Arne Slot has defended Darwin Nunez after the Uruguayan striker endured a frustrating night in Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Bologna. Nunez played a part in Alexis Mac Allister’s opening goal but was taken off after 61 minutes.
The 25-year-old missed the Reds’ win over Wolves at the weekend through illness, but was handed his third-successive start in games that he was available for after Diogo Jota picked up a knock at Molineux and subsequently missed training.But after withdrawing the forward early in the second half, Slot defended Nunez following the full-time whistle.
“I don’t only focus on the individual,” he said the Liverpool head coach. “I think in the first hour, we didn’t create a lot of chances for him as well because we missed out on the last pass on numerous occasions.
“If we had done better, that would probably have led to chances for him as well.
“His home game against Bournemouth, great goal. Today he was also involved against a team we faced that was really hard and tough on him. And his team-mates didn’t always find him when they could have.
“I don’t think it is really on us to say, ‘he only scored one for Liverpool’, because you also have to look at the playing time he got.
“It’s a bit early to say after three starts he only scored one. For me that is a bit too early.”
Slot was full of praise for Mohamed Salah following his man-of-the-match display that saw him record a goal and an assist against the Serie A outfit.
However, the Reds boss again sidestepped questions about the Egyptian’s future beyond the end of his contract next summer.
“What can I say about Mo?” he said. “What you saw today is what you get. If you bring him often enough into positions like this, he can score a goal. He got a great assist as well.
“If you look at the way he scores it, I can understand everyone is talking about the finish because it was a fantastic finish. He almost had the same one just before.
“But it wouldn’t do it justice to Virgil (van Dijk), to Diogo, to Dom (Dominik Szoboszlai) and to Trent (Alexander-Arnold), if we only talk about the great finish because Virgil played a fantastic ball through, Diogo dropped, turned, Dom was again involved – he was involved in the first goal as well – and Trent made a crucial overlapping run because that opened up the space on the inside for Mo to do what Mo always does.
“Before Wolves, Mo played three games without scoring a goal. In football, it can happen that sometimes in three games you score one, or you don’t score. But these players like Mo, like Darwin, they will always score their goals if you just keep playing them.
“The thing is, I can’t play them all. But it’s good to have them and they will always score their goals.
“Mo has done really well today and I am happy with how he does at the moment. I am not looking forward to next season. As long as we have six group games to play, and hopefully many others to come afterwards.”
