Topic: Darwin Núñez (Darwin Gabriel Núñez Ribeiro)

[PEG2K]

Come on please explain why Salah is on penalties when Nunez and Macca are clearly better penalty takers and have much better records?

Stop embarrassing yourself with this pen taker nonsense. There is no 100% causation relationship between being the pen taker and being the main goalscorer, in the history of football. And there is definitely no causation relationship between not being the pen taker and not being the main goal scorer. Especially when there's a long list of the main goalscorers at our own club who have never been the no 1 pen taker.

As for Salah still taking our pens. He became the no 1 pen taker after Milner left (or since he hadn't been on the pitch much for us). He's also our star player and a living legend. It's not a good look for any parties involved to suddenly strip him off pen duty and give it to some newcomers who haven't proved themselves yet.

You know all this very well. Stop manipulating the truths to win a minor detail while losing multiple main arguments lol.

[PEG2K]

Salah has 12 none penalty League goals this season Nunez has 11. If he wasn't on penalties would you be piling in on Salah for his terrible goal scoring record this season?

No we wouldn't. And that's because we don't use stats in a vacuum like you lot always do when you have to defend Nunez.

Sure if you put 12 next to 11 both look the same. But one missed 80% of his big chances and the other didn't. If Nunez was feeding off scraps all season no one would bat an eyelid. And there are also tons of other factors like position, role and age.

And despite all that, Salah is getting piled on for a while now due to his poor form since Afcon.

[Eeyore]

Stop embarrassing yourself with this pen taker nonsense. There is no 100% causation relationship between being the pen taker and being the main goalscorer, in the history of football. And there is definitely no causation relationship between not being the pen taker and not being the main goal scorer. Especially when there's a long list of the main goalscorers at our own club who have never been the no 1 pen taker.

As for Salah still taking our pens. He became the no 1 pen taker after Milner left (or since he hadn't been on the pitch much for us). He's also our star player and a living legend. It's not a good look for any parties involved to suddenly strip him off pen duty and give it to some newcomers who haven't proved themselves yet.

You know all this very well. Stop manipulating the truths to win a minor detail while losing multiple main arguments lol.

So you are freely admitting that there is a hierarchy at the Club and that is why Salah is on penalties?

For me that hierarchy involves us setting up to create chances for Salah. That hierarchy involves Slah playing virtually every minute when he is fit. I mean look at the strops if he evens gets subbed late in games. It is crystal clear that Salah is the player who is absolutely desperate to score goals. I mean look at the 10 assists Nunez has provided for Salah.

For me Salah is on penalties and wants to play every minute of every game because he is obsessed with breaking records. I think to suggest Salah can do that and Nunez should then be judged purely on goals is quite frankly absurd.

You want to create this narrative that Nunez is an out and out 9 whose only job is to score goals. Which is bizarre seen as in another post you freely admit that our front three rotate.



So which is it. Do we play with an out and out 9 or do our forwards rotate and interchange positions?

We have 5 forwards who are quite clearly good enough to start.

Nunez is the 2nd highest goalscorer and the highest assist maker. Despite having a below-average season in terms of taking chances. He is coming in to the peak years of his career at which strikers of his type tend to improve their goalscoring record. So why not give him a chance and see how he performs next season under a new coach?

[Eeyore]

No we wouldn't. And that's because we don't use stats in a vacuum like you lot always do when you have to defend Nunez.

Sure if you put 12 next to 11 both look the same. But one missed 80% of his big chances and the other didn't. If Nunez was feeding off scraps all season no one would bat an eyelid. And there are also tons of other factors like position, role and age.

And despite all that, Salah is getting piled on for a while now due to his poor form since Afcon.

For me Salah is getting stick because he is the forward given the least defensive responsibilities. That is what for me illustrates the unusual situation that Nunez is in. If he was being played like an out and out 9 the way say Haaland is. Then he would be the player given the least defensive responsibility.

[Cusamano]

yikes

[Eeyore]

yikes

No one is saying Nunez hasn't had a poor season finishing-wise. There are mitigations though. The entire City team have hit the woodwork 11 times this season. So that is 11 times in a combined 34200 minutes for the 10 outfield players. Nunez has hit the wood work 9 times in 1997 minutes. That is just nuts and reminiscent of Suarez in 11/12.

[MonsLibpool]

No one is saying Nunez hasn't had a poor season finishing-wise. There are mitigations though. The entire City team have hit the woodwork 11 times this season. So that is 11 times in a combined 34200 minutes for the 10 outfield players. Nunez has hit the wood work 9 times in 1997 minutes. That is just nuts and reminiscent of Suarez in 11/12.

He has significantly underperformed his xG two seasons running now. After his first season, there was less debate.

Good player that has margin for improvement. Ultimately,  you don't agree to pay £85m/€100m for that. It's more understandable if it's an academy lad that we're blooding not our record signing (potentially).

[Eeyore]

He has significantly underperformed his xG two seasons running now. After his first season, there was less debate.

Good player that has margin for improvement. Ultimately,  you don't agree to pay £85m/€100m for that. It's more understandable if it's an academy lad that we're blooding not our record signing (potentially).

