Jurgen Klopp Defends Mohamed Salah After Graeme Souness Calls Liverpool Star ‘Selfish’
Though, Mohamed Salah was at his prime in the last encounter, he was slammed by many fans including former Liverpool captain Graeme Souness for being ‘selfish.’ Salah was accused of not passing the ball to better-placed teammates during the match. Souness wasn’t amused with the striker’s display as he claimed that Salah took ‘to another level’.
Mohamed Salah continued his sensational run in Premier League 2019-20 as he scored two goals against Brighton and guided Liverpool to a 3-1 triumph. Though, the Egyptian forward was at his prime in the last encounter, he was slammed by many fans including former Liverpool captain Graeme Souness for being ‘selfish.’ Salah was accused of not passing the ball to better-placed teammates during the match. Souness wasn’t amused with the striker’s display as he claimed that Salah took ‘to another level’ as he wanted to win the Golden Boot award for the third successive season. However, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has defended his top marksman by calling him motivated and enthusiastic. Liverpool vs Brighton 3–1, Premier League Match Result: Mohamed Salah’s Brace Helps Liverpool Beat Brighton.
By scoring two goals against Brighton, the Egyptian forward braced his tally to 19 goals in the season – three behind top scorer Jamie Vardy. Mohamed Salah, who shared the golden boot award with teammate Sadio Mance last year and Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang last year, has been getting the title since the last two seasons and is well in the hunt to get the feat for the third consecutive time.
Responding to Souness’s claims, Klopp defended Salah’s urge to get the feat again. "He is a striker, how can it not be a motivation for him? But the last two years he has won the Golden Boot. Last year he shared it with Sadio (Mane) and Auba (Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang) and that is always important. But in the end you can only score when you perform well and he did that tonight," said Klopp in quotes reported by the Liverpool Echo.
Klopp, however, also admitted that more goals could have been scored in the game. However, he lauded his side’s performance at the Amex.
"So that was really good. If you are too focused on goals, which they aren't, then you do not move to be in the right situations, but the goals we scored tonight are really good. We could have scored more, that is true,” he added.
Liverpool have already secured the Premier League title. However, they are targeting Manchester City’s record for the Premier League's best-ever points tally. Manchester became the first team to amass 100 points during their title win in 2017-18 season. However, the Reds have already secured 92 points and with four matches left to be played, they can well get the record.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 09, 2020 01:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).