Expert can’t believe what he’s just seen from Darwin Nunez at Liverpool
Noel Whelan has insisted Darwin Nunez went for “greed and the limelight” when he ignored the run of Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah during the win over Man City on Sunday (16 October).
The former Leeds striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, claimed he expects “better decisions” from a player who cost the Merseysiders a reported £85million.
As seen in a picture from talkSPORT on Twitter (16 October), Nunez chose to ignore the calls from Salah and Diogo Jota during Liverpool’s three-v-one breakaway against Man City.
The Uruguay international instead chose to take the shot on himself but failed to trouble Ederson.
However, Liverpool finished the game 1-0 winners to spare the former Benfica star’s blushes.
Nunez has scored four goals in 11 games for the Reds since joining and suffered the ignominy of being shown a red card for a headbutt against Crystal Palace in August.
Whelan insisted the forward must now learn from this experience much as he did after his dismissal against Palace.
He told Football Insider’s Ewan Kingsbury: “He’s got to make better decisions.
“He’s cost a lot of money. I understand he wants to score, but it’s a team game and that could have been where they put the game to bed.
“He has to play the ball there. He had two options, and in the end, he went for greed and for the limelight.
“You can’t afford to do that. He’s got to learn from this, much like his sending-off.
“He is going to get loads of opportunities to score in front of the goal, and it’s up to him to make those count. But when you’ve got two better options, he’s got to play the ball in there.
“You’d expect that from someone who has cost so much money.”
In other news, pundit backs call for inquiry after Jurgen Klopp controversy at Liverpool.