London, Apr 18 (IANS): Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes it is only a matter of time before talismanic striker Mohamed Salah rediscovers his goal-scoring touch.
The Egypt international drew another blank in the FA Cup semi-final win over Manchester City and he has now gone six matches without a goal for the club. Salah remains, however, the Premier League's leading scorer with 20 goals and his manager is under no doubt he will be back on target soon.
"It is a completely normal spell that Mo is going through. We spoke about all the physical demands he faced in the last few months. So, it is completely normal. I liked the game against City a lot, he played a really, really good football game. It is only a question of time when he will score as well. Unlucky in these little moments; we all know if you don't have luck as a striker then you don't even try. It was close enough now for a couple of times and the moment will definitely come. I am really happy with the performance he showed a few days ago," said Klopp at a pre-match press conference on Monday.
When asked whether Salah 'does anything differently', Klopp said, 'No, not really. I see him more often in training than I see him in games, and we play every three days. Have a look at it and I have to make a decision if there is a need for a talk or not. We had plenty of talks over the time, we worked together now but at this specific moment, there is no need for it. What the game plan is and all these kinds of things, where we try to expose the opponent. But that is completely individual to all players."
Klopp expects an 'intense' encounter when Liverpool and Manchester United face off at Anfield on Tuesday.
The fierce rivals meet with plenty to play for as the Reds aim to leapfrog Manchester City at the summit and United target a top-four finish in the Premier League.
"It's a big game, it's a massive game, the two biggest clubs in the world, I would say. Maybe in Spain, two will say it differently, but two of the biggest clubs in the world for sure face each other. Massive history around, big fights in the past, big fights since I'm here. We lost strange games against United, it took a while until we could win there, all these kinds of things.
"We had to learn to deal with it, some players had to learn to deal with it because of how much it means to them. But, OK, it's now the 13th time (facing United in the league since he arrived) and we should have learned meanwhile, we had enough time to do that," he said.