Alonso is undoubtedly a fan favourite as a player, but as a manager he is unproven because one decent season in Germany means nothing. Real Madrid took a punt and it bombed. He himself turned Liverpool down knowing he wasn't yet ready for us and stayed another year in Germany. Since then, he has done nothing worth writing to Anfield about. Steven Gerrard recently commented on the fact that there are levels of managers out there and he would be happy to be an assistant to a top-tier manager. Maybe Xabi should've done that until Anfield was ready. He will never be welcome to manage us now he has been to Stamford Bridge.

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Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has been "selfish" and should be dropped from the squad for the Reds' final match of the season against Brentford at Anfield, says former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney.

Salah said Liverpool must return to being a "heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear" after a 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa which left their Champions League place in doubt.

In December, he told reporters that his relationship with Arne Slot had broken down and this latest social media post has been seen as a further criticism of the head coach.

Rooney told The Wayne Rooney Show: "I find it sad at the end of what he's done and what he's achieved at Liverpool. It's not the point for him to come out and aim another dig at Slot.

"He wants to play heavy metal football, so he's basically saying he wants Jurgen Klopp football. Now I don't think Mo Salah can cope with that type of football any more. I think his legs have gone to play at that high tempo and high intensity.

"If I was Arne Slot, I'd have him nowhere near the stadium in the last game.

"He's almost just dropped the grenade and said he doesn't trust and believe in Arne Slot and almost thrown his team-mates who are going to be there next season and let them have to deal with that as well and put them into a position.

"I think Salah's trying to vindicate himself and make himself feel better because he's had a very poor season.

"So I think he's been very selfish in what he's done on the two occasions. It's a shame and fans will be on his side, but I think when you look deeper into it and having been in a dressing room in a similar situation to that as well, Mo Salah knows exactly what he's doing.

"That's your manager. You can't publicly disrespect him twice the way he has and get away with it. And that's where if I was Arne Slot, I'd have to pull rank and just say, 'listen, you're not coming anywhere near the place on Saturday, whether you like it or not'. I really doubt he will do it, but I think he should.

"Of course he deserves a good send off but does he deserve it just for this? It's the second time he's done it."

Watch The Wayne Rooney Show on BBC iPlayer or listen on BBC Sounds

Pundits Dion Dublin and Mark Schwarzer join host Gabby Logan to bring you the action and talking points from Friday's and Sunday's Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Leeds 1-0 Burnley

• Brentford 2-2 Crystal Palace

• Newcastle 3-1 West Ham

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It is official - Xabi Alonso has agreed to become Chelsea manager on a four-year contract.

The former Liverpool midfielder will get to work at Stamford Bridge on 1 July, despite being heavily linked with the managerial position at Anfield after leaving Real Madrid by mutual consent back in January.

How do you feel about Alonso's move? Is it a missed opportunity for Liverpool? Will he ever be able to manage the Reds after managing the Blues?

Let us know your thoughts here

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We asked for your views on Arne Slot's comments that the upcoming transfer window will help his side return to form for next season.

Here are some of your comments:

Melinda: Yes, I believe we have to give Slot chance to right his wrongs in the window and I believe he will do better. As a team, we have to avoid short-sightedness.

Louie: No... he had a window last summer, a very substantial one. I think he's lost the dressing room, he's certainly lost a high percentage of the fans. Nothing against Arne Slot, I just think he isn't the man for the job.

Steve: The only transfer that makes any sense is Slot out and Alonso in, but we've now lost Alonso to Chelsea, so unless FSG act now, we could be fighting relegation next year. I feel sorry for the season ticket holders who have paid good money to watch boring, predictable football. Go and watch Sunday league footy, it's more exciting.

Segie: Slot is dreaming if he thinks the new transfer window is going to change things for Liverpool. He will be remembered as the manager with a truckload of excuses and his failure to bring out the best from an expensively assembled lot from this January window.

Tony: Slot seems to forget the World Cup this summer will seriously condense the summer transfer window. We're going to start next season as well as we've finished this one. The only thing we do better than other teams is walking.

Wardy: If the transfer window engineers such significant change as last year then we are due another 'transition' season! No faith in Slot to integrate and improve new signings or define a style of play.

Rhyfel: Simply no, unless we transfer out Slot. The hierarchy should let Slot go and try to persuade Mo Salah to stay (or resign him). Don't let Alisson Becker leave the way we allowed Luis Diaz to go, even more after the sad death of Diogo Jota, leaving a gaping hole on the left. For any incoming players, buy early, the Liverpool way and not leave it too late like last summer's transferred players.

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Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah on his X social media account: "I have witnessed this club go from doubters to believers, and from believers to champions.

"It took hard work and I always did everything I could to help the club get there. Nothing makes me prouder than that. Us crumbling to yet another defeat this season was very painful and not what our fans deserve. I want to see Liverpool go back to being the heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear and back to being a team that wins trophies.

