Arne Slot believes that Darwin Nunez has allowed his terrible lack to influence him with Aston Villa too much in 2-2, and said his team missed “too many opportunities” this season.
The Reds could not take the opportunity to extend their lead of their Premier League to 10 points in a tie in Villa Park, but things could have been very different if the Uruguayan used a golden opportunity in the second half, shortly after he was for Diogo Jota had come.
After Nunez was enforced by Domink Szobozlai with a large part of the goal, he could not keep his shot low when Liverpool dropped more points in the title race.
Darwin Nunez misses a golden opportunity to put Liverpool in the lead 😬
📺 @Tntsports & @Discoveryplusuk pic.twitter.com/8f0rfedphs
– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 19, 2025
Instead of criticizing the 25-year-old for this opportunity, the slot was more with the negative effect that the forward-forward-cavity allowed, for the rest of his replacement apearance.
Before the decisive game on Sunday against Manchester City, the Liverpool leader said: “I can accept every Miss, especially from a player who has scored two very important goals against Brentford.
“In the game against Villa I would prefer him to score a goal, but the word” chance “says everything – it’s a chance. It is not 100% sure that the ball goes in.
“But what was a little more difficult for me was his behavior after this opportunity. And with “behavior” I think, I think it has too much in his head and he was not the usual Darwin who worked out his *** and ensures that he helps the team.
“I think he was too disappointed after missing this chance.”
Slot: Be more like endo
Slot pointed to the attitude of midfielder Wataru Endo, because somehow Nunez should try to emulate himself forward.
“I always believe that it is the best thing to think of Wataru Endos,” added the Dutch manager. “And what I mean by that is for the whole season that he just continues and whenever we need it is ready.
“And that’s difficult because there are not many players who can do this. So it’s not about the chance for me, it goes more about the 20 minutes after which I want to talk to him about giving him a chance. “
Slot: “We missed too many chances”
Arsenal plays against West Ham the day earlier on Saturday and got the pressure on the pressure by closing the gap to five points before Liverpool’s trip to Etihad.
Slot added: “Unfortunately, we overlooked the chances too often this season. And what I mean by that is, I don’t think we stole many points. I always come back to the Chelsea game if a draw may have been a fairer result.
“But for every other game I think we got what we deserve, or we deserve more – and that’s more for me than arsenal on Saturday and we on Sunday.”
The opponents City on Sunday were also a 3-1 defeat in Real Madrid on Wednesday evening when they fell out of the Champions League with a total loss of 6: 3.
It was the latest bad result for an overwhelming season for City, in which she left 17 points behind Liverpool in fourth place in the Premier League, but Slot knows that his team in Etihad will be a big challenge for a big challenge .
The 46-year-old added: “What I always expect from City, since Pep (Guardiola) gives a great football team that can play so well. You may have had a month or two since the seven or eight years in which he is now there, maybe not the best – sometimes also because of injuries.
“You have signed three or four players and I can see how you can get back when you look at the result against Newcastle. What you expect is what everyone can expect when you go to Etihad when you play against the city.
“You also have to suffer and really work hard to keep them away from their goal because they are so well owned. But they are also exposed to a strong team that has not lost in 22 games. “
Trent brings us Level 🎯 #Avlliv pic.twitter.com/iderxpnoma
– Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 20, 2025
Team News: Gakpo was rated in front of City, Bradley and Gomez Out
Slot said “We will” see when he was asked about Cody Gakpo’s fitness after the Dutch striker missed the wolves and the draw in Villa last Sunday.
The Liverpool boss also said that right-back Conor Bradley would not expect the city game or the collision between the week with Newcastle.
The colleague Joe Gomez has just been operated on through a knee tendon, but the slot does not rule out the possibility of the Englishman who returns before the end of the season.
