What Thiago Alcantara did to Liverpool fans at full-time as Mo Salah substitution explained

There were jubilant scenes in the away second at the Emirates Stadium last season.

The photos captured of Roberto Firimino celebrating with the crowd after he'd secured a 2-0 win were iconic as Liverpool's quest for an unprecedented quadruple was starting to gain incredible pace.

At the time, Reds fans couldn't have imagined being pegged back by Arsenal. They made the trip to the capital bullish with victory the only famothable outcome.

However, this time around, there was no such confidence ahead of kick-off. Far from it.

Jurgen Klopp's side travelled to the capital in stuttering form, with confidence low.

Indeed, as plenty were prepared for, Kopites wouldn't be roistering as they had done seven months ago.

Instead, Liverpool suffered a 3-2 loss to Arsenal to leave them 14 points adrift in the title race.

This time, the memorable moment when it comes to those Kopites in the Emirates stands will be of Thiago Alcantara offering his apologies at full-time.

The midfielder knew that, yet again, the Reds failed to deliver. Liverpool succumbed to a third loss this season - just one fewer than last term already - and dropped points for the seventh time in 11 games in all competitions.

Thiago solemnly made his way over to where the away fans were situated behind the goal and said sorry in the best way he could.

Perhaps he felt more of the burden following the defeat.

While, overall, the Spain international was one of the better performers, he gave the penalty away for Bukayo Saka’s winner - albeit it was a controversial decision. However, it still proved costly.

No doubt, Thiago’s gesture would have been appreciated by those in the stands.

It underlines that the dressing room is as disheartened at the current situation as those who loyally travel the Reds across Europe.

Yet a turnaround in form and fortunes is swiftly required.

Why Salah was subbed

Why Salah was subbed

Mo Salah was yet again out of sorts against Arsenal.

The winger just couldn’t get going. Bar an effort on goal in the first half, Salah was a shadow of last term.

And his barren goal streak in the Premier League extended to five games, with his last effort coming against Manchester United on 22 August.

It’s not often that Salah gets substituted by Klopp. Certainly, with the game locked at 2-2 at the time, it came as a shock.

Granted, the 30-year-old was subdued but when a goal is required, Salah is usually Klopp’s go-to man.

But that was the case, with Salah being replaced by Fabinho in the 69th minute.

And the Liverpool boss revealed that he brought off Salah so Jordan Henderson could provide ‘very intense’ defensive nous on the right flank.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Klopp said: “I thought we can - so we had to defend again on a high level and we tried to put Hendo on that side there. Mo did unbelievable, a lot, really big, big workload, he put in a real shift.

“Sometimes it’s very intense and that’s why we thought we could do it with Hendo.

“We wanted still to win, even when we took a striker off.”