Arne Slot slams ‘hard to accept’ Darwin Nunez ‘behaviour’ after ‘criminal’ Liverpool miss vs Aston Villa

Arne Slot has hit out at Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez over his “behaviour” having missed a sitter in the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa on Wednesday.

Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool the lead at Villa Park before Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins struck to put the hosts ahead at half-time.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s deflected shot on the hour mark drew Arne Slot’s side level to increase Liverpool’s lead at the top of the table to eight points.

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But the Reds could so easily have won all three when Dominik Szoboszlai squared a pass to Darwin Nunez late in the game, taking Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez out of the picture, only for the Uruguay striker to blaze his shot high and wide.

Slot looked astonished on the touchline, and revealed after the game that Nunez (though he didn’t name him) was bitterly disappointed.

Slot said: “There’s one player in the dressing room who feels quite down and I think you know who that is.

“Szoboszlai made the perfect choice to pass it. It was a big chance.

“Very unlucky and I was hoping he could have got another one, because a player like him probably wouldn’t miss two chances in a row, he was very close afterwards.

“They are all very disappointed but it is normal that when a player misses a chance like this that they would be more disappointed.”

But Slot took aim at the striker on Thursday morning, claiming his “behaviour after the chance” is “harder to accept” than the miss itself.

“A miss that I can accept,” said Slot. “What is harder to accept, his behaviour after the chance. That miss is got too much in his head where he is the usual Darwin that works his a** off.

“I think he was too disappointed after missing that chance.”

Nunez has scored just six goals across 35 games in all competitions this term, and continues to be linked with an Anfield exit.

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Former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler, who knows a think or two about finishing chances, insisted the miss was unforgivable.

“He doesn’t think about the game enough,” Fowler said on TNT Sports. “If you’re struggling for confidence you’ve got to go back to basics.

“You’ve got to get the ball, touch it, play it five yards. Play the simple things. You always need to go back to basics and do the simplicity of being a footballer.

“He doesn’t think does he? It’s a bad miss, it’s a really bad miss – up there with one of the worst we’ve seen this year.

“Szoboszlai maybe should have shot himself, but he’s played a great ball to him and he’s missed the target, criminally, from eight yards. That can’t be happening.”