Mohamed Salah still lives by the advice Arsene Wenger gave him at Liverpool training ground
Mohamed Salah has revealed how he once sought advice from Arsene Wenger after the Arsenal legend visited Liverpool’s training ground. The Frenchman left the Gunners in 2018, having won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups in 22 years with the North London outfit.
And after visiting the Reds' training ground, Salah has recalled how he wasted no time in asking Wenger for advice. And the Frenchman’s answer is something he still lives by on the field to this day.
“I got advice from Arsene Wenger before,” he recalled in the second episode of 'The Reds Roundtable’. “He was at Melwood at that time, and I asked him what’s the difference between… I think it was my first season in Liverpool, then I asked him, ‘What’s the difference between a good player and a really, really good player?’
READ MORE: 'Changed my mind' - Mohamed Salah admits Liverpool regret as contract saga continues
READ MORE: 'He was going for Ryan' - What Ryan Gravenberch did to enrage team-mates in Liverpool training
“He said, ‘I think the very, very good player is always focused on the game, even if he doesn’t have the momentum. He stays in the game until the last minute or until the whistle.’
“I think for me, I know there’s some games I don’t have the momentum, I don’t have the game, but I’m always focused on the game to finish stuff…
“Johnny (Heitinga) when he came here this year and he was like, ‘Oh, Mo, you’re not playing good today’. I said, ‘Yeah, but I always find the moment’.
“I’m not always very good in the game. It’s normal, we’re still human. But I’m always trying to find a way to change the game.
“I think some players don’t accept the feeling and just keep fighting it. But if you accept it and impress it, it’s nothing. It’s more your imagination, going in your head.
“But I think if you accept it and just impress it, it’s okay. It’s okay to feel that way and it’s okay to have a bad game, but the most important thing is to stay in the game and try to make a difference.”
Wenger isn’t the only person to have given Salah useful advice during his time at Liverpool. The Egyptian has also revealed how he changed how he reacts when missing a chance in front of goal after being approached by team-mate Andy Robertson.
“Quite early in Liverpool, after my first year, Robbo came to me,” he recalled. “He said, ‘Look, when you miss a chance and you go down like this, everybody looks at you. And everybody’s like, ‘If a superstar is doing that, what are we going to do?’
“So it’s a tough day, I don’t know if you remember or not, but since then, it stuck in my mind. That’s maybe the only positive thing I get from him!
“So it’s still in my mind. Since then, even when I miss a chance now, I smile. Even if you’re a little bit frustrated.
“But with the time, you understand the situation comes and goes, emotion comes and goes, and you try to deal with it in the best possible way.”