Arne Slot questions Darwin Nunez mentality after costly misses in Liverpool draw - 'It got too much in his head'

Arne Slot has challenged Darwin Nunez to alter his approach to dealing with missed chances after squandering two golden opportunities to score a third Liverpool goal against Aston Villa. The Reds were held to a 2-2 draw and are suffering a mini blip, having only won one of their last four games across all competitions. Slot's side return to action on Sunday when they play away at Manchester City.

Arne Slot has questioned the mentality of Darwin Nunez after the Uruguayan’s costly miss in Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Aston Villa on Wednesday.

Nunez missed a chance to move Slot's side 3-2 in front with the goal gaping, before being thwarted by Emiliano Martinez in a separate one-on-one chance.

The draw at Villa Park means Arsenal could close the gap at the top of the Premier League to five points with a win over West Ham United on Saturday.

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Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Slot said: "I can accept every miss, especially from a player who scored two very important goals away at Brentford [won 2-0 on January 18] and who scored for us in the home game against Villa [won 2-0 on November 9].

"I can accept misses, but what is harder for me to accept is his behaviour after the chance.

"It got too much in his head; he was not the usual Darwin who works his a** off and makes sure he helps the team.

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"He was too disappointed he missed that chance. Maybe we will never know, but maybe that was why he was just a fraction short the moment afterwards [when Martinez denied Nunez]."

Nunez looked to have stoked the fire even more with his now-deleted post on X, which read: "Two three weeks ago, Darwin was the best, Darwin gave us the three points, but yesterday I was unlucky enough to miss a goal and I am once again the ‘worst’ and the failure."

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He then updated those words to read: "I wasn’t the best three weeks ago nor am I the worst now. If I fall, I get up.

"You will never see me lower my arms. I’m going to leave everything until the last day I have to be here in Liverpool. Resilience!"

Slot revealed he will speak to Nunez about his work rate and address how the forward deals with missed chances.

"I will tell him that you can miss a chance, but you cannot miss out on work rate," he explained.

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"That is the life of a striker: he will miss chances and score some. It is part of the job of a No. 9; you miss when people expect you to score.

"It is not part of the job of a No. 9 to slow down in work rate. And that is something we will talk about."

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