Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admits even he was stunned how nicely Luis Diaz did as an experimental centre-forward.
The Colombia worldwide scored his first hat-trick for the membership within the 4-0 Champions League victory over Bayer Leverkusen after beginning the sport as a false 9.
Slot has already tried plenty of variations up entrance, altering from his most well-liked centre-forward because of an damage to Diogo Jota to line up with a false 9 and, on one event two false nines.
Diaz responded to his first outing via the center with an efficiency in opposition to the Bundesliga champions which exceeded Slot’s expectations.
“Lucho did very well and if was, even for me, possibly a little bit of a shock to see how nicely he did,” he mentioned.
“I performed him there for a purpose, I anticipated him to do good however that he performed so nicely that was even a shock for me.”
Darwin Nunez is his solely match real No. 9 as Jota is out with an affect damage to his higher physique, however the Uruguay worldwide has not began each recreation in his absence.
With summer time signing Federico Chiesa additionally sidelined it means Slot has needed to be extra inventive together with his formation and that appears set to proceed.
“Once we had Darwin and Diogo obtainable we at all times performed a type of two,” he added.
“To be trustworthy I appreciated particularly the final thought, I believe each Liverpool supporter did with Lucho scoring three targets, two as a 9 and one as a winger, so that’s at all times attention-grabbing to see, however Lucho can be an excellent left winger.
“At this second we now have 4 attackers obtainable for 3 positions so we may provide you with one other thought once more but when Diogo comes again and Darwin is again then we now have two No. 9s obtainable once more.”
Diaz has 9 targets already this season, a tally it took him till mid-February final season to achieve and is due partially to an enchancment in his conversion fee from 9 p.c to 29 p.c.
“That’s what all of us see, that he has higher numbers than final season,” mentioned Slot.
“If Diogo is enjoying he scores, if Darwin is enjoying he scores, if Lucho is enjoying as a left winger he scores however Cody [Gakpo] additionally scores if he’s enjoying as a left winger.
“That tells me that the staff is offering targets for these nice people and these gamers all have the qualities, that’s why they play for Liverpool.”
One other of the gamers thriving underneath Slot is academy graduate Curtis Jones, who has been included within the England squad for this month’s Nations League matches.
The 23-year-old grew to become a father for the primary time final month and Slot has seen a change within the participant.
“You by no means know if that performs a component or not,” he mentioned forward of the go to of Aston Villa.
“He already did this within the first few weeks that we labored collectively in pre-season – I used to be like ‘phwoar, high quality participant’ however then his performances dropped.
“However for the reason that second he grew to become a father he was excellent once more, and I believe it may need to do a bit with that however usually I believe it has to do with how the staff performs as a result of each participant who is available in has a very good efficiency.”
Liverpool’s eight wins, a draw and one defeat has them high of the desk heading into the weekend however Slot will not be getting carried away.
“I’m not attempting to handle expectations inside the squad as a result of we don’t discuss them. The one expectation I’ve is for them to place the identical effort in every single day,” mentioned the pinnacle coach.
“I’m not asking them to win each recreation however I’m asking them to place effort in each day.”
