Gary Neville had better not try and change Darwin Nunez. He is the imperfect Liverpool striker and the most entertaining thing in the sport.
A phenomenal pundit though he is, Gary Neville is sorely mistaken with regards to Darwin Nunez.
“He’s just a little frantic and raw when he plays, he’s just got to slow himself down a little bit in the final third and be a bit more composed,” said the Sky Sports pundit after a frankly ludicrous cameo from the striker against Manchester City.
Nunez played just 19 minutes yet no Liverpool player had more shots, only Diogo Jota was fouled more often and no player for either team was caught offside on more occasions. He turned a three-on-one counter-attack into a blocked effort and clipped one finish over Ederson yet simultaneously about six yards in front of the net.
Quite why you’d want Nunez to “slow himself down a little bit” and “be a bit more composed” on that showing is a mystery because it was entertainment in its purest, most gripping form.
And on the basis of his performance against West Ham, this is Nunez’s only option. It’s not that he’s all or nothing, neutral or fifth gear. It’s that there is no middle ground. No grey area. Only mayhem and pandemonium. The one variable is whether it pays off or not.
It often didn’t on Wednesday night. An early two-on-two attack fell by the wayside; the puzzle as to what weighting of defenders versus attackers actually benefits Nunez remains unsolved. But then on the quarter-hour mark he evaded his markers and attracted a phenomenal ball from Thiago, letting it bounce once before hammering a first-time shot from wide on the left that required sublime intervention from Lukasz Fabianski.
That was one of the rare situations that genuinely suit his style of finishing. While some go for placement, others favour force and plenty more try a combination of the two depending on circumstance, Nunez again has only one recourse. The best way to describe it is the Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge approach – or more specifically, ‘YOU HAVE ENTERED POWER DRIVE’.
A dropping ball on the run and a backpedalling keeper? Probably fair enough to put your laces through it. An opportunity later on to fire accurately across the keeper and into the far side of the net? Maybe don’t hammer it straight at him. A chance to shoot on the bounce after some good chest control? Sure, smash it with your weak foot against the post. But when the rebound comes straight…
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