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Following eight matches without finding the net in both the Premier League and Champions League, Florian Wirtz has found himself an easy target for opposition supporters, yet Peter Crouch understands better than most what Liverpool's signing is experiencing.
Crouch arrived at Anfield from Southampton in 2005, just after the Champions League triumph in Istanbul, but didn't break his duck for his new side until December.
Crouch concluded that debut campaign with 13 strikes across all competitions, before netting a further 18 the following term as Liverpool reached another Champions League final. He maintained that self-confidence throughout, and believes there's no reason for Wirtz to lose heart either.
"If anyone can resonate with Wirtz at the minute it's me," Crouch told the Mirror. "I went through a tough time, it was 18 games before I scored a goal. The thing is, I was playing well, I just didn't score. And I think the same with Wirtz.
"You can say what you like, but he's a talented footballer. It's a hard thing to do is settle, come straight in and fire, especially as there's so much money in as well, and everyone looks at that don't they.
"But the way I look at it and I think he's a class player. And if he came through the youth team we'd be saying how good he was. But we're looking at it through £100 million glasses. I like to take the person as a footballer and say, 'actually is he a good footballer'. And there's no doubt.
"Sometimes it only requires a single stroke of fortune to change everything around. In Crouch's situation, it was a strike against Wigan which - two decades later - he acknowledges should probably have been recorded as an own goal.
"I remember I was the third-last person to touch it - it hit someone's back, looped over and the keeper palmed it in. So, if anything, it was two own goals before it was mine," he said.
"I got it, and then I scored another one the same game and then I went on a great run. That's literally football, that's just confidence. Something goes for you and you get a break and then you're just off and running and and I'm sure that will be the case with Wirtz.
"But every other team, every other fan of every other team is obviously going to jump on the bandwagon. That's what I had. I had a thick skin, you have be able to cope with it. Otherwise, you're not going to last at a big club."
Wirtz is nowhere near the only Liverpool player to endure a difficult period.
Darwin Nunez also faced criticism from opposition supporters following his expensive transfer, but Crouch believes the backing given to the Uruguayan demonstrates precisely why Wirtz needn't worry about losing the backing of the Anfield support.
"With Liverpool, if you attack one of their players, then it's very much like 'you're on the inside', right? And when you're an inside of that, it's something special," he added when asked if Wirtz has the right support around him.
"I think Nunez had it too some degree as well, you know? He was getting bashed from everywhere and then never once did the Liverpool fans waver in their support for him."
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