Jurgen Klopp's conversation with Mo Salah helped end his brief Liverpool penalty hoodoo, leading to the Reds' victory over Fulham on Wednesday. Salah scored his second spot-kick in as many matches, with his effort against Fulham taking him to 29 goals for the season. Klopp had previously been questioned on whether Salah should be taken off the penalty duty after he missed penalties against Bournemouth and Arsenal.
However, the Liverpool manager stuck with Salah and had a conversation with him about it. Klopp said, "We had a normal conversation about it. I said: ‘OK, yeah, you are.’ You don’t feel great in that moment, that’s what he said: I don’t feel right in that moment because the pressure obviously increases with the penalties you miss."
Salah has been Liverpool’s regular penalty taker since arriving from AS Roma in 2017, most famously scoring a spot-kick in the Champions League final victory against Tottenham in 2019. Klopp added, "He enjoys these situations, the problem is before he missed a penalty, we didn't have [one] for 28 games or so. We train that, obviously, we have people for it, but that's a special situation."
Klopp also stated that Salah enjoys penalty situations but missing them affects his confidence. With Salah's penalty hoodoo now over, Klopp can breathe a sigh of relief as Liverpool look to finish the season on a high note.