Former Liverpool striker Neil Mellor believes we’ll see ‘loads’ of goals like the second from Darwin Nunez against Southampton. The Reds set down a blueprint.
Darwin Nunez had a performance to remember at the weekend. His two goals against Southampton gave the Reds three points, and the Uruguayan appears to be getting better every week.
That’s undoubtedly how Rio Ferdinand and Alan Shearer see it.
Importantly, Nunez is clicking brilliantly with his new teammates from a slightly wider position. He’s starting on the left of a front-three but with all the licence he wants to drift inside and get in the box.
We saw that perfectly for his second goal against the Saints. Andy Robertson pulled all the way out to the left flank, up against the right-back. With the Scot offering width, Nunez moved inside. Roberto Firmino then took advantage of that to drop into a pocket of space and receive the ball from Thiago.
One through-ball for Robertson and Liverpool were in. The left-back just needed to fire across goal for either Nunez or Mohamed Salah, who both took up poaching positions in the middle.
It’s a goal that former Liverpool striker Neil Mellor loved. He believes it’s one we’ll see more and more of, in fact.
“That is a centre-forward’s dream, that sort of buildup to a goal, because they’re both fighting to get on the end of it,” he told LFC TV.
“The ball’s coming in and you’ve got Nunez, you’ve got Salah who are fighting to get on the end of it. I think we’re going to see loads of goals like this.
“Nunez gets there just ahead of Salah because if he doesn’t, Salah is a yard behind him and he’s going to tuck it in. Love this goal.”
Darwin Nunez goals
Mellor is absolutely right and this is the main advantage of having both Nunez and Salah in the side. When it was Sadio Mané and Salah, teams couldn’t handle the diagonal runs from the wide positions. Teams would play a back-five just to double-up on the wingers.
With Nunez, though, it’s more about what Liverpool can offer in the box. Both he and Salah are prolific goalscorers when allowed to move wherever they want and Jurgen Klopp is handing them that licence.
So you do end up with both in the box. They’re each so intelligent with their runs that they become perfect targets, just as we saw with that second goal. Few teams can cover both, especially if they allow Liverpool to push their full-backs forward and stretch play.
Nunez and Salah already look unstoppable together. They’re only just getting started, too.
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