"That is the football I know how to play and that is the identity that needs to be recovered and kept for good. It cannot be negotiable and everyone that joins this club should adapt to it. Winning some games here and there is not what Liverpool should be about. All teams win games. Liverpool will always be a club that means a great deal to me and to my family. I want to see it succeed for long after I have moved on. As I've always said, qualifying to next season's Champions League is the bare minimum and I will do everything I can to make that happen."

Midfielder Curtis Jones wrote on his own social media: "Thank you for your continued support in a disappointing season. It's way off the standards expected at this football club."

Access all audio on the Reds here or hit play below to hear Liverpool fan and writer Matt Addison react to Salah's words.

Scroll down Mohamed Salah's social media and you will realise that this kind of statement on his own channels is rare.

He only posts on social media on the odd occasion, for example, when a team-mate leaves or when he wants to deliver a message to the Liverpool fans.

With just a week to go of his Liverpool career, this is a clear indication in terms of where he thinks the club is heading.

It is a damning verdict of what he thinks of Liverpool's current style of play under Slot and the use of a term like "heavy metal football" is enough to indicate that he wants more change at Anfield.

• Read about Salah's comments

Of course, Salah will not be part of that change but given what he has done for Liverpool, his words will resonate across the fanbase.

Before his mixed zone interview at Leeds in December, where he said his relationship with Slot had broken down, the understanding from those close to Salah is that a statement issued in a similar way to this one was being considered as an option in order to control the message.

In the end, Salah decided to opt for the mixed zone interview where his passion came out.

This time around, Salah has chosen a more considered social-media statement.

And judging by the comments from players such as Jones and Ekitike on his post and the likes from fellow Liverpool team-mates, he is not alone with his thoughts.

Chloe Bloxam
Fan contributor

Liverpool fan Chloe Bloxam says she is "running out of words" and Arne Slot is "running out of time" in the aftermath of the Reds' defeat at Aston Villa.

She explains the football is "awful" to watch and finding "positives" is difficult at the end of a season in which Slot's side have fallen from champions to a side still chasing a Champions League spot.

"I don't think I've actually seen any progression," she says. "It feels like it's somehow getting worse.

"It is horrific to watch, it really is. In terms of tactics and system I have no idea what we are trying.

"I'm not sure we even deserve that Champions League spot.

"It's horrendous to watch, it's awful what we are seeing now. This season has been dismal, torture at times.

"Liverpool have some big decisions to make this summer and they have to make them quickly."

Find more from Chloe Bloxam at The Redmen TV, external

We asked for your thoughts after Friday's Premier League game between Aston Villa and Liverpool.

Here are some of your comments:

Aston Villa fans

Nick: Superb - really wasn't expecting that high-energy performance. They can now go to Istanbul without the added pressure of Champions League qualification doubts.

Richard: I am in dreamland. To think where Villa were a few seasons ago, then compare it to now, unbelievable. Another great team performance. Watkins has found form at the right time. If Villa can replicate that performance on Wednesday night, what a season we will have had. Only niggle, why wasn't Emery considered for Premier League Manager of the Season?

Leigh: A superb result, the team played well and collectively. This is the Villa we know, big game, big performance. In Emery we trust.

Prit: Another magnificent half by Villa. When we play front-foot football, we are unplayable. I loved the way we moved the ball quickly up the pitch and great vision by Martinez for playing the ball long to find Watkins on numerous occasions. Some really great goals with Watkins and Rogers finding their mojo, but what a final goal by captain fantastic, Super John McGinn. In truth, we could have beaten Liverpool by six or seven and just a real shame that Buendia couldn't get the goal he deserved. So, Champions League football sorted, all we need to do is play a focused game of football in Istanbul to cap off the season. Well done Unai and well done Villa!

Liverpool fans

Dax: This season Slot has made great players look ordinary. Salah, Van Dijk, Gravenberch are all shadows of their previous seasons and the players he's brought in are nothing like their price tag suggests. They did not become bad players overnight. You've only got to look at the performances for their country to see that the problem is Slot. However, it's interesting to note that when our players are having to stretch out, run faster or make up for stray passes (which is happening a lot) to see where our injuries are coming from. We are chasing every game and as a result very few of our players are playing to their potential.

Christian: The credit Slot had in the bank from winning the league last season just isn't enough to forgive the utter dross us fans are having to endure. Even with the extensive injury list, there should still be signs of improvement from the training ground. If anything, we're easier to beat now than at any point this season. We must have a change in the summer. I'm sorry to say - the players clearly do not believe in Slot's philosophy.

Fuzzy: It's clear and obvious Slot has lost the plot as well as the players. There is no clear system, no tactical nous, it's a 'hope for the best' situation in every game, followed by the same old weak excuses. FSG need to seriously reconsider their intention to keep Slot on for next season. Get Xabi in now!

Nathan: Shocking, just absolutely shocking! This is the first time I'm ever going to say as a Liverpool fan that I can't wait for next Sunday and this dreadful season to be over! How Slot is still in a job is mind-blowing considering we've lost the same amount of games as the team sat in 14th in the table! Virgil van Dijk and Rio Ngumoha are the only two I could say were actually trying for us, the rest of the team is absolutely woeful. If Slot is still in at the start of next season, we are doomed and set for another season of boring, predictable football.

