Salah shines but Klopp sweats on injured duo
Jurgen Klopp hopes Mohamed Salah’s goal-scoring return to action in Liverpool’s 4-1 win at Brentford proved the injury-hit Premier League leaders can cope without their walking wounded.
Salah netted Liverpool’s third goal on Saturday in his first appearance since returning from a hamstring tear suffered on Egypt duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Darwin Nunez, Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo also scored in Liverpool’s sixth win in their last seven league games.
But the victory came at a cost as Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota were both lost to what looked significant injuries in the first half.
Klopp was pleased with the resolute way Liverpool ignored the injuries to secure their first league win at Brentford since the Londoners were promoted in 2021.
“Dealing with all the situations they create, and being as dominated you can be, being calm in the right moments, being direct in the right moments, use their man-marking, playing against the line. I saw a top game.”
He was buoyed by Salah’s display on his first Liverpool appearance since Jan 1, but acknowledged the loss of Jones and Jota was far from ideal.
Liverpool face Luton on Wednesday, then take on Chelsea in the League Cup final at Wembley on Feb 25.
“Mo played his first game for weeks. He could have had a hattrick.
“Cody’s goal was absolutely outstanding as well.
“You can count the games coming up. It would be helpful if we had a more than one (player) for each position. But it’s all fine. That’s the situation and we cannot change it.
“We have problems. We don’t know how big they are.
“As long as we have 11 players, we will go for it.”