Arne Slot has doubled down on his criticism of Darwin Nunez, insisting that the striker's work rate has not been acceptable in his last two appearances. 

The Dutchman singled out the Uruguayan after the Reds' 2-2 draw against Aston Villa last week, when he missed an open goal late in the match. 

Nunez, who has failed to live up to his £85million price tag and has fallen further down the pecking order since Slot's arrival this term, was an unused substitute during Liverpool's win over Manchester City on Sunday. 

Slot has revealed that he was also disappointed with the forward's effort during a recent win over Wolves and that prompted him to make his dissatisfaction public. 

'I helped him by saying you can miss a chance,' said the Reds boss. 'I wasn't only hard on him. But for the second time in a row I wasn't happy with his work effort, against Wolves and against Villa.

'I always try to be honest with my players and be honest as I can to you guys [the media] as well where I always try to protect my players so I don't say he never worked hard. 

'I know him differently. I know him at Villa at home where he made a 100m sprint and scored a goal, I know him when he came on at City at home and was pressing really aggressively and wins the ball back and we score. 

'But I can't accept if a player doesn't give everything. That is clear. I can accept it once but twice was a bit too much. That's why I addressed it. Not that I'm all of a sudden very angry with him. 

'I don't mind that he missed a chance, I'd have loved him to score it, and I know he will eventually score. But if you miss a chance, you need to be fighting for the team. I'm not saying he didn't do that at all, but it wasn't the usual Darwin, the one that is loved by the fans. That is mainly because he always works so hard.'

After reiterating his criticism of the 25-year-old, Slot was keen to praise Nunez for his efforts in training this week ahead of the Reds clash against Newcastle at Anfield. 

The Dutchman also revealed that the forward was hit hard by his miss at Villa Park and he opened the door for a return to action in the coming weeks. 

'He was still down about it,' added Slot. 'As much as I want the No 9 to be seen as working hard and do whatever is needed for the team, a normal No 9 is focused on goals. I can keep talking to him about work rate, work rate, work-rate, but he and any No 9 will always be disappointed if he misses a chance. He was still a bit disappointed the day after.

'But yesterday [Monday] he was incredible in the training session when it comes to work rate. Hopefully he can keep doing this, and whenever the team needs him then he is ready for it if he keeps putting in sessions like he did yesterday.