The Donkey

[rurikbird]

Exceptional talent and it looks like he is exceptionally well-coached both for his club and country. Decision-making becoming much more clear; he knows which moves give him an advantage especially against a static defender, he seems more in control of his body and able to control the distance to the opponent more often. The hold-up play, interplay with teammates all getting better and he is now creating chances for others as well. Whisper it quietly, but Darwin is becoming a damn good all-around centre-forward.

Revisiting the first few pages of this thread, there didn’t seem to be a lot of optimism among the SCM folk about his prospects, but of course Newcastle was a major turning point and I think this MOTM performance at home against Brazil will give him lots of confidence as well. The donkey has evolved. Time to start calling him La Pantera?

 

[juniormember]

He’s still clumsy as hell and he probably always will be, but he scares the crap out of defenders and always causes mayhem. We don’t have anyone like him (most teams don’t) and I hope he’s played more in future to really get into the flow. He’ll definitely improve further.
Right now, he’s the best impact sub in the league.

 

[rurikbird]

He’s still clumsy as hell and he probably always will be, but he scares the crap out of defenders and always causes mayhem. We don’t have anyone like him (most teams don’t) and I hope he’s played more in future to really get into the flow. He’ll definitely improve further.
Right now, he’s the best impact sub in the league.

Correction: 2nd best to Elliott 😉

 

[localny]

Looking better and better every week

 

[doctor_mac]

He's clearly a nightmare to play against, and his hold up play is just a different class from what it previously was. We just need to see him being more consistently putting away his chances and he really could rival any player out there.

 

[Frogfish]

The hold-up play, interplay with teammates all getting better and he is now creating chances for others as well. Whisper it quietly, but Darwin is becoming a damn good all-around centre-forward.

Revisiting the first few pages of this thread, there didn’t seem to be a lot of optimism among the SCM folk about his prospects, but of course Newcastle was a major turning point and I think this MOTM performance at home against Brazil will give him lots of confidence as well. The donkey has evolved. Time to start calling him La Pantera?

Some of us knew better 😗

 

[Modo]

He's better than Bergkamp

 

[moron]

He was never a donkey, he was and is a predatory machine , man-machine-Nunez, thats what people should think. He is Torres/R9 Regen in world where strikers are few. Worth at least 150M.

 

[Hansern]

He's fantastic. Love el Pantera!

 

[ibromurph]

He's getting better, but still not at a level that remotely justifies the price we paid.

The good thing is, he does appears to be slowly improving both technically and with his decision making.

 

[Holle]

Donkey forever!

 

[rurikbird]

He's fantastic. Love el Pantera!

Spanish speakers will probably say La Pantera, but whatever works 🙂

 

[Hansern]

Spanish speakers will probably say La Pantera, but whatever works 🙂

I meant whatever is the correct term.. 😉

 

[StevieM]

I mean, he still has his donkey brain, but it’s a trained donkey brain now.

I think he’s done well, but he still seems to operate better coming off the bench and I still want to see him on the left for a few games.

Also, it’s probably really good management to use him a little more sparingly while he grows into the role - manage expectations a little bit.

Klopp tends to rotate more in the first half of the season, then coalesce round a more fixed team the second half - if Nunez can either learn how to impact consistently from the bench or keep developing so that he’s absolutely primed for the second half of the season - then that’s a good thing.

 

[Dirty Sanchez]

Don Quixote!

 

[kingjulian]

He's better than Bergkamp

Lets not get carried away...

 

[localny]

He's better at being kamp

Indeed!

 

[Modo]

Lets not get carried away...

He's better than Andy Carroll?

 

[Frogfish]

I mean, he still has his donkey brain, but it’s a trained donkey brain now.

I think he’s done well, but he still seems to operate better coming off the bench and I still want to see him on the left for a few games.

Also, it’s probably really good management to use him a little more sparingly while he grows into the role - manage expectations a little bit.

Klopp tends to rotate more in the first half of the season, then coalesce round a more fixed team the second half - if Nunez can either learn how to impact consistently from the bench or keep developing so that he’s absolutely primed for the second half of the season - then that’s a good thing.

That's not really true though, bar Newcastle and the fact he's not started as much as some, of course, which seems to be colouring a lot of people's opinion. As can be seen from the below record (5 x Goals/assist in matches started, 3 G/A in those he came on as a sub), 4 starts, 1 x 45 mins and 5 subbed on. Unsurprisingly of course because the more minutes you get the more opportunities.

