Darwin Nunez needs to improve his defending if he is going to become a regular on the left-hand side of Liverpool ’s attack, according to Jurgen Klopp.
Nunez helped Liverpool pick up a 2-1 win over Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday evening. The Uruguayan set up Mohamed Salah for his opening goal and offered a threat throughout the match.
Salah added a second goal with a brilliant chip after a mistake by Eric Dier before Harry Kane got a goal back with a smart finish from Dejan Kulusevski’s pass. Liverpool held off the Spurs fightback to earn their first away win of the season, but Klopp knows there are still things for his side to work on.
Tottenham ’s 3-5-2 formation allowed Nunez lots of space to work in offensively, but he was at fault for Kane’s goal. Speaking to Sky Sports in his post-match interview, Klopp highlighted his summer signing’s lack of defensive discipline.
“I really thought they (the players) were absolutely outstanding in this moment (after Tottenham’s goal) because it was a big blow, an unnecessary goal,” he said. “It was a great pass. Kulusevski comes on, bing bong, here we go. It’s difficult to defend. There’s no offside.
“In these moments you follow the striker, Harry scored, he’s outstanding in these moments, so it’s really tricky. But you have to defend – that’s how it is. You have to defend half-spaces, defend the wings – and that was a bit of the problem.
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“Darwin – offensively he is a massive threat, but defensively there is still room for improvement there. On top of that it’s super intense for him to go there all the time. It was only one moment too late. Then Dier steps in, or whoever was on that wing then steps in and the next ball is in the box and that’s really tricky.”
Nunez came into the match with five goals in seven games and nearly opened the scoring with a powerful volley which stung Hugo Lloris’ palms early on. But his defensive lapse in the build-up to Kane’s goal saw him substituted by Klopp, with Curtis Jones coming on in the 74th minute.
Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson said his side’s performance in the second half could have been improved by better use of the ball. “We could have been better on the ball and tried to do better to find the front players,” he told Sky Sports.
“At the end of the day, you are coming to a top six team who have just been booed off at half time and have a manager who expects a reaction, and I think they got that.
"We stood up to it and could have controlled the game a bit more, but the lads put in an incredible shift defensively and it was an all-round good performance. Good on the ball in the first half, good off it in the second half.”
