Diogo Jota is Jurgen Klopp’s new found inspiration

Diogo Jota is shining.

Liverpool’s 2020/21 season hasn’t got off to the best of starts, yet they find themselves on top of their UEFA Champions League group and just one from the top of the Premier League. Diogo Jota has played a key role in ensuring that his side are in such commanding positions.

The 7-2 defeat at Villa Park, Virgil Van Dijk’s ACL injury, Roberto Firmino’s poor run of form, and most recently Fabinho’s hamstring injury are a few of the difficulties they have faced so far.

Surely the Reds shouldn’t be as comfortable as they are in the two competitions they vie for earnestly. Jurgen Klopp’s men have had to dig deep to win their last three games, with Jota serving as the key game-changer.

Jota signed for £41m from Wolves, in a move that sprung out of nowhere. He impressed Kopites from the get-go, scoring on his Premier League debut for Liverpool against Arsenal. It seems like he has upped the ante every single game, constantly reminding Klopp of why signing him was an astute piece of business.

The Portuguese international scored the decisive goal in Liverpool’s narrow victory over Sheffield United and replicated the same just a couple of days later against Midtjylland in matchday two of their Champions League campaign.

The games against Sheffield and Midtjylland weren’t the best Liverpool performances we’ve seen of late, yet Jota’s goals guaranteed them wins in both, which they arguably wouldn’t have got without him on the field.

Pepijn Lijnders, Liverpool’s assistant manager, described Jota as a “pressing monster”. The title suits Jota quite well, as has the constant urge to win the ball back, more so when he gives away possession.

Apart from his goal-scoring and industrious running, the quality which really makes Jota stand out is his versatility. Back at Wolves, he often played in tandem with Raul Jimenez as the supporting striker.

In his time under Jurgen Klopp so far, he has been deployed on either of the wings. In Jota’s electric 30-minute cameo against Ajax, he replaced Sadio Mane on the left-wing, and was Liverpool’s best forward on the pitch by some distance.

Jota’s performance against Ajax forced Klopp to rethink his starting XI for the next Premier League game against Sheffield United. The German used Jota on the right this time, with Salah leading the line, Firmino dropping back to a number 10 role, and Mane retaining his favoured left-wing position.

Liverpool’s newly formed “fab four” didn’t look in sync, yet it was Jota who injected some liveliness into the attack. It was hardly surprising that it was his superb header in the second half that won the game for the Reds.

On Tuesday night, when Liverpool faced Midtjylland, Klopp stationed Jota on the right flank again. This time Takumi Minamino was leading the line, and Divock Origi was on the left. Yet again, Jota was the only forward who threatened the Danish side with his pace and clever runs in behind.

The Reds were once again far from their best on Tuesday. It took an intricate piece of play between Xherdan Shaqiri and Trent Alexander-Arnold to create to a clear chance, with Jota finishing the move off. Proving that he possesses a goal-scoring instinct.

It remains to be seen whether Klopp will continue with a four-pronged attack on a regular basis. If that approach doesn’t work for the side, he might be forced to leave an out-of-form Firmino to accommodate Jota in the starting XI.

Either way, Jota is the player on every Liverpool fan’s lips, taking some of the limelight from the blockbuster addition of Thiago Alcantara. Fans are desperate to see him start every single game, whether that means it forsakes Firmino for the same cause or not.

Klopp still believes that Jota still has massive scope for improvement and believes that it boils down to Jota being unaccustomed to the system.

He said, “He is still adapting. In the moment, a lot of things we do are not natural to him but that’s only because Wolves play different – but a lot of things he did for Wolves are exactly what we want him to do.“

The way Jota is going at Liverpool, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him enter double figures in terms of goal scored in the Premier League this season. A spot in the starting line-up will now be the aim for the Portuguese attacker.

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