Jurgen Klopp is confident that Mohamed Salah has found himself a new attacking partnership with summer signing Darwin Nunez.
Liverpool spent a club-record fee to sign the Uruguayan from Benfica and he has been tasked with filling the void left by Sadio Mane, who has pursued a new challenge with Bayern Munich. Salah and Mane have been crucial to the success on Merseyside in recent years and there were fears as to how the club would cope after his departure.
The Egyptian has thrived on the competition offered by Mane, which has helped him become hugely prolific. Klopp has previously talked up their internal battle, stating: "You play together in a team and both want to score goals. That is normal. We want them to score goals."
Now, with Nunez in their ranks, the Liverpool boss is confident Salah can continue that internal competition with the summer signing. He said on the duo: "It's a cool partnership, definitely. They are both determined to score and be in the decisive areas. Mo is in a really good moment. Darwin is settling in. Luis missed the goal vs Fulham and that would help him massively."
Nunez scored his first Premier League goal as he notched Liverpool's opening goal of the season at Fulham. He scored their first equaliser at Craven Cottage before Salah's late strike, which was assisted by Nunez, earned them a point in west London.
Klopp, who conceded his side were not up to standard in their season opener, was pleased with the fresh dimension Nunez gave them and backed him to continue finding the net.
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He said: "You need this extra determination, and the difference as well, it makes it difficult for the opponent obviously. Yes, a great goal, could have scored another one as well, maybe two – crazy. So, he is involved in a lot of goalscoring situations – that's really cool and that's where we have to bring him up."
Nunez provides the Reds with a central option in attack as their forward line continues to evolve. Roberto Firmino had long been the club's No 9, but he was dislodged by Diogo Jota. The arrival of Luis Diaz then added more competition, which saw Mane played through the middle towards the latter end of last season.
Klopp has also defended Firmino, who was hooked after 51 minutes at Fulham, insisting the team didn't serve him appropriately. He said: "If we take now our last game against Fulham, we didn't find Bobby properly because the centre was very often blocked. That's why it was difficult for him. Apart from that, I don't judge Bobby after one game."
