I'm a Darwin Núñez Believer (Again)

Full Steam Ahead! 🚂

He’s back. And so am I, onboard the Darwin Núñez train. Choo choo! (Modern trains really need their own distinctive, onomatopoeic sound.)

As Mo Salah slows a little and turns into more of a roaming creative force, the explosive pace of Núñez, and the (statistically*) even-faster “smooth flier” Dominik Szoboszlai, offer that threat in behind.

*Second-fastest ever speed clocked in the Premier League, albeit Núñez not far behind.

(Luis Díaz and Curtis Jones aren't slow either, while Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota are pretty fast with the ball at their feet.)

I felt by the end of last season that Núñez, in not really pressing cohesively and apparently not learning English, wasn’t looking like someone who could settle. His all-round game was inconsistent, with nice touches followed by clunkiness. These days, strikers tend to need the first touch of a maestro.

I normally preach the idea of giving players time, but Núñez could have been an expensive misfit on the bench; at a point where money had to be spent on a whole new midfield. I thought the club might recoup £60m of his £65m-£84m fee, if money needed to be raised following the failure to finish in the top four.

(This was before £60m came along for Fabinho and Jordan Henderson.)

Gakpo as the false nine was knitting things together and pressing like a dervish. Núñez also seemed too focused on what people were saying about him on social media, which is a game you can only lose unless you score a hat-trick every week; one bad game and you’ll be a waste of money again. You have to rise above the nasty trolling; don’t even take it on for fuel.

Núñez was also a streaky finisher in his debut season (to put it kindly), but I didn’t mind that, as the one thing he excelled at was getting on the end of chances, or creating them for himself. That's huge; albeit not enough, as Klopp noted, when saying that the route into the team was pressing.

But the Uruguayan is now learning the language, and has clicked with the pressing. He looks relaxed. As such, I'll look into how he's progressed, and also the art of finishing.

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*Note: the ZenDen is additional content separate from the TTT Main Hub. Rather than seek to write freelance work for other outlets, to supplement my income and keep TTT running, I write paywalled, zen-like material on this, my TTT ZenDen. (Usually once a week, but more frequently during busier periods.)

The ZenDen is a quiet space with no commenting – just articles to read. The TTT community remains on the Main Hub, and its where I interact with subscribers, write other articles, and provide post-match analysis.*