As the dust settles on the Merseyside derby, here's your Liverpool FC morning digest for Sunday, September 4.
Jurgen Klopp rejects Mohamed Salah 'wide' claims after Liverpool's goalless draw with Everton
Jurgen Klopp has rejected claims that a tactical tweak for Mohamed Salah is impacting his output in front of goal.
The Liverpool forward has scored twice in the Reds' six games so far this term and he again failed to get on the scoresheet as they drew 0-0 with Everton at Goodison Park in the 241st Merseyside derby. It has been suggested that Salah is generally taking up wider positions this season in an effort to accommodate the arrival of £64m striker Darwin Nunez, but Klopp does not believe that is intentional as he backed the Egyptian to return to scoring ways soon.
Salah was denied by a 95th-minute save from Jordan Pickford as Liverpool pushed for a winner and Klopp does not see a real problem with how the team are looking to get the best out of a player who has been top scorer every season at Anfield since he joined in 2017.
READ MORE: What Jordan Pickford did in final seconds of stoppage time doesn't tell full truth about Liverpool
READ MORE: Steven Gerrard does Liverpool Premier League title favour as Man City held by Aston Villa
“It’s not more than other seasons," Klopp said. "I'm not sure. We want to have Mo in this position but we have always had him more often in the centre position as well.
"Today especially we wanted to use him a bit more centrally but didn’t have a lot of time to train obviously. We only recovered. We spoke a lot about it, I’m not sure I was clear enough in the first half, we didn’t do exactly what we wanted.
"When Mo dropped or Lucho (Luis Diaz) dropped after two or three passes they were completely free in between the lines because Darwin kept the last line back which was clear presence.
"They like to drop pretty early. But we didn’t do that a lot. I don’t think this season he is too often wide, today in a few moments yes, but in general he could have scored again in the last minute.”
On the result itself, Klopp continued: “Rule number one if you cannot win the derby then don’t lose it. We could have won it today but we could have lost it in a few moments as well. If you count the amount of chances we had and the amount of chances they had then we would have been the deserved winner."
Read the full story HERE.
What Jordan Pickford did in final seconds of stoppage time doesn't tell full truth about Liverpool
The sight of Jordan Pickford on his knees in furious celebration with just seconds of stoppage time left told Liverpool's goalless story here at Goodison Park.
On another day, the chances carved out by Jurgen Klopp 's men would have been enough to win more than a few Premier League games, but instead, they were forced to settle for a share of the spoils thanks, largely, to the efforts of England's No.1 goalkeeper.
Having expertly turned over what would have been a stunning effort from Darwin Nunez in the first half, the Blues shot-stopper's one-man crusade to deny the visitors went into overdrive in the second as he kept out four attempts from Roberto Firmino, another from Nunez and one from Fabinho. It was the last-gasp tip onto the post to foil Mohamed Salah that brought about the aggressive shaking of the fists.
It was at that point the goalkeeper evidently knew he'd done enough to deny a team who have so often tormented him during his time on Merseyside. It was no wonder a beaming Pickford was at pains to stress he did in fact get a touch on it in the post-match mixed zone.
A total of 23 shots saw Liverpool register eight of them target but there was simply no way past a player who has, for a number of reasons, made himself arguably the biggest pantomime villain of the Jurgen Klopp era. One suspects the Sunderland native more than revels in that reputation.
But it would be wrong to paint the 241st Merseyside derby as an unsuccessful onslaught from Klopp's men. Both teams tried to win and a draw was a fair result. Given that is now the ninth of the last 11 here, it is neither a shock nor a calamity for the Reds. Viewed on its own merits, at least.
In the wider picture, however, something doesn't quite seem right for the Reds just now. There are a myriad of reasons for why they have not come out of the traps in typically swashbuckling fashion - chiefly an injury crisis that is mercifully starting to subside - but a month into the campaign and Liverpool find themselves with more draws than victories and they have already tasted defeat at Manchester United.
Viewed in a harsh light, they look a pale imitation of the team who swept aside so many who opposed them last season. They now trail early-season pace-setters Arsenal by six points and the Gunners have a game in hand.
This was the first time they have failed to score in a Premier League game since defeat at Leicester in late December and while they can at least point to Pickford's excellence for that as the primary reason, something is not clicking.
Read the full story from Paul Gorst, our Liverpool FC correspondent, HERE.
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