Liverpool star looked 'lost' in Bologna game as Reds icon unleashes brutal verdict

Liverpool continued its perfect start to the Champions League campaign last night, beating Bologna 2-0 at Anfield to move up to fifth in the table and remain on track for automatic qualification. However, Arne Slot was not altogether happy with what he saw — and he was not the only one.

The clean sheet for the Reds certainly didn't tell the story of the match, with Alisson called into action numerous times, and forced to rely on his woodwork on a couple of other occasions. Bologna even had the ball in the back of the net, although Virgil van Dijk had held a good line.

But club legend Steve Nicol believes there were problems at the other end as well. Liverpool found the net twice courtesy of Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah, but not everyone impressed in the final third.

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Salah himself was sometimes guilty of fluffing the final ball, despite laying on a wonderful assist for Mac Allister's goal. Luis Diaz also had a quiet night by the standards he has set this season. But it was Darwin Nunez on the end of a brutal verdict from Nicol.

"Nunez started. I’m afraid Mr Nunez looks a little lost to be quite honest,” . "He got substituted, Jota came on. But in general all the front players need to do better with the final ball.

"Unfortunately right now he [Nunez] can’t get out his own way. Running offside, a couple of times when he tried to shoot he should have passed it."

Nunez briefly thought he had scored in the first half after a cool slotted finish, but the assistant's flag denied him. Detractors would say that this has been all too common in his spell at the club — and that when he does beat the offside trap, that same composure seems to desert him.

That was one thing under Jurgen Klopp, where chances were at least flowing for Nunez. But at the crux of Nicol's "lost" analysis is a fear that the Uruguayan is not managing to get involved to the same extent under Slot.

Of course, the sample size is small. Nunez scored in his first start under the new head coach, and while he did struggle to make much of an impact against Bologna, this was just his second outing.

But there's another question about why Slot hasn't seemed to fancy Nunez for starts so far. Much of that can be chalked up to the quality of competition, with Cody Gakpo similarly sidelined, but it's certainly not the fresh start the potential record signing would have been envisaging.

Now into his third campaign at Liverpool, we are probably into make or break territory for his Anfield career. As ever, the potential is there for all to see, but Nicol is not wrong — Nunez does look a little lost, and he needs to find himself quickly.

Liverpool.com says: Slot jumped to the defense of Nunez last night, pointing out that the striker did find the net in his only other start of the season. He also highlighted the relative lack of service to the striker, with the final ball deficient all night against Bologna.

All that is true. But at the same time, did Nunez do enough to wrest the jersey off Jota for the weekend? Almost certainly not.

If he continues to be limited to bit-part roles, he will struggle to finally come good on the promise we have all seen. Things need to turn around for him soon.