Gary Neville opened up on the touchline spat that saw Salah clash with Klopp

  /  autty

Gary Neville has opened up on the touchline spat that saw Liverpool's Mohamed Salah clash with manager Jurgen Klopp over the weekend.

Liverpool's title push took another heavy blow on Saturday when they were held to a point by West Ham, drawing 2-2 despite leading in the game and needed a win to keep their faint title hopes alive.

The Reds' season - and Klopp's farewell tour - is unravelling in front of their eyes, with what was a potential Quadruple now looking like it will only be a Carabao Cup in terms of trophies won from the final season under the German.

Their problems were highlighted at the London Stadium over the weekend when Klopp and Salah could be seen getting visibly angry with each other before Salah was introduced as a substitute, with Darwin Nunez having to step in and separate the two staple pieces of Liverpool's last decade.

Neville, speaking on the latest episode of his Sky Sports podcast, gave his verdict on the ordeal, and, despite his Manchester United loyalties, wasn't happy to see the Liverpool pair fall out.

'Unpleasant when you see [that between] an amazing manager and an amazing player,' he said. 'I had that at Manchester United a few times.

'There's only one winner, but the problem is that the manager is leaving which helps Salah a little bit.

'I think there might be a bit of a problem if it were to carry on for the rest of the season. Two massive personalities and characters.'

During the clash, which happened with just over 10 minutes left of the game to play, Salah was seen waving his arms, pointing towards Klopp and continuing to berate his manager before Nunez, also brought on at the same time, stepped in.

The pair had originally shook hands before Salah began to express his frustrations and the situation became heated.

Afterwards, Salah told waiting reporters in the London Stadium mixed zone: 'If I speak, there will be fire.'

Klopp insisted a line had already been drawn under the incident following a discussion in the dressing room at full time, with footage showing the Egyptian blanked his boss on-the-field post-match.

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher, writing on X, also gave his assessment of what happened.

'Mo Salah and Jurgen Klopp are both LFC legends,' he posted. 'We don't need to take sides!

'Salah is frustrated and angry with Jurgen that he's not playing and at that moment didn't want to fully embrace the boss, Jurgen understandably took exception.

'Mo was daft with his comment in the moved [mixed] zone but let's let them sort it out and enjoy the last few weeks together.

'They've been a massive help to each other in all that's been achieved at the club!'

Neville, meanwhile, insisted there is a problem with Salah's game with the forward finding himself dropped to the bench for the game against West Ham, with Harvey Elliott instead starting in his place on the right of Liverpool's attack.

The forward has struggled for form since returning from the African Cup of Nations, and disappointed against Everton in midweek, with the Reds losing 2-0 to their local rivals.

The pundit highlighted Salah's struggles in the game, while suggesting what the issue could be with his performances, comparing him to another Premier League star.

'I was at the Merseyside derby, and I've done a lot of Liverpool games recently and Salah's not at his level,' he said. 'He's been an amazing player and is an amazing player, but he was massively off it in the Merseyside derby.

'I mean, he didn't touch the ball in the first half. What was noticeable, he's right in front of me up against Mykolenko, I can't remember him getting the ball. I think we showed that he had about five to six touches after 30-odd minutes.

'Salah's just hit a brick wall. You've got be careful, there was a player out here [in the north London derby] called Son [Heung-min] that I think hit a brick wall probably about 18 months ago, where he looked like he was gone and he was struggling.

'These players play so much football they play so consistently and Salah has been almost ever present for like six or seven years. There just comes a point whereby you need a break.'

Related: Manchester United Liverpool Celta de Vigo Gary Neville Klopp Salah Núñez
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