It is not so often that Mo Salah is wrong in Anfield.
But even after having scored twice in the comeback victory of the Reds on Southampton on Saturday, so that this season he was honestly brought to a ridiculous 44 target use (27 goals, 17 assists) in the Premier League, the Egyptian king was left red.
Salah, 32, thought his direction was about to break the Premier League rules when Arne Slot and his coaching staff wanted to send a late replacement on Saturday afternoon.
So much so that he needed referee Lewis Smith to explain to him that he was wrong and Kop Boss Slot was right.
Salah frantically tried half of the late introduction of Jarell Quansah in the 89th minute, while the international under 21 years in England prepared to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Teams are of course usually limited to making five substitutions per match, a rule that was expanded from three subs per match in 2020. And by the time Quansah entered the match, the run -away competition leaders had already made five.
During the break, Liverpool made three changes with Alexis Mac Allister, Harvey Elliott and Andrew Robertson who replaced Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Konstantinos Tsimikas. During the second half, Slot also applied Jota and Wataru Endo.
Only after Smith explained to Salah that Southampton made a concussion protocol – replacement in the first half – when Armel Bella Kotchap Jan Bednarek replaced – the limit of both teams was increased to six changes, according to the rules laid down by the International Football Association Board (IFAB).
If a team is wrongly allowed to exceed the limit, the substitutions must be reversed and the incident reported post -match – and may cause games to be played or even points deduction.
None of that will not be worried about Salah now, but after his side came from behind – Nunez Equalizing and Salah scored twice from the penalty place – to clear them 16 points clearly at the top.
On the display of his side, Salah admitted: “We were sloppy and slow in the first half. I don't think we played well today.
“The manager was a bit frustrated [at half-time]. His head went for us.
“[But] If you want to win the Champions League of Premier League, you have to win these games like this. “
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