Arne Slot admitted he was left consuming his phrases after Darwin Nunez‘s wondergoal towards Bournemouth, with the Liverpool head coach happy together with his work fee.
Nunez made his first begin of the season in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Anfield, marking it with a spectacular objective curled in together with his left foot.
It got here in a robust efficiency from the No. 9, who appears to be like 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 quick response as Nunez lined as much as shoot for his objective – 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 believe the defender was on the bottom.
“However then it was a fraction of a second later once I noticed the ball went in off the publish.
“I used to be like ‘OK, perhaps you’re a higher soccer participant than I used to be prior 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 comply with his directions as a way to preserve his place.
Within the buildup to Saturday’s sport, 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 snug dropping deep and urgent excessive.
“That’s what I observed as properly,” he replied when requested about Nunez’s work fee particularly.
“After all, I play a striker as a result of I like him to attain targets; I play a winger as a result of I like him to help or to attain targets.
“As a result of if you wish to win a sport, you must rating targets.
“Nevertheless it additionally helps for those who preserve a clear sheet. We simply spoke concerning the leadup to each targets [for Luis Diaz], Ibou was concerned on this, however retaining a clear sheet, Darwin can be concerned on this.
“So before everything they must work actually laborious for the staff after which to start with of the season it was Mo who made the distinction, with Lucho, then it was Cody, and Diogo has been concerned in targets.
“At this time it was Lucho and Darwin. That’s all we wish to see.”
As Slot famous, the first position of Liverpool’s central striker can be to attain targets, and discovering the again of the online in his first begin ought to stand Nunez in good stead.
The continuing goal can be to take action constantly, with the Dutchman hinting that he could also be given an opportunity to construct on this towards West Ham on Wednesday night time.
“I believe you get consistency by two issues, work fee and staff efficiency,” Slot defined.
“If the staff efficiency just isn’t constant it’s so tough for a person to be constant as properly.
“We simply must 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 daily and he confirmed right now a very good sport, perhaps he can present it on Wednesday once more, however let’s wait and see.”
Liverpool 3-0 Bournemouth
