Liverpool

Liverpool

Premier League • England

Darwin Nunez not a ‘classy’ player and ‘execution’ is off but pundit still rates Liverpool striker highly

Darwin Nunez, Trent Alexander-Arnold Liverpool v West Ham

Rio Ferdinand does not think that Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez is a ‘classy’ player, although he does have plenty of strong attributes after scoring his first Anfield goal against West Ham.

The Reds forward headed home Kostas Tsimikas’ excellent cross to give Liverpool a lead they just about managed to hold on to after Jarrod Bowen had a penalty saved by Alisson.

Nunez was criticised for his form after returning from suspension after his red card against Crystal Palace. However, he has picked up in recent games and now has three goals in his last four outings for Liverpool.

And with Diogo Jota now sidelined, the Uruguay international will have a big part to play going forward.

Speaking about Nunez following the win over the Hammers, Ferdinand was not exactly glowing in his praise – although he does point out the striker’s best qualities.

Ferdinand told his YouTube channel: “If he [Klopp] wants anyone scoring outside of Salah, it will be Nunez.

“I don’t think classy would be one of the words I would use. I think he’s a handful. He’s aggressive, he wants the battle, he wants contact. Doesn’t mind that. He wants to run in behind and make it uncomfortable.

“His finishing, his execution isn’t quite clean yet. He may end up being a classy, mean finisher. But at the moment, I don’t see him as being that.

“I think he’s got all the right attributes to be a success at Liverpool.”

Klopp touches on two more Liverpool injuries

The Reds are now seventh in the table after their third win in a row and are only four points off the Champions League places.

However, Klopp admitted after the game against West Ham that they have some more injury concerns to deal with.

Nunez himself and Thiago were both forced off before the hour mark at Anfield.

And speaking after the game, Klopp said: “He [Nunez] felt a little bit the hamstring at half-time, so then you have to make early changes, which is absolutely fine, we can do that.

“We have to consider different things. Thiago stretched once on the pitch, which is for me a warning sign that we have to react pretty much on everything, so it was clear we had to change him.

“Then we needed a bit more size because immediately. With Harvey coming on, we get a bit smaller, and against West Ham, set pieces are a massive feature for them, so we had to figure out how we could deal with all the different situations.

“They’re all okay, I think we picked them all in the right moments.”

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