Arne Slot stands firm over Darwin Nunez stance with verdict on Liverpool future

Arne Slot claims now is not the time to judge Darwin Nunez.

Nunez has yet start under Slot for Liverpool this season and has gone 14 games since he last netted for the Reds on April 4. Liverpool’s record £85million striker lost his place towards the end of last season and fell out with the fans, deleting all references to the club on his Instagram account when he grew tired of the online abuse.

Slot claims he is behind Diogo Jota in the battle for Liverpool’s No.9 position, but insists he still believes in him. The Uruguay striker is set to start again on the bench against Bournemouth on Saturday and Slot says it is unfair to judge him until he’s had time to prove himself.

“It’s always difficult because players, but also the media, only think you have confidence in a player if you play him,” said the Liverpool head coach. “We have confidence in all of them, otherwise you don’t bring a player in if you’re 3-1 up half-an-hour before the end or last week against Nottingham Forest, he came on half-an-hour before the end.

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“There’s a lot of confidence in him. But there are two players for that position and I could even come up with more, who could play in that position. He’s in competition with Diogo, who’s done really well. But many games have to be played and there will be enough time to judge Darwin, if he improves and how he improves and if he can do special things for the club.”

Nunez, 25, seemed to put his struggles with Liverpool behind him when he scored five goals in three games for Uruguay before and during the Copa America. But he has started the season behind Jota and Slot insists his self-belief has not been dented.

“No, he came back from the Copa America with a lot of confidence,” said the Dutchman. “Darwin always has confidence and he has every right to have this confidence because everywhere he’s played, he’s always scored goals.

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“Sometimes as a striker, you have a few games where you don’t score goals, then all of a sudden, you score a lot. So as long as he brings his work rate for the team, I’m 100 per cent convinced he will score. He will get his chance in the near future, we play a lot of games.”

Bournemouth will be heartened by Nottingham Forest’s shock win at Anfield last Saturday - their first since 1969 - and Slot hopes his side have learnt from their sub-par display.

“It was a good moment to reflect and say 'what can we do better?',” he said. “Although it sounds simple, if every player plays five per cent better than against Nottingham Forest, which is not that difficult, that will make a massive change.”

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