Arne Slot admitted he was left consuming his phrases after Darwin Nunez‘s wondergoal in opposition to Bournemouth, with the Liverpool head coach happy along with his work price.
Nunez made his first begin of the season in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Anfield, marking it with a spectacular purpose curled in along with his left foot.
It got here in a powerful efficiency from the No. 9, who seems to have taken Slot’s feedback on board about contributing off the ball as a lot as he does within the field.
However in his post-match press convention, the top coach revealed his fast response as Nunez lined as much as shoot for his purpose – one which many followers have skilled over the previous two years.
“My first intuition when he shot was ‘why does he shoot?’,” Slot advised reporters.
“I needed to say ‘why don’t you retain on dribbling?’, as a result of he made the ball free and I feel the defender was on the bottom.
“However then it was a fraction of a second later after I noticed the ball went in off the submit.
“I used to be like ‘OK, possibly you’re a higher soccer participant than I used to be up to now’. Good selection from him!”
Slot bowed to Nunez’s higher judgment in that occasion, however it’s crucial that the Uruguayan continues to observe his directions with a view to hold his place.
Within the buildup to Saturday’s recreation, Slot defined how Diogo Jota was extra of a pure “nine-and-a-half” whereas he noticed Nunez as a “goal man,” however the latter confirmed on Saturday that he’s comfy dropping deep and urgent excessive.
“That’s what I seen as nicely,” he replied when requested about Nunez’s work price specifically.
“In fact, I play a striker as a result of I like him to attain objectives; I play a winger as a result of I like him to help or to attain objectives.
“As a result of if you wish to win a recreation, it’s worthwhile to rating objectives.
“But it surely additionally helps should you hold a clear sheet. We simply spoke concerning the leadup to each objectives [for Luis Diaz], Ibou was concerned on this, however retaining a clear sheet, Darwin can also be concerned on this.
“So at first they should work actually exhausting for the workforce after which at first of the season it was Mo who made the distinction, with Lucho, then it was Cody, and Diogo has been concerned in objectives.
“At the moment it was Lucho and Darwin. That’s all we wish to see.”
As Slot famous, the first function of Liverpool’s central striker might be to attain objectives, and discovering the again of the online in his first begin ought to stand Nunez in good stead.
The continuing goal might be to take action constantly, with the Dutchman hinting that he could also be given an opportunity to construct on this in opposition to West Ham on Wednesday evening.
“I feel you get consistency by two issues, work price and workforce efficiency,” Slot defined.
“If the workforce efficiency is just not constant it’s so tough for a person to be constant as nicely.
“We simply should create our habits day-to-day on the coaching floor and within the video games to get this consistency, as a result of whereas working in your habits you create consistency.
“That’s what we attempt to do each day and he confirmed right now a very good recreation, possibly he can present it on Wednesday once more, however let’s wait and see.”
Liverpool 3-0 Bournemouth
