Sounds like Werner.
Darwin Núñez | Liverpool player | Fighter
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Half a season and you can already make minutes long fail comps
Yeah good call, a comparison to Welbeck seems far more appropriate than Salah or Lukaku!
Someone was asking about the big chances missed graphic earlier, here they are.
I still think Liverpool would have been better off with Origi up front this season.
In a way yes, but I think Nunes will come good. He has been great at creating chances, but awful at finishing plus had poor luck. If he can improve the final second of his game and improve his conversion rate, he will become a 20+ PL goals player.
10x better player
I think he'll turn into a 30 goal a season (in all comps) sort of guy, while at the same time being a player that fans are constantly frustrated with and think he can be improved in easily.
He caused chaos on the pitch (for both teams), and is quite hard to contain but also obviously his technique is all over the place. I do think that he's someone that if you just teach him to slow down at the last moment, he'll turn into one of the best strikers around, but everything right now is moving a million miles per hour.
In the mean time, he'll be a constant highlight reel of mis kicks.
He caused chaos on the pitch (for both teams), and is quite hard to contain but also obviously his technique is all over the place. I do think that he's someone that if you just teach him to slow down at the last moment, he'll turn into one of the best strikers around, but everything right now is moving a million miles per hour.
In the mean time, he'll be a constant highlight reel of mis kicks.
We can laugh all we want but keep in mind the guy is constantly getting himself into goal scoring situations in almost every game. I believe that after some coaching (like it happened with Vini Jr. at real) he will become a real threat.
Expect him to explode into a goalscoring machine next season.
Expect him to explode into a goalscoring machine next season.
Those highlights are Bebe worthy. Still think he'll become a proper player. But he needs serious coaching.
Liverpool are lobbying for the rules to be changed so from now on it's goal scoring situations that count and not actual goals, that way they win every game by 10 clear 'goals'.
Until that happens however, that stat means absolutely feck all.
Vini Jr wasn't hitting shots out for throw ins every game though. He was also about 3 or 4 years younger than Nunez when he was struggling with his shooting.
What makes you think he’ll turn out differently to Werner?
Yeah, toaster toes is a good comparison. Prolific at a lower profile club and kept getting lots of chances so the same “when he starts converting them he’ll be a goal machine” rhetoric.
Wasn’t Werner more prolific over a longer period of time than Nunez was in Portugal?
He doesn't just miss chances by a few inches, it's not like its bad luck and he keeps hitting the post, or keepers are making great saves. His shots go closer to the corner flag than the goal.
This isn't even close to a normal shooting posture. He has little control of the leg swinging out to the left plus it's tough to hit it hard from this angle.
https://www.soccer-training-methods.com/soccer-shooting.html
Pretty much sums it up.
Ok thanks!
You can....I certainly won't
If goal scoring was about hard effort and getting in positions a lot more would be doing it but the art of finishing is the art of goal scoring and this guy does not have the technique or more importantly the composure for it.
He's so fecking shit.
Let me ask you ask this and be as truthful as you can, in what way can you coach this?
The technique is so bad that it’s almost from scratch. You may as well take any striker who has a bit of pace about them and teach them how to finish, there’s nothing there that says Nunez will develop in any significant way
Yeah, far too many of those misses aren't of the "oh, unlucky!" variety. They're just plain shit finishing. He can improve, of course, but it's not like he looks like a player who will inevitably come good. He needs to get considerably better at finishing, in a purely technical sense. There's no guarantee that will happen just because he's fast and has good movement. Many utterly mediocre goal scorers have had just that.
I think if Liverpool had signed him while they were flying high and bursting with confidence he’d have ended up banging them in for fun. I don’t think that’ll happen anymore though, unless Klopp manages to successfully rebuild a title challenging squad, which I don’t see at the moment.
Scoring more doesn't even necessarily mean he still isn't a bad signing. Lukaku scored 27 goals in all comps in his first season with us and I never thought he was good enough.
