Arne Slot questions Darwin Nunez 'work-rate' and 'behaviour' before talks with Liverpool forward

Slot spoke openly about his unhappiness with Nunez's attitude

Arne Slot says he plans to hold talks with Darwin Nunez after revealing his disappointment with how the Liverpool striker reacted to his glaring miss

the Reds boss says that while he can accept his No.9 not finishing off some chances that are created, he was unhappy with the fact that it led to a noticeable drop in work-rate levels from the Uruguay

Nunez had a chance to make 3-2 within minutes of his arrival off the bench but put Dominik Szoboszlai's pass across the face of goal from around six yards out over the bar.

Slot was frustrated with how his striker responded to such a massive opportunity falling by the wayside

Slot says he will now speak to Nunez about his application, believing he let the miss affect his all-round performance

the Reds moved eight points clear of Arsenal on the night at the top of the Premier League.

Slot

“It is not the chance but the 20 minutes afterwards that I will talk to Darwin about,"

"Yes, I will tell him that [he still has a major part to play] as well. I will tell him that you can miss a chance but you cannot miss out on work rate.

"That is the life of a striker, he will miss chances and score some.

“It is part of the job of a No.9, you miss when people expect you to score. It is not part of the job of a No.9 to slow down in work rate. And that is something we will talk about.

"I can accept every miss, especially from a player who scored two very important goals away at Brentford and that scored for us in the home game against Villa.

“I would prefer him to score but the word ‘chance’ says it all. It is a chance and not 100% [certain] that it goes in.”

"I can accept misses but what is harder for me to accept is his behaviour after the chance.

“It got too much in his head, he was not the usual Darwin who works his backside off and makes sure he ghelps the team. He was too disappointed he missed that.

"I always truly believe it is always best to have Wata’s (Wataru Endo) mindset.

“For the whole season he does not complain, keeps on going and keeps on going, whenever we need him he is ready. That is very difficult and there are not many players that can do this."

Liverpool return to action when they meet Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday.