Liverpool vice-captain James Milner speaks about Darwin Nunez and his red card against Crystal Palace
James Milner is of the belief that Liverpool’s Uruguayan forward Darwin Nunez will ‘learn’ from his sending-off in the 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace at Anfield on Monday. The 23-year-old was sent off for sticking his head into Palace defender Joachim Andersen’s chin.
The Englishman started alongside Fabinho and Harvey Elliot in midfield for the Reds. First-choice captain Jordan Henderson had a minor injury issue, opening the door for Milner to start. While speaking to Sky Sports (h/t Liverpool Echo), Milner insisted that the club will throw their weight behind the Uruguayan.
“I didn’t see the incident but he’ll be disappointed. It’s down to us to rally round him.. He’ll learn from it, but the reaction was the most important thing.”
“The team reacted well, the ground reacted well, we could’ve nicked a win but, you know, we move on.”
The suspension came at the wrong moment for Liverpool, as both of the club’s other options in centre-forward are out citing injury issues. Roberto Firmino was sitting out as a precautionary measure due to a knock. Meanwhile, Diogo Jota is still recovering from his injury.
It was not a good first competitive home game for Darwin in red, and he would certainly want to chuck the memories of this game out in the bin. With his suspension, he misses the derby against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Furthermore, he is set to miss home games against AFC Bournemouth and Newcastle United. The Uruguayan is still in contention to make it to the matchday squad for the Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park early next month.
With a senior figure such as Milner backing Nunez to learn from his mistakes, the youngster should live up to the faith and try to be calmer in testing situations as he will face a lot of what he did against Palace in the Premier League.
Luis Diaz’s screamer from the edge of the box was enough to fetch the Reds a solitary point but a slow start to the season might be hurtful given rivals Manchester City have won both of their games and we are already in a race to catch up with them.
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It won’t be a surprise to see Mohamed Salah start as a centre-forward in our next game against the Red Devils on Monday night. Apart from that, it is hard to think of a player who can play in that position with relative ease.
