Jurgen Klopp hopes people "stay calm" over Darwin Nunez's mixed start at Liverpool and pointed to former player Robert Lewandowski as a reason to remain confident.
Nunez joined Liverpool in June for a fee that could eventually reach a club-record £85million, but the Uruguay international has endured an inconsistent opening to his career with the Reds.
Liverpool picked up a third consecutive league win at Aston Villa on Monday, though Nunez failed to convert any of his four big chances despite registering 1.15 xG (expected goals).
The striker came in for criticism after the game for his finishing, but Klopp urged people to remain behind the 23-year-old, and cited Lewandowski's poor start at Borussia Dortmund as an example of how players can improve.
After signing for Klopp's Dortmund side from Lech Poznan before the 2010-11 campaign, Lewandowski netted just eight times in 38 Bundesliga matches.
However, he went on to register 102 goals in 184 games under Klopp, helping them to two Bundesliga titles and the 2012-13 Champions League final before leaving for Bayern Munich in 2014.
Klopp believes Liverpool fans should keep the faith in Nunez, in the hopes that he will flourish as Lewandowski did.
"If you could just rewind to that time, [I was] sitting in press conferences and journalists really, when I started playing Lewandowski, they asked me 'why is [Lucas] Barrios not playing?'," Klopp told reporters.
"Lucas Barrios had scored 16 goals that season and was the number nine in our team, so Lewy started playing in different positions to adapt to different things, didn't like it too much.
"The Polish journalists were not too friendly with me because he didn't play at nine, he played in a 4-2-3-1 as a 10, I thought at the time it made absolute sense to develop his game… there's a lot of similarities [with Nunez] to be honest.
"Lewy would tell the same story, we had shooting sessions where he didn't finish off one.
"We had bets all the time for 10 euros, if you score more than 10 times I pay you, if you don't you pay me, my pocket was full of money.
"It's all about staying calm, when you see the potential, stay calm. It's so difficult in the world we are living in.
"I think we all agree that the potential [of Nunez] is so obvious.
"It's not only with Lewy I had this but he is an obvious comparison, I understand that. It's just about staying calm, and I am super calm, and the team is as well by the way."
While Klopp conceded Nunez should have done better with one chance in particular against Villa, he also feels the media scrutiny has been over the top.
"Is everything right? No," he said. "I think it's clear with the big chance in the second half, if he can run a little bit at an angle then he has a free choice.
"But it's all coming. So you do it like this, the next time you do it like that.
"It's so difficult in the world we are living in. I don't want to make it personal now but because of you [the media] asking and making a big fuss of everything, then of course the supporters and social media [get carried away].
"All these kind of things, the more you can shut off that, the better it is."
Guardiola not concerned despite Manchester City's poor defensive record
Pep Guardiola is not worried about Manchester City's defending despite the reigning champions failing to keep a clean sheet in their last six Premier League matches.
City went 1-0 down against Fulham before fighting back to win 3-2 on Saturday. Their opponents also amassed an expected goals (xG) total of 2.4 compared to City's 1.55.
It follows a trend of unusually sloppy defensive displays from the champions, who have conceded eight goals in their last six league matches. They also had to come from behind against Brentford in September.
Guardiola, however, is not overly worried.
"Sometimes I give credit. The first goal – why don't we give credit to them rather than [be critical] defensively? There are actions we can defend better but step by step we will improve," he said, via the Guardian.
"I would say except [Yoane] Wissa against Brentford, in the other ones we were playing good. It's not nice to come back from 0-1 but we created chances today to go 1-0 and 2-0."
City allowed Fulham five big chances compared to their one, with the London side taking 11 shots, nine of those from inside the box.
Comparatively, City had 20 shots with only half of those coming from inside the box. However, two of the visitors’ goals came from outside the area with Jeremy Doku and Mateo Kovacic both firing in from distance.
"I'm very happy he scored two goals, he's not a guy to score [usually] those goals," Guardiola said of Kovacic, who is one of the midfielders the City boss expects to fill in for the injured Rodri this season.
“We started really well with two chances in two minutes and they switched immediately to five at the back. When they do that, we have one man free on the 18-yard box and that is Kovacic.
