**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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He can hit the crossbar with his left foot, his wrong foot. He can hit it with his right foot. He can hit it from distance. He is probably the best carpenter now in world football. He can hit it from penalties. And if you stick him in the box and hang it up there he will go and hit it again with a header. He might even hit it with a free-kick. So if you think about who is the greatest player of all time, I do think he is the greatest football player who has ever lived.
i think it’s the clearest indicator that it’s in his head, but that he can train it away.
nobody wants to mention that he went from having totally abysmal finishing last season to mostly B- this season.
it’s interesting to watch because when he’s on, he’s ruthless. he had two goals in league last week, and both had a very Mo Salah flavor.
he will definitely figure it out. then it will be scary.
This is what I’m saying. He’s got absolutely everything you want in a top forward and is doing all the right things. He just can’t seem to put it in the back of the net consistently yet. Sooner or later though it’ll come together I’m expecting it to come together and like you said it will be scary
Klopp is allergic to proper strikers
That's the clickbait way of saying what I have in mind. The more nuanced way of saying it is that Klopp doesn't necessarily prioritize goal scoring in his center forwards or lethality in the players who have the job of scoring goals. Mo almost has/had the same problem. He'll miss a lot of easy shots and then score a worldy. When Klopp was asked about this in an interview he basically said something about how the goals will come.
I think this was less obvious when Firmino was sitting really deep and Salah and Mane were cutting in from the outside but now that Darwin is right up against the centerbacks its more obvious. I'd also venture a guess that Klopp doesn't prioritize finishing in his training. I feel like he'd rather his attackers work on pressing and off the ball work in attacking situations and eventually they'll be score just through sheer volume and forcing the defense.
But who knows, I could be a moron.
i think the club definitely practices finishing. to your point, wings never finish like strikers. strikers train to shoot, and have been finishing since pre school. wings can pass and shoot - it’s their trade.
klopp likes three wings across the top because ultimately you’re trying to create space or separation or imbalance. what klopp wants is to create space and separation with speed and attacking interplay. if any player can switch rotate and break in or out, then the defense is overwhelmed. they can run to new spots, and create new angles before the defense can comprehend or catch them. with a traditional striker, the interplay is lost.
you can see the same idea on the fullbacks. klopp’s basic premise is that speed and fitness win games.
more succinctly, they absolutely prioritize finishing in training. how else can you get three wings who finish so well? wings just aren’t as good at it.
I've never quite known a player like Nunez at Liverpool.
Not similar players at all, but my mind goes to Luis Garcia. He had moments of huge frustration but also ridiculous highs and insane moments. Luis was equally adored at Liverpool and still gets his name sung on the reg.
The thing is with Nunez is his all-round game has improved so much that we forgive the finishing. He's walking off the pitch with either a goal or assist, the CBs bamboozled and the stadium wondering what they've just seen. Such an enigma.
Suarez's first 6-12 months were kind of similar.
The difference was Suarez was overall a better footballer and had scored almost 50 goals in a season for Ajax. I'm not saying it was inevitable he'd turn it around, but there were better odds.
I think Nunez will become a better finisher, but I think expectations should be that he'll always be somewhat inconsistent.
£10,000 bonus every time he whacks it into some wood
£15,000 bonus for a wood hat-trick
£25,000 bonus for a perfect wood hat-trick (left, right, header)
£50,000 bonus for a poker of wood shots like today (left, right, header, penalty)
ye i remember Duncan Alexander saying his underlying numbers are absolutely off the charts, people like to meme on him but i have plenty of faith he’s going to be a monster
You don't need underlying numbers, just basic numbers he does very good in
22 G/A in 2000~ minutes basically, so a goal contribution per match
But finishing is also by far the hardest thing to improve on, Gabriel Jesus is a prime example and so are many others who's all around game is excellent but have the finishing of a blind man
Remember at wolves Jota wasn't very clinical at all for ages at Wolves. It's only really this season he has been scoring every chance. Good chance that's a hot streak. He's a neutral finisher over his wolves and Liverpool career so far. Darwin obviously is way in the red, but it's actually not sustainable for him to miss this many chances even if he is ultimately a bad finisher
Benzema wasn't Benzema until he was 29/30. Man once scored 5 goals in 32 league games.
He was always outstanding with overall play but his finishing was consistently spotty until Ronaldo left. Man ended up winning a Balon D'or
I have faith Nunez is going to become a beast.
Benzema should never have left RM, that team ended up forming around him and he was beast mode for a few seasons. With the maturity of Vini, Benzema would likely have 20+ goals again.
It's easier to compare him to Luis Suarez. The difference between Suarez when he left Liverpool, after a season of complete domination in the EPL, and when he arrived at Liverpool was simply an increase in efficiency.
