Jamie Carragher has been accused of chasing popularity by former Premier League manager Sam Allardyce.
The English football manager labelled the pundit as "absolutely pathetic" after the Liverpool legend claimed Mohamed Salah's "legs are gone".
The Egyptian found himself on the bench for the Reds as they returned to winning ways against West Ham on Sunday.
Boss Arne Slot admitted Salah was unhappy with his absence from the starting 11 for the east London trip.
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After the game, Carragher said the winger is struggling to live up to his high standards.
The defender-turned-pundit said: "The catalyst for Liverpool at the very start of the run in 2018 with Jurgen Klopp was Alisson, [Virgil] van Dijk, and Salah.
"Alisson’s injured a lot now, he doesn’t play so much.
"But you watch Van Dijk now, not the same player, and Mo Salah looks like his legs have gone.”
Jamie Carragher has been accused of chasing popularity by a former Premier League manager
| PAFollowing the comments, Allardyce, who was the manager of the England national team for a brief spell in July 2016, condemned the claims.
He said: "Stop it. He should know better.
"He should really know better. That’s an absolutely pathetic statement, but he’s good at them, isn’t he?
"He’s good at just throwing it out there for a bit of, you know, ‘popularity’. To keep himself on the front end of it. That’s a disgrace. His legs haven’t gone.
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Salah won the Premier League’s Golden Boot last season | GETTYSpeaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, he added: "How can his legs go from what he did last year, having the summer off, and then his legs go this year? How can that happen? It doesn’t happen overnight.
"How does he know anyway? He doesn’t train with him, he doesn’t watch him train. He sees him play, and he might not be doing so well, but that’s like many of the Liverpool players.
"[Alexander] Isak hasn’t played well, so have his legs gone already?"
Salah has netted five goals and recorded three assists in 18 appearances for Liverpool this season.
The English football manager labelled the pundit as 'absolutely pathetic'
| PAHis form has declined significantly from the previous 2024-2025 season, where he won the Premier League Golden Boot and Playmaker awards with 29 goals and 18 assists.
The winger's average touches per game in the opposition's box have dropped from 9.6 last season to 6.2 this season.
He is averaging fewer than half the number of dribbles attempted per game than in the last campaign.
Salah's expected goals (xG) and shots per game are the lowest they have been in his career at Liverpool.
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