"The two goals were because they couldn't defend that. We have to exploit that more against teams that don’t play five at the back – now opponents know that they can’t leave him [Kovacic] alone, otherwise he will score a goal."
New York City FC v Nashville SC: 'Fourth place is everything', claims Cushing
Nick Cushing has insisted New York City FC's focus must be on rounding off the regular-season strongly as he eyes a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference.
His side sit fifth, two points behind current fourth-placed Orlando City after a 3-2 home victory over third-placed FC Cincinnati.
They have two games remaining before the postseason, which they have already secured their place in, but they also have the chance to reach 50 points for the first time since 2022.
With Orlando facing a tough opponent in Cincinnati this weekend, Cushing remains determined to direct his team's focus on their upcoming match.
"The whole aim of not having a mental slip up [against Nashville] is to focus on fourth place," he told the press.
"Fourth place is everything to us. We could be playing top of the league. We could be playing the team bottom of the league.
"Our mentality, our focus, has to be on performing, and on getting intensity into the game and doing the things that have helped us win football games lately because if we continue to win and somebody around us slips up, that fourth place is open for us."
Their visiting opponents, Nashville SC, find themselves in a different predicament as they sit outside of the playoff spots in 13th place.
"I think Nashville are a really difficult team to play against. I think under their previous coach [they were] direct, and incredible on set plays,” added Cushing.
"Hany Muktar is very dangerous. Sam Surridge is a top player. They’ve got good players, and you have to see past results because, with the new coach, they now play a little bit more."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New York City – Alonso Martinez
Martinez is the joint-ninth top scorer in the MLS this season with a club-leading 15 goals in 24 appearances so far.
NYCFC have not failed to score in their last five matches, and Martinez will be key to them keeping this streak in the hope of a win against Nashville.
Nashville – Hany Mukhtar
Mukhtar had a goal and an assist in Nashville's loss to D.C. United on Wednesday, his 30th career MLS match with multiple goal contributions.
Only Luciano Acosta and Daniel Gazdag have 20 such matches since Mukhtar debuted in MLS in 2020.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEW YORK CITY WIN
The hosts are in hot form. They have won consecutive matches after recording just one win in their previous 14 in all competitions (D9 L4).
NYCFC have scored eight times in the two matches, the first time the club has scored eight goals in a two-match span since April-May 2022.
Nashville, on the other hand, have lost six of their last seven regular-season away matches dating back to the beginning of July. They have scored just four goals over those seven matches and have only scored 10 times on the road in 2024, the fewest in MLS this season.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New York City – 55.6%
Draw – 22.9%
Nashville – 21.5%
Al-Ahli 1-2 Al-Hilal: Mitrovic double keeps Saudi champions perfect
Aleksandar Mitrovic proved to be the difference once again for Al-Hilal as the reigning Saudi Pro League champions beat Al-Ahli 2-1 on Saturday.
Al-Ahil went in front with 12 minutes played when Gabri Veiga was sent through on goal by Franck Kessie, with the Spaniard rounding Yassine Bounou to open the scoring at King Abdullah Sports City.
The hosts went close to doubling their advantage soon after, with Riyad Mahrez and Ivan Toney going close, before Sergej Milinkovic-Savic saw his effort cleared off the line at the other end.
But parity was restored early in the second half through Al-Hilal's master marksman, as Mitrovic nodded home a trademark header from Renan Lodi's delivery.
Al-Ahil were then awarded a penalty when Rayan Hamed fouled Malcom inside the box, only for Mitrovic to see his effort saved by Abdulrahman Al Sanbi.
However, the Serbian was given the chance to redeem himself after the VAR deemed encroachment had taken place, and he made no mistake at the second time of asking to net his 14th goal of the season in all competitions.
Data Debrief: Mitrovic the main man
Mitrovic has been in fine form since his move to Saudi Arabia, with his latest double taking his tally to 54 goals in as many appearances for Al-Hilal.
This time out, he contributed 1.16 expected goals (xG) tally to the visitors' 2.24 total, while also recording the most touches in the opposition box (six).
Malcom also impressed for Al-Hilal, creating more chances (three) than anyone on the pitch, with his 14 passes into the final third a total only bettered by Ruben Neves (18) and Salem Al Dawsari (15) among his team-mates.
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