That Darwin Nunez made probably the most appearances of any Liverpool participant final season is a quirk of statistics. The £65 million signing performed 54 video games however solely 33 had been from the beginning.
On Saturday, at Anfield he lastly received his first begin of the season underneath new head coach Arne Slot. That Nunez additionally scored 18 objectives final season can be considerably of a deceptive statistic – solely 11 of them had been within the Premier League, and none towards a workforce that completed within the prime six. He solely scored in 9 of his 38 league appearances and ended the marketing campaign with fewer league objectives than Chris Wooden, Nicolas Jackson, Matheus Cunha, Leandro Trossard and 14 others.
Diogo Jota, who solely began 19 league video games in Jurgen Klopp’s remaining season, ended 2023/24 with one league aim fewer than Nunez, and it was the Portuguese who received the nod as Slot’s most popular No.9 to start this season.
Jota isn’t an eye catching centre-forward, he typically seems to be on the periphery of issues, maybe doing extra of his work off the ball or delicate issues that the majority supporters don’t recognise, actually not making highlights. He’s the antithesis of Nunez – who could be very a lot a spotlight reel participant, generally for good and dangerous.
Jota started the season in superb trend with a aim within the opening win at Ipswich, however regardless of beginning all 5 video games underneath Slot earlier than Saturday that remained his solely aim to this point. Slot then considerably surprisingly opted to offer Nunez the nod as Bournemouth arrived at Anfield.
Jota has turn into a key participant since Jurgen Klopp left Merseyside (Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
The previous Benfica ahead repaid that in superb model, with a aim which ought to be a contender for aim of the season not only for the standard of the end – on Nunez’s weaker left foot, from the far facet of the field, curled completely in off the far put up – but additionally for the build-up.
Ibrahima Konate’s lengthy from defence was expertly headed by Nunez for Mo Salah, who launched the Uruguayan down the road. It by no means seemed like a goalscoring alternative from there, however with little stress being utilized by the Bournemouth defender, Nunez was in a position to amble to the sting of the field, assess his choices and supply a shocking end.
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It was a shot with an xG of 0.06 – no surprise Slot, like many inside Anfield, didn’t suppose it was the most suitable choice at first…
“My first intuition when he shot was ‘why does he shoot?’,” Slot advised reporters post-match. “I needed to say ‘why don’t you retain on dribbling?’ as a result of he made the ball free and I believe the defender was on the bottom.
“However then it was a fraction of a second later after I noticed the ball went in off the put up. I used to be like ‘OK, perhaps you’re a higher soccer participant than I used to be up to now’. Good selection from him!”
It actually was a good selection – and the reduction was there for all to see as an emotional Nunez celebrated his first aim for the membership for the reason that begin of April.
Arne Slot emphasises work price at Liverpool: identical to Klopp warned
Liverpool supervisor Arne Slot has another choice in Nunez (Picture credit score: Julian Finney/Getty Photographs)
Slot, although, will probably be assessing Nunez’s efficiency past the aim, with the Dutchman’s phrases forward of Bournemouth sounding not too dissimilar to messages that Jurgen Klopp had provided in the direction of Nunez within the final two seasons.
“For me, it’s primarily in regards to the work we do with out the ball,” Slot had mentioned in his pre-match press convention on the Friday when requested what it’ll take for Nunez to get a begin. “[He] understands day-to-day higher what we count on from him.”
Equally, explaining the beginning in his pre-match interview, Slot mentioned: “With out the ball, I’m anticipating him to place in the identical work price like all of the others have completed till now.”
Past his three photographs, Nunez contributed off the ball too, making seven defensive actions (per FotMob) – considerably greater than his strike companions in Salah and Luis Diaz (two every), and successful two tackles (Salah and Diaz none). That will probably be what Slot and his workers will probably be most happy about.
With 4 video games in 10 days, beginning with Wednesday’s go to of West Ham within the Carabao Cup, Nunez will get additional alternative to construct on his begin vs. Bournemouth. And along with his worldwide suspension persevering with in the course of the October worldwide break, meaning extra time working individually with Slot’s teaching workforce, and a extra rested participant after the break.
It appears like that is Nunez’s large alternative, maybe his remaining one at Liverpool. The subsequent few months will probably be intriguing to see whether or not he can take it and usurp Jota as Slot’s first-choice centre-forward.
