Arne Slot has defended Darwin Nunez after criticism of the striker’s lack of goals, insisting he “adds something to the team” – though he let him down at Girona.
Nunez has so far scored three goals in 19 games this season, which for an £85 million striker is far from the level of output expected.
More wasted chances in the 1-0 win over Girona in midweek led to further frustration from fans – and Nunez himself, who took to social media to pledge “resiliencia” afterwards.
Asked if the No. 9 was frustrated that he was not making as much of an impact with his goals, Slot replied: “That’s one way of looking at it. For me, he has impact.
“If you only look at goals, yeah he hasn’t scored the amount of goals he wants to score or we want our No. 9 to score.
“But he does have impact in his work rate.
“That’s not only for the other team not to create a chance, but it’s also for us if we lose the ball and he’s that aggressive we can get the ball back and still create our chances.
“So he’s part of a team that scores a lot of goals and is winning a lot, but of course as a No. 9 you want to score more goals and that’s definitely what he wants as well.
“I’m not only judging Mo on his goals, I’m not only judging Darwin on his goals – I also judge them on their work rate and what they bring to the team.
“That has been positive until now, except for us and he himself wanting to score more goals.
“Maybe mainly also because the fans support him so much, maybe he even wants it too much to score that goal for himself and also for the fans, because they’ve been very supportive of him.”
Slot went on to praise the fans for their continued support of Nunez along with the rest of the squad, though he acknowledged that “he maybe needs that” more than a player like Mo Salah for example.
But the head coach insisted it was not only the job of the supporters to keep Nunez motivated, and Slot himself is clearly eager to keep his striker’s head up.
He repeated his assertion that Nunez still “adds something to the team performance,” naming only two occasions when he felt let down by his lack of intensity – one of which was in a pre-season friendly.
“We all know that it did something with him that he missed the chances on Tuesday and I think everybody then needs an arm around you, if it’s from a teammate or from the fans or from your manager,” Slot explained.
“That is clear, but I also made it clear to him that he’s not only judged on the goals that he scores.
“He’s also judged on the team performance, and he adds something to the team performance as well with his work rate and how much he does for us, winning the ball back high up the pitch.
“So yes, I said it before, ideally he has scored a few goals more, but maybe in a few weeks you will ask me, ‘Mo is not scoring anymore and Darwin is scoring one goal after another’.
“It is the life of a No. 9: sometimes you score, sometimes you don’t.
“But what should always be there is work rate and I think that’s what he had – apart from two games.
“The first one against Las Palmas, I said that to him yesterday, and the last half-hour against Girona wasn’t of the standards he should have, and that had a lot to do with him being disappointed after missing a few chances.”
Nunez may find himself out of the lineup before long, though, with Slot revealing elsewhere in his press conference that first-choice striker Diogo Jota is now back in contention.
