Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has defended Darwin Nunez by highlighting his all-round impact in the midst of his goal struggles.
The Uruguay forward, 25, has scored just three times in 19 club appearances this season and failed to take a number of chances during Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League win against Girona.
“For me, he has impact,” said Slot before his Premier League leaders host Fulham on Saturday (15:00 GMT).
“If you only look at goals, he hasn’t scored the amount of goals that he wants to score, or we want a number nine to score, but he does have impact in his work-rate. He’s part of a team that scores a lot of goals and is winning a lot.
“Of course, as a number nine you want to score more goals and that’s definitely what he wants as well. But I’m not only judging Mohamed Salah on his goals and Darwin on his goals – I also judge them on their work-rate and what they bring to the team.
“The fans support him so much that maybe he wants it too much.”
Slot took Nunez off after 71 minutes against Girona and believes the impact of missing chances affected the forward in that game.
Nunez, appearing to respond to some criticism about his performance, posted afterwards on Instagram: “They are not all, they are some. Thank you Reds for your support, we are all still together.”
In another post, he wrote “Resiliencia”, which is Spanish for resilience.
Slot added: “I made it clear to him that he’s not only judged on the goals he scores but the team performance.
“Ideally, he scores a few goals more. It is the life of a number nine – sometimes you score, sometimes you don’t – but what should always be there is the work-rate.
“That’s what he had apart from two games – the first one against Las Palmas [in pre-season] and the last half hour against Girona wasn’t of the standards he should have and that had a lot to do with him being disappointed after missing a few chances.”
Slot could have forwards Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa back against Fulham.
Portugal forward Jota has been out with a chest injury since 20 October, while Chiesa has struggled for fitness since his summer move from Juventus.
