Liverpool- Roberto Firmino v Diogo Jota: A selection conundrum


Liverpool- Roberto Firmino v Diogo Jota: A selection conundrum
Diogo Jota scored a sensational goal against Atalanta on the way to his hat-trick

Around the 2000’s a front three in football was looking more common and preferred. The first trio that mostly comes to people’s mind would be Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Cristiano Ronaldo. Over time a lot of front threes were born, with the most famous being Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar Jr. The three of them scored 270 goals across all competitions. Affectionately known as MSN, they’ve scored the bulk of Barcelona’s goals till they were together. To put in to comparison, Liverpool’s front three has scored 235 goals since they all came together in the 2017-18 season.  This stat is gargantuan as it only contains the goals Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino scored in the Premier League and Champions League until the 2020/21 season.

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At the time of MSN, there was another fearsome triple strikeforce called BBC. It consisted of Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. Both MSN and BBC have been split and shattered and Liverpool’s strikeforce has taken the world by storm since its inception.  

The Situation

However, it would seem that the creative fulcrum of Liverpool Roberto Firmino has dropped off in terms of form. He has become slower, less accurate and is laborious while pressing. Everything that made him Jurgen Klopp’s most favorite player has gone now. In the summer Liverpool went and bought 41 million Diogo Jota from Wolves. He was originally supposed to be Sadio Mane’s deputy since they both play in left wing. However Firmino’s drop in form meant that Jota was making substitute appearances for him. With all that happening, Jota has scored 7 goals since he has arrived.

For context, Jota scored as a substitute twice and has scored everytime he has started barring the match against Aston Villa. He scored a hat-trick against Atalanta when he started along with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. He scored Liverpool’s 10000th goal when he scored against Midtjylland.

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Why is Diogo Jota so good?

The reason for his success is simple. Roberto Firmino of late has been dropping behind to get the ball. When that happens Salah and Mane also drop back to shield him and get passes from him. Jota doesn’t drop too deep and as a result, Salah and Mane also push forward and that leads to goals. Against Atalanta Jota started centrally with Mane and Salah on the left and right wing respectively. However as the match went on, Salah was central while Mane drifted to the right and Jota was on the left.

This free style of play meant that the defense didn’t know who to mark and how to mark. When Jota bombed forward, Salah and Mane were at his side, stretching the opponent’s defence with their movements. This allows Jota to score easily. His inclusion means that Liverpool is menacing in attack. Salah and Mane have turned creators this season as the two of them have created so many goal scoring opportunities. Jota is likely to benefit from it the most.

Opinion

Jurgen Klopp does have a welcome headache when his side travels to Manchester City this weekend. He has to choose the tried and tested approach and let Firmino or use the momentum and allow the high flying Jota to continue again. 

In our opinion, having Diogo Jota against Manchester City is a very good idea as defending them is not a great idea. Their plethora of attackers will make any defence miserable and it is wiser to outscore them. An in-form Jota will be high on confidence after his hat-trick in the Champions League and it is best to use that momentum.

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