This is no experiment, Jurgen Klopp insists, but the prospect of Liverpool fielding the same side in Austria on Thursday as they do at Anfield on Sunday is surely slim.
The door is open for the entire squad, therefore, as Liverpool begin their first Europa League campaign since the season Klopp arrived in the October of 2015-16.
So, enter Darwin Nunez? The Uruguayan has made the starting XI for just one of Liverpool’s five Premier League games so far, with two goals in 13 minutes against Newcastle United earning him a start in the following game against Aston Villa.
The 24-year-old was then relegated to the bench once more for the win at Wolves on Saturday, and while he will hope to displace Diogo Jota in the weeks to come, his best opportunity to convince Klopp into a rethink is arguably in the Europa League.
The overwhelming favourites to win this competition, Liverpool’s draw was always going to read favourable, but it looks even more so – on a wider scale factoring in their domestic ambitions – given the relatively short distances they will travel before Christmas.
With teams as far out as Qarabag in Azerbaijan and Maccabi Haifa in Israel in the group stages, Liverpool can count themselves fortunate that trips to Austria, Belgium and France are in the offing.
It all starts with a 1600-mile round trip to Linz, the home of LASK, who finished third in last year’s Austrian Bundesliga and host Liverpool on Thursday night. It is then 1,400 miles to Toulouse and back in November, and 700 miles return to Brussels for their away match against Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in December.
That makes for 22 matches between now and the New Year, not including further Carabao Cup matches should they progress to the latter rounds, and six rounds of Thursdays and Sundays where Klopp must utilise his squad.
“We have real talent there, but it is not experimental,” Klopp stressed, but he went on to suggest this squad is capable of fielding strong XIs that may vary in personnel, adding: “I think if we don’t get hit by an injury crisis then we should have enough players to field Thursday and Sunday a top team, and that’s pretty much the idea.”
Nunez therefore stands out as the obvious candidate to get greater gametime in Europe, and for a forward who performed better than the trolls would have you to think last season – goals in four straight Champions League matches contributing to his tally of 15 in all competitions – this could be a stage where he shines.
He scored five times in the group stages the last time he played in the Europa League with Benfica in 2020-21, then 21 years old when scoring a hat-trick in the opening game at Lech Poznan.
— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) October 26, 2020
First-ever UEL game
Nets a hat-trick
Darwin Nuñez, remember the name!@SLBenfica | #UEL pic.twitter.com/JtIc5JALfN
And when watching Nunez, for better or worse what is noticeable – and admirable when things are not going his way – is his persistence and ability to get into the right areas. Already in the Premier League this season he is averaging a shot every 13 minutes (11 shot from 140 minutes total) and has hit the woodwork twice on top of his goals at Newcastle.
He is a nuisance, in short, and while some are sceptical, others believe a 30-goal-a-season player is lying just beneath the surface, so long as the accuracy improves and fewer big chances are missed.
Big chances missed
Last season, Nunez finished joint-third for big chances missed in the Premier League on 20, behind Erling Haaland (28) and Marcus Rashford (22), and level with team-mate Mohamed Salah and Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins – all of whom scored more goals than Nunez.
- Erling Haaland – 36 Premier League goals
- Mohamed Salah – 19
- Marcus Rashford – 17
- Ollie Watkins – 15
- Darwin Nunez – 9
This season already, only Haaland (eight), Nicolas Jackson (six), and Watkins (five) have missed more than Nunez’s four.
“This guy is amazing,” Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker said of Nunez after Newcastle. “He has a lot of expectations on him about his performances, from supporters, from everybody, from his team-mates, from the staff, everybody, because he is really good.
“He is amazing and he has huge potential. But he’s still young and he needs time. We have to be patient with him and we have to support him in a way that he feels that we are really there supporting him.”
At 24, he is leaving that young category, while patience could wear thin if there are no signs of progress this season, but in continuously channelling that Chumbawamba spirit by getting up after every knockdown, he has endeared himself to the fans and is evidently eager to repay that faith.
“I see the supporters as well, everybody loves him,” Alisson added. “When he comes on in a game they shout his name already: ‘Nunez! Nunez!’ We make a few jokes with him about that as well, but I’m serious, I say to him so many times people here at Liverpool they love you and they want you to do well and you need to be patient.
“I think he is showing that. He is being patient, but this guy has fire inside of him.”
And that fire could be on show from the off in Austria, so too the chant from the travelling fans. What they would give for this to be the start of something special.
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