Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists Naby Keita has suffered a hamstring injury after being forced off against Brighton on Saturday. The Reds midfielder had to be withdrawn early in the first half against the Seagulls at Anfield.
Keita returned to the starting line-up less than a week after being stretchered off in the thumping of bitter rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford in which he scored the opening goal.
The Guinean was on the end of a reckless Paul Pogba challenge that saw the United midfielder sent off but the Liverpool player shook off the problem to start against Brighton.
Yet the £52million 26-year-old, whose time on Merseyside has been marred by regular injury issues, was forced off after just 20 minutes.
And Klopp has explained that on his way off the pitch, Keita informed his manager that he had a hamstring complaint.
“He showed me and told me it’s a hamstring, but I cannot say more,” the manager said in his post-match press conference after a 2-2 draw.
DON’T MISS: Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp’s telling reaction as Naby Keita goes off
Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane’s goals were cancelled out by Enock Mwepu and Leandro Trossard as Liverpool slipped three points behind league leaders Chelsea.
And Klopp was frustrated with his Liverpool charges throwing away a two-goal lead, though the German admitted the visitors were well worthy of a point.
The German added: “I cannot change it now, [but] it feels like a defeat even though I know it’s not a defeat. It is a deserved point for Brighton, obviously, for different reasons.
“It’s unnecessary because in our good moments we were really good, we showed how you have to play against Brighton but then with not playing enough football anymore, we opened the door for them.
“The best way to defend Brighton is to have the ball yourself and that’s what we didn’t do for long enough. That’s why we scored the two goals, which were incredible, especially the two goals which were disallowed were incredible.
“Then they scored their goal – not sure if it was a cross or not, but who cares because the ball was in – and we didn’t play enough football anymore, not the right football.
“In our good moments, we attacked the centre of Brighton, which is where you have to do it and then we didn’t do that anymore.
“We slowed the game down in the wrong moments, we didn’t show enough initiative in other moments and that’s then just not good enough.
“I think after Mo’s goal in the second half, which was disallowed, I can’t remember a lot [of chances] – maybe in the last four or five minutes we were a bit more on the front foot again, but apart from that we just tried to calm the game down when we had the ball and defended them when they had the ball.
“They scored a wonderful second goal and that’s why they deserve a point.”
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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replaced Keita but was switched to the left-hand side in the second half.
Klopp explained: “We changed system second half at a specific point.
“We couldn’t defend the width anymore, obviously we tried to fix that with changing to a 4-4-2, that was with Oxlade going to the left wing and Sadio [Mane] to the right.
“Apart from that, he set up the second goal, Sadio’s goal, with a nice cross and that’s it. And then he was part of the bunch playing more or less ‘yes or no’.
“They all can play better football like Ox can play better football, but anyhow it’s good. He played 70 minutes round about and that’s good for him.
“He had 90 during the week and today 70, so now let’s see how he can recover and what we can do with that on Wednesday.”
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