How Liverpool's Revolution 9 Took Down Newcastle
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine…
Are you familiar with The Beatles’ track Revolution 9? If you’re not, rest assured it’s the least Beatle-y thing you can imagine. It’s an eight-and-a-half-minute avant-garde sound collage, primarily created by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and George Harrison. Honestly, it’s bananas, and people are lying to you if they say they enjoy it.
Anyway, it’s the penultimate track on the sprawling double album The Beatles, meaning it joins the fray about 82 minutes into proceedings. Jürgen Klopp opted to launch his own number nine revolution a little earlier at St James’ Park last weekend, introducing Darwin Núñez in the 77th minute. It’s not quite The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz but you have to work with what you’re given.
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine…
And by perfect coincidence, to keep torturing this flagging metaphor a little longer, the Uruguayan turned the match on its head with a cameo appearance which involved just nine touches (in the statistical, Opta sense; nine match actions might be a better way of describing it).
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine…
As it could be the run-out which flicks the switch and ignites Darwin’s Liverpool career once and for all, it’s worth a forensic investigation. It nearly caught fire far sooner than it ultimately did too.
Having already done his best to close down a punt forward from Nick Pope, Núñez then received a long ball of his own from Harvey Elliott little more than a minute after rising from the bench. While he was able to control the ball, he moved inside with it which allowed Dan Burn to recover and regain possession.
No matter. Forty-five seconds later, the fun guy from Uruguay tried to return the ball to Diogo Jota in the penalty area having first received it from the Wolves man. Sadly, Darwin over cooked the pass, but in fairness Liverpool had completed just five passes into the box in the entire match to that point. The Reds’ threat was undoubtedly growing.
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine…
His next involvement was the least significant at face value but would’ve certainly pleased Thomas Grønnemark: Núñez took a throw-in, something he did just eight times in the league last season. Ooh, look, his ninth Premier League throw-in.
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine…
This one proved profitable, as it began the possession sequence which resulted in his first goal. Though relatively brief, the move featured eight Liverpool players, with only Alisson Becker and Harvey Elliott not playing a part.
For the second game running Jota set up an equaliser without technically getting an assist, but he won’t have cared about that when Darwin blasted the ball into the back of the Newcastle net.
It was a fabulous finish. In the opinion of Opta (via FBRef), Darwin took a chance valued at just 0.07 expected goals and turned it into a 0.68 opportunity in their post-shot model. He flipped the odds firmly away from Pope and into his favour, improving the quality of the chance by over nine times, leaving his previous total of nine Premier League goals behind.
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine…
And Núñez wasn’t done with Jota there either. He received another pass from his Portuguese colleague, inside the area this time, and again returned it but Diogo J. couldn’t control the ball. Nonetheless, the duo had linked up for the only pass Liverpool made entirely within the Newcastle box across the whole match.
Darwin’s next two touches were passes with possession pinballing from side to side, though they sandwiched a yellow card for kicking the ball away following a foul by Dominik Szoboszlai. Wouldn’t it be nice if that rule was applied consistently?
Núñez then offered what appears to be the only counter-pressure any Liverpool player made in the Newcastle box, about 90 seconds before arguably the biggest moment of his career in England to date. Mohamed Salah played a delicious through ball into space, almost certainly muttering “take this brother may it serve you well” as he did so. Darwin deployed another fine finish and absurdly the points were in the bag.
He still found time for touch number nine, linking up yet again with Jota in the move which ended with Trent Alexander-Arnold celebrating the award of a throw-in like he’d scored the winner in the Champions League final. Even for a club which excels in ridiculous matches, this one was way out there.
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine…
Nine touches was all it took to send an oil state side spiralling down a helter skelter, it was beautiful. Tackled, pass, throw-in, GOAL, pass, pass, pass, GOAL, pass. Might get a tattoo of that sentence.
Remarkably, Liverpool have had even more productive cameos on a pro-rata basis within the last year. Salah needed just nine touches to score a hat-trick at Ibrox while Roberto Firmino eked a goal and assist from just three match actions against Manchester United.
But those examples occurred in games that were already won, Darwin’s efforts were on another level altogether. This means more, viva la revolución. Good night.
