West Ham striker Michail Antonio admitted he is stunned by the treatment Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez receives on social media.
Liverpool have endured a terrible season. The club have not won a Premier League game in 2023, with the last victory in the competition having come on December 30 against Leicester.
Meanwhile, last season’s Champions League finalists have picked up a solitary point in their last four games, scoring just two goals and conceding nine in that time.
Such form sees Jurgen Klopp’s men languishing in tenth in the table, 11 points adrift of the top four and some 21 points behind league leaders Arsenal.
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Much of the criticism for Liverpool’s season has been directed at summer signing Nunez, who joined the club from Benfica for an initial £64million.
Since making the move to Merseyside Nunez has scored 10 goals in 26 appearances. Yet the Uruguay star has also become a figure of ridicule for certain pundits and fans.
Antonio reacts to Nunez criticism
Speaking on the Footballers Football Podcast, Antonio admitted he was tickled by some of the things posted online about Nunez.
The West Ham striker said: “When we played him away some of the strikes he was doing were like ‘ohhh’. Left foot, right foot, always hitting the target and making our keeper pull off some unbelievable saves.
“But it’s stuff I’m seeing on Instagram and social media where he just getting destroyed!
“I swear there was one stage where everyone was pushing each other and I saw this meme and he’s come in to push and missed the push! I swear, it was like ‘he’s even missed the push,’ I couldn’t believe it, I was dying mate.
“But I was like I swear this guy has got 14 goals this season!”
On the same podcast, Newcastle striker Callum Wilson insisted he had no doubts Nunez would be a success at Liverpool.
“He’s got more goals than me and Michail together combined! So I’m not saying anything about him man!” said Wilson.
“What I will say is that he is young, he’s 23 years old, and he has just come to the Premier League which is a difficult league. It’s not a league for boys, it’s a league for men and at the end of the day he’s come from a league which is a little bit different.
“It’s going to take him time to adapt. But there’s obviously no chill on social media so any little thing that happens is becoming a big thing and he’s going to see that, he’s going to be sent that [meme] and he’s going to see people laughing at that.
“And then it just makes you go more and more inward, especially at that age. He seems like a vibrant guy, like a no-nonsense kind of guy, so he just has to stick his chest out and keep going. If you miss the chances, so what.
"As long as you are in a position to make those chances you’re not going to keep missing. The clinical finishing will come over time after he’s playing more regularly and he’s played in this league for a little while.”
Topics: Football, Transfers, Darwin Nunez, Liverpool, Callum Wilson, Michail Antonio
Chris Byfield