The first touch is a little heavy. However, he maintains possession of the ball and moves towards the right channel with great speed. Nathan is captured by Aké. She writhes theatrically on the grass for a while, grimacing and grabbing her wrist. We had a small argument with the referee. He chases a long ball as the next phase of the game resets. He nearly collided head-on with a teammate. He directs his run towards the penalty area. He made a strange header from four metres. Tears to the corner in celebration. He tears his shirt. Reservation is made.
Darwin Núñez’s first taste of English football was against Manchester City in the 2022 Community Shield. Looking back, we see that this late passage of the play (a minute of pure, fluid Darwin) was the moment when the pattern was set. Hurricane. Cult hero. Agent of chaos. Andy Carroll has a slightly larger price tag and similar knowledge of English. From the moment Núñez arrived on these shores, accompanied by a series of unflattering social media clips and lazy comparisons to Erling Haaland, he would discover that his role as a sort of pantomime nerd had largely been preempted.
Relating to: Pep Guardiola sacrificed control and allowed Jérémy Doku to create chaos
Jürgen Klopp has always said that Núñez is a long-term project rather than a short-term solution, a striker with a high ceiling and a much more well-rounded game than many believed he was capable of. But no one was ready to listen as the misses and setbacks began to pile up in an indifferent first season in the Premier League. Even now, as Núñez begins to find his stride in an improving Liverpool team, those first impressions have proven to be stubbornly lasting.
But not everyone sees Núñez as a figure of fun. In his home country of Uruguay, Núñez is a much more aspirational figure: a man who rose from poverty and transformed himself into one of the best strikers in the world through a relentless desire to improve. There you are much more likely to hear praise for his prodigious work rate, his clinical touch in front of goal and, above all, his immense importance to a nation that has shed the burdens of the past and has built an exciting young team under management. Marcelo Bielsa’s.
One of Bielsa’s first big decisions on taking over in May was to sack Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani and make Núñez his pet project, the focal point of his attack, with everything Bielsa’s team required. It is a relationship that brings immediate rewards in the short term. With five goals in his last four games, Núñez became the top scorer in the South American World Cup qualifiers and helped Uruguay beat Brazil for the first time in 22 years and Argentina since 1937. It was Liverpool’s winner in the long run. can only enjoy the benefits.
It all started with a Zoom call in the summer. Núñez was injured during two Uruguay international appearances in June, but the new coach still had some homework for him. Bielsa had meticulously studied Núñez’s appearances for club and country for months and noticed his tendency to attack the space between opposition centre-backs. “He fixed some things,” Núñez said later. “For example, there is a game where the entire opposing team returns. HE [Bielsa] He tells me: ‘Don’t run in front of the second defender, run behind him.’ So I lose my position as centre-back.”
Of course, there was more to it than that. In Bielsa’s vision, the lone striker has a versatile role that goes well beyond goals. The No.9 player has the responsibility of directing and organizing the press, using his body shape and arcing runs to direct the ball into more suitable areas. Neither Cavani nor Suárez, both 36 years old, have the strength to fulfill this role anymore. By changing and timing his movements, the striker becomes better equipped to create space and give chances to his teammates.
Watch Núñez play for Liverpool this season and you can see some of these changes in action. His last two goals against Newcastle in August came from rapid runs from outside the centre-backs to the right channel. On the counter-attack against Nottingham Forest in October, you see Núñez instinctively attack the centre, then fail to remember to reduce his run out wide and score a goal to Diogo Jota. Creatively, this season is shaping up to be the most productive of Núñez’s career, with an assist every 145 minutes in all competitions.
None of this belittles the role Klopp and Liverpool have played in Núñez’s development. In fact, one way to interpret Núñez’s recent development is as a testament to how a player can benefit from different and complementary influences. Bielsa has always been open about his admiration for Klopp while at Leeds, paying tribute to the appeal of his games and the enthusiasm Klopp conveys to his players.
However, when asked to detail the differences between Klopp and Pep Guardiola, Bielsa gave an interesting answer. “I feel like Guardiola’s intellectual structure is not accessible, at least to me,” she says. “Klopp is a manager with his own stamp, but it is easier to decipher. Creating resources to encourage creative play sets Guardiola apart.” In short, there is a complexity to Guardiola’s teams that no other coach, not even the great Klopp, can match. So a teacher like Bielsa always has the opportunity to unlock new layers and levels.
Relating to: Trent Alexander-Arnold says Liverpool can challenge for the title again
There is a view that this is not the worst time for Liverpool to head to the Etihad, with Haaland, Rodri and Ederson all shrugging off injuries and a difficult international leg break. The 4-4 draw against Chelsea two weeks ago showed how vulnerable City can be at times against teams running straight at them, forcing them to defend one-on-one, luring them in with clever moves.
However, the real battle for Liverpool, a club that does not fight too much for the championship but tries to convince themselves that they are fighting for the championship, is psychological. City beat them 4-1 in the relevant game last season and what Liverpool’s development has lacked is a polished performance against serious opposition. There were draws at Chelsea and Brighton, a strange defeat at Spurs and a series victory at Newcastle. Meanwhile, it has been eight years since City last won in the Premier League.
In many ways, Núñez is a microcosm of all this: a player who has overcome growing pains and turmoil, missed games and missed opportunities, rotation and ridicule, and who, for all his progress, still must one day test himself against the standard he aspires to. to reach. For weeks it looked as if the article was dead, even though Liverpool couldn’t quite prove it. You feel like excuse time is over.