Mad Donkey fan club (£8 for new members)

[Tinto]

It's not really fair to compare Nunez, playing in an attack that's in transition, to Sadio-Bobby-Mo at the height of their powers.

It took time for that 3 to become one of the best attacks in Europe. Mane started on the right for us and was excellent. When Mo signed, Mane was moved over to the left and struggled for a little while.

 

[peekay]

I separate Nunez the mad lad from Nunez the Liverpool player.

I honestly think the club has made a mistake.

When we had Mane, Firmino and Salah we had 3 forwards who pressed the hell out of the opposition when they didn't have the ball and also played telepathically with skill and flair when they had the ball. It was a joy to see those front three moving in unison and performing skillfully at breakneck speed.

I don't see any telepathy or speed of thought with Nunez in his connection with Salah or Firmino. He's a way more predictable player. Yes he's fast and all that but he lacks that unpredictability / skill / flair that Mane brought to the table.

Maybe just maybe hopefully when our midfield is sorted maybe I will understand this new attacking football strategy that Klopp seems to be taking us in but at the moment I'm luke warm to Nunez. It honestly could be that we need a better more solid midfield for Nunezs skill set to flourish so there is that.

I like Nunez, but I still think we should have spent that money better. I would have spread that money across two signings.

But one thing you cannot accuse the lad of is lack of unpredictability. When he is on the pitch, something always happens. He has this overwhelming desire to put a ball into the net and take the shortest route to achieve it as possible, which is a bit endearing. And he plays the game at 100 mph.

He does look like a square peg in a round hole in our attack. But I think this is a deliberate move by Klopp and the management team to take our attack in a different direction. Mane, Salah, and Firmino are very unique three. The chances of us finding another unselfish, hard-working, attacker with flair like Mane and especially Firmino is low. Nunez for all his flaws brings a physicality upfront that the others didn't have.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

I separate Nunez the mad lad from Nunez the Liverpool player.

I honestly think the club has made a mistake.

When we had Mane, Firmino and Salah we had 3 forwards who pressed the hell out of the opposition when they didn't have the ball and also played telepathically with skill and flair when they had the ball. It was a joy to see those front three moving in unison and performing skillfully at breakneck speed.

I don't see any telepathy or speed of thought with Nunez in his connection with Salah or Firmino. He's a way more predictable player. Yes he's fast and all that but he lacks that unpredictability / skill / flair that Mane brought to the table.

Maybe just maybe hopefully when our midfield is sorted maybe I will understand this new attacking football strategy that Klopp seems to be taking us in but at the moment I'm luke warm to Nunez. It honestly could be that we need a better more solid midfield for Nunezs skill set to flourish so there is that.

patience mate - it's not easy for a kid with no experience at a top top club to get going like those 3 did.
Bobby struggled big time before he settled here, and mane and salah came here as seasoned props ready to take a big step.

 

[Fabio]

Why is there a discussion in this thread about darwins merits? He's very clearly one of our best players this season.

 

[rurikbird]

Hey, @gkmacca, I saw you – don't you try to hide now! Do you want to join the Mad Donkey fan club? All the cool kids are here!

 

[Whaddapie]

I think anyone bemoaning his amount of missed chances should sit down and watch a full 90 minutes of peak Rush/Dalglish and see how many misses they racked up in a game.

Don't have to go even remotely that far back, mate... Just take a look at the bloke who wears # 11 for us. He scores some smashers, but he's not exactly clinical.

 

[mwake]

Hopefully, im proved wrong, I know at Liverpool we love hard-working players with character, and Nunez has that in spades but actually football stuff Im not seeing why we dumped all that money on him. Maybe Im being harsh but Im not seeing 65m reasons why he's any better than Origi.

Again he's young so Im willing to self-refer to this post in years to come and berate myself for writing such foolish stuff but I'm just being honest with what I see.

 

[Brizzle]

Love him. He makes things happen, he should be on the pitch as much as possible. Can’t wait to see Diaz, Nunez, Jota & Mo as a front 4

 

[Brizzle]

Hopefully, im proved wrong, I know at Liverpool we love hard-working players with character, and Nunez has that in spades but actually football stuff Im not seeing why we dumped all that money on him. Maybe Im being harsh but Im not seeing 65m reasons why he's any better than Origi.

Again he's young so Im willing to self-refer to this post in years to come and berate myself for writing such foolish stuff but I'm just being honest with what I see.

Lololololol

 

[darkstarexodus]

I'm wondering whether we've maybe signed the player Balotelli could have been? Not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing, but I know that I really want the lad to succeed.

