Arne Slot admitted he was left consuming his phrases after Darwin Nunez‘s wondergoal towards Bournemouth, with the Liverpool head coach happy along with his work charge.
Nunez made his first begin of the season in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Anfield, marking it with a spectacular objective curled in along 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 pinnacle coach revealed his speedy 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 informed reporters.
“I needed to say ‘why don’t you retain on dribbling?’, as a result of he made the ball free and I feel 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 submit.
“I used to be like ‘OK, possibly you’re a higher soccer participant than I used to be up to now’. Sensible choice 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 hold his place.
Within the buildup to Saturday’s recreation, 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 properly,” he replied when requested about Nunez’s work charge specifically.
“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 recreation, it is advisable rating targets.
“However it additionally helps in the event you hold 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 exhausting for the staff 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.
“At this time it was Lucho and Darwin. That’s all we wish to see.”
As Slot famous, the first function of Liverpool’s central striker will probably be to attain targets, and discovering the again of the web in his first begin ought to stand Nunez in good stead.
The continued goal will probably 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 evening.
“I feel you get consistency by two issues, work charge 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 need to create our habits daily 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 day by day and he confirmed in the present day a great recreation, possibly he can present it on Wednesday once more, however let’s wait and see.”
Liverpool 3-0 Bournemouth
