Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admits Luis Diaz‘s goal return last season was below the standard expected of him but the Colombia winger appears to now be back on track.
Diaz had personal issues to deal with following the kidnap of his parents in his homeland last October, with his father not released for 13 days.
He managed 13 goals in the campaign but only eight of those came in the Premier League.
But he has scored five in his last four league matches, behind only Manchester City‘s Erling Haaland in the goalscoring stakes, and in an interview with Sky Sports this week said Slot as a coach was “spectacular”.
The Reds boss downplayed his involvement when asked about Diaz’s improvement.
“It’s difficult for me to judge because I wasn’t here last season,” said Slot, who has become the first Liverpool manager since Tom Watson in 1896 to register six wins from his opening seven matches in all competitions.
“It’s still a small sample size we are talking about and I said before when it comes to us winning quite a lot of games until now, almost all the teams we have faced have been in the bottom half of the table.
“He scored eight league goals last season. For me he was someone who could score a goal and eight is, for his quality, not of his standard.
“Then I think he comes back to his normal situation. Maybe he was a bit unlucky last season but a player of his quality will always score a lot of goals every season.
“We train on a daily basis trying to get them as close as we can in certain situations and help in the best possible way where to position themselves and what to do in certain situations.
“But it is mainly in the last third of the pitch the quality of the player and the finishing he has and I think he always had this.”
Slot appears to be blessed with an embarrassment of riches up front, where he has two players for every position and they have scored 15 of the team’s 18 goals this season.
Diaz leads the way with five, Mohamed Salah has four in all competitions, Diogo Jota three, Cody Gakpo two and Darwin Nunez one. Only new signing Federico Chiesa, who has played only 80 minutes over three games, has yet to find the net.
Keeping all the players happy is a nice problem to have and Slot does not appear to have had any issues yet.
“That’s the positive thing about playing so many games, these players will always play a lot of games,” he added.
“I think they understand they can’t play every game unless it’s absolutely necessary to keep them fit and sharp and to keep them ready to perform like they do.
“As long as they accept the situation as it is, and that is what they are doing at the moment because they have good numbers and I see them smile a lot as well, then it’s a very positive thing for us.”
Goalkeeper Alisson Becker will return for the trip to Wolves after missing the last two matches with a hamstring problem.
