Darwin Nunes had barely taken off his tracksuit on the Liverpool bench when the Kop started to move.The Liverpool forward was one of two changes Jurgen Klopp made 55 minutes after starting his side in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Fulham on Wednesday night. .
As Cody Gakpo approached, fans around the stadium made no mistake as to whose name was being called from the bench, and once a simple chant began of Nunez, a name that often appeared on the playlist of Cobb’s Terrace. More.At times, the chants of Uruguay’s national team supporters were closer to encouragement and gentle praise than anything else.
Missed chances, winning throw-ins and beating defenders are feats that have fans chanting “Núñez” after a club record that could see him move away from Benfica in the summer of 2022.But on Wednesday night, there seemed to be more anticipation than hope. This time it was a shout of encouragement rather than support and it worked well for Liverpool.
A look at the stats shows that Nunes finished the game with zero goals, more shots on goal and two assists than any other player, but the truth is worth looking at. If a simple Curtis Jones pass that ended with a deflected shot to Bernd Leno can be called an “assist”, the second is more appropriate.
With Mohamed Salah ruled out for the next few weeks at the Africa Cup of Nations, Klopp promised to be “creative” to make up for the deficit caused by the Egyptian’s absence last week. The tactic that worked later against Arsenal and Fulham was to deploy Jota or each central weapon and use Nunes’ unique technique on the left of the front three.
It’s the attitude that produced the winning goal on Wednesday night and it deserves to continue even with Salah out for the AFCON. Nunes’ only hope is to have his name chanted for his own goals when he returns next week. Because, as it turns out, they’ll scream anyway.
