Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has backed Roberto Firmino to emerge from his poor run of recent form soon, insisting “everything will be fine again”.
The Brazilian has found the back of the net in just two of his last 14 appearances for the Reds in all competitions, and is five goals short of the 11 he had struck by this stage of last season.
But, while Klopp acknowledged that his No.9 is far from his best, he expects the attitude he shows on the pitch to be rewarded soon enough.
He said: “It’s absolutely OK. It’s not that he plays his best football in each second of the game, but he’s just an important player.
“That’s how it is with a player’s career, you have these moments where you fly and you cannot explain it, and moments where you don’t and you have to come again.
“That’s the case, nothing to worry about, just a normal football season. We all have to go through these little holes and everything will be fine again, especially for him because his attitude is absolutely phenomenal.
"He will never stop, and that’s good. Everything will be fine.”
Divock Origi put himself forward as a potential alternative in the centre-forward role with his late Merseyside derby winner on Sunday.
And Klopp believes the Belgian’s goal provides a perfect example for players who find themselves on the fringes of the squad.
He added: “It’s always up to the players, of course. It’s nice. I wouldn’t speak here probably if there was something to criticise in the attitude of the boys, but actually there was nothing to criticise.
“Divock and Dom Solanke are of course not in the most fantastic situation in the squad, they train every day and in the end they are not picked for the squad or the line-up, and that’s not easy.
"But it’s a wonderful example of ‘make yourself ready for the moment’. Make yourself ready for the moment and the opportunity and the possibility to shine.
“That’s football, things change in a second, sometimes in the right direction, sometimes in the wrong direction. I don’t know how long he played, maybe 10 minutes or so, and he had three really good situations; the run on the right side, good cross for [Mane], then the crossbar and the goal. It’s nice.
"He showed only that he was really ready and he deserved it, it was a really nice story.”
