Jurgen Klopp explains why he substituted Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez, and Wataru Endo at half-time.
The trio were all taken off early in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Union SG.
Jurgen Klopp has stated that his three Liverpool substitutions in the Europa League win over Royal Union Saint-Gilloise were planned.
Klopp surprised everyone by starting Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez in Group E at Anfield.
This despite Cody Gakpo being ruled out with injury and questionable for Sunday’s Premier League match against Brighton, with Diogo Jota already suspended.
Wataru Endo was also handed an appearance from the outset as the Reds made nine changes
. Liverpool were not at their best in the first half, with Salah and Nunez both spurning big chances before Ryan Gravenberch opened the scoring on 42 minutes.
After the interval, Salah, Nunez and Endo were withdrawn and replaced by Luis Diaz, Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister.
Liverpool would seal their triumph in stoppage-time against Union, with Diogo Jota finishing calmly.
Michael Owen “surprised” by Darwin Nunez but backs him to emulate Premier League legend
Darwin Nunez has yet to match expectations at Liverpool since his big-money switch but Michael Owen believes he could go on to become as good as a four-time Premier League winner
Michael Owen has claimed Darwin Nunez could become Liverpool’s own Didier Drogba, despite being “surprised” by his drawbacks.
The Uruguayan frontman was signed to great acclaim last summer for a fee of £85million.
Nunez was fresh off the back of a prolific campaign where he scored 26 league goals for Portuguese giants Benfica.
The 24-year-old has not quite managed to keep up that form for Liverpool with 19 goals in 51 outings in all competitions.
Former Reds forward Owen has given his verdict on the frontman.
He suggests that Nunez still has plenty to improve but sees parallels between him and Chelsea icon Drogba.
Speaking on TNT Sport during Liverpool’s Europa League victory over Union Saint-Gilloise, he said: “He does some great things and then some awful things.
There are so many gaps in his game. He has all the raw materials to be a top player but he needs a lot of coaching and some experience.
“For the money they spent, I thought you would get a more rounded player. I have been surprised to see how many gaps he has in his game. I am reluctant to write him off because he has some unbelievable attributes.
“I go back to someone like Drogba when he first came over. People laughed at him for the first year or two, his touch was everywhere, then all of a sudden he turned into an animal.
I just think he could be that type of player, with improvement. But he has to brush up some of the easy things in his game.”
Leave a Reply