In his latest press conference in preparation for Saturday afternoon’s clash against Fulham, Slot was honest about Nunez and how both the club and the Uruguayan want more goals this season.
“For me he has impacted (the team). If you only look at goals, yeah, he hasn’t scored the amount of goals he wants to score or we want our No.9 to score, but he does have impact in his work-rate and that’s not only for the other team: not to create a chance but it’s also for us, if we lose the ball and he is then aggressive that we can get the ball back and still create our chances.
“So, he is part of a team that is scoring a lot of goals and winning a lot, but of course as a No.9 you want to score more goals and that’s definitely what he wants as well.”
“But, until now, I am not only judging Mo on his goals, I’m not only judging Darwin on his goals, I also judge them on their work-rate and what they bring to the team (and) that has been positive until now, except for us and he himself wanting to score more goals. Maybe mainly also because the fans support him so much, maybe he wants it even too much, to score that goal for himself and also the fans because they have been very supportive for him.”
Slot admitted he was thankful for the support shown by Liverpool fans towards the striker, who at many other clubs would have been shunned or sold due to his disappointing form. He says with the right backing Nunez can bounce back and climb out of his current rut to become his best self again.
“Yeah, it definitely does (get him going). But not only for him, I think all the players feel the support of our fans but he’s definitely one of them and if you are in a good place… so, Mo, for example, he is scoring so many goals, he likes the support of the fans but he probably doesn’t really need it at the moment. But what I like about fans, about special fans, is that they are not only supportive if it’s going really well for a player, but especially if he maybe needs that support and that is what makes these fans of ours special, in my opinion.”