Arne Slot admits he is yet to “bring the best out of” Darwin Nunez, explaining that Liverpool’s No. 9 is “still working on” how to be effective against a low block.
Nunez could be brought back into the starting lineup as Liverpool visit Brentford on Saturday, which would come after a run of five games without a goal.
The Uruguayan has found the back of the net just once in his last 12 appearances, that being against Southampton in the Carabao Cup, and he subsequently lost his place up front to Luis Diaz.
But with Diaz ill in the buildup and Diogo Jota picking up a knock, Nunez may be called upon at the Gtech, with Slot insisting he has not lost faith.
Speaking before the trip to west London, however, Liverpool’s head coach admitted he has not yet figured out how to “bring the best out of” his centre-forward.
“When things are not perfect there are always a lot of things that are being brought up that don’t have so much to do with what is going on,” he told reporters including the Mail‘s Lewis Steele.
“Darwin is a striker we have to use in a certain way and we were not able yet to bring the best out of him this season.
“Against Accrington Stanley again you saw that he has a lot of pace but, unfortunately for him, most teams sit back a lot against us.
“If you look back at the goals he scored for us, I remember the one against Villa when he went around the goalkeeper on a fast break, that is his main strength – he has other qualities as well – but we are still working on getting him in the best possible positions against a low block.
“That involves the right timings, the right crosses, the right position to start from and making the right run.”
However, Slot also claimed that the way Nunez is handled by opposition defenders has reduced how effective he can be, hinting that referees are too lenient.
“I also see, and I don’t know if other people see this, the way teams defend our No. 9 is something you have to give credit to the other teams for,” he continued.
“It’s never ‘here Darwin, you can score’. Every time we put in a cross I see a defender all over him.
“I see it, referees unfortunately don’t.
“It’s more difficult to score against a team like Forest because every time we had a chance they had six, seven, eight, nine or 10 players in the box.”
Slot did, though, maintain his view that: “Darwin will score his goals. He already did and he will again.”
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