JAKARTA - Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp revealed the "debate" that occurred with James Milner when the versatile player was pulled out at the start of the second half of the Premier League match against West Ham United on Sunday local time (Monday WIB). In this match, the Reds won 3-1.
Milner was pulled off in the 57th minute and appeared to ask Klopp for an explanation as he left the field to be replaced by young talent Curtis Jones.
Seconds later the serious conversation morphed to a smile as Milner walked up to Klopp after Jones, sending in the assist for Mohamed Salah's opener against West Ham.
Klopp dismissed suggestions that Milner was unhappy with the decision, although he did protest a little when he was pulled out, but according to the German this happened because his English skills made the delivery of strategy a bit hampered.
"That's because of my English. So, in the second half we wanted to change the attack scheme by making Millie play deeper like a double axle midfielder with Gini (Wijnaldum) and Thiago going further," Klopp said after the match was reported by Liverpool's official website.
"We said to Millie, because the hamstring tightens a little bit so he has more control over his appearance, tends to pass rather than run with the ball, that kind of thing.
"But the plan is clear, he will be pulled out waiting for Curtis to finish warming up, but it seems that the point was not conveyed clearly because Millie often runs long distances so I was worried and pulled him out faster.
"When he left the pitch he said 'You asked me to go deeper so I ran shorter and now I'm being pulled out.
"After the goal, he came back to me and said, 'OK, right points and decision," Klopp said at length.
Jones's substitution for Milner was only one of three substitutions for Klopp's players who worked well in that match, as Roberto Firmino and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who also came off the bench recently collaborated to create Liverpool's third goal scored by Wijnaldum.
The win lifted Liverpool up to third in the standings with 40 points, ending their bad period with two important successive wins.
Liverpool will next host Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield on Wednesday, February 3.
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