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Jurgen Klopp explains why Virgil van Dijk was substituted in Brentford loss.
Jurgen Klopp has provided an explanation for why he substituted Virgil van Dijk at half-time in Liverpool’s 3-1 loss at Brentford on Monday.
The Reds fell behind to an own goal from Ibrahima Konate before poor defending allowed Yoane Wissa to add a second before the half-time break.
During the half, Klopp substituted Harvey Elliott, Kostas Tsimikas, and Van Dijk and replaced them with Joel Matip, Andy Robertson, and Naby Keita. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled one back early in the second half, but Bryan Mbeumo sealed the victory late.
After the game, Klopp was questioned by the media on his choice to take Van Dijk out of the lineup in particular.
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“Hopefully not [an injury]. Virgil felt his muscle a little and that is fine, he’s a good judge of these kind of things. But I didn’t want to take any risk,” he said.
“The physios looked quite happy when I said we don’t take risks. I think it’s not an injury, it’s just he felt the intensity.”
Explaining why he brought off Tsimikas and Elliott, Klopp added: “The other two things were tactical. We obviously have opportunities, we could bring Naby on, who I think played a really good game, and Robbo, and he was in the first action after half-time. He was what we needed, we needed that speed in behind. That was the reason for these two changes.”
Liverpool now sit four points behind fourth-placed Manchester United having played a game more than their bitter foes.