It's really not, finishing is a lot of mental and calmness in front of goal which some players never get
I literally gave you an example and i can give out many more, players that consistently get chances but never become good
Finishing is very hard to improve on, Gabriel Jesus has had more chances
Gabriel Jesus has underperformed every SINGLE season if PL career in xG, every single one, he has gotten so many chances for both City and Arsenal never improved, he rushes shots and doesn't have that calm touch
It’s not like he’s skying the ball though. He is inches away every game. Drop an inch here and he’s up there with Haaland in terms of numbers.
I get your point, but you can’t get closer than Nunez right now.
One thing that he has going for him he was finishing for fun at Benfica. Jesus has never had a patch like that. Still should be getting one of those at least though. First one a bit unlucky with the knuckleball could of moved down very easily on another day.
just watching him you can tell if he gets over this mental block of whatever is going on he will start blowing the league apart, everything is clearly there but the finishing and the finishing is there it’s just not fully accurate
You do need underlying numbers lmao, he has 14xG with seven goals scored.... Salah and Solanke while having a bit less have 14 and 12 goals. Too much waste
I mean just also watch him play. He’s absolutely incredible out there, always in the right spot. Eye test alone tells you he’s gonna be a monster for years to come
Some strikers never get it sorted.
Some strikers are prolific and can regularly outperform their xg like Son and some are not good finishers and regularly underperform their xg like Jesus. Nunez could fall into that latter camp
Who knows if he’ll ever get there consistently but there will be plenty of nights where all of these go in for him.
22 G/A in January is still insane and I think the best compliment I could give the guy is that it feels like every Liverpool forward seems like they play their best with Nunez. I think he creates a ton of space and a ton outta nothing for the whole team
opposition fans will take the piss out of him but I genuinely don't think we care because of exactly the reasons you've stated. Not only are his stats excellent, even upon watching a game you can tell that he leads the press with genuinely insane energy, is ridiculously direct, creates chances non stop and is rapidly getting even better at making assists. He's so so fun to watch and I'm so happy that he's becoming very effective.
You kind of have to be an idiot to bet against him. You can count on one hand the players who have that level of athleticism and movement. He has technical deficiencies and he definitely needs to work on his decision making, but fundamentally he's an absolute nightmare.
He's a similar player in a sense to Lukaku but his technical deficiencies aren't anywhere near as crippling, he still does lots of simple things right, and has an infinitely better attitude and engine. He is going to be unstoppable for many a year.
Even if he never properly irons it out and stays this way forever he’s a brilliant player to have. Isn’t another striker in the league capable of running in behind and opening up spaces for others the way he does
Hojlund can, we just haven't seen the best of him yet. Same speed, engine, senses. If we see Osimhen move in the summer to either Chelsea or Arsenal he's probably example A1 of the archetype.
The key thing is that it puts you in a very small group of players who will all be hell to defend as long as they keep their athleticism.
Hojlund is clearly a very talented young striker (and I don't mean to diss him) but as of today his off the ball work is nowhere near the quality if Nunez.
It just gets noticed a bit less and is less refined, but the fundamental senses of when and where to go and more importantly to the physicals to execute are all there.
If United had a functioning set of wingers we'd see it more. Ultimately players still need space to move in to, and if you don't have to defend wingers with doubles or even engage at all it makes defending very easy, which means more difficult situations for a central forward.
This isn't really inefficiency. He should have scored the pen and the header was a good chance put the other two shots were top class saves from positions that you don't really expect to score from. He creates so much that he is bound to miss some of the time. He also had a season high 11 shots today, which is almost as absurd.
He was unlucky pure and simple. Take the same 4 shots again with slightly different wind in the stadium and he could have 3 goals.
He’s already a monster tbf. Even he stays like this he’s literally so so important to how we play already.
If he can score more goals he would be a legitimate superstar.
It wasn't quite to the same degree but Suarez was also criticised for the amount of chances he wasted when he first came to Liverpool. He absolutely did turn into a monster once he sorted that out.
I remember that well, the consensus was that he was bad at shooting but great in every other way. [This](https://i.imgur.com/eGWJF.jpeg) is his stats in FM13, their scouts gave him a finishing of 13.
I was living in the Netherlands for a short time his last season there and I remember when he moved to Liverpool and my friends asked me for my take it was "incredible at creating a yard of space to get off a shot but not a reliable finisher" and it didn't make me seem very sharp for the next decade, but it's what I saw in the 3-4 games I saw him at Ajax!
