Darwin Nunez can copy Liverpool teammate after Arne Slot makes demands perfectly clear

Arne Slot was very direct with his comments about Dominik Szoboszlai. "Last season he scored three if I remember correctly and for an attacking midfielder at Liverpool his numbers need to go up," the Reds boss said.

Against AC Milan in the Champions League the following day, the Hungary midfielder found the back of the net and performed much better than he had a few days earlier against Nottingham Forest. And this week, it was the turn of Darwin Nunez to get some public advice from his manager.

"Same like all the others: work really hard and the goals will come," Slot said during his press conference when he was asked what Nunez needed to do to get a chance in the starting XI. "That is what he did against AC Milan. First of all, you come in for the team and then as a result of that attackers score goals or assist, and that's also what happened to Cody [Gakpo].

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"But it happened before with Lucho [Luis Diaz] and with Mo [Salah] and with Diogo [Jota]. If you play for Liverpool, you will always get goals and assists. For me, it is more about what they do off the ball. That's the same with Darwin.

"We play a lot of games and he will get his chance in the future and I think he's fitter and fitter now [and] understands day by day better what we expect from him. But he is in competition with Diogo [Jota] who in our opinion, has done really well in the last games.

"He came back with a lot of confidence from the Copa America. He has every right to have this confidence because everywhere he played, he scored goals. As long as he brings his work rate into the team he will score goals."

The off-ball stuff has always been one thing that Nunez has needed to improve. The intelligence of his runs and the way that he links with his teammates has improved since he arrived from Benfica but he has still be caught offside plenty of times. And, of course, his finishing can sometimes leave a lot to be desired.

As long as at least a couple of Liverpool's six senior forward options are firing, though, that is no bad position to be in. Diaz has started the new season well and Gakpo was excellent against AC Milan. Mohamed Salah has looked good as well aside from last weekend, from which no one emerged with any credit.

While Nunez's chance hasn't arrived yet, it will do soon. Slot noted that he is fitter now than before and it shouldn't be forgotten that he came back later than most after the Copa America — something else that will have played a part in him being absent at the beginning of the campaign.

Banned from playing for Uruguay at the moment, Nunez wasn't able to build his match sharpness during the international break either. He could, though, be handed a start next midweek in the Carabao Cup, regardless of how long he features for against Bournemouth.

The things that Slot is demanding from Nunez have now been made crystal clear. When the opportunity comes his way, the South American needs to show a similarly positive and instant reaction to Szoboszlai.