Nunez is technically shite so even if he does put more chances away, Liverpool probably won't be as dominant of a side with him in there.
Playing as an attacker in a Klopp team will guarantee you goals. 9 in 21 doesn't look so bad but the real question is can Nunez be relied on and the answer is no at the moment. Carragher, Klopp and other pundits aren't fooling me, Nunez is pony.
Nunez is technically shite so even if he does put more chances away, Liverpool probably won't be as dominant of a side with him in there.
Playing as an attacker in a Klopp team will guarantee you goals. 9 in 21 doesn't look so bad but the real question is can Nunez be relied on and the answer is no at the moment. Carragher, Klopp and other pundits aren't fooling me, Nunez is pony.
his feet look too fast for his brain.
he certainly finishes better from the left then the right too.
Honestly I think he’s suffering hugely from the pressure and expectation. It’s like he’s trying so hard to score that he just loses all composure and tries to hit it hard but scuffs it.
Ironically he could have scored 2 with his left foot today which shows maybe he needs to use a bit more finesse?
I do think he will go on a purple patch at some point, but he’s no Salah or Mane that’s for sure.
If this kind or form continues he might not ever recover at Liverpool.
he certainly finishes better from the left then the right too.
Honestly I think he’s suffering hugely from the pressure and expectation. It’s like he’s trying so hard to score that he just loses all composure and tries to hit it hard but scuffs it.
Ironically he could have scored 2 with his left foot today which shows maybe he needs to use a bit more finesse?
I do think he will go on a purple patch at some point, but he’s no Salah or Mane that’s for sure.
If this kind or form continues he might not ever recover at Liverpool.
That is fecking awful finishing.
Wow, all you can say is if that was a Utd striker I'd be seriously worried.
He has good parts to his game but some of those finishes were embarrassingly bad.
The point I'd make on the Werner comparison is that Werner was straight up worse for Chelsea than Nunez has been for Liverpool so far.
Added to the above, where the actual chances Werner was getting dropped when he transitioned to the PL (0.61 to 0.39 non-penalty xG per 90), Nunez' hasn't so far (0.69 to 0.75).
While I think a lot of the criticism for Nunez is correct and he isn't a player I particularly rate, I also think people are being too quick to overlook his actual returns so far. On a really basic level, Nunez' 8 goals in 18 PL/CL games so far doesn't warrant comparison to Werner with his 10 goals in 47 PL/CL games in his first season at Chelsea imo.
Of course you could argue that based on what you're seeing with your eyes, those returns will drop off massively as Nunez gets more and more minutes. But I'm not sure that would be my takeaway.
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Theyd look better if they had Firmino at 9 again, and he could play LW.
Gakpo - Nunez - Salah won’t work. Nunez can’t play with his back to goal.
Gakpo - Nunez - Salah won’t work. Nunez can’t play with his back to goal.
I don't think he is that bad as some people want it to be. But he surly needs to step up if he want to be even close to that valuation Liveprool paid for him.
I'm not sure how he fits in that system. Jota / Firminho are both better attackers for Liverpool playing central role. More suited to Klopp - football. With Gakpo in and Diaz back in some time he is going to have big problems keeping his place. If he dosen't improve quickly.
I'm not sure how he fits in that system. Jota / Firminho are both better attackers for Liverpool playing central role. More suited to Klopp - football. With Gakpo in and Diaz back in some time he is going to have big problems keeping his place. If he dosen't improve quickly.
Nunez's return last year was pretty exceptional; 1.2 goals per game, while Werner's best season was 0.9 goals per game (Werner scored 2 more, but in 9 more starts). Both of them outperformed their expected goals return by 7-8 goals, which is pretty exceptional when you think about it. Every other year they've underperformed it. Nunez's first season at Benfica was very similar to Werner last season; 0.3 goals per game, and they underperformed on expected goals by 3-4. It really stands out how they both had these massive outlier seasons just before their big move. And beyond that, yeah Werner definitely had a better track record.
