Darwin Nunez's Everton performance has shown Jurgen…

Darwin Nunez's Everton performance has shown Jurgen Klopp the future of Liverpool

Few big money signings have had as eventful a start as Darwin Nunez has experienced at Liverpool. Despite not being injured, it took until the seventh match of the season for him to play for more than an hour.

The red card he rightly received in his home debut inevitably contributed to that. Yet by that point he had already scored against Manchester City in the Community Shield and picked up a goal and assist when making his Premier League bow at Fulham.

By these standards, the Uruguayan’s first experience of a Merseyside derby was positively low key. There were no goal contributions but no disciplinary issues either. While Nunez was barely involved overall (if you look at how many touches he had) that is not to say he did not make an impact. If anything, the draw with Everton showed how the 23-year-old has already reshaped the Reds attack for the months and years ahead.

The most obvious contribution made by Liverpool’s number 27 were his six shots, with two on target testing Jordan Pickford (particularly one in the first half which was pushed onto the woodwork). It’s relatively rare for a Reds forward to have so many efforts at goal, particularly away from Anfield.

There were only four instances on the road in league and Europe in 2021/22, and only three the season before. It’s worth noting that in these examples the players in question all scored at least once, so Nunez was perhaps unlucky to find the Everton goalkeeper in such fine form.

His influence didn’t end there either. The former Benfica man also created two chances in quick succession in the second half. For the first, he teed up Roberto Firmino, though Pickford was equal to the shot and pushed it round the post.

In a scramble following a corner one minute later, Nunez set up Fabinho but his effort was saved too. Four of Liverpool’s eight on target efforts in the match were either shot or set up by their costliest summer signing.

Putting his six shots and two chances created into context highlights how rare a feat it is. Mohamed Salah has made 91 league appearances for Liverpool away from home and he has recorded these figures (or better) on just three occasions. His hattrick and assist in a 5-0 win at Old Trafford was undoubtedly the most eye-catching example.

Sadio Mane had ‘six and two’ twice, at Aston Villa and Arsenal in 2019/20, while Firmino and Diogo Jota have never achieved it when not at Anfield. Yet Nunez has reached this admittedly arbitrary benchmark in his first away start. What makes it arguably more noteworthy is that he only completed four other passes in the match.

Again, a little context. No Liverpool player created two chances in a match last season without completing at least eight passes in total, and those that did set up a pair of goal scoring opportunities averaged 41.6 passes in their performance.

It’s a similar story for shots. Nunez had 23 touches, meaning he took an average of 3.8 for each of his six goal attempts. There were three instances of a Red having a lower rate in 2022/23, but none of them played for longer than 33 minutes, let alone the 79 which the Uruguayan had at Goodison Park.

In other words, Nunez is not really involved in games until he is in the biggest way possible. While his sample size in the Premier League is too small to prove anything, his 30.0 touches per 90 minutes ( per FBRef ) is way down on the averages for Firmino (53.3), Jota (45.9) or even Divock Origi (43.6).

This is the new Liverpool. Where all 11 men on the field contributed to the build up play in the past, now it will effectively just be 10, and the latest edition of the Merseyside derby showed the potential strengths of this tactic. The fact it ended goalless possibly showed the weaknesses too.

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