How Nunez, the star centre forward for LFC, validated the data
Fans who enjoy football’s statistics aspects will not have been surprised by Darwin Nunez’s success this season.
When it comes to that specific field, nothing is more often accurate than the forecast that a striker who is missing opportunities will suddenly become prolific.
Nunez has put his inconsistent first season on Merseyside behind him to demonstrate why the Reds were so keen to get him two summers ago, and that is precisely what we are finally witnessing from him.
Despite the Uruguayan’s impressive 15 goals in 42 games during the previous season, it was difficult to accept that he may develop into a truly exceptional player because of his ingenious methods of wasting opportunities.
The most worrying thing of all was that he had only scored once in 11 games during the final stretch, when Liverpool had started to get their footing and he should have, in principle, been well established.
But even with that dreary run of form included, the underlying data kept pointing to more.
Nunez finished the 2022–2023 Premier League season with an unparalleled 4.46 shots per 90, much ahead of Aleksandar Mitrovic (3.81) in second place and Erling Haaland (3.77) in third, who scored 14 and 36 goals, respectively.
The fact that the striker produced the third-best non-penalty xG tally in the division (0.64), only behind Haaland (0.75) and Callum Wilson (0.72), indicates that these weren’t just pot shots either.
Nunez is now more assured and converting these statistical numbers into something more concrete, as shown by his incredible victory against Bournemouth, which brought his total of goals for club and nation to five.
The 24-year-old has now scored seven goals for Liverpool in all competitions this season. Rather pleasantly, he has also contributed five assists, bringing his total goal total to 12 across 14 games.
Those figures are even more remarkable considering that he has only been allowed to make seven starts this season. He started the season on the bench and was only sometimes put back there for 12.30 pm kickoffs following the international break.
An absolutely absurd rate of 1.5 non-penalty xG + assists per 90 minutes in the Premier League highlights the potential for even more progress. This rate is far higher than that of Haaland (1.11) and Wilson (1.06) in second and third place, respectively.
Nunez’s manager recently referred to his defence as the “ticket into the team,” so going forward, he should have more opportunities to live up to those encouraging stats.
This season, the striker’s tackles won per 90 increased from 0.27 to 0.85 while his attempted challenges increased from 0.90 to 1.28, putting him on pace to post some of the best numbers of his career in both categories.
All of this means that Liverpool now have a striker who presses like a forward under Jurgen Klopp should and scores and assists at a world-class pace.
And it sounds a lot like the full-fledged center-forward that Kopites had hoped to acquire before a lacklustre debut season planted doubts that are now likely to be a minor afterthought in a prosperous career at Anfield.
