“Part and parcel of football”: Slot backs struggling Liverpool star

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot defended struggling attacker Darwin Nunez amid questions about his lack of goals in the media. Slot argued that the lack of goal-scoring from a forward is a common theme in football, particularly with limited starts.

Furthermore, the Dutch boss highlighted the overall contribution from the Uruguayan while revealing his contentment with the team’s overall contribution. When other players within the squad score many goals, some individuals’ limited tally in contributing goals is a common compromise.

The Reds have enjoyed an immense contributory season with regular goals and assists from the legendary Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah. Meanwhile, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz have played a crucial role in the left-wing position, providing consistent input with goals.

Diogo Jota has continued to struggle with recurring injuries but has delivered constant goals whenever he played for the team. Nunez has only four goals and four assists in all competitions for Liverpool from 26 appearances so far this season.

Speaking in the pre-match press conference (via Liverpoolfc.com), Slot highlighted that Liverpool forward Nunez does not lack confidence in scoring. He said:

“That’s your perception and maybe the perception of other people as well – but it’s not my perception that he’s struggling with self-confidence. He was involved against Accrington Stanley in the first goal again as well, he was involved in the goal against Fulham that [Diogo] Jota scored and he scored one against Southampton. I think after that it wasn’t that he had many starts – maybe one time, I don’t know exactly. For me, it’s the life of a striker – sometimes you score, sometimes you don’t. And he hasn’t started every single game. The most important thing for me is that we as a team were able to score every single game, except for the Tottenham one and [Nottingham Forest]. So, it tells me that we have so many goals in our team. Darwin will score his goals, like he did for this club already and he will keep doing this. But I don’t see him struggling that much as the way you see it and he’s still involved in goals in the last few games as well.”

The 25-year-old has not started many of those games, acting as a substitute for Liverpool with many on-form attacking players. Nevertheless, the Uruguayan international’s struggle with finishing and constant mishaps in offside situations invite a lot of criticism from naysayers.

Nevertheless, the Kopites have unconditionally backed the 25-year-old and praised him for his overall selfless contributions during each game. Nunez’s price tag is the prime reason for the constant demand from him to get consistent goals for the team.

With the likes of Erling Haaland playing in the Premier League and achieving incredible feats with goalscoring, that demand becomes more intense. However, the Uruguayan is not a flop as his overall tally with goals and assists is more than decent.

At the same time, Nunez is not a hit either as the club of Liverpool’s stature that competes with numerous high-spending rival clubs for any major trophy requires their number nine to score goals consistently.

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Hopefully, Nunez will break his recent goalscoring drought against Brentford and commence his redemption arc. The 25-year-old has all the talent to rebuild himself and prove his naysayers wrong, even the ones who mean well.