HANG ON A MO
Milner to support Salah
JAMES MILNER says Liverpool cannot expect Mo Salah to keep scoring so many goals.
Salah took just a minute to mark his introduction to pre-season, finding the net in their 2-1 friendly win over Manchester City in the early hours of yesterday morning in New Jersey.
He bagged 44 goals last season and Milner knows the pressure will be on to repeat his phenomenal first campaign. But Milner, who is about to embark on his 17th Premier League season, says the other players must help Salah by taking some of the burden off his shoulders.
TOUGH
“Obviously there is pressure when you’ve had one good year to deliver again,” said the former England midfielder.
“He’s a top player, he’s shown that and he’s going to keep improving.
“We need to keep improving as a side with him as well and make sure that all the pressure is not on his shoulders to deliver goals and get us out of tough situations.
“It’s down to all of us to help him be the best player he can be and do that as part of a team.” Milner is confident Salah can repeat his goalscoring feats from last season and prove he is world class.
“The best players in the world aren’t known because they just did it in one season, they do it over and over again,” he said.
“He’s more than capable of doing that.
“There is pressure to deliver again, but he is a top player. Mo has shown that.
He is going to keep on improving.”
Milner (inset) ignored the inevitable transfer speculation that surrounded Salah towards the end of last season as he blazed a goal trail through the Premier League and Europe.
Liverpool snuffed it out when they announced the Egyptian striker had agreed a new five-year deal at the start of the month which has no release clause. “Yeah, it was good for the club, but I was never worried, personally,” added Milner. “There’s always going to be stories when players do well.
“You saw how well he played last season – improving – and he seems happy so I don’t see any reason why he would want to go.”
Milner sees the positive side of the speculation linking Salah with a big move and for him it means he is performing really well. “That’s what happens when you have good players,” he said. “That’s a positive thing for us. When there’s speculation about your players, it means they are playing well and performing – and he obviously has.”