Mohamed Salah backed to better stellar first season at Liverpool by teammate James Milner

Mohamed Salah can do even better than his record-breaking first season at Liverpool, but only if his teammates step up and chip in with more goals to take the pressure off the Egyptian ace.
That is the view of James Milner who watched in awe as Salah scored 44 goals in all competitions for the Reds, including 32 in 36 Premier League matches — a record in a 38-match season. He was also instrumental in Liverpool’s march to the Champions League final, where they lost to Real Madrid and the Egyptian suffered a serious shoulder injury.
But anyone thinking the 26-year-old will have a hard time repeating those feats had, according to his fellow midfielder Milner, better think again.
“The best players in the world aren’t known because they just did it in one season, they do it over and over again,” Milner said.
“He is more than capable of doing that. There is pressure when you have had one good year to deliver again but he is a top player. He’s shown that. He’s going to keep on improving.”
Milner, however, insisted Salah can only hit those heights again if he and others take the pressure off the Egyptian by scoring more goals.
“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 and do that as part of a team.”
What should help Salah in his second season at Anfield is the fact that Jurgen Klopp has spent over £170 million ($222 million) on new players this summer with Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson joining Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri. But more important than all of those deals could well prove to be securing Salah on a new five-year contract worth £200,000 a week. The “Egyptian King” was rumored to be the target of several clubs, including Real Madrid, but Milner said he was not worried Salah would say goodbye.
“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’d want to go,” Milner said. “The speculation is what happens when you have good players. That’s a positive thing for us that when there’s speculation about your players it means they are playing well and performing, and he obviously has.”
Salah needed little time in reminding Liverpool fans what he can do, scoring just a minute after coming on in the Reds’ 2-1 pre-season friendly win over Manchester City on Wednesday. That came after a World Cup to forget, which saw Salah score twice in Russia, but his tournament was overshadowed by his shoulder injury and Egypt’s failure to win a match.
Liverpool get their Premier League campaign started at home to West Ham on Aug. 12.

Mohamed Salah backed to better stellar first season at Liverpool by teammate James Milner