The one thing in Nunez's favour is he does seem to be on a gradual upward trend; he's getting more chances, more shots, a higher % of shots on target than in his first season at Benfica, so even if you ignore the outlier there's reason to believe he'll get better. Werner didn't really show that. But it does seem like magical thinking to believe he'll just start finishing his chances, rather than following a similar path to Werner.
Nunez:
| Season | Age | Squad | Country | Comp | LgRank | 90s | Gls | Sh | SoT | SoT% | Sh/90 | SoT/90 | G/Sh | G/SoT | Dist | FK | PK | PKatt | xG | npxG | npxG/Sh | G-xG | np:G-xG | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 17 | Peñarol | uy URU | 1. Primera División | 1st | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Matches | ||||||||||||||
| 2018 | 18 | Peñarol | uy URU | 1. Primera División | 2nd | 5.8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Matches | ||||||||||||||
| 2019 | 19 | Peñarol | uy URU | 1. Primera División | 2nd | 3.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Matches | ||||||||||||||
| 2019-2020 | 20 | Almería | es ESP | 2. Segunda División | 4th | 26.9 | 16 | 82 | 39 | 47.6 | 3.04 | 1.45 | 0.13 | 0.28 | 5 | 5 | Matches | |||||||
| 2020-2021 | 21 | Benfica | pt POR | 1. Primeira Liga | 3rd | 19.9 | 6 | 58 | 22 | 37.9 | 2.91 | 1.11 | 0.10 | 0.27 | 16.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 0.17 | -4.0 | -4.0 | Matches |
| 2021-2022 | 22 | Benfica | pt POR | 1. Primeira Liga | 3rd | 22.0 | 26 | 81 | 38 | 46.9 | 3.69 | 1.73 | 0.27 | 0.58 | 16.2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 18.4 | 15.2 | 0.19 | +7.6 | +6.8 | Matches |
| 2022-2023 | 23 | Liverpool | eng ENG | 1. Premier League | 6th | 8.7 | 5 | 52 | 22 | 42.3 | 5.99 | 2.54 | 0.10 | 0.23 | 15.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 0.13 | -1.5 | -1.5 | Matches |
Werner:
| Season | Age | Squad | Country | Comp | LgRank | 90s | Gls | Sh | SoT | SoT% | Sh/90 | SoT/90 | G/Sh | G/SoT | Dist | FK | PK | PKatt | xG | npxG | npxG/Sh | G-xG | np:G-xG | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-2014 | 17 | Stuttgart II | de GER | 3. 3. Liga | 15th | 0.9 | 1 | 3 | 3.25 | 0.33 | 0 | 0 | Matches | |||||||||||
| 2013-2014 | 17 | Stuttgart | de GER | 1. Bundesliga | 15th | 17.0 | 4 | 14 | 0.82 | 0.29 | 0 | 0 | Matches | |||||||||||
| 2014-2015 | 18 | Stuttgart | de GER | 1. Bundesliga | 14th | 18.1 | 3 | 11 | 0.61 | 0.27 | 0 | 0 | Matches | |||||||||||
| 2015-2016 | 19 | Stuttgart | de GER | 1. Bundesliga | 17th | 24.3 | 6 | 24 | 0.99 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | Matches | |||||||||||
| 2016-2017 | 20 | RB Leipzig | de GER | 1. Bundesliga | 2nd | 26.8 | 21 | 74 | 37 | 50.0 | 2.76 | 1.38 | 0.26 | 0.51 | 2 | 2 | Matches | |||||||
| 2017-2018 | 21 | RB Leipzig | de GER | 1. Bundesliga | 6th | 27.7 | 13 | 93 | 38 | 40.9 | 3.36 | 1.37 | 0.12 | 0.29 | 14.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 13.2 | 11.6 | 0.12 | -0.2 | -0.6 | Matches |
| 2018-2019 | 22 | RB Leipzig | de GER | 1. Bundesliga | 3rd | 27.9 | 16 | 106 | 38 | 35.8 | 3.80 | 1.36 | 0.15 | 0.42 | 13.9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 17.5 | 16.7 | 0.16 | -1.5 | -0.7 | Matches |
| 2019-2020 | 23 | RB Leipzig | de GER | 1. Bundesliga | 3rd | 31.1 | 28 | 120 | 60 | 50.0 | 3.86 | 1.93 | 0.21 | 0.42 | 15.1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 21.2 | 18.9 | 0.16 | +6.8 | +6.1 | Matches |
