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 purpose curled in together with his left foot.
It got here in a powerful 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 purpose – one which many followers have skilled over the previous two years.
“My first intuition when he shot was ‘why does he shoot?’,” Slot informed reporters.
“I wished 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 after I noticed the ball went in off the publish.
“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 comply with his directions as a way to maintain 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 comfy dropping deep and urgent excessive.
“That’s what I observed as effectively,” he replied when requested about Nunez’s work fee particularly.
“In fact, 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 maintain a clear sheet. We simply spoke concerning the leadup to each targets [for Luis Diaz], Ibou was concerned on this, however protecting a clear sheet, Darwin can be concerned on this.
“So before everything they need to work actually laborious for the crew 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 targets.
“Right now it was Lucho and Darwin. That’s all we need to see.”
As Slot famous, the first function of Liverpool’s central striker will likely 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 will likely be to take action persistently, 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 crew efficiency,” Slot defined.
“If the crew efficiency shouldn’t be constant it’s so troublesome for a person to be constant as effectively.
“We simply need to 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 this moment a great sport, possibly he can present it on Wednesday once more, however let’s wait and see.”
