Jermaine Jenas expressed some bafflement at Jurgen Klopp’s decision to bring off Darwin Nunez with Liverpool still chasing a goal in the second-half.
The Merseysiders did have an opportunity to bring the game level, and potentially secure the lion’s share of the points, three minutes after the Uruguayan’s exit, though an uncharacteristically poor effort from the spot by Mo Salah saw the scoreline unaffected.
“I’m still not sure about that Nunez decision to bring him off,” the former Tottenham star spoke on BT Sport’s commentary (via Rousing the Kop). “I felt like he was a threat, one who wanted to run in behind. Yes he wasn’t having his best of games, but he seemed the most likely I felt.”
According to player ratings gathered by WhoScored (based on each individual player’s impact on the game), it would certainly seem that the German tactician may have made the incorrect call on paper.
Cody Gakpo: 6.20
Darwin Nunez: 6.15
Mo Salah: 5.51
Of course, taking off our talismanic No.11 would have left the former Mainz head coach with perhaps an even bigger conundrum to solve as to who should take his place.
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Harvey Elliott has previously shown he can excel on the right-flank, whilst perhaps a formation change may have accommodated some improvement; a switch to a 4-3-1-2 with Gakpo playing as 10 behind a front-two of Nunez and Jota may have been more effective than opting to bring on Bobby Firmino,
We’ll never know whether such a move may have paid off, however, though we can certainly sympathise with Jenas’ thoughts on the matter.
Regardless, we know we’re still massively fortunate to have one of the most talented managers in world football leading us out every week – if anyone can fix our woeful form away from home, he very much remains the man to do so.