| 2020-2021 | 24 | Chelsea | eng ENG | 1. Premier League | 4th | 28.9 | 6 | 79 | 31 | 39.2 | 2.73 | 1.07 | 0.08 | 0.19 | 13.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.4 | 11.4 | 0.14 | -5.4 | -5.4 | Matches |
| 2021-2022 | 25 | Chelsea | eng ENG | 1. Premier League | 3rd | 14.3 | 4 | 45 | 16 | 35.6 | 3.16 | 1.12 | 0.09 | 0.25 | 13.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.1 | 7.1 | 0.16 | -3.1 | -3.1 | Matches |
| 2022-2023 | 26 | RB Leipzig | de GER | 1. Bundesliga | 3rd | 7.2 | 4 | 27 | 11 | 40.7 | 3.76 | 1.53 | 0.15 | 0.36 | 15.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 0.16 | -0.3 | -0.3 | Matches |
Just as a reference point, in their standout seasons Nunez and Werner outperformed their expected goals by more than Mbappe in any season...but didn't manage it any other time. Whereas Mbappe has consistently outperformed his expected goals, just at a more sustainable level.
Mbappe:
| Season | Age | Squad | Country | Comp | LgRank | 90s | Gls | Sh | SoT | SoT% | Sh/90 | SoT/90 | G/Sh | G/SoT | Dist | FK | PK | PKatt | xG | npxG | npxG/Sh | G-xG | np:G-xG | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-2016 | 16 | Monaco | fr FRA | 1. Ligue 1 | 3rd | 3.3 | 1 | 2 | 0.61 | 0.50 | 0 | 0 | Matches | |||||||||||
| 2016-2017 | 17 | Monaco | fr FRA | 1. Ligue 1 | 1st | 16.6 | 15 | 52 | 36 | 69.2 | 3.12 | 2.16 | 0.29 | 0.42 | 0 | 0 | Matches | |||||||
| 2017-2018 | 18 | Monaco | fr FRA | 1. Ligue 1 | 2nd | 0.8 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 66.7 | 3.65 | 2.43 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.05 | -0.2 | -0.2 | Matches |
| 2017-2018 | 18 | Paris S-G | fr FRA | 1. Ligue 1 | 1st | 23.3 | 13 | 78 | 32 | 41.0 | 3.35 | 1.38 | 0.17 | 0.41 | 13.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | 0.18 | -1.0 | -1.0 | Matches |
| 2018-2019 | 19 | Paris S-G | fr FRA | 1. Ligue 1 | 1st | 26.0 | 33 | 123 | 68 | 55.3 | 4.72 | 2.61 | 0.26 | 0.47 | 14.4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 28.0 | 26.4 | 0.21 | +5.0 | +5.6 | Matches |
| 2019-2020 | 20 | Paris S-G | fr FRA | 1. Ligue 1 | 1st | 16.8 | 18 | 87 | 49 | 56.3 | 5.18 | 2.91 | 0.21 | 0.37 | 14.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.6 | 15.6 | 0.18 | +2.4 | +2.4 | Matches |
| 2020-2021 | 21 | Paris S-G | fr FRA | 1. Ligue 1 | 2nd | 26.4 | 27 | 98 | 47 | 48.0 | 3.71 | 1.78 | 0.21 | 0.45 | 15.4 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 22.1 | 17.4 | 0.18 | +4.9 | +3.6 | Matches |
| 2021-2022 | 22 | Paris S-G | fr FRA | 1. Ligue 1 | 1st | 33.6 | 28 | 143 | 59 | 41.3 | 4.26 | 1.76 | 0.17 | 0.41 | 16.9 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 26.3 | 23.9 | 0.17 | +1.7 | +0.1 | Matches |
| 2022-2023 | 23 | Paris S-G | fr FRA | 1. Ligue 1 | 1st | 14.7 | 13 | 66 | 33 | 50.0 | 4.49 | 2.25 | 0.17 | 0.33 | 16.2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 11.5 | 9.2 | 0.14 | +1.5 | +1.8 | Matches |
There's really no reason to think Nunez's season last year was indicative of his real level, and what we're seeing now is just a shadow of himself. He's clearly low on confidence and making bad choices right now, but we really don't have a good idea what his real level is. Presumably he had some jitters in his first season at Benfica too. It seems more likely this season is closer to his real level than last season.
