Graeme Souness has castigated Mo Salah over one particularly ‘damning’ comment that the Liverpool player made during his extraordinary public tirade on Saturday night.Following the chaotic 3-3 draw at Leeds, the Egyptian forward told reporters that his relationship with Arne Slot has deteriorated and claimed that ‘someone doesn’t want me in the club’ as he vented his anger at being benched for the Reds’ last three matches.The 33-year-old also said in that explosive post-match vent (via Sky Sports): “I don’t have to go every day fighting for my position because I earned it. I am not bigger than anyone but I earned my position.”; and that remark drew a scathing response from the former LFC captain and manager.(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)Souness rips into Salah over ‘damning’ remarksSpeaking on talkSPORT Breakfast, Souness tore into Salah over what he perceived to be a senior player failing to take responsibility and set the standards for his teammates at Liverpool.The Scot fumed: “The really damning thing for me was when he said he doesn’t have to turn up every day and fight for his place in training because of what he’s done for the club.“I’ll throw this at you – as a manager, you’ve always got half a dozen players that are not quite with you because they feel they should be starting every week.“He turns up, the star man turns up and they’re not at it in training. It’s an excuse for those five or six that are not quite with you to do the exact same thing. He should be setting the standards; there’s a responsibility as a senior player.“You must have good senior players at your football club. They have to take the responsibility of setting the standards for every single day in training.”(Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images)Salah entitled to feel annoyed, but he still must earn his placeOur adoration for Salah over everything he’s done for Liverpool since 2017 remains undiminished, but the optics of his remark about not having to fight for his position in the team are poor. At this club, nobody has a God-given right to a starting berth if they’re not performing to the required standard.Where the 33-year-old is entitled to be quite frustrated is that some of his teammates whose levels have been subpar for most of the season are still being selected in every game. For example, Ibrahima Konate’s stupid concession of a soft penalty offered Leeds a lifeline on Saturday when the Reds had been in control at 2-0 up.The upcoming Africa Cup of Nations will give the winger a temporary escape from the noise on Merseyside after his explosive comments on Saturday, and Wayne Rooney has called for Slot to omit our number 11 entirely for this week’s fixtures against Inter Milan and Brighton.Salah is renowned for his incredible dedication away from matchday – he’s often seen putting in extra hours on fitness work away from team training – and we don’t doubt that he’s set a terrific example to young players at Liverpool over the years with his endeavours behind the scenes.However, his tirade at the weekend has intensified the public scrutiny on him, and the best way to respond to criticism from Souness and others is to get back into the starting XI and make some decisive contributions – if indeed he gets the chance to do so after what happened over the past 48 hours.The post ‘Really damning’ – Graeme Souness hammers Mo Salah over one particular comment in public tirade appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.