When Liverpool started the season, fresh off beating Man City to win the Community Shield, they would have had hopes of at least challenging for the Premier League and Champions League once again. After all, they nearly landed an unprecedented quadruple last year.
Yet the reality has been anything but. Admittedly plagued by a plethora of injuries, Jurgen Klopp ’s side have been a shadow of the mentality monsters who ruled England, Europe and the world. Set to face Pep Guardiola’s side once more on Sunday, they lie 10th in the Premier League table while their fellow 'big six' Premier League top clubs occupy the top five.
As a result, they are currently looking to make up a six-point deficit on the Champions League places while sitting 13 points behind reigning champions Man City and 14 points off leaders Arsenal. No wonder Klopp has already ruled his side out of title contention.
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One rare bright spark for the Reds amid such unfamiliar misery has been the form of Luis Diaz so far this season. So of course one of the few Liverpool players not horrendously out of form would suffer a knee injury that would rule him out until 2023 in Klopp’s side’s latest reality check as they lost 3-2 away at Arsenal. When it rains, it pours.
Last season, the German boasted seven senior international forwards in his ranks for the second half of the season following the Colombian’s arrival, ensuring he could comfortably navigate such issues. Yet following the summer exits of Sadio Mane, Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi, his options are now rather more depleted.
He still has Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota of course, fresh off signing improved contracts in the summer, while Roberto Firmino is in rich goalscoring form of late despite facing an uncertain future with his own deal set to expire next summer. Meanwhile, £64m summer signing Darwin Nunez helps make up the senior quota of forwards, with youngsters Fabio Carvalho and Harvey Elliott the alternatives in reserve.
In response to Liverpool’s flailing form this season, Klopp had switched to a four-man attack for the Reds’ past two games, stationing Salah and Diaz on each flank with Jota partnering Nunez through the middle. Yet the Colombian’s prolonged absence looks set to prematurely end such an experiment, given the lack of experienced options in reserve if Firmino completed the attacking quartet.
Jota is now expected to fill in for Diaz on the left having predominantly played in such a role prior to his move to Anfield in 2020. Yet there’s no escaping that his best football for Liverpool has come from playing down the middle.
According to Transfermarkt , he has played 27 games on the left for the Reds, returning nine goals and six assists. In contrast, his returns stand at 19 goals and three assists from 43 games upfront.
These days more a poacher in front of goal, producing his best play inside the penalty area, it almost feels a waste playing out wide with Jota arguably not able to replicate Diaz’s electric play on the wing. Yet there is an outside of the box alternative Klopp could consider if he wished to stick with the Portuguese in his preferred role.
Since signing from Benfica in the summer, one criticism of Nunez has been his tendency to drift out wide. Now of course Liverpool’s forward play has always been free-flowing and flexible to great success, but when wins dried up and goals were even more vital in a string of poor team performances, supporters’ desire for him to just stay central understandably grew.
Yet given the Uruguayan’s explosive and chaotic nature, he could actually provide an option on the left in the place of Diaz. While he has minimal game-time in such a role, he certainly thrived when playing on the flanks for Benfica last year.
The 23-year-old enjoyed the best season of his career to date, recording an impressive 34 goals from 41 appearances to prompt the interest of Liverpool in the first place. And while the majority of that game-time came down the middle as a traditional number nine, the returns speak for themselves for the times when Nunez was stationed on the left.
Playing just five times on the left according to Transfermarkt, Nunez returned a staggering 10 goals and an assist as he scored in every appearance he made in such a role. This included a first-half hat-trick in a 7-0 thrashing of Belenenses SAD, another treble in a 4-1 win over FC Famalicao and a brace in a 7-1 victory over Maritimo in three successive appearances on the left during a goal-laden run in November and December 2021.
He'd return to the role twice more during the season, in late January against FC Arouca and early April against SC Braga, scoring penalties in both as Benfica won 2-0 and lost 3-2.
Of course, there is a stark difference in the quality between Premier League and Champions League sides as the lesser oppositions on show in Portugal. As a result, it would perhaps be a surprise if Klopp did turn to Nunez in such a role rather than Jota with the preference perhaps for his big-money summer signing to instead continue to find rhythm down the middle.
Yet options are limited elsewhere, with playing Roberto Firmino out of position, relying on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain once fully fit after his latest injury or turning to the unproven Fabio Carvalho, who has been withdrawn at half-time in both of the 20-year-old’s two starts for Liverpool date, Klopp’s only other alternatives.
Nunez on the left isn’t ideal, but it at least suits his style cutting in from the flank and would limit his more challenging chances shooting across goal from the right. Arguably the closest other forward to Diaz in terms of raw pace at Anfield, it could be something for Klopp to consider as he returns back to the drawing board in his latest bid to reignite his side’s fortunes.
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