Arne Slot has addressed his frustrations with Darwin Nunez after leaving the Uruguay forward on the bench during Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Manchester City.
Arne Slot has addressed his frustrations with Darwin Nunez after leaving the Uruguay forward on the bench during Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Manchester City.
Slot had earlier shared his unhappiness with Nunez’s behavior following the 2-2 draw at Aston Villa and has now explained that he wasn’t happy with the striker’s effort in his recent performances.
“I helped him by saying it’s okay to miss a chance (against Villa),” Slot stated.
“It wasn’t just about being tough on him. But for the second consecutive time, I wasn’t happy with his work rate, against Wolves and Villa.”
“I can’t accept a player not giving their all. That’s clear. I can accept it once, but twice was too much, so I had to address it.”
“But if you miss a chance, you need to fight for the team. I’m not saying he didn’t do that, but it wasn’t the usual Darwin, the one fans adore. That’s mainly because he’s known for his hard work.”
Nunez missed a clear opportunity to score against Villa, and his frustration was noticeable. However, Slot mentioned that the 25-year-old has shown great effort in training leading up to the Newcastle match on Wednesday.
“Yesterday (Monday), he was fantastic in training in terms of his work rate,” Slot said.
“Hopefully, he continues to work like that, and if the team needs him, he will be ready as long as he keeps putting in performances like he did yesterday.”
