Klopp explains “grown up” conversation that kept Mo Salah on penalties

Jurgen Klopp has spoken about a “grown-up” conversation he had with Mo Salah about the Egyptian retaining his penalty duties for the Reds.

Salah’s converted spot-kick was the difference between Liverpool and Fulham on Wednesday night – after misses against Bournemouth and Arsenal caused many to question whether a change was needed.

After twice failing to hit the target, Klopp admitted that he and his staff would consider switching the No. 11 out as penalty taker.

But with Salah now two for two, the manager revealed in his post-match press conference that a “grown-up” conversation between them saw him keep his place.

“Obviously he wanted to stay the penalty taker but we had a normal conversation about it,” Klopp explained.

“This today was a super penalty, that is really clear, so I think with all the goals Mo scored we cannot just judge it with two missed, to go away from it.

“It was a conversation between two grown-up men.”

The penalty took Salah to within one goal of Steven Gerrard’s total for the club, meaning that another two would take him above the former captain into the top five on the club’s all-time goalscorers list.

Klopp was also asked about the pressure that comes with taking penalties for Liverpool, with the boss insisting that the 30-year-old “enjoys” the weight of expectation that comes with it.

“He enjoys these situations,” he explained.

“The problem is before he missed a pen we didn’t have one for 28 games or so. We train for it obviously but that is a special situation.

“Twenty-eight weeks is like four years and you cannot remember any kind of penalty and stuff like this.

“It’s just you go there and then you miss it then you can still finish it off but then you miss it and that does not feel great.

“The break after the Arsenal pen, the talk, [I said] ‘shake it off if you want and go from there’, and I think that is absolutely the right thing to do.”