Jamie Carragher has told Sky Sports that Jurgen Klopp’s decision to play Diogo Jota in a Champions League dead-rubber against FC Midtjylland has proven costly amid a miserable run of form for the English champions.
Jota, 24, hasn’t featured for the Reds since December 9 when Liverpool travelled to Denmark for a non-consequential European fixture.
Liverpool finally surrendered their unbeaten home record in the league last night following a 1-0 defeat to Burnley. A run of form that had previously stood for just under four years.
Prior to the loss, the Reds were unbeaten in the league at Anfield since April 2017 – 68 matches ago.
Despite having qualified as group winners, Klopp still chose to start the likes of Jota, Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Fabinho. As a result, the Portuguese international sustained a knee injury and has since missed Liverpool’s previous nine matches.
Jota’s absence in recent weeks has been gargantuan, to say the least. Liverpool have gone four matches without scoring, after all, and have clocked up just three points from their last 15 available.
And Carragher thinks Liverpool’s miserable run of form has stemmed from the unavailability of key players such as Jota.
“I think Diogo Jota has been a huge miss for Liverpool,” he said.
“You look at the manager and the team he picks at certain times. The fact he [Jota] played in a dead-rubber in the Champions League and there is frustration he got injured in that game.
“Liverpool wrapped the Champions League up early and then lose one of their key players in a game that didn’t matter too much.
“They also played a very strong team against Aston Villa’s youth team.”
What RTK has to say
Carragher is spot-on. Klopp has been left to rue risking his most prolific player in a zero-stakes game.
Jota was in the form of his life, after all, before injury abruptly halted his progress.
The £45 million signing from Wolves is Liverpool’s second top-scorer with nine goals this season – eight of which were during his previous eight starts for the Reds.
Having put Crystal Palace to the sword only a few weeks ago, Liverpool look a polar opposite of the team that was top of the league on Christmas day.
Luckily for Liverpool, Klopp and his team have a gargantuan clash against Manchester United to try and put things right.
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