Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he substituted Mohammed Salah in the 1 – 0 defeat to Chelsea in order to freshen up the Liverpool team.
Salah was taken off in the 62nd minute of the match at the same time as Curtis Jones, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and the returning Diogo Jota coming on.
The Egyptian appeared to have been unhappy with Klopp’s decision to substitute him as he was seen shaking his head dejectedly on the bench, but Klopp says the decision was to bring on fresh legs.
“I just brought on fresh legs,” he told Sky Sports.
“Mo looked like today he suffered a bit, he played a lot of games.
“I could have taken off Sadio or Bobby, that is all clear but at that moment it looked like Mo. Milner we bought on to wake them up a bit and keep them in the game because we needed one situation.
On the defeat he added: “It is a massive blow. It is not done yet. We have to win football games.”
With the defeat, Liverpool have now lost five straight matches at Anfield for the first time in their history. They’ve scored just once across those games.
Meanwhile, the Reds will have the chance to arrest their dismal home form on Sunday when they host relegation-threatened Fulham.
Three days later they will face RB Leipzig in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
