Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp responds to Mohamed Salah substitution against Arsenal
Just when the season could not have gotten any worse for Liverpool, we slipped to a 3-2 loss to Arsenal at Emirates. It pushes them a major fourteen points above us in the league with October not over yet.
The match started on a bad note with Arsenal scoring in the first minute due to another defensive error and although we showed a fighting spirit to come back twice, poor performances and incompetent refereeing cost us dear.
One of the major talking points after the game was the substitution of Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah near the seventieth-minute mark, a few moments before Bukayo Saka scored the winner for Arsenal.
Hence, speaking post the defeat (h/t Liverpool Echo), Jurgen Klopp was asked the reason behind the substitution and the manager claimed that Salah was substituted due to the player’s “unbelievable workload”.
“It’s a good question!
Mo had an unbelievable workload and put in a real shift and that sometimes is intense, so that is why we changed it. “
It is rather confusing to believe that Klopp took his star player off when the team needed a goal due to his workload and there is more to it than what meets the eye.
Salah has been exceptional for Liverpool since joining them from AS Roma and a big factor in reaching the heights achieved by the club in the past few seasons. Out of his four seasons before the 2022/23 campaign, he won the Premier League Golden Boot three times. It speaks volumes about the impact that he brings to the side.
However, this season has seen the Egyptian king not achieve the same level of success and has been a player rather poorly and has scored meagre two goals in the league.
Many predict Salah’s downfall to start after the heartbreak he suffered at AFCON 2022, where he lost the finals to former teammate Sadio Mane’s national team Senegal.
Since then, we have not been able to see the same player who has rocked up Anfield on various occasions over the past few seasons.
With the departure of Sadio Mane to FC Bayern Munich, it left a big hole in the Liverpool attack and that showered Salah with more responsibility to play more as a creator which we could argue is affecting his game.
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Therefore, Klopp’s decision to substitute Salah when we needed a winner and positioning Jordan Henderson on the right speaks a lot about the fact that Klopp is beginning to lose his trust in the player.
Liverpool’s season is looking very bleak and there is no clear definition of how the season will head further.
