Mo Salah has been backed by supporters and teammates after appearing to criticise Arne Slot‘s tactics in a strongly-worded social media post.

In the wake of Liverpol’s 4-2 defeat against Aston Villa, Salah wrote: “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.”

A host of teammates have since offered their support by liking Salah’s post on Instagram, while Hugo Ekitike and Curtis Jones have commented ‘handshake’ and ‘applause’ emojis, respectively.

Shortly after, Jones wrote: “Thank you for your continued support in a disappointing season. It’s way off the standards expected at this football club.”

Among the current and former teammates to have liked Salah’s message are Hugo Ekitike, Andy Robertson, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo, Harvey Elliott, Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson.

Fans have also been reacting, mostly in support of the Egyptians’s statement.

I don’t think the higher ups will get a bigger sign that players are no longer with Slot. Salah may be leaving, but he’s a leader in the club, and there’s no way he’s alone in his thinking. Several players already liking and commenting.

— Leanne Prescott (@_lfcleanne) May 16, 2026

You can tell how much Mo loves this football club. More than he loves his own personal achievements. That statement he’s just put out shows how much he gets it and feels the same way we do. He deserves to go out on a better note than this.

— Abigail Rudkin (@rudkin_abigail) May 16, 2026

“I can’t believe many on here were using Salah as a scapegoat for our performances for the first half of the season.

“It turns out the malaise in which we find ourselves isn’t down to him after all. We’ll miss him and the standards he set” – Redstar in the This is Anfield comments

Mohamed Salah once again showing why he’s so, so important for Liverpool off the pitch with that statement. His mentality, leadership and bar-setting will be sorely missed when he’s gone.

— Maxi (@MaaxiAngelo) May 16, 2026

Mo Salah cares more about this football club than Arne Slot ever will. Made up he's called out the bollocks we've witnessed this season.

— LB (@LBLFC_) May 16, 2026

“You cannot tell me this was not directed at Slot! Clearly, the claim that the players still ‘believe’ in him is PR nonsense. Is it a surprise he’s selling all of the old guard as well as those who might have opposing opinions to him (ie. Jones)” – Yasmin in the This is Anfield comments

He’s one of our greatest ever players. He’s help set the standards and he seen whats needed to reach that level. He see’s what we don’t, He knows the levels behind the scenes and he’s calling them out. Call it unprofessional or not the Liverpool way but he’s fucking right! ?

— AK (@Kearnsy1906) May 16, 2026

You’ve got Salah fuming giving the manager shit about his tactics and you’ve got our next captain doing insta posts with a maccies. We’ll be finished once all our leaders leave this year

— ?? (@_ROUNDTHEBEND__) May 16, 2026

“Slot obviously being targeted – indirectly. But a lot of blame also lies elsewhere, including those he said were trying to throw him under the bus and take the blame for the team’s failure” – RedSatoshi in the This is Anfield comments

It’s so easy for Mo Salah to say nothing, after all he is departing. Haters can’t say “he only cares about himself”. Oh but he cares. Cares too much about club to stay silent. In his own words:

“I want the club to succeed for long after I have moved on”. Thats just love man.

— Moby (@Mobyhaque1) May 16, 2026

I don’t like that Salah statement.

He’s essentially calling out the new signings from last summer.

He’s saying that Isak, Wirtz and Frimpong weren’t the right type of player to join LFC.

Because there’s no way he can criticise Ekitike’s contributions and Kerkez’s style of…

— Watch LFC (@Watch_LFC) May 16, 2026

“Given those who have responded to Mo’s post it’s pretty clear that the players don’t like what Slot is asking them to do or the style either” – Brighton Red in the This is Anfield comments

That Salah statement honestly feels huge. Criticising the results and the style of play, and the fact that a big portion of the squad have liked it is telling.

He’s lost the fans and now he’s lost the squad. Get him out of here.

— Laurie (@LFCLaurie) May 16, 2026

Mo's gone for the head with that statement. Love it. Nothing to lose. True leader.

— GaGs (@GagsTandon) May 16, 2026

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Mo Salah has shared a strongly-worded statement in which he has condemned Liverpool’s style of play and says ‘heavy metal’ football “cannot be negotiable.”

With Salah set to leave at the end of the season, he has been increasingly honest in his interviews and assessments of Liverpool’s performances.

Liverpool’s departing legend played 16 minutes on his return from a hamstring injury against Aston Villa, as the Reds fell to a 4-2 loss on Friday night.

After Arne Slot‘s side suffered their ninth away defeat of the Premier League season, the 33-year-old described the team’s form as “crumbling” and “very painful” to watch.

Salah wrote on social media:

“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.”

