I’ll pay for pitch charge
JURGEN KLOPP does not regret running on to the pitch to celebrate Liverpool’s 96th-minute match-winner in the Merseyside derby – but has accepted the FA’s charge.
Klopp is likely to be fined £8,000 and warned about his conduct after he dashed on to hug goalkeeper Alisson in Sunday’s 1-0 win over Everton, and recognises that such emotional outbursts are part of his make-up.
“I don’t regret it, but it should not have happened,” he said. “I broke a rule, I pay for it. That’s how it is.”
Klopp said he had not run on to the pitch since he was in charge of Mainz 14 years ago and joked: “It cannot happen any more – at least for the next 14 years.”
The German has defended Mohamed Salah against charges his form has dipped this season. The striker has not been as brilliant as he was last term, netting nine goals in his 20 games so far. He had scored 15 at this stage last year on his way to amassing 44 in his debut season for the club to carry off the PFA and FWA Player of the Year awards.
Klopp took him off 15 minutes from the end on Sunday with Liverpool chasing victory, a substitution that would have been unthinkable last season.
But the manager said: “It’s all good. He has scored seven goals so far in the league. Who has scored most? [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang? And he scored twice in the last game, so nobody is
15 goals away from him.
“Mo could have scored more with the chances he’s had, but there is nothing else to say.”
Klopp will again look to Salah to lead Liverpool at Burnley tonight in what has been a difficult fixture for the Reds in the last two seasons.
They lost at Turf Moor in August 2016 and needed a stoppage-time goal to win on New Year’s Day 11 months ago. Klopp said: “We feel in a good moment, that’s what we have to make sure we do again. Burnley is a completely different cup of tea.” But Sean Dyche’s side have slipped into the relegation zone after picking up just two points from their past seven matches, and goalkeeper Joe Hart feels they have to get back to the solid set-up that carried them to seventh last season.
“We’re quite simple in our approach to things,” said Hart. “It’s going to be about hard work. It’s going to be about good quality shape. It’s going to be about creating and taking chances. All the basics.
“We need to be better in all departments. It’s not through lack of effort but the effort and work we’re putting in needs to go in the right direction. It needs a slight direction shift.”
Burnley face being without midfielder Steven Defour, who has a minor problem with the same knee injury that kept him on the sidelines for eight months before he returned to action in September.
SALAH DAYS: Mohamed Salah has been unable to repeat last season’s heroics this term