Jurgen Klopp believes there is more to come from Darwin Nunez despite a modest return in front of goal for Liverpool this season.
Nunez, 23, has scored nine times in 29 Premier League appearances following his big-money move from Benfica last summer. He has added a further six goals in cup competitions to take his tally up to 15 for the campaign.
But Nunez has received some criticism from fans and pundits for his finishing and performance since he made the switch to Anfield. Klopp has defended the Uruguayan, however, and claimed he would have scored a lot more goals if in a better Liverpool team. The Reds currently sit fifth in the Premier League table, four points behind fourth-placed Manchester United.
Klopp said: "He needed time to settle. The most difficult thing for a striker is to come in to a team that is not clicking. For him to have scored 15 goals anyway, imagine if by our standards a good season with 70 or 80 points, he would have scored 20-odd goals definitely.
"That's how it is but they had much more that we created in this period. But 15 goals is still absolutely fine and three games to go so possibly increase that number as well.
"We spoke about it. He needs time to adapt. He had that at Benfica as well, but there wasn't the language issue, or less of a language issue than there was here. It's clear that we will try to help him and he can help us even more than he has done already."
Liverpool are the second most in-form team in the division right now, having won their last six matches and have put up a real fight for a place in the Champions League. However, Man Utd and Newcastle both picked up positive results on Saturday in the race for a top-four spot.
The Reds are next in action when they travel to relegation-threatened Leicester and will need to continue their winning streak to stand any chance of finishing inside the Champions League spots.
"It is not about that, there are two games a season, or maybe with cup competitions three, four, five games where you play Man City or Arsenal," Klopp added. "A successful season is that you are ready for all the games that you can win 20-odd, maybe 25 games.
"If City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle, Tottenham, Man Utd are all involved in that 25 then it's even better. But can we create a team that can win the majority of the games? Yes we can. It's not about what the others do, it never was."
