Darwin Núñez

[Harv]

Hmm, not sure the Suarez comparison is valid from a numbers perspective. Suarez (as spud_gun points out) was prolific before he came to Liverpool. The biggest difference though is that Suarez was starting from a lower base in a team that was growing together, he arrived as a second striker to Andy Carrol (lol), and had players around him like Stuart Downing, Charlie Adam and some other ****e I can't remember. Although we could say this team is growing too, we still have the main nucleus of a team that won the lot. He has Salah turned provider, a dynamic midfield and Virgil to play diagonals quickly out of defence. I think it's fair to say that Liverpool 23/24 would wipe the floor with Liverpool 11/12.

Plus the chances Suarez had back then were often self created and he would mess up the end, Darwin isn't creating for himself as much as Luis did (I don't have stats to back this up, it's a hunch )

I think it is before the time, but it would be interesting to see how Suarez and Darwin's XG compare. I remember Suarez hitting the woodwork a mental amount of times one season, but quite often they were ludicrous shots or after taking on half a team.

Darwin did get like 35 in 40 or something around that mark for Benfica before we signed him and remember he was a constant menace against us in the CL.

[frank the tank]

Not sure if the comparisons with Suarez are helpful as they are very different players.

The question for me is if he is doing much better in terms of converting his good chances what effect would that have on the team and the complexion of games? I feel we have struggled in many games where, if we had been a couple up, we might not be panicking so much.

I'm not comparing him overall to Heskey but you could see that, over time, Emile was draining confidence in the team where he was missing chances he could have scored. As a striker his performance changed games.

With Heskey we had Fowler and Litmanan on the bench ffs ha ha those were the days.

Nunez works his bollocks off for the team. Drops deep and helps out and lets everything out there. That is the first aspect that klopp publicly told him he needed to add to his game. Fair ****s to him for that.

Hopefully it clicks for him and the goals start to flow

[Harv]

Just remembered the kissy/cry baby face he made at the Sheffield fans after the 2nd goal VAR review

It was superb wasn't it.

[Irishnev]

Darwin did get like 35 in 40 or something around that mark for Benfica before we signed him and remember he was a constant menace against us in the CL.

In every season in his career he has under performed his xG rate except that one where he massively over performed. As of now it’s the outlier and the rest are the norm

He got 26 league goals from 19xg the year before we bought him but last year he under performed his xG by 5.5 in the league and is underperforming by just over 4 so far this season in the league

[Harv]

xG

[Irishnev]

xG

It just means he scores less than he should based on the quality of the chance in case you needed it explained to you

I repeat, I really like him and really hope he goes on to smash it but he does miss too many big chances. He needs to improve that

[Assassin]

Suarez and Nunez both had one extremely prolific season, averaging a goal a game in an inferior league (could argue Suarez played for better team). Their output first 18 months at Liverpool is quite similar, as Jaco has pointed out.

When discussing Darwin's finishing ability, it doesn't matter who is providing the chances, a chance is a chance and both him and Suarez are guilty of missing more than they should. It's a fair point that Suarez created a lot of his own opportunities, but so too does Nunez with the runs he makes, using his pace and power. Again, like Suarez, he misses so many opportunities because of his ability to be there in the first place, it's not fluke. Lat night being further demonstration of this.

I don't understand that because two players have different styles, we can't compare their numbers, which are clearly very similar.

You can make other comparisons. The little welsh boy Owen made his career bagging a goal every 8 or so chances. Apparently he was prolific


At the end of the day strikers score goals and miss goals. Depending on peoples bias they like to hammer the **** out of certain strikers at every opportunity. Fickle ****ers

[RedReet]

You can make other comparisons. The little welsh boy Owen made his career bagging a goal every 8 or so chances. Apparently he was prolific


At the end of the day strikers score goals and miss goals. Depending on peoples bias they like to hammer the **** out of certain strikers at every opportunity. Fickle ****ers

Ha, I was actually gonna joke that you can't compare two players from the same country, with a similar upbringing, similar background and a similar mentality. Both play a handful of games in SA before moving to Europe. Both have decent seasons and are picked up by bigger teams there. Both do well and both have similar standout seasons, averaging a goal a game, before attracting interest from bigger clubs (Suarez obviously had a few more decent seasons previously). Both sign for Liverpool the following year. Both score on their debuts and soon become fan favourites. After 18 months both have similar scoring ratios, both are guilty of hitting the woodwork too often, both divide opinion amongst fans, both are accused of being too wasteful, both unlucky not to have many more goals.

You can't compare those two players, but pick someone **** and fast because apparently Nunez is **** and fast and that's a perfect comparison.

[RedReet]

In every season in his career he has under performed his xG rate except that one where he massively over performed. As of now it’s the outlier and the rest are the norm

He got 26 league goals from 19xg the year before we bought him but last year he under performed his xG by 5.5 in the league and is underperforming by just over 4 so far this season in the league

I was shocked first time you posted this, but having went down a Nunez rabbit hole yesterday, I now know it's not as bad as it sounds.

