EXCLUSIVE: Robbie Fowler gives his honest opinion on Darwin Nunez and what needs to happen at Liverpool

As one of the greatest goalscorers in Liverpool’s history, Robbie Fowler is better placed than most to offer advice to Darwin Nunez.

Only Mohamed Salah has scored more times in the Premier League era than Fowler’s tally of 128 in 266 games, and the iconic former no. 9 opened up about the current fortunes of the man who now holds the famous shirt at Anfield.

Nunez has scored 18 goals in all competitions for the Reds in his second campaign and was on the scoring trail again for Uruguay this week with a hat-trick against Mexico.

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Ahead of that game, the ECHO spoke to Fowler at Melwood after his FEFA side became the first team at collegiate level to win a domestic treble, before adding two more trophies in the USA.

Darwin Nunez is someone who always manages to make himself a topic or talking point, where do you stand on the Liverpool striker? Because you’re better placed than most to offer an insight into the challenges of scoring goals at Anfield…

“(My opinion) is probably no different than what everybody will give you. With Darwin Nunez, he’s going to score goals and be a hand, but to what level I don’t know and it’s entirely up to him, isn’t it?

“And I think it’s an interesting one because I think we’ve seen the past where we play like him, but we’ve also seen him miss silly chances and I always think at the time he looks unsure and looks worried about something rather than just focusing on the chances or the runs they have to make, I think when you’re a striker you have to shut out the outside world if you want and focus on yourself.

“What I was doing when I was having a tough time, you go back to break a ball and I know it’s not the technical side of things that people want to hear and maybe people are expecting a technical analysis that hasn’t been done. heard before, but when you’re a striker, it’s not about getting back to basics.

“It’s about seeing the undulation of the net, aiming for the corners, but all of a sudden, when you think about things and they get into your head, that’s what drives the attempt, if you will. And maybe that’s what Darwin has. he’s been guilty of this season where he’s at – don’t get me wrong, he’s focused on scoring – but I really think he’s thinking about the outside world and you can’t do that if you’re doing that, that’s the problem.

“He has to get back on base, start throwing balls, he doesn’t have to be immaculate. People think you’ve come in for £60m or £70m and people expect everything to go into the top corners. Sometimes you just have to roll them to the corners, not everything has to be extraordinary.

“Was it at Brentford where he tried to carve the keeper? If he does that all the time then it’s a bad play going forward. But if he got around the keeper or on his side, that’s what I mean by going back to basics .

“The best scorers are the ones who do the monotony of doing the same thing over and over again. And this is like second nature to the scorers natural ability; if you do the same thing over and over then the game becomes But if you try to do something different every time a ball comes up then it looks unusual or unorthodox and I think that’s what he was guilty of.

“He tries too hard sometimes. Will he reach the level we hope or believe? I don’t think he will and that’s not a knock on him and I’m not derogatory because I would never do that, he’s a at Liverpool and I want him to be the best, but he just needs to go back to what he was doing when he was younger, the basics that we saw and then not try everything that was technically incredible , once in a lifetime things. He seems to overthink things and I’m not sure you can as a striker.”

You mentioned that goal at Brentford there and Michael Owen was criticized at the time for his analysis saying it was too difficult a finish and although it was a brilliant goal he had better straighten it out because of how harsh is that chip to execute…

“I thought Michael was good in the way he talked about it, Michael wouldn’t have headed but he would have tried a shot or gone around the keeper and look I’m not going to Darwin because he scored the goal. but the reality is that it was probably only once.

“I thought Michael’s point was really, really good, actually game-wise, but there’s no chance when you’re in that position, one-on-one with the keeper, you have to score. As a scorer, you” You have to be greedy and say this is your goal. There are probably easier ways to score, and I think that’s what Michael was alluding to.

“I was dedicated in what I wanted and needed to do to become a player. And that’s what I mean about the monotony and repetition of doing the same thing over and over again. I was out every day, doing simple things and then suddenly, when you get to a point, you don’t think about it anymore, and that’s where the natural ability comes, if you will, or the second nature of it all.”

People always say you were a natural finisher, but I know that’s something you’ve rejected in the past because it’s a disservice to how hard you’ve worked. Can a player like Nunez improve on his own with time and effort on the courts now?

“I was so determined and focused on where I wanted to go that I wanted to do this. Again, you get to a point where now is the modern era and we didn’t have enough like them now in terms of analytics tools. and computers and laptops, I only had football.

“Kids today have different aspects and toys to play with and I was football non-stop. The monotony of football, I liked it. I wanted to get better. That’s the big plus, you have to want you do it. It’s no good telling people what to do, if they don’t want to do it, you’re fighting an uphill battle.

“That’s with training at the time. I got to the point where the science side of the sport said I couldn’t do much after training, but I wanted to do it with all the different types of finishes all the time and feel. and the thrill of seeing the ball hit the back of the net from an extra practice session if you will, that was something I wanted to do to be honest.

“I was probably a nightmare for the coaches because I wanted to do more than anyone else wanted. I know the game has changed and maybe being involved in sports science limits that because they want you to take care of your body, but there’s definitely something there. to say because sports science has been in the game for a while, but football has gone on for years and years and people have always done more.

“Ok, you’re going to have some injuries and some little aches and pains, but as long as you do it right, there’s a case to be made if you want to be the best at whatever position you want to play, go do something in plus to improve, go even harder, I’m sure the coaches will help you”.