Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admits even he was surprised by Darwin Nunez’s brilliant goal which capped a 3-0 victory over Bournemouth.
Leading by two Luis Diaz goals in as many first-half minutes, the Reds striker, on his first start since April, produced a reminder of his talent with a curling effort around Kepa Arrizabalaga that went in off the far post.
Slot was certainly not expecting the check-back and shot, especially with Mohamed Salah and Diaz in support at the time, but accepted the outcome justified the individuality.
“My first instinct was ‘Why does he shoot?’. He made the ball free and the defender was on the ground but a fraction of a second later the ball goes in off the post,” said the Dutchman.
“Maybe he is a better player than I was in the past.”
Nunez looked emotional, appearing to wipe tears from his eyes with his shirt, after scoring his first club goal in 15 appearances, most as a substitute after previous boss Jurgen Klopp appeared to finally lose patience with him towards the end of last season.
The Uruguay international has been something of a streaky player with an eye for the spectacular but Slot wants him to have greater consistency to be able to offer more to the team.
“I think with consistency you get by two things: work rate and team performance,” he added.
“If the team performance is not so good it is harder for the individual to be consistent as well.
“We have to work on the training ground and that is what we try to do every day and he showed today a good game.
“Maybe he can show it again on Wednesday (in the Carabao Cup against West Ham) but we have to see.”
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola admitted Liverpool’s superior cutting edge was the difference.
“The stats were quite level but they were better when it mattered,” he said.
“When the game is on the line. They were much better than us. When they had the chances they made the difference.
“They are very dangerous, they have a lot of speed, especially up front with Darwin, Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah, they have a threat in behind.
“You look at the stats and I think we had 20 shots and seven corners. We had momentum but it had less value.”