Darwin Nunez tipped to become "massive goal scorer"

Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker have praised Darwin Nunez for his late heroics at St. James Park before the international break.

Liverpool were trailing Newcastle United 1-0 and after losing Virgil van Dijk to a first half red card, the odds were stacked perilously against the Reds before Nunez was introduced.

In the 77th minute, Jurgen Klopp withdrew Alexis Mac Allister to make an attacking change and despite the lack of time and being a man down, Nunez inspired the change needed.

Just four minutes after being brought on, the 24-year-old scored his first of the game with a scorching finish into the side netting at the far post.

His second strike, to win the game, was a carbon copy of the first and sent Liverpool players and fans into delirium as the Reds stole three points from Eddie Howe's men.

Ahead of the next round of fixtures, Liverpool are third in the Premier League table with 10 points.

What did Shearer and Lineker say about Nunez?

It's great to see Nunez getting some of the recognition he's been getting from supporters since he penned his £140,000 per week contract with the club in June 2022.

Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, Premier League goalscoring record holder Shearer spoke glowingly about Nunez to Lineker.

He praised the former Benfica man for his clinical finishing while Lineker assured supporters that while Nunez will miss more opportunities, his positioning is encouraging.

“… Nunez came on”, Shearer began. “His two finishes were out of this world. I’m not even sure they were half chances. I mean both of them were in the right corner with Pope [having] absolutely no chance.”

Lineker continued: “Cause I see a striker… he’s rapid he gets a lot of chances and last season he missed a lot of chances.

“For me the most important thing about goal scorers and the ones that are more natural are the ones that get a lot of chances.

“He seems to get himself into the position to miss if you like and to be a really good goal scorer you will inevitably miss chances.

“Obviously last season the percentage rates of his finishing wouldn’t have been as he liked.

“There’s definitely a massive goal scorer in there,” Lineker finished by saying.

“I agree”, Shearer added. ” Last season – although he kept missing so many chances – it didn’t seem to bother him.

“There’s an arrogance about him, in a good way, that he just thinks ‘sod it’ I don’t care.

“I’m still gonna get in there and that has to be a good thing because the more times you’re in there [ the box] the more you’re gonna score.”

Could Nunez repay Liverpool fans' patience?

Like I noted earlier, Nunez hardly had a bad season at all given the circumstances.

Now, with Klopp's squad looking more likely to challenge, it could mean an increase in goals for Nunez and if his cameo against Newcastle is anything to go by, more goals are on their way.

While he didn't score himself, Nunez was a menace against Aston Villa in the game right before the squad broke up for the internationals.

It was the perfect game for the centre-forward given Unai Emery now sets his Villa side up with a very high line.

It was an invitation to Liverpool to demonstrate their attacking class and with so much space to exploit, Nunez had a field day with his runs in behind.

It was his shot against the post which Matty Cash was unable to deal with, resulting in Liverpool's second of the day and with Wolves away up next, Klopp seems to have little choice but to start Nunez again.