Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been backed to axe Diogo Jota from his starting XI. Former Reds left-back Stephen Warnock has described the Portugal international as a “weak link” in the attack.
Jota has been given the nod by Klopp as the centre-forward in his front three for the first two Premier League matches of the season. He drew blank in the opener away to Chelsea but scored and grabbed an assist in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth.
Jota racked up 12 points in Fantasy Premier League, the most by a Liverpool player at the weekend. Only three players in England’s top flight scored more points than Jota across matches from Friday to Sunday.
He has kept Darwin Nunez out of the team, while Cody Gakpo has played a deeper role as part of the midfield three. New signing Wataru Endo made his debut as a second-half substitute against the Cherries.
Warnock believes the Japan international will eventually come into the team as the deeper-lying midfielder. He reckons that will see Gakpo move forward into the No 9 position, with Jota the player to miss out.
Warnock said on Sky Sports News: “I think there’s a real mixture between the three. Individually I think [Luis] Diaz is the player who will try and get people off their seats and get them on their feet.
“He’s that player who can take people on individually. [Mohamed] Salah will do it to a certain degree but Salah has moments in a game where he’s very quiet, but you’ve just got that feeling whenever he gets on the ball that something special could happen, or he could change it in an instant.
“Jota’s arguably the weak link in the three because of his link-up play, he’s quite sloppy at times with the ball and it breaks down a little bit. However, when it comes into the penalty box he’s a different animal, he comes to life, he’s on it like a flash, we saw with the goal [on Saturday].
“I think if Endo is to start and [Alexis] Mac Allister and [Dominik] Szoboszlai were to play higher up the pitch, I think that then moves Gakpo into that central striker position, Jota then drops to the bench.
“I think Gakpo then becomes your third striker, which again gives them options and we’re not even talking about the guy they spent £60m-70m on, Nunez, who can’t get in the team. That shows you the strength that they’ve got.”
