Liverpool manager Arne Slot has explained there are two things he hopes will nurture consistency in up and down forward Darwin Nunez.
Nunez scored a brilliant third for the Reds as they made light work of Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
It was a first goal of the season for the £85m man and only a second in the competition since the start of March after a drought to finish 2023/24.
Nunez has shown what he is capable of in a Liverpool shirt, scoring 18 goals across all competitions last season.
But he has also often frustrated fans since his 2022 arrival by failing to reproduce moments of outstanding quality on a more regular basis.
Slot suggests it is not just down to the player to achieve it by himself, but the team as a whole.
“I think consistency you get by two things – you get by work-rate and you get it by team performance,” the Liverpool boss explained following Saturday’s win.
“If the team performance is not consistent, it’s so difficult for an individual to be consistent as well. We just have to create our habits day by day on the training ground and in the games to get this consistency. Because while working on your habits, you create consistency.
“That’s what we try to do every day and he showed today a good game and maybe he can show Wednesday [against West Ham in the Carabao Cup], but let’s wait and see.”
Slot went on to admit that he didn’t want the Uruguayan to shoot in that moment.
“My first instinct when he shot, I said, ‘Why does he shoot? Why don’t you keep on dribbling?’ Because he made the ball free and I think the defender was on the ground,” Slot admitted.
“But then there was a fraction of a second later when I saw the ball went in off the post and I was like, ‘OK, maybe you are a better football player than I was in the past!’ Good choice of him.”
What we know
- Darwin Nunez scored his first goal of the season in win over Bournemouth
- Liverpool forward has struggled for consistency throughout time at club
- Arne Slot spoke about how he hopes to get the best out of him more often.