2023-11-08 07:28:05
While Liverpool was struggling to beat Luton Town last Sunday in the 11th round of the English Premier League, Trent Alexander-Arnold passed a perfect cross to Mohamed Salah, who passed it with his head to Darwin Nunez, who was facing a completely empty goal, but instead of putting it into the net, he strangely knocked it away from the ball. Empty goal.
Salah pulled his hair in disbelief, while Jurgan Klopp began screaming in anger at wasting the easy opportunity, while Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher, a commentator on Sky Sports, said: “I don’t think people will forget that.”
How has Darwin Nunez not scored that?! ????#beINPL #LUTLIV pic.twitter.com/RKaiB7YDsc
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) November 5, 2023
People did not really forget, as harsh criticism poured in on Nunez on social media networks in an unprecedented manner, and many of them called for the player to be sold and eliminated, according to what the British newspaper The Daily Mail reported in a report following the match.
This was not the first time that Nunez wasted easy opportunities, as this scene was repeated over and over once more throughout this season and the previous one.
Last season, 2022-2023, Nunez played 19 matches as a starter, in addition to 10 matches as a substitute, and he made 35 shots on goal out of a total of 69 shots, and scored only 9 goals. As for this 2023-2024 season, he has scored only 4 goals so far following 11 rounds of the Premier League. It is enough to know that Nunez had 6 real chances to score in the Reds’ last match once morest Luton Town, but he strangely wasted them all.
Nissan goal @nissan In October, it is Haaland’s header at Old Trafford ????
Click here to win a shirt signed by the player ????#City
– Manchester City (@Cityarabia) November 6, 2023
Between Nunez and Haaland
In fact, if Darwin Nunez had scored his chances, Liverpool would have won the league and would have become the top scorer in the English Premier League, or at the very least a fierce competitor to Manchester City striker Erling Haaland for the top spot. While the “Norwegian scoring machine” excelled in his first season in English football, scoring 36 goals in the league to win the Golden Boot award and the title of top scorer in the English Premier League with the “Citizens”, Nunez only scored 9 goals out of the huge amount of opportunities he received throughout that season. .
Haaland has won individual and team awards since joining Manchester City (Getty)
Unlike Haaland, Nunez lacks a finishing touch and has gained a reputation as a ‘wasteer’ rather than a ‘finisher’, but if you take his sloppy finishing out of the equation, there is not much difference between the former Benfica scorer and Haaland. Not only in their similar physical structure, but in their playing style, and their thirst for success, Nunez is distinguished from the Manchester City player in that he is more versatile and more active. He is not satisfied with the role of the outright striker in front of the three posts, but he can play on the wing, and deep in the field.
Watching Nunez’s amazing goal = the best start to the day ????✨pic.twitter.com/yVxMTw1n17
– Liverpool FC (@LFC_Arabic) November 2, 2023
The Uruguayan can also play anywhere along the forward line, providing additional value to the team. But all of this needs to be translated into goals, and this is what the player lacks. This is also the only correct measure of the value of any striker, which raises a real question:
Is Núñez worth the £85 million (regarding €98 million) that was paid for him?
Regardless of the rare glimpses he shows in some matches, his speed, agility and constant pressure, the Uruguayan international striker failed to achieve a single one of the goals that made Liverpool spend such a huge sum to sign him from the Portuguese club Benfica last summer, which casts doubt on his reputation. His ability to fill the shoes of Roberto Firmino or Sadio Mane in the long term.
Let’s not forget that Liverpool spent 30 million pounds (regarding 35 million euros) more than Manchester City to get a new striker in 2022, and look at the result now? The Citizens have the top scorer in the league and the Reds have the goalscorers who never miss!
The strange thing is that Nunez’s record with his former Portuguese club, Benfica, is full of success and achievements. He won the title of top scorer in the Portuguese league in the 2021-2022 season with 26 goals. He also scored 6 goals for Benfica in the Champions League, including two goals once morest Liverpool in the quarter-finals in that year. Season, he also scored two more goals in the cup competition, bringing his tally to 34 goals in 41 matches with his Portuguese club in all competitions that season, and these numbers are what prompted Liverpool to sign him, to replace Roberto Firmino, who left the Reds following a career full of success.
Top 3️⃣ Best Scorers in the BWIN League 2021/22:
???? Darwin Núñez (Benfica) | 26 ⚽️
???? Mehdi Taremi (FC Porto) | 20 ⚽️
???? Ricardo Horta (SC Braga) | 19 ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Sfjh8xsioV
— Transfer Diary (@DTransferencias) May 15, 2022
Perhaps this raises another question regarding Liverpool’s recent deals. Are they a real addition or another burden on the team?
Liverpool spent 172 million euros on signing new players this season. It bought Dominik Soboslai from the German club Leipzig for 70 million euros, Mac Allister from the English club Brighton for 42 million euros, Ryan Gravenberch for 40 million euros from the German club Bayern Munich, and Wataru Endo from the German club. German club Stuttgart for 20 million euros, which indicates that Klopp is fond of signing players from German clubs.
The team’s results in the league this season may provide the answer to the previous question, as the club currently occupies third place in the English Premier League following 11 rounds, trailing Manchester City by 3 points. The team suffered one loss once morest Tottenham, but wasted many points in the draw. With clubs that are theoretically considered lower than him in level, such as his recent draw with Luton Town, which is in seventeenth place in the league standings and threatened with relegation.
This raises real questions regarding the team’s ability to win the league this year in particular, in light of the strange waste of opportunities by its attackers, especially Nunez, as well as in light of the presence of fierce competitors such as Tottenham, Arsenal, and, of course, the league leader and defending champion Manchester City.
Dominik Soboslaj joined Liverpool from German club Leipzig for 70 million euros (Getty)
This leads us to a fundamental question: Is Nunez standing in the way of Liverpool winning the English Premier League?
The striker’s previous numbers and statistics indicate that the answer is yes, because 4 goals in 11 matches is not enough at all, from a player for whom a high price of 85 million pounds was paid, especially when compared to the 11 goals scored by Haaland during the same period for City. It is the goals that decide the amount The success of any striker or not, just as the team that wastes chances also wastes points, and the team that does not score eventually scores once morest them in the end.
It seems clear that Liverpool needs a different type of striker to fill the absence of Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, whose absence seems to have significantly affected the team’s results, and none of the new players signed by Liverpool were able to fill the gap left by their absence.
Firmino and Sadio Mane formed a trio with Salah that brought many championships to the Reds (Getty)
1699430499
#wasted #Nunez #obstacle #Liverpools #victory #English #Premier #League #sports
