11 January 2024 , 07:34
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Jamie Redknapp has hailed Darwin Nunez for his game-changing impact as Liverpool saw off Fulham.
The Cottagers took a shock lead at Anfield in the first-leg of their Carabao Cup and held onto that lead as the two teams headed into the break. Nunez came on for Ryan Gravenberch in the 56th minute and helped inspire a second-half comeback for the Reds.
Liverpool scored twice in the space of three minutes through Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo with Nunez, who has faced his critics, proving to have a major impact. He only played just over half an hour but the Uruguayan had the highest expected goals (0.76), the most touches in the opposition box (12), completed the most dribbles (3) and had the joint most shots (4) of any Liverpool player on the pitch.
Redknapp single out Nunez for his impact on Sky Sports : "Darwin Nunez really gave then impetus when he came on. They certainly miss [Mohamed] Salah, [Dominik] Szoboszlai, Trent [Alexander-Arnold]. Their creativity. Nunez was the real difference for Liverpool. He gave them energy, running down the sides, getting into good areas.
"That’s exactly what they needed. He gave the Fulham centre-backs so many problems. His movement was so good. [For the second goal] you can see Nunez making the run. He’s frustrated he doesn’t get the first pass but now he thinks 'I’m on again, can I get down the side?'. He does, takes a good first touch and plays it back into the area [for Gakpo to score]."
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Nunez's all round game has drawn plaudits, but the former Benfica man, who moved for a big price tag, has not scored with the regularity some expected. His finishing has been cited as an area he can improve with the Uruguayan prone to missing chances.
Darwin Nunez was introduced just before the hour markJurgen Klopp's attacking depth allowed him to ring the changes and it aided Liverpool in their comeback with the second-leg to come. "That you can bring Cody and Darwin from the bench, that's a proper change," said the German. "And we changed, on top of that, system and formation and set-up.
"All of a sudden the high press was not organised anymore, we had problems there, we tried to fix that from outside and then all of a sudden protection was not [there] because we changed a couple of things. But the offensive situations were much better, it's good – he's a big part of that."