Pep Lijnders’ eyes lit up as he spoke about the exciting development of Darwin Nunez.
The Uruguay international needed time to adapt to Liverpool following his arrival from Benfica for an initial fee of £64million ($78m) last year. Last season had its highlights but, for the most part, he frustrated. Now, however, Nunez is beginning to fulfil his vast potential.
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The 24-year-old has scored in back-to-back games for the first time since February and his exquisite volley against West Ham on Sunday helped Liverpool extend their flying start to the season.
Nunez viewed inheriting the No 9 shirt following Roberto Firmino’s exit this summer as part of taking on greater responsibility and he has embraced that challenge. After being overlooked in the opening weeks of the season, Nunez produced a stunning match-winning double off the bench against Newcastle United a month ago and has not looked back.
Aside from the goals, he looks much more in tune with the players around him; his rough edges smoothed out thanks to time spent on the training field. Tactically, he has adjusted to what Jurgen Klopp and his staff have been demanding and twice-weekly English lessons have made communication easier.
“Compliments to Darwin,” said Liverpool assistant boss Lijnders. “The fans love him. He has this extreme mentality to run, to fight, to arrive in positions where nobody thinks he can arrive.
“It’s been really important that he stepped up, not just offensively but defensively as well. It’s nice to see him in a good moment. He’s a pure intuition player. He smells and he goes, he sees and he does.
“What happened for him away at Newcastle would change any player’s life — to change a game like that. Those two goals gave him confidence and an intuition player like Darwin needs this kind of confidence.
“He speaks better English already and he’s invested a lot in himself. He’s been training really hard and has done since pre-season.”
Some of the criticism aimed at Nunez last season was unfair. A return of 15 goals in 42 appearances in all competitions was respectable given the team alarmingly lost its way.
However, Klopp largely favoured Cody Gakpo as his central attacker in the closing months of 2022-23 because he felt the Dutchman was better suited to setting the tone with his work off the ball. The manager talked about how “counter-pressing is the ticket into this team” and Nunez has responded to that.
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“We are the team with the highest number of counter-presses in the league at the moment and that’s a good sign,” added Lijnders. “The gaffer says: ‘The best playmaker in the world is counter-pressing’. We believe in this. To be able to play good counter-pressing, you need a fluid build-up.
“Normally, we say the player who loses the ball has to be the first one who chases. Hopefully, Darwin is lots of times the first one because that means we’re high up the pitch.
“He also gives us something that we didn’t have before. When we play, teams put us under pressure, especially when they go man for man. Then we can use Darwin to go over or through the press. Then he sets and goes and that creates space for Mo (Salah) and Lucho (Luis Diaz), (Diogo) Jota, Cody or whoever.”
Nunez has given Liverpool a real focal point in attack with his pace and power. His ability to hold the ball up and pick the right option has been another big area of improvement. It allows Klopp’s side to launch some devastating counter-attacks.
He’s also benefiting from playing in front of a new-look midfield with the energy and creativity provided by new boys Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.
This season’s sample size may be small, but the numbers speak for themselves, with Nunez outperforming his 2022-23 campaign in all but one of Opta’s key metrics in the Premier League.
How Nunez has raised his game
| 2022-23 | Per 90 minutes in PL | 2023-24 |
|---|---|---|
0.57 | Goals | 1.16 |
0.15 | Assists | 0.58 |
0.71 | xG | 1.11 |
-3.77 | Goals-xG | 0.15 |
12.7 | Shot conversion % | 21.1 |
157.7 | Mins per goal | 77.8 |
4.5 | Shots | 5.5 |
2.1 | Shots on target | 2 |
36.2 | Touches | 43.1 |
8.2 | Touches in opp box | 11 |
1.5 | Big chances | 3.2 |
0.5 | Big chances scored | 0.9 |
His link-up play with Salah especially is causing huge problems for opposing defences. According to Opta, they are creating a chance for one another on average every 29 minutes while on the pitch together in the Premier League this season — the best ratio of any pair to play over 100 minutes together in 2023-24. All six of the Uruguayan’s assists for Liverpool have come for Salah.
Nunez now boasts 19 goals in 49 matches (29 starts) for Liverpool and that works out at one every 141 minutes. For context, Salah’s have come every 134 minutes, while Fernando Torres (135mins), Luis Suarez (138mins) and Robbie Fowler (153mins) netted at a slightly slower rate than the Egyptian.
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Less erratic, much more polished, the “agent of chaos” — as Nunez was known last season — has gone to the next level.
Why is he so effective?
Klopp talks about a new-found coordination in Nunez’s game, with which he now understands exactly what is required both in and out of possession.
Early in the 3-0 win over Aston Villa, when Nunez hit the post, crossbar and missed a glorious close-range opportunity, he set the tone with his pressing.
Below you can see him closing down Villa defender Diego Carlos in the third minute and he quickly follows it up by winning a corner. Liverpool then converted an early opener and never looked back.
His performance against Villa almost warranted another start, but Klopp felt it was too much of a risk to play him in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off at Wolverhampton Wanderers after returning from international duty with Uruguay just 48 hours earlier.
Yet it was his introduction from the bench that helped swing the game in Liverpool’s favour. His energy and enthusiasm gave the team an immediate boost as he pushed the Wolves defence onto the back foot.
This was Nunez dropping deep to win possession, something he did several times after his introduction.
His relentless running and endeavour continued as Liverpool reversed a one-goal deficit to eventually win 3-1.
Nunez played a major role in the stoppage-time third goal, too. Below is the build-up to that goal, with Nunez on the halfway line and holding off the defence to collect a long ball from his goalkeeper, Alisson.
He then runs into space and plays in Salah, who tees up Harvey Elliott for the deflected third goal.
Nunez was rewarded with a start at LASK in the Austrian city of Linz in the Europa League and, despite falling behind, Liverpool again recovered to win 3-1, with Nunez converting from the penalty spot.
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It was his hold-up play and work out of possession that stood out, though. There were a number of occasions, like the one below, where he raced back to either win possession or halt play by conceding a foul.
It was here where Nunez showed both strength and determination to hold off the defender and then play in Elliott for the build-up to Liverpool’s second goal, scored by Diaz. This is the type of play Klopp has been particularly pleased with.
Again, here you can see Nunez chasing back to win possession on the halfway line and start off another attack. First, he wins the ball (below)…
… and then he plays it forward, before joining in with the break himself.
Even late into the game, Nunez was putting himself about for the benefit of the team. He delighted the coaching staff by winning the ball and playing in Salah for the third.
But his most impressive overall performance was against West Ham at the weekend.
His defensive diligence was obvious as early as the sixth minute. Here, Nunez is on his toes as James Ward-Prowse steals the ball off Mac Allister and plays Michail Antonio towards goal.
And here you can see the efforts he is making to track back and help out the defence.
Then, 12 seconds later, Nunez has recovered enough ground to win the ball back, almost in his own box.
The way he linked up play and retained possession was also another important part of his game — and highlighted how he has improved since last season.
This was Nunez at his best, first dropping deep to drag opponents out of position and start off another attack for Diaz.
Below you can see how he is charging forward and asking for the ball to be played into his path. This resulted in Liverpool’s opening goal, with Salah subsequently winning a penalty that he later converted.
It all speaks to a player re-energised at Anfield and as Liverpool continue to gather momentum after last season’s struggles, that resurgence could not have come at a better time.
(Top photo: Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
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