‘You just felt…’ – Chris Sutton praises Klopp over big decision he made v Forest on Saturday
Chris Sutton has lauded one pivotal substitution by Jurgen Klopp during Liverpool’s 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
With no sign of a breakthrough by the hour mark, Darwin Nunez was brought off the bench upon his return from a minor injury, and he went on to score the winning goal nine minutes into stoppage time.
Speaking on BBC 5 Live’s Monday Night Club, the pundit claimed that he had a sense the Uruguayan would change the game for the Reds when he was introduced.
Sutton said of the 24-year-old: “I can’t take my eyes off him when he plays. Liverpool were struggling at the weekend, then all of a sudden Nunez came off the bench. I’m not saying that I knew that they were going to win, but you just felt a change in the game.
“His physicality is phenomenal. He’s a real nuisance. He’s a handful and it’s fair to say people get frustrated with his finishing but some of his finishes this season have been excellent.
“Everyone misses opportunities and he can become cleaner with it, but he makes things happen and he makes others around him play better, and that’s the biggest thing.”
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Klopp’s impactful use of substitutions this season has been a big factor in Liverpool’s Premier League title charge, with 22 goal contributions in the top flight from Reds players brought off the bench.
Nunez was introduced to match-winning effect against Newcastle early in the campaign, when his late double turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory, and he proved decisive yet again at the City Ground on Saturday.
That four-point swing alone could make all the difference in the final reckoning, given how fiercely contested a title race we have this year, and Sutton has nailed it with his assessment of the Uruguayan.
The 24-year-old can be chaotic and lack composure at times, but his relentless energy and desire up top must be a nightmare for opposition defences to contain, and a haul of 14 goals for the season so far isn’t to be dismissed.
Nunez obviously won’t want to be typecast as a ‘super sub’ as he’d much rather be starting regularly, but either way Liverpool fans know full well that our number 9 possesses the game-changing quality which could possibly help his team make the all-important leap from contenders to champions.
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