Jamie Carragher has labelled Mohamed Salah's bombshell interview "a disgrace" but hopes he has not played his final game for Liverpool.
Salah has been removed from selection after saying he no longer has a relationship with Liverpool boss Arne Slot and claimed the club had thrown him under the bus over the decision to bench him for a third game in a row.
Carragher, who was also name-checked by Salah in his interview, believes the forward's intervention was pre-meditated and potentially intended to get Slot sacked after Liverpool twice blew a lead in the 3-3 draw at Leeds.
"I thought it was a disgrace what he did after the game," Your Site pundit Carragher said on Monday Night Football. "Some people have painted it as an emotional outburst, I don't think it was.
"Whenever Mo Salah stops in a mixed zone, which he's done four times in eight years at Liverpool, it's choreographed with him and his agent to cause maximum damage and strengthen his own position."
He added: "He's chosen this weekend to do this now and he's waited, I think, for a bad result for Liverpool.
"You can see the last-minute goal, Liverpool supporters, the manager, everyone involved in the club feels like they're in the gutter at the moment and he's chosen that time to go for the manager and maybe try and get him sacked."
Despite his frustrations with Salah, Carragher does not want to see the Liverpool legend's time at the club end like this.
Salah, who has not travelled for Tuesday's Champions League game against Inter, hinted Saturday's Premier League visit of Brighton to Anfield could be his final outing for Liverpool.
The Egypt international departs for AFCON on the Monday after that match and might not return to Merseyside until the transfer window re-opens on January 1.
"The club have made the right decision in terms of [Salah] not going abroad now," said Carragher.
"Whether he will play for Liverpool again, I don't know. I hope he does, because he is one of the greatest players we've ever had. But if you continue like that and make statements like that if he doesn't play, who knows?"
Salah said in his interview that "Carragher is going to go for me again and again" for speaking out. Asked about this, the Your Site pundit responded: "Have I ever criticised Mo Salah on the pitch?"
When it is put to the pundit that he said Salah's legs had gone after last month's Champions League defeat to PSV, Carragher said: "That's something that happens to every player. That's not a criticism of him as a player.
"I've never criticised him for not working back. I've never criticised him when he's gone for games without scoring. I've never criticised him when he hasn't passed to someone when he should pass to people at times.
"Because he's an absolute legend of the club and what you get from him you have to put up with certain bits.
"I think some of the criticism this season of Mo Salah has been excessive. I've said that publicly. But I will go after Mo Salah when he tries to throw my club under the bus off the pitch and just thinks about himself. I certainly will do that."
Carragher also told Salah to stop being obsessed with his own numbers and help struggling team-mates Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak after difficult starts at Liverpool.
"Mo Salah's talking about how many goals he's scored, 'I've got more goals than anyone in the Premier League, what I did last season', he's always speaking about himself," said Carragher.
"One thing I just want to sort of remind Mo Salah and maybe his agent is that before he came to Liverpool, Mo Salah was known as the guy who failed at Chelsea. That's just a fact. He'd never won a major trophy before he came to Liverpool.
"He's also the greatest player his country have ever had. Egypt, in the Africa Cup of Nations, are the most successful nation. He's going there in a couple of weeks. Mo Salah's never won the AFCON.
"That is not me trying to put Mo Salah down as a player. I've just said he's one of the best players in the world in the last eight years, very few better. But what it tells Mo Salah and his agent is, it's not about an individual.
"You weren't a big star before you came to Liverpool. You haven't really won anything with Egypt. All that's telling you is, no matter how good a player you are, you need help from your team-mates, your manager and fans.
"When he's talking after the game there in the mixed zone, all it's about is me, me, me."
Carragher added: "So in terms of on the pitch, the one criticism I've got, help the other players, help Florian Wirtz, help Alexander Isak. Don't be obsessed with your own numbers."
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot said he was "surprised" by Salah saying their relationship had broken down, but didn't rule out a potential return for the forward.
Slot says the only communication he has had with Salah since Saturday's bombshell interview was to tell the player he would not be travelling to Italy for Tuesday's Champions League game with Inter. Asked how that conversation was, he said: "A short one."
Slot has benched Salah for Liverpool's past three games but says he didn't believe his relationship with the Egyptian had broken down and hadn't seen indications of that until Salah's interview. "It was a surprise to me when I heard he gave the comments he gave," said Slot, in a press conference on Monday.
"I'm a firm believer there's always a possibility to return for a player," said Slot.
However, when he was pressed on whether Salah had played his final game for Liverpool, Slot said: "I have no clue, I cannot answer that question in this moment in time."
Slot was asked whether Salah could come back into contention for Saturday's Premier League game with Brighton at Anfield.
The Dutchman said that decision would be taken after the game with Inter on Tuesday night.
Analysis from Your Site' Zinny Boswell:
"Mohamed Salah has given Liverpool a decision to make after revealing he no longer has a relationship with Arne Slot. It is difficult to see a path forward for both star player and head coach now. Whatever happens next, it will be seismic for Liverpool.
"Salah chose to speak out, in a season when he has been largely silent, to deliver a message about his own future at a moment of weakness for Slot, who failed to take the seven points Jamie Carragher said he needed to save his job against West Ham, Sunderland and Leeds.
"Significantly, Slot was the only colleague Salah mentioned by name. Intentional or not, he has made it 'me vs him'. Although, Salah might argue Slot did that himself by forcing him to watch from the bench as Liverpool twice blew a lead at Elland Road.
"One inarguable takeaway from Salah's bombshell interview is that he just wants to play football again, whether that can happen at Liverpool is unclear. Next Saturday's game against Brighton, his last before going to AFCON, could feasibly be his Anfield farewell.
"After this, it's hard to see a world in which he plays this week."
