Liverpool should unleash Darwin Núñez in bold new role if Jürgen Klopp goes big vs Man City
Liverpool forward Darwin Núñez would benefit from playing an alternate situation for Jürgen Klopp versus Man City. Yet, provided that the Reds manager goes with a front four.
Liverpool have beaten between a twofold turn and a three-man midfield of late, exchanging between what Jürgen Klopp and a few of his players have alluded to as a 4-4-2 and their standard 4-3-3 effect.
Against Manchester City, it would be an unquestionably striking move to play a two-man midfield, regardless of the mix of Thiago Alcântara, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho. While none have been at their very best this season — on occasion, truth be told, a long way from it — doing without one of them against Erling Haaland, Kevin de Bruyne and co would be a bet.
Assuming Liverpool picked to go down that way, however — thinking that their 4-3-3 has not worked in any case on occasion this season, Fabinho has been off the bubble and they are similarly prone to outscore Manchester City than keep them out — their assault may as yet do with some refining, regardless of fruitful trips against Officers.
Klopp could leave himself with any semblance of Harvey Elliott and Fábio Carvalho on the seat, actually playing similar four aggressors who are best option (beside the missing Luis Díaz), yet in a marginally unique request, to get significantly more from the £170m group of four.
So far, Liverpool have played with Mohamed Salah on the right and Díaz on the left in their 4-4-2, however there are two issues with that: Díaz is at this point not accessible to choose, while Salah has frequently looked disengaged on the right flank.
Darwin Núñez is yet to appropriately raise himself to an acceptable level yet has been scoring objectives, while Diogo Jota missed the vast majority of the Officers game midweek since he wasn’t adequately fit to play the whole an hour and a half.
Accepting that Liverpool have each of the four going after players to call upon on Sunday, they could utilize every one of the four from the very beginning at Anfield, yet in various positions. Roberto Firmino would in any case be the number 10, yet the other three could pivot around a bit.
Salah is greatly improved when he is nearer to objective, as he demonstrated in the Bosses Association with a record-breaking full go-around. Be that as it may, he scored those objectives from a focal position — something Liverpool need to find for him once more.
If he somehow happened to play midway close by Firmino, Núñez could play off the wing — a position he has played for Benfica previously — in a sort of Sadio Mané inside-left job. That could give a superior out-ball over the top (a vital strength of Núñez’s) as opposed to endeavoring long passes in the air through the center, and would give João Cancelo enough to contemplate to prevent him from going crazy going the alternate way. The Portugal worldwide has all the more frequently been handled on the opposite side over the last year or something like that, however wounds could see him include on Manchester City’s left.
That would leave Jota as the right-sided player for Liverpool, with the individual Portugal star having played there effectively at club level previously. He would have the option to help Joe Gomez — or whoever plays at right-back, amid a potential reshuffle following a potential Ibrahima Konaté mishap — as opposed to constraining Salah in reverse, leaving the Egyptian prepared for counter-assaults.
Going with a four-man assault would be a confirmation that Manchester City planned to score, yet that Liverpool back themselves to score as a large number. However, going with this variant of the front-footed development would get more from Salah and Núñez, instead of improving the adequacy of one to the detriment of the other.
