Albion’s late fightback frustrates boss Klopp
Mo Salah became a Premier League record-breaker, but Liverpool blew a two-goal lead to give West Brom a dramatic late lifeline to their faint hopes of escaping relegation.
The Egyptian striker scored his 31st goal of an incredible season, putting him level with Alan Shearer, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez for the most goals in a 38-game campaign.
“I was happy for him,” said a sulky Jurgen Klopp. “But first of all we all want to win football games.
“I would have loved to talk about this detail if we won, but we didn’t.”
Salah’s scored Liverpool’s second of the game after 72 minutes and looked to have effectively secured both Champions League football for his club next season and Albion’s drop to the Championship.
But the Baggies fought back with goals from Jake Livermore and Salomon Rondon in the final 13 minutes to snatch what looked an unlikely point when Danny Ings opened the scoring after just three minutes.
Albion will still almost certainly go down and Liverpool are almost sure of a top-four spot, but Albion’s comeback was both remarkable for them and worrying for Liverpool as they prepare for Roma in the Champions League.
Their late collapse echoed their earlyseason struggles.
Klopp rather churlishly described Albion’s exploits as “a useless comeback,” meaning that it probably won’t stop them going down.
“It feels a waste of points,” he said. “They don’t need it, we need it.”
He also had a barrage of complaints about the free-kick that led to West Brom’s equaliser, the lack of water on the Hawthorns pitch, a penalty he felt Ings should have been given and that centre back Ahmed Hegazi should have been red-carded for a punch on Ings that went unseen by ref Stuart Atwell.
“Hegazi on Ings is a red card,” he said. “There was also a clear penalty.
“The pitch was too dry and dangerous for injuries and their second goal was no foul. But if you are the better team you should win and we didn’t.”
Ings fired in his first goal since October 2015 from a touch by Gini Wijnaldum after Sadio Mane got round the back of Albion’s defence.
But West Brom worked their way into the game and were unlucky in the 38th minute when James McClean volleyed along Liverpool’s goal-line and Jay Rodriguez just failed to touch it in.
A couple of minutes later, Ings should
have had his second, but Ben Foster saved with his foot.
Hegazi could certainly be looking at a retrospective ban after TV pictures showed he threw a punch at Ings while the Liverpool striker was grounded.
Salah got his customary goal 18 minutes from time, with Liverpool’s subs Roberto Firmino and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain involved in the move before the Egyptian dinked the ball over Foster. But West Brom gave themselves what appeared to be the faintest of hopes in the 79th minute when Livermore forced the ball home after Loris Karius had made a good save from Craig Dawson.
Then, two minutes from time, Rondon flung himself at Chris Brunt’s free-kick and buried a very good header.
Moore denied that his club purposely left the surface unwatered, insisting: “It wasn’t a ploy. It was a really hot day. I was so engrossed in the game my focus wasn’t about the pitch. It was about trying to get a team together to play against a really good team.
“We can look back on spilt milk and what happens later this weekend, we can’t determine that. But the big thing is that we have come together as a football club.”