Hope he doesn’t ask to leave in summer, would be devastated…have loved watching him this season. Its clear he doesn’t speak or understand much if any English but where was all this when he was flying and looking out biggest threat every week?
Storm in a tea cup. Jota has scored 5 in 4 games. We want Darwin busting a gut to get back in the 1st 11.
1 Like
Nunez best role is wide target man, our main finisher. If we replace Salah by Nunez, our system don’t need to change and it will be fine. Play Nunez as false 9 is not make sense at all. He need to play along side Gakpo, not as his sub.
1 Like
Well, Nunez isn’t the captain yet. So I guess @mattyhurst has ample time for the make over.
1 Like
Wide target man…
Last time I saw that as a main plan was Greece playing the likes of Charisteas and Samaras on the left.
Or… us with Origi on the left at times, even if he’s more of a runner than a target man.
Not quite something you want to pay £85m for.
But yeah, Nunez first has to ensure he’s here when(ever) Salah leaves. First let’s see if he can earn a starting spot next season, then if the team can play with both of them in their best roles.
Salah is basically our wide target man. He plays alot of hold up and stays in highest position in our system. I don’t say that Nunez its better than Salah, but need to play his best trails. Salah is also shit when Klopp use him as winger in the September.
I get what you say, but target man something different. We don’t really play with a target man. Our long term hope might be that Nunez becomes the main man centrally, in whichever structure and that he can display a variety of quality, both by runs in behind, work the channels and also hold the ball when he needs to. Because a protagonist team needs one or two of the offensive players who can play back to goal, come towards the ball, etc. I don’t think Nunez has what it takes to become a “Salah, but off the left”, but it’s just where we used him at times this season. Out of necessity and needing better stuff both ways from our central guy. Salah’s role in this structure is again a bit more wider, but as long as he’s consistently hitting the number he still is, it’s not such a big deal.
2 Likes
Nunez should do everything he can to integrate. It will lead to his success. Language will be part of that.
In a season of adjustment, where we have been poor for most of the season, and Diaz has been out, Nunez has still weighed in with a fair amount of goals - not quite what you hope, but enough goals and glimpses for us to have hope that there is more to come.
I feel as though the blend is the biggest problem right now.
Salah, Nunez, Diaz, Gakpo, Jota.
Who plays, and what’s the best system?
At present the answers are unclear, and more work is needed for the best combo to emerge.
Arguably if Mo departs, say for CL football, I see a front three of:
Nunez Gakpo Diaz
As our best combo, with Jota able to take any role based on form and fitness, and a new, younger winger, say Diaby, being brought in to give five quality options.
All hypothetical, I know.
But the main point is Darwin is ok, but like all players who make such a move, they have to do everything they possibly can to make it work, and language is an important part of that. There’s more to come from him.
Overall, we haven’t found the best attacking blend yet though, and it is something to work on and unlock.
2 Likes
The central role now belongs to Gakpo. Nunez doesn’t have the technical ability to play as a center forward, and he has never played as a lone striker before. This is not his fault. However, our manager and board have failed to integrate his strengths into our system. And I don’t think Salah will leave.
Based on current personnel, what’s the best attacking system to unlock our potential? How do you see it? How many start, and where, and who is on the bench?
1 Like
He strikes me as the type of footballer who has much intelligence in his feet, but not much elsewhere.
I’ll be happy to be proven wrong though, and will hold my hands up then. For instance when he’ll be able to communicate with his team-mates in basic English (hopefully very soon!).
(Edit: for the record, I’ve nothing against the lad. He’s a talent and will score goals for us.)
So “he strikes me as…”
Does that beat having half a brain?
Perhaps if he focused on the goal instead…
1 Like
It’s clear he has so much raw abilities in him, that is why we paid so much for him. He of course still have a long way to find his sweet spot. But for an inconsistent season, and for a player still finding his way, scoring 15 goals is not bad at all. In fact he should have alot more if not for lack of composure in front of goal. A great player will always find a place in the team and hopefully next season he can build on the decent output in this.
4 Likes
Early on he seemed to be very good defensively I think on the field he shows a decent level of how to play it’s off that’s an issue.
Guerilla-like effort and quality pressing/counter-pressing is not necessarily the same thing.
It needs to be aligned with what we want to do, in sync with other players. Being a bit less “wild” and more clever, realize what we need to do, wouldn’t be a bad idea. We don’t have to and don’t want to kill his natural instinct, but it needs to be organized.
This summer, the attack needs to be all eyes and ears on the training pitch, as we look to reinstore our principles how to defend from the front and consistently. Of course, fresh legs and quality are needed in midfield and the defence needs to cut out the individual mistakes, or minimize it. But it starts from the front, we’re that kind of team under Klopp and that’s it.
Plus, there’s the back to goal/linking up aspect which is also important, as long as Salah is still in the side. Not sure if we can have two players “just” looking beyond the defence.
We’re not Leicester, that our forwards mainly face the opponent all game and just look to release a guy like Vardy. Not even Salah plays like that, he also has responsibilities, let alone two. So it remains a question whether we can be successful with Salah on the right and Nunez central or if Nunez can earn the time here to possibly become the ‘main man’ when Salah leaves.
1 Like
I don’t see any problem with Darwin long term and I don’t think Klopp does either.
Jota has 5 in 4 at the moment. He’s been here longer and is more familiar with the system. I think that’s it.
5 Likes
love the crazy bastard, but not sure the agent of chaos shtick works when you’re losing the ball as much as he is at the moment.
looks low on confidence and just not impacting games
His only impact tonight was winning the penalty.
1 Like
One more impact than anyone else had on the pitch today, they were all pretty average bar Trent Fab and Ali.