Jamie Carragher says Arne Slot is in a no-win situation over Mohamed Salah's farewell. Brentford on Sunday is set to be Salah's last game for Liverpool at Anfield before his summer exit, and Carragher's view is that the manager will face criticism either way, whether he picks the side he thinks is strongest or tries to give the forward a proper send-off.

Why Carragher thinks Slot cannot satisfy everyone

Carragher's point is basic and pretty hard to argue with. As he put it: "I don't think a manager should ever cut off his nose to spite his face, he should always do what's going to give the team the best chance of a result".

He was even clearer about the bind Slot is in with the supporters. "You almost can't win in some ways," Carragher said. "If he had a bit more power… But if it was me and I was Arne Slot, I think I would play it a little bit clever if I'd got the result (from Bournemouth) and was in the Champions League positions."

That is the selection tension here. Carragher is not claiming Slot has already settled on a team, only that the decision will be judged through two different lenses at once, result first or farewell first. Liverpool are 5th in the Premier League with 59 points from 37 league games, so this is not a dead rubber and the manager does not have the luxury of treating it like a ceremonial night.

Salah's message has added another layer

Salah's social media post on Saturday was widely interpreted as a thinly veiled critique of Slot, with references to Jürgen Klopp's terminology. In it, Salah said Liverpool should go back to being a "heavy metal attacking team" and called that "the identity that needs to be recovered and kept for good".

That is a pointed public line for a player whose Brentford trip is already being framed around farewell rather than football. The post does not tell us what Slot will do on team selection, and it does not need to. It simply raises the stakes around how Liverpool's current direction is being judged, especially when the message lands so close to what is set to be Salah's final Anfield appearance.

The form around it is hardly calming either. Liverpool have endured nearly a month without tasting victory and have suffered a second defeat in three Premier League matches. Their last five league results are LDLWW, which is not the sort of run that makes a manager more likely to indulge sentiment.

Salah himself has still contributed this season, with 26 Premier League appearances, 7 goals and 6 assists. But the bigger story now is whether Slot can satisfy a departing icon, a restless support and a live league situation all at the same time. Carragher's answer is no, and on the evidence here he has a point.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →