Jurgen Klopp has praised Darwin Nunez after he returned to Liverpool’s starting XI for their 1-0 victory over Fulham on Wednesday night.
The Uruguayan, who has scored 15 goals in his maiden season at Anfield, had started just once in the Reds’ last seven matches since the March international break. Meanwhile, he hadn’t started in his favoured central attacking position since the 3-0 loss away at Wolves at the start of February.
In his absence from the starting XI, Liverpool had put together a six-game unbeaten run, winning their last four matches. But the 23-year-old made a decisive impact as he started down the middle against Fulham, winning the penalty that earned the Reds a hard-fought win.
READ MORE: Darwin Nunez has just summed up his Liverpool career in one moment
READ MORE: Liverpool player ratings as Trent Alexander-Arnold and three more excellent in Fulham win
Klopp has been critical of Nunez in recent weeks, hinting his struggles with English and Liverpool’s defensive demands had contributed to his spell on the bench. But the Liverpool boss was pleased with the striker’s efforts against the Cottagers.
“Absolutely (we saw what we wanted). It’s super important,” Klopp told reporters after the final whistle. “In the beginning, defending the centre against Fulham is really important because Palhinha is there. He’s their connector and gets on the ball.
“So we were a bit too early out there from Darwin. We tried to fix that but he wanted it. He was a racehorse, he went for everybody.
“We opened up and struggled slightly as they could control it for moments. But we could sort that.
“Apart from that, he played a really good game. He was always a proper option for us. We needed that.
“One of the main thing we had to do tonight was offer in behind. We had three really quick players there. He played a good game.”
Meanwhile, Klopp offered an injury update on Diogo Jota, who had been a doubt to face Fulham, while explaining how the coaching team came to a decision regarding which front three to start, as Luis Diaz kept his place with match-winner Mohamed Salah completing the attacking triumvirate.
“They (the front three) did well,” he said. “We should not forget, you can see with Luis that after 30 minutes, you can see it’s really tough for him. It’s tough for everybody, we play a lot of games.
“We had a discussion, the coaches. ‘Who shall we rest? Is it Cody?’ Because Diogo couldn’t train again. I think the first situation he’s on the pitch, again he has a knock in the back.
“I hope that’s now better because he has a proper, proper bruise on his ribs. It’s really painful. ‘Shall he start? Cody? How do we do it?’ That was the outcome, this line-up.
“For long spells it did really well. Darwin was like a racehorse. Really motivated, really on fire. That’s important to us.
“When Diogo and Cody came on, they were really involved in the defensive work. And we then had a few sensational chances when the last pass didn’t go through and everything was nearly perfect. There we could have done better but it’s fine. I like what I saw.”
READ NEXT:
