Jurgen Klopp was beaming when talking about Darwin Nunez and his progress on Tuesday. The Liverpool striker had a big fan.
Jurgen Klopp is visibly thrilled with Darwin Nunez right now, saying he ‘really likes’ the impact he’s made at Liverpool. It comes after the player received mixed reviews for his cameo at the weekend.
Nunez came on against Manchester City, playing from the left flank as Liverpool looked to counter-attack the visitors. The Uruguayan was a livewire, too, constantly looking to attack City’s backline with and without the ball.
His movement was undoubtedly fantastic, and Manuel Akanji had no idea how to defend the 23-year-old. Nunez looked great. And then he didn’t.
One burst saw Nunez have the ball with just one defender between him and the goal. Only, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah were wide open and clean through to his right. The forward delayed his pass, then delayed it some more, then ignored any further opportunity to pass the ball in favour of a shot himself. It clattered off the defender.
It was an awful decision that thankfully didn’t cost Liverpool. But despite moments like that, Klopp is nothing but thrilled with the progress he sees.
Darwin Nunez progress
“I like his impact, really,” said Klopp in his Tuesday press conference. “He’s a machine! He’s physically incredibly strong. In training he gets better every day. You can see it. You can really see it how he settles more and more.
“He’s in the team now, 100%. He’s really arrived completely. Of course, he wants to score more goals – and set up more goals, as well! But always, it takes time.”
Klopp is taking that failure to pass in good humour, then. Admittedly, he’s only able to do that because Liverpool went on to win.
Nunez, though, is showing fantastic promise and his ability to find chances is extraordinary. All he really needs is better decision-making – but that will come. As Klopp says, he can’t possibly have adapted fully yet.
That will come in time, though. And when it does, Liverpool will have a special player.
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