Monday’s briefing: Michael Owen criticises Mohamed Salah for Liverpool outburst

The weekend’s Premier League fall-out has been dominated by Mohamed Salah’s outburst in the wake of Liverpool’s frustrating draw with Leeds at Elland Road on Saturday night.

Salah has come in for some criticism – notably from former Reds great Michael Owen – for intimating he has no relationship with head coach Arne Slot, and that next week’s game against Brighton could be his last at Anfield.

Elsewhere, Rayan Cherki’s flamboyance is hitting the headlines for Manchester City, while Hearts rebounded from stuttering form to score a stunning win at William Hill Premiership title rivals Celtic.

Owen takes issue with Salah outburst

Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen said Mohamed Salah should not aired his frustrations following his explosive outburst at Elland Road.

Salah was named as a substitute for the third successive match in Saturday’s thrilling 3-3 draw against Leeds and claimed in a post-match interview that he had been “thrown under the bus” and had no relationship with boss Arne Slot.

The Egypt star also claimed next week’s match against Brighton could be his last game at Anfield.

While Owen said he sympathised with Salah, who has established himself as one of Liverpool’s greatest ever players since joining from Roma in 2017, he said he should not have laid bare his feelings in public.

Owen posted on X: “Oh Mo Salah I can imagine how you feel. You’ve carried this team for a long time and won everything there is to win.

“But this is a team game and you simply can’t publicly say what you’ve said.”

Dalot urges United team-mates to become “more obsessed”

Diogo Dalot says Manchester United’s players need to become “more obsessed” about representing the club and leading it to success.

Ruben Amorim’s Red Devils looked to have put a wretched 2024-25 season and stumbling start to this campaign behind them during a promising five-match unbeaten run.

But boos have crept back in during recent games and as United prepare to head to rock-bottom Wolves on Monday night, long-serving wing-back Dalot emphasised he was frustrated on a number of levels.

“I think we’ve shown this season that we can be a very good team and we can beat anybody,” said Dalot. “Then, it’s something that we need to get into ourselves.

“I think we need to become a bit more obsessed about playing for this club, winning games and winning trophies for this club. But it’s a process.”

Homework pays off for Hearts boss McInnes

Hearts head coach Derek McInnes revealed how homework helped his side wreck Wilfried Nancy’s first game as Celtic head coach at Parkhead.

The visitors restored their three-point lead at the top of the table through goals from Claudio Braga and Oisin McEntee before Kieran Tierney’s stoppage-time reply for Celtic came too late.

Nancy had come in from the MLS to replace interim boss Martin O’Neill last week, and McInnes said: “We have studied the last two or three days, watching a lot of Columbus Crew and what they want to do and expect from their players.

“We felt well prepared for that and it meant we needed to fill the middle of the pitch with bodies. Celtic have got a lot of good players in that central area, so we needed to make sure we were nice and solid through that part of it.”

Cherki revels in City freedom

Rayan Cherki described himself as a “free soul” with a duty to make fans happy after producing a moment of magic in Manchester City’s comfortable victory over Sunderland on Saturday.

The French playmaker capped a superb performance by creating City’s third goal in a 3-0 win at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday with an improvised and eye-catching rabona cross.

It was the 22-year-old’s best display since joining the club from Lyon in the summer and he hopes there is plenty more to come.

“All the time I play like a free soul because it’s my life,” he said. “I want to take pleasure, I want to give pleasure to the fans and today I’m very happy.”

What’s on today

For all their recent improvement, Ruben Amorim knows his Manchester United side can ill-afford another setback when they travel to Molineux to face rock-bottom Wolves on Monday.

Boos resurfaced after last week’s frustrating draw with West Ham at Old Trafford, and his position is sure to come up for discussion again if United fail to do a job on their hosts, who have shown little discernable improvement under new boss Rob Edwards and are still searching for their first top-flight win of the season.