Jurgen Klopp believes Mohamed Salah may have a problem with ‘intensity’ right now. He does have a way to hide the issue, however.
Taking Mohamed Salah off on Thursday was a controversial decision. He’s the Premier League’s top scorer, after all, and Liverpool needed a goal.
In fact, Jurgen Klopp’s decision to take him off on 62 minutes was very notable – he’s never substituted Salah that early before. It was a clear statement sub.
But why? Why wouldn’t Klopp keep his best goalscorer on the pitch while chasing a goal in a huge game?
“In the situation when you make a decision like that he looked, for me, like [Salah] felt the intensity,” Klopp said afterwards, per the BBC. “He probably saw it completely differently and that is completely fine.”
That backs up something journalist Matt Critchley saw.
“Klopp was screaming at [Salah] to track back & help out defensively – he was a long way off,” he tweeted.
“Bit of a half-hearted jog. Klopp turned to [Pep] Ljinders almost straight away & they discussed replacing him.”
The player appears to have a problem with tracking back right now. Klopp believes it’s because of ‘intensity’, rather than Salah having an attitude.
Fortunately, there could be a fix.
Changing it up
Klopp could move Salah into a role where he doesn’t need to track back as much – striker. The Egyptian could focus on threatening the opposition goal, with no emphasis on helping a full-back.
It’s a role Salah thrives in, too. Per Understat, Salah has 20 goals and five assists in 21 games playing as a striker since his £34m arrival.
For us, that’s quite astonishing. Klopp wouldn’t just fix the ‘intensity’ problem but he could also boost Liverpool’s goalscoring potential.
Not to mention that the likely formation – 4-2-3-1 – creates room for all of Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota.
A change like this is an attacking one with four forwards but it could help to fix three headaches. We think it’s well worth a go.
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