Arne Slot and Darwin Nunez during Liverpool's win at Girona (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
Liverpool manager Arne Slot has admitted to keeping Darwin Nunez on the pitch for a bit longer yesterday to try to help his confidence with a goal.
The Uruguay international has mostly been quite disappointing since arriving at Liverpool, and he’s currently on a run of just one goal in his last ten games in all competitions.
Nunez missed a few chances for Liverpool against Girona last night, though the Reds still came away with a 1-0 victory thanks to Mohamed Salah’s winner from the penalty spot.
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Liverpool fans will surely be concerned about Nunez’s struggles, and it seems Slot has strongly hinted that it could be a confidence issue for the former Benfica man.
Speaking after the game, as quoted by the Liverpool Echo, Slot admitted he decided to keep Nunez on for as long as possible in the hope that he might finally be able to find the back of the net.
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Darwin Nunez in action for Liverpool Girona
Darwin Nunez in action for Liverpool Girona (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
Discussing Nunez, Slot said: “What I can agree on is that he missed a few chances. Then it’s always the question: does this have anything to do with low confidence or is this a situation where he’s in at the moment?
“I think every striker all around the world has periods where every ball goes in, and sometimes he has a period where you try so hard but you’re not able to score.”
He added: “I would have loved to see Darwin score because I think every striker wants to score [and] needs goals – that’s why I kept him in for quite a long time. He was a threat but unfortunately he couldn’t score.”
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While it’s admirable that Slot is doing his best to try to help Nunez, some LFC fans might be concerned about it coming at the detriment of the team.
If the 25-year-old cannot put his chances away, then at some point he surely needs to be replaced by someone who can, rather than just being given more and more playing time to try to solve the issue.