There's a scene in the movie Moneyball where manager Billy Beane tells an older player, David Justice, that he wants him to be upfront about what he can pull off these days. He says he's not paying him for who he used to be but for who he is now — and asks him to lead by example.

You can almost imagine Liverpool manager Arne Slot wanting to have a similar conversation with Mohamed Salah this season. But instead of accepting the reality, Salah has reacted badly.

Salah Isn't Acting Like a Leader Anymore

Salah signed a new two-year contract in April to remain at Liverpool. Yet even he, as the best-paid player in the squad, has set a questionable example this campaign.

Instead of helping the team during tough times, he has acted like someone that thinks he is bigger than the team.

Salah will always be a Liverpool legend for what he achieved in the past, but after being benched, publicly critcising Slot has damaged his repuation with many fans.

From Superstar to Struggling Player

Last season was one of excellence from Salah, who finished fourth in the 2025 Ballon d’Or voting after a campaign in which he helped Liverpool win the Premier League. He recorded 47 goals and assists — the most ever in a 38-game league season — and won his third PFA Player of the Year award.

But this season has been completely different.

He has scored just five goals in 19 games, and also has been almost invisible during the matches.

Two major factors explain his drop in form:

Trent Alexander-Arnold left for Real Madrid, and now Salah has lost world-class passes he used to get down the right.

Salah refuses to defend, and without the hard-working players like Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota behind him, the team is much weaker.

The sale of Diaz and the loss of Jota made Salah's lack of effort all too evident.

Slot proved loyal-though Salah did not respond.

The belief of many people was that Salah should have been dropped a long time ago. Slot still kept faith in him, starting him in Liverpool's first 12 league matches, even while the team suffered badly, losing nine out of 12 games.

After a disastrous home defeat, 3-0, against Nottingham Forest, Liverpool then found themselves in 11th place in the table, while Slot was under enormous pressure.

Slot finally dropped Salah for the visit of West Ham - and Liverpool performed so much better without him, beating their opponents 2-0.

Salah then came off the bench against Sunderland but was benched again for the 3-3 draw with Leeds, where Liverpool's attack was fine on the day but the defence failed again.

Salah's Reaction Made Things Worse Instead of taking the decision on the chin, Salah accused Slot of throwing him “under the bus.” With the way he has played this season, though - slow, frustrated, and not helping the team - it's hard for anyone to feel sorry for him. Just like Cristiano Ronaldo's messy exit from Manchester United, Salah's attitude now overshadows the great memories he created at Liverpool.