Michail Antonio believes that the incident between Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Mohamed Salah is overblown
West Ham’s Michail Antonio disclosed the behind-the-scene gossip about the touchline incident between Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Mohamed Salah. Antonio claimed that the media gossip and drama-mongers are blowing the situation between Salah and Klopp out of proportion.
Liverpool drew 2-2 to West Ham in the Premier League away game which further damaged the title ambition. The Reds have lost two and drawn two games in the last five Premier League matches, continuing their poor form.
Klopp dropped out-of-form forward Salah and brought him on as a late substitution right when Liverpool conceded an equaliser. Salah and Klopp ended up in a verbal altercation before Darwin Nunez stepped in and eventually, the substitutions happened.
Speaking on the Footballer’s Football Podcast (h/t Liverpool Echo), Antonio addressed what West Ham’s bench deciphered during the altercation. He said:
“As the (Liverpool) players come on, Klopp always gives them a big hug and says ‘good luck’, but when Mo came on he walked in a different direction and was doing his shinpads and stuff like that. Klopp has put his hand out to him and his hand was there for a bit and as Mo stopped doing what he was doing, he just slapped his (Klopp’s) hand as a high five. “Obviously Klopp didn’t like that and he was like, ‘do you want to sit back down?’, basically saying, ‘do you want to go on?’. And nobody has told me what Mo said back.”
The West Ham forward further expressed his opinion on the matter, stating that the situation unnecessarily dramatizes. He added:
“It’s one of those things because they (Liverpool) are not performing it’s going to be amplified, Knowing who they are and how well they’ve done this season and basically the title could be drifting away from them, tensions are going to be high, there is going to be a lot of frustration and I feel like they are only human so these things are bound to happen.”
Despite the prolific form that Salah has enjoyed throughout this season, the Egypt captain has drastically struggled lately. As he continued to miss several goalscoring chances, many questioned his overall contribution without his usual productivity.
No one can argue the 31-year-old’s ability on the ball despite his struggle to score or produce assists. However, his overall contribution to the play has also drastically fallen, lacking the finesse to beat opponents or provide movement in spaces.
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The right flank of Liverpool is completely nullified due to his lack of presence in the area, playing more narrower. With Trent Alexander-Arnold playing as an inverted right-back, the right side is usually occupied only by Dominik Szoboszlai.
Many have argued that Liverpool have played better without Salah because it allows the team to use both flanks. Salah remains an important player and no one is doubting his ability but without productivity, he is beginning to lack the influence he used to have.
