Liverpool star, manager in touchline dispute
Mohamed Salah warned there would be “fire” if he discussed in depth his extraordinary touchline row with manager Jurgen Klopp that broke out when the great Liverpool goalscorer prepared to come on at West Ham in his side’s 2-2 Premier League draw at the London Stadium yesterday.
Liverpool Zdropped another two points in their ailing title challenge, to leave the club third on 75 points behind Arsenal and Manchester City who have played one and two games fewer respectively. But the most notable moment of the afternoon was a heated exchange between Salah and Klopp when the former prepared to come on – one that became prolonged enough that fellow substitutes Darwin Nunez and Joe Gomez intervened.
As he left the stadium later, Salah was approached for comment. He said: “There’s going to be fire today if I speak”. It was not delivered entirely seriously and it was not clear whether he might be suggesting he could fan the flames of the controversy. Yet it certainly left a question mark over Klopp’s assertion that the matter had been resolved.
“We spoke about it in the dressing room and it is done for me,” Klopp said in his post-match press conference. “That’s it.” Asked whether the same was the case for Salah, Klopp said: “That’s my impression.”
Klopp has three games left as Liverpool manager and for this one dropped Salah, Nunez, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ibrahima Konate and Curtis Jones from the side that lost to Everton on Thursday. He said that the intense schedule of four games in 10 days had left him with no option but to make changes. Michail Antonio scored the equaliser for West Ham just as Salah was about to come on.
“You can find a manager who can play the same team four times?” Klopp said.
Should City win their two games in hand they will be seven points ahead of Liverpool. Klopp said his team would try to push for three wins from their remaining games. Gakpo and Andy Robertson scored in the second half after Jarrod Bowen’s opener.
“Do they [City] look like they lose two or three games?” Klopp asked. “I don’t think so. I am not angry. Write what you want about that. I don’t think about it. It’s just we have to win football games and let’s see what that means in the end. We have 75 points. [A total of] 84 [is] possible.’’
In other games yesterday, Everton secured their spot in the Premier League next season with a 1-0 home win over Brentford but Sheffield United’s inevitable return to The Championship was confirmed with a 5-1 defeat at Newcastle.
There were 1-1 draws between Fulham and Crystal Palace, and Manchester United and Burnley, while Chelsea came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Aston Villa. Wolves beat Luton 2-1. - Telegraph Group