Liverpool must give Darwin Nunez what he needs against Crystal Palace tonight. The striker has to prepare for Manchester United.
It’s Liverpool vs Crystal Palace tonight and Jurgen Klopp has a few big decisions. One of those is who to start up top – Darwin Nunez or Roberto Firmino.
Firmino started against Fulham, of course, but didn’t play well. On came Nunez in the second half to change the game – scoring one and assisting the other in a 2-2 draw. Without him, Liverpool would have suffered a defeat to the newly-promoted side.
And so there’s understandably a push for Nunez to start against Palace. He’s earned a star, at the very least, with his impacts against Fulham and Manchester City in the Community Shield. But there’s another reason Liverpool need to consider how they use him.
It’s Manchester United away next week, after all. It’s one of the biggest games of the season and one in which Nunez could be key.
Darwin Nunez vs Palace
United are awful, of course, but Liverpool need to take them seriously. At the very least, they must consider how to best exploit them. Right now, that’s by attacking Lisandro Martinez.
The diminutive defender has struggled badly against both Brighton and Brentford as they put physical players up against him. It’s brought about questions of whether Martinez can handle such players and whether he can even play centre-back in the Premier League.
The answer is ‘yes’, he can – just not at United. He’s a defender with enormous talent but one clear weakness and he’s in a team that doesn’t know how to cover one another’s weaknesses. Martinez started for Ajax last season against one of the world’s best physical strikers in Erling Haaland. His side won 4-0. Clearly, you can be defensively strong and successful with him at the back.
But United leave him isolated and don’t help him. That’s something Liverpool will seek to exploit and Nunez is as good as it gets for doing that. However, the Reds can only use their new striker to his full ability if he’s at his best and that means handling him right against Palace.
Starting him would be our pick – give him a game where he can truly get used to playing with his teammates from the get-go. There’s a case for leaving him out, though.
For one, starting him allows United to prepare for Nunez better – they’ll see exactly what he brings. It’s arguably the Nunez could learn just as much from the bench, too, with Ian Wright recently pointing out that learning experience.
It’s a tough one, then. First and foremost, Liverpool need to beat Palace, of course. But they’ll also want to make sure Nunez is fully prepared for next week and what will hopefully be his most decisive game as a Red.
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