- Forward Nunez has scored just four goals in all competitions so far this season
- Slot has, however, insisted his player ‘will score goals’ and come good in the side
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Are Everton where they deserve to be or are the club’s fans delusional?
Arne Slot has admitted he has been unable to get the best out of Darwin Nunez so far at Liverpool – but has backed the out-of-form Uruguay striker to come good soon.
The Reds No 9 has scored just four goals all season – only two of those coming in the Premier League – and has fallen out of favour in terms of the starting XI, with Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota often preferred to lead the line.
And Slot says he is confident he can finally help the £85million man click at Anfield. Asked if Nunez was fighting to prove his long-term future, the boss said: ‘For me, this is the same thing as if we played an early kick-off and we lost.
‘People would then probably say, “You were not awake because you played at 12.15pm”. When things are not perfect there are always a lot of things that are being brought up that don’t have so much to do with what is going on.
‘Darwin is a striker we have to use in a certain way and we were not able yet to bring the best out of him this season. Against Accrington Stanley again you saw that he has a lot of pace but, unfortunately for him, most teams sit back a lot against us.
‘If you look back at the goals he scored for us, I remember the one against Villa when he went around the goalkeeper on a fast break, that is his main strength – he has other qualities as well – but we are still working on getting him in the best possible positions against a low block.
‘That involves the right timings, the right crosses, the right position to start from and making the right run. But I also see, and I don’t know if other people see this, the way teams defend our No 9 is something you have to give credit to the other teams for.
‘It’s never, “Here Darwin, you can score”. Every time we put in a cross I see a defender all over him. I see it, referees unfortunately don’t. It’s more difficult to score against a team like Forest because every time we had a chance they had six, seven, eight, nine or 10 players in the box. yard box.
‘And the one time (Chris) Wood had a chance he was there almost on his own. We weren’t really close to the ball. They only had one chance, we had 15. But with the 15 we had there was always someone close to the ball or all over one of our players.
‘Darwin will score his goals. He already did and he will again.’
There has been much talk about Saudi Arabian clubs keeping an eye on Nunez. Mail Sport understands the interest is genuine but Liverpool have had zero official approaches to sign the striker from Saudi Arabia or otherwise.
He may get a chance to prove his worth this weekend with fellow striker Jota a major doubt for the trip to Brentford with a niggle. He is not completely ruled out but Slot said it was a ‘struggle’ to see the Portuguese forward featuring.
Slot added: ‘It’s not my perception that he’s struggling with self-confidence. He was involved in the first goal against Accrington Stanley, he was involved in the goal against Fulham that Jota scored, and he scored one against Southampton.
‘After that he hasn’t had many starts. For me, it’s the life of a striker – sometimes you score, sometimes you don’t. Darwin will score his goals, like he has done for this club already.’
