Arne Slot said he was unclear on Mohamed Salah's future but saluted his "special" star after the Liverpool forward underlined his value to the Premier League leaders with a double in Wednesday's thrilling 3-3 draw at Newcastle United.
Liverpool were denied an eighth successive win in all competitions after Fabian Schar punished a mistake from goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher to equalise in the 90th minute.
But despite seeing their lead at the top of the table reduced to seven points, Liverpool are still in pole position to win a first title since 2020, largely thanks to another brilliant campaign from Salah.
The Egypt star has 15 goals in all competitions, including nine in his last seven league games.
But despite another standout performance, talk after the match inevitable centred on the 32-year-old forward's Anfield future, with his contract set to expire next summer.
Salah has admitted he feels "more out than in" at Liverpool as contract negotiations appear at an impasse. The former Roma player is free to start negotiating with foreign clubs from January 1 amid talk of a potential lucrative move to Saudi Arabia.
Slot wouldn't be drawn into pleading with Salah to stay in public, but he made it clear how important he has been in his first season in charge.
"It's difficult for me to predict the long-term future, but the only thing I can expect or predict is that he is in a very good place at the moment," he said.
"He plays in a very good team that provides him with good opportunities and then he is able to do special things.
"And what makes him for me even more special is that in the first hour or before we scored to make it 1-1, you thought, 'He's not playing his best game today'.
"Then to come up with a half-hour or 45 minutes with an assist, two goals, having a shot on the bar, being a constant threat, that is something not many players can do if they've played the first hour like he did.
"That is also what makes him special. If you just look at the goals, his finish is so clinical. He's a special player, but that's what we all know."
Newcastle went in at the break ahead after Alexander Isak's stunning 35th-minute finish.
Salah laid on Curtis Jones' 50th minute equaliser before Anthony Gordon restored Newcastle's advantage 12 minutes later.
Salah levelled in the 68th minute and slotted Liverpool in front with seven minutes left before Kelleher's mistake cost his team a valuable victory.
"The shot from Isak, I don't even know if Caoimhin saw that ball, as hard as it was," Slot said.
"He has done remarkably well for us and even today he was good. Unfortunately, he misjudged the situation [for the equaliser]."
City snap winless streak
Pep Guardiola said Manchester City needed to break the habit of losing after snapping a seven-game winless streak by beating Nottingham Forest 3-0 on Wednesday.
The English champions' barren run included six defeats, the worst run of Guardiola's managerial career.
However, victory came at a cost as defenders Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji had to be replaced due to injuries.
"We needed it. The club, the players needed to win but it is just one game," said Guardiola. "The problems continue with Manu and Nathan.
"In general, the most important thing was to break this routine of not winning games and finally we won, but we have to continue."
Injury woes have been at the heart of City's struggles in recent months with Ballon d'Or winner Rodri out for the season due to a serious knee problem.
Kevin de Bruyne's return to the starting line-up for the first time in nearly three months showed what City have been missing as he helped restore order for Guardiola's men.
The Belgian teed up Bernardo Silva for an early opener and then fired home himself to double City's lead.
Jeremy Doku rounded off the scoring in the second half as the home side did not suffer a repeat of last week's collapse from 3-0 up to draw 3-3 against Feyenoord in the Uefa Champions League.
Guardiola dismissed suggestions before the game that there had been a rift with De Bruyne as he has been carefully managed back from injury problems.
"Last season was many months [out injured] and this season as well. I'm so happy he's back," added Guardiola.
"He fought a lot. In respect to his physicality and minutes against Feyenoord was not good and that's why I decided not to play at Anfield [against Liverpool] for the rhythm they play.
"But the minutes he played at Anfield were really good and today he played 75 fantastic minutes."
Neither Akanji or Ake are expected to be fit to face Crystal Palace on Saturday, but Phil Foden could return after missing the Forest match due to bronchitis.
Arsenal 'buzzing' off set-piece goals
Declan Rice said Arsenal’s set-piece coach will be “buzzing” after the team scored two goals from corners in their 2-0 win over Manchester United.
Jurrien Timber headed in from Rice’s cross in the 54th minute then Thomas Partey headed the ball against William Saliba and in from a similar routine 17 minutes from time.
It continued Arsenal’s impressive goalscoring record from set-pieces this season as they won for the third Premier League game in a row to cut the gap to leaders Liverpool to seven points.
“What a night,” Rice told Amazon Prime. “Manchester United have a new manager so we knew it would be a test. We stuck to the game plan and we could’ve had three or four.
“When you go up for a corner it’s a chance to score a goal. To score both of them from corners, [set-piece coach] Nico [Jover] will be buzzing and I’m so happy.
“It’s more just seeing clips and I know the weight I need to put on the ball and it’s just about repetition. I put a few good balls in and could’ve had a couple of assists so it was nice to get one.”
Victory over Ruben Amorim’s side was Arsenal’s third in a row in the league after previously going winless in four.
And Liverpool’s 3-3 draw at Newcastle enabled the Gunners to claw back a couple of points on Slot’s side.
“When you have a blip in the league you get written off,” Rice added. “We stick together as a group and we knew the run of results were not good enough, now we’re starting to see a turn of that. People get carried away.
“You just need to be around it in February time. Liverpool have dropped points, they’re seven away, so we will see what happens.”
