Jurgen Klopp’s substitutions confused Gary Neville as Liverpool fell to a 3-2 defeat against Arsenal on Sunday evening.
The Reds headed to the Emirates Stadium desperate for a result to kickstart their Premier League campaign.
Instead, Gabriel Martinelli scored inside the first two minutes to give Arsenal the lead, only for Darwin Nunez to level it up.
Bukayo Saka had Arsenal back in front on the stroke of half-time, but Roberto Firmino again hauled Liverpool level.
Liverpool couldn’t come back again though as Saka’s penalty won it for Arsenal and sent Klopp’s men back to Merseyside empty-handed.
Jurgen Klopp’s substitutions confused Gary Neville
This was another Liverpool performance that was pretty flat in large parts.
Yes, the enforced substitutions of Luis Diaz and Trent Alexander-Arnold didn’t help matters but Klopp did leave many baffled too.
With more than 20 minutes to play and with the scoreline reading 2-2, Klopp brought off star man Mohamed Salah for Fabinho.
That meant Jordan Henderson going onto the right flank in a move that never really seemed geared towards winning the game.
Liverpool went behind but Klopp then brought Diogo Jota off for Harvey Elliott in another curious move.
That meant Liverpool ended the game with Elliott and Henderson out wide whilst Nunez and Firmino were up top.
Arsenal just weren’t caused any problems by that and Liverpool took their defeat without launching a real late push for a leveller.
This will feel very frustrating for Liverpool fans and pundit Gary Neville was left a little confused.
“Van Dijk’s gone up as a centre forward, they just haven’t got the players on the pitch to get the goal that they need – they’ve all gone off!” said Neville (Sky Sports, 09/10, 96th min) after seeing Liverpool throw their centre back in attack.
Neville later spoke again about those substitutions whilst analysing the game on The Gary Neville Podcast.
“I’d be concerned if I was a Liverpool fan, coach, player in that second half,” said Klopp. “Even the substitutions were a little bit strange. Salah coming off, then Jota coming off then ending up needing a goal with Harvey Elliott left wing and Jordan Henderson right wing. It just felt a little bit strange,” he added.
The injury to Diaz certainly hampered Liverpool going forward but the decision to take off Salah and play Henderson out wide is the one that will really baffle fans.
Jurgen Klopp needs to find answers to this slow start to the season and it’s hard to imagine that Salah sitting on the bench with Henderson featuring on the wing is one of them.
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