Darwin Nunez is doing something in every half of…

Darwin Nunez is doing something in every half of football that is crucial for Liverpool

Just as Liverpool’s injury woes appeared to be easing, they returned with a vengeance last weekend. Jurgen Klopp was deprived of eight players for the loss at Nottingham Forest, the eighth match in 2022/23 for which he has been without at least that many members of his squad.

That the Reds have only won two of those games tells its own story and continues a long running trend for the club of struggling to collect points when ravaged by injury. As understandable as that connection is, it doesn’t make games like the loss to the Premier League’s bottom club any easier to stomach.

It was particularly galling not to have Darwin Nunez available. He scored in his previous three starts and had begun to put the disrupted opening of his career in England behind him.

A glance at the stats would suggest the Reds didn’t struggle to create openings in his absence. They had four clear-cut chances at the City Ground and ( per Infogol ) only Aston Villa tallied a higher expected goal total in the Premier League this weekend.

Yet three of their four best opportunities on Saturday came about in set piece situations, an area in which Nunez has yet to really contribute. Per Understat, 27 of his 28 league shots this season have been in open play.

Where he has really made a difference has been with regards to Opta-defined clear-cut chances (opportunities where you would expect the attacker to score). The Uruguayan has been on the pitch for 21 of the Reds’ 47 this season (45 per cent of the total) even though he has only played 40 per cent of the available minutes.

Those figures don’t immediately suggest that his impact has been that notable. Yet we also have to factor in that Nunez has either taken the shot or created 15 of the 21 he has been present for, meaning he has directly contributed to a clear-cut chance every 44 minutes. This is an area which Mohamed Salah has inevitably dominated for Liverpool in the past, but even he didn't better an involvement every 57 minutes in any of the last four campaigns.

Of the six big chances which occurred with Nunez on the pitch but which he did not create or shoot, two were penalties, one was from a corner against Rangers and another went straight from Alisson Becker to put Salah clean through against Manchester City. In any case, one of the spot kicks occurred versus the same opponents, in the Community Shield, and was won when a header from Darwin was handled.

Disregard these dead ball and ‘route one’ clear-cut chances for the sake of argument and you’re left with just two devoid of Nunez’s involvement: a pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold to Salah against Crystal Palace and Joe Gomez’ cross to assist Roberto Firmino at Ibrox. It’s not that Liverpool can’t create golden opportunities without their big money summer signing, but his power and pace certainly makes it a lot easier for them to do so.

This is highlighted by the other eight players at the club who have set up at least two clear-cut chances this season all having at least one for Nunez on their CV. He’s taken through-balls from Jordan Henderson and Salah, crosses delivered by the likes of Alexander-Arnold and Firmino, and passes in the box from Luis Diaz and Harvey Elliott, among others.

The Uruguayan was also on hand to pounce when pressing from Fabio Carvalho forced West Ham’s Ben Johnson into a defensive error in Liverpool’s recent 1-0 win. There are multiple ways to fashion clear-cut chances and Nunez has been the beneficiary of many of them already, from the majority of the Reds’ most creative players.

Fans needn’t worry regarding further goals from Nunez, they will continue to flow when he is in the team. The issue for Liverpool is delivering more of them in open play when he is not.

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