Darwin Nunez's struggles in front of goal continued as he missed a hatful of chances for Liverpool in their narrow 2-1 win over Leicester City at Anfield on Friday night.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall gave the Foxes the lead with a terrific solo strike, before the Reds were gifted an equaliser through Wout Faes' own-goal. The Belgian defender mistimed his clearance as it looped over a hapless Danny Ward and found the corner of the net.
Then just a matter of moments later, Faes put a second one through his own goal as Nunez's effort hit the post before the ball struck the Leicester No.3 and flew into the net. It was another unfortunate moment for Faes, who has been sensational since joining the Foxes from Reims in the summer.
Despite claiming a fourth successive victory, all the focus was on Nunez's wasteful performance after the game as he squandered a number of excellent opportunities. The 23-year-old's most notable efforts came in the second half as he sliced wide from close range, before lashing high over the bar when in a good position.
Nunez played a massive hand in Liverpool's second goal as he ran through on goal, using his pace to sprint past Daniel Amartey and he had just Ward to beat. Nunez's dinked effort struck the post and rebounded straight off Faes and into the net, however, on another day that wouldn't occur and it would go down as another bad miss.
This has been a common occurrence in recent matches for Nunez, who missed a number of chances at Aston Villa and Manchester United. In actual fact, according to OptaJoe, Nunez ranks first for shots per-match (6.0) but also has the 99th best goals per 90 rate in Europe's top five leagues this season (0.57).
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That is a pretty damning statistic for a player that was brought for a fee in the region of £64.1million, which could rise to around £85m with add-ons. Nunez could become the most expensive signing in Liverpool history should it rise over the £75m they paid Southampton for Virgil van Djik in 2018.
The latter has had a quite transformational impact since his switch from the South Coast, guiding the Reds to every major honour possible, including the Premier League and the Champions League. Nunez has made a mixed start to life at Anfield but there is no doubt he needs to improve his finishing - a key aspect of what a striker has to perfect.
There were some positives from Nunez's display, however, as he showed great pace in behind and caused the Leicester defence troubles all night. A moment in the first-half perfectly demonstrated Nunez's threat was when a long ball found the striker in space and he burst past Faes before pulling the ball back for Salah, who couldn't find the target.
Jurgen Klopp heaped praise on his big-money talisman despite failing to find the net for the third successive game since the restart of domestic football. Nunez has scored nine goals in 20 matches in all competitions since his move from Benfica in the summer.
"It was a brilliant performance from him tonight," Klopp said after the Reds closed the gap to fourth-placed Tottenham to two points. "I know people only want to look at the stats but the [second] goal comes from him. It was a clear improvement to the last situations. He didn’t just shoot, he chipped it and it was great.
"The chance he created for Mo as well. He took three defenders out of the game pretty much. That’s special, that's really special. I’m really happy about that."
