Looking at some of the reaction following Thursday’s win over Sheffield United on, you’d be forgiven for thinking Mohamed Salah had just handed in his resignation and tore up his Liverpool contract.
Multiple outlets picked up on the Egyptian’s reaction after being substituted against the Blades. Various headlines painted the 31-year-old as being ‘not happy’ or in more extreme cases being ‘angry’ at Jürgen Klopp’s decision to bring him off.
It was certainly a risk from the Liverpool boss. His side had just conceded an equalizer, and given the state of the title race, nothing but a win would do. Taking off his premier goal-getter therefore did seem to be quite the gamble.
In the end though, it paid off. Harvey Elliott, who replaced Salah, looked lively once again, and Liverpool would go on to secure a 3-1 win that takes it back to the top of the Premier League with eight games to go.
But what about Salah’s reaction? Well, as every Liverpool fan will know, it was nothing out of the ordinary.
We’ve become accustomed to him not taking being hauled off too well. After all, we’ve already seen it this season, and in the very first game of the campaign no less.
Compared to his reaction against Chelsea that day, Salah’s reaction on this occasion was nothing. Even then though, Klopp didn’t seem all that bothered.
“We needed stability and we needed fresh legs. It was super intense for everybody,” Klopp explained back in August.
“That’s all I can say about it, his reaction was absolutely okay. When I sub a player and he is jumping in to my arms at 1-1 and he is a striker who thinks he will score, I would be really surprised so that’s absolutely fine.”
That’s not the only time Salah hasn’t been best pleased at having to make way during a game. All you have to do is type ‘Mohamed Salah substitution’ into your preferred search engine, and you’ll find multiple occasions of the Egyptian not taking the decision too well, and Klopp giving pretty much the same explanation after each event.
Salah’s reaction against Sheffield United certainly wasn’t one of someone pleased to be coming off, but nor was it of someone seething with rage. It was simply a player frustrated that he wouldn’t make a telling contribution in the game.
In any case, all seemed to be forgotten when Alexis Mac Allister thundered the Reds back into the lead. Salah could be seen jumping up in celebration on the bench, something that seems to have passed a lot of people by.
With a huge game against Manchester United coming up this weekend, Salah’s fitness will no doubt have been in the back of Klopp’s mind on Thursday. The Liverpool boss is clearly still looking to manage his minutes following his recent hamstring injury, and had he broken down in search of a winner, you can guarantee there would be much harsher questions being asked of the Reds boss.
As it is though, Klopp will almost certainly have taken very little notice of the Egyptian’s reaction. As for Salah, he’ll have no doubt already turned his attention toward United. Much ado about nothing really.
