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It’s not the first time he’s heard it, but it’s certainly the quickest Darwin Nunez has responded to a derogatory tune sung in his direction. The Liverpool striker was once again subjected to chants of ‘you’re just a s*** Andy Carroll’ but reacted in perfect fashion. Southampton supporters had just begun belting out the often used jibe at the Uruguayan when a Trent Alexander-Arnold pass deflected into his direction. Nunez took it and carried it into the box, converting for a 24th minute 1-0 lead in their Carabao Cup quarter-final tie. The striker put his finger to his mouth to shush the St. Mary’s crowd in celebration, and then as the song continued, he put his hand to his ear as if to say he couldn’t hear them. To inflict further misery on the home crowd, Harvey Elliott added another goal before the break, securing a 2-1 win after Cameron Archer's consolation goal. The song refers to Carroll, who was Liverpool’s record signing when he signed from Newcastle in January 2011 for £35million. Things didn’t go well at all for the striker who managed just 11 goals in 58 games across three seasons before heading to West Ham on loan. Nunez has already bettered that tally with 36 goals in 116 games, but it’s fair to say that expectations haven’t yet been lived up to. The 25-year-old signed from Benfica in 2022 for £64m as their third most expensive signing of all time. However, he’s yet to hit the heights of the legendary no. 9 shirt at Anfield, and he certainly has more work to do if he’s to shrug off the Carroll chants. But on this occasion his strike was crucial in the 2-1 win which sent the defending champions through to the semi-finals. The goal was Nunez's fourth in all competitions this season, leaving him fifth in the club's top scorers list. He's also started just 11 games from his 20 appearances, putting him 13th among his teammates. It seems that new head coach Arne Slot isn't as big a fan of the Uruguayan as his predecessor Jurgen Klopp, but he isn't giving up just yet. Discussing Nunez in a recent press conference, he said: "For me, he has impact. "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. " © 2024 talk SPORT Limited
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