Emile Heskey on Mo Salah, Liverpool & England

On Thursday, we were lucky enough to sit down with former England striker Emile Heskey, to ask the former Three Lions striker about Mo Salah, Liverpool and the World Cup draw this past weekend.

Heskey enjoyed a 22-year professional football career, emerging at Leicester City, before an £11 million pound move to Liverpool in 2000.

As well as winning the treble with Liverpool, Heskey is arguably best known for his England career, making 62 appearances for the Three Lions, scoring seven goals.

Heskey played at both the 2002 and 2010 World Cups. Scoring a round of 16 England goal against Denmark in 2002.

Emile Heskey is currently the Head of Football Development for Leicester City Women.

Emile Heskey On Mo Salah

SeatPick: Looking at the Mo Salah comments what are your views on how it should have been dealt with?

Emile Heskey: All parties could have dealt with it better. You see a lot of things being said. Obviously, Mo has come out and said he doesn’t feel wanted at Liverpool. And if that is to be true, then really, you could have dealt with it better in that sense.

Mo Salah is not a young player. He’s not a player that hasn’t achieved a lot with the club. At the end of the day, it’s the manager’s decision. And really and truly, Mo has to take it on the chin. But because of who he is and what he’s done and what he’s achieved, you would like to think he’s earned a little bit of respect to actually sit down with him and explain a lot of things.

If you haven’t done that, then you’re really fighting a battle there. That could have been done. Look, we speak about managers, we speak about coaches, and this is where we have to really be careful as well. We talk and we say he’s [Arne Slot] head coach.

Is that within his remit then? To be sitting down and managing everything? His thing is coaching, and he’s showing that that’s what he’s trying to do. But within that, I believe, within that, you should be actually speaking to the players and making sure they all understand, and they’re all aligned with what you want, especially when you’re going to drop someone.

The worst thing for a player is being dropped. The best thing is having an explanation to actually wrap your head around it. If you don’t get that explanation, you wrap your head around, all the stuff that goes on your head, it’s all false anyway, but it will tell you something different.

SeatPick: And how do you think the Liverpool dressing room will feel about all this?

Emile Heskey: I think they’ll be split. At the end of the day, you’re talking about one of the biggest players in that dressing room for years. The numbers that he’s putting up have been absolute joke. And by the way, he’s a winger, not a centre forward.

So he earns that respect from what he does on the pitch week in, week out, and the way that he lives his life as well, which is a testament to him. And he’s an ambassador for a lot of players and for kids.

Kids will look up to him because of how he conducts himself. So it will be split within the changes on understanding that, well, even some of the other lads who have sat on the bench for a long time, they’ll be like, well, I have sat down here for a long time and just cottoned on, just got on with stuff. Now you have five minutes on the bench and you’re three games on the bench, but you’re getting upset. Let’s back the players who are out there. And that’s one of the things that the players will probably be disappointed with. You’ve got to back everyone that was out there because they’re not in the best of runs right now, are they?

Emile Heskey on Liverpool

SeatPick: Give us a lowdown of the changes Slot is looking to implement this season?

Emile Heskey: I think it’s just a transition, isn’t it? A transition from a team probably playing a 4-3-3 for a long period of time under a successful manager, and then a new manager coming in and wanting to have something a little bit different. And then buying players and the players really taking a bit of time to adjust into the actual system that they’re coming into. The most solid one is obviously a transition of a player who’s been fantastic for the club for years, scored ridiculous amount of goals, won trophies, etc.

And then there’s a changing of the guard a little bit, and he’s no longer that permanent fixture on the. team sheet. But again, a player who deserves the respect of being spoken to before you go and do things like that, or getting an understanding of why you’re doing it, what line you’re going down, etc. Because of what he’s done. But the ultimate is the manager’s decision, and he deserves to make that decision.

SeatPick: Do you believe Mo was thinking he could outlast Slot with his comments?

Emile Heskey: Every player believes that, doesn’t he? But the reality is the manager is the manager. It’s for him to pick and choose the team, and players have to respect that. But as well, alongside that, I’ll give a caveat that the manager needs to respect that. Mo Sal is probably a little bit different, and he deserves a little bit of a different treatment, possibly sitting down and discussing why.

He’s Mo Salah, he’s got how many goals, how many assists? how many trophies? Loads, So he probably needs a little bit of different treatment. He deserves the respect of sitting down and possibly discussing it and tell him why. He’s got to accept that. There’s a part of this… What are we going to call it? In my day, it was management, now it’s First Team Coach. So roles have changed of what goes on with a manager having total control, with Head Coach having not overall control.

Emile Heskey On Liverpool’s Champions League Hopes

SeatPick: After Liverpool’s outstanding result in the Champions League, can they go on and win the Champions League and what can they aim for in the Premier League?

Emile Heskey: We hope. At the end of the day, Champions League is obviously the elite of the elite. At this
moment in time, they’re going through a rough patch, even though they just beat Inter Milan.

And I think they’re showing signs that they’re steadily progressing into what they want to be. The manager changed the formation a little bit. They switched formation which is probably what he wanted to do all along. So it’s looking good for them.

In the league, you’ve got to think getting into the top four is their main priority now so that would be
the aim for Liverpool between now and the end of the season.

Emile Heskey On Arsenal vs Manchester City For The Premier League Title

SeatPick: We’re looking at the Premier League now, obviously the title race. How many teams do you
think are in the title race as we look at it now?

Emile Heskey: I’d probably say two. I’d say Arsenal and Man City. I think Arsenal have got the squad, but have they got the know-how? I think City have the know-how. City have the… not the heart, but the understanding of what it needs to get over the line. They’ve done it time and time again. We’ve seen Arsenal falter a couple of times. But City managed to know how to get it over the line. So I’m swaying a little bit more towards them.

Emile Heskey On England’s World Cup Chances

SeatPick: Switching attention to England, how do you see the England World Cup campaign going as it stands now?

Emile Heskey: I think we’ve got a really good squad. I think we’ve got a competitive squad. I think our forward line is very stacked with fast and dynamic players. Harry Kane is our captain, experience in World Cups and scoring loads of goals. We’ve got the likes of Saka, Foden, Rashford and Palmer who have all played for England at major tournaments so have some experience at the top level. We have Watkins who scored a big goal in the Euros.

We need to combine all this top talent to give England the best hope in the World Cup. Add to that Eze, Madueke, as well as Bellingham and Rice, experience in these two is massive. We just need that bit of luck throughout the tournament. We have the luck with the group that we’re in. So that’s a winnable group. And we’ve got a really good manager who hopefully will channel them to go all the way. He has been brought in with his tactical mindset to get England to the next step, which is competing to win the trophy. We hope England get luck throughout the tournament and then the manager can use his skills to get England all the way.