Harvey Elliott says the Liverpool players rallied around Darwin Nunez in the changing room at the end of last night’s game.
Nunez was sent off on his Anfield debut after an indefensible head-butt on Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen.
The incident arguably cost Liverpool three points. But speaking to LFCTV, Elliott has claimed that when the Liverpool players saw Nunez, they tried to urge him not to take the blame for the dropped points.
“It’s not his fault to be honest because we conceded the goal in the first half which put us in that situation. For him its a learning curve and for the team its our fault as well, its not just him, it’s everyone’s fault,” said the 19-year-old.
“We’re instantly around him trying to lift him up. Obviously he’s very down in the changing room feeling sorry for the team and thinking its his fault, which it’s not, it’s all of our faults. It’s not singlehandedly him it’s us as a collective, so we’re there for him.”
Unforgivable debut for Nunez
What can you say about Nunez’s moment of madness last night. It certainly wasn’t the Anfield debut he would have dreamed about on Sunday night.
Even prior to his sending off, the Uruguayan had struggled to get going. He missed two very presentable chances in the first-half which he really should have buried.
But that can be forgiven. Most players take some time to find their feet in a new team, and the same should be expected for Darwin.
What is more difficult to forgive is the stupidity of the challenge on Andersen. When your team are desperately searching for a way back into the game, you simply cannot do things like that.
That isn’t the way Jurgen Klopp wants his players to react to things, and it will surely be instantly addressed by the coaching team.
It’s true that Liverpool improved, and even scored, without Nunez on the pitch. In itself that isn’t a glowing reference to the 23-year-old either, but they would have still been much more likely to win the game with eleven men on the pitch.
Not only that, but the striker will now miss Liverpool’s next three games. At any rate, that’s going to make his integration to the Premier League much more difficult. That it comes with Liverpool in the midst of an injury crisis just exacerbates the issue.
Elliott is right, the team should rally around Nunez. No good will come of feeding him to the lions. But he must learn quickly that that kind of reaction won’t be tolerated at Liverpool and must make sure it doesn’t happen again.
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