The enigmatic Darwin Nunez has had a direct hand in two key victories for Liverpool over solely a matter of days, however there’s no telling if he can be a hero or inactive within the subsequent two.
It proved fairly the testing week, regardless of the remainder weekend provided by Liverpool’s non-involvement within the fifth spherical of the FA Cup.
Occasions on the Parc des Princes and Anfield led to 2 extra essential victories for Arne Slot‘s males, each have been in the end influenced by the Liverpool supervisor’s footballing drawback little one.
A month or two in the past, a WhatsApp message from Jeff Goulding popped up on my cellphone, asking if I might be capable to sub-in for him for his scheduled involvement because the Reds’ speaking head on that night’s BBC Radio Merseyside Whole Sport present.
I unwittingly will need to have sounded believable sufficient in my opinions to be absorbed inside some form of rotation system, through which you’re invited again each few weeks.
It was my success that the random generator of this rotation system landed on me once more, 24 hours after Liverpool’s magnificently outrageous win within the French capital, the place many of the red-hued chat revolved across the majestic Alisson‘s life-defining efficiency.
But it surely additionally touched on the state of affairs Harvey Elliott presently finds himself in, and the contribution to what was a ram-raiding victory that Darwin Nunez made.
Darwin Nunez the enigma
It made for an fascinating hour of dialog, nevertheless it was after strolling out of the studio that the introspection grew to become a bit deeper when speaking with that present’s Blue speaking head, Max Carlyle, concerning the complexities of Nunez a bit extra earlier than we drifted our separate methods into the Liverpool night time.
Max doesn’t tick the field of your stereotypical Blue. Whereas he’s massively passionate and vastly insightful concerning the workforce of his coronary heart, he’s panoramic sufficient in his love of soccer that he overtly admires the way in which Liverpool play, and is fascinated by the chemistry of Nunez and the polarising opinions the Uruguayan provokes amongst his Crimson-tinted buddies – a few of whom are nonetheless defiantly pro-Nunez, whereas others have more and more misplaced their shit over him.
As we stood there chatting, Max requested questions I’d by no means even requested myself about Nunez, and the place my very own ideas stand with him.
I imply, I’ve by no means been massively professional or anti-Nunez in particular person phrases however I’ve all the time held out hope that given time and persistence, all the things would fall into place for him as a part of the collective, from the place his particular person relevance might come to the fore; this in itself not being a Nunez bespoke idea, and as a substitute a rule of thumb that goes for all Liverpool gamers.
A symbiosis is all the time at play on this respect.
On Saturday, as Liverpool stood poised to get the sport restarted after conceding the opening objective in opposition to Southampton, one of many visiting gamers stood semi-provocatively within the centre circle simply contained in the Liverpool half.
With the referee unwilling to renew proceedings, Nunez took it upon himself to shove him within the route of his personal half.
A purple mist was clearly descending upon the Liverpool quantity 9 and inside a brief few moments, a VAR test was happening over a possible purple card after a yellow had been flashed at Nunez for a needlessly rash problem on Kyle Walker-Peters.
The half-time whistle made for a delightful sound and it was going to take a courageous choice by Slot to persevere with Nunez after the interval.
Inactive or a hero once more?
Definitely, the good cash was on modifications being made and when three gamers discovered themselves hooked on the interval, it was an affordable shock that Nunez hadn’t been one in every of them.
Stick or twist, Slot held his nerve the place others would have erred upon warning and he was rewarded royally, as inside 10 minutes of the restart Nunez netted the equaliser, and received the penalty from which Mohamed Salah had given Liverpool the lead.
Nonetheless a purple card threat nonetheless, it felt a little bit of a reduction that Nunez was then withdrawn and changed by Diogo Jota simply past the halfway level of the second half.
It was right here the place my chat with Max sprang again into thoughts, which mused the complexities of Nunez’s character, alongside together with his place inside the panorama of an attacking quintet that largely have one query mark or one other hovering over them.
Be it the Nunez conundrum, Salah’s contract state of affairs, Jota’s health monitor file, or Luis Diaz‘s largely unacknowledged battle for steadiness between the talents he possesses and the top product that’s typically missing.
In Paris, Nunez was key to Elliott’s late profitable objective, displaying the clever and grown-up streak which lays beneath the floor of chaos that we largely get to see from him, this from the identical participant who ballooned that shot over the crossbar at Villa Park and indulged in a teenage social media strop.
Thus, it’s arduous to return to a definitive opinion on Nunez as a result of there are a number of excessive personalities at play, which most likely means his future will lay away from Anfield this summer season, particularly if an inflated provide drifts Liverpool’s means from Saudi Arabia, one from which the membership can claw their outlay again.
All of it makes for a kitchen sink drama of a distraction, however one that may’t be allowed to attract gentle from the future that’s looming for the collective.
Victory over Southampton has introduced Liverpool to inside 18 factors of the Premier League title, a win that, no less than briefly, put them 16 factors clear on the high of the desk and ever nearer to a twentieth league title that, no less than collectively, will put us again the place we belong.
Now we head into one other biblical week with the return sport in opposition to Paris Saint-Germain and a visit to Wembley for the League Cup remaining to return.
It’s a week the place Nunez might simply as simply watch on from the sidelines in a very inactive function as he might make a hero of himself.
Strap yourselves in.
