Jurgen Klopp explains what was said during touchline exchange with James Milner

Jurgen Klopp has revealed what James Milner said during their animated touchline exchange after the Liverpool midfielder was substituted at West Ham United.

Milner looked less than impressed when caught on camera exchanging words with the Reds boss having been replaced by Curtis Jones on 57 minutes of the Premier League clash on Sunday.

However, the vice-captain was all smiles seconds later when Jones’s first contribution to the match helped create the opener for Mohamed Salah that set Liverpool on their way to a 3-1 triumph.

And when asked about the incident with Milner, Klopp said: “He was not unhappy, it was a little bit my English!

“At half-time we changed the offensive formation. Millie was slightly deeper, a double six with Gini and Thiago slightly higher.

“We told Millie, because he had his hamstring stiffen up slightly, we told him to be controlled with more passing than running.

“But it was clear we would take him off – we just waited until Curtis had a proper warm-up.

“Then I saw the last long, long sprint Millie had and I thought we missed the moment and was really, really worried.

“Then he came off and said ‘you told me I had to play deeper and now I run less and now you’ve taken me off’ but then he left and came back and said ‘yeah, by the way, good point, good decision!’. All fine.”

Klopp also explained what he had told Jones as he prepared to introduce the midfielder, who turned 20 on Saturday.

“The last words I told him were ‘please be cheeky, be cheeky, try something, be active’ and things like that,” said the Reds boss.

“I didn’t think he’d start with that with his first touch! But it was good.”

Salah scored a sublime second on 68 minutes when he converted Xherdan Shaqiri’s superb cross after a lightning Liverpool counter-attack.

The Swiss was replaced immediately afterwards, and Klopp – who was without Sadio Mane with a minor muscle problem – admitted he was looking to protect the player.

“Shaq’s last touch was incredible,” said the Liverpool manager. “He played really good and maybe could have played 90 minutes but the problem at the moment is you just don’t know.

“He hasn’t played plenty of games before that and had some injury problems.

“My mood is constantly concerned about injuries. We try to save everybody, like it was with Millie was well.

“As far as I know at the moment, nothing happened injury-wise. We played a good game and we got three points, which was absolutely great.”