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Oh I didn't mean that he'd end up like Werner in terms of goal returns, I just meant why did he think Nunez would "come good", as if him missing chances is just a temporary aberration, unlike Werner who never stopped missing chances? What is it about Nunez that gives off the vibe he'll start striking the ball cleanly and demonstrating composure? A lot of people thought Werner would do the same. He'd have to, if he'd scored 20+ goals previously. That was the operating logic but it's pretty clear there needs to be something more to it than that. No doubt Nunez is better at getting chances in the first place, albeit he's also playing in a team that's a lot better at creating chances for everyone.
Vini Jr is also about 1000x the technical footballer that Nunez is, the comparison is idiotic.
That's like saying Nunez might figure it out because teenage Ronaldo was wasteful in his early United days.
Why on earth does he get so much backing from pundits and commentators he is terrible, if he played for us the pitchforks would of been out months ago thank god we didn't buy him they will feck him off in a year or so would be my guess.
fecking thank you. This has been my argument from the start. I couldn't stand Lukaku even at his best, but you could clearly see he had good finishing technique especially with his left foot. Nunez is like if you took an NFL player and stuck him up top with basic knowledge of how to play striker, and then just watched what happened. It's the same reason people watched Greenwood once and could tell he had unreal potential, he clearly had fantastic striking technique even if his shots weren't going in. This is the exact opposite.
Rashford has played a million games at Striker similar to those Nunez performances and we have absolutely torched him for his poor hold up play and erratic finishing (and rightfully so). Yet Nunez does it (with WAY worse finishing mind you) and everyone seems to think he just needs to get used to the league or have Klopp coach him up a bit.
Ah my bad, in that case I broadly agree. He'll have periods where he converts more than he has recently but his basic skillset isn't going to change. He'll always be someone who conspicuously wastes a lot of the chances he gets, I think.
I think Werner just lost confidence after a while. I think he stopped even getting chances.
At this point the “he’ll definitely come good because he’s getting so many chances” shtick is just outright insulting to all the pilloried players who’ve missed far fewer sitters but have never been given the ridiculous benefit of doubt and protection from pundits that he’s being afforded.
I’m glad Andy Cole shot back, cos frankly feck that noise. Even if he ends up with a reasonably respectable tally, he’s been a comical player this season.
I’m glad Andy Cole shot back, cos frankly feck that noise. Even if he ends up with a reasonably respectable tally, he’s been a comical player this season.
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First season in a new league
New team mates
New country/culture
Pressure of a big transfer fee.
All the usual excuses fans use when they realise their team has been rinsed by another club
I'd love to know the xg of these chances. Whatever it is though some of those are shocking misses - even for someone who thinks he's not THIS bad - especially from around 40 seconds into the video.