Jurgen Klopp says he is ‘completely relaxed' about Mohamed Salah's form so far this season, as he suggested expectations are to blame rather than his performances.
The Egyptian had a stellar debut campaign at Anfield, scoring 44 goals in all competitions last season.
Whilst he has netted three more since - against West Ham, Brighton and Southampton - some believe his performances have gone down a level.
Speaking to reporters ahead of this weekend's clash against Manchester City, Klopp says he is confident that his star man will eventually get back to his goalscoring ways, saying the only thing that has changed are the expectations surrounding the former Roma winger.
“Obviously, expectations changed, that's normal. He set completely new standards last year [for goalscoring], but for all the rest [of his game] it's what he did last year,” he said.
“Nobody expected 10 goals after five, six or seven games, so it was a nice surprise. Each striker could write a book about these moments when you score without knowing how exactly it works, how you did it, with each ball in a perfect way and stuff like that.
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“It's so rare when it happens like that; 98 per cent of a striker's career is the hardest work and only two per cent is the kind of easy going stuff.
“It's all good. The only thing that has massively changed is the kind of questions you ask. Last year, I don't think he was a big story from the beginning to talk about. Then it started to become a slightly positive story, ‘wow, not bad' and then ‘oh, even better' and stuff like that. It all was a surprise.
“That's the world out there and that's how it is in my job. If I win games, I know everything about football. If I lose three in a row, people think I have no clue about football. Both are not true - the truth is always somewhere in between.
“I am completely relaxed. I didn't say Mo should relax because he has to work hard, but that's what he is doing. It is a completely normal situation, nothing to worry about and I am relaxed about it.”
