06 May 2024 22:45:13
Darwin will come good and it would be a mistake to sell him.
At least give the new manager a chance to work with him to see if he can get a tune out of him. (Have to say tho, speaking Portuguese would have been one major benefit of hiring Amorim) .
YNWA Darwin. Hope you've left Insta and joined this site instead and are reading this lol.
06 May 2024 23:17:38
We. Would take a big loss to sell him now.
I'd far prefer to see if he could make it under the new coach. I thought he was improving a lot up until a few weeks ago. But he has gone back a bit to falling over and tripping himself up a bit trying to get past players.
There is massive raw potential but we do need to see him make some consistent steps now and next season.
I hope we don't sell.
07 May 2024 02:12:59
He’ll be judged by the new recruitment team and coaching staff so I’d be surprised if he’s sold and Ed002 hasn’t heard anything. If a big offer came in then every player has a price.
Will he “come good”? Fact is he’s 25 in 6 weeks or so. He’s had 2 full seasons.
We shouldn’t be talking about “raw potential” in a 25yr old outfield player.
Danns has raw potential, in fact I think he’s a better finisher, but he’s 18.
Nunez should be hitting his peak at 25.
07 May 2024 04:17:12
Does everybody hit their peak at 25 @Ron, or is that a bit of a generalisation?
{Ed001's Note - usually it is closer to 27-30 that is the peak.}
07 May 2024 06:44:10
If you are in charge Ed1, what will you do with Nunez? You did say change of strategy that suits his game will help. But is the amount of easy chances that he miss really worth sticking with him because in the long run that miss chances would cost us.
You could argue that our other forward also miss a lot of chances, but he is our main striker so you would expect him to score those easy chances. Maybe a personalise coaching could help him. Putting extra effort on finishing like one on one with keeper perhaps, when to place the shot or when to blast the ball.
{Ed001's Note - every main striker misses chances, easy ones too. If we are not going to play to his strengths, then yes we need to sell him. If we are going to actually help him out, then keep him.}
07 May 2024 07:18:37
You can’t sign a player at the age of 23 in the hope that they come good at 27 tho. If that was the case we would be better signing him at 26. He has cost a lot of money . Saying that, he still feels to me a player that could break all goal scoring records in a season if he got his act together but the next season he would be back to missing tap ins, he is that inconsistent.
07 May 2024 08:20:16
Even after the way he acted at the weekend? Reminds me of a fellow country man of his
Working class people paying thousands to see our team and he can't even be arsed to applaud the fans.
Good riddance, spoilt brat.
07 May 2024 08:36:25
Darwin speaks Spanish not Portuguese.
07 May 2024 08:42:53
I don't mind him missing chances if he regularly takes some, if that makes sense ?.
I don't like this Captain Chaos thing. He causes less chaos when there isn't the room to run in behind teams and he isn't good with his back to goal. He's very quick and has some qualities but all this charging around is not for me and he's too easy to play against sometimes.
Keep it simple not chaotic. Stay onside, pass to a teammate in a better position and put the ball in the net.
07 May 2024 09:52:26
I find it amusing that grown adults feel so butthurt that they are reduced to hurling insults at one of their own players.
YNWA and all that.
Playground behaviour.
You find your real supporters in times of adversity.
07 May 2024 12:04:26
Darwin has more g/ a then Diaz even tho he missed a great chance most
games and is a few years younger still likely to get better so be mad to sell him imo.
07 May 2024 12:12:19
Spot on, Ed01. Darwin is the only striker I have ever known that is NOT allowed to do what other strikers do as in, miss chances. No grace given at all. Also, he is the only striker I have seen whose fans blame his misses for "costing us the the title" or all that rubbish. Never seen that levelled at Salah, Mane, Bobbie, Torres or whoever when they missed loads. And even when Darwin does well and the GK makes a great reaction save (like Vicario did at Anfield flying off his line and saving his shot with his belly), he still gets abuse. Frankly, Im over it.
As much as the kid needs to improve a lot esp. in front of goal in terms of his composure, calmness and recognising what type of finish to apply in certain situations rather than whacking it all the time, we need to help and coach him up and play to his strengths and like I have said before, we need to play more crosses in, something we were doing with Sadio and Bobbie BUT suddenly we no longer do this. Funny how Gakpo scored off Harvey's cross, right? Just my opinion.
07 May 2024 12:18:06
@Rigsby, I agree with you as well. The parts of his game you mentioned are the things he needs to improve on. He needs to be able to play with his back to goal a lot more consistently however, our current system does not allow for that either so what can he do? The whole running around and all that is what he is being asked to do hence, that's not on him now, is it?
Also, he is lethal in the air like Gakpo and Diaz are YET we don't even cross the ball consistently cos we are too busy inverting our best passer on the ball and stick the other best crosser in a back 3 hence he can't get forward. Hence, why people saying we don't play to his strengths have a point., as well even tho, it is clear he has to make some improvements and strides on his own. We have to help him get there as it is a two way street.
