The Midweek Maxi #5: The Núñez Dilemma, Liverpool 2.0 & Gérard Houllier's Treble

Our new Liverpool FC weekly compendium. News. Stats. Views. Debate. Links. Data. Insights. Delights.

To read about why we’ve replaced Free Friday with The Midweek Maxi, see the intro to the first edition.

So far the bumper weekly roundup is going down extremely well with paying subscribers:

This week:

• Excerpts and links to the different pieces we've published across the TTT Substack network, prior to the paywall kicking in;

• Andrew Beasley’s Weekly Stats Analysis focuses on the wages of clubs

• Then, some of the best comments from the site this past week;

• Next, Daniel Zambartas’ bumper LFC News, Media & Transfer Round-Up;

• And then finally, bit of Midweek Moby (the TTT stalwart, not the beautiful bald middle-aged man), for the third mini-article of new writing within this week’s Maxi.

Job done! (Oh, and it’s also a discussion thread for the issues raised.)

Note: the Maxi may exceed the email size limit on Substack, but the whole piece can be read online by paying subscribers.

TTT Network Roundup

Links and excerpts to articles on the various TTT sites, which are run by different people and require separate subscriptions to this, the TTT Main Hub.

TTT Main Hub

Paul details the arguments for moving Nunez on after one season, as well as letting him develop next season.

The Case For Selling Darwin Núñez (and the Case For Keeping Him)

I wouldn't say that Liverpool must sell Núñez, but his failure to learn the language, the games missed by various little injuries and suspensions (all a bit similar to Naby Keïta), and his dropping to second-choice centre-forward and third-choice left-attacker, leaves the 3rd-biggest chunk of the club's transfer outlay on the bench.

Cissé was offloaded by Rafa Benítez in 2006, and a year later, Fernando Torres arrived.

Chelsea had a similar issue with Romelu Lukaku, who like Núñez this past season, scored a respectable 15 goals for the Blues in 2021/22, and who is clearly an elite striker in his own way (275 club goals, 72 international goals).

But at almost £100m he never really suited the team, and was in his late 20s. (Núñez's initial fee, by contrast, is £64m, and he's 23. The more Núñez plays, the costlier he will get; albeit if he stays and keeps playing, that will be justified.)

Like Núñez, Lukaku didn't press effectively, didn't come deep for the ball, and his first touch was erratic. Núñez led the league in 2022/23 for through-balls chased, but is that really Liverpool's game?

Núñez is a good point of difference, but is that enough? He's excellent at finding space in the box too, and has set up chances for others. But equally, too many attacks break down with his poor touch or a poor effort at goal, in between the moments of brilliant madness.

Things have obviously gone worse for Chelsea since Lukaku left (for various reasons, but mostly through buying far too many players, and destroying harmony and understanding), but that doesn't alter the fact that, while he was under a top manager, the team looked worse with him in the XI; even if 15 goals is something they'd love to have seen from a player this season.

Dynasty

In this instalment of this major series on Dynasty, Anthony Stanley looks at Houllier’s treble cup season of 2000/2001.

Originally a series of articles covering the period 1992 to Klopp’s arrival in 2017, it was written by TTT Subscriber Anthony Stanley, serialised on The Tomkins Times and then published by TTT as a book called A BANQUET WITHOUT WINE - A Quarter-Century of Liverpool FC in the Premier League Era.

A Quarter of a Century of Liverpool FC in the Premier League Era, 1992-2017, Part 7

Pick your memory:

There was Michael Owen defying the odds and finishing brilliantly twice in Rome; the striker at the very peak of his predatory prowess. The return leg wasn’t exactly conducive to a steady heartbeat as the referee awarded Roma a penalty with the Italians 1-0 ahead on the night and then inexplicably changed his mind.

Then there was Robbie’s partial redemption in Cardiff in the League Cup Final as he let fly with a twenty yard lobbed half volley that sailed over Ian Bennett in the Birmingham City goal for an early lead. But, in what would be symptomatic of the entire season, we didn’t do it the easy way and, following a late equaliser, were put through the nerve shredder of penalty kicks, finally emerging victorious when Sander Westerveld saved from Andy Johnson.

Manchester United were beaten comprehensively in the league in late March, an extraordinary long range missile from a rapidly maturing Steven Gerrard and an adept finish from Fowler giving the Reds a 2-0 victory. Sandwiched between two UEFA Cup semi-final epics was the 3-2 win over Everton at Goodison; an astonishing extravaganza of a match, a see-sawing rollercoaster that was settled in the ninetieth minute as Gary McAllister’s disguised forty yard free kick crept in at Paul Gerrard’s near post. The home leg of the aforementioned UEFA Cup semi-final saw Anfield return to the halcyon days of yore, all cacophonous noise and banner waving, the pitch drenched in the floodlit magic that had been gone for too long. A first half penalty from that man McAllister (hit past a future Liverpool goalkeeper, Pepe Reina) gave the Reds a tenuous 1-0 aggregate lead; a goal for Barcelona would spell elimination for Liverpool. Nerves jangled and stomachs heaved as we held out for our first European final since 1985, and Heysel.

Now came the summer. May dawned with the realisation that we had two cup finals to look forward to but also, for the league campaign to end in qualification for the Champions League, we would probably have to take maximum points from our remaining four fixtures. Were we being greedy, graspingly hankering over a top three finish when the season had already been so memorable and promised more? Undoubtedly, but that is football fans, we want it all.

And, in one memorable, remarkable month, we got it.

The Zen Den

Paul looked ahead to what a new version of a Klopp team at Liverpool could look like.

New Signings Will Elevate Klopp's Liverpool 2.0 – Which Is Already Half-Brilliant

First, some of what we learnt.

In the second half of the season, all this changed:

• Trent Alexander-Arnold went from a world-class right-back who had lost his mojo to an all-conquering central midfield presence, looking better than any of us could have dreamt; all as part of a new tactical system;

• Curtis Jones went from an injured, forgotten after-thought to one of the best pressing midfielders, back-tacklers and ball-retainers in the league (very high percentiles on all), and added three league goals, which mirrored the kind of goal threat he showed in youth football and then in the domestic cups, but not before in the league (and that often takes longer);

• Cody Gakpo arrived and as he has in every single season and every single competition, outscored his xG. He looked adequate on the wing; sensational as a false nine. Statsbomb has him as the 2nd-best possession-adjusted presser in the Premier League (with the top two miles ahead of the rest), and that's when arriving on the back of half a Dutch season, a World Cup and then joining a team in trouble; yet still he looked as fresh as a daisy. The only player above him (Julián Álvarez) had the advantage of 18 substitute appearances (and just 13 starts) to make more presses, as if you play 90 minutes it's hard work later in games; if you play three 30 minutes instead, you can obviously press harder for each 30 minutes, as less stamina is required;

• Harvey Elliott also appears on this list, as does Jordan Henderson (who, otherwise, was a bit of a statistical ghost last season), and Elliott showed moments of real class aged 19/20, with five goals across all competitions. Scale him up to age 22/23 and you can foresee leaps like you're seeing with Jones and Alexander-Arnold. (As Daniel Rhodes pointed out to me, the pressure data does not take into account pressure successes. Henderson’s were not especially successful.)

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