Jurgen Klopp will 'talk' to Mohamed Salah about Liverpool penalty duty

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Jurgen Klopp will 'talk' to Mohamed Salah about Liverpool penalty duty

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted he will speak to Mohamed Salah about whether the star forward stays on penalty duty after missing his second successive spot-kick during Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal at Anfield.

With Liverpool trailing 2-1 in the early stages of the second half after Salah himself had pulled one back to cut into Arsenal’s lead just before half-time, Diogo Jota went down under pressure from a clumsy Rob Holding challenge.

From the resultant penalty, Salah teased power but opened up his body and tried to side foot the ball into the bottom corner with his left foot. But it narrowly missed the target.

Fortunately for the Egyptian icon, Roberto Firmino did grab an equaliser late on. But getting back on level terms so much earlier could have given Liverpool a platform for more.

“I only saw the penalty after the game,” Klopp said, admitting he initially thought it was scored.

“I thought a few people in the crowd reacted. When you don’t see the penalty, you react on what the people see. A few people obviously thought the ball was in but it missed the goal. That’s why I had for a second, the fist, then I realised no-one was really celebrating and the ball was not in.”

Asked whether Salah will continue to be on penalty duty, the Liverpool boss replied: “That’s something we will talk about, but not here.”

Liverpool have now gone four Premier League games without a win – five in all competitions – since thrashing Manchester United 7-0 last month. They trail fourth place United by 12 points as a result of taking only two points from the last 12 available and look increasingly likely to finish outside the top four this season and miss out on Champions League football for the first time since 2016.

That would be a bitter blow for the Reds, especially at a time when the squad is in need of significant reinvestment and rebuilding, with no other European competition anything like as financially lucrative as the Champions League.