Didi Hamann has voiced his concerns over the form of Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez, describing it as ‘a bit of a worry’.
The 24-year-old has now gone 10 appearances without scoring, with the last of his seven goals so far this season coming in the Carabao Cup win over Bournemouth on 1 November (Transfermarkt).
Speaking after the 0-0 draw against Manchester United on Sunday, the former Reds midfielder bemoaned the absence of the injured Alexis Mac Allister but said that his South American teammate’s drought is a bigger concern.
Hamann told talkSPORT: “I think they missed Mac Allister, who is probably the best player in midfield so far, but I think the bigger issue is probably the form of Nunez since he scored those goals away to Newcastle where I thought he’s coming into his own now and he will be the striker that everybody expected him to be.
“I think he’s only scored one or two goals [since then] and his form is a bit of a worry I think.”
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Normally a bundle of energy even when he’s not scoring, Nunez gave one of his most insipid displays for Liverpool yesterday.
As per Sofascore, he completed just eight passes in his 78 minutes on the pitch (his replacement Harvey Elliott had six during his cameo towards the end), lost four of his six duels and failed to get a shot on target.
Diogo Jota’s injury has left Jurgen Klopp with just four senior forwards, thus providing minimal scope for the Uruguayan to be simply taken out of the team. Cody Gakpo, the most obvious centre-forward alternative, was disappointingly ineffective when given his chance from the start against Union Saint-Gilloise last Thursday.
Maybe Nunez simply just needs one chance to go in for him and the dam could suddenly burst, but yesterday he looked like a player who’s worryingly short of confidence. The 24-year-old has had a lot of unfair criticism during his time in England, but the only way he’ll silence the doubts is by ending his scoring drought.
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He is not an elite level striker…. I know no new player guarantees you success but he ia not elite… he would do well in Germany maybe spain … he just ain’t got the Premier league suitability