Liverpool boss Arne Slot says he believes next season will be better for his side and that a transfer window will prove significant in driving things forward.

Recent weeks have brought speculation over Slot's future with Liverpool faltering on all fronts. Friday's 4-2 defeat by Aston Villa left the Reds in fifth place a year after cruising to the Premier League title.

But speaking after his side's thumping at Villa Park, Slot said: "I can understand at this moment of time that they don't have a lot of confidence or a lot of feeling that things can be much better next season.

"But I think then they are underestimating what a window can do, what a new start can do, and I think we know quite well what to improve.

"I think one of the things we have to improve is also very, very, very obvious, and I would have preferred not to talk about it here, but you're actually almost forcing me to.

"If you miss nine players that can start a game of football, and almost all of them are starters for us or have been for large part of the season, then if you add that to what you can improve in a window and add that to players that are playing for the second season in the Premier League, that will automatically lead to much more."

Do you think a transfer window will fix things for Liverpool? Tell us

Listen to Slot above or get more audio on the Reds here

Aadam Patel
Football reporter

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Where do you start with Liverpool? This is a side that is fragile and carved open at ease and they were ripped apart here.

"They are very poor in possession and very poor out of possession," said Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports pre-match. That summed it up.

Bar the spark of 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha and Virgil van Dijk from set-pieces, Liverpool struggled attackingly.

Fundamental to next season will be the ability to get the best out of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak because right now, Liverpool are not feared.

Defensively, their season goes from bad to worse. Arne Slot's men have conceded more than 50 goals in a 38-game Premier League campaign for the first time (52).

And that is now one draw and seven defeats in eight away games against teams in the Premier League top nine this season. One point in those games is a shocking return for any team, never mind a side trying to defend a Premier League title.

Champions League football should still be secured but Liverpool are making seriously hard work out of it, with just one point in their last three games.

Liverpool boss Arne Slot speaking to BBC MOTD: "After 2-1 it went away from us. Before that I think we started well in the first 10 minutes of the second half then we had control of the game without creating chances - but that is not the first time this season.

"At 1-1 we were close to going 2-1 and then conceding the goal at 2-1 the way we conceded the goal is something we haven't had this season yet. We have conceded a lot of goals this season which you'd find hard to believe unless you live it and that's what we did today. Villa were the better team after that and the game went away from us.

"It's not about me or how frustrated I am it's frustrating for everyone involved - players, staff and definitely fans. Frustrating for players who came back and in football you can slip [Dominik Szoboszlai], but it's so unfortunate. That is something that's probably part of our season. We know what to do next week."

Why has away form been so poor?: "In general teams struggle more away from home but for a top team like us it's far too many losses and dropped points. That hugely has to do with the way we concede is far too easy in general.

"We have chances but we've not been as clinical in fishing them this season as we were last season. It doesn't help that [Alexander] Isak has hardly played for us or that Hugo [Ekitike] has been unavailable. It is what it is. Next week, Brentford is where our focus is."

On his position as manager?: "It's not about me it's about us being disappointed with the result. I spoke yesterday on it and that's enough. Our focus is on the Brentford game and making sure we earn the support of the fans by starting the game aggressive and well.

"The culmination of the fan support and a good performance will lead us to what we want to achieve and that is qualifying for the Champions League."

Did you know?

• Liverpool have conceded four goals in a Premier League game for the first time since a 4-4 draw with Southampton in their final match of the 2022-23 season – the Reds have also leaked more than 50 goals in a 38-game Premier League campaign for the first time (52).

• Liverpool lost their 19th game of the season across all competitions; since they were last promoted to the top-flight in 1962, only in 1992-93 (20) have the Reds suffered more defeats in a campaign (also 19 in 2004-05 and 2009-10).

• Virgil van Dijk has now scored more headed goals for Liverpool in the Premier League than any other player (22), netting twice in a league game tonight for the first time since November 2019 versus Brighton.

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on Villa's performance

What did you make of Liverpool's display?

Come back on Saturday for a selection of your replies - more reaction and analysis coming soon

Unai Emery makes three changes from Aston Villa's draw at Burnley and despite having a Europa League final to look forward to on Wednesday, it's a fairly strong Villa side.

Aston Villa XI: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Pau, Digne; Tielemans, Lindelof; McGinn, Rogers, Buendia; Watkins.

Subs: Bizot, Barkley, Garcia, Abraham, Sancho, Luiz, Maatsen, Bogarde, Bailey.

For Liverpool, there's just the one change with Joe Gomez coming in for Jeremie Frimpong. Mohamed Salah and Florian Wirtz are back on the bench but there's no Alexander Isak again.

Liverpool XI: Mamardashvili; Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones, Szoboszlai, Ngumoha; Gakpo.

Subs: Woodman, Wirtz, Salah, Chiesa, Robertson, Nyoni, McConnell, Ndiaye, Wright.