Among the current and former teammates to have liked or commented are Hugo Ekitike, Andy Robertson, Dominik Szoboszlai, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Giovanni Leoni, Wataru Endo, Rhys Williams, Harvey Elliott, Gini Wijnaldum, Xherdan Shaqiri and Jordan Henderson.

Curtis Jones, who has been similarly scathing of his team’s performances this season, replied to Salah’s Instagram post with the ‘applause’ emoji.

He then said: “Thank you for your continued support in a disappointing season. It’s way off the standards expected at this football club.”

Changing standards and a passive style of play

Since Salah’s infamous post-Leeds interview, in which he claimed he no longer had “any relationship” with Slot, it has been obvious he has been at odds with the head coach.

While it has to be acknowledged that Slot hasn’t always had the tools at his disposal to make Liverpool an all-out attacking machine this season, the brand of football being played has been turgid.

With neither a solid backline nor a bright attack, the Reds have been stuck between a mid and low block for large periods of games, often allowing the opposition to control matches, no matter their level.

Salah clearly feels this isn’t the right way to go about setting up a Liverpool side, and he has recently urged the club to ensure the standards he helped set are maintained after his exit.

The winger told Sky Sports: “I wanted to work before training and after training. I want to work all the time, then they also worked before training.

“I’m happy about it that new guys came and see Mo’s come into the building first and gone to the gym, so it automatically changed.

“This is something I’m very proud of, and something, if I’m being very honest because I love this place so much, I have my best years here, I want the guys to continue like that.

“I want to succeed, I want the club to be there, and this is one of the main concerns.

“I spoke to a member of staff and the guys up there, I told them when I leave you need an example, you need people to come early and go to the gym.

“If this doesn’t happen, it will be tricky for the club, because it’s very necessary you put the standard high.

“People have to come early, people have to go to the gym and look after themselves, and I don’t want that to change after I leave.

“I want that standard in the club, it’s very important for the team to keep winning things and this is one of the main concerns for me.”

Salah has hinted that things are changing at the club and not for the better. Hopefully, senior figures at Liverpool recognise that, whether it be the owners, sporting director, head coach or indeed the players.

As Mo says, it is “very painful” to see the culture created under Jurgen Klopp at risk of disintegrating.

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The media have continued their criticism of Liverpool and Arne Slot into Saturday, with high-profile journalists adding pressure on the head coach.

The Reds were so poor at Villa Park on Friday, losing 4-2 and conceding three times in the space of 32 second-half minutes.

Those in the media made their feelings known about Liverpool’s performance after the game on Saturday, but they haven’t stopped there.

Here’s more reaction to another woeful night for Slot’s side.

The respected Paul Joyce of the Times has serious doubts about Slot being the right man for the job, even showing a hint of sarcasm:

“They were an utter shambles out of possession once more, but, hey, according to head coach Arne Slot they are a few tweaks over the summer away from being the football team their fans will fall back in love with.

“That would be quite the redemption story, especially with so many having vacated the away section to start the journey up the M6 long before the final whistle.

“The Dutchman’s annus horribilis continues, his stock having taken another battering, and Liverpool’s own hopes of sitting at Europe’s top table next term will drag on into the final week.”

James Pearce of The Athletic wonders if Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes will have a change of heart:

“Slot’s Liverpool are a sorry shell of the team they were.

“Can Edwards/Hughes really ignore the clamour for change? It’s growing louder by the week.

“So much is wrong and Slot’s reassurances that he will fix it this summer seem fanciful.”

Lewis Steele of the Daily Mail described Liverpool as “broken” under Slot:

“As for Arne Slot, who cut a forlorn figure on the touchline and looked like a broken man, well, he needs a miracle akin to the one Liverpool conjured up in Istanbul all those years ago if he is to come back from his current position as a man the fanbase have decided is not the one.

“Like Liverpool at half-time in that fabled final of 2005, where the Reds were 3-0 down but came back to win, Slot looks down and out.”

The Liverpool Echo‘s Paul Gorst says only a flying start to next season will do for Slot, if he stays:

“The issue for the Reds, by choosing to stick with Slot – which has never truly been in question beyond growing numbers of supporters apparently feeling it is needed – is that they will need to be flawless from pretty much the first whistle of next season to quell dissent.

“That need for perfection leaves so little room for error. Surely those conditions can’t lead to long-term prosperity?”

Meanwhile, Ian Doyle of the Echo was scathing of Liverpool’s response to going 2-1 down at Villa:

“There was absolutely no excuse for the subsequent reaction from the collective Reds team who, for the umpteenth time this season, folded in desperate fashion in the wake of a piece of ill fortune.

“There are myriad reasons. But the fight and heart has been drained out of this Liverpool squad after a campaign of endless setbacks, many of which have been entirely self-inflicted.

“Certainly, the strong mentality, character and unshakeable belief that became the calling card of the Reds for much of the past decade is no more.”

