Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Mohamed Salah's comments were completely normal after Liverpool failed the qualify for the Champions League.
The Egyptian forward labelled being in the competition as the "bare minimum", apologised for the club's failure to qualify and declared that it is too soon for optimism in a tweet after Manchester United secured the final qualification spot last night.
"It is completely normal, it was just a normal description of his feeling. In that moment, directly after the game, that is not the time for optimistic messages.
"I saw him now in the canteen, he was smiling, so I don't know for which reason, didn't ask him, but he was not in a bad mood.
"It was clear, this will not be a historically good season, we are absolutely not happy with it, but the last ten games, even after Dubai, the amount of points we collected since then is pretty good, if we could have done that over the whole season, we would be in a different place.
"Of course, there are reasons for optimistic views because of the things we showed in the last few weeks.
"We have another reason for optimistic view, because of the atmosphere our people created in our last home game, the way the club said farewell, the way Bobby said farewell, all these kind of things are the basis for a fantastic future.
"We don't have to make it bigger than it is. it is a football season, we didn't deliver what everybody wanted and expected, but we are still really united.
"I've been here for seven and a half years, for things always go in the right direction, just big steps, it is not likely, we could have done better, but there are dips, usually after 3-4 years you change the manager, it is a challenge, you have to reinvent yourself.
"If you can go through difficult moments like we did in the last season, I think that is a really good basis for a better future, I find lots of reasons for an optimistic view.
"The dressing room is not in a bad mood, we didn't get divided in one moment between manager and team, we didn't point fingers at each other, that is all good, if you don't qualify for the Champions League, the best you can do is fifth.
"I saw very good signs and that is what I will take into next season.
"We have European nights next year, instead of Tuesday, Wednesday, it is a Thursday, who cares, great games atmosphere, we have the chance to do it all, the FA Cup will happen again, the league cup will happen again, the Premier League is there as well, let's give it a go.
"When everything goes in the right direction, It is always easy to feel this togetherness, if it is not going in the right direction, it is much more challenging, I didn't want to prove that point but we did and that for me, is the trophy that we won this year."
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Transfer plans impacted by no Champions League?
The German did not seem to be worried that the failure to qualify for Europe's premiere competition will impact their summer transfer business.
"I don't think so, but we will see.
"That is obviously possible that things don't go as quickly as we want.
"The better the players you want, the lesser is the desire of the other club to let him go.
"It is a long window, a long pre-season, a long break, so we have time.
"If we get the new players in tomorrow, or in six or seven weeks, is it not a game changer for me.
"Ideal world, they are all signed tomorrow and I can tell them when they need to be here and start giving them the plans for the summer break, but that will not happen so."
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A rare dead-rubber
Both clubs head into the final day fixture with nothing to play for, the Reds are guaranteed to finish fifth and Southampton are relegated.
The Reds manager admitted it was a strange situation after taking the season down to the wire in the last few campaigns, also giving an update on injuries.
"I am not used to games on the last match day where everything is sorted before, usually we play on the last match day, and everything is a stake.
"We play this game to win the game, we have to see, we will not take any risks with players, the boys were really into it in training, but I didn't make any kind of decisions because I didn't see the doc yet.
"I think it makes sense that we make changes.
"Darwin trained fully yesterday, Ibou was ill yesterday, Robbo felt something in his groin, the scan was fine but we have to see how to deal with that.
"The rest should be all right."
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Faith in youth
The German was full of praise for the young players that have stepped up for his side this season, and revealed that no plans to loan any talents have been decided yet.
"From the very young ones, Stefan is the standout player, exceptional, played like a man, unfortunately the kid's body and the intensity caught him, the signs he gave us were super positive.
"Ben Doak, nice signs, he is with us in training again, a special boy, really confident, has something that nobody else delivers really, this kind of dribbling, straight forward bravery, technically really good, high speed, super promising but really young.
"Harvey, played for us, a lot of games in a not so good period, showed super signs, will only go in one direction.
"Curtis, that we got him back was super important, everybody saw that, it is a long road to become your best version, you are young, big expectations, criticism from outside, to find yourself a way through that is not easy, I am really happy that Curtis could finally do that.
"Fabio could go on loan, we will see. This was not his best year of his career but it might have been his most important.
"No player has impressed me more than Fabio, because this very talented boy came here with big dreams and big expectations but it didn't work out.
"His work ethic will give him a fantastic career, he trained, getting nothing. His reaction, never seen before, unbelievable, I'm not sure if he goes on loan or we keep him.
"There are no plans already, we want to keep them if we can give them the chance to play, definitely, because they have the quality.
"Conor Bradley was in the building yesterday, I have a feeling that he grew, we have big hopes for him.
"Luke Chambers coming back, Owen Beck, Tyler Morton coming back. Pre-season will start then we make these decisions."