After his cameo in opposition to Fulham, together with a neat objective, Liverpool ahead Darwin Nunez was handed out his first begin for the brand new membership in opposition to Crystal Palace. He was totally spectacular, his vitality and depth relentless, his actions sharp and intelligent, however a hot-headed second ended his night time prematurely and possibly value his workforce a few factors because the Palace recreation resulted in a draw.
At the 57th minute of the sport, with Liverpool trailing 1-0 after a Wilfried Zaha objective, Andersen pushed him within the again, arguing about one thing. Nunez simply circled and barged his head onto his face, not as soon as however twice, dusting up reminiscences of the opposite legendary Uruguayan ahead within the purple shirt, Luis Suarez. Perhaps, Nunez was dismayed at himself for spilling three gilt-edged probabilities, maybe he had sufficient of Andersen’s needling, however his medium of venting out his got here for heavy criticism.
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville crooned: “Tonight the story is Nunez. Not just the second head-butt but the first one, then to have a go again. You usually get a coming together and there’s a little one, but he’s properly gone for it. “There’s no history of that at Benfica (his former club), he’s not been sent off there. That’s the stupidity of tonight. He’s a young player and it’s a steep learning curve for him tonight.”
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher stated he “couldn’t believe” how the ahead claimed innocence after the head-butt. “I couldn’t believe when he throws his arms up, he’s obviously remonstrating to the referee. I cannot believe how he thinks he’s going to get away with that when he’s remonstrating at the referee, there was no other option but you could not have had a better view. As he’s walking back to the bench, he knows what he’s done, he’ll be sitting in the dressing room absolutely gutted – and rightly so. He’s let himself down and his team down, the points dropped. If he’s on the pitch I’m sure Liverpool would’ve (gone) on to win,” he stated.
Núñez is, by the way, the primary Liverpool participant to be despatched off for violent conduct throughout Klopp’s seven-year tenure at Anfield. “There was provocation but it was definitely the wrong reaction,” the Liverpool supervisor admitted. “He will learn from that. Unfortunately he now has three games to do that. It is not cool for us but it is how it is,” he stated.
“Of course I will speak with him. I came in [after the game] and wanted to see the situation on television]. In the game I could not see anything so I could know what happened. I saw Andersen on the floor and Darwin walking away. That was my picture. Then I saw it – yes it is a red card. Wrong reaction in the situation. Andersen wanted that, he got it but he (Núñez) made a mistake. Of course I will talk about it with Darwin but not yet,” he added.
Captain James Milner too pledged help: “We’ll rally round him and I’m sure he’ll learn from it.” However, right down to 10 males, they did now wither and 4 minutes later, Luis Diaz struck a splendid equaliser. “But it was the best possible reaction, a wonderful goal, and from that moment it was a special game. That was us at home with a special atmosphere, unfortunately without a goal. It is not common with 10 against 11 that you put a team under as much pressure as we did,” Klopp stated.
The outcome sees the Reds sitting in twelfth place on the desk, one level behind newly promoted Bournemouth