Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has criticised Darwin Nunez for his shocking miss in the Reds’ 1-1 draw with Luton Town on Sunday.
Jürgen Klopp selected the Uruguayan striker to lead the line against Luton Town as Liverpool attempted to keep pace with Manchester City and Tottenham at the top of the league table.
But despite a bright and lively performance, he was guilty of missing several chances. The most glaring miss came in the 69th minute of the game when Trent Alexander-Arnold crossed the ball into Mohammed Salah at the back post. The Egyptian played it back to Nunez, who was standing on the opposite post.
All the striker needed to do was guide the ball into the net, as Thomas Kaminski had already been beaten. But, unfortunately, he fired over the bar to the utter shock of Salah and his team-mates.
Although Salah was flagged offside after the incident, that didn’t stop fans from criticising Nunez, with Jamie Carragher, who was on punditry Dutch during the game, also calling out the 24-year-old for his profligacy in front of goal.
“He might be a little relieved that the flag went up,” Carrgaher said.
“I still don’t think people will forget it. I think Salah might have actually been onside.”
The Sky Sports pundit also insisted that Liverpool can’t challenge for the Premier League title until they bring in a defensive midfielder and another defender.
According to the ex-defender, despite Liverpool’s strong start to the season, it is still too easy for teams to launch counter-attacks against them.
Carragher said: “What Liverpool have had in the last 18 months, they’re a lot better at it this season. They’re still not as good as Manchester City at stopping counter-attacks. People always think about Liverpool pressing from the front, but Liverpool are a team that dominates possession have a lot of the ball. They’re not quite as good as City in possession, so there’s more turnovers when they lose the ball.
“Opponents seem to find spaces a lot more to get in behind and attack Liverpool. Luton didn’t have the quality to really punish them except for the goal that we saw.”
