Even Salah’s goals record not enough to console Reds boss

JURGEN Klopp saw Mohamed Salah set yet another Liverpool goalscoring record in his extraordinary season but the painful loss of two points in a 2-2 draw away to West Bromwich Albion left the manager less than enthusiastic about his afternoon at The Hawthorns on Saturday.

Salah scored Liverpool’s second goal as they amassed what looked like a commanding 2-0 lead against the Premier League’s bottom club, taking his tally for the season to 41 in 46 games across all competitions and equalling the Liverpool record for the most goals in a Premier League campaign – 31 scored by Luis Suarez four years ago.

Klopp also saw Danny Ings score his first goal since October 2015 to make it 1-0 but, after conceding two late goals to West Brom and with an eye on tomorrow’s Champions League semifinal first leg with Roma, the Reds boss was in no mood to celebrate yet another achievement from the Egyptian.

“Of course I was happy for him,” Klopp said. “But like Mo, first of all we all want to win football games. That’s why I would have loved to talk about this little detail if we won the game – but we didn’t.”

Ings, starting just his second league game since October 2015 following two cruciate knee ligament injuries, was on the mark after just four minutes.

“It was always clear that if Danny is fit and healthy and can keep the intensity in training, as he has been doing for a long time, that he will then score goals,” Klopp said.

“So it was really nice that he could do that, and he was really a threat. The second chance was really big and I am sure he would have scored in another situation. Now after a little rain he will score!”

That second chance that fell to Ings saw him head over as the ball bounced up off the dry surface and left German manager Klopp launching a bizarre post-match complaint about the fact that Albion had not watered the surface before kickoff.

“I know what people will think about it if I say it, but the pitch got drier and drier, which is not an advantage for the footballplaying side,” Klopp said.

“I’m a big football fan. You have to try to do everything to make the best circumstances for all the boys to deliver. But we let the home team decide whether they water the pitch or not.”

There were no problems about Liverpool’s second in the 71st minute when Salah moved five goals clear of Tottenham Hot- spur’s Harry Kane in the race for the Premier League’s Golden Boot award.

But Klopp was left to face an anxious finale when Albion pulled a goal back in the 78th minute. And in the 88th minute Albion, shock winners at Manchester United last week, equalised when Salomon Rondon headed in Chris Brunt’s free-kick.

Meanwhile, Arsenal scored three goals in the final eight minutes as manager Arsene Wenger marked his penultimate home Premier League match in charge with a crushing 4-1 win over West Ham United in a London derby at the Emirates yesterday.

Defender Nacho Monreal put Arsenal ahead six minutes into the second half to bring the match to life after a dull first half.

Marko Arnautovic equalised 13 minutes later.

Aaron Ramsey put Arsenal ahead again in the 82nd when a mistake in the Hammers’ defence allowed his effort from the left edge of the box to sail into the far side of Joe Hart’s net. Alexandre Lacazette added the third and fourth goals.

Arsenal climbed within six points of fifth-placed Chelsea on 57 while West Ham remain in relegation trouble six points above the drop zone on 35.

Stoke missed the chance to give their hopes of Premier League survival a major boost when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Burnley at the bet365 Stadium yesterday.

Badoo Ndiaye gave Stoke the lead in the 11th minute, an advantage they seemed comfortable with for the remainder of the first half. – AFP, Reuters