Jamie Carragher was left in shock by the performance Liverpool attacker Diogo Jota put in against Leeds United tonight.
During the first half at Elland Road, the 26-year-old looked seriously off the pace. Having failed to score in over a year, the Portugal international seemed unable to break his drought.
However, an assist for Mohamed Salah late in the opening 45 minutes clearly got Jota fired up, as he looked like a completely different player in the second half.
Coming out and scoring within seven minutes of the restart, Carragher couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Brilliant from Curtis Jones,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Jota’s got a goal & an assist, never saw that coming after his first 30 mins!”
Jota looked much improved
When the team-sheet was announced prior to the game, questions were asked of Jota’s inclusion over Darwin Nunez – who has been the more likely scorer in recent weeks.
These doubts seemed fair in the first half, but a changed performance in the latter 45 demonstrated a huge improvement.
Having scored again in the 73rd minute, the £45m player was subbed off in the 80th minute. According to SofaScore, the Portuguese forward was the Reds’s best player against Leeds – alongside Cody Gakpo. He subsequently earned an impressive 8.5 match rating, illustrating why Jurgen Klopp was right to keep his faith in him.
However, with Luis Diaz’s return to fitness, the manager will now have a big decision to make.
Jota will be competing with the Colombian and Nunez for the starting spot, with Gakpo seemingly secure in the false-nine role.
This is massive competition, meaning it won’t be easy to keep the spot week-in week-out.
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