Liverpool players and staff have been impressed with Darwin Nunez’s attitude on and off the pitch so far.
That’s according to a report in The Athletic this morning. Attempting to dissect Nunez’s thinking behind his red card last Monday, the report claims that there have been ‘few signs’ of the striker having a hot temper during training.
Instead, Nunez has ‘endeared himself’ to players and staff with his ‘attitude and application’ on the pitch, as well as off it.
They reportedly talk of someone who is ‘quiet and respectful but driven.’ As the 23-year-old integrates into the team, the report names Alisson Becker, Fabinho, Roberto Firmino, Adrian and Thiago Alcantara as his closest friends.
Making sure Palace red was a one-off
It may have been out of character for Nunez to do what he did against Crystal Palace. But it also wasn’t a major surprise.
Despite his quiet nature off the pitch, he does play with his heart on his sleeve on it. That’s not always a bad thing, and Monday night was actually Darwin’s first ever career red card.
So rather than being something we’ll have to get used to seeing from him, it was hopefully just a one-off.
Given the pressure on him, the intensity of the game, and the score-line at the time, things just went to his head. That can happen once. But it can’t happen again.
For all the talk of a player with a great attitude, he has to show that regularly on the pitch, too. For now, it’s on Nunez to turn around the perceptions of him from the wider footballing world.
What he did against Palace was as pretty near unforgivable as it gets on a football pitch. But as long as it turns out to be a one-time thing, the Liverpool fans will let him off completely.
In the meantime it sounds as though Nunez is doing all the right things in training. Hopefully once he’s served his three-match ban, he can return with a renewed focus, ready to take the league by storm.
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