Darwin's development a major positive for Klopp
Liverpool 3 West Ham 1
Jurgen Klopp praised Darwin Nunez's development as Liverpool continued their good start to the season with a hard-fought win over West Ham.
Nunez endured a difficult debut season at Anfield following his club record £85m move from Benfica but underlined his improvement by following up his 'super sub' double at Newcastle last month with another superb goal yesterday.
The Uruguay striker guided home an instinctive volley from Alexis Mac Allister's clever lofted pass over centre backs Kurt Zouma and Nayef Agerd but Klopp was just as pleased with his work ethic.
Mo Salah had given Liverpool the lead against the run of play with a penalty before Jarrod Bowen equalised before half-time.
Nunez restored Liverpool's lead on the hour and sub Diogo Jota added the third to make it six wins on the spin in all competitions - they are unbeaten in their last 17 games - and move them up to second place in the Premier League table two points adrift of old rivals Manchester City.
Klopp said: “Darwin has made massive steps in the last few weeks. He is a threat. You all saw the goal, that was probably pretty good, right? That was really strong.
“He was always available, it’s super important for us now that we have a ball player, chip the ball get it on the chest and play from there, that’s how we scored the third goal at Wolves, and it is super important for us.
“The defensive work he puts in is probably the main difference. He always wanted to do it but it was less co-ordinated. Now that looks much better.
“We have found a way to do it around him, Curtis (Jones) and Dom(inik Szoboszlai) help a lot, how flexible they are in that way. It’s really good, absolutely."
Liverpool have been far from perfect so far this
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