Nunez is not Liverpool’s Haaland and Klopp knows it

Jurgen Klopp betrayed a hint of jealousy towards Manchester City when discussing Darwin Nunez before the Rangers game. It has not gone to plan.

It was a revealing flicker into Jurgen Klopp’s subconscious.

“It’s not like everything is clicking and we put in one player and he finishes our situations off,” he said. “That’s not our situation at the moment, as much as I wish it would be.”

While it never felt like his intention, the Liverpool manager betrayed a hint of jealousy towards Manchester City in that moment. Pep Guardiola’s centre-forward cyborg has already left the Premier League in tatters but the Reds’ more expensive and ultimately far less refined model is malfunctioning.

Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez were always going to be the subject of tiresome comparisons; the only surprise is that it took barely two weeks for the argument to end in a technical knockout.

In hindsight, the mental gymnastics required to pretend that Manchester City might struggle to accommodate a freakishly phenomenal striker designed specifically to create their many thousands chances were as ludicrous as those needed to believe Liverpool could seamlessly transition from Sadio Mane’s unique and established skillset to rely on something far more exciting but considerably less proven.

Haaland has slotted into the Manchester City system but Nunez’s struggles contributed to the first change in Klopp’s Liverpool formation since April 2021 for the visit of Rangers.

It was not the decisive factor: the Reds sought mainly to address their midfield issues and the double pivot of Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara offered greater stability than before, without the porousness which has come to undermine their opening months of the season. The captain was particularly impressive in a slightly modified role.

But Klopp will acknowledge that offering Nunez a proper platform was a happy by product at the absolute least.

Were it not for Allan McGregor, the rewards would have been handsome. The Rangers keeper saved four efforts from the Uruguayan as Nunez made the perfect movements, found the ideal positions and even linked play impeccably, before invariably hammering a shot straight at the 40-year-old staring him down.

Haaland’s imperious finishing is such that he finds the corners with either foot and from seemingly any angle. If Nunez even aimed one of his attempts off-centre instead of favouring power, he would have had his goal.

As it was, those summer…