In 3 years in Portugal, he slightly underperformed his xG twice and overperformed once. Over the 3 years he had a positive xG.

Another thing to consider was his first year in Almeria was basically his first proper season as a footballer, having only played a handful of games in SA due to ****ing his ACL twice (I think). He then moved to Benfica, adjusting to another new team, not a guaranteed starter first year, but once he settled, he kicked on massively.

Could say similar about Uruguay, now that Beilsa has made him his main man, he's thriving and I'm sure outperforming his xG (without checking those stats).

He's still finding his feet here and we're still working out how to get the best out of him, but although his xG still isn't great, its undeniable that he looks a much better player this year and one would hope his xG will improve as the season progresses.

[Irishnev]

I was shocked first time you posted this, but having went down a Nunez rabbit hole yesterday, I now know it's not as bad as it sounds.

In 3 years in Portugal, he slightly underperformed his xG twice and overperformed once. Over the 3 years he had a positive xG.

Another thing to consider was his first year in Almeria was basically his first proper season as a footballer, having only played a handful of games in SA due to ****ing his ACL twice (I think). He then moved to Benfica, adjusting to another new team, not a guaranteed starter first year, but once he settled, he kicked on massively.

Could say similar about Uruguay, now that Beilsa has made him his main man, he's thriving and I'm sure outperforming his xG (without checking those stats).

He's still finding his feet here and we're still working out how to get the best out of him, but although his xG still isn't great, its undeniable that he looks a much better player this year and one would hope his xG will improve as the season progresses.

I’m not pitching a narrative, I’m simply just using statistical analysis to show that he was very hot the year before we signed him but typically he scores less than he should. There are two big contextual items that need to be factored in:

1) He typically gets better the more he gets used to a league
2) He generates a load of xG so even an underperformance should still give a good return

I think only Haaland consistently is above his xG numbers and let’s not even start to talk about post shot xG Darwin gets a lot of chances which is great but for us his conversion numbers are v low, forget about big chances missed but look more at the conversion rate. He was around 27% with 5 from 18 whereas Salah has 10 from 17 which is more than double

The best players in the world miss big chances, even Messi’s conversion rate was about 40% over his career I think but looking at the cold hard data then Darwin just needs to convert at a higher rate

[RedReet]

I’m not pitching a narrative, I’m simply just using statistical analysis to show that he was very hot the year before we signed him but typically he scores less than he should. There are two big contextual items that need to be factored in:

1) He typically gets better the more he gets used to a league
2) He generates a load of xG so even an underperformance should still give a good return

I think only Haaland consistently is above his xG numbers and let’s not even start to talk about post shot xG Darwin gets a lot of chances which is great but for us his conversion numbers are v low, forget about big chances missed but look more at the conversion rate. He was around 27% with 5 from 18 whereas Salah has 10 from 17 which is more than double

The best players in the world miss big chances, even Messi’s conversion rate was about 40% over his career I think but looking at the cold hard data then Darwin just needs to convert at a higher rate

Aye, know that, I just wanted to add some context while it was fresh in my head, as the data alone makes him sound a bit like Andy Carroll, a one season wonder.

The encouraging thing for me is he has improved massively in Portugal, improved massively for Uruguay and improved a fair bit for us. I imagine if he stayed in Portugal an extra year, his xG numbers would have a completely different feel, which again why I felt context was important.

[Irishnev]

Aye, know that, I just wanted to add some context while it was fresh in my head, as the data alone makes him sound a bit like Andy Carroll, a one season wonder.

The encouraging thing for me is he has improved massively in Portugal, improved massively for Uruguay and improved a fair bit for us. I imagine if he stayed in Portugal an extra year, his xG numbers would have a completely different feel, which again why I felt context was important.

For what it’s worth I think he’ll explode at some point, he has all the physical attributes needed and when you add in the Uruguayan edge he has all the raw ingredients to be a worldie. I remember the game vs us at Anfield where he was unbelievable and finished all his chances where even Ali couldn’t get near him. Hopefully the second half of the season is where it will all come together for him

I’d also play him over Gakpo who seems to wander aimlessly without impacting the game

[fabinho]

I dont see it changing with Nunez, he just chokes too much in front of goal. If he was a 19 year old academy lad, he'd be out on loan until he was finally sold due to his lack of composure when needed.

[Pablo]

https://www.squawka.com/en/features/...rk-most-stats/

Not in bad company for hitting the woodwork.

Great stat

I think it symbolic of how close he is to being great. A few minor adjustments and he will be one of the best forwards in world football IMO. That is his potential.

Can he actually make those adjustments though? That remains to be seen.

[RedReet]

For what it’s worth I think he’ll explode at some point, he has all the physical attributes needed and when you add in the Uruguayan edge he has all the raw ingredients to be a worldie. I remember the game vs us at Anfield where he was unbelievable and finished all his chances where even Ali couldn’t get near him. Hopefully the second half of the season is where it will all come together for him

I’d also play him over Gakpo who seems to wander aimlessly without impacting the game

Hope you are right, but even if he continues as is, I'll happily take another 6 months of Nunez bashing if we finish top.