Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admitted he was disappointed with Darwin Nunez’s “behaviour” following his big miss against Aston Villa on Wednesday.
The striker fired a shot over the bar from close range, missing an open goal and failing to give his side the lead with the game finely poised at 2-2.
Slot was disappointed with the miss, but was left frustrated by the Uruguay international performance afterwards.
“I can accept every miss, especially from a player that has scored two very important goals against Brentford and for us in the home game against Villa,” Slot told reporters during his pre-Manchester City press conference.
“I would prefer him to score but the word ‘chance’ says it all. It’s a chance, so it’s not one hundred per cent sure that the ball goes in and players miss chances, that I can accept.
“What was a bit harder for me to accept was his behaviour after that chance – and by behaviour I mean I think it got too much in his head – where he wasn’t the usual Darwin that works his ass off and makes sure he helps the team. I think he was too disappointed after missing the chance and maybe, we will never know, we will never find out, that’s why he was just a fraction short the moment afterwards.”
Nunez only managed ten touches during his 22-minute cameo and failed to provide a focal point in the latter stages of the game as Liverpool lost momentum and Villa finished the game in the ascendency. It is something Slot will speak to his striker about.
“I always truly believe that it’s always best to have Wata’s (Wataru Endo) mindset,” said Slot. “For the whole season he keeps him going and whenever we need him he’s ready. That is very difficult. There are not many players that can do this. It is not about the chance for me, it’s more about 20 minutes afterwards where I want to talk to him about.
“The most important message is you can miss a chance but you can’t miss out on workrate. It’s part of your life as a No.9 that you sometimes miss when people expect you to score. It is not part of your job as a No.9 to then slow down in work-rate and that is something we will talk about.”
Nunez emphasised “resilience” in a post on X on Thursday.
Ni fui el mejor hace tres semanas ni soy el peor ahora. Si me caigo, me levanto. Nunca me van a ver bajar los brazos.
Voy a dejar todo hasta el último día que me toque estar acá en Liverpool.
Resiliencia! 💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/cruy7OZO1o
— Darwin Núñez (@Darwinn99) February 20, 2025
Liverpool have another difficult away game next with a trip to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City.
It has been a disappointing season for Pep Guardiola’s side but Slot expects a difficult game and has seen improvement from the reigning champions in recent weeks with players returning from injury and the introduction of January signings.
“What I always expect from City since Pep is there – a great football team that can play so well,” said Slot. “They’ve had maybe one or two months in the seven or eight years he’s there now that weren’t the best, maybe partly because of injuries as well. Injuries come back. They’ve signed three or four players. I can see them coming back already if you look at the result against Newcastle.
“What you expect is what everybody expects, if you go to the Etihad, if you play against City you have to suffer and work really hard to keep them away from your goal because they are so good in ball possession. But they face a strong team as well that haven’t lost for 2022 games now.”
Slot will be without centre-back Joe Gomez, who has undergone surgery on the hamstring injury he suffered against Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup earlier this month. Fellow defender Conor Bradley is likely to miss out too after coming off with an injury against Aston Villa.
Cody Gakpo may return to training later today, putting him in contention to return to the squad for the upcoming game, while Slot explained that he took Diogo Jota and Trent Alexander-Arnold off against Aston Villa to manage their minutes as they return from injury to make sure they remain available.
“Let’s see (on Gakpo). I hope but I’m not one hundred per cent sure. He hasn’t trained with the team yet. Maybe he does a bit today, I don’t know. It will be a close call,” said Slot.
“(Bradley) He still has to come in so we don’t know yet. I would be completely surprised if he was involved on Sunday or Wednesday. You can assume that’s not going to happen. Joe Gomez has had surgery on his hamstring so he is out for a long time. He will be back maybe just before the end of the season.
“These two players are not injured but are coming back from an injury, Jota and Trent (Alexander-Arnold.) That’s the reason they don’t play 90 minutes five times in a row in 15 days because that would be a big risk. You could see this yesterday with Conor Bradley.”
‘Sometimes the truth hurts’
Analysis by Liverpool Correspondent James Pearce
Arne Slot clearly wasn’t in the mood to put an arm around Darwin Nunez’s shoulder when he faced the media ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Manchester City on Sunday.
The Dutch head coach delivered a withering assessment of Nunez’s cameo in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw at Aston Villa which featured a glaring missed opportunity to secure maximum points.
Slot could have leapt to his defence in the face of stinging criticism. He could have talked about the Uruguayan’s enduring importance to their title challenge and backed him to put his Villa Park nightmare behind him at the Etihad.
But by publicly criticising his work rate, Slot only served to fuel the growing belief that Nunez’s third season at Liverpool will be his last.
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It was blunt but Slot had a point. After replacing Diogo Jota in the 66th minute, Nunez only had 10 touches, completed just two passes, won just one out of five duels and lost possession five times.
Rather than being fired up to make amends after that squandered chance, Nunez wilted and felt sorry for himself.
He won’t like Slot’s comments but sometimes the truth hurts. He’s got to take it on the chin and respond positively or he will remain on the periphery of Liverpool’s title challenge.
(Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
