Jurgen Klopp was left reaching for the superlatives after Darwin Nunez continued his impressive goalscoring form in pre-season as Liverpool thrashed Leicester City 4-0 in Singapore on Sunday.
Nunez seems to be finding his feet after a tough debut season at the club – scoring 14 times in all competitions following his big-money move from Benfica last summer.
The 24-year-old has been one of the brightest spots for the Reds during pre-season and made it four goals in three games with another against the Foxes at the National Stadium.
“I don’t think I have to tell our fans, it’s pretty much traditionally – or historically – for us that usually players for us, especially offensive players, [need time],” Klopp said.
“Sometimes you need more time, that’s how it is. I think the signs Darwin showed already last season were really good. Injuries and the red card were not helpful in the start directly and these things, but it’s all good.
“They all are a threat, they all are good footballers – the ticket into the team will be the readiness for defence because you never hear about a team being really successful with sloppy defending, it just will not happen.
“For Darwin [it’s] the same like for all the other strikers as well because I know about the quality they have and they need to do both, like our other players have to do both as well – defend and being influential in all the offensive situations.
“It’s good, you can see he is a handful, the speed and the goal was a typical goalscorer’s goal. Being there, smelling it and finishing it off. In training he looks really good. He is fit, that helps, and now two more games and Chelsea.”
On the game, the German added: “Obviously we scored wonderful goals, that was good, created great other chances, that was good. First half, the high press didn’t work pretty well. In moments it got better and then we won the ball high up the pitch, which is so important.”
“But that’s why we had these situations where Leicester could go through with the speed. It’s really difficult for the full-backs in these moments to be in the right position. We started these kind of things slightly in between – everybody knows that’s not new and not a problem, the thing is just the boys around the ball have to put real pressure on the ball. That’s what we didn’t do. Second half [was] much better. I think we realised that immediately, looked better. I said it’s really important for us to see that because we spend a lot of time on that.
“In possession, again, first half looked in moments a bit stiff. Curtis and Trent in these moments are both sensational footballers and can do that. When we then found Macca in between the lines then it was really good and when we sped the game up it looked really good. We need to be calm but in some moments we were a bit too calm and the passing was not hard enough and quick enough, and then, in the end, not good enough. But a lot of good moments, it’s just we can do better, so that’s pretty much what I’m talking about.
“So, I’m absolutely fine, the result is top, nobody is injured, just a few knocks. The atmosphere was top during the game but especially after the game. The lap we had afterwards, it’s really special, I have to say, and we now experience it a couple of times but it’s special. What the people are doing here, thank you for that. Yeah, a good day in the office. All good.”
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