Darwin Nunez produced a miss of the season contender against Aston Villa but it’s not even Liverpool’s worst missed chance at Villa Park
Darwin Nunez produced a miss of the season contender on Wednesday night as Liverpool were held to a 2-2 draw away at Aston Villa. Gifted an open goal by Dominik Szoboszlai at Villa Park, he somehow blazed over from close-range.
Arne Slot would defend the striker for the miss after the game despite widespread criticism, but was left unimpressed with the Uruguayan’s work-rate following his squandered chance.
“I can accept misses but what is harder for me to accept is his behaviour after the chance,” the Dutchman said. “It got too much in his head, he was not the usual Darwin who works his backside off and makes sure he helps the team. He was too disappointed he missed that.”
Nunez’s miss, which would have clinched three points, came only a month after his match-winning brace off the bench against Brentford.
Inevitably, that was quickly forgotten following his latest high-profile miss. But Nunez would offer a reminder of such exploits when sending a defiant, emotional message to his critics on Thursday morning.
Alongside an image of him celebrating one of his two match-winning goals against Brentford last month, Nunez wrote: “I was not the best three weeks ago nor am I the worst now. If I fall, I get up. You will never see me throw in the towel.
“I will give it my all until the last day I am here in Liverpool. Resilience!”
Should Liverpool, who are now eight points clear at the top of the table, fall short in their bid to win the Premier League, fingers will inevitably be pointed at Nunez.
But there is a very easy way to respond – more so than any eyebrow-raising tweet. After all, his missed strike isn’t even the Reds’ worst at Villa Park.
If you were to ask Liverpool supporters to pick the Reds’ worst ever miss in Premier League history, you would likely hear a unanimous answer. ‘Ronny Rosenthal against Aston Villa’.
It might be 32 and a half years since the Israeli missed an open goal at Villa Park, but his strike has gone down in English football folklore. Whenever there is a discussion or compilation of greatest misses, up pops Rosenthal.
With the game goalless midway through the first half, the striker sprinted onto David James’ long ball forward after Shaun Teale missed his header before sidestepping goalkeeper Nigel Spink.
Left with an open net, he carried the ball further into the penalty area before shooting goalwards, only to see the ball bounce off the crossbar and be cleared to safety by Paul McGrath.
Yet beyond the fact that Rosenthal missed a sitter, what else do you remember of that game in September 1992?
Do you recall that Liverpool fell to a 4-2 defeat at Villa Park as Dean Saunders came back to haunt his former club, with Rosenthal’s miss ultimately meaning nothing when it came to the final result? Does it matter that the Reds were well off the pace that season as they finished sixth in the inaugural Premier League campaign?
No. All that is remembered is Rosenthal missed when it was easier to score.
While it bothered him and at the time and he was initially embarrassed, he acknowledges it is the moment that has kept him on the map for three decades
“It bothered me a lot at the time,” he once admitted. “I was embarrassed and in the dressing room the other players didn’t let me forget but it happens.
“Of course you are embarrassed for a couple of minutes after the game, but you have some players who take everything so seriously. I’m someone who did not celebrate so much when I scored and so when I missed, I was just like: ‘So what?’
“Sometimes you have players who are extremes. They go crazy if they score, and if they miss it’s the end of the world. I am completely the opposite.
Does it bother me now? No it doesn’t matter now. I’m glad I missed because I’m still on the map because of it.
“Sometimes I can go for one whole week without having to talk about it. People are sometimes scared to ask me about it, and I tell them: ‘no no, ask me’.
“You never forget the players who missed at the lower level, only the top level. It’s nothing, OK, you’ve missed, it’s finished. You need to be strong in the head and have the right mentality.”
But while Rosenthal’s miss might be what he is best remembered for in wider footballing circles, it is a different story at Anfield.
A loan signing from Standard Liege in March 1990, he went on to score seven goals from his first eight First Division games – including a hat-trick on his full debut against Charlton Athletic – to become a Reds cult hero as he helped them become Champions of England for the 18th time.
So what if Rosenthal missed once, two years later? His place in Anfield folklore was already secure courtesy of those title-winning heroics.
Which brings us back to Nunez. After his brace against Brentford, both coming in stoppage-time, it was pointed out how crucial such goals could prove to be come May as he turned one point into three.
But against Villa, the same debate was being had of his miss as a possible three points instead stayed at one.
It could prove to be a costly miss for the Reds as Arsenal look to close the gap on them ahead of the Premier League title run-in. But just how costly remains to be seen, whether it affects only a singular match or Liverpool’s hopes of a 20th league title.
Nunez has missed glaring chances before, but he’s also been the Reds’ hero. If he ends up holding aloft the Premier League trophy in May, his sitter at Villa Park will become just a footnote. Help score the goals to clinch it and it will be the perfect way to silence his critics.
But if Liverpool fall short, it will take greater prominence alongside Rosenthal’s own effort at Villa Park 32 years prior.
The Israeli was never first-choice for the Reds, behind the likes of Ian Rush and Peter Beardsley in the pecking order, with Nunez now finding himself in a similar situation.
It is partly why his future remains so uncertain beyond the end of the current campaign. And with the fact that his miss affected the rest of his performance in such a way reiterates why his future looks increasingly likely to be elsewhere.
But Rosenthal will never be forgotten at Anfield thanks to his 1990 league title heroics rather than Villa Park miss
With Nunez at least vowing to ‘give it my all until the last day I am here in Liverpool,’ it is up to the Uruguayan to now do his talking on the pitch and ensure he is also remembered for all the right rather than wrong reasons when his own Reds career eventually comes to an end.
