Arne Slot would be the first to admit that there are fewer problems in his early life at Liverpool than he anticipated, but there could be a growing concern over his frontmen.
By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com
After 22 games – and 20 across the Premier League and Champions League – Slot‘s start at Liverpool can only be viewed as a success; top of both tables and into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals with only one loss so far.
But while Liverpool are comfortable at the summit both domestically and in Europe, they are primarily for their defensive efforts and not their output in attack.
Three teams – Chelsea (35), Brentford (31) and Tottenham (31) – have scored more goals in the Premier League, with the Reds equal with Arsenal on 29, while five teams – Barcelona (21), Dortmund (18), Bayern Munich (17), Atlético Madrid (14) and Feyenoord (14) – have netted more and two have matched their 13 in the Champions League.
Liverpool lead both tables by virtue of their remarkable ability to control games and deliver the killing blow when it matters. It is which distinguishes Slot’s approach from that of his predecessor, Jürgen Klopp.
However, it should also be noted that Liverpool are among the top five teams for big chances missed in both competitions: second in the Premier League with 35 (2.5 per game) and fifth in the Champions League with 13 (2.17 per game).
Both tallies are either equal to or more than their number of goals scored, though that speaks as much to the quality of chances they are creating as it does their failure to convert them, as they also rank first and fourth for shots on target per game in league and Europe respectively.
Slot will acknowledge that Liverpool can and should score more, but there is also an acceptance that his Liverpool is still a work in progress, and that they are on top despite this profligacy can only be a major positive.
That is where their two No. 9s come in.
Diogo Jota and Darwin Núñez are, by Slot’s own admission, two very different strikers – and by the same token, their respective flaws are of a very different complexion.
“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,” the head coach explained in September.
Having two different strikers is no bad thing, but more often than not a manager will have a plan A and a plan B, and the start of the season showed that Jota is very much his plan A.
Núñez started only three of the first 11 games of the season – one in the league, one in Europe, one in the cup – while Jota started nine; in that time, Jota scored four goals and laid on two assists, with Núñez scoring one and assisting one.
The 11th of those games, the 2-1 win at home to Chelsea, saw the Portuguese forced off after half an hour with a rib injury as Núñez took over, fulfilling a surprise man-marking role on Cole Palmer in an unorthodox display which impressed Slot.
Jota has been sidelined since, sitting out of the last 11 games in a stark reminder of the worrying fragility of a player who has now missed 94 for club and country to nine different injuries in the past four-and-a-half seasons (almost 21 per season on average).
Of those 11 most recent Jota-less games, Núñez has started eight and come off the bench in the remaining three, but the Uruguayan has managed just two goals in that time – both, to his credit, match-winners.
Núñez is a player of fleeting brilliance – and in fact, as recently as October this writer discussed two performances in four days that showed Núñez could fit in under Slot – but the weight of evidence is that this may never be enough.
He is, after all, Liverpool’s club-record signing at £85 million and one who, almost midway through his third season, is in no way assured of a starting place up front.
That largely appears to be due to Slot preferring a different type of striker, with the Dutchman even turning to a natural left winger in Luis Díaz as his deep-dropping No. 9 in the victories over Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City.
Díaz scored a hat-trick against Leverkusen – two as a striker and one after moving back to the left – with Slot making it clear afterwards why he had been preferred to Núñez.
“I think [Jonathan] Tah is one of the best defenders in Germany – maybe the best defender in Germany – and he likes maybe to play more against a target man, someone who is there in the middle,” he explained.
“We chose to play Lucho more from the left or the midfield and maybe surprise him afterwards with runs in behind – not only him, but in general.”
Again, in two big-game scenarios, Slot opted for a nine-and-a-half rather than a target man, with this a big indicator of how he plans to build moving forwards.
And with both Jota and Núñez proving consistently unreliable for very different reasons, it should come as no surprise that reports are beginning to emerge over Liverpool assessing the market for a new centre-forward.
While Jayden Danns, 18, offers an intriguing long-term project in the academy, Brighton’s João Pedro, 23, has been linked by Brazilian outlet UOL and very much fits the brief as a nine-and-a-half, while Wolves’ Matheus Cunha, 25, is another who suits the mould.
Two Brazilians who are comfortable leading the line but also more than willing to drop deep and link play while allowing their fellow forwards to flourish, there are many similarities with a former Liverpool striker who would have been Slot’s dream: Roberto Firmino.
Both boast Premier League experience but are yet to break through to elite level, which is often the market Liverpool have shopped in under Fenway Sports Group, reinforced again this year by the reappointment of Michael Edwards as CEO of football and the hiring of Richard Hughes as sporting director.
When Edwards announced his departure from the club after five years as sporting director in 2021, he underlined his own admiration for Firmino, saying: “One of the other questions I always get asked is ‘who was/is your favourite player?’…all I will say is my dog is called Bobby.”
His and Slot’s vision for the heart of Liverpool’s attack seems to align, and with neither Jota or Núñez proving the perfect fit up front so far, it is easy to see the Reds seeking out Bobby mk. II in 2025.
(Images from IMAGO)
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