Jurgen Klopp has firmed in his view that player protection needs to be increased in the aftermath of Mo Salah sustaining a ankle injury in the Reds thrilling 2-1 win over Leicester on Saturday.
The manager has never been someone to keep his views to himself in this regard and after seeing one of his key men severely hobbled after being hacked down by Hamza Choudhury in the closing stages of the tightly contested fixture he was understandably furious.
Choudhury was only given a yellow card by Chris Kavanagh for the reckless challenge.
In a big stroke of luck, early indications are that Salah could be fit for the Man United fixture after the international break, but that didn’t stop Klopp looking at the bigger picture of players welfare on the pitch.
The Liverpool Echo reported the manager as saying:
“ It was 1-1 and no-one wants to leave the pitch, so for Mo it was not possible to carry on.
"Sometimes I speak about a win and people think I am mad, but this kind of challenge to me – I don’t want to speak any more about the player – but this has to be a red card.
“It is just too dangerous. There are more dangerous challenges, it is possible, but do you see more dangerous challenges than that? It is really rare.”
Klopp is not one to see red cards brandished on a frequent basis but in his view there must be a line in the sand.
“It's not that I want to see players sent off.
“The best players are quick technicians and it should not be possible if you take them down this way you get a second chance. That’s it.
“It is more a general thing than this.
"It looked to me in the moment completely on purpose – he is away, stop the situation.”
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