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Arne Slot leaps to defence of struggling Liverpool star

Arne Slot has come to the defence of Darwin Nunez after the Uruguayan striker endured a frustrating night during Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Bologna.

Although Nunez contributed to Alexis Mac Allister’s opening goal, he was substituted after 61 minutes.

The 25-year-old missed Liverpool’s win over Wolves last weekend due to illnes.

But he was handed his third consecutive start in matches he was available for, following Diogo Jota’s injury at Molineux.

Jota’s knock kept him out of training, opening the door for Nunez’s inclusion in the lineup.

Despite being withdrawn early in the second half, Arne Slot backed Nunez in his post-match comments, defending the forward’s performance after the final whistle.

“I don’t only focus on the individual,” Slot said.

“I think in the first hour, we didn’t create a lot of chances for him as well because we missed out on the last pass on numerous occasions.

“If we had done better, that would probably have led to chances for him as well.

“His home game against Bournemouth, great goal.

“Today he was also involved against a team we faced that was really hard and tough on him.

“And his team-mates didn’t always find him when they could have.

“I don’t think it is really on us to say, ‘he only scored one for Liverpool’, because you also have to look at the playing time he got.

“It’s a bit early to say after three starts he only scored one. For me that is a bit too early.”

Slot expressed high praise for Mohamed Salah following his man-of-the-match performance, where he contributed a goal and an assist against the Serie A side.

However, the Reds boss continued to evade questions regarding the Egyptian’s future beyond the end of his contract next summer.

“What can I say about Mo?” he said.

“What you saw today is what you get. If you bring him often enough into positions like this, he can score a goal.

“He got a great assist as well.

“If you look at the way he scores it, I can understand everyone is talking about the finish because it was a fantastic finish.

“He almost had the same one just before.

“But it wouldn’t do it justice to Virgil (van Dijk), to Diogo, to Dom (Dominik Szoboszlai) and to Trent (Alexander-Arnold), if we only talk about the great finish because Virgil played a fantastic ball through, Diogo dropped, turned, Dom was again involved – he was involved in the first goal as well – and Trent made a crucial overlapping run because that opened up the space on the inside for Mo to do what Mo always does.

“Before Wolves, Mo played three games without scoring a goal. In football, it can happen that sometimes in three games you score one, or you don’t score.

“But these players like Mo, like Darwin, they will always score their goals if you just keep playing them.

“The thing is, I can’t play them all. But it’s good to have them and they will always score their goals.

“Mo has done really well today and I am happy with how he does at the moment.

“I am not looking forward to next season.

“As long as we have six group games to play, and hopefully many others to come afterwards.”

On Ryan Gravenberch, the Dutchman added: “He was outstanding again today, Ryan, with his dribbling ability.

“And that was important against this team.

“But if we only focus on the dribbles we had, we maybe forget how important he is without the ball, where he does a lot of work and wins a lot of second balls as well.”

Read more: Vitor Bruno sympathises with under-pressure Man United boss Erik ten Hag

Martin Zubimendi finally breaks silence on snubbing Liverpool transfer

Confirmed Liverpool starting line-up v Bologna

Joseph Agbobli
Joseph Agbobli
Football Correspondent at Binge Football. In the role of Football Correspondent, he's responsible for producing exclusive and original stories and interviews. Follow Joseph on X (formerly Twitter) @joseph_agbobli
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