Michael Owen says Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez will 'never get numbers like Mo Salah' without changing his game
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Updated 20/02/2024 at 20:25 GMT
Darwin Nunez has scored 15 goals in all competitions this season, including an incredible chip in Liverpool's 4-1 win against Brentford. Michael Owen called it 'the best finish' he has seen in a long time, but thinks Nunez must change his approach to finishing if he is to become an elite striker. Nunez is one Europe's in-form strikers, ahead of Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic and Napoli’s Victor Osimhen.
Darwin Nunez
Image credit: Getty Images
Michael Owen says Darwin Nunez should not focus on scoring wonder goals if he is to prove himself as an elite striker.
It comes after the Uruguayan netted with an audacious chip for the opening goal in Liverpool’s 4-1 Premier League win against Brentford.
Speaking on TNT Sports, Owen said: “It was the best finish that I’ve seen in a long, long time. I loved it, I’ve watched it a million times. He is just great and what audacity, what technique, to do it.
“But, and there is a but, if he wants to score big numbers of goals, then I don’t feel like this is, this cannot be in his mind.
“You cannot score like this, or you cannot think like this I should say, on a one-on-one with a goalkeeper. It just shouldn't enter your head.”
Owen suggested a range of options Nunez could have taken, including going around Mark Flekken and slotting it past the Brentford goalkeeper.
“As much as it’s incredible, he will never get numbers like Mo Salah, scoring 30 goals, if he’s taking opportunities like this that are, in my eyes, one out of ten finishes - maybe two at the very, very most,” Owen said.
Nunez’s statistics suggest the Liverpool man is in form this season with 0.98 goals and assists per 90 minutes, which is higher than the output of Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic and Napoli’s Victor Osimhen.
Owen, alongside Joe Cole, was debating how the likes of Nunez, Vlahovic and Osimhen can raise their game to compete with the likes of Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane - who have all scored over 100 league goals since the 2019/20 season.
Owen thinks Nunez’s decision to take his goal in the way he did against Brentford is an indication as to why he is not at the same level as those players.
“It’s an incredible finish and we’ve all seen Nunez before and say well, he’s a bit unconventional,” Owen said.
“How he’s come up with the idea of chipping the goalkeeper when the goalkeeper’s standing still, when he’s put his arms up and when he’s jumping. It’s like, ‘how does that enter your head?’
“That’s the fifth or sixth thing that should enter your head.
“If he’s going to step up and get into this zone of strikers that we were just talking about, he’s got to play the percentages to get the numbers.”
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