When Fire Meets Ice

Darwin Núñez played under Arne Slot for the very first time on Sunday afternoon.

Over the course of the summer so far, we’ve witnessed Arne Slot interpret the qualities of a number of different players, from Mohamed Salah to Curtis Jones to Dominik Szoboszlai to Diogo Jota.

This weekend, he finally got to watch Darwin Núñez live in action. The enigma. The madman. Slot is fortunate that he’s already lost his hair, because he’s taking charge of a player who has a knack for making supporters want to pull theirs out.

Ahead of the new campaign, Núñez is right up there alongside Trent Alexander-Arnold as the player who I am most eager to watch under a new manager. It feels like he needed this change, perhaps more than anybody else.

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Jürgen Klopp never really managed to tame Núñez. And maybe he never wanted to. The pair worked together for two seasons, with the former initially itching to work with the latter. In a recent interview with The Times, ex-Liverpool director of research Ian Graham effectively confirmed that Núñez was a Klopp signing.

At the time of his purchase from Benfica, other members of the club’s recruitment team — including Graham — favoured Christopher Nkunku instead, who was contracted to RB Leipzig at the time and now represents Chelsea, like everybody else on the planet.

In his interview, Graham said: “Núñez was more on Jürgen’s radar. In our data analysis, he was one of the best young strikers in the world. My concern about him was: is he a player you are willing to change your style a little bit for? Because we hadn’t played with a number nine for many years.”

I shared similar thoughts back then. Below, you’ll find a clip of me likening Núñez to a new pair of trainers in my first-ever appearance on The Anfield Wrap.

Klopp never did manage to build a wardrobe of clothes that made his orange trainers look good. And part of that stemmed from his nature. The former Reds boss was renowned for producing fire in the dugout. His game was chaotic, direct, impatient and unpredictable.

Núñez is all of those things, too. You could argue the Uruguayan striker should have been a perfect match for Klopp. But sometimes, two people can almost be too similar. Sometimes, you need a bit of yin and yang.

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Núñez is a handful even on his worst day. He might miss the target more than anybody else in the history of the sport, but from the perspective of the opposition — especially those in defence — he’s really difficult to contain.

The South American is as fiery as it gets. He’ll fight you. He’ll chase you. He’ll test your speed. He’ll take more shots against you than anybody else in the Premier League. But can a player almost offer too much fire?

Since Liverpool brought him to English shores, I think he’s almost hindered his teammates more than benefiting them. Why? Because they just haven’t possessed enough control on the pitch to accomodate him.

He’s not particularly inclined to keep the ball. Last season, no Liverpool player posted a lower pass completion than his 69.2 per cent. Yeah, 152 of his 493 attempted passes in the Premier League found an opponent. Not great.

So Núñez definitely isn’t a glue guy. In fact, by including him, you’re probably asking to concede more counter-attacks than if he was on the bench or in the stands.

He also averaged fewer touches per 90 than any other Liverpool player, which is quite normal for strikers, but certainly wasn’t the case when Roberto Firmino wore the club’s number nine shirt.

Those metrics are really basic, but they suggest Núñez is a player who has to be carried to an extent. When you’ve got possession, you want him to be a passenger until you’re ready to create the shot, at which point, he’s a master at getting on the end of things in the penalty box.

No player across Europe’s big five leagues averaged more shots per 90 than Núñez last term, ahead of Kylian Mbappé in second, Deniz Undav in third and Harry Kane in fourth.

You use him like he’s Erling Haaland. I’ve always said this. He’s fast and physical with a poaching instinct, but just not that serene when he’s in possession. So you keep him away from the ball until you’re ready to score.

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This is why I’m so intrigued to follow his development under Slot, who has the word ‘patience’ tattooed in Dutch on the back of his neck. Alright, maybe that isn’t true, but I know you thought about it for a second.

I’ve talked about Liverpool establishing control for the entirety of pre-season on this Substack. It has been a recurring theme for a long time in my mind, with the Reds finally appearing interested in slowing things down at times.

Slot is an iceberg in comparison to Klopp. They share similar philosophies — particularly against the ball — but in possession, our new man wants his players to bring the temperature down.

Liverpool are still getting to grips with his ways, but the shift from fire to ice is exciting when you think about Núñez. If the Reds gain more control, they gain more of a platform to accomodate the habits of their record purchase.

If Liverpool can dictate the tempo of matches while accelerating the game at the right times, Núñez might just calm down thanks to his awareness and understanding of his new supply line.

The attack that he’s witnessed to date at Anfield has been very off-the-cuff and almost erratic at times. That unstable approach to creating chances definitely made the Reds difficult to defend against, but it made them easier to cut open, too, and it probably made life harder for Núñez.

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I’m thinking optimistically here, but I can see a world in which Núñez thrives under Slot because everything around him is simply more relaxed. And he should now be presented with the same type of chance to convert every week, which would allow him to focus on repetition with his finishing.

Liverpool will have more control this season than in any of the previous two campaigns that Núñez has experienced on Merseyside. I’m pretty sure of that, which bodes well for the Reds harvesting the good stuff from their number nine without getting stung too often by his negatives.

On the other hand, part of me is concerned that Núñez doesn’t quite have enough of a total skill set for Slot to fancy him. It remains to be seen whether the Dutchman will hold any interest in carrying a passenger in possession.

There’s also a question mark as to whether the Reds striker has a high enough IQ to lead Slot’s game. It seems harsh to doubt the brainpower of a player, but come on, this is Núñez. Based on the past 24 months, it’s safe to say he’s prone to making the odd peculiar decision.

He’ll need to grasp when to run in behind, and when to drop deep. When to press, and when to hold his position and cover space. When to pass, and when to shoot. He even tends to make strange choices when deciding how to finish. I still haven’t forgotten about that lob against Brentford.

We’ll see what happens when fire meets ice over the course of the next 12 months. For Núñez to prosper under the new manager, though, it feels like ice kinda has to win.