Jurgen Klopp has downplayed Mohamed Salah’s reaction in Liverpool’s defeat to Chelsea.
Salah was withdrawn on 62 minutes of Thursday’s game at Anfield, the fifth that the Premier League champions have lost consecutively on home soil.
The Egyptian cut a frustrated figure after he made way for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, with the Reds attempting to claw back a one-goal deficit.
But Klopp insists that he has no problem with players showing disappointment and explained the reason for Salah’s substitution was a precautionary one.
He said: “I’m happy when the boys look disappointed.
“That’s not a problem. I didn’t see it from Mo. The reason for the sub was I could have changed other players as well.
“But the reason was he looked like he felt the intensity and I didn’t want to risk him. That’s all.
“It’s really rare and usually Mo looks surprisingly fresh until the end.
“I thought he didn’t look fresh any more. The last two or three years have nothing to do with that.”
The Liverpool manager also revealed he delivered a frank assessment to his players after they fell four points off the pace in the race for a top four finish.
“I told the boys what I saw tonight,” added Klopp.
“It’s not that we go for any kind of excuses in this moment. These games are decided in moments and to get these moments back you have to fight.
“In some moments you have to fight on a different level. That’s what I told the boys.
“It’s not about tactics or something like that. It’s really about being resilient. It’s about heart. I don’t say the boys didn’t show heart.
“But we talk about the last decisive 2, 3, 4 per cent and it never happened that we will start blaming the circumstances. That’s just not the case.
“We had a good team. A really good team on the pitch and we played in a lot of moments good football, but not in decisive moments good enough.
“There’s only one person or group to criticise [and] that’s me, that’s us.
“That’s what I told the boys.”