Arne Slot has revealed his reaction to Darwin Nunez’s wonder strike.
Nunez rounded off Liverpool’s comprehensive 3-0 win against Bournemouth on Saturday, a week after a shock home defeat to Nottingham Forest.
The Uruguayan’s goal came on made a first start since April and just 24 hours after Slot had pinpointed the areas he needed to improve for a starring role.
And the Reds’ head coach conceded that he was taken aback by Nunez’s 30-yard curler which put the finishing touch on his side’s return to winning ways.
“My first instinct when he shot, I said, ‘Why does he shoot? Why don’t you keep on dribbling?’,” admitted Slot.
“Because he made the ball free and I think the defender was on the ground.
“But then there was a fraction of a second later when I saw the ball went in off the post and I was like, ‘OK, maybe you are a better football player than I was in the past!’
“A good choice of him.”
Slot also drafted Caoimhin Kelleher into his starting XI with Alisson ruled out of the Cherries’ visit by a muscle injury sustained in the build-up to the game.
He added: “We needed our goalkeeper today more than in all the other matches we played before.
“Because Bournemouth got more chances than I am used to seeing the other teams getting against us in the first six games of the season.
“But it was a good thing that we had Caoimhin today because he made some really good saves – which Alisson did in the other games as well, but he didn’t have to make that many as Caoimhin made today.”