I thought it was fairly obvious that Núñez hasn’t been achieving his xG? I even pointed out that this season has seen a blunting in his attacking stats, pointing out how with his not particularly good conversion, his taking fewer shots also means that he consequently has less of an impact that way?
It’s odd though because we’re looking at a performance that is at least on par with 2021-22 if not better, and certainly better than last season. With other teams on 15 games we have a 4 point lead and a game in hand. If that’s not head and shoulders above the competition as it stands, then I suppose you mean something like the sheer dominance of 2019-20, which is historically atypical for any team, apart from City and their cheating.
It’s arguable that yes, he should be contributing far more than he has thus far, but yet it doesn’t seem to be blunting us that much.
That Reddit thread that I posted does point out that Salah mentioned how he knows that Núñez isn’t well-liked, so I presume that the players do at least know what the chatter online is.
I think if it’s the case that his confidence is gone though, at least he definitely is still trying constantly.
One thing I noticed in my intermittent watching of the game was that he seems to have a much smaller area to roam when we’re passing the ball around to try to find an opening. Salah and Díaz seem to get much more freedom than he does to come out and get the ball, and Firmino certainly had more. I don’t remember our games with Jota so far this season, so I’m wondering if it’s a tactical instruction or if it’s just his choice to keep staying there. I don’t think I saw him leave the penalty box at all when we were trying to find an opening through their bus.