Jurgen Klopp has defended Darwin Nunez following his agonisingly close-range miss against Luton, insisting that the whole team were not at the races going forward.
The Uruguayan has been in a rich vein of form so far this season, notching seven goals in all competitions including a dramatic late brace to secure a comeback victory at St. James’ Park.
It is fair to say there have also been trickier moments, including an open-goal miss at home to Toulouse and a series of wasted opportunities at Kenilworth Road.
Klopp maintains that Nunez’s role within the front three has not been compromised by his finishing against Luton despite the wealth of attacking options Liverpool currently have.
“Our five offensive players are all in the team, so we have just that many games that they cannot play all the games,” the manager told reporters after the contest.
“Darwin is 100 per cent in the team, it’s just sometimes you cannot start again that’s just how it is, but then you come on.
“The first chance he had was really well done, great pass, first touch top, and then he nails it on to the crossbar.
“The whole team was not in a goalscoring mood today obviously, and that’s then not helpful.
“But what makes Darwin really different is that he’s involved in pretty much everything. We are calm.
“We should have finished better, but I think our problem was other things.
“We should have created more, and we should have finished one or two situations off. I would have been completely fine with winning here 1-0, I would have been very happy, but for that, we should have played better.
“He was offside once or twice. The one ball Mo squares with the header I think Mo could do it himself, that was as well a big chance, but these are the moments. Unlucky, we had other moments.”
The Reds dropped two points on the road at Luton, but things could have been worse had Luis Diaz not snatched an emotional late equaliser in injury time.
Liverpool were wasteful in front of goal despite their selection of attacking talent, but the boss chose to focus instead on the creativity and overall performance.
Improvements will need to be made if the side are to keep pace with the league leaders following a costly draw with a side that look destined for a relegation scrap.
