Mohamed Salah has not had many off-days this season but Sunday will certainly go down as one.
Salah simply couldn’t get into the game as Liverpool were defeated by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, meaning the Reds will have to take next week’s clash against Brighton more seriously than manager Jurgen Klopp would have liked.
The only headlines Salah made against his former side were negative ones as Liverpool’s top scorer was booked for simulation in the first half.
Salah hit the deck under a challenge from Blues centre-half Gary Cahill but there was no contact, prompting referee Anthony Taylor to book the Egyptian.
And Klopp believes that Salah paid the price for trying to buy a free kick on the edge of the Chelsea box as he insisted that the official was more reluctant to give any decisions in Salah’s favour after the dive.
Speaking after the game, Klopp told the Liverpool Echo: “Now he played twice against former teammates. It was clear before against Rome, before the game they are very friendly; ‘hello Mo, how are you?’ a hug here and a hug there.
“Then when the game starts, bam. Same with Rudiger today.
“And obviously it was a dive, yes? Or he waits for the contact or whatever. That’s not what I want to see, not what he wants to do, but then after that he didn’t get any fouls any more.
“Rudiger was always like this (pulls shirt) but he had to deal with it.
“He can do much better, he will do much better. He will score again, but it was not a game for him today. He can play with no space, but there was no space.”
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