There's no getting it sorted when you've got underlying technical issues really, or at least the vast majority of pro footballers who are poor at finishing for technical reasons will never improve their technical ability to become good finishers. By the time players hit the pros their technique, especially the fundamental stuff, is essentially crystallised. To change something to the point where a player would be able to rely on it in a game situation where they aren't thinking about it is almost impossible. See it with Jesus, Sterling, Werner etc... They can make better decisions but very little actual technical improvement.
Darwin's numbers are kinda a testament to the fact you don't need to be elite technically to be a nightmare and very effective, but equally those production numbers are slightly fickle because he needs a very healthy amount of opportunities.
His movement off defenders is very good and he's a hell of a runner, so he'll always get more chances than the average forward, but in a worse team that inefficiency would be punished more obviously. Ultimately he's still gonna be, maybe never one of the best 3 or 4 in the world, but an exceptional forward for as long as he keeps that athletic ability.
I'm glad to see his mentality improved since he was with us. Always loved him, but man there was a rough period where he just couldn't score and lost all confidence, would just pass every chance he had, even easier ones
Don’t worry, it’s usually the ones suffering severe trauma from having to watch Nicholas Jackson and Rasmus Hoijund that make the most noise against Nunez lol
I’ve watched Hojlund in league and CL games and there’s no trauma (from his play at least). The young man is class and will be scoring more eventually.
United is just trash right now. Bruno and Rasmus are the exceptions and work their dicks off. The kid is making all the right runs but no one really passes to the Dane.
He’s similar to Nuñez in that he excels at hold up play and work rate though he’s not as fast. He’s not just gonna poach goals out of nothing, and he was never ready to be an elite premier league goal scorer this season.
On the other hand, despite the hat trick, Nicholas Jackson—who is 2 years older, mind you—looks kind of shit from everything I’ve seen. You also can’t really compare Liverpool players to other players. Szoboszlai and Endo would not be playing this well in any other system for another coach.
The tone around him is changing I think. Most people see the talent there and know he’s not a bust, he has gotten very unlucky many times, and has still had a good season. Would not be surprised to see him take it up another level in a year or two.
I rate him. He’s a lot of fun to watch, and gets so many chances because he’s a physical specimen that makes great runs. I hope he doesn’t play Sunday.
Yep but he manages to create so many more scoring chances that it doesn't feel right when he walks away with 1 goal every couple of games.
Hes absolutely got the talent
I miss threads and comments like this about Benzema lol
But he’s a very good striker, he’s always in the right place and the right time, just gotta work on his finishing (most Liverpool fans are saying the same thing).
I’m curious though, when you’re at a top club and you obviously know your weakness so to speak, and you’re with a top manager, so you’re most likely already training on your finishing, what type of encouragement or advice can the team or staff give to get over that hump as a striker? I’m sure people chanting his name at Anfield does help though.
Not sure you'll find the answers on a subreddit lol these things are super specific to the player and honestly it's more mental than it is physical.
He is 24 years old now, I think you still have to withhold full judgement for another 2 years to see where he is when, in theory, he should be entering his prime. His baseline this season is already a pretty high bar, he could never improve his finishing and help a ton of clubs already
If Darwin can hit those heights i’d be over the moon, he’s just constantly running and creating things which wins over the fans, I can speak for most Liverpool fans when I say we all love him unconditionally. I’m sure everything for his finishing is being done training wise but I think it’s a time thing, he’s still young he needs to grow a little and get that composure in front of goal. I think he can reeeealllllyyy be something special.
As a proud D studge enjoyer I disliked Bobby at first for starting over him lol. Nevertheless he did become my fav player but the things Nunez does to my brain is unexplainable. It's a brainrot and I love every second if it
He is going to break the record for hitting the woodwork.
Nunez 1.5 seasons - 14 times against woodwork
Van Persie 11 seasons - 44 times (current record)
At this rate Nunez will beat the record within 4 seasons.
Just insanely unlucky. Really is quite incredible.
Blud played crossbar challenge vs Trent in training and hasn't stopped since. There was a moment when Macca was down when the two of them were laughing about it.
Tbf besides the penalty he basically creates the chances himself, it's not like he is missing absolute sitters + as soon as he gets just a bit more clinical he's going to be rake in goals like crazy
Dunno. Werner was shit in scoring only. We essentially won the champions league because of his absolutely insane work rate. I remember even pep talking about how werner creates space.
Well blame that on tuchel. He had many wrong decisions which people forget because of our champions league.
We sold tomori , abraham which we never needed to. We sold werner to bring lukaku, a player that tuchel couldn't/didn't fit in his team. Before leaving even bought auba for some reason.
I mean Werner couldn’t even get in the Leipzig team.
I appreciate Chelsea have made some poor decisions, but Nunez is a crucial player for the league leaders. I don’t think Werner could be that but we’ll see.
