Jurgen Klopp has claimed that his Liverpool squad remain ‘convinced’ of Darwin Nunez’s potential.
Nunez has been in the spotlight after missing a series of good chances against Manchester City and Aston Villa in the last week. But in quotes from The Telegraph, Klopp has backed the 23-year-old, even comparing him to Robert Lewandowski.
“It’s all about staying calm. When you see the potential, stay calm. It is so difficult in the world we are living in. I don’t mean this personally but because of you [the media] asking and making a big fuss of everything, then the supporters, social media and all these kinds of things. The more you can shut off that, the better it is,” explained the Reds boss.
“I think we all agree that the potential [with Darwin] is so obvious. Is everything right? No. I think it’s clear when you see the second chance, the big chance in the second half [against Aston Villa] he can run a little bit on an angle and then he has a free choice.
“But it is all coming. You do it like this, the next time you do it like that. I had this situation with Lewi [Lewandowski] but it is not only Lewi. He is the obvious comparison. The team is completely convinced [with Nunez] and that’s really cool.”
Hopefully Darwin will have his shooting boots back on for tonight’s game against Leicester City.
Darwin not letting his head drop
Isn’t Nunez just the most peculiar player you’ve ever seen? It would be easy to lament him as the worst player on the pitch for his misses against Aston Villa. He could quite easily have ended the game with four goals, and instead managed zero.
And yet, Darwin was somehow still one of Liverpool’s better performers. His ability to keep his head up and keep on going after missing such chances is so impressive.
It was his lovely touch and dangerous cross that eventually created the chance for Stefan Bajcetic to kill the game.
After missing so many presentable opportunities before that, he could have hidden away. But he didn’t, and he never does. This is why it’s easy to believe what Klopp is saying here.
You can bet that Nunez will get at least one or two decent chances in tonight’s clash with Leicester. If he misses them again, criticism will rightly come his way.
But here’s the thing with our No.27, he’ll get right back on the horse regardless. He’ll miss two but he’ll score three more. Since returning from the World Cup, he’s simply been missing. Fingers crossed that will change this evening. There’s no reason to write him off.
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