Liverpool enjoyed a good start to the Premier League season on Saturday, beating Ipswich Town 2-0.
Ipswich were back in the top division after a 22-year absence, enjoying the culmination of back-to-back promotions.
However, it was a big day for Liverpool, too. Arne Slot took charge of his first ever competitive game for the Reds, with all eyes on the Dutchman.
In the end, everything went to plan. Despite a slightly tepid opening half, Liverpool were much better in the second period. Goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah sealed the win.
It was a happy day for the Reds, but according to former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch, not everyone will have been enthused.
Darwin Nunez not happy with team selection
After a successful pre-season, it was interesting to see how Slot lined Liverpool up for his first game in the Premier League.
Perhaps the most notable thing was the omission of Joe Gomez from the matchday squad. Gomez is reportedly exploring a potential move away from Anfield.
Other than Gomez, though, there weren’t really too many surprises from Slot.
Having had a good summer, Jota was picked ahead of Darwin Nunez and ultimately justified his selection by grabbing the game’s opening goal.
READ MORE: Peter Crouch shares what he noticed Liverpool doing differently in their first game under Arne Slot
With his work done for the day, Cody Gakpo was then introduced, with Jota dropping out.
While it was an understandable decision from Slot, Crouch told TNT Sports that Nunez ‘won’t be happy’ with having been stuck to the bench for the full 90 minutes.
“Nunez won’t be happy,” said the pundit. “I know what it’s like to be on the bench for Liverpool and today he’s seen Cody Gakpo come on ahead of him, too.
“I think he’ll be disappointed but it looks like Jota’s got the shirt at the moment.”
Darwin Nunez still building up fitness
We think Crouch has perhaps got the wrong end of the stick here. Although Nunez would always rather be playing, we can’t see his lack of minutes on Saturday as being a problem.
It has already been reported that Slot sees Nunez as being a big part of his team this season.
The fact that he didn’t get on against Ipswich does not disprove that notion. The 25-year-old only arrived for pre-season less than two weeks ago.
As a result, Slot has clearly decided that Jota – and even Gakpo – are more ready to be on the pitch for him.
Nunez’s time will come and to be fair the Uruguayan looked fine whenever on camera at Portman Road.
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