Darwin Nunez has had a frustrating time in front of goal of late (Picture: Getty Images)
Jurgen Klopp has no worries about Darwin Nunez as he continues to struggle for goals, praising his performance and unselfishness in the win over Newcastle on Monday night.
The Uruguayan forward has scored just once for the Reds since 1 November, netting in the win at Burnley on Boxing Day, but otherwise struggling for goals.
The 24-year-old started in the 4-2 win over Newcastle on New Year’s Day and was taken off just after the hour mark with the score at 1-1.
Nunez did provide the assist for Mo Salah to score Liverpool’s opener and Klopp was impressed by his teamwork in the situation, saying that the Uruguay international is contributing a lot to the side even when he is not finding the back of the net.
‘Of course he’s not happy with not scoring,’ Klopp told Sky Sports. ‘But I saw him on the bench [after going off], I saw him involved, he was nail-biting around the VAR decision, stuff like this, he was fully involved.
‘Football is a pretty simple game – put the ball in the back of the net – besides that the boys have to do a lot of stuff.
‘We were talking outside, actually, about the fact that it was 100 per cent the right decision to bring Darwin today because he kept [Sven] Botman and [Fabian] Schar together and that gave us the space for everything else. It’s completely different if Cody [Gakpo] for example plays there. We needed him there.
Jurgen Klopp’s team are three points clear at the top of the table (Picture: Getty Images)
‘As long as Darwin has all these moments that he had today then it’s all fine. I don’t know the amount of goals we’ve scored this season, but it’s a lot, and Darwin will score, there’s no doubt about it.
‘It’s all fine, no one has to worry about Darwin, he’s fine and played a really good game. He brought the game in the right direction with an incredible, unselfish pass to Mo [Salah] and he can score the goal.’
Salah is now heading off to the Africa Cup of Nations so there will be more pressure on Nunez to deliver the goals in the coming weeks, although the Premier League schedule relents in January.
Liverpool are in FA Cup action at Arsenal this weekend, then have a League Cup clash with Fulham before their next Premier League outing at Bournemouth on 21 January.
MORE : Jurgen Klopp confirms Dominik Szoboszlai injury blow after Liverpool go top after beating Newcastle
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