It is a very unusual situation though. If you pay potentially a record fee for a player then generally he plays every minute that he is available. You set the team up to play to his strengths and if he is 12 from 12 then he takes penalties.

Nunez last season was one of 6 forwards good enough to start. This season it is 5 starting forwards.

[Phineus]

It is a very unusual situation though. If you pay potentially a record fee for a player then generally he plays every minute that he is available. You set the team up to play to his strengths and if he is 12 from 12 then he takes penalties.

Nunez last season was one of 6 forwards good enough to start. This season it is 5 starting forwards.

I don’t think we have to be honest, not properly. Not with slow build up play and such a narrow shape.

[Eeyore]

I don’t think we have to be honest, not properly. Not with slow build up play and such a narrow shape.

I think Nunez would have done much better three or four years ago. With two wide attackers who had their fullbacks on toast in Salah and Mane and two fullbacks in Trent and Robbo bombing on.

As you say we now have a slow build-up with us basically passing the ball between Ali and the centre backs and then Trent inverting and Robbo is expected to play much more as a 3rd defender than a rampaging wing-back.

We now look to create chances for Salah cutting in onto his left foot and look to create chances for shooting for the midfield players from the edge of the box.

[TSC]

No we wouldn't. And that's because we don't use stats in a vacuum like you lot always do when you have to defend Nunez.

Sure if you put 12 next to 11 both look the same. But one missed 80% of his big chances and the other didn't. If Nunez was feeding off scraps all season no one would bat an eyelid. And there are also tons of other factors like position, role and age.

And despite all that, Salah is getting piled on for a while now due to his poor form since Afcon.

Salah’s been one of the best players on the planet for years.  As you note his form’s been poor since coming back from Afcon and with a change in management who knows whether or not he’ll be here next term.  But then that goes for all players.  Not many, if any, who’ve recently returned from injury spells have been in form.  Hence why we’ve fallen away.

[killer-heels]

It is a very unusual situation though. If you pay potentially a record fee for a player then generally he plays every minute that he is available. You set the team up to play to his strengths and if he is 12 from 12 then he takes penalties.

Nunez last season was one of 6 forwards good enough to start. This season it is 5 starting forwards.

There has to be some semblance to any player being good enough to build a team around. From day one it was clear that Liverpool had bought a player that needed a lot of work, which then for me goes down to the muddled nature of our recruitment in summer 2022 and winter 2023.

Ultimately we can point to stats and everything but here we are, a second season in a row and in the run in Nunez is now very much relegated to the bench and thats even with Jota injured.

I hope Nunez starts today by the way, he is better than Gakpo. But its damning again if he doesnt.

[Funky_Gibbons]

Ultimately we can point to stats and everything but here we are, a second season in a row and in the run in Nunez is now very much relegated to the bench and thats even with Jota injured.

I hope Nunez starts today by the way, he is better than Gakpo. But its damning again if he doesnt.

It’s not really comfortable to last season though, this season with Nunez in the side we pretty much achieved champion league football with games to spare. That was the minimum target at the start of the season.

We’ve pretty much got nothing to play for now.

[killer-heels]

It’s not really comfortable to last season though, this season with Nunez in the side we pretty much achieved champion league football with games to spare. That was the minimum target at the start of the season.

We’ve pretty much got nothing to play for now.

Last season we were going for top four and Nunez hardly featured in many starting line up’s. This season we were going for the title and after the Palace game, he started once against Everton which I am convinced he doesnt start if Gakpo and Jota are available.

Even now, if he is our main striker then he should be one of the first names on the teamsheet.

[PEG2K]

You want to create this narrative that Nunez is an out and out 9 whose only job is to score goals. Which is bizarre seen as in another post you freely admit that our front three rotate.

Lmao you're such a joke of a poster. Consecutively losing arguments, then digging up my old post which has nothing to do with what you're accusing (but you like to pretend otherwise). Honestly I'm baffled by the leap in logic you're trying to make here.

The front 3 mentioned in the above screenshot is Gakpo Jota Diaz. The switching position is a thing I predicted at that time that they would do, given 2 out of the 3 are versatile and the other (Diaz) was played on his unnatural side. Funny that it turned out in the end that Klopp put them in the positions that I wanted (my bad for doubting him) and they didn't switch positions in that game apart from Jota drifting wide a few times.

Nunez playing as an out and out 9 is what already happened in the past that we can observe, and was recorded and confirmed by stats. It makes sense for a front 3 of Gakpo Jota Diaz to rotate positions, rather than one of Diaz Nunez Salah.

You have such a talent for digging up super small details that have no relevant to the matter in discussion and pretend like they are such big factors lol. What's next lol? Nunez is busy studying evolution since his name is Darwin, and that affected his performance on the pitch?

[PEG2K]

He is coming in to the peak years of his career at which strikers of his type tend to improve their goalscoring record. So why not give him a chance and see how he performs next season under a new coach?

