Darwin Núñez

[Doc_Piptorious]

For me he just seems ineffective without a lot if space to run into. He is pretty awful with his back to goal. He is very good in the air. it begs the question just where he is most effective. I think with everyone fit he would be the perfect plan B used as a target man. A high press does not seem to suit his game though. We would need to sit back and hit on the break to take advantage of his pace properly, but most teams tend to sit quite deep against us.

He has had chances though. A lot of them. Missed a lot and scored a few. He is a rough diamond. i know many see the potential, but I personally dont think he will ever get to the consistancy required for a top player. I think the main problem is he has come into a struggling team, replacing Diaz and Mane, both of whom were very incisive with their running. Nunez, while very fast, doesnt get the ball and zoom straight at defenders everytime, and looks very ineffective by comparison.

Hopefully with a proper midfield he will prosper, but I do think his own limitations dont gel well with our style of play. Saying that, when the team does play well, he does look better. When the team struggles he goes missing. Maybe for the fee I exoected someone who would make a difference in the same way as Mane, who could be very inconsistanr at times, but would always make his presence known to the defenders.

He is a central striker being played more often than not as a winger. At his old club he used to drift left from the striker position and double up with their left winger but he was and is not a winger.

He also showed last season, in the CL in partricular, just how effective he can be against strong organised defensive lines when he has a settled team around him and he gets played in his best position.

The teams he really stood out against in the CL were Us (twice) Bayern, Barca, and Ajax. Teams that know/knew how to press high and hard, teams that defended well and teams that outworked you.

He also stood out against PSV.

Considering he was playing for Benfica, it is no mean feat to be standing out so often against theose teams and how those teams play/used to play.


I am not too bothered about him not looking like Mane or Diaz on the left wing. He was not bought imo to be a left winger but rather a different type of player through the middle to Firmino and I think the idea was for him and Diaz to be able to link up and interchange like how Darwin did with the left sided and central attackers from the three that played behind him at Benfica. (Darwin usually being the 1 in their 4231 and the central figure up front when they went 433)

Ramos and Taarabt being the two he would interchange with a lot (Everton as well but mostly the other two) and they would all drift in and out of each other's position and could do so as they have midfielders behind them like Joao Mario and Weigl who were both mobile, both pressed high and both recycled the ball quickly up to the forwards.


Now look at our team this season. We have rarely shown fast high pressing in the centre, we have rarely shown lots of mobility from the centre and very little by way of balls being moved quickly to teh attackers to allow the attackers to interchange. If anything we build slowly up towards the forwards and then when a forward gets a ball he is looking at an organised back line with his own midfield not yet making runs forward to drag players out of position so that our forward and his fellow attackers can interchange more.

We also have had the guys that Darwin was most likely expected to build up partnerships with out for a big chunk of the season (Diaz in particular) and the guy we brought in that can also play as a LW and CF (Gakpo) is also settling into the team and city.

We have not seen the best of Darwin, but part of that is on him settling into a new team and a big part is down to that team being badly out of synch this season in terms of form and injuries.


Persoanlly I think we have seen plenty of signs that Darwin, with a settled and functioning midfield behind him and teh other attackers, has the tools to be a beast next seasom. Same with Gakpo imo (though I suspect he will be the fourth choice attacker next season as long as Diaz is fit).

Next season having a starting trio of Diaz, Darwin and Salah (or Salah's replacement) with hopefully some quality and mobility added to the midfield behind them.

[Kenneth]

He also showed last season, in the CL in partricular, just how effective he can be against strong organised defensive lines

I don’t think any of your examples fall into that category, they’re all sides that move forward as a team and provide space for runners like him.

And he’s not a striker playing as a winger, anymore than mane or salah were/are wingers. You don’t have wingers in a 4-3-3. Our fullbacks are not overlapping as well this year, so that’s not helping him. But Charly’s point about him looking less than ideal in the PL against deep lying defences (not just good defences) seems fair enough.

[baitman]

With nunez playing as the main striker he will be fine. He isnt a target man who will hold the ball up and play in the late arriving winger or midfielder, but is better running onto a through ball played into space. This is awkward for us when playing teams who park the bus though.
With gakpo (in midfield) and or thiago playing through balls into space he will excel.
Gakpo is a big guy and has good pace to cover the wide open savannah of our empty midfield and is ideally suited to be the runner to arrive late and shoot the 2nd ball from the edge of the box.
Piece of piss, this

[Charly]

Its a massie tactical switch with him centrally though, and he cannot play deep in the way Firmino or Gakpo can. I think he is actually pretty awful with his back to goal by comparison. If he is pushed further forward, both wide players will have to adapt and the midfield will need to change shape to compensate.

I dont see Gakpo as a midfielder at all. He seems a direct replacement for Firmino

[dizzycat]

Its a massie tactical switch with him centrally though, and he cannot play deep in the way Firmino or Gakpo can. I think he is actually pretty awful with his back to goal by comparison. If he is pushed further forward, both wide players will have to adapt and the midfield will need to change shape to compensate.

I dont see Gakpo as a midfielder at all. He seems a direct replacement for Firmino

To really get the best out of him we need to find a midfielder that can feed him.like Gerrard fed Torres.

[Doc_Piptorious]

To really get the best out of him we need to find a midfielder that can feed him.like Gerrard fed Torres.

We need to find a Mezzala?


Cannot think of one in the modern game tbh, but my mate has a Liverpool top, can he have a game?................

[dizzycat]

We need to find a Mezzala?


Cannot think of one in the modern game tbh, but my mate has a Liverpool top, can he have a game?................

Course he can, bound to be better be better than all the Carrilero's we have.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Course he can, bound to be better be better than all the Carrilero's we have.

I'll tell my mate, Nick Barry, he can have the odd game then.

[Kenneth]

Can he get better in his second season, because this one has been rough? Clinical he certainly is not.

[rudedog]

Can he get better in his second season, because this one has been rough? Clinical he certainly is not.

Of course he can can better, what a weird thing to say

[Kenneth]

Based on what?

He was brought in as a finisher, is he that guy?

[danperkins]

Zero composure, terrible technically but will score some goals with his pace and movement... Still saying exactly the same things about him. Jury is still out on him as we've been all over the shop this season but I just can't help thinking that he needs several chances to score and looks like a bit of a carthorse sometimes, his first touch is ****ing shocking. See how he goes next season but have been disappointed in him.

[Fivex]

We’d get about £45m tops if we sell him.

[kemm1]

Can he get better in his second season, because this one has been rough? Clinical he certainly is not.

I'm 100% comfortable in waiting to see what he looks like next season. We've seen many players improve after one season in the past.

That's been my position from the moment he signed that he's a long term project, raw talent, my stance hasn't changed.

[Harv]

Zero composure, terrible technically but will score some goals with his pace and movement... Still saying exactly the same things about him. Jury is still out on him as we've been all over the shop this season but I just can't help thinking that he needs several chances to score and looks like a bit of a carthorse sometimes, his first touch is ****ing shocking. See how he goes next season but have been disappointed in him.

What and Mo, Mane, Salah and Jota don't? Not one of those players is clinical. We just used to create so many chance it didnt matter.

Still repeating the same old **** s though it will suddenly change. What the **** are you expecting? Him to become Messi? Youre deluded man