Arne Slot explains Andy Robertson change as Liverpool boss sends Darwin Nunez message

Liverpool head coach has put slightly tricky couple of matches rather than anything that he is worried about long-term with the Scotland captain.

Robertson was beaten by Bukayo Saka against last weekend and then stayed in the team to play Brighton. Viteszlav Jaros was forced into an exceptional first-half save from Tariq Lamptey when he got in down that side of the pitch.

"I think his current situation is what you can expect if a player misses out on pre-season and a new manager comes in, so you miss quite a lot," Slot said. "And then when you start to play, maybe he thinks a bit too much because there are not so many things different, but in some situations, we ask for a bit different positioning from a left full-back.

"For me he is a bit in that period of time where he is thinking ‘OK, I’m here now, should I be here or there?’. That’s something I’ve seen a lot from other players in the past.

"The moment he stops thinking but is just acting on what we expect then he will be fine. That, combined with the fact that Robbo has always been a great player for this club, especially because he went up and down, up and down all the time.

"Therefore he needs to have some time because he missed out on pre-season to come back to that up and down, up and down full back all the time. I see him coming there more and more, that’s the good thing."

is another player who has been questioned at times this season. On the periphery until picked up an injury against Chelsea and the Uruguayan was thrown in, Nunez is now in line to start in each match of a big week of Anfield games: Brighton and Aston Villa in the sandwiched by Bayer Leverkusen in the .

"His work rate definitely [is impressive]," Slot said of Nunez. "He has done well. He also came back quite late and had to adapt a bit because we press a bit differently.

"The idea is still the same, to press high, but we're using the press a bit more with the wingers inside, and the number nine has to defend a little more, and he is now more involved in that pressing part. So that's what he does quite well. I still see a lot of room for improvement."

Liverpool.com says: Robertson might not play against Brighton because Kostas Tsimikas was rested against the Seagulls midweek. But that could easily point to him playing against Bayer Leverkusen and then Aston Villa, which might simply have been the plan all along.

As for Nunez, this period in which Jota is out is a huge opportunity that he needs to take. The South American needs to be consistent and show he can put the hard yards in and score goals regularly to keep his place when the Portugal striker returns.