This. This might be on point.

 

[moron]

I separate Nunez the mad lad from Nunez the Liverpool player.

I honestly think the club has made a mistake.

When we had Mane, Firmino and Salah we had 3 forwards who pressed the hell out of the opposition when they didn't have the ball and also played telepathically with skill and flair when they had the ball. It was a joy to see those front three moving in unison and performing skillfully at breakneck speed.

I don't see any telepathy or speed of thought with Nunez in his connection with Salah or Firmino. He's a way more predictable player. Yes he's fast and all that but he lacks that unpredictability / skill / flair that Mane brought to the table.

Maybe just maybe hopefully when our midfield is sorted maybe I will understand this new attacking football strategy that Klopp seems to be taking us in but at the moment I'm luke warm to Nunez. It honestly could be that we need a better more solid midfield for Nunezs skill set to flourish so there is that.

As much as we all loved Mane, Bobby, and Salah for those years - they were actually becoming very predictable. You are the only person that has suggested some level of predictability about Nunez - there is nothing predictable about him or what he may do. If anything our regular front three failed to score in 3 cup finals last year - 3 !!! We need a Nunez to bulldoze opposition defences and his physicality scares a lot of defenders.

 

[Frogfish]

I like Nunez, but I still think we should have spent that money better. I would have spread that money across two signings.

But one thing you cannot accuse the lad of is lack of unpredictability. When he is on the pitch, something always happens. He has this overwhelming desire to put a ball into the net and take the shortest route to achieve it as possible, which is a bit endearing. And he plays the game at 100 mph.

He does look like a square peg in a round hole in our attack. But I think this is a deliberate move by Klopp and the management team to take our attack in a different direction. Mane, Salah, and Firmino are very unique three. The chances of us finding another unselfish, hard-working, attacker with flair like Mane and especially Firmino is low. Nunez for all his flaws brings a physicality upfront that the others didn't have.

I agree with everything here bar the first sentence.

Firstly Nunez's transfer cost around £65m, if we eventually have to pay the full whack (£85m?) then he'll have proved his worth. So compare that to what we could have got for 2 x 32m in this market. Here's a list of players fees (21/22 and 22/23) that gives an idea of what decent players cost (listed in € on Transfermarkt and above 30m) :

White €59m, Willock €30m, Buendia €39m, Baily €32m, Lukaku €113m, Abraham €40m, Digne €30m, James €29m, Daka €30m, Konate €40m, Diaz €47m, Grealish €118m, Torres €55m, Guimares €42m, Wood €30m, Ings €30m, Zouma €35m, Vlasic €30m, Jesus €52m, Viera €35m, Zinchenko €35m, Carlos €32m, Cucurella €65m, Fofana €80m, Onana €35m, Richarlison €58m, Aaronson €33m, Raphina €58m, Philips €49m, Sterling €56m, Antony €95m, Casemiro €71m , Martinez €58m , Isak €70m, Botman €37m, Romero €50m, Bergwijn €31m, Paqueta €43m, Scamacca €36m, Aguerd €35m, Nunes €45m and Guedes €33m.

I've left Haaland off the list simply because his transfer fee was actually just one small part of a huge total cost.

When bearing in mind that top strikers cost more, sometimes a lot more, than any other position where is the value listed above? You could gamble on virtual unknowns (which is what mid-table clubs do, sometimes it pays off most often it doesn't), pay stratospheric fees & wages for established top strikers (Haaland, Kane, Lewandowski etc.) or go for high scoring young players with potential (Nunez). We can't afford to take a wild gamble, wait for top young strikers to establish themselves or to pay for an established top striker. Even the likes of Bowen would be well north of £50m (on Teamtalk they claim West Ham want over £75m).

What is most clear though is that there is no way we could have brought in two £32m players without taking a huge gamble, on both. There is no certainty of any kind in that price bracket. I'm very happy with the purchase of Nunez, I don't feel his fee is extravagant for what we have and he certainly has a very high ceiling that hopefully we can help him reach.

 

[moron]

I will also like to add to @Frogfish ' s post and say that Nunez is more than a pure striker like the old Fox in the Box or should I say goal-hanger.

 

[Frogfish]

I will also like to add to @Frogfish ' s post and say that Nunez is more than a pure striker like the old Fox in the Box or should I say goal-hanger.

Yes he had a lot of attributes well suited to the PL : exceptional pace, strength, power, height, excellent heading ability and a rocket of a shot.

