Arne Slot should be fuming with Diogo Jota after crazy moment almost cost Liverpool against Wolves

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Liverpool got away with a poor performance to beat Wolves 2-1 at Anfield on Sunday.

The Reds were a long, long way below their best against the relegation battlers, but just about held on to get the job done.

The win restores Liverpool’s seven point lead at the top of the Premier League table, one they can extend if they beat Aston Villa in midweek.

But Arne Slot will not be happy following the win, with far too many of the Liverpool squad showing worrying signs of fatigue ahead of the trip to Villa Park.

It was not the tiredness that should concern Slot the most, though. The fact is, that would not have even been a factor had Diogo Jota done what he should have and slotted the ball home for 3-0 early in the second-half.

Instead, for some explicable reason, Jota decided to dive past Emmanuel Agbadou and try to win Liverpool a penalty. With the initial decision of a spot-kick overturned, the Reds went on to almost throw the game away. Slot should be fuming.

No excuse for Diogo Jota dive

Jota came in for his first Premier League start since October 20th and would have been desperate to put in a good performance against his former club.

Despite having a quiet game, the 28-year-old could – and should – have ended the game with a goal.

He did superbly well to hold his run and take Ryan Gravenberch’s pass into his stride and past Agbadou. And with the Wolves centre-back committed, Jota was one-on-one with Jose Sa for what would have been an easy finish.

For reasons only he will know, though, the forward flung himself to the ground in order to win a penalty. There was no contact and Liverpool missed the chance for a game-clinching third goal.

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Wolves were brave at Anfield and may have found a way back into the game anyway, but there’s surely no chance they were coming back from three down.

With the deficit just two, however, they had a real chance. After Matheus Cunha got one back it took all Liverpool had just to hold on. Jota could have avoided this scenario entirely.

Jota does his starting chances no good

There is a chance that Slot had planned to take Jota off just seven minutes after the penalty incident. The Portuguese is seemingly still being managed so as to protect his fitness.

But there’s a good chance that the Liverpool head coach hauled Jota off purely for his decision to dive instead of stick the ball in the net. It would have been justified.

In truth, Darwin Nunez came on and did not do much better, meaning the central striker position is still up for grabs ahead of the Villa clash.

When Slot reviews the game with the Liverpool coaching staff again, though, they will surely be just as perplexed by Jota’s decision and will be relieved that it didn’t really cost the Reds.

Jota can be ‘ridiculous’ on his day and he’ll have betters ones ahead. But this was a really poor moment.