Jurgen Klopp has discussed Mo Salah’s supposed problems so far this term. In all honesty, the Egyptian has still scored three times and been a constant menace whenever he’s on the field – and we think the media response to his struggles has been way, way overboard.
But it is fair to say he’s snatched at some chances he would have put away during his best spells last term, where he notched 44 goals in total.
Klopp has encouraged Salah to relax in front of goal and claimed he doesn’t need big talks with his brilliant no.11, using Ian Rush as evidence that not all the best goal-scorers hit 40 a season.
“It is about your confidence. His game is really good. His last game was really good – he was in the positions but then the last two balls were not too cool. That happens,” he told UK newspapers, cited in FourFourTwo.
“He lost balls in those situations last year. How do you deal with it? Be relaxed, completely relaxed, because there is no need for anything else. Completely relaxed.
“The quality is there and so everything is fine.
“There are not big talks necessary, just a completely normal situation. If you don’t score 10 goals in your first seven games then everybody asks if you can do it again,” he said.
“It is not interesting, even Ian Rush didn’t score 40 goals in 10 seasons, season after season after season. That’s not how it works.
“You have to be a proper threat. As an offensive player you have to work hard. If it’s 20 or whatever at the end of season it depends how much success we have as a team if it is successful or not. There is no personal success possible. All awards are for everyone. We do what we do best.”
Salah will be hoping to score this evening at a familiar stomping ground, having played against Napoli on multiple occasions during his stints at Fiorentina and AS Roma.
It’s a very intimidating atmosphere, but he’ll be used to it, as will our goalkeeper Alisson, thankfully.
A win in Italy and we’re primed to top the Champions League Group, with back to back fixtures against Red Star Belgrade coming up next.
But there’s obviously a long way to go.