‘Oh no’ – talkSPORT pundit was grimacing when he saw one thing in Liverpool’s defeat to PSG | OneFootball

Arne Slot has been questioned over the decision to let Darwin Nunez take Liverpool’s second penalty in their shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night.

The first three spot kicks had all been converted when the Uruguayan stepped up, but his effort was saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand PSG the initiative, and the visitors eventually triumped 4-1 to secure a place in the Champions League quarter-finals.

As he analysed the Reds’ exit from the tournament the following day, Darren Bent insisted that the 25-year-old shouldn’t have been assigned one of his team’s five regulation penalties due to a perceived lack of confidence, while also claiming that he knew precisely where our number 9 would aim for.

Bent had no confidence in Nunez from 12 yards

The former England striker said of Nunez (via talkSPORT): “His confidence is rock bottom at the minute. When he’s going up number two I’m thinking, sometimes players need to be saved from themselves.

“I thought when the manager was asking everyone, maybe he should’ve gone to Darwin, ’No disrespect, but confidence isn’t quite there’. The only thing that could counter that argument is if no-one else put their hand up and he went ‘I’ll do it’.

“I’m sitting there watching the penalties with my son, and as the camera panned to his face, I said ’I’ll tell you where he’s gonna put it. He’ll go to the keeper’s left, low, sidefoot, because it’s a safe option’, so he won’t miss the target, because he’s that nervous. What does he do? He goes that exact same way.”

Bent added: “I feel for Darwin Nunez. No-one would have said it, but I’m sure there would have been teammates when he got the ball who went ’Oh no, I know what’s coming here’. You can feel it when you’ve been in that situation and you know someone’s got no confidence. It’s such a safe penalty.”

(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Nunez isn’t the first to miss a penalty and won’t be the last

This seems like a classic case of being wise after the fact. Had Nunez converted his spot kick and Liverpool won, pundits would’ve been praising a Slot masterclass and complimenting the striker’s character, instead of the Dutchman having to console him afterwards.

If the 25-year-old was feeling confident enough to assume responsibility for the second penalty and the head coach was happy for him to do so, we don’t see any reason why he ought not to have been allowed to take it.

As one of just three Reds forwards on the pitch when the shootout began, it made perfect sense for the Uruguay international to step up. Admittedly his spot kick was tame and not all that difficult for Donnarumma to save, but even the world’s best players fluff their lines from 12 yards.

At the very same stadium less than four months ago, two of the best forwards on the planet fluffed their lines on the same night as Kylian Mbappe was thwarted by Caoimhin Kelleher, while Mo Salah didn’t even hit the target when Liverpool beat Real Madrid 2-0 at Anfield.

Even last night, Vinicius Junior – who came second in the Ballon d’Or standings just last year – blasted a penalty high, wide and not at all handsome. No matter who you are or what you’ve achieved, the pressure can get to anyone in that situation.

If the Carabao Cup final goes to penalties on Sunday, Nunez takes one and scores and Liverpool win, we guarantee that nobody will be questioning Slot’s choice of spot kick takers in that scenario!