Jurgen Klopp prevented from all-out Diogo Jota return – RTK view

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Jurgen Klopp can’t afford to go all-out with the return of Diogo Jota. The fixture list just won’t allow it.

Diogo Jota made his long-awaited return on Thursday. He came on as a 62nd-minute substitute for Mohamed Salah.

And then wasn’t involved for half an hour.

Jota had just six touches while on the pitch, with one in the box. Either he didn’t do enough to get in the game or his teammates just couldn’t find him.

Either way, that’s got to infuriate Jurgen Klopp. He needs Jota to be his spark as he tries to finally light a fire under Liverpool.

The team struggle so badly to score goals that they’re practically relying on Jota to shine immediately. But Klopp must resist the obvious temptation, here.

He can’t go all-out with Jota.

Priorities

It would be great to throw Jota into the starting XI today. Liverpool were awful going forward against Chelsea, after all, and appear in desperate need of a shake-up.

At the very least, certain players should be pulled out of the XI.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Liverpool play RB Leipzig on Wednesday and that is a game where they will need Jota.

The £41m signing has been out for nearly three months, for one. There’s a good chance he breaks down again quickly if Liverpool push him too hard.

That’s not to say he couldn’t start against Fulham. But it’s got to be with the idea of bringing him off at the hour mark.

Otherwise, the risk that he misses that Leipzig game is too high. Klopp used him unnecessarily once before, of course, and that led to this injury. Doing so again would be catastrophic.

So the plan must be to get what you can out of Jota today without pushing him too hard. Make sure he can play on Wednesday, too – it’s an absolutely massive game.