Such is the level of scrutiny over Darwin Nunez‘s every appearance that it would be no surprise if, in the event he grabs the winner against Man City on Sunday, he lifts his shirt to reveal his own ‘Why always me?’ message.
Only, on the evidence on Wednesday’s 2-2 draw at Villa Park and the heavy criticism he faced for his input, there would be no guarantee he’d even score it.
There is no guarantee he will even make it onto the pitch, either.
Nunez’s left-footed effort, blazed over the bar with the goal gaping midway through the second half, was statistically the sixth-worst miss in this Premier League campaign so far.
It was worth 0.75 xG, with Marcus Tavernier (0.94), Nicolas Jackson (0.90), Cole Palmer (0.89), Emerson (0.76) and Dominic Solanke (0.76) the only players to squander bigger chances in front of goal.
In fairness to Nunez, it was a more difficult chance than has been made out: he was wide of the goal, under pressure from centre-back Axel Disasi, on the stretch while running at full pelt and shooting with his weaker foot.
There is certainly an argument to be made over whether Dominik Szoboszlai even needed to make the pass to him, having found himself in a one-on-one with Emi Martinez with the option to slot it or dink it over the goalkeeper.
But this fresh storm Nunez has faced comes with a ferocity borne of countless other missed chances such as this, and the esteem of a £85 million price tag.
A club-record signing playing up front for the best side in England should be nearing the end of February with considerably more than six goals in 35 games and have started considerably more than 12 times in the Premier League and Champions League.
Instead Nunez finds himself on the periphery and, when called upon, invariably disappoints.
While his league-high rate of 0.99 big chances missed per 90 minutes since joining Liverpool in 2022/23 is similar to that of Erling Haaland (0.95, per Sky Sports), unlike his Man City counterpart he does not have the freakish goal rate to counterbalance that.
Nunez suffered with comparisons to Haaland as both arrived in the Premier League at the same time during a revival of the classic centre-forward, but he is now over halfway through his third season at the club and has barely progressed.
Even beyond those glaring misses – of which Wednesday’s was far from his worst, as Luton fans will fondly recall – there remain the same flaws that confounded Jurgen Klopp after he instigated his signing from Benfica.
The Uruguayan was always a strange choice to replace Roberto Firmino as the focal point of Liverpool’s attack and the club has suffered the effects ever since.
Klopp repeatedly stressed the need for Nunez to align with his demands off the ball, while what has been described as a reluctance to learn the English language shared throughout the squad and staff has made tactical instructions harder to convey.
And while he has now earned a reputation as a hard-runner, ever willing to press, he still resembles a starkly different profile to Firmino before him and now both Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz.
On more than one occasion Slot has referred to the differences between Nunez and Jota and Diaz, with the latter duo fitting the mould of a ‘nine-and-a-half’ compared to a traditional No. 9.
His preference for Diaz – a natural winger only this season converted into the central role – over Nunez has made it patently clear which profile of striker he plans to build around at Liverpool in the long term.
Diaz, though far from the ideal solution, is more comfortable dropping deep and occupying spaces that will allow Liverpool’s regular goalscorers to flourish.
His system may be markedly different, but it is no fluke that Slot’s wingers, in Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo, are the primary source of goals just as Salah and Sadio Mane were when dovetailing with Firmino under Klopp.
While it was suggested prior to his arrival at Anfield that Slot saw Nunez as his new project up front – having coaxed free-scoring form out of a similarly troubled striker at Feyenoord in Santiago Gimenez – there is now every indication that will be cut short in the summer.
“Players miss chances, that I can accept, but what was harder to accept was his behaviour after that chance,” Slot told reporters on Thursday morning, having had time to digest the result at Villa.
“It got too much in his head where he wasn’t the usual Darwin that works his arse off and makes sure he helps the team.”
Slot added: “I will tell him you can miss a chance, but you cannot miss out on work rate.
“That is the life of a striker – he knows, he’s 25, he will have missed and scored chances in his career, so no problem at all.
“It’s part of the job of a No. 9 that you sometimes miss when people expect you to score, but it is not part of the job to slow down the work rate and that is something we will talk about.”
There is very much a sense that Nunez let his coach down with his application against Villa, but it is notable that this was not the first time he has looked less than interested.
Whether by design or not, this drop in work rate has coincided with the collapse of a proposed move to the Saudi Pro League late in the winter transfer window, with reports indicating that Liverpool rejected a transfer.
It was claimed that Al-Nassr made two bids, the second worth upwards of £62.4 million, and were in advanced talks with the player himself only to be thwarted by Liverpool’s reluctance to sell at a time when they would struggle to replace him.
There were two takeaways from that, however: firstly, Nunez was clearly willing to negotiate his departure with the carrot of a rumoured £558,000-a-week no doubt appealing; and secondly, the club would likely have countenanced a sale at a more convenient point.
That will surely come in the summer, as like with Christian Benteke before him a Liverpool manager’s attempts to remould his side around a classic No. 9 have simply not worked out for Nunez.
A change in the dugout, from Brendan Rodgers to Klopp, helped facilitate Benteke’s swift exit and there would be little surprise if the same played out at the end of Slot’s first campaign on Merseyside.
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