Darwin Nunez was Liverpool’s Man of the Match against West Ham United at Anfield last night.
That’s the view of former Wales international Ashley Williams. In the studio for Match of the Day on the BBC last night, Williams said he was really impressed with the Liverpool man.
“From the first whistle he looked sharp and hungry. It was good movement off the defenders,” said the 38-year-old. “His goal shows good patience to not be in there too early and then he moves. It’s a textbook striker’s header.
“He’s unlucky not to get more [goals], but he had a good performance. I thought he was Liverpool’s best player.”
Alisson may have something to say about that, but as Liverpool’s match-winner, Nunez deserves the plaudits.
Nunez has lift off at Anfield
A goal for Nunez last night, and a monkey will have just been lifted clean off his back.
Prior to last night, he had played at Anfield six times without a goal. Only two of those games had been starts though, so he could be forgiven that unflattering stat to some extent.
Nevertheless, the 23-year-old will have been delighted to score in-front of his new fans for the very first time.
Fellow Uruguayan Luis Suarez is a player who knows all about scoring at Anfield. Darwin’s current national team colleague sent the Liverpool man a message of congratulations after he found the net last night.
Hopefully the goal can give Nunez an even further lift. He had already been showing signs that he’s finding his feet at the club. A goal at Anfield was all that was missing. Now that he has that, he’ll be desperate for more.
Injury worry, but nothing serious
Unfortunately, Jurgen Klopp indicated after the game that his No.27 may have taken a slight knock against West Ham.
“He’s young and he felt a little bit of hamstrings at times, worrying, and all these kinds of things, so you have to make early changes and we can do that,” Klopp said via Amazon Prime.
As Nunez was able to play on, the inference is that it’s nothing that should keep him out for any time.
But with a trip to Nottingham Forest to come on Saturday lunchtime, we may not see the £180k-a-week man from the start.
In the form that he’s in, he has to play some part if possible, though. Nunez is getting better and better in a Liverpool shirt. Exciting times.
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