Arne Slot to hold talks with Darwin Nunez over Liverpool star's behaviour after Aston Villa miss | OneFootball

Liverpool’s trip to Birmingham could have ended differently had the striker scored his chance

Liverpool boss Arne Slot will hold talks with Darwin Nunez after revealing he was unhappy with the striker’s behaviour and work rate following his glaring miss during Wednesday’s draw at Aston Villa.

Nunez missed a huge chance with just over 20 minutes to go and Liverpool ended up dropping points in the title race after being held to a 2-2 draw.

Arsenal are now eight points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, but they have played a game less and can close the gap to five by beating West Ham on Saturday.

“I can accept every miss, especially from a player that has scored two very important goals against Brentford, that scored for us in the home game against Villa,” said Slot.

“I would prefer him to score, but the word chance says it all. It’s a chance, so it is not 100 per cent sure that the ball goes in.

“Players miss chances, that I can accept. But what was a bit harder for me to accept was his behaviour after that chance.

“With behaviour, I mean I think it got too much in his head, where he wasn’t the usual Darwin that works his ass off and makes sure he helps the team.

“I think he was too disappointed after him missing that chance and maybe, we will never know, we will never find out, that’s why he was just a fraction short the moment afterwards.

Players miss chances, that I can accept. But what was a bit harder for me to accept was his behaviour after that chance

Arne Slot

“I always truly believe that it is always the best to have Wata’s (Wataru Endo) mindset. And what I mean with that is, for the whole season, he doesn’t stop, he keeps on going, keeps on going, keeps on going and whenever we need him, he’s ready. That is very difficult and there are not many players that can do this.

“It’s not about the chance for me, it’s more about the 20 minutes afterwards where I want to talk to him.

“I think the most important message is - you can miss a chance, but you can’t miss out on work rate.

“That’s for me a more important message, because that’s the life of a striker. He knows. He is 24, 25, 26, I don’t know.

“He will probably have missed a few chances in his career and he probably would have scored a few as well.

“[We] would have loved to see it differently, but it’s part of the job of a No9, part of your life that you sometimes miss when people expect you to score.

“But it’s not part of a job of a No9 then to slow down in work rate, and that is something we will talk about.”