Jamie Carragher's DISGUST of Mo Salah completely misses the point

After spending just 45 minutes on the pitch when the Reds played West Ham, Sunderland and Leeds, it felt like something had happened in private between Mohamed Salah and Arne Slot.

The decision to drop the Egyptian is something that Slot is perfectly able to do, although he must surely have known that there would be consequences if it didn't work out. The fanbase grew vocal on social media, and after the collapse against Leeds at the weekend, Salah finally snapped.

Voicing your frustrations to the media, putting yourself ahead of the club, wasn't a great idea, and the criticism that Salah has faced on the back of his blunder has been entirely warranted. He might have felt that he had no other choice, since he's going to AFCON after the weekend, but the mess he's caused is going to linger for quite some time. Whether he intended all this is unknown.

Club legend Jamie Carragher was named dropped in Salah's comments, and so it was inevitable that the pundit was going to respond in time. On Monday evening, the former defender said his peace.

The only problem with the Englishman's rehearsed rebuttal is that not every he said about Salah felt truly accurate. An error which has fuelled his disgust for the Egyptian. He's entirely missed the point.

Carragher's view on Salah is thwarted

One quote from Sky Sports' Monday Night Football broadcast which stood out to me was this.

He said: "One thing I want to remind Salah and maybe his agent, before he came to Liverpool, Mo Salah was known as the guy who failed at Chelsea. That's just a fact. He's also the greatest player his country has ever had. Egypt in the AFCON are the most successful nation. He hasn't won AFCON.

"That's not me trying to put him down as a player... what it tells Mo Salah and his agent [is that] it's not about an individual. You were not a star when you came into Liverpool... no matter how good of a player you are, you need help from teammates, the manager, and the fans. It's important he remembers that. When he's talking there, it's all about 'me, me, me.'"

In spite of Carragher attempting to not slander Salah or attack him on a personal level - "put[ting] him down as a player" as he says, he does just that, claiming that his actions are inherently selfish.

And yet, the sheer amount of missing context in the few sentences he gives in this part of his response, is extraordinary. So I think it's important if we break this down to get to the root issue.

In England, it's true that Salah was seen as a failure. However, he played for Roma for two seasons before Liverpool snatched him up, and he delivered 22 goal contributions in 2025/26 and 33 in 2026/17. That's not nothing, they're elite numbers. He's been really consistent for the last 10 years.

Next up is Carragher pointing out that Salah hasn't won AFCON. We're led to believe that Salah needs to focus on the team more, yet the expectation is that Mo should've carried his side to the heights that other Egypt sides have reached. Recently, Egypt haven't been good enough to win.

And there's more. Egypt have gone through a lot off-the-field over the last decade, as Melissa Reddy goes into at depth on X. There's so much context missing from Carragher's point-scoring effort.

In spite of the troubling background noise they made the final of AFCON in both 2017 and 2021, and the fact that Salah has led his country to qualify for two of the last three editions of the World Cup, is also overlooked. He's not achieved what teams of the past have. Instead, he's made his own history.

And then we get to the really important stuff. The emphasis that Salah needs to regard his teammates and the club more often, rather than making himself the centre of attention.

Slot said in his press conference before the Inter Milan clash that Salah actually was particularly respectful after being told he was initially being dropped against West Ham. Two games later, however, things have changed. Liverpool took home five points from those three matches, although the performances didn't get any better. Was Salah a wasted resource being left on the bench?

In my view, dropping Salah for three games was unnecessary. He's in line with Cody Gakpo as our stat leader, and while his efforts in front of goal have been underwhelming, he's still been impactful.

With the context that Salah will have missed four of the five games before he leaves for AFCON, with his involvement against Brighton still undecided right now, you can surely understand why Salah may be frustrated that he's one of our greatest players all time, yet his involvement in the team is limited.

Despite how reasonable the Egyptian came across to a lot of fans, who found a way to overlook what how he divulged his feelings, Carragher has been able to get over it. He compounded his dislike of Salah on CBS Sports prior to Liverpool's 1-0 win over Inter Milan. It's insane how impassioned he is.

Salah spoke about his feelings, and was selfish in his comments. But I don't think he's shown any disregard for the team in his sentiment. The impact of his decision might have been negative, but he's committed to the club. He has no plans to leave. He couldn't want to be more involved.

It's the lack of change for having dropped Salah, and the insistence on doing the same thing, which seems to have triggered him. He might well think some of his other teammates should've been dropped instead, and you can disagree with him for that. Carragher is entitled to hold that position.

But are we really suggesting that Salah holds any ill-will to Liverpool? Is he really trying to look after his own image, instead of putting the club on his back, like he did last season to win the league title?

Slot is allowed to drop Salah, and that decision is allowed to be critiqued, including by Salah. Should the response have been made in the media rather than on the pitch when he's eventually unleashed again? No. But is it plausible that Salah felt he might not get an opportunity to make a difference before January, when he returns from AFCON? Yes, in my view. And that's why we're now here.

Carragher attempting to suggest that Salah is only looking after himself misses the point of why Salah spoke out in the first place. If we're to get back to winning ways, then backing Salah is one of the best things Liverpool could do right now. New signings Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz haven't delivered for us yet, and they're getting a free pass when it comes to this high-level of scrutiny.

Despite how reasonable the Egyptian came across to a lot of fans, who found a way to overlook what how he divulged his feelings, Carragher has been able to get over it. He compounded his dislike of Salah on CBS Sports prior to Liverpool's 1-0 win over Inter Milan. It's insane how impassioned he is.

It's almost as if there's not getting through to him. He's made up his mind and no one can get him to stop being so defensive when Salah's get gets brought up in a conversation. He's too far gone.

Generally speaking, it feels as though there's at least on thing we can all agree on when it comes to this discourse; if the last eight years have told us anything, it's that we're a better side with the Egyptian in it. He's played 420 games for us for good reason. I hope he's back in contention soon.

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