The Donkey
- Thread starter rurikbird
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He’s at an age where you’d expect him to be at his peak. At what point will he become this finished article?
So we should expect him to bag loads against Wolves, Fulham and Everton?
Since when is 24 the finished article?
24 is to be close to it. 26/27 is what I expect to be prime. There aren’t many that improve 10-25% between 24 and 26.
I like your glass-half-full thinking there.
10% improvement for Nunez infront of goal would be massive.
A new manager might use him differently.
Not one I’d sell this summer but deffo give one more season.
That's fair but on 2 occasions when he actually had the ball at his feet he either bumped into a defender or just fell over like that classic Andy horse gif
Joyce: Misfiring Núñez, ailing Salah – Arne Slot already has Liverpool issues
Nunez was very much a Klopp signing (Liverpool’s recruitment thinktank preferred Christopher Nkunku, then of RB Leipzig, who has spent this season injured at Chelsea) and the manager spoke about how it is his responsibility to provide the player with the confidence to perform.
Bascombe: Mohamed Salah can spearhead Liverpool’s new era but the jury is out on Darwin Nunez
For Nunez, there is no such credit in the bank. For two seasons every positive contribution has been latched upon as evidence a top class striker is emerging, while every miss has been viewed by sceptics that rather than sign the next Fernando Torres, Liverpool paid £85 million for another Djibril Cisse – an occasional scorer of brilliant goals rather than a brilliant goalscorer. Increasingly, Nunez is looking more like the latter.
When Klopp leaves this summer, Nunez loses his biggest ally. Incoming FSG football supremo Michael Edwards and Sporting Director Richard Hughes are entitled to look coldly upon the Uruguayan’s contribution knowing he was not signed on their watch. Suspicions have long circulated that had Edwards not left in the summer of 2022, there would have been a robust internal debate as to whether so much should have been invested in a striker who looked like a work in progress from his first training session.
Nunez was very much a Klopp signing (Liverpool’s recruitment thinktank preferred Christopher Nkunku, then of RB Leipzig, who has spent this season injured at Chelsea) and the manager spoke about how it is his responsibility to provide the player with the confidence to perform.
Bascombe: Mohamed Salah can spearhead Liverpool’s new era but the jury is out on Darwin Nunez
For Nunez, there is no such credit in the bank. For two seasons every positive contribution has been latched upon as evidence a top class striker is emerging, while every miss has been viewed by sceptics that rather than sign the next Fernando Torres, Liverpool paid £85 million for another Djibril Cisse – an occasional scorer of brilliant goals rather than a brilliant goalscorer. Increasingly, Nunez is looking more like the latter.
When Klopp leaves this summer, Nunez loses his biggest ally. Incoming FSG football supremo Michael Edwards and Sporting Director Richard Hughes are entitled to look coldly upon the Uruguayan’s contribution knowing he was not signed on their watch. Suspicions have long circulated that had Edwards not left in the summer of 2022, there would have been a robust internal debate as to whether so much should have been invested in a striker who looked like a work in progress from his first training session.
Salah can spearhead our new era? Fuck. Off.
He's not very good, let's face it. It's been obvious for a while but we've (some) have held out hope he'll develop. He won't.
You could pick any half-competent striker to play for us and they'd probably get 10 or 12. We create hundreds of chances. Even that Jackson from Chelsea, who is probably worse than Nunez, would score. But, we don't want that. We want a world class, clinical striker. Now, I'm not saying they're easy to come by. They might be thin on the ground. But I know who's NOT one when I see them. And that's Nunez.
100% the likes of Toney, Wilkins, Callum Wilson would score more goals for us. Because they're better strikers. Full stop.
We have Nunez. Who looks good on paper, the new coach might think give him a shot. But ... he's not good enough for Liverpool.
You could pick any half-competent striker to play for us and they'd probably get 10 or 12. We create hundreds of chances. Even that Jackson from Chelsea, who is probably worse than Nunez, would score. But, we don't want that. We want a world class, clinical striker. Now, I'm not saying they're easy to come by. They might be thin on the ground. But I know who's NOT one when I see them. And that's Nunez.
100% the likes of Toney, Wilkins, Callum Wilson would score more goals for us. Because they're better strikers. Full stop.
We have Nunez. Who looks good on paper, the new coach might think give him a shot. But ... he's not good enough for Liverpool.
Sadly Larry has nailed it. Time to move on.
Holy shit, Toney would have had at least 30 goals in all competitions for us by now.
If he didn't start the season suspended that is.
Even after.
Make or break season for Nunez?
Well aware of the fact that the season just started, but is it "make or break" for him? If Gakpo and maybe Jota keep being preferred to Nunez or if he doesn't improve, will the club be fine with having such a valuable asset on the bench?
So I guess the answer was "break".
^^^^
This
Use him differently?
He's a £65M striker who can't hit a barn door.
What you going to ask him to do?
He's a £65M striker who can't hit a barn door.
What you going to ask him to do?
Hit the barn door?
So Arne Slot and his coaching team seem to be very detail oriented with improving individual players - in the interview I posted in another thread they mentioned how they sent a full-back for kick-boxing lessons to improve his sense of distance to the opponent and changed the way Gimenez ran (at 22-23!), which actually helped to turn him from a nobody to a 60M striker within a short period of time.
I can see them designing some very specific Donkey-training programme to make sure Darwin learns to hit the corners of the goal with his eyes closed and never ever blasts a shot at a goalkeeper again. They will definitely give him another season and if Arnie’s methods fail to coax an improvement after a year, then and only then they will think about selling.
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I stand by what I saidMake or break season for Nunez?
Well aware of the fact that the season just started, but is it "make or break" for him? If Gakpo and maybe Jota keep being preferred to Nunez or if he doesn't improve, will the club be fine with having such a valuable asset on the bench?sixcrazyminutes.com
So I guess the answer was "break".
Different training and different playing system. He can continue to not hit a barn door if he can learn how to hit the goal.
The Chaos Donkey doesn’t adhere to anyone’s schedule.
The solution, in my mind, is to play him further from goal
Darwin has a gift, which that he can quickly shape himself to whack the ball with incredible speed and power
He has a problem, which is that he cannot understand that there is usually a better option than whacking the ball with speed and power
Play him on the wings or just outside the box, where power in the shot generates more advantage then placement. Jota can slot in the rebound when the keepr blocks it.
(alternatively sell him)
Darwin has a gift, which that he can quickly shape himself to whack the ball with incredible speed and power
He has a problem, which is that he cannot understand that there is usually a better option than whacking the ball with speed and power
Play him on the wings or just outside the box, where power in the shot generates more advantage then placement. Jota can slot in the rebound when the keepr blocks it.
(alternatively sell him)
Next season will be the last season for it imho. New manager, new approach, new coaching. If there isnt any improvement then he’s sold next summer.
Thing with Darwin is we've seen him do an outrageous chipped goal, a right foot shot curled in from the left wing area and decent headed goals as well as chasing onto a through ball and slotting it into the corner of the goal so he has talent. In addition he's been quite handy at making assists. It must be truly frustrating for Klopp to see him so wasteful. I would think he's going to get a trial period with a new coaching team before he's saleable.
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