Salah ‘agreement reached’ as Slot breaks silence amid ‘cryptic’ update
It’s still pretty much all Mo Salah, despite Manchester United’s attempts to shift the needle by beating a Wolves team on course to become the Premier League’s worst ever.
No real surprise that didn’t really work for anyone. Not when Arne Slot is breaking silences and agreements were being reached.
And there’s even the late breaking news of a ‘cryptic’ update from the great man himself. We’ve reached full circus.
Agreement in principle
Mediawatch loves nothing more than watching a headline trope it’s known since birth grow up to be a fine young trend in its own right before eventually growing out of our control altogether.
The latest is without doubt ‘agreement reached’. It’s a powerful and versatile phrase with connotations of both officialness and finality, yet also that precious hint of curiosity gap. Who’s the agreement between? A player and his current club? A player and a buying club? Two clubs?
It is, of course, never in fact any of those things. Nor indeed is it ever anything that could actually be termed news by anyone other than the navel-gazing circle-jerking perpetrators themselves, because what ‘agreement reached’ now always means is that some writers from a newspaper have reached agreement among themselves on the day’s HOT TOPIC.
The Mirror have smashed it out the park here.
Mo Salah agreement reached as Liverpool star told there is no way back after outburst
It really might be our new favourite headline genre. So long, Breaks Silence. Speaks Volumes, you now sicken us. True Colours, we grow weary of your japes.
Agreement Reached just ticks so many boxes. Puffed-up media self-importance? Check. Technically not actually wrong but entirely, deliberately, audience-insultingly disingenuous? Check. Sounds important? Check. Is not in fact in any way important? Check and mate.
And we’re sure Mo Salah’s mood will only be darkened further now he’s been told in no uncertain terms that there is ‘no way back’ at Anfield by <checks notes> Dan Marsh.
The sound of silence
Oh, Breaks Silence, we just can’t stay mad at you. Here are just some of the headlines about Arne Slot talking about Mo Salah at his very first opportunity to talk about Mo Salah.
Daily Mirror:
Arne Slot breaks Liverpool silence after Mo Salah ‘thrown under the bus’ interview
The Sun:
‘You only have three questions…’ – Prickly Arne Slot on the defensive as he breaks silence on Mo Salah bombshell
Daily Mail:
Arne Slot breaks his silence after Mohamed Salah’s explosive outburst: Liverpool manager reveals if star will play for him again as he responds to sensational interview
Daily Express:
Arne Slot breaks silence on Mohamed Salah row after Liverpool star axed from squad
Daily Star:
Arne Slot breaks silence after Mohamed Salah’s bombshell Liverpool interview
The Independent:
Liverpool manager Arne Slot breaks silence on Mohamed Salah’s stunning tirade
Sports Illustrated:
‘My Reaction Is Clear’—Arne Slot Breaks Silence on Mohamed Salah Outburst
GiveMeSport:
Arne Slot Breaks Silence on Mohamed Salah After Liverpool Comments
And, well, you get the idea with that.
Cryptic clue
With the entire UK media apparently baffled that someone as obviously terminally online as Arne Slot hadn’t TAKEN TO SOCIAL MEDIA to CLAP BACK at Mo Salah, the relief at the Liverpool Echo when Mo Salah did in fact take to social media was palpable.
He posted a picture of himself training alone at Liverpool’s training ground. Again, we’re in ‘the opposite is a story’ territory here. Had he posted a picture of himself literally anywhere other than where he was contractually obligated to be this morning, then that would be worthwhile.
But, of course, Salah posting a picture of himself training alone couldn’t just be Salah posting a picture of himself training alone. No, it’s this, isn’t it, Liverpool Echo?
Mohamed Salah shares new cryptic update as explosive Liverpool interview takes fresh twist
We suppose it is cryptic, in a way, when even the entire story about it that was definitely worth rushing out runs to three whole paragraphs. But we’re not at all sure what the ‘fresh twist’ is in ‘professional athlete keeps fit’. Which is absolutely the sum total of actual information we have to hand.
We are in full circus territory here. Every word is a silence broken. Every look speaks volumes. Every action shows true colours. And every single social-media post simply must be a cryptic clue about… something.
Quick fix
It’s not wall-to-wall Salah, though, with some small amount of space made available for news of the FA Cup third-round draw.
Well, we say ‘news’ of the FA Cup third-round draw, but that’s not really true. Call Mediawatch a naive old idealist, but we do rather hanker for the days when news was actually news. It wasn’t always good news, sure. It was often misleading or embellished or crafted to steer you in a particular direction, but there was at least some vague underpinning idea that news had to at least be actual news before you could report it as news.
Now, absolutely any old sh*te can be news. And apparently that extends to really quite libellous sh*te.
Mediawatch is long on the record expressing discomfort at the way ’round up a few tweets from randoms with 17 followers’ has become a legitimate way to craft ‘news’ in big 2025, but we don’t think we’re being over dramatic in declaring this from The Sun is the most problematic example we’ve seen yet.
CHEAT FA: ‘This draw is so rigged’ – Man Utd fans convinced they are already out of FA Cup after getting bogey side in Third Round
It should go without saying there is no serious accusation of cheating here, despite the pun, no actual suggestion that the draw is in fact so rigged after Manchester United became the first and only Premier League team in FA Cup third-round history to be drawn at home against another Premier League team.
But there’s a distinct cake-and-eat-it feel to The Sun simply rounding up a couple of throwaway tweets joking that it might have been a fix and calling that a news story. Especially with that CHEAT FA kicker that is entirely their own work.
We’re really, really not sure any of this is okay, or that adding that the claims are ‘crazy’ or issued ‘bizarrely’ really justifies any of it. If it’s crazy and bizarre, just ignore it? There is literally no need to cover this at all if you don’t want to.
We’re talking about a tiny handful of people on social media. If Mo Salah makes claims that are bizarre or crazy then, yes, you really do need to cover those and if necessary point out the crazy bizarreness. But not when FirstName BunchOfNumbers has Taken To X, Formerly Known As Twitter.
We’re also not sure, while we’re about it, that a grand total of four tweets from the entire Manchester United fanbase – which is famously quite large – justifies the claim that fans ‘flooded on to social media’ either.
