Arne Slot has revealed his unhappiness at the manner in which Darwin Nunez reacted to his dreadful miss away to Aston Villa, especially his work ethic.
Nunez certainly isn’t renowned as Liverpool’s best finisher, but even by his standards, his failure to score in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw was bad.
The 25-year-old fired over with an open goal gaping in the second half, blowing an opportunity to seal a huge victory for Liverpool.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Slot admitted his disappointment at Nunez’s attitude after the miss, rather than the moment itself.
“I can accept every miss, especially from a player that scored two very important goals against Brentford and in the home game against Villa,” Slot said.
“I would prefer him to score, but the word ‘chance’ says it all. It’s a chance, so not 100 percent that the ball goes in.
“Players miss chances, that I can accept, but what was harder to accept was his behaviour after that chance.
“It got too much in his head where he wasn’t the usual Darwin that works his arse off and makes sure he helps the team.
“I think he was too disappointed after missing that chance and maybe that is why he was a fraction short the moment afterwards.
“I always truly believe it is best to have Wata’s [Wataru Endo] mindset – he keeps going and whenever we need him he is always ready.
“That is very difficult and there are not many players who can do this. It’s not about the chance for me, it is more about the 20 minutes afterwards that I want to talk to him about.”
Slot discussed Nunez later in his press conference, too, further suggesting that he has issues with him, having been asked about how key he can be in the coming months.
“I will tell him [we can still achieve], but I will tell him you can miss a chance, but you cannot miss out on work rate,” he added.
“That is the life of a striker – he knows, he’s 24, 25, 26, he will have missed and scored chances in his career, so no problem at all.
“It’s part of the job of a No. 9 that you sometimes miss when people expect you to score, but it is not part of the job to slow down the work rate and that is something we will talk about.”
Slot is clearly irked by Nunez’s performance at Villa Park on Wednesday, with Liverpool’s No. 9 offering nowhere enough effort and quality.
At this point, it is hard to envisage him still being a Reds player next season, following exit rumours in January.
Slot is refreshingly honest when talking about his players, including when he isn’t happy with them, and with each passing game, the clearer it becomes that he has run out of patience with Nunez.
