Here is your Liverpool morning digest for Thursday, March 31.
Mohamed Salah realisation could decide his future
What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Liverpool have certainly lived by the old adage during Jurgen Klopp’s reign, repeatedly fighting back from on-field adversity to deliver success, writes Theo Squires.
Lose a Champions League final after an unfortunate goalkeeping performance and seeing your best player forced off injured? No worries, the Reds will just win it next season. Miss out on the title by a solitary point, having lost just once all season? It’s fine, next year is our year, and we’ll be champions of everything too. See your Premier League title defence and season in general decimated by a defensive injury crisis? We’ll just have to aim for the quadruple in 2022 then!
Turning such negative experiences into positives is what makes this Liverpool side so endearing. No matter the setback, they have repeatedly found a way to bounce back stronger, such is the winning mentality and self-belief Klopp has instilled in every member of his squad.
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But even having said all that, Mohamed Salah is going to need to dig deeper than he ever has before to come out the other side following his latest setback with Egypt.
The forward would already have been hurting after losing in the Africa Cup of Nations final to Senegal in February, with the fact he wasn’t able to take a penalty in the shootout adding salt in the wounds, and in truth he hasn’t been at his most prolific best since then. But Egypt’s latest penalty shoot-out loss to The Teranga Lions will have stung that little bit more.
With a place at the 2022 World Cup on the line, Salah blazed Egypt’s first spot-kick over the crossbar as Senegal supporters shone a barrage of lasers in his face, before Sadio Mane scored the eventual winner to send his homeland to Qatar at his club-mate’s expense. Meanwhile, the Egyptian FA have reported that the Reds forward and his team-mates were subjected to racist abuse during the game, and inflicted to further intimidation tactics on their arrival to the stadium, during their warm-up and after the match as they were being pelted with missiles such as bottles and rocks, with security needed to shield them as they left the pitch.
READ THE FULL STORY FROM THEO HERE.
Jurgen Klopp explains Liverpool replacement plan
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has opened up on the departure of his former assistant manager Zeljko Buvac for the first time.
The pair had worked together since 2001 while at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and eventually Liverpool. Klopp had previously described Buvac as 'the brain' and was seen as a key figure in the Reds' coaching set up.
The now-60-year-old left the club on the eve of the huge Champions League semi-final second-leg at Roma nearly four years ago - although his departure was only officially confirmed later on in 2018. 'Personal reasons' were cited for his sudden exit but otherwise little has been said since on the subject.
But in a new interview, Klopp has touched on his relationship with Buvac, admitting it 'wasn't working out anymore', before heaping praise on Pep Lijnders, who returned to Liverpool to become the German's new right-hand man, and his other coaching staff.
"You have to find a way to get all the knowledge you can over the years," Klopp said to Peter Hooton, who hosts our Allez Les Rouges podcast, in an interview with BT Sport's Boot Room Boys.
"I worked together for a long time with Zeljko Buvac, who was a more experienced coach than I was when we started because he was older and worked already a little bit.
"We worked very close for a long time together and then it didn't work out anymore and we brought in Lijnders and Vitor (Matos) now. They are like energisers, they are the next generation.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE.
