Darwin Nunez: Analysing the Liverpool forward on a run of 11 games without a goal ahead of crucial Arsenal game | Football News

In a season where fine margins are being exposed, so is Darwin Nunez’s wasteful nature.

The Liverpool forward has failed to score in his last 11 matches, including a seven-game goalless run in the Premier League. But it’s not from a lack of trying.

Nunez has gone 24 Premier League shots without a goal and has missed at least one big chance – with an Expected Goals ratio of 0.17 or more – in five out of his last six games.

Some of those misses were crucial moments and they have cost Liverpool points. Nunez blazed over from a few yards out in the draw at Luton and spurned several first-half chances in the stalemate at Manchester City.

All this has resulted in Nunez being unable to shake off his critics, irrespective of the glimpses of quality that shine through.

This season, Nunez has the most shots per 90 out of any Premier League player – a good sign, he brings chances to his team. But his wastefulness is epitomised by his conversion rate of just nine per cent – that’s a worrying sign, and it leaves him with four goals from 42 shots.

And now there are other problems emerging. While Nunez is getting the big chances shown against Luton and Man City, that impact has waned in recent weeks.

The Liverpool striker started games against Fulham and Crystal Palace and failed to get a shot away in the first half of both games. And more recently, as Liverpool peppered the Man Utd goal with 34 efforts last weekend, Nunez had only two in 78 minutes.

Throw in more wasted opportunities through multiple offsides – Nunez has 14, the second-highest in the Premier League this season – and it makes you question whether he is the goal threat required for Saturday night’s top-of-the-table clash with Arsenal.

But as Liverpool’s assistant manager Pep Lijnders stated this week, Nunez, or any player for that fact, is more than just goal contributions and missed chances.

« If you would only judge players on the goals, that would be so unfair, because in our way always when we reach our targets it was always about the collective, » he said.

That collective Ljinders speaks about is particularly pertinent when it comes to the forward line. Liverpool are used to Mohamed Salah’s slick relationship with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane. But with the latter two forward players leaving in each of the last two summers has meant Nunez has been adapting to a system and No 9 role that Liverpool have not been accustomed to.

« It is a long time that we played with a false nine, now we have Darwin who is always in the last line, » added Lijnders. « Maybe [he’s] too high, offside sometimes! But he’s learning.

« When Mo wasn’t playing well, it was Sadio; when Bobby [Firmino] was maybe not playing well, Mo was the one who was decisive. »

What Nunez does bring that Liverpool No 9 predecessor Firmino had was creating just as much as scoring. Only Ollie Watkins has more assists this season as a centre-forward than Nunez’s five in this season’s Premier League.

There was more evidence of this on Wednesday night in Liverpool’s 5-1 thrashing of West Ham in the Carabao Cup, with Nunez playing a wonderful ball through to Curtis Jones for the midfielder’s first goal.

And Nunez’s creativity has helped to bring out the best of Salah. The Uruguayan has assisted Salah with four Premier League goals this season – no other Premier League partnership has more.

Salah and Nunez have also combined for 26 chances created in the Premier League this season. Take out Moussa Diaby’s partnership with Watkins and Erling Haaland’s one with Julian Alvarez, and that tally is twice as many as the rest of the Premier League’s dangerous combinations.

It is recognised by Ljinders. « I feel that there’s a good connection between Mo and Darwin. They see each other, assist each other, » he said.

« I feel that Darwin is playing a much better season than last year, the way he defends for the team, the way he controls the centre and puts pressure on, the way he goes, the way he chases back, his counter-press as well. »

But once again, a deeper dive into the detail shows Nunez’s poor finishing in his relationship with Salah. Out of those 26 chances created between the two, 18 are Salah setting up Nunez – and it has resulted in just one goal. Imagine what Salah’s numbers would look like had Nunez taken even half of the wasted 17.

There are plenty of signs that Nunez is not a bad striker, though. Take his Uruguay record for example, where has five goals in his last four World Cup qualifiers for Marcelo Bielsa’s side since the start of October, including strikes against Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.

Before Nunez even met Bielsa in the flesh, the former Leeds manager was calling him up on Zoom and showing the Liverpool striker clips of how he could improve his game.

« He corrected the things I’d done, » said Nunez in August, after revealing how Bielsa’s advice about running in behind was crucial in the forward scoring twice off the bench against Newcastle, unarguably his finest moment of the season so far.

Perhaps another Bielsa call would help this weekend, given Nunez is set to come up against the joint-best defence in the Premier League on Saturday night.

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