07 May 2024 13:24:07
Oli, it's not just our system that hinders Nunez. If teams sit in there is less space for him to run into.
You can't expect teams to play a high line so that he can get in behind them. He needs to be smarter with his runs and build up play when teams are on the edge of their penalty area.
Regarding crosses, he's often slow to react, imo. Two cut backs were rolled across the six yard box against Everton and he was second to both. He could have scored against City but he shot straight at Ortega because he didn't get enough on it.
And if you think Nunez and Gakpo are lethal in the air you've missed out on some great headers of the ball.
There's a lot to like about Darwin Nunez but he needs to improve in a lot of areas.
07 May 2024 13:43:19
I would sell Darwin if we got a good offer, but only a good offer wouldn't be giving him away cheaply. Unfortunately i don't think it going to work out for him at lfc, I thought it would as really liked what I seen of him at benfica and at certain times at lfc I thought he just about to explode but it ain't happened.
Ed1 has a point where the style of football now doesn't really suit him but imo even if it did his composure and play in penalty box is just allover the place, some things v good some things OK some things abysmal. I think his biggest problem is he lacks self confidence, the best strikers can miss a sitter but it doesn't bother them, get in next time and stick it away. salah done it for years missed loads of chances but always come back for more. rush only worried if he wasnt getting the chances. if nunez had a bit more aragance/ confidence about his game I think we be talking a real superstar but I don't he will ever have that.
07 May 2024 14:07:52
Rigsby, great that we can agree that the system does not suit him. Now, could it be that the system is also a problem when playing vs low-block teams? For the most part when we play these teams, we are inverting the fullback hence, clogging up the middle of the pitch which is where majority of the bodies are. In those situations, Vs a low block, you need movement from the forwards BUT also, the ball to be moved quicker. We don't do that so even when Darwin makes the right runs (one of his strengths is his movement, btw), we can't find him cos we're "overplaying" and "over-passing".
Now, you say his runs aren't smart enuff. I disagree here. His runs, movement and how to run into space are some of his strengths as that's why he is a chance-magnet. He just needs to time them a bit better by arcing his runs to avoid offside calls, IMO. The issue again, is that cos we play this slow wretched possession footie, we don't move the ball quick enuff cos we take way too many touches before passing it hence, he is offside by a tad when the ball gets to him. It's a two-prong prob, IMO.
Regarding your examples, sure he prolly should have gotten to one of them vs Everton BUT he can't be everywhere either. As for the City one, Ortega flew off his line and smothered the shot like Vicario did at Anfield so credit to the GK there BUT he made the right run, no? As for him being lethal in the air, just go watch the headed goals he scored at Benfica and even vs Utd in the 7-0 where he scored with the back of his head generating so much power. Or vs Forest and Burnley this season. The guy is lethal in the air, man.
07 May 2024 15:11:22
11 goals in 34 league games isn't a great return considering the chances we make. A goal every three games, is that really good enough? Nicolas Jackson has a better scoring record.
Let's not inflate his record up by including Europa league it's Micky mouse.
07 May 2024 17:09:05
Oli, one of Nunez's strengths is his movement but he needs to do it better? Come on! ?
When we play teams that play a low block, they will sacrifice possession to prevent us winning the ball high up the field so we have to play possession football. We still need to move the ball quickly but we also need to be patient because there is less room to run into and fewer gaps to exploit. City manage to do it without Haaland charging around and frantically knocking the ball forwards.
07 May 2024 18:04:07
Is it the manner in which he misses?
It feels like it’s head down and foot through the ball and hope for the best.
Composed finishers pick their spot, sometimes they miss, sometimes it’s saved.
Darwin seems to just toe-end it as hard as he can.
He hits the keeper a lot, often the keeper doesn’t need to move.
07 May 2024 20:25:13
Spot on Ron. He makes the wrong decision too much. Shoots when taking it round the keeper is easier. Belts it when a side foot is better.
07 May 2024 22:37:34
Absolutely bang on FlashTheRed couldn’t agree more.
08 May 2024 09:14:44
When Nunez plays well or scores the Liverpool system must work then.
Lets face it the lad has lots of positives about his game but the fact he runs offside a lot and blasts the ball more or less every chance he gets is down to him and is not the fault of the rest of the team.
The other 4 forwards seem to get in behind opposition onside despite when the ball is passed, because the timing of the run is just as important as the timing of the pass.
Nunez has to take accountability for it and with that extra bit of work from himself he will improve on this.
08 May 2024 10:03:10
Agreed with that Ron. Nunez tends to just blast his shot in the general direction of the goal and more often than not, it ends up hitting the keeper or the grame of the goal. He gets into great positions and makes decent runs, albeit some are poorly timed. If he can just calm down and place his shots, he would have a much higher conversion rate.
Tbh, he did seem to improve in this regard for a while earlier in the season but in the recent games, he has just seemed to get more and more anxious and it feels like he is trying to force the ball in the goal. I have a feeling that once he gets that first goal, the floodgates would open for him.