Jurgen Klopp is about to unleash Robert Lewandowski plan at Liverpool after £85m change
If there’s one thing for which Jurgen Klopp’s reign as Liverpool boss will ultimately be remembered, it’s goals. Lots and lots and lots of goals.
A total of 790 have been netted by the Reds since the German assumed control in October 2015, a club record 147 in the recently-completed season alone.
But a deeper dive into the figures reveals an astonishing fact that will prompt pause for thought among Liverpool supporters as they prepare to welcome imminent new signing Darwin Nunez from Benfica.
Less than 10% of those goals have been scored by a player who could be termed a traditional number nine. Divock Origi, while spending some time on the flank, would be considered thus, notching 41 of the 76 managed by a good old-fashioned forward under Klopp.
Daniel Sturridge is next on 25, after which there are slim pickings with Christian Benteke notching eight and one apiece for Danny Ings and Dominic Solanke. That’s it.
Of course, with Liverpool having racked up astonishing goal tallies season after season – they also managed three-figure returns in 2019/20 and 2017/18 – there has been little concern over the ability to ruffle the onion bag, the versatility of tactics and the talent of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, later followed by Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz, giving the Reds one of the most feared strikeforces on the planet.
The signing of Nunez, though, represents a subtle shift in approach. Sure, the 22-year-old can operate on the left and featured eight times this season as a second striker – scoring twice against Barcelona from the position – but it’s as the focal point of the attack he has been employed most consistently throughout his career.
Breaking down packed defences was rarely a major issue for Liverpool last term – they only failed to score in six of 63 games, albeit three were cup finals – but the departure of Origi means the Reds had a hole to fill in terms of being able to call on a direct threat down the centre, even if Jota and later Mane were slowly transforming into one.
And given his eye-watering fee – it could eventually be a club record £85million – Nunez is going to play more often than not. Klopp, then, is likely to build an attack around a more traditional centre forward for the first time in his Liverpool tenure.
A step into the unknown for the Reds boss? Perhaps. But only in terms of his Anfield reign. After all, he knows how to get the best from an out-and-out striker. Just ask Robert Lewandowski, who spent four years working under Klopp at Borussia Dortmund.
«He released that striker’s instinct in me,” the Poland international once said. “I didn’t know that I still had so much potential inside of me. He saw something in me that I couldn’t see.
«He taught me so much. When I arrived at Dortmund, I wanted to do everything quickly: strong pass, one touch only. Jurgen showed me to calm down – to take two touches if necessary. It was totally against my nature, but soon I was scoring more goals.
“When I had that down, he challenged me to speed it up again. One touch, bang, goal. He slowed me down to speed me up. It sounds simple, but it was genius, really.”
Lewandowski scored just nine goals in his first season at Dortmund. His next three saw 94, highlighting the reward of Klopp’s advice. And while the Liverpool boss will hope not have to work so hard at extracting top form from Nunez, nobody should be concerned at the forthcoming shift in attacking emphasis at Anfield.
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