“I think it’s the challenge we as a staff always have, to bring the best out of individuals.”
By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com
Arne Slot was candid in his assessment of Darwin Núñez‘s start to life under his management, speaking after a listless display from the No. 9 in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Bologna in the Champions League.
The head coach hooked Núñez after an hour at Anfield, visibly frustrated in his technical area as the Uruguayan looked incapable of meeting his tactical criteria.
“We try to find different ways of positioning Darwin than Diogo, because they are not the same players,” Slot continued. “So their teammates also adjust to the player they are playing with.”
Slot had made it clear that Diogo Jota remained his first choice, but there was no backing down from the stance held even prior to his first day in the job – that he could be the man to coax consistency out of Liverpool’s most polarising player.
Speaking weeks prior to that clash, the Dutchman explained: “I think Diogo is a bit more a striker that can also go into the midfield and play as a false nine or a nine-and-a-half, where Darwin is more the target man, that finishes off a good attack.
“I think it comes to what do you have to do when we have the ball and when we don’t have the ball, and fit his own characteristics into that. We did work with him on his qualities to get the best out of him. But there’s also a general thing he has to understand, like all the others.”
Núñez has become so divisive among fans and the media alike that conclusions were already drawn on his future at the club weeks into Slot’s reign, having been painted as a pet project for Jürgen Klopp.
It was Klopp who pushed Liverpool to sanction a deal that would make Núñez their most expensive signing ever, with Christopher Nkunku – then of RB Leipzig, now of Chelsea – the preferred target among the club’s recruitment staff.
Speaking to The Athletic in August, Ian Graham, who at the time of the signing was Liverpool’s director of research, revealed that he voiced his concerns over how much of a change it would require to Klopp’s system.
“He was a very different type of player to Firmino,” Graham recalled, with Roberto Firmino having long been the poster boy of Klopp’s Liverpool.
“My questions were: ‘Are we going to change our style or formation for him? Is he a good enough player that it might be worth making those changes?’. It was something we had resisted for many years.
“We went through the same data process for Núñez as with other players. I wanted to make sure that everyone knew what a big change it would be with Núñez. It was more, ‘are we sure we’re going to make the best use of him?’.”
Graham even went on to intimate that Klopp had been convinced by a virtuoso display from Núñez in Benfica’s clashes with Liverpool in the Champions League in April 2022.
Núñez scored twice over two quarter-final legs, but stretched Alisson throughout and beat the Brazilian with two more sublime finishes at the Estadio da Luz, only to be ruled out both times by the offside flag.
“That has an effect on people,” Graham admitted. “It didn’t do him any harm in becoming a Liverpool player.”
But under the microscope of Anfield and with the weight of an £85 million price tag, the raw, exciting power of Benfica’s Núñez has not been enough.
While there may have been more concessions under Klopp there is no such standing under Slot, who effectively wiped the slate clean on his arrival, leading to a revival in fortunes for the likes of Ryan Gravenberch and Luis Díaz.
Slot has already repeated his belief that Núñez must adhere to his standards off the ball before he can be trusted as a regular starter, and his substitution against Bologna was another sign that things weren’t going as hoped at this early juncture.
But over the space of four days, the 25-year-old has displayed that he does, in fact, get it – and he did so in two very different performances.
Coming off the bench in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Chelsea, Núñez’s quality came largely off the ball, battling for possession, drawing fouls and maintaining the Reds’ control.
He only played an hour in that victory at Anfield, but he contested the most duels of any player (17), also winning the most (nine), while no player was fouled more times (four).
Only Trent Alexander-Arnold (10) made more defensive actions than Núñez (eight) which, for a striker, is an outrageous tally.
The No. 9 also acted as playmaker against Chelsea, with one scything pass opening up an attack for Cody Gakpo, while another through ball sent Curtis Jones through before being brought down by Robert Sánchez in an incident which saw a penalty controversially ruled out.
Three days later, Núñez started in Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Leipzig in the Champions League, with his best work on that night coming around the six-yard box – including the winning goal.
He made sure Mohamed Salah‘s potentially goalbound header made it over the line, but also should have won a penalty after a clear foul from centre-back Willi Orban and tested Peter Gulacsi with a bullet header after his goal.
While he spent the evening dropping deep, linking play and reclaiming possession against Chelsea, Núñez was more of an out-and-out striker against Leipzig – he failed to record a single touch in Chelsea’s box on Sunday, whereas no player touched the ball more times in Leipzig’s box on Wednesday (eight).
Only Gakpo (four) had more shots on goal against Leipzig than Núñez’s three, with no player firing more shots on target than the centre-forward who came away with a 100 percent accuracy.
This time, he contested far fewer duels (eight) and won even fewer (two), but perhaps that was more due to tactical instruction than quality of output.
Those two games over four days showed the duality of Darwin Núñez, but not in the way he has struggled with throughout his two years at Liverpool so far.
Instead, they showed that he can do both jobs up front: he can be that nine-and-a-half that Slot sees in Jota, but he can also be the dominant, all-powerful No. 9 that decides big games.
(Images from IMAGO)
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