Mo Salah was told to ‘sit down and shut up’ by Roy Keane after the Egyptian forward threw a strop when being substituted in the second half of Liverpool’s draw at Chelsea on Sunday.
The two sides played out an entertaining draw after new Chelsea defender Axel Disasi cancelled out Luis Diaz’s early opener – but Salah cut an angry figure when being replaced for Ben Doak’s fresh legs in the second half.
And Sky Sports pundit Keane said on Salah, who threw his wrist tape on the floor in frustration: ‘It’s OK to be upset, but don’t keep it up for too long. He was shaking his head and then sat down on the bench with his arms up. Sit down and shut up!
‘You have to take it. Be upset but don’t drag it out. We’ve seen a lot better players than Salah get taken off – it’s part of the game.’
Salah was chasing a record for most goals on an opening Premier League weekend and Klopp added: ‘We are here to win a game. Mo is super important but we have to make decisions. We needed fresh legs. He has 500 different records. I can’t think of these.’
Mo Salah fumed after he was subbed off in the 77th minute of Liverpool’s 1-1 draw to Chelsea
It was the first time that the 31-year-old had failed to score in the opening day of the Premier League season as a Liverpool player.
The Egyptian forward was replaced by Ben Doak after 77 minutes and fumed at the decision to be brought off, waving his hand in the air towards the bench before trudging over to the touchline.
Salah had been a dangerous threat throughout the first-half and looked frustrated as he walked off the pitch unraveling the tape around his hand before throwing it onto the ground.
Before high-fiving his replacement, he headed straight for the Liverpool bench and did not shake hands with his manager, Klopp, who remained in the technical area and didn’t approach the forward.
Gary Neville, who was on commentary at the time, said: ‘Oh he’s snapped!’ while Jamie Carragher added: ‘In some ways I can understand the frustration.
‘He was electric in the first half. Liverpool have not been involved in the game in the second half, from an attacking point of view. So what is he supposed to do.’
Salah, who joined Liverpool back in 2017, was the orchestrator of Liverpool’s opener during the match, playing a sublime left footed pass into Luis Diaz, who stretched to tap the ball past Robert Sanchez in goal after 18 minutes.
The Egyptian appeared to have doubled their lead, and opened his goal account for the 2023-24 not long after, breaking free from the Chelsea defence and go one-on-one with the Blues’ goalkeeper, before placing the ball into the back of the net.
The Egyptian walked straight over to the Liverpool bench and notably did not shake hands with his manager Jurgen Klopp
It comes as Salah (middle-right) failed to score for the first time since he joined Liverpool in the clubs opening Premier League game of the season
But after a VAR review, his goal would be disallowed for offside, with Salah just being ahead of the final defender.
Disasi would level the score after 37 minutes, arriving in the middle of the box to strike the ball past Alisson and score on his Premier League debut in front of the Shed end.
Chelsea would also have a goal ruled out, with Ben Chilwell’s effort also being called offside.
Salah, meanwhile, has scored in all six of the opening Premier League season games he’s played with Liverpool, amassing eight goals during that time which is a record that he will now share with both Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer.
After the match, Klopp admitted he empathised with the forward’s reaction, but revealed the tactical reasons behind the substitution, stating: ‘I can understand because if Mo scored it would have been a new record for goals scored in the opening game but I didn’t think about that.
‘We needed stability and we needed fresh legs. It was super intense for everybody. That’s all I can say about it, his reaction was absolutely okay.
‘When I sub a player and he is jumping in to my arms at 1-1 and he is a striker who thinks he will score, I would be really surprised so that’s absolutely fine.’
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