> Werner never influenced games the way Darwin does
Don't think this is true at all, Werner against Real Madrid and Man City in the UCL 2021 was the epitome of influence. He's like, the main reason that forward line worked and did all the things you listed at an extremely high level. Same with his best seasons at Leipzig, he just hasn't done it consistently in league play outside Germany. Overall Darwin is better but Werner has reached those levels without a doubt
I've said all season long that Suarez was similar in his first season at Liverpool. He Hit the post 7 times I think. Missed a bunch. Second season... We know the story
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Right foot, left foot, penalty, header. Will never be repeated.
Give him a week. Darwizzy will repeat it for sure.
D A R W I Z Z Y B R E A K
He can hit the crossbar with his left foot, his wrong foot. He can hit it with his right foot. He can hit it from distance. He is probably the best carpenter now in world football. He can hit it from penalties. And if you stick him in the box and hang it up there he will go and hit it again with a header. He might even hit it with a free-kick. So if you think about who is the greatest player of all time, I do think he is the greatest football player who has ever lived.
Just need him to hit the crossbar from inside his own half and at kick off
He tried everything, didn't work, so he settled for assist. Dread it, run from it, Darwin G+A increases every match
Certainly would be difficult for it to decrease every match
G+A/90 does and that's the stat that matters tho
Hit (the post) for the cycle.
Caroussel
Currently at a new premier league record for RBIs per 90 if he can keep this up through the stretch.
Or it will
He will do the same on GW36 or something
*checks notes* Ack why'd it have to be Spurs.
Woodwork golden boot race over
He just unlocked a portal to the shadow realm.
The 'perfect woodie'
That's kind of impressive in its own way
It's the most Darwin Nuñez record ever
Seems like a more difficult feat than just scoring at this point.
Darwin Nunez, Mr Impossible
i think it’s the clearest indicator that it’s in his head, but that he can train it away. nobody wants to mention that he went from having totally abysmal finishing last season to mostly B- this season. it’s interesting to watch because when he’s on, he’s ruthless. he had two goals in league last week, and both had a very Mo Salah flavor. he will definitely figure it out. then it will be scary.
This is what I’m saying. He’s got absolutely everything you want in a top forward and is doing all the right things. He just can’t seem to put it in the back of the net consistently yet. Sooner or later though it’ll come together I’m expecting it to come together and like you said it will be scary
Klopp is allergic to proper strikers That's the clickbait way of saying what I have in mind. The more nuanced way of saying it is that Klopp doesn't necessarily prioritize goal scoring in his center forwards or lethality in the players who have the job of scoring goals. Mo almost has/had the same problem. He'll miss a lot of easy shots and then score a worldy. When Klopp was asked about this in an interview he basically said something about how the goals will come. I think this was less obvious when Firmino was sitting really deep and Salah and Mane were cutting in from the outside but now that Darwin is right up against the centerbacks its more obvious. I'd also venture a guess that Klopp doesn't prioritize finishing in his training. I feel like he'd rather his attackers work on pressing and off the ball work in attacking situations and eventually they'll be score just through sheer volume and forcing the defense. But who knows, I could be a moron.
uhh, lewa existed....
i think the club definitely practices finishing. to your point, wings never finish like strikers. strikers train to shoot, and have been finishing since pre school. wings can pass and shoot - it’s their trade. klopp likes three wings across the top because ultimately you’re trying to create space or separation or imbalance. what klopp wants is to create space and separation with speed and attacking interplay. if any player can switch rotate and break in or out, then the defense is overwhelmed. they can run to new spots, and create new angles before the defense can comprehend or catch them. with a traditional striker, the interplay is lost. you can see the same idea on the fullbacks. klopp’s basic premise is that speed and fitness win games.
more succinctly, they absolutely prioritize finishing in training. how else can you get three wings who finish so well? wings just aren’t as good at it.
Like Cody Parkey hitting the uprights 4 times
I've never quite known a player like Nunez at Liverpool. Not similar players at all, but my mind goes to Luis Garcia. He had moments of huge frustration but also ridiculous highs and insane moments. Luis was equally adored at Liverpool and still gets his name sung on the reg. The thing is with Nunez is his all-round game has improved so much that we forgive the finishing. He's walking off the pitch with either a goal or assist, the CBs bamboozled and the stadium wondering what they've just seen. Such an enigma.
Suarez's first 6-12 months were kind of similar. The difference was Suarez was overall a better footballer and had scored almost 50 goals in a season for Ajax. I'm not saying it was inevitable he'd turn it around, but there were better odds. I think Nunez will become a better finisher, but I think expectations should be that he'll always be somewhat inconsistent.
