Diogo Jota began the Premier League season as Liverpool’s main forward ahead of Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez
By confidently converting Mohamed Salah’s inviting pass, Diogo Jota didn’t just kickstart the Arne Slot era at Ipswich Town on Saturday. The Portuguese also landed an early blow in a fight that will prompt significant intrigue during the opening weeks and months of Liverpool’s season.
Jota repeated his trick of three years previous by scoring the opening goal of the campaign in an ultimately comfortable victory at promoted opposition.
That goal in a 3-0 win at Norwich in August 2021 sparked a season in which the forward became renowned as the Reds’ gamebreaker, scoring their opening goal of the game on 14 occasions. It’s a reputation that has since slipped, given that figure was only four last season and half that in the 2022/23 campaign.
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That may be down to where the Portuguese has been operating. Similar to many of Liverpool’s attacking options in recent years, much was made of Jota’s versatility which allowed him to play in all three positions across the front line under Jurgen Klopp.
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Under new head coach Arne Slot, though, there appears to be more clarity, with the Portuguese regarded more as a central striker by Slot when speaking after the win at Portman Road.
“Yeah, I agree, especially with the way we played,” responded Jota. “It’s obviously a bit different from Klopp where I maybe was useful out wide. I think here he (Slot) wants our wingers a lot more in one-v-ones and I think we have better options than myself!
“If I stay in the middle and wait for those chances to come in and score them, I think that is what I do the best so you can take that into the season.”
Certainly, Jota has made the most of the head start afforded to him by returning to training ahead of team-mates Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez, evidenced by his excellent finish in the 4-1 friendly win over Sevilla earlier this month.
In some respects, Jota is making up for lost time having ended the last campaign with just four outings in Liverpool’s final 18 games after aggravating a knee problem.
But he knows all too well how quickly matters can change. The 27-year-old started the first two Premier League games of last season as the number nine with Gakpo required in midfield and Nunez on the bench.
After that, however, injuries and the form first of Nunez and later Gakpo meant Jota started only five more games down the centre of the attack compared to seven on the left wing and four on the right.
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Reaching conclusions about the possible future direction under Slot from such a small sample size is always fraught with danger. It was potentially telling, though, that Gakpo was the player who replaced Jota for the closing moments at Portman Road, with Nunez remaining unused on the bench.
How Slot keeps that triumvirate happy – although Gakpo could emerge as the main contender to Luis Diaz’s place on the left after a fine showing for Holland in the Euros – will be one of many sub-plots to his debut season in charge.
At least the new head coach could celebrate becoming the first Liverpool boss in more than 30 years to win his first game in charge. And Jota, speaking to liverpoolfc.com, added of the 2-0 win: “It’s massive.
“I think we are still adapting to the way he (Slot) wants us to play and coming here to a newly-promoted team, it’s never easy and we end up with a clean sheet and three points so I think building on top of the wins is always a lot easier.”
