Darwin Nunez offers Liverpool rare bright spark to defy social media ridicule
The Uruguayan has given Jurgen Klopp’s side a spark in attack despite others still struggling to find form in the battle for a top four finish
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Your support makes all the difference.The way Darwin Nunez has become a figure of ridicule is very much a damning indictment of the way some modern football fans generate the opinions they do.
Algorithms for any football follower on Instagram and Twitter ensure scrolling through either social media platform throws up all manner of Nunez memes and mock-ups, poking fun at his poor shot conversion rate.
Yet, for those who watch him every week, there is a greater appreciation for Nunez’s all-round game and the energy he brings to a side in a perpetual state of inertia this season. In a campaign littered with nadirs, the impact Nunez is having, despite the ridicule from opposition supporters, gives Liverpool hope for a brighter future ahead.
For those who insist on using Instagram as a basis for their judgements, a look at the with or without stats tells you all you need to know about the Nunez effect.
After their 2-0 win over Wolves on Wednesday night, a result that flattered another below-par Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp’s side have won eight of their 14 league games which the Uruguayan has started – just over 57 per cent.
Without Nunez in the starting XI, however, Liverpool have emerged victorious from just three from 10. The meekest of draws against Crystal Palace at the weekend was prime example of how the rest of the Reds’ underperforming stars have fallen so far and Nunez offers something they have not been able to rekindle nine months on from going so close to an unprecedented quadruple – fire.
While some of his illustrious team-mates struggled to complete even the most simple passes against Wolves, with Salah, despite his late goal and season tally, again looking like a shadow of the player Liverpool rewrote their contract rulebook to keep in the summer, Nunez created more chances than anyone on the pitch, entered the opposition box more than anyone else while no other player at Anfield had more shots at goal.
Given he is still finding his feet in a new league, a new country and has opposition supporters singing “you’re just a sh*t Andy Carroll” at him, the fact Nunez is so direct and keeps coming, time and again, at opponents is what has endeared him so quickly to the Anfield faithful.
Liverpool were especially poor in the first half against Wolves, creating very little of note until Nunez burst into life, crossed for Harvey Elliot, picking out the youngster eight yards from goal, but he could not convert, summing up the endeavours of everyone other than Nunez in red in the opening period.
It did not get much better after the interval, but Nunez kept Liverpool ticking over, with the hosts just about doing enough to get the job done.
Nunez thought he had his goal, scoring for what would have been the third successive match, midway through the second half after an expertly-executed finish, only for VAR to rule Diogo Jota to have fouled Max Kilman in the build-up.
Instead, Salah grabbed the headlines after he followed Virgil van Dijk’s 73rd-minute opener with his bundled finish that ensured he has scored 20 or more goals in all competitions in all six of his seasons with the club, moving to within one of Robbie Fowler’s all-time Premier League goaldscoring record at Liverpool.
But the standing ovation Nunez received as he left the pitch late on told you all you need to know about who Anfield credited for a hard-earned third win in Liverpool’s last four league games.
“He is really getting there,” Klopp said. “Everybody can see that he is a just a real handful and a proper threat.
“The (disallowed) goal he scored was a super reaction, super finish. The runs he had down the line, using his speed in both directions, offensively and defensively. He is still a young boy, but everybody can see he will get there, there is no doubt about it.
“He is already super important for us.”
While the result implies Liverpool have the top four in their sights, the performance levels are still some way off the standard required.
Nunez, however, is the exception. Despite what social media football experts think.
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