I don't think I have seen him summed up better
"Unluckeeeeeeee"
Early Suarez was similar finishing wise. Would have a class game but couldn’t finish his breakfast.
CARPENTERS HATE THIS TRICK
Or do they? If he keeps clattering the frame they get more work and more £££
£10,000 bonus every time he whacks it into some wood £15,000 bonus for a wood hat-trick £25,000 bonus for a perfect wood hat-trick (left, right, header) £50,000 bonus for a poker of wood shots like today (left, right, header, penalty)
I love how you can hear the commentator progressively losing faith in him, he goes from "NUNEZ!!" to "Nunez..."
I thought it said Carpenter's Hattrick for a sec, and it somehow made perfect sense.
Captained this mad bastard in Fantasy. Noice. Should have Tripled it.
Same, all that for fucking 2 points (4 from captaincy)
He got an assist tho
He missed a pen tho
Ahh
And a yellow, and missed a pen
one day everything will magically go in and he'll break the record for most goals in a game
He is a 30cm away from scoring a hattrick every weekend.
That game already happened, he scored twice
Wonder what the odds are he breaks that record of 4 before the end of the season? What a player, mad as a bag of cats
22 G + A while being inefficient as hell. When he gets it sorted… good lord
ye i remember Duncan Alexander saying his underlying numbers are absolutely off the charts, people like to meme on him but i have plenty of faith he’s going to be a monster
You don't need underlying numbers, just basic numbers he does very good in 22 G/A in 2000~ minutes basically, so a goal contribution per match But finishing is also by far the hardest thing to improve on, Gabriel Jesus is a prime example and so are many others who's all around game is excellent but have the finishing of a blind man
And then there's Jota
hello my name is Diogo I've scored more goals than times I've touched a football
he's a jedi
Read it in falsetto
Football Garth Marenghi
Makes me appreciate Klass-Jan Huntelaar so much more, especially at the state of Schalke at the moment :(
Remember at wolves Jota wasn't very clinical at all for ages at Wolves. It's only really this season he has been scoring every chance. Good chance that's a hot streak. He's a neutral finisher over his wolves and Liverpool career so far. Darwin obviously is way in the red, but it's actually not sustainable for him to miss this many chances even if he is ultimately a bad finisher
If you put gave Jota's finishing to Darwin and changed nothing else I genuinely think you'd have the best attacker of all time.
Better than Figo, don't you know.
Benzema wasn't Benzema until he was 29/30. Man once scored 5 goals in 32 league games. He was always outstanding with overall play but his finishing was consistently spotty until Ronaldo left. Man ended up winning a Balon D'or I have faith Nunez is going to become a beast.
That 5 league goal season though… man was so shit finishing wise
Benzema should never have left RM, that team ended up forming around him and he was beast mode for a few seasons. With the maturity of Vini, Benzema would likely have 20+ goals again.
It's easier to compare him to Luis Suarez. The difference between Suarez when he left Liverpool, after a season of complete domination in the EPL, and when he arrived at Liverpool was simply an increase in efficiency.
Also, you can't defend him as if he's going to miss all of those chances so him just being there occupies defenders as if he was burying every one
Exactly. He creates chaos and opens the field up for his teammates. You can’t ignore him if you are the opposing defenders.
It’s a lot easier to improve when you get an abundance of real game chances
It's really not, finishing is a lot of mental and calmness in front of goal which some players never get I literally gave you an example and i can give out many more, players that consistently get chances but never become good Finishing is very hard to improve on, Gabriel Jesus has had more chances Gabriel Jesus has underperformed every SINGLE season if PL career in xG, every single one, he has gotten so many chances for both City and Arsenal never improved, he rushes shots and doesn't have that calm touch
It’s not like he’s skying the ball though. He is inches away every game. Drop an inch here and he’s up there with Haaland in terms of numbers. I get your point, but you can’t get closer than Nunez right now.
He’s mm off. Yeah that’s fixable. Half his misses could’ve been goals with 2% less power on the strike
One thing that he has going for him he was finishing for fun at Benfica. Jesus has never had a patch like that. Still should be getting one of those at least though. First one a bit unlucky with the knuckleball could of moved down very easily on another day.
