Arne Slot shoots down reporter who dared to criticise Darwin Nunez contribution against Bologna | OneFootball

It was another night of celebration for Arne Slot as he became the first Liverpool manager in history to win eight of his first nine games in charge, however, the 2-0 victory over Bologna was soured by one reporter attempting to denigrate Darwin Nunez’s contribution in the post-match press conference, something that Slot wasn’t going to take lying down.

The Dutchman, who had already detailed what he’d said to Ryan Gravenberch after the final whistle, listened intently to why the reporter felt the Uruguayan simply hadn’t been good enough in Wednesday night’s fixture and earlier in the 2024/25 campaign, before launching a staunch defence of his player.

Arne Slot launches staunch defence of Darwin Nunez

“You also have to look at the playing time he got. I think it was his first start of the season so I don’t look at it like you have and only focus on the individual,” Slot said.

“I think in the first hour we didn’t create a lot of chances for him because we missed our last pass on numerous occasions.

“[…] Today he was also involved with a team that was really hard and tough on him, and his team-mates didn’t always find him when they could have, so it’s a bit early to say after three games he only scored one.”

Every striker thrives on service of course, so Slot is right to suggest that Nunez’s lack of goals is as much a failing on his team-mate’s part in terms of not getting the balls into him.

That said, there was some brilliant play on the night with a ball from Trent Alexander-Arnold to Luis Diaz going largely unnoticed.

Whilst it’s ostensibly true that the player himself will also need to improve, there has to be an acknowledgment as to the amount of minutes played.

Transfermarkt note that in six appearances in all competitions, Nunez has one goal, but when one decides to drill down into the detail, the player has only actually played for 246 minutes in total, equivalent to just over two and a half games.

Putting that into perspective, the goals record therefore looks wholly different.