What Lucy Ward saw in 11th minute at Anfield ‘sums up’ the season for one Liverpool player
Lucy Ward said that one moment in the first few minutes of Liverpool’s FA Cup third round clash against Accrington Stanley summed up how the season as a whole has gone for one Reds player.
Darwin Nunez was handed a start at centre-forward as one of eight changes from the line-up from the midweek Carabao Cup defeat to Tottenham, with the Uruguayan hoping that a fixture against League Two opposition would provide the ideal opportunity to boost his meagre goal tally of four for the campaign.
The 25-year-old had two early chances to break the deadlock, the first of which required him to stretch to get contact on a Harvey Elliott knockdown which was a bit behind him.
The number 9 should’ve done much better with his next effort, though, firing over the crossbar from penalty spot range despite having time to set himself as the ball rebounded to him after Trent Alexander-Arnold’s fizzing shot was saved by William Crellin.
Ward: That miss sums up Nunez’s season
Speaking on co-commentary for ITV, Ward couldn’t help but feel that the miss encapsulated a rather underwhelming season in front of goal for Nunez.
She said: “I think that probably sums up Nunez in front of goal at the moment. It came to him, a little bit fortunate that it landed at his feet. He took that touch but…”
Nunez needs to be more clinical
At the time of writing, there’s still time for the Liverpool striker to net against Accrington, but the harsh truth is that he should’ve done so in the 11th minute with that shot which rebounded to him.
We’ll excuse him the first chance as the ball had been played behind him, but the follow-up from Crellin’s save really ought to have been dispatched emphatically past the Stanley goalkeeper.
Nunez’s only goal in the last two months came against Southampton in the Carabao Cup in mid-December, and a return of four in 25 apperances this season prior to today won’t do anything to silence the Uruguayan’s sceptics.
The 25-year-old can never be faulted for attitude, but a £64m striker quite simply needs to be scoring more regularly than what he’s done so far in this campaign. Hopefully he can put that right sooner rather than later and show just why Liverpool spent big to sign him from Benfica in 2022.
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