 

[StevieM]

That's not really true though, bar Newcastle and the fact he's not started as much as some, of course, which seems to be colouring a lot of people's opinion. As can be seen from the below record (5 x Goals/assist in matches started, 3 G/A in those he came on as a sub), 4 starts, 1 x 45 mins and 5 subbed on. Unsurprisingly of course because the more minutes you get the more opportunities.

It’s not really an exact science - yes the more minutes he plays the more goals/assists he gets, but it looks like his conversion of goals/assists while coming on is better.

It might be to do with him coming on against tiring defenders or that he can expend all his energies over a short space of time.

It’s a small sample size - I did say “looked”, so I’m not going definitive and much of it is due to eye test.

He was just so clinical against Newcastle.

 

[moron]

I mean, he still has his donkey brain, but it’s a trained donkey brain now.

I think he’s done well, but he still seems to operate better coming off the bench and I still want to see him on the left for a few games.

Also, it’s probably really good management to use him a little more sparingly while he grows into the role - manage expectations a little bit.

Klopp tends to rotate more in the first half of the season, then coalesce round a more fixed team the second half - if Nunez can either learn how to impact consistently from the bench or keep developing so that he’s absolutely primed for the second half of the season - then that’s a good thing.

He never had a donkey brain !!!! - ( honestly the battles I have to do for the Curtis/Nunez) , if anything he was playing with donkeys last season that made him look bad. I remember seeing him in games hold his hand up as he is level with the oppositions' last line of defence - ready to make the run if the fucker would just pass him the ball. But no - we want to move that ball around the entire pitch first rather than pass to the willing runner. If we want to use the 'donkey' metaphor in association with him - we can say now that he has finally settled into our "donkey" build up play so that he can be an effective "donkey" amongst the other donkeys in our team.

 

[Dreambeliever]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cy0fXA5NE6j/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

[StevieM]

He never had a donkey brain !!!! - ( honestly the battles I have to do for the Curtis/Nunez) , if anything he was playing with donkeys last season that made him look bad. I remember seeing him in games hold his hand up as he is level with the oppositions' last line of defence - ready to make the run if the fucker would just pass him the ball. But no - we want to move that ball around the entire pitch first rather than pass to the willing runner. If we want to use the 'donkey' metaphor in association with him - we can say now that he has finally settled into our "donkey" build up play so that he can be an effective "donkey" amongst the other donkeys in our team.

Mate - he made some terrible decisions last year - like nutting that Palace defender and his finishing was and though better, still is erratic - like his touch can be.

He’s good, like Curtis is good - but neither are fucking world class greats… yet!!!

 

[mom]

He’s boss. And will only get better. He was never a donkey. Some fans were just expecting Haaland.

 

[StevieM]

He’s boss. And will only get better. He was never a donkey. Some fans were just expecting Haaland.

Some fans were claiming he was better than Haaland and arguing that his scoring rate per minute on the pitch made him superior.

 

[moron]

Mate - he made some terrible decisions last year - like nutting that Palace defender and his finishing was and though better, still is erratic - like his touch can be.

He’s good, like Curtis is good - but neither are fucking world class greats… yet!!!

Nunez is world class - and yes the bar for world class talent is getting lower each year because most of the best players in the world are being told to play to a 'System' rather than use their natural skills. So when I see a player with all the raw talent of Nunez - I know he is world class, and no defender in this country wants to go up against someone like him. Also the measurement of those so called 'chances' are still pretty pathetic, we all know Salah and others miss loads of chances, and he did not do as badly as some other recent expensive buys for other clubs in terms of his goal scoring last season. You need to submit to world class talent like both Nunez and Curtis.

 

[rurikbird]

Some fans were claiming he was better than Haaland and arguing that his scoring rate per minute on the pitch made him superior.

Haaland is just a shit Nunez 😉

 

[Squiggles]

I think the graph above illustrates the difference between their roles. Pep would be fine with Haaland getting six touches a game providing one of them was a goal.

 

[moron]

Haaland is just a shit Nunez 😉

You have spoken the truth, even that graph is is like a globe to represent a worldy shape, contrast with Halland and you can see the pitch like the class is half full. Nunez has a lot more of an active role to fill with us, Haarland has a purely specialist role why ? Coz he is a shit all round footballer but the best at positioning and scoring around the box. Thats all he has, he needs servicing, Nunez dont.

 

[tombrown]

He's better than Haaland. His goals per minute proves it.

Also, I am well endowed