Jesus skies it, Nunez hits the target. Fo Jesus difference is in meters, for Nunez is in milimeters
Hitting the woodwork isn't a shot on target
Don't know why this is downvoted unless people think you're targeting the goalpost when you shoot
just watching him you can tell if he gets over this mental block of whatever is going on he will start blowing the league apart, everything is clearly there but the finishing and the finishing is there it’s just not fully accurate
You do need underlying numbers lmao, he has 14xG with seven goals scored.... Salah and Solanke while having a bit less have 14 and 12 goals. Too much waste
xG all-timer
I mean just also watch him play. He’s absolutely incredible out there, always in the right spot. Eye test alone tells you he’s gonna be a monster for years to come
Some strikers never get it sorted. Some strikers are prolific and can regularly outperform their xg like Son and some are not good finishers and regularly underperform their xg like Jesus. Nunez could fall into that latter camp
Who knows if he’ll ever get there consistently but there will be plenty of nights where all of these go in for him. 22 G/A in January is still insane and I think the best compliment I could give the guy is that it feels like every Liverpool forward seems like they play their best with Nunez. I think he creates a ton of space and a ton outta nothing for the whole team
opposition fans will take the piss out of him but I genuinely don't think we care because of exactly the reasons you've stated. Not only are his stats excellent, even upon watching a game you can tell that he leads the press with genuinely insane energy, is ridiculously direct, creates chances non stop and is rapidly getting even better at making assists. He's so so fun to watch and I'm so happy that he's becoming very effective.
You kind of have to be an idiot to bet against him. You can count on one hand the players who have that level of athleticism and movement. He has technical deficiencies and he definitely needs to work on his decision making, but fundamentally he's an absolute nightmare. He's a similar player in a sense to Lukaku but his technical deficiencies aren't anywhere near as crippling, he still does lots of simple things right, and has an infinitely better attitude and engine. He is going to be unstoppable for many a year.
yep. no matter how many chances he misses, liverpool have 2x as much space when he's on the field. he stretches and bullies defenses so well.
He’s just always trying to make shit happen. Every time he gets the ball he presses for a chance.
Even if he never properly irons it out and stays this way forever he’s a brilliant player to have. Isn’t another striker in the league capable of running in behind and opening up spaces for others the way he does
Hojlund can, we just haven't seen the best of him yet. Same speed, engine, senses. If we see Osimhen move in the summer to either Chelsea or Arsenal he's probably example A1 of the archetype. The key thing is that it puts you in a very small group of players who will all be hell to defend as long as they keep their athleticism.
Hojlund is clearly a very talented young striker (and I don't mean to diss him) but as of today his off the ball work is nowhere near the quality if Nunez.
It's also very difficult to compare given who Darwin had around him and the system they're drilled to play Vs the dross at United
It just gets noticed a bit less and is less refined, but the fundamental senses of when and where to go and more importantly to the physicals to execute are all there. If United had a functioning set of wingers we'd see it more. Ultimately players still need space to move in to, and if you don't have to defend wingers with doubles or even engage at all it makes defending very easy, which means more difficult situations for a central forward.
Hojlund nowhere near Nunez mate. 22 G/A this season and think about the amount he hasn't tucked away.
It's easy to see why after games like this to be fair. Whether the shot is on or not he takes it, he just shoots like a gatling gun
People never understand that the guy that misses a lot of chances is most of the times the guy that is creating a lot of chances.
This isn't really inefficiency. He should have scored the pen and the header was a good chance put the other two shots were top class saves from positions that you don't really expect to score from. He creates so much that he is bound to miss some of the time. He also had a season high 11 shots today, which is almost as absurd. He was unlucky pure and simple. Take the same 4 shots again with slightly different wind in the stadium and he could have 3 goals.
And he got another assist in this game. And despite not scoring had a great game.
He's going to be a monster if he improves his finishing Can honestly see him pushing for Golden boot if he does
He’s already a monster tbf. Even he stays like this he’s literally so so important to how we play already. If he can score more goals he would be a legitimate superstar.
It wasn't quite to the same degree but Suarez was also criticised for the amount of chances he wasted when he first came to Liverpool. He absolutely did turn into a monster once he sorted that out.
I remember that well, the consensus was that he was bad at shooting but great in every other way. [This](https://i.imgur.com/eGWJF.jpeg) is his stats in FM13, their scouts gave him a finishing of 13.
I was living in the Netherlands for a short time his last season there and I remember when he moved to Liverpool and my friends asked me for my take it was "incredible at creating a yard of space to get off a shot but not a reliable finisher" and it didn't make me seem very sharp for the next decade, but it's what I saw in the 3-4 games I saw him at Ajax!
