Football: All Nunez is missing is a goal, says Reds legend Rush
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Liverpool's Darwin Nunez attempting an overhead kick during the English FA Cup third round match against Wolves last Tuesday.
PHOTO: AFP
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LIVERPOOL – Liverpool’s record goalscorer Ian Rush has offered his backing to misfiring big-money signing Darwin Nunez,
The Uruguayan has scored in just two of his last nine matches for the Reds, having signed for a club record £85.3 million (S$136.8 million) from Benfica in the summer.
His club have been similarly underwhelming, going into Monday’s Merseyside derby with Everton with just three wins from their 10 matches since the Qatar World Cup. The Reds have won only one of their last five matches in all competitions, conceding eight and scoring just twice.
But Rush, who scored 346 goals for Liverpool, told the Press Association news agency: “All he (Nunez) is missing is a goal. He is getting chances, he is not quite taking them but I have no doubts. He needs time to settle in.
“I know what it’s like when you go to a different country. The crowd are right behind him and I can see him scoring three or four goals in one game, he is that sort of player, but one thing I do know is he will score goals.”
He also offered his backing for Reds manager Jurgen Klopp, who is coming under his most serious scrutiny since being appointed in 2015.
Said the Welshman: “Everyone has faith in Jurgen... People sometimes forget when we nearly did the quadruple, that was an unbelievable season and you are not going to get another season like that. It is difficult to keep on winning and keep rebuilding, so sometimes you have to realise what is happening and say ‘We need to start rebuilding now’.”
Fellow former Red Dietmar Hamann, however, questioned if his compatriot is ready for a “gruelling, exhausting” rebuild.
In quotes published by German publication Abendzeitung Munchen, he said: “Liverpool will not throw Klopp out... It will be a question of whether Klopp will go of his own accord or not — like he did (at Borussia Dortmund).
“Liverpool will definitely need five, six, seven new players in the summer to be competitive again.
“I don’t know if club management will allow these purchases. It’s a gruelling, exhausting job to build a new team again. I don’t know if Klopp is ready for that.”
Klopp has received some good news in that Diogo Jota is likely to be fit to make the squad against Everton.
Brazilians Roberto Firmino and Arthur are also back in training but first-choice centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate remain unavailable. Luis Diaz and Thiago Alcantara are also injured.
Everton will likely be without striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, midfielders James Garner and Andros Townsend and defenders Nathan Patterson and Michael Keane.
Having beaten league leaders Arsenal
The 30-year-old, who played for Dyche at Burnley, said: “He doesn’t care who we play, he’ll play exactly the same.
“We want to be hard to beat, get the ball forward, get people in and around (the box). We’ve got energy all through the team which you saw against Arsenal.”
