Arne Slot criticises Darwin Nunez ‘behaviour’ after costly miss in Liverpool draw at Aston Villa | OneFootball

Arne Slot has criticised Darwin Nunez’s 'behaviour' after the Liverpool forward’s costly miss in the 2-2 draw at Aston Villa.

The Uruguayan blazed over from around seven yards despite an open goal in front of him after Dominik Szoboszlai dragged Emiliano Martinez out of position before providing a pass to his teammate.

The Reds went on to drop two points and moved eight points clear of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, but have now played a game more.

“I wasn't the best three weeks ago, and I'm not the worst now,” Nunez said on X. “If I fall, I get up. You'll never see me give up. I'm going to give it my all until the last day I'm here in Liverpool."

While Slot maintains he can accept the miss, he has raised the issue of Nunez’s reaction on the pitch thereafter.

"I can accept every miss especially from a player who scored two important goals against Brentford,” Slot said. “What is harder for me to accept is the behaviour after that chance. It was not the usual Darwin who works his arse off. He was too disappointed at missing that chance.

“It is always best to have Endo's mindset and he keeps going and is always ready, not many can do this. It's not about the chance, it is the 20 mins after it I want to talk to Darwin about.

“I will tell him [that we can still achieve] but I will tell him he can miss a chance but cannot miss out on work rate. That is the life of a striker, he can miss, he can score, no problem at all.

“It's part of the job that you sometimes miss when people expect you to score but it is not part to slow down the work rate and that is something we will talk about."

Liverpool's Darwin Nunez reacts after a missed opportunity (Nick Potts/PA Wire)

Robbie Fowler has urged Nunez to rebuild his confidence despite the horrific miss.

“He doesn't think about the game enough. If you're struggling for confidence, you have to go back to basics,” the Liverpool legend told TNT Sports.

“Play the simple things, the simplicity of being a footballer and what got you in this position.

“It's a really bad miss, probably up there with one of the worst we've seen this year!”