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But while he had defended the striker in the immediate aftermath at Villa Park, he instead publicly criticised Nunez’s attitude and work-rate the morning after the night before.

Yet Nunez set tongues wagging even more not long after Slot had departed the press room at the AXA Training Centre as he took to Twitter to send out a defiant, emotional message in response to his critics.

With the gathered media busy typing out their copy following Slot’s press conference, one voice shouted out alerting the others to Nunez’s actions before reading out the tweet in question.



But the same perhaps cannot be said of one third Liverpool legend after Slot amusingly took aim at Mark Lawrenson in his pre-match press conference, without realising his Anfield past, after the former Reds star criticised the head coach's decision to substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold the night before.

“When I drove up I was listening to talkSPORT,” Slot chuckled.

But now maybe he does.”

Such an admission followed Slot explaining his decision to withdraw both Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota for the second time, having already been quizzed the night before.

Insisting the pair have to be managed carefully after recent injuries, he also acknowledged such plans might have to change after Liverpool saw Conor Bradley limp off against Villa.

“We spoke about this already a week ago,” he said of Alexander-Arnold.

He’s improving.”

Meanwhile, Slot admitted he would prefer to play Jota for 90 minutes every week as he stressed how important the Portuguese will be during the Premier League run-in.

“Probably he will (be disappointed not to hit the target),” Slot conceded, referring to one glaring Jota miss of his own.

That’s only because it’s a big injury risk to keep them in the team.”

If Liverpool successfully keep Jota fit for the rest of the season, you can’t help but wonder what it could mean for Nunez’s own chances of playing time

He is and always has been a magnet for headlines, both good and bad.

Nunez might have vowed he is 'going to give my all until the last day I'm here in Liverpool', but with Jota back ahead of him in Slot’s pecking order, he faces an uphill battle if he wishes to prevent that last day from coming around sooner rather than later.