Steve Nicol says Liverpool had a player who was too ‘wasteful’ against AC Milan

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Liverpool enjoyed themselves on Tuesday night as they strolled to victory over AC Milan.

Despite an early goal conceded to Christian Pulisic, the Reds soon hit their stride and answered back with three unanswered strikes.

There were plenty of good individual performances that helped Liverpool to turn things around at San Siro.

Alan Shearer picked out Dominik Szoboszlai as the Reds’ best performer, but the Hungarian was not the only one to do the business. Cody Gakpo shone for Liverpool as well.

In amongst the good, though, there was some not so good, too. And as he can tend to do, Reds legend Steve Nicol has pointed out one player who was a little under-par.

Steve Nicol hits out at ‘wasteful’ Diogo Jota

Liverpool could have got on the scoresheet in Milan before they eventually did. Mohamed Salah hit the crossbar with Mike Maignan well beaten.

Salah’s chance was a difficult one, but the Reds did have other opportunities where they could have made the home side pay.

Perhaps the best of those fell to Diogo Jota, who somehow put a shot comfortably wide when one-on-one with Maignan.

Jota missed another presentable opportunity after half-time, in an incident which ultimately saw the Milan goalkeeper go off injured.

And speaking on ESPN FC after the match, while Nicol praised the overall performance from Liverpool, he did admit that he thought Jota could have done better.

READ MORE: Alan Shearer names the three Liverpool players who really impressed him against AC Milan

“It was the perfect response after they went behind to be honest,” began the Liverpool legend.

“When they went behind I’m thinking ‘was this result at the weekend not a fluke’ but then they answered that question as well.

“I mean, totally dominating, passing and moving, Salah hit the crossbar twice, more opportunities, Jota was a little wasteful I thought in the penalty box but overall in terms of the football it was a great display.”

Is it time to drop Diogo Jota?

Jota has initially found himself as Slot’s go-to striker in his new-look Liverpool system.

With Darwin Nunez returning late from international duty over the summer, Jota has seized the chance to lead the line for the Reds.

Things started well for the 27-year-old, with a goal on the opening day against Ipswich. However, despite being in the starting XI for each of the four games since, Jota is yet to score again.

As a result, we would not be at all surprised to see Nunez get his chance against Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday.

‘Wasteful’ is unfortunately a word that also follows the Uruguayan around, but with Jota a little off colour, it’s time for Nunez to be given a run.