As you know I disagree with you re finishing but this is a reasonable point of view. Unlike the insanity of the 'donkey' or 'needs upgrading' posts.
I’m honestly not sure how anyone watches some of the misses this season and last and doesn’t think he needs to be putting more of them in the net.
On the elite thing again I understand peoples frustrations, even ignoring the whole clinical, great finishing stuff, we’ve been spoilt in terms of strikers/forwards so I can understand some of the criticism for him, some of it a lot less so as it’s over the top IMO. We’ve been blessed with some of the best strikers/forwards to have graced the country both in terms of output and aesthetically, to a football fan this sets a benchmark and it can be hard for people to feel signings can live upto that mark.
It’s criticised but the reason I feel the middleground is the most reasonable is because both sides have points IMO. Fans watching every game and having been doing so for years are always going to think chances from a few yards out shouldn’t be missed all the time, one on ones shouldn’t be missed all the time etc likewise statistics matter to an extent and those who pour through the stats will look beyond just what is seen in games and look beyond certain things and therefore will likely disagree with a lot of what is said by fans who don’t look at the game through a lens of numbers. Look at any of a specific list of strikers who have been talked about over the last 5 or 10 years and you’ll see the same comments on them, Lukaku, Werner & Morata for example, you wont have to look far to see the criticism of their finishing. There’s so much to ask about in terms of players ups and downs and a lot of it is overlooked when the stats stuff is discussed but no one really expands on factors like the difference in the leagues, time on the ball, pace of the league etc etc i’m happy to sit and talk about stats until it borders on the air of if you disagree you’re an idiot.
Nunez for example profiles amazingly in stats but I dont remember a huge clamour for him OR massive backing off his stats before he came in, now maybe that’s me misremembering or having simply not seen many posts but where was the praise of his level before he donned a Liverpool shirt if it was all so blatantly obvious, especially from a stats point of view, the stats have surely been available for years now? That’s not to say anyone is wrong but it surely should have been more highlighted than it seemed to be
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I’ve said before and i’ll say again I think Nunez is sublime. I was unsure on the signing simply because I hadn’t seen him and I tend to sway more towards the side of watching and judging based upon both that and people who have watched a player regularly. Maybe it’s an overly simplistic way to view things but getting into 5 great goalscoring positions to get shots off and scoring none is going to grate. Early doors people will buy into ‘at least he’s getting into the positions’ because players need time etc and confidence grows with time, but after a considerable amount of time you want to see that composure develop where getting into those positions results in goals more often, I mean what use is having great positioning if you can’t make something of the chance.