Thierry Henry praised Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez for his match-winning goal against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The Uruguayan secured a thrilling last-gasp victory at the City Ground by getting his head to a brilliant Alexis MacAllister delivery and steering it past Matz Sels in the 99th minute.
Henry said of Nunez’s header (19:27, 4 March): “I wasn’t that terrific with that [side-on headed goal], but what he did so brilliantly is that you just have to get it practically going now, since he got pushed a little down.
“He met the ball right where he should have, at the top of his jump, and then brought it down. Nottingham Forest’s defender is backpedaling, preventing him from putting any strength into his jump. It’s quite difficult to defend like that.”
Given how brilliantly Nunez took his winning goal on Saturday, as well as the magnificent lob over Mark Flekken in the Brentford win last month, it’s perplexing that he’s been heavily criticized for his apparent finishing deficiencies.
It’s true that he’s been responsible for some awful misses – the sitter at Luton in November comes to mind – but he wouldn’t have 14 goals this season if he didn’t have plenty of penalty-taking talent.
When one of the Premier League’s best ever goal scorers, Henry, is left in awe of the Uruguayan’s finishing, the Liverpool striker must be doing something right.
The impact from Forest’s heated response to way Paul Tierney restarted play two minutes earlier masked the quality of the finish, but Kopites will be unconcerned if Nunez continues to spring up at the right time, as he did on Saturday.
