"I think he was a bit disappointed" - Pundit admits he was surprised by Jurgen Klopp's decision to substitute key Liverpool man in Fulham win

Pundit Neil Mellor admitted he was surprised by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp's decision to substitute Dominik Szoboszlai during the Reds' 4-3 win over Fulham.

Speaking to TalkSPORT about the exhilarating encounter between the Reds and the Cottagers, Mellor gave all the players their flowers for their courage in the performance.

However, he mentioned he was a bit taken aback by Szoboszlai being given an early night after just 64 minutes.

“Yeah, I thought (Wataru) Endo did well when he came on, Trent (Alexander-Arnold) did well when he went into midfield.

“I mean (Alexis) Mac Allister’s settled in pretty well, Szoboszlai as well. I think he was a bit disappointed when he came off, that was maybe a little bit of a surprise."

During his time on the pitch, Szoboszlai showed why he is so valued by his manager and teammates. He passed the ball with 85% accuracy, including one key pass. He also attempted three shots, with two on target. The Hungarian also won four duels.

Despite taking his best midfielder off the pitch shortly after the hour-mark, Jurgen Klopp ended up on the good side of things as Liverpool overturned a late 3-2 deficit to run out 4-3 winners at Anfield.

The result took the Reds up to second place in the Premier League table with 31 points. Manchester City's draw with Tottenham later in the day meant Liverpool stayed second, two points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

Jurgen Klopp's men will travel to Sheffield to face the Blades in their next league game on December 6.

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Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool the most error-prone PL side in 2023-24

Despite enduring a rather tough start to the season and still managing to be well within touching distance of the summit, Liverpool have not had the best defensive starts to this season.

Although the Reds have the joint-second best defensive record (alongside Newcastle) with 14 goals conceded, four of those have come as a result of direct errors by their players. This is the most among the 20 Premier League teams in the ongoing season.

On the other hand, the Reds are also among the top scoring teams in the league, which has helped them navigate tricky games despite shipping in unwanted goals at times.