Jurgen Klopp has shrugged off the language barrier between him and Darwin Nunez, joking not being able to understand him helped Roberto Firmino.
Nunez claims he does not know what Klopp is saying and the Liverpool boss admits the £85million Uruguay striker has very limited English. Klopp says this is not an issue because Liverpool have several Spanish speakers and quipped Firmino’s lack of English helped him when he first arrived at Anfield.
“His English?” he said. “Not at all, just ‘good morning’, ‘let’s go’. He’s a kid, but a confident person as well, but not a grown-up man already, we all know that. He has a baby, but he has to grow as a man. That’s clear, but it’s all fine.
“The headline was he doesn’t understand a word I’m saying, I know that. That was the same with Bobby Firmino and other players. Maybe a big part of Bobby’s success was he didn’t understand a word I said because he did everything right without understanding! For Darwin, it’s slightly different. He gets all the necessary information obviously.
"We have Spanish speakers on the coaching staff and the team. I understand why you ask that, but I would say it’s all fine.”
Klopp feels Liverpool’s poor form has not helped Nunez, who banged in 32 goals for Benfica last season, and it is hard settling into a new team when they are struggling. He was pleased with the South American’s display in the midweek Champions League win over Rangers and says he will score goals because of his movement.
“What is the worst situation when you come in as a striker?” he said. “That your team is not playing exceptionally well because you depend on the things they bring to you.
“We need to perform consistently to our level and beyond and then you need a striker to finish off all the things we create. One of the things he has shown so far in all the games he has played is that he gets in good finishing positions, which is the most important thing for a striker. That’s why everybody should be optimistic about what’s coming from him in the future.”
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Nunez’s struggles are in contrast to how well Gabriel Jesus has done at Arsenal since his £45million summer switch from Manchester City and the Brazil striker has scored five goals.
Klopp admits Jesus is “flying” and says Liverpool must clip his wings when they face Mikel Arteta’s league leaders at the Emirates on Sunday.
“I know City wouldn’t have sold him to any club, but with Arsenal the distance was enough, geographically,” he said. “He’s an exceptional player, you always saw that. He’s flying in this moment, that’s clear. If you’re not playing against them, it’s easy to enjoy what he’s doing. We need to make sure he stops flying for a weekend.”
Klopp refused to say if he would stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation, which worked so well against Rangers, claiming his main target for his team is to be unpredictable.
“For us it’s much more important that we become unpredictable again and we need different systems for that,” he said. “There are obviously different systems available for us and we have to choose which one is the best for the next opponent or the best for us in the moment. We have to be more unpredictable, definitely.”
