Dejan Lovren Defends Mohamed Salah Amid Criticism

Dejan Lovren has never been shy with an opinion. This time, he’s gone to war for his closest friend.

The former Liverpool defender has launched a fierce defence of Mohamed Salah after a season in which the Egyptian’s form, future and reputation were picked apart on an almost weekly basis. For Lovren, the criticism didn’t just cross a line – it trampled over it.

“The way they treated him this season is not harsh. It’s disgusting,” he told WinWin, stunned by the tone of the debate around a player who has carried Liverpool’s attack for the best part of a decade. One quieter campaign after a blistering 2024-25, and Salah, in Lovren’s eyes, became a convenient punching bag.

“Why didn’t they talk about him like this for the past eight or nine years? Tell me,” he said. “OK, one season, and then he’s the target again. There are so many other issues.”

Lovren vs Carragher

Lovren saved his sharpest words for Jamie Carragher. The former Liverpool centre-back had accused Salah of selfishness, a familiar pundit’s charge but one that clearly struck a nerve with the Croatian.

He didn’t bother dressing it up. Lovren suggested Carragher’s analysis owed more to the demands of television than to any serious tactical breakdown, portraying it as performance rather than insight.

“He’s being really heavily criticised,” Lovren said of Salah. “Some pundits do it just to attract attention, maybe because they haven’t succeeded in other areas of their lives, so now they need to perform well... especially Carragher, he says whatever he wants.”

Lovren then issued a direct challenge. If Carragher really believed what he was saying, say it to Salah’s face.

“I always said he should tell him this to his face, say all these things to Mo to his face. He’ll never say that. Because I know he never will, because he never said it to me. He’s talked badly about me too, but he never said that to me anyway. You know, he’s just performing on TV and he gets paid for it, so he needs to perform this way.”

In a few lines, Lovren pulled back the curtain on the modern pundit: big platform, big opinions, little accountability to the players on the receiving end.

Finger pointed at Slot

Lovren didn’t stop with the media. He went straight for the dugout.

Beyond the noise around Salah’s numbers and body language, Lovren believes the decisive factor in the forward’s decision to leave Anfield lies with one man: Arne Slot. The Croatian painted a picture of a relationship that never worked, a breakdown in communication that turned an already difficult season into an impossible one.

“I don’t think it’s the management (that pushed Salah to leave),” the PAOK defender said. “I think it’s just one person, and I think it’s just the manager. They didn’t have a good relationship. Let’s put it simply.”

With Jurgen Klopp, he argued, the dynamic was completely different. Not always smooth, but built on mutual trust and respect.

“With Klopp, he had a really good relationship. It wasn’t always perfect, but they knew each other very well, let’s say that too, and they trusted each other, they liked each other, and Mo gave everything on the pitch for Klopp, and Klopp gave him that trust.”

Then came the contrast.

“But (with Slot) it was the opposite. It’s that simple, and everyone knows it because when you look at the previous eight or nine seasons, he did really well.”

One manager unlocked Salah’s best years. The next, in Lovren’s view, oversaw the conditions that pushed Liverpool’s record Premier League goalscorer towards the exit.

“He never felt that support”

Lovren’s criticism ran deeper than tactics or touchline relationships. He turned his attention to the club’s hierarchy and the dressing room itself, arguing that Salah was left exposed while others stayed in the shadows.

He echoed Salah’s own hints about a lack of protection from those above him, and he did not spare unnamed team-mates either.

“There are other players who should also take responsibility and say, ‘yes, this is my fault’, but you know, some players never came forward,” Lovren said.

“There was mismanagement; internally, they didn’t handle it well. They didn’t handle it well. Even if you have some problems, you have to talk about it in the dressing room, and like I said, Mo never felt that support.”

Instead, he became the lightning rod.

“He was always the front-page headline, ‘Ah, it’s Mohamed Salah, don’t be surprised.’ I mean... it’s a deep-seated issue.”

For years, Salah’s goals and durability made him the symbol of Liverpool’s resurgence. Lovren’s words paint a harsher picture of the final act: a club icon, isolated, carrying the blame while others kept their heads down.

The goals will be replaced eventually. The question lingering over Anfield now is whether the trust and protection that once defined the Klopp era will be, too.