Arne Slot gives Darwin Nunez a major vote of confidence as he backs struggling striker to succeed at Liverpool
Arne Slot has given misfiring striker Darwin Nunez a big vote of confidence, saying it is a ‘matter of time’ before the Uruguayan clicks into gear at Liverpool.
The Reds head coach reckons Nunez, who has scored just three goals all season, is ‘trying too hard’ to please the fans in front of goal – but has backed the £85million man to put his problems behind him in the coming months.
Nunez’s issue is that he has failed to take his chances in the two months that fellow No 9 Diogo Jota has missed through injury. The Portuguese is now back and likely to be on the bench on Saturday, while Luis Diaz has also proved his talent playing through the middle.
‘Darwin has shown already that he is a goal-scorer,’ said Slot. ‘He is able to do so. In my opinion, it is a matter of time before he starts to score. But he is in competition with Luis, who can play as a No 9 as well, and Diogo.
‘For me he has an impact. If you only look at goals, he hasn’t scored the amount of goals he wants to score – or we want our No 9 to score – but he does have impact in his work-rate. If we lose the ball he is then aggressive to get the ball back and still create chances.
Arne Slot has given misfiring Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez a big vote of confidence
Slot believes that Nunez, who has scored just three goals this season, is trying too hard
‘He is part of a team who scores a lot of goals and is winning a lot but of course as a No 9 you want to score more goals and that is definitely what he wants as well. But until now I am not only judging Mo (Salah) on his goals, I am not only judging Darwin on his goals.
‘Maybe it’s because the fans support him so much, maybe he wants it too much to score that goal for himself and also for the fans because they have been very supportive.’
Nunez has received criticism from fans in recent weeks and posted a response on Instagram on Wednesday, saying ‘resiliencia’ (translates as ‘resilience’ in English) and ‘they are not all, they are some – thank you for your support, Reds.’
And Slot added: ‘The fans have a lot of love for him, I heard something about social media criticism but he will not be the first player who gets criticism on social media! That is what happens if you miss one or two chances.
‘If we had lost the game (on Wednesday against Girona) then it would be that my substitutions or line-up were not good… that is what social media is all about! If you win it’s all brilliant, if you lose it’s all s***!’
Slot recognises that Nunez needs an arm around the shoulder at this tough time in terms of confidence – but has told the 25-year-old Uruguayan that he is judged on overall performance and not just his finishing.
Slot recognises that Nunez needs an arm around the shoulder at this tough time
‘Ideally he would have scored a few goals more,’ continued the Dutch boss. ‘Maybe in a few weeks you will ask me (about) Mo is not scoring any more and Darwin is scoring one goal after another. It is the life of a No 9, sometimes you score, sometimes you don’t.
‘But what should always be there is work-rate and that is what he has, apart from two games: against Las Palmas (a friendly) and the last half-hour against Girona were not of the standards he should have. That had a lot to do with him being disappointed at missing a few chances.’
Jota is expected to be on the bench against Fulham after getting a full week of training under his belt, while summer signing Federico Chiesa is also in line to make the squad. Kostas Tsimikas has stepped up his recovery but will not be in contention and Alexis Mac Allister is suspended.