The last couple of matches have also shown very good, if erratic, link up play. I'm really looking forward to watching our Agent of Chaos over the next few seasons.

And contrary to some I see the Diaz-Nunez-Salah triumvirate will soon be feared by all.

 

[SummerOnions]

 

[peekay]

Excellent article in the Guardian

At times in the first half of this thrilling, occasionally messy Premier League fixture, there was a sense of two games taking place simultaneously. In the foreground the feature presentation: a tight, bruising affair, and a meeting of two depleted teams who have spent much of the season trying to bolt their own wheels back on while speeding through the weekly chicanes. A 2-1 victory here was Liverpool’s first away league win this season.

Behind this was the other game, the one taking place in the Darwin Núñez universe. This was a looser, chancier affair, a place where the physical rules are a little more vague but which seemed, at times, to bleed through into the real world, to exist alongside it. It was at these moments, drifting through into the Núñez-verse, that Liverpool looked most energised.


For all his occasionally random qualities Núñez is also relentless. At one point he just ran past Eric Dier to the byline, sweeping the ball along in a wide arc, as though dragging it on a piece of string, but leaving Dier for dead all the same. A little later Rodrigo Bentancur tried to jockey him out of his stride and Núñez quivered his back muscles and left him literally face down in the turf. At times like this there is a vague sense of some future-engineered Andy Carroll, the Carroll T200,with added speed and grace, but still, at his heart, that old snorting fury.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ool-an-extra-dimension?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

[Red Bird]

Hopefully, im proved wrong, I know at Liverpool we love hard-working players with character, and Nunez has that in spades but actually football stuff Im not seeing why we dumped all that money on him. Maybe Im being harsh but Im not seeing 65m reasons why he's any better than Origi.

Again he's young so Im willing to self-refer to this post in years to come and berate myself for writing such foolish stuff but I'm just being honest with what I see.

That aged well!

 

[Red Bird]

Aw, tweet’s is no longer available.

 

[Red rose]

Liverpool won 3-1 at home to Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday, with Alisson and Darwin Nunez lavished with praise by supporters.
The Reds faced their last game before the World Cup, with only victory acceptable in the top-four battle
Roberto Firmino gave Jurgen Klopp‘s side an ideal start, heading home, but Che Adams swiftly equalised after some poor defending.
It was then the Darwin Nunez show, with the Uruguayan twice finishing expertly from close range before half-time, as his impressive form continues.
Alisson made some vital stops in the second half, as Liverpool’s performance dipped, but they ended up seeing out the game to make it four wins on the bounce for the first time this season.
Liverpool won, but they had the extraordinary Alisson to thank, following some superb saves…


It was also another big afternoon for goalscoring hero Nunez…

 

[Hansern]

Fucking love him!

 

[Red rose]

Fucking love him!

same 🙂

 

[localny]

I never bet, but I'm thinking about a world cup bet on Uruguay!

 

[moron]

He will be great for us, my ingest fear is that those two Spanish cunts will eventually come for him. Hopefully by then we will be such a rich club, they will not be able to afford him.

 

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

Excellent article in the Guardian

At times in the first half of this thrilling, occasionally messy Premier League fixture, there was a sense of two games taking place simultaneously. In the foreground the feature presentation: a tight, bruising affair, and a meeting of two depleted teams who have spent much of the season trying to bolt their own wheels back on while speeding through the weekly chicanes. A 2-1 victory here was Liverpool’s first away league win this season.

Behind this was the other game, the one taking place in the Darwin Núñez universe. This was a looser, chancier affair, a place where the physical rules are a little more vague but which seemed, at times, to bleed through into the real world, to exist alongside it. It was at these moments, drifting through into the Núñez-verse, that Liverpool looked most energised.


For all his occasionally random qualities Núñez is also relentless. At one point he just ran past Eric Dier to the byline, sweeping the ball along in a wide arc, as though dragging it on a piece of string, but leaving Dier for dead all the same. A little later Rodrigo Bentancur tried to jockey him out of his stride and Núñez quivered his back muscles and left him literally face down in the turf. At times like this there is a vague sense of some future-engineered Andy Carroll, the Carroll T200,with added speed and grace, but still, at his heart, that old snorting fury.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ool-an-extra-dimension?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Haha. I like it. Welcome to the Nunez-verse !

 

[Markeh]

Noticeably quite good with timing his runs today, not saying we’ve coached silly offsides out of him but his early unsettled madness and need to impress might have been the cause of some of them.

Also liked that he ran away to celebrate his first but changed his mind to go celebrate with Elliott who set him up. Celebrated the second with the team too.

