Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp has come out to explain why he substituted Mohamed Salah when there was still plenty of time for the Egyptian to add to his tally against Chelsea on Thursday night.
Mo’ Salah left the pitch disappointed as he was replaced with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 62nd minute despite having looked like the most dangerous Liverpool attacker on the pitch especially in the first 45 minutes of play.
The Egyptian superstar, however, could have bagged an assist at least if his long ball, which found Sadio Mane had been converted. Mane had only his countryman Edouardo Mendy to beat in Chelsea’s box but the Senegalese attacker miskicked the ball.
The defeat to Chelsea on Thursday night added to their poor run as they have now lost their fifth successive league match at home.
“I am happy when the boys are disappointed [to come off], that’s not a problem. I could have changed other players as well, that’s true,” Klopp said on the club’s official website.
“But the reason for the substitution was he looked in that moment like he felt the intensity really and I didn’t want to risk him, that’s all.”
Salah, being unable to find the back of the net before he was substituted now means he’s failed to score in his last three competitive matches.
Klopp added…
“That’s the situation. It’s really rare, I have known him now long and usually, Mo looks really surprisingly fresh until the end,”
“He didn’t look fresh anymore and I thought that’s a sign in our situation, I didn’t want to risk him. That’s it.”
Despite going three games without a goal, Salah, 28, still remains the favourite to win the Premier League Golden Boot. He’s currently the highest goal scorer in the league with 17 goals.