Mohamed Salah will go on to be “one of the greatest strikers of all time”, according to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
Salah scored twice at Tottenham to give Liverpool a 2-1 win in north London on Sunday, taking nine goals from his last eight appearances in all competitions.
The 30-year-old had a slow start to the campaign, with suggestions he was playing too wide, though he led the Premier League in chances created in the opening weeks.
At a press conference after Liverpool’s victory, Klopp was effusive in his praise for his player, who appears to have rediscovered his goalscoring touch.
“Even with a ‘slow start’, he was involved in most occasions in Europe, in football, but we didn’t take them or he didn’t take them,” he said. “That can happen to a striker, it’s a completely normal phase.
“Everyone knows, when you look back on his career in four, five, six years, everyone will remember one of the greatest strikers you’ve ever seen because the numbers will be absolutely insane.
“Tonight, what pleased me the most, he scored both goals and then played like a real team player. It doesn’t surprise me, but it’s important because he’s also facing these questions… [I am] very happy for him, his superior performance and he showed an outstanding attitude tonight”.
It was Liverpool’s first away win in the Premier League this season at the sixth attempt (D2 L3), prompting Klopp to throw his trademark fists at the away fans after the final whistle.
“Yeah. It wasn’t really my plan, I didn’t want to do it, but I got carried away and thought people deserved some.” [after] tough times,” he said.[The fans] He now had to travel a lot in the Premier League until he saw the first three points. So yeah, I got carried away a little bit, but it was big, absolutely big.
“Before the final whistle I wouldn’t have been able to do that because I was really knackered, it was tough, a very tough game for everyone. Brilliant first half, a very, very good first half. Good football, controlled, top goals, goals from world class, and then we all know that Tottenham are coming back.”
Harry Kane scored with 20 minutes remaining for the Reds to finish nervously, but they were able to wrap up the game and seal three much-needed points.
Liverpool sit in eighth place in the Premier League after a shaky start, but Klopp believes his side can take plenty of positives from the nature of their victory in the capital.
“Last year we almost won all four competitions, but we drew twice against Tottenham, so winning here is incredibly difficult,” he added. “It’s not about now that we have to play all the time like this or whatever. What we have to show is the attitude, the commitment to defend. That’s what we have to show all the time, definitely, 100 percent.
“What we have to show is that we don’t get hit too much when you concede a goal. I liked that tonight; I didn’t want to concede a goal, but I think the reaction afterwards was good…everyone was 100 percent and I shot everything. and that’s what I liked the most.
“You can’t be consistent just by playing extraordinarily well all the time, it’s about showing the resilience that we showed tonight. This isn’t the beginning or whatever, we’re in a phase, we already figured it out and talked about it, but this night I couldn’t get more than three points. We got them and that’s huge”.