Sander Westerveld has explained why he prefers Darwin Nunez being introduced as a substitute rather than starting games for Liverpool and revealed how Jurgen Klopp is trying to improve the Uruguayan.
The former Benfica forward joined the Reds earlier this summer and hit the ground running after scoring twice and registering an assist in his first two competitive games for the club.
The 23-year-old was then sent off on his home debut for the Anfield outfit after head butting Joachim Andersen, but former Liverpool goalkeeper Westerveld believes the forward is a ‘quality player’.
“To be honest, he is a player, at the beginning of the season, when he came on for the last half an hour, he made a massive difference,” Westerveld told Sky Sports (as quoted by HITC).
“I remember the game against Manchester City. In pre-season, he was a different player when he came on than when he started the game, for example. Crystal Palace also.
“If you have a player like that, I tell everyone before the game that ‘I hope he’s on the bench for the last 30 minutes’. Sometimes you have a player, maybe because he’s new and he has to adapt still. I think, in those 30 minutes, especially at home, he can go full speed and you can see what a quality player he is.
“I know they are working on him tactically and physicality as well. It’s not easy to play for Liverpool with everything around it and the physicality and the high press they play.”
With Klopp splashing £64m on the Uruguayan many would expect him to be starting games when he’s available, but with us once again wanting to compete on all four fronts this term, rotation amongst the squad is vital.
Diogo Jota, who returned to fitness recently, was picked ahead of Nunez for the visit of Ajax on Tuesday in what was his first start of the season.
The former Wolves man looked sharp for 65 minutes before being replaced by our new No. 27 and Nunez had a great chance to put the Reds ahead shortly after coming on but he failed to hit the target from close range.
It’s still early days for the South American on Merseyside and he’s attempting to adjust to a new style of play, a new culture and a new language to what he was used to in Lisbon.
Time must be afforded to the forward before we can expect to see him regularly performing at his best.
There aren’t many better managers in world football other than Klopp to get the best out of players and we certainly believe it’s only a matter of time before he’s firing on all cylinders.