Alan Shearer names one ‘glaring thing’ he would change about Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez
Alan Shearer is unquestionably one of the best strikers in Premier League history, and the iconic goalscorer has offered an opinion on how he would improve Darwin Nunez to get him firing
Alan Shearer said that he would work on Darwin Nunez’s finishing if he was asked to work on one aspect of the Liverpool striker’s game.
Nunez arrived from Benfica for a huge transfer fee in 2022 but has scored just 35 goals in 109 appearances for the Reds, and has faced heavy criticism for his profligate shooting.
The Uruguayan has scored just twice so far this season, averaging a goal every 319 minutes, and watched on from the bench as Luis Diaz — a natural winger — was preferred to him as a striker and scored a 31-minute hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen this week.
Arne Slot claimed that he doesn’t think Nunez is match-fit enough to start several games in a row, and that that was the reason why Diaz started ahead of him up front, with Diogo Jota still out injured.
Even so, Diaz’s performance up front emphasized just how important it is for a team’s striker to be a dependable source of goals. Shearer was asked in a Q&A with The Athletic what he would do to try and improve Nunez and responded: “The one obvious, glaring thing: his finishing should be a lot better.
“He gets into so many good positions, his running ability is excellent, but when he has time to think, it doesn’t quite work for him. When it’s instant and instinctive, it does. He scored two great goals late on against Newcastle last season, so it’s in there, but it isn’t reliable or consistent.
“There’s only one way to change that, and that’s practice, practice and practice. I would have him doing every finishing drill going every day so it becomes natural. I did it. As a kid, the best bit of advice I was given was from Jack Hixon, the scout who discovered me. There would always be better players than me, and he said: ‘So make sure you work harder than any of them.’
“Klopp was more rock ’n’ roll, I guess. The new tune is quieter, but when they (Liverpool) go for you as they did during the second half against Brighton and Leverkusen, they go for you properly. Nunez does that exceptionally well but, as a forward, it’s vital that you chip in with goals. His finishing is still very erratic.”