Liverpool away to the other 8 sides currently in the top 9 this season in the Premier League:

L
L
L
D
L
L
L
L

One point from a possible 24.

— Michael Reid (@michael_reid11) May 15, 2026

ESPN‘s Beth Lindop expressed doubts over Liverpool getting the job done at home to Brentford next Sunday:

“Fenway Sports Group (FSG) have been unwavering in their determination to stand by the Dutchman, who thinks many of Liverpool’s problems can be rectified in the transfer market.

“FSG’s belief, however, is not shared by the vast majority of Reds supporters and, on the evidence of this latest showing, it is hard to blame them.

“As the Liverpool players trudged off the pitch Friday night, the Champions League anthem blared around Villa Park as the hosts celebrated clinching qualification for next season’s competition.

“At present, it is hard to have much faith that Liverpool are capable of doing the same.”

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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain triumphed with Celtic as they beat Hearts late on to clinch the Scottish Premiership in dramatic fashion.

Just four months ago, Oxlade-Chamberlain was without a club and maintaining his fitness at Arsenal, having terminated his contract at Besiktas in August.

Celtic came calling in early February, though, to offer the former Liverpool midfielder a new lease of life under interim manager Martin O’Neill.

At 32 years old, he has played just nine times since moving to Glasgow, but he still made a couple of vital contributions to their title win, not least his late winning goal in injury-time on his debut.

A historic afternoon at Celtic Park

Thanks to Wednesday’s late drama, that saw Kelechi Iheanacho convert a controversial late penalty to prevent Hearts winning the league, a final-day decider was set up in Glasgow.

Hearts were looking to become the first team other than Celtic or Rangers to win the league since Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen side of 1985, and all they needed was a point.

With Celtic needing to win on the last day, Hearts shocked Parkhead by opening the scoring thanks to Lawrence Shankland’s header from a corner, a route to goal that has become familiar for Derek McInnes’ side.

The hosts struck back quickly, though, Arne Engels netting a crucial penalty just before the break after Alexandros Kyziridis was judged to have handled the ball.

After the break, Celtic came out and dominated. The woodwork was struck and for a while it felt like the ball would never cross the line.

? Goal STANDS!

After a VAR check for offside, Celtic take a late lead over Hearts through Daizen Maeda. Now, as it stands, they’ll be champions! ? pic.twitter.com/apMfVwfQjX

— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) May 16, 2026

However, they got their reward in the 87th minute thanks to Daizen Maeda, who broke down in tears of joy once the goal had been given.

It had initially been chalked off due to offside. However, upon review, neither he nor Callum Osmand were even close to being off.

Nervous moments awaited the Paradise faithful as Hearts thew everything at a goal that would have seen them earn the point needed to lift the title.

As the eight minutes of added time edged towards their conclusion, Hearts goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow went forward for a corner.

It was Celtic, not Hearts, though, who would score at the death, as Osmand broke from the corner and, with two teammates either side, passed into the empty net.

? “Celtic, Champions AGAIN!”

Callum Osmand ensures Celtic’s title is retained by tapping the ball into an empty net ?? pic.twitter.com/AVUZtqAIEH

— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) May 16, 2026

Fans were jubilant and as some spilt onto the pitch, Hearts players ran off. Eventually, the referee elected to blow the full-time whistle given there were just 20 seconds left when Osmand netted.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I could experience those lads up there (lifting the trophy),” O’Neill told Sky Sports.

“The players, the coaching staff have given me a reason to live.

“This is the most special place on earth. When there is absolute unison in this stadium, it is a sight to behold.”

Oxlade-Chamberlain may not have played, but the day will live long in his memory and he will have felt right at home as Celtic Park sang You’ll Never Walk Alone in celebration.

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Liverpool’s final away day of the season summed up a season of struggle on the road, as the Reds finished the campaign with more away defeats than in any of the last 14 years.

While the Reds’ form at Anfield hasn’t exactly been sparkling – they have the fifth-strongest home record this season – it has been their problems away from home that have left Liverpool scraping into the top five.

Having played a game more than everyone else, the Reds are ninth in the Premier League away table, having won seven, drawn three and lost seven.

The last time Liverpool lost as many league away matches was in 2011/12, when they lost 10 times away from Anfield. That year, though, the Reds won the League Cup and reached the FA Cup final under Kenny Dalglish.

Their performances on the road this season have resulted in them picking up 1.26 points per game, which would give them almost 48 points if extrapolated across a 38-match season.

Across the 19 away games, Liverpool have scored 29 goals and conceded on 33 occasions, leaving them with an incredibly poor goal difference of -4.

To put that into context, relegation-threatened Tottenham and Nottingham Forest both have an away goal difference of +1.

