Klopp plays down Salah substitution and urges Liverpool to ‘fight harder’

Jürgen Klopp has advised Liverpool’s gamers to “fight harder” and performed down Mohamed Salah’s response to being substituted throughout the defeat against Chelsea on Thursday.

The Premier League champions endured one other blow within the race to qualify for the Champions League and have now misplaced 5 consecutive dwelling video games for the primary time of their 129‑yr historical past.

Liverpool face an enormous battle to save their season after they faltered once more at Anfield, dropping into seventh place after succumbing to a nice first‑half aim from Mason Mount. Klopp’s aspect struggled all through and are 4 factors behind Chelsea, who climbed again into fourth place persevering with their unbeaten begin beneath Thomas Tuchel.

Chelsea have been deserved winners and not often appeared like being denied their first victory at Anfield since 2014. It was one other blunt show from Liverpool, who’ve been in a disaster of confidence since shedding their 68-game unbeaten run at dwelling. They barely created something, with Salah struggling earlier than being taken off, and Klopp admitted he delivered an trustworthy evaluation within the dressing room.

“I told the boys what I saw tonight,” Liverpool’s supervisor mentioned. “It’s not that we go for any kind of excuses in this moment. These games are decided in moments and to get these moments back you have to fight. In some moments you have to fight on a different level. That’s what I told the boys. It’s not about tactics or something like that. It’s really about being resilient. It’s about heart. I don’t say the boys didn’t show heart.

“But we talk about the last decisive 2, 3, 4 per cent and it never happened that we will start blaming the circumstances. That’s just not the case. We had a good team. A really good team on the pitch and we played in a lot of moments good football, but not in decisive moments good enough. There’s only one person or group to criticise: that’s me, that’s us. That’s what I told the boys.”

Liverpool, who’ve received three of their previous 13 league video games, are in a rut. Their winless run at Anfield stretches again seven video games and they’ve misplaced their contact in entrance of aim, with Salah’s type a priority.

The ahead struggled to disguise his disappointment after being changed by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain within the 62nd minute, his earliest substitution since September 2017, and there was a possible headache for Klopp when Salah’s agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, sparked intrigue with a cryptic tweet in the course of the sport, posting a single full cease.

“I’m happy when the boys look disappointed, that’s not a problem,” Klopp mentioned. “I didn’t see it from Mo. The reason for the sub was I could have changed other players as well but the reason was he looked like he felt the intensity and I didn’t want to risk him. That’s all. It’s really rare and usually Mo looks surprisingly fresh until the end. I thought he didn’t look fresh any more. The last two or three years have nothing to do with that.”

While Klopp digested “a massive blow”, Chelsea celebrated shifting a degree above Everton earlier than internet hosting Carlo Ancelotti’s aspect on Monday. It was a powerful show from Tuchel’s aspect, who may have received by extra on condition that Timo Werner had a aim controversially disallowed for offside by VAR earlier than Mount’s winner.

“We played with courage,” the Chelsea supervisor mentioned. “We had moments where we needed to suffer but we never lost the attitude to defend. It was a very deserved win and a big result. When you play at Anfield you have no time to think. We told the players we need nothing extra super special, we told the players we need courage to escape the pressure. It was a very good performance.”