Pat Nevin joined Joe Molloy on The Football Show to discuss Liverpool and Darwin Nunez.
Liverpool beat Manchester City 1-0 at Anfield on Sunday.
The result fit the unpredictable nature of Liverpool's season so far. Jurgen Klopp's side lose games they should win easily. They concede first in every game. So of course they turn up to beat Manchester City without conceding at all.
It's as if nothing else this season happened. It's as if Liverpool aren't just barely in the top half of the league. Everyone at Anfield is a little bit more optimistic and more excited than they were just 48 hours ago. Except for maybe Darwin Nunez.
The young striker endured another chaotic cameo off the bench.
His athleticism and work rate is unquestioned. But his first touch, his passing, his awareness and his finishing ability remain problematic. Nunez made mistake after mistake when he came off the bench. None bigger than the failed three-on-one where he failed to pass the ball to either of his supporting teammates.
Joe Molloy asked Pat Nevin about that moment on Monday.
"You learn a lot in training for that specific skill," Nevin said.
"There's a lot to be learned [at Liverpool]. I can remember hearing exactly the same phrase that you're saying to me about Andy Robertson when he went to Liverpool. Exactly the same. Precisely that, in fact they were laughing at him.
"But he trained and he trained. He was with them and he learned it. He understood the technical things that he needed to do."
Nevin defended Nunez and suggests that fans need to be patient with him. The Uruguayan still doesn't speak English, so he is learning to fit Liverpool tactically and culturally, the pace and physicality of the Premier League and the language of his teammates all at the same time.
That's a lot for anyone. But it's especially a lot for a 23-year-old coming from the Portuguese league.
"If they've been playing in a league where it doesn't quite happen at that pace, there's a chance to play that ball in. But it's there for a second. If you've got De Bruyne, that ball will arrive. You've got most players that ball will arrive. [But] you've come from a league where [you get more time than that].
"It's about when you train. That's why whenever you watch them doing the rondos and that sort of stuff, it is lightning quick. They're trying to move your brain up to that speed. So I would hang off him for a wee while."
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