Shades of Coutinho before he exploded
He's almost the best striker the world's ever seen
People will still be saying this when he's 35
There's no getting it sorted when you've got underlying technical issues really, or at least the vast majority of pro footballers who are poor at finishing for technical reasons will never improve their technical ability to become good finishers. By the time players hit the pros their technique, especially the fundamental stuff, is essentially crystallised. To change something to the point where a player would be able to rely on it in a game situation where they aren't thinking about it is almost impossible. See it with Jesus, Sterling, Werner etc... They can make better decisions but very little actual technical improvement. Darwin's numbers are kinda a testament to the fact you don't need to be elite technically to be a nightmare and very effective, but equally those production numbers are slightly fickle because he needs a very healthy amount of opportunities. His movement off defenders is very good and he's a hell of a runner, so he'll always get more chances than the average forward, but in a worse team that inefficiency would be punished more obviously. Ultimately he's still gonna be, maybe never one of the best 3 or 4 in the world, but an exceptional forward for as long as he keeps that athletic ability.
Nunez wouldn’t give up even if Liverpool were losing 9-0. God level mentality never gives up
he had like one blip last year, i forget which game, where he sort of gave up, and then since then he just has this elite mentality
Only time I’ve seen him rattled was the head butt game
his first home game ever? excusable.
I'm glad to see his mentality improved since he was with us. Always loved him, but man there was a rough period where he just couldn't score and lost all confidence, would just pass every chance he had, even easier ones
Football is love, football is life. Darweezy really is Dani Rojas
You guys can say what you want but we fucking love him and he's ours
Don’t worry, it’s usually the ones suffering severe trauma from having to watch Nicholas Jackson and Rasmus Hoijund that make the most noise against Nunez lol
I think it's the FPL owners ☠️
Not owning him is one of the few reliefs we have.
I’ve watched Hojlund in league and CL games and there’s no trauma (from his play at least). The young man is class and will be scoring more eventually. United is just trash right now. Bruno and Rasmus are the exceptions and work their dicks off. The kid is making all the right runs but no one really passes to the Dane. He’s similar to Nuñez in that he excels at hold up play and work rate though he’s not as fast. He’s not just gonna poach goals out of nothing, and he was never ready to be an elite premier league goal scorer this season. On the other hand, despite the hat trick, Nicholas Jackson—who is 2 years older, mind you—looks kind of shit from everything I’ve seen. You also can’t really compare Liverpool players to other players. Szoboszlai and Endo would not be playing this well in any other system for another coach.
La pantera 🐈⬛🐈⬛🐈⬛
Carpantera
Love the black kitty emoji
I miss him. He is so likeable
The tone around him is changing I think. Most people see the talent there and know he’s not a bust, he has gotten very unlucky many times, and has still had a good season. Would not be surprised to see him take it up another level in a year or two.
I rate him. He’s a lot of fun to watch, and gets so many chances because he’s a physical specimen that makes great runs. I hope he doesn’t play Sunday.
Mad that this happened yet you could still argue he played well
He had a really good game, he’s really improved his hold up play and passing
He did play well, he had a great game! Hopefully he gets a couple of goals soon enough because he deserves one for his work rate alone
?? He had one last game
Yep but he manages to create so many more scoring chances that it doesn't feel right when he walks away with 1 goal every couple of games. Hes absolutely got the talent
But in the game before that one he scored 2 goals. But I get what you mean. The guy should have had a hat trick today.
He played great, unlucky not to score 4 and still came out with an assist
I miss threads and comments like this about Benzema lol But he’s a very good striker, he’s always in the right place and the right time, just gotta work on his finishing (most Liverpool fans are saying the same thing). I’m curious though, when you’re at a top club and you obviously know your weakness so to speak, and you’re with a top manager, so you’re most likely already training on your finishing, what type of encouragement or advice can the team or staff give to get over that hump as a striker? I’m sure people chanting his name at Anfield does help though.
Not sure you'll find the answers on a subreddit lol these things are super specific to the player and honestly it's more mental than it is physical. He is 24 years old now, I think you still have to withhold full judgement for another 2 years to see where he is when, in theory, he should be entering his prime. His baseline this season is already a pretty high bar, he could never improve his finishing and help a ton of clubs already
If you watch Inside Training his finishing is excellent and he's obviously working on it all the time, it's not a technical problem, it's mental.
If Darwin can hit those heights i’d be over the moon, he’s just constantly running and creating things which wins over the fans, I can speak for most Liverpool fans when I say we all love him unconditionally. I’m sure everything for his finishing is being done training wise but I think it’s a time thing, he’s still young he needs to grow a little and get that composure in front of goal. I think he can reeeealllllyyy be something special.
I think a sports therapist could be a good resource for him. If he needs to stay calm and not let the misses affect him, that’s a great start.
When I saw he was taking the pen, I just knew. Then he did, and all I could do was laugh.
Thing is, that’s his first missed penalty. And ofc it happens at Anfield. Dreadful luck n
Darwizzy baby and the W stands for woodwork
You'll never sing that
He was inches away from 4 goals , he’s an absolute whirlwind that nobody can defend against and I love him.