 

[rurikbird]

Excellent article in the Guardian

At times in the first half of this thrilling, occasionally messy Premier League fixture, there was a sense of two games taking place simultaneously. In the foreground the feature presentation: a tight, bruising affair, and a meeting of two depleted teams who have spent much of the season trying to bolt their own wheels back on while speeding through the weekly chicanes. A 2-1 victory here was Liverpool’s first away league win this season.

Behind this was the other game, the one taking place in the Darwin Núñez universe. This was a looser, chancier affair, a place where the physical rules are a little more vague but which seemed, at times, to bleed through into the real world, to exist alongside it. It was at these moments, drifting through into the Núñez-verse, that Liverpool looked most energised.


For all his occasionally random qualities Núñez is also relentless. At one point he just ran past Eric Dier to the byline, sweeping the ball along in a wide arc, as though dragging it on a piece of string, but leaving Dier for dead all the same. A little later Rodrigo Bentancur tried to jockey him out of his stride and Núñez quivered his back muscles and left him literally face down in the turf. At times like this there is a vague sense of some future-engineered Andy Carroll, the Carroll T200,with added speed and grace, but still, at his heart, that old snorting fury.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ool-an-extra-dimension?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I can tell this is Barney Ronay without even looking it up 🙂

 

[mwake]

That aged well!

Yeah he's definitely getting better so credit where credit is due...

I get it that the club are going in a slightly different direction with Nunez.

Maybe when Diaz returns the full picture will be easier to see for me regarding Nunez...but I'm still not going overboard with Nunez as we sometimes do as Liverpool fans, we love hardworking characters and Nunez definitely has that. I know some people want to make out like he's Alan Shearer reborn lol... but to me he's still plays like a clumy-ish but powerful workhorse striker (Lukaku 2.0?). In the summer I made a shout for Brentford's Toney, for 85mill we could have for him. I still maintain Toney is a better player.

 

[moron]

Yeah he's definitely getting better so credit where credit is due...

I get it that the club are going in a slightly different direction with Nunez.

Maybe when Diaz returns the full picture will be easier to see for me regarding Nunez...but I'm still not going overboard with Nunez as we sometimes do as Liverpool fans, we love hardworking characters and Nunez definitely has that. I know some people want to make out like he's Alan Shearer reborn lol... but to me he's still plays like a clumy-ish but powerful workhorse striker (Lukaku 2.0?). In the summer I made a shout for Brentford's Toney, for 85mill we could have for him. I still maintain Toney is a better player.

You must be joking right ? - Lukaku 2.0/1.0 - there is no comparison, he is miles better. Darwin has loads to his game, and to be honest I think he is more mobile and clinical than Toney, and has loads of years to go.

 

[Frogfish]

Yeah he's definitely getting better so credit where credit is due...

I get it that the club are going in a slightly different direction with Nunez.

Maybe when Diaz returns the full picture will be easier to see for me regarding Nunez...but I'm still not going overboard with Nunez as we sometimes do as Liverpool fans, we love hardworking characters and Nunez definitely has that. I know some people want to make out like he's Alan Shearer reborn lol... but to me he's still plays like a clumy-ish but powerful workhorse striker (Lukaku 2.0?). In the summer I made a shout for Brentford's Toney, for 85mill we could have for him. I still maintain Toney is a better player.

WTF seriously ?! I can't think of one thing that Toney is better at (heading, power, crossing, distance passing, pace) although both miss a lot of chances so conversion rate is probably close. BTW lots of comparisons with Lukaku but the Utd fans aren't having it because Lukaku ... is one lazy git.
@King Binny : do you have one of those head-to-head wheel charts of Nunez vs Toney? Cheers !

 

[mwake]

WTF seriously ?! I can't think of one thing that Toney is better at (heading, power, crossing, distance passing, pace) although both miss a lot of chances so conversion rate is probably close. BTW lots of comparisons with Lukaku but the Utd fans aren't having it because Lukaku ... is one lazy git.
@King Binny : do you have one of those head-to-head wheel charts of Nunez vs Toney? Cheers !

I do like Nunez actually, but let's not pretend that he hasn't got a clumsy touch reminiscent of Lord Heskey sometimes lol. For me I admit I've been spoilt on watching Firmino, Mane and Salah and the telepathic skill and flair they exuded. Nunez is a different type of player, he's more of a battering ram type player. At the end of the day if Nunez assists and gets goals then it doesn't really matter. Yes Ivan Toney would have suited us better IMHO, he reminds me of Sturridge without the injuries.