When Darwin Nunez first lined up for Liverpool at Anfield, he exited early and in disgrace. As he heads off to the World Cup, it is in form and in the hearts of many of their fans. He departed with the Kop singing his name in celebration, while there is a mural of him outside the Anfield Road Stand.
As his attention turns to Uruguay, Nunez signed off with a first brace for his new club. If few have as disastrous a start as him, given his dismissal on his home debut for headbutting Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen, Nathan Jones was condemned to defeat on his bow as Southampton manager. They are destined to spend Christmas in the relegation zone.
But Nunez is proof fortunes can change. Much of the story of Liverpool’s season so far can be told through him and, after that awful opening impression, he has made a more positive stamp in the last five weeks. His double took his tally to seven goals in his last 10 games. His performance showed his capacity to wreak havoc.
The rampaging bull in Liverpool’s attack proved Napoli’s late nemesis and tormented Tottenham. Now he was the scourge of Southampton.
His deft volley and sliding finish were notable: so, too, the two point-blank saves Gavin Bazunu made, securing a modicum of redemption after he was culpable for Roberto Firmino’s opener. The first was from Mohamed Salah, the second from Nunez and each supplied the other, in an indication their understanding is growing.
As his brief but eventful Liverpool career shows, Nunez is rarely quiet. Arguably, his was not even the finest display in Southampton’s sixth successive defeat at Anfield – Andy Robertson, who ended with two assists, was brilliant – but their combined efforts mean Liverpool break for the World Cup still playing catch-up, but with a top-four finish looking more attainable.
They should resume with a bigger cast list. Jordan Henderson and Ibrahima Konate were absent, due to personal reasons and a minor injury respectively, though neither is a doubt for the World Cup. Nor was their manager in his usual station.
Jurgen Klopp was rubbing shoulders with one of Liverpool’s analysts, not Jones, sipping coffee in the stands rather than embarking on an animated celebration when Firmino opened the scoring. There was a change in both technical areas, minus the ‘Alpine Klopp’, the sacked Ralph Hasenhuttl, and the actual Klopp, serving the touchline ban for his red card against Manchester City. Liverpool did not need his input from close proximity.
They had lost to teams who kicked off in 20th and 19th, in Nottingham Forest and Leeds respectively. Southampton began in 18th but could not complete an unlikely hat-trick for the strugglers. However, Jones, who first took over Luton when they were 17th in League Two, has known greater hardship than this. He has risen through the divisions and there was a decisiveness when he made a triple substitution before the hour.
His initial blueprint had a boldness. Jones selected two strikers and one of them, Che Adams, scored the first goal of his reign. Southampton’s sense of adventure was apparent even when trailing: Alisson had to deny Mohamed Elyounoussi and the substitute Samuel Edozie second-half goals in a frenetic few minutes and then produced a still better stop to parry Adams’ header.
It was a reminder the Brazilian has been Liverpool’s outstanding player this season but while Southampton could rue his excellence, they were too open. They conceded 54 goals in their last 26 games under Hasenhuttl and, but for two fine stops by Bazunu, could have sieved five by half-time.
Yet the goalkeeper erred early on during a quick exchange of goals with common denominators, with wide free kicks headed in by forwards as defenders were found wanting.
Firmino’s was an eloquent response to his omission from Brazil’s World Cup squad. Klopp deemed the decision “madness” and, as the false nine was afforded a standing ovation when he went off, many sympathised with him. Firmino has forged a career by dropping off to find space. He did so again to end his eight-game goal drought, coming short to meet Robertson’s free kick with a header as Bazunu was too slow to react.
Southampton were soon level. Adams could have scored with a header when unmarked after 80 seconds; instead, he did after nine minutes, eluding the former Saint Virgil van Dijk to meet James Ward-Prowse’s free kick.
But Nunez exerted a decisive impact before he teams up with Luis Suarez, not Salah. The £64 million signing met Harvey Elliott’s dinked cross by guiding in a volley. His second stemmed from a cross from the opposite flank. Jones had given Mohamed Elyounoussi a man-marking job on Robertson but, time and again, the Scot was too irrepressible to stop and when he surged past his sentry to centre, a sliding Nunez converted.
If much of the rest of the game revolved around Salah’s quest for a goal, with one misdirected header denying Trent Alexander-Arnold a first assist of the Premier League campaign, the Egyptian may have found himself overshadowed again. That can be the Nunez effect.
