‘Mohamed Salah fears points deduction in bizarre Liverpool v Southampton moment’
Liverpool manager Arne Slot had Mohamed Salah panicking with one moment during his side’s victory over Southampton.
The Reds edged ever closer to the Premier League title on Saturday (8 March) with a 3-1 win over the division’s bottom team at Anfield.
After Darwin Nunez had scored a vital equaliser for Liverpool, two penalties from Salah secured another big three points for Slot’s side.
However the Egyptian talisman was left worried about a potential unlikely setback for his team late on, after appearing to forget one crucial rule late on in that game.
‘Mo Salah fears point deduction vs Southampton’
After Alisson’s heroics for Liverpool against PSG in midweek, the goalkeeper was involved in a mix-up with Virgil van Dijk that gifted Southampton the lead on the stroke of half-time.
That had prompted Slot to make a triple substitution at the break, with Harvey Elliott, Alexis Mac Allister and Andy Robertson all introduced.
With Liverpool then going on to turn things back in their favour, those changes from their manager certainly worked.
| Mo Salah vs Southampton | Total (as per SofaScore) |
| Goals | 2 |
| Shots on Target | 2 |
| Shots off Target | 1 |
| Shots Blocked | 2 |
| Successful Passes | 30/41 |
| Successful Duels | 1/5 |
Over the course of the second half Wataru Endo and Jarell Quansah were also introduced, using up the club’s normal allocation of five substitutes for a match.
However, early in the game, Southampton had used a concussion substitute after Jan Bednarek was forced off following an accidental collision with Ryan Manning.
As a result, both teams were allowed to use a sixth substitute, something Salah appeared to forget much to his concern when Liverpool brought on Jarell Quansah for Trent Alexander-Arnold in the final minutes.
Reporting on the situation via X, journalist David Lynch explained: “Mohamed Salah has just been desperately trying to stop Liverpool making a sixth substitution there so they don’t get docked points. Looked like the referee had to explain to him they get an extra one due to the earlier head injury.”
Liverpool will not want freak incidents to disrail title march
Football Insider Verdict
The incident that led to the concussion substitute appeared to come inside the first 20 minutes of the game.
A lot had passed by the time Liverpool made that sixth substitute in the final minute of normal time in the match.
As a result it is perhaps understandable that Salah may have forgotten the extra substitute was in play, especially with everything else he had to think about with his two penalties.
Even so, given how desperate Liverpool are going to be to not pass up such an excellent position, you can’t blame him for not wanting to the club to take any unnecessary risks here.
Indeed, gifting Arsenal back into the title race through something as basic as this would be a huge kick in the teeth, so Salah did the right thing by making sure here.