Jurgen Klopp was asked at full-time about Virgil van Dijk’s half-time substitution with many wondering if it was a tactical change. In truth Liverpool could have withdrawn any player at half-time.
Klopp confirmed that Van Dijk felt something in his muscle and that he was withdrawn as a precaution.
Speaking afterwards, Klopp was asked about his changes, and if Van Dijk had suffered an injury. Klopp said: “Hopefully not. Virgil felt a little bit his muscle, but said he’s fine, and he’s a very good judge of these things, but I didn’t want to take any risk. The physios looked quite happy when I said I didn’t want to take a risk! It’s not an injury, he just felt the intensity. And the other two were tactical, we could bring in Naby, who played a very good game, and Robbo, whose first action after half-time was exactly what we needed, that speed in behind. That was why.”
Klopp was not happy with Liverpool’s finishing or a lot of decisions taken by the match officials during the game.
However Klopp accepted that his side were second best: “They (Brentford) deserved the win, and that is clear. The second goal decided the game as coming out in the second half and scoring the equaliser would have been much nicer than it just being our first goal.”