Arguably the highlight of the season was Liverpool’s late 2-1 win in the first Merseyside Derby at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

However, there has been little else to cheer for the travelling Kop against their rivals.

When facing their fellow Premier League top-nine sides, Liverpool have earned just one point from eight matches. That one point came against Arsenal, who are surprisingly the only team that didn’t score against Arne Slot‘s team this season.

With the Reds’ loyal support having been through the mill watching their team this season, departing legend Andy Robertson thanked the fans.

Before that, though, the unused substitute made clear what he thought of Friday night’s performance at Villa Park:

“A performance which sums up our season. A long way short of the levels of this club and what you (the fans) rightly expect of us.

“But I can only thank you for the last nine years of travelling up and down the country and all over the world, packing out away ends wherever we go!

“Will see you next week for one last time.”

What should have been a celebration for Robertson and Mo Salah has turned into a fixture that could decide whether Liverpool play Champions League football next season.

The Reds have effectively had three games to wrap up qualification and not won any. Brentford will not be an easy test either.

FotMob is the essential app for every fan to keep up to date with their team or follow football worldwide, with new features including heatmaps for players.• You can download the FotMob app here.

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A social media post from Dominik Szoboszlai, advertising McDonald’s, hasn’t gone down well with Liverpool fans, just hours after the defeat to Aston Villa.

The Premier League champions looked a mile away from that yet again at Villa Park, losing 4-2 after an error-strewn performance.

Far too many Liverpool players failed to turn up at Villa Park, including Szoboszlai, who didn’t hit his early-season form and slipped to give the opposition their second.

The Hungarian was often a frustrated figure, conceding two fouls in the space of a minute at one point.

On Saturday, though, Szoboszlai produced a McDonald’s-sponsored post on Instagram, with one photo showing him fast food on a private jet.

While the post was likely contractual and scheduled, the timing of the it has been deemed tone-deaf by supporters.

I don't know why players' agents don't put a simple clause in commercial contracts that states 'social media posts not to be made within 48 hours of a defeat'.

Tone deaf and badly advised. https://t.co/e5eb0yFDdq

— Matt Ladson (@mattladson) May 16, 2026

We just lost for the 20th time and Szoboszlai is posting brand deals with McDonald’s what happened to the standards of this club??? pic.twitter.com/e5ii4bQwUK

— B. Firmz ? (@_Kotekz) May 16, 2026

Got beat 4-2 last night btw, on a plane with a quarter pounder meal, what’s happened to my club Stevie would be embarrassed to leave the house ? pic.twitter.com/7vd1ez8rPm

— Alex (@AlexLFC31) May 16, 2026

Szoboszlai consoling his disappointment last night after the Villa defeat by eating a McDonald's on his private jet. .

You have to feel sorry for the lad. pic.twitter.com/t7YInJgvsE

— The Extreme Football Enthusiast (@ExtremeFootbal4) May 16, 2026

Post 4-2 loss having Maccies on a private jet and liking self-praise comments.

We have a growing problem with Szoboszlai. #LFC pic.twitter.com/yCj7CWmwaE

— LFC Fans Corner (@LFCFansCorner) May 16, 2026

Slot blame aside, some of our players have been so wildly undisciplined and borderline delusional with their actions this season.

Mainly Szoboszlai. What he did at City plus seeing him post shit like this after yet another horror show is not being spoken about enough. pic.twitter.com/MHrYLwqLBh

— R E X (@thatrexguy) May 16, 2026

Ah swear, I don’t want Szoboszlai anywhere near our captaincy, his mentality is in the mud.?? pic.twitter.com/l1AVjxUYgP

— 22? (@ekitikEraa) May 16, 2026

I'll be honest, I've known more relatable Liverpool players than Dominik Szoboszlai. https://t.co/fngIDGEZX6

— Henry Jackson (@HenryJackson87) May 16, 2026

It is easy for there to be an overreaction in instances like this, but it’s hard not to feel like this was avoidable by Szoboszlai.

Liverpool’s No. 8 needed to read the room better and realise that supporters are still stinging after another sobering defeat, and don’t want to see paid posts on a private jet from their players.

Szoboszlai is being talked about as a possible successor to Virgil van Dijk as Reds captain, as mentioned, but this won’t do much to aid his audition for it.

Mohamed Salah recently talked about his fear of the standards dropping around the club when he leaves, and it is situations like this that make you worry as a fan moving forward.

This has been a glorious period of success of Anfield over the last decade, full of world-class players and great professionalism, and seeing all that hard work come undone would be a travesty.

As mentioned, there is no need for Szoboszlai to be ripped to shreds for this, but it is rather indicative of a season where Liverpool’s levels have dropped enormously.

Just wait a bit longer before doing something like this, Dom!

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