The Donkey
- Thread starter rurikbird
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Suarez? He only scored 15 goals in his first 18 months at the club.
RVP also took sometime to get going, Berbatov aswell. Tevez. Been a few for sure.
But then people will argue what kind of teams they played in, what era, under what manager etc etc, it's a never-ending debate.
Suarez was technically on a different planet compared to Nunez or almost all of our signings in the last 15 years for that matter. From day one, it was obvious we had a star on our hand. He strutted onto Anfield like he owned it.
Within his few months he had "that" performance against United.
Technically yes but since the only thing that matters to some people around here for a striker is goals, I was only pointing out the facts and figures which was goal scoring wise it took him a few years to get going.
Actually quite crazy the closest he ever came to the ballon d'or was 5th. He should've pipped Messi to it in 2015.
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The worry about Darwin is that, while he’s still young, he’s only had 1 season were his goals tally really shot up - so it makes that look like an outlier.
As things currently stand, his goals per minute played has actually regressed from his first season - which is most definitely not a good thing.
Nothing that a few goals won’t sort - and not time like this weekend to start a rich vein of scoring form.
He needs a big performance against a top team - until we face one…. Utd will have to do.
As things currently stand, his goals per minute played has actually regressed from his first season - which is most definitely not a good thing.
Nothing that a few goals won’t sort - and not time like this weekend to start a rich vein of scoring form.
He needs a big performance against a top team - until we face one…. Utd will have to do.
He should rain more often then - he is in England after all.
You mean "goals come like London buses" thing?
You mean infrequently and rarely when you need them.
Newcastle, we needed them
He's not a top quality player.
Any whopper will score with us, for the chances we create and the amount he cost, he's not really at it.
Any whopper will score with us, for the chances we create and the amount he cost, he's not really at it.
Just think that they need to release him earlier. To often he makes runs and the ball never arrives
It's everybody else's fault?
Let’s hope the purple patch wasn’t his 2nd season at Benfica.
How come he’s offside a lot if the ball never arrives?
This isn't it, he frequently mistimes his run and goes too early so the player in posession ignores him
Not really a fair comparison given Gakpo has played often in midfield.
I’d still like to see Nunez on the left & Gakpo in the centre more often.
He played midfield vs Brentford + Bournemouth + Chelsea (according to WhoScored) = 211 mins. The rest coming on as a sub in attack or starting in the front three. Don't get me wrong, I love Gakpo I think he's technically great, but he's not a CF as much as an attacking winger / #10.
I'd like to see Gakpo - Nunez - Salah vs. United.
Gakpo had his breakout game against United last season; it was his superb finishing that turned a close game into a rout. For that reason, I would definitely start him on Sunday, but not instead of Nunez up front - he should play as a wing-forward.
According to Transfermarkt, in the league, he played CF mostly before his injury in the Spurs game - so to your 3 add Forest, Luton, City, Fulham & Palace.
So, he’s started 4 games in the League as CF and scored twice.
He played against Newcastle, Wolves, Villa & West Ham, Spurs & Shef Utd as a CF.
In Europe he’s played all 4 games as CF, starting 3 - scoring twice and assisting twice.
In the League Cup he’s played and started as a CF twice and scored in both games.
So, while I agree it’s not the best record and he hasn’t looked convincing “so far” this season, I dispute that he’s been given enough of a run there to build some form and that his output would be that much below Nunez.
Let me put it this way - the more Nunez starts as a CF, the worse his stats get. I think there’s a case for playing him on the left and there’s an argument that Nunez is better when he comes on as a sub and can run around like a mad man for 20 minutes - which he can’t do when he starts.
I reckon Gakpo’s stats would improve significantly if he played more as a CF - he also does a list of unselfish running which, while not classified as an assist, creates space for others (Trent’s goal v City is a good example).
I’d still start Nunez against Utd - but if Nunez doesn’t perform and gets hauled off early 2nd half, I think Gakpo might be ahead of Nunez by the Arsenal game.
Well the full breakdown (according to Transfermarkt) is 8 as CF, 5 as AM, 1 x CM, 1 x LW and 1 x RW. So pretty much every game bar one in which you'd expect a potential goal contribution. Especially considering how flexible we are to positional rotation within a match.
However as I said I'm a Gakpo fan (as well as a Nunez fan) so I'm not going to go out of my way to find stats that denigrate him. Nevertheless since we're comparing head to head then he has a goal or assist every 133.75 mins for us this season (185.6 mins last season - all games for LFC) compared to Nunez's 86.07 (124.47 mins last season - all games for LFC). Also zero goals as a midfielder but of those goals you list 2 were against LASK and 1 each against under-strength Leicester and Bournemouth in the LC. He also scored against Wolves and Spurs in the PL.
I agree Nunez obviously should be scoring more (4 - against Newcastle, West Ham and Forest in the PL) but he has also scored goals against Brazil, Argentina and Colombia in his 8 goals and 3 assists for Uruguay, in 2023 alone.
I don't even want to get into his Benfica stats which were superb in his 2nd year. All of which however goes to prove that we are nowhere near getting the best out of him and that it is up to our coaching and Klopp's tactics to make that happen.
As for the 'unselfish running' comment, that's not something applicable solely to Gakpo, they both create space for others with their off the ball running and hold up play.
From LFC History (all games for LFC).
Nunez : Games/goals ratio: 2.95 / Games/assists ratio: 6.5
Gakpo : Games/goals ratio: 3.54 / Games/assists ratio: 15.33
All of which is to say, regardless of what happens versus United, for me Nunez still has money in the bank and is well ahead of Gakpo for the CF position simply based on his total contributions. His xG is far less than it should be (whereas Gakpo's is slightly above expected, meaning there's more room for improvement for Nunez) but he is still a major benefactor to our wins/performances whether or not he's the one scoring the goals.
I'll stay with my assertion that Gakpo - Nunez - Salah is probably our best attacking line up for this Sunday.
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I think Nunez is better as an impact player for 2 reasons. Firstly as you say he's a full throttle player and that's easier over a sprint distance than a marathon. His style is suited to shorter bursts of activity. The second reason is that he's a bit limited technically and he needs that half second more time/space to be really effective, as games wear on and players tire mentally and physically he finds those pockets of space a bit easier to come by. So its a case of the last 30 mins playing to maximize his obvious strengths and minimize his weaknesses.
Except that the majority of his goals have come before 60 mins this season. Bar those two at Newcastle and one at 70 mins.
I agree...I said I would come him to the end of this season before properly judging him but deep down what I'm doing is a good player but not a top top player.
Also problem is were in the middle of a drought with regard to top quality forwards.
Look at United all that money but their forward line is terrible (90m on Anthony [emoji2367]), look at the fact that Bayern spent all that money on a brilliant but aging Kane. Chelsea went and spent 80m or on Ukrainian Usian Bolt Mudryk. Similar to us we spent 60-80m on Darwin.
I trust Klopp to get the best out of Darwin but I think we need to look into getting another forward in the future especially as there will be uncertainty over Salahs long term future and I'm still not 100% about Jota as well long term.
Gakpo seriously needs to up his game, can't recall one game this season where I've been impressed. He must have the fewest touches of most players in the league.
Difference between the 2 is night and day, even Gakpo's conversation rate isn't much better to warrant playing ahead of him, one is always on the move and making things happen....the other is stood still waiting for the ball.
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