Liverpool transfers: Darwin Nunez's days may be NUMBERED with Arne Slot

It is time to address the elephant in the room. It may be a little premature to ask this but will Darwin Nunez fit into this Arne Slot system? 

Granted, the No9 hasn’t really had an opportunity to make his mark in this new-look Liverpool team having returned fairly late to pre-season due to his Copa America involvement.

He didn’t get any minutes off of the bench in the win over Ipswich Town with Slot opting to bring on Cody Gakpo in place of Diogo Jota late on in the second half.

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The former Benfica man did get 20 minutes against Brentford on Sunday. By this point,  the game was won and he didn’t really get the chance to catch the eye of his new manager. It is worth noting here that he did complete 100% of his passes.

The focus is, of course, on the offside, but his use of the ball should not be overlooked, especially when you consider Slot wants complete control of proceedings, in and out of possession.

Gakpo had a similar sort of showing against Ipswich when he replayed Jota, completing 100% of his passes in what was a fairly limited cameo.

The point was he understood the brief - help see out the game - and he nailed it. Darwin did the same against the Bees, as boring as his 20-minute spell on the pitch was.

Nunez not suited to Slot-ball

But this didn’t necessarily ease concerns over his suitability for Slot-ball.

Darwin, at his best, is chaos. Slot wants his team to be the complete opposite of that, he wants control. There isn’t really a world in which Darwin can be Darwin while Liverpool play the football Slot wants them to play.

This is all theoretical right now as we’ve not really had chance to see how everything develops under Slot. However, there are examples of why the former Feyenoord boss could well be reluctant to lead with Darwin, at least in the short-term.

There was a glaring opportunity in the friendly against Las Palmas when Darwin had time and space to pick out Cody Gakpo in what could’ve been a scintillating counter-attacker.

Instead, he carried the ball forward and killed the attack.

Let's not over-analyse

You shouldn’t overanalyse one moment, especially not in a friendly. And we’ve seen other players, technically better players, mess up passes and moves in pre-season. But the issue here was it was as though Darwin simply didn’t see the opportunity to play that pass. He had tunnel vision when in possession. Last season, this wasn’t as much of an issue.

Liverpool, generally speaking, played second-ball football under Jurgen Klopp. They would look to get the ball forward, often via the wide areas, and they’d play risky passes in the hope of picking up the second balls. There wasn’t a tried and tested, rehearsed pattern of play to get the ball into the final third.

Nothing really struck me as sustainable or repeatable. And this is why Darwin’s chaos-ball was so effective for the Reds.

He’d make something happen. He was unpredictable. Sometimes he was frustrating but you’d persist with it, purely because of the potential reward.

This is make-or-break for Darwin

From what we’ve seen under Slot, this isn’t how the Reds are looking to play football. The 45-year-old wants total control. There are clear patterns of play to Liverpool in possession and a rigid structure without the ball. There’s less reliance on individuals and more emphasis on repeatable, well-worked team moves.

Diogo Jota might not be the most refined player in possession but he executes his role.

You can rely on him and, in the nicest way possible, he’s reliable. He’s intelligent and tactically astute. He’s got a clear understanding of the game, and his game. He didn’t claim an assist against Ipswich Town and he finished with a pass success rate of just 57%, but he played a significant role in Luis Diaz’s display.

It was Jota crossing the ball into Trent Alexander-Arnold in the lead-up to Diaz’s best opportunity. He did get an assist in the 4-1 win over Sevilla. He was also involved in the third goal for the Reds, playing a perfectly weighted through ball into Dominik Szoboszlai. He also had an assist in the win against Manchester United.

And he chipped in with an assist against Brentford, playing a perfect pass into the path of Diaz for the opener. He is impacting the final third on a regular basis.

If we’re using Jota as the blueprint for the Slot forward in this system, it is difficult to see how Darwin fits it. He’s a goal threat and he’s capable of playing in wide areas, just as the No20 is, but his on-ball stuff is severely lacking.

This could well be a make-or-break season for the Uruguayan at Anfield.