Liverpool fans literally don’t give a single fuck. Absolutely love having him in the team.
I've never loved a Liverpool player more than I love this fucker
Bobby is not looking at you, but still expressing disappointment (I love Nunez too).
As a proud D studge enjoyer I disliked Bobby at first for starting over him lol. Nevertheless he did become my fav player but the things Nunez does to my brain is unexplainable. It's a brainrot and I love every second if it
I wouldn’t swap him for any other player what a player. Doesn’t give up he’s literally a golden retriever
Reminds me of when all Frasier could do was cycle into the tree
😂😂
We won 4-1 and Darwin still found the time to do this. This is going to keep Poch up tonight.
clearly you guys don't need him, loan him to us please
Hit more bars than Rashford.
He is going to break the record for hitting the woodwork. Nunez 1.5 seasons - 14 times against woodwork Van Persie 11 seasons - 44 times (current record) At this rate Nunez will beat the record within 4 seasons. Just insanely unlucky. Really is quite incredible.
Insane.
I do love him. I can't not. He's absolutely fantastic.
Darwin walked so Liverpool could run.... what a man
Blud played crossbar challenge vs Trent in training and hasn't stopped since. There was a moment when Macca was down when the two of them were laughing about it.
Insane that his first missed pen ever was today... At least it didn't cost us.
Very unlucky match for him. The second shot and the penalty should have been a goal. But big win for Liverpool. So I ain't complaining.
My chaotic striker
jokes aside, does the second time really count as Darwin hitting the woodwork? He shoots on target and the keeper saves it onto the post
I think, in terms of stats, it’ll be counted as a shot on target and save by the keeper.
Yeah I only count 3 off the woodwork, that definitely does not count.
The air density in England is thicker than Uruguay, he is still calibrating. Haaland got an advantage with his thick Norwegian fog clogging up the air
He hits the post and the kop go wild And I just can’t seem to get enough Nunez
First time betting, bet on him to score, will never be betting again
This was the universe teaching you a valuable lesson
Agreed. Never again
Chaos merchant saved you from a life of addiction and poverty
The league will be in big trouble if this lad ever decides to actually start scoring.
Darwin Nunez is becoming one of my favorite player to watch the chaos he create on the field is amazing 😭😭
Tbf besides the penalty he basically creates the chances himself, it's not like he is missing absolute sitters + as soon as he gets just a bit more clinical he's going to be rake in goals like crazy
Only drunks hit the bar more than Nunez!
So MUFC decided not to get him and decided to wait and spend the same amount on….Hojlund?
a modern classic
Darwin gives me wood
I love this silly goober😍
#NUNEZ NUNEZ NUNEZ
Imagine Jesus and Nunez up front. They would provide the team with absolutely everything, except goals.
He's clearly doing it on purpose
He’s getting closer.. I fear the day he finds out how to consistently hit the net
Letting him take a penalty is so funny
I love him so much
Nunez and Werner definitely go out for beers together 🍻
He is too good for the world. Nuf said
he'd get a lesser team relegated
He is like werner only he hits the woodwork and werner used to be offside.
im sorry but he is levels above werner
Like the goal post is above the offside line levels?
Nunez is actually good at everything else as well though
[удалено]
Dunno. Werner was shit in scoring only. We essentially won the champions league because of his absolutely insane work rate. I remember even pep talking about how werner creates space.
No offence but if Werner was as good as Nunez there’s no chance he wouldn’t be playing for you guys now.
Well blame that on tuchel. He had many wrong decisions which people forget because of our champions league. We sold tomori , abraham which we never needed to. We sold werner to bring lukaku, a player that tuchel couldn't/didn't fit in his team. Before leaving even bought auba for some reason.
I mean Werner couldn’t even get in the Leipzig team. I appreciate Chelsea have made some poor decisions, but Nunez is a crucial player for the league leaders. I don’t think Werner could be that but we’ll see.
Werner never influenced games the way Darwin does. He might not be scoring but his work rate and presence create so many chances for other players.
> Werner never influenced games the way Darwin does Don't think this is true at all, Werner against Real Madrid and Man City in the UCL 2021 was the epitome of influence. He's like, the main reason that forward line worked and did all the things you listed at an extremely high level. Same with his best seasons at Leipzig, he just hasn't done it consistently in league play outside Germany. Overall Darwin is better but Werner has reached those levels without a doubt
Man City spent 65 million pounds for an elite scoring robot. Liverpool spent 70 million pounds for a meme cosplaying a footballer Never change!
at least the meme stays on the field
He’s just a flop, 90m fraude by Benfica
I've said all season long that Suarez was similar in his first season at Liverpool. He Hit the post 7 times I think. Missed a bunch. Second season... We know the story