Liverpool won’t have bought Darwin Nunez purely on the basis of his performances against them for Benfica, but they certainly have first-hand experience of how effective he can be. The Uruguayan was one of only three players to score home and away against the Reds in 2021/22.
At the Estadio do Luz, Nunez kept a very cool head when Ibrahima Konate made a mistake, looking as though he had all the time in the world to slot the ball home when he unexpectedly received it. Then, in the return match, Benfica exploited Liverpool’s high defensive line and he scored once again (after the VAR had overruled the assistant referee’s errant flag).
Being able to take advantage of defensive errors is an excellent skill, particularly as the Reds’ incessant press regularly forces opposing players into losing the ball in very dangerous areas. However, a more frequent source of chances for Nunez is likely to be through balls which split defences. Fortunately for Jurgen Klopp and his new forward, there are many players at the club who can provide them.
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A recent article from Statsbomb highlighted this superbly. They looked at the best players in the Premier League for line-breaking passes in 2021/22. Under their definition, these are those passes which move the ball at least 10 percent closer to the goal and either intersect a pair of defenders in close proximity or go behind the opposition back line.
They then shared the top 10 players in the full-back, central midfield and attacker positions. Across the total of 30 men, Liverpool’s tally of seven was comfortably the most of any club – Manchester City had five, Chelsea and Tottenham had three and every other side had two or fewer.
By having a septet of squad members included, the Reds were able to tick off all nine types of line-breaking pass which Statsbomb looked at in their study. Some of the combinations of player and pass type were obvious, others less so.
For instance, nobody will be surprised to learn that Trent Alexander-Arnold met the requirement for inclusion in the ‘cross’ category, nor that his efforts in this area carried a much higher on-ball value than would be expected from that type of pass. Similarly, seeing that Mohamed Salah was one of four attackers (along with Riyad Mahrez, Michael Olise and Wilfried Zaha) who played sufficient line-breaking ‘box entry’ passes to log those on his chart was not a shock.
As James Yorke, author of the article, noted regarding the Egyptian: “He’s the one bonafide goalscorer who is featuring prominently in a passers list. Even if he was colder in front of goal post-Christmas, he was still a serious contributor to Liverpool’s title challenge in other ways.” Amen to that.
The data revealed other aspects of the Reds’ play which were far less obvious to the naked eye. Did you realise Kostas Tsimikas has been hitting line-breaking long balls from defensive areas? Or that Thiago Alcantara has played similarly effective passes in what are considered ‘attacking wide’ positions? Such things are not always immediately apparent.
That Alexander-Arnold performed well on ‘attacking long’ passes was to be expected. Only 10 players in Europe’s biggest five leagues completed more long balls than he did last season, and six of them were goalkeepers. The Liverpool right-back was also second in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain for completing through balls, an asset of which Nunez should be able to take advantage.
Less evident than Trent’s efforts may have been James Milner’s long attacking line-breaking efforts. Yet they were there and adding more value than similar passes would have on average. We can rule out the veteran forming a red-hot partnership with Liverpool’s new number 27 on a regular basis, but remember this article if Milner happens to set Nunez clean through on goal with a delicious pass which breaks opposition lines (and hopefully hearts).
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