I have become tired of dealing with your ridiculous arguments. So I'm just gonna quote this and say I don't oppose to this idea and have never said otherwise at any point. Also it's not like any club would (be stupid to) give us big money for him, so of course he's staying here whether you and me or anyone like it or not.

[daggerdoo]

Whichever side you're on, the above post is the most rational way of looking at the player and the thread.

[daggerdoo]

The post and the post within the post.

[Historical Fool]

Whichever side you're on, the above post is the most rational way of looking at the player and the thread.

Ank has been very sensible in this thread …

[Eeyore]

I have become tired of dealing with your ridiculous arguments. So I'm just gonna quote this and say I don't oppose to this idea and have never said otherwise at any point. Also it's not like any club would (be stupid to) give us big money for him, so of course he's staying here whether you and me or anyone like it or not.

Firstly any chance of actually debating without the name calling. We are all Liverpool fans and to be honest the debate would be much better if you could play the ball and not the man.

Secondly, Nunez is still a highly regarded young forward, so to suggest no one would like to sign him is really strange. Havertz for me was much poorer at Chelsea but was still sold for a huge fee.

[mullyred94]

Firstly any chance of actually debating without the name calling. We are all Liverpool fans and to be honest the debate would be much better if you could play the ball and not the man.

Secondly, Nunez is still a highly regarded young forward, so to suggest no one would like to sign him is really strange. Havertz for me was much poorer at Chelsea but was still sold for a huge fee.

Didn’t Chelsea want to buy Nunez in the summer ?

[Wool]

Benched again.

[Cpt_Reina]

Benched again.

This is what was so bizarre about the Nunez defenders in here leaning on 'if only he had more minutes'. The arguments were *so* close to landing on something profound but they still missed the mark, not unlike Darwin coincidentally.

He doesn't get more minutes because he kettles Klopp's head.

He either takes him off after watching him fluff his lines when he starts games, or has benched him much more regularly than you'd expect an 'elite' no9 to be sat.

That's why the minutes aren't higher.

[Zlen]

Benched again.

Can’t have any complaints about it.

[mullyred94]

This is what was so bizarre about the Nunez defenders in here leaning on 'if only he had more minutes'. The arguments were *so* close to landing on something profound but they still missed the mark, not unlike Darwin coincidentally.

He doesn't get more minutes because he kettles Klopp's head.

He either takes him off after watching him fluff his lines when he starts games, or has benched him much more regularly than you'd expect an 'elite' no9 to be sat.

That's why the minutes aren't higher.

Maybe because the seasons over

[Cpt_Reina]

Maybe because the seasons over

Sure...

He was benched for the second leg at atalanta and the following PL game vs Fulham.

The Everton start only came about because Gakpo's wife was in labour.

[DelTrotter]

Fucking hell, relentless.

Very weird.

[mullyred94]

Sure...

He was benched for the second leg at atalanta and the following PL game vs Fulham.

The Everton start only came about because Gakpo's wife was in labour.

But started all the main games until then.

You hate him, I love him.

The world goes on.

[Cpt_Reina]

But started all the main games until then.

You hate him, I love him.

The world goes on.

I don't hate him. I'm not 14. Just shooting the shit.

Darwin can prove the 'haters' wrong any time he likes. Just needs to score more goals.

[mullyred94]

I don't hate him. I'm not 14. Just shooting the shit.

Darwin can prove the 'haters' wrong any time he likes. Just needs to score more goals.

I'm not 14 either, I would have joined RAWK at 2 years old.

[DiggerJohn]

I still believe there is a player in there. Perfer him at no9 that Gakpo. More of a treat in behind and more physical too

[PEG2K]

To be fair, playing Spurs when they need 3 pts with their highline, I'd start Nunez as the 9. The one that should be benched for Gakpo who is in good form is either Salah or Diaz.

Not that it matters anyway. He could score a hattrick today or be benched for the rest of the season. Doesn't change a thing with Slot and a whole new system coming in.

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

Nicholas "fucking" Jackson has more goals than Nunez now, has to be a joke.

[DiggerJohn]

I still believe there is a player in there. Perfer him at no9 that Gakpo. More of a treat in behind and more physical too

What are you on about fool

[darragh85]

Nicholas "fucking" Jackson has more goals than Nunez now, has to be a joke.

have you not been watching this past month?

[DHRED]

Thought he looked onside there, not even checked by PGMOL. Surprised?

[darragh85]

looked very close. not surprised they didnt check it though. another odd one to add to the long list. every other time that gets checked

[Tonyh8su]

looked very close. not surprised they didnt check it though. another odd one to add to the long list. every other time that gets checked

In fairness you could see on the replay the cut of the grass showed he was about a yard off. Mancs (blue or red) or Arsenal and they're absolutely using a ruler though.

He continues to be so incredibly frustrating though even in that chance at the end. Put it over the keeper or take it round him. Even stop and square to Gakpo, anything except hammer it directly at the keeper FFS.

[Kansti]

Needed to round the keeper there

[Wool]

Oh my god. Why didn’t he just round the keeper??? Vicario was so far out lol. Slot needs to spend the entire summer locking this lad on a pitch with Fowler or something.