When Arne Slot is confirmed as Liverpool’s next manager, he takes over a team with immense attacking talent.

That was proven on Sunday when departing boss Jurgen Klopp watched his team put four goals past Tottenham Hotspur.

Liverpool had a staggering 23 shots at Spurs’ goal, 13 of which were on target, and this is against a team deemed the fifth-best in the Premier League right now. 

Whilst the Reds had their shooting boots on this time around by scoring two goals in each half, every fan knows that they are just 90 minutes away from the complete opposite happening.

In fact, Darwin Nunez, who came on for the last 20 minutes, showcased some of that when he missed some guilt-edge chances.

It raised the question once more about Liverpool’s finishing in the final third, with Jermain Defoe adamant that the currently-injured Diogo Jota is ‘the best finisher’ at the club, even ahead of Mohamed Salah, as he told Premier League Productions (05/05/24 at 6:40 pm).

Salah is still viewed as his team’s main goal threat, with his header against Tottenham taking his Premier League goals tally to 18 for the campaign, added to his ten assists.

But one man who Defoe was critical of after the match was Nunez and the ‘wrong’ type of finishing options he uses.

Darwin Nunez’s finishing

“I think Jota is probably the best finisher,” said Defoe. “He actually finishes, like calculated finishes. Salah and Nunez, they shoot if that makes sense. They don’t finish.

“Even Nunez, in the last action when he went through on goal, the obvious solution was to go around the goalkeeper and then pass it into an empty net.

“But, for whatever reason, he tries to dink it over him. It’s the wrong thing to do in that situation. The chances, when it comes consistently, like week after week and game after game and you are missing all these chances, then you are competing against teams like Man City and Arsenal that get these chances and players are converting these chances, then you are going to fall behind.”

Do Liverpool need another forward?

Let’s assume Salah stays on Merseyside. Do Liverpool dip into the transfer market and sign another goalscorer?

Fans know that they can trust their flying winger on the right, but they can’t say the same about Nunez.

Added to that, Jota’s inability to stay on the pitch is also a worry, whilst Cody Gakpo, who scored against Spurs, has had a mixed time of things.

Either way, with Slot coming in, this is probably an avenue to explore. Not ahead of looking for another centre-back, but certainly something that should be on the club’s transfer wishlist. 

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