Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool's Dejan Lovren was substituted to avoid red card against Southampton
Monday 21 March 2016 10:30, UK
Jurgen Klopp says he substituted Dejan Lovren at half-time against Southampton to avoid the defender being sent-off.
The central defender was withdrawn at the interval, with the Reds 2-0 up at St Mary's, having received a yellow card for a foul on Shane Long towards the end of the first half.
Liverpool went on to lose 3-2 but Klopp defended his decision and suggested the referee may have been affected by the emotion in the stadium.
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"I took him [Lovren] off because of his yellow card," said Klopp. "I thought at the end of the first half it looked like the referee was not completely free of the emotion in the stadium any more. Maybe this situation was not okay.
"I thought we had to change this because it was clear that they will play a lot of long balls to Graziano Pelle and it's not easy for a centre-half to challenge for these without a yellow card, especially when the referee changed the mood a bit.
"It was not too good for us today, obviously."
