Arne Slot admits he didn’t want Darwin Nunez to shoot against Bournemouth

Arne Slot admitted he was hesitant about Darwin Nunez’s decision to shoot from the edge of the penalty area.

However, Slot ultimately acknowledged it was a “good choice” from his striker, who scored Liverpool’s third goal in their commanding victory over Bournemouth.

Liverpool bounced back from last weekend’s defeat to Nottingham Forest in emphatic fashion at Anfield, despite an early scare from the Cherries, who had Antoine Semenyo’s goal ruled out for offside in the fourth minute.

Luis Diaz opened the scoring for the hosts, finishing brilliantly into an empty net after Kepa Arrizabalaga struggled to deal with Ibrahima Konate’s long ball.

The Colombian doubled the lead less than two minutes later, rifling home from a tight angle after being picked out by Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Nunez’s goal was the standout moment, as the Uruguayan curled a superb effort into the far corner.

“My first instinct when he shot was ‘why does he shoot’,” Slot said after the game.

“I would have said ‘why don’t you keep on dribbling’ because he made the ball free and I think the defender was on the ground.

“But then it was a fraction of a second later when I saw the ball went in off the post and then I was I was like ‘okay, maybe you are a better football player than I was in the past’.

“So it was a good choice from him.”

It marked Nunez’s first start under Arne Slot and his first goal of the season.

While the striker’s finish was impressive, the Dutchman also expressed admiration for the defensive contributions Nunez made during the match.

 “Of course, I play a striker because I like him to score goals,” Slot said.

“I play a winger because I like them to assist and score goals because if you want to win a game you have to score goals.

“But it also helps if you keep a clean sheet and we just spoke about the lead up to both goals, Ibou was involved in this but, keeping a clean sheet, Darwin is also involved in this.

“First and foremost you have to work really hard for the team and then in the beginning of the season it was Mo who made the difference, then it was Lucho then it was Cody (Gakpo) and Diogo(Jota) has been involved in goals.

“Today it was Lucho and Darwin so that’s all we want to see.”

Asked how Nunez can establish himself as a consistent performer for the Reds, Slot added: “I think consistency you get by two things.

“You get it by work rate and you get it by team performance. If the team performance is not consistent it’s so difficult for an individual to be consistent as well so we just have to create our habits day by day on the training ground and in the games to get this consistency.

“That’s what we try to do every day.

“He showed today a good game and maybe he can show it on Wednesday again but lets wait and see.”

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