Jurgen Klopp Defends Mohamed Salah, Says Liverpool 'Don't Have Divers'

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has defended forward Mohamed Salah and says the Reds "don't have divers" in their team.

The Egypt international has come in for criticism for winning penalties in consecutive matches against Arsenal and Newcastle United, but Klopp says both decisions were correct, according to Simon Hughes at the Independent.

"I haven't seen it back [the incident involving Sokratis] and I have no clue about what happened around it but the ref really was close to it. We don't have divers and that was not a dive. The other one is not a dive. The ref decides it. In the three and a half years we have had more penalties not given when they were penalties..."

Salah went down under contact from Sokratis Papastathopoulos against Arsenal on Saturday and then scored the resulting penalty to put Liverpool 4-1 up in a match they went on to win 5-1.

Sokratis was angered by the decision and made his feelings known as the two teams went in at half-time:

Salah also won a penalty three days earlier in the 4-0 Boxing Day win over Newcastle at Anfield after going down following slight contact with defender Paul Dummett.

The decision produced a mixed response:

The Football Association did not deem the incident worthy of action:

Burnley boss Sean Dyche was surprised by the FA's decision, per Rod Liddle at the Sunday Times. He said: "The Salah one is bizarre, in terms of how the FA decides it doesn't fall into its criteria."

The incident will not overshadow what has been a superb start to the season for Liverpool. The Reds are top of the table by seven points and yet to taste defeat in their first 20 league games.

Salah has once again played a key role for Klopp's side. The 26-year-old has 13 goals and seven assists; no player has scored more in the English top flight this season.

The diving debate should be helped by the introduction of video assistant referees (VAR) next season. The Premier League have confirmed clubs have agreed "in principle" for the technology to be used from 2019-20.