The 2021/22 campaign felt like a pivotal one in Diogo Jota’s career. The versatile forward netted double figures in the Premier League for the first time while also ending the season with a career-high 21 goals across all competitions.
At one stage it felt as though he was the only genuine rival to Mohamed Salah in the race for the Golden Boot. The Liverpool No11 may have been six goals clear of Jota as he headed off to the African Cup of Nations, but, after the Chelsea match in January, the former Wolves man had 10 goals across 1,382 minutes as one of the supporting cast. With the expectation that he would step up into the leading man slot following the loss of both Salah and Sadio Mane for an undetermined amount of time, there was a feeling he might slot a few more goals before the pair returned.
It didn’t happen though. Jota was deployed on the left of a front three in games against Crystal Palace and Brentford before starting on the right against Leicester City. He netted twice against the Foxes but the arrival of Luis Diaz coupled with the redeployment of Mane meant his minutes were now a little limited.
Following his return from an ankle injury, Jota scored just three goals during the remainder of the season at a rate of a goal every 236 minutes. Earlier in the season, he was averaging a goal every 138 minutes.
The use of him post-January hurt his output. He was given cameos off of the bench across the front three. Whereas at the start of the season, he was a primary goal threat, he had to adapt to being a secondary threat.
Many expected him to play a pivotal part this season following the sale of Mane while the assumption was that Darwin Nunez would be eased into life at Anfield. Jota and Roberto Firmino would share the centre forward position while the £64million signing from Benfica go up to speed with the rigours of the system and the demands of the Premier League.
Injuries have disrupted Jota’s entire 2022/23 campaign though.
🌡️ Diogo Jota's WhoScored rating by season since joining Liverpool:
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) April 3, 2023
🥈 20/21: 6.89
🥇 21/22: 7.09
🥉 22/23: 6.53 pic.twitter.com/z83uQyOFiZ
He missed the opening five Premier League matches with a hamstring injury and then he picked up a calf injury in the win over Manchester City that ruled him out from October to February.
Jurgen Klopp has managed Jota’s minutes since his return in a bid to ensure he doesn’t spend another spell on the sidelines. However, he has started in matches against Crystal Palace, Wolves, Real Madrid and Manchester City. He also got 45 minutes against Bournemouth.
The Liverpool No20 is yet to get off the mark for the season. He’s appeared in 782 minutes and he’s yet to register a goal. He’s chipped in with assists - seven in total including one against Manchester City - but the last time he managed to put the ball in the back of the net was almost one year ago to the day. He netted in the 2-2 draw with Manchester City on April 10, 2022.
Of course, injuries haven’t helped but the system he’s being utilised in also seems to be something of a hindrance at the minute. Jota’s minutes have primarily come on the left-side, though he did play against Wolves and Real Madrid as the centre forward. But his role on the left changes on an almost weekly basis. In the loss to City, for example, he was practically a left-sided midfielder. In other games, he’s been an inverted wide forward. There is no consistency there so there isn’t going to be any consistency in his output.
Across his last two starts for the Reds, Jota has attempted just one shot. The former Wolves forward went from looking like a natural fit for Klopp’s team to looking like a square peg in a round hole. It isn’t the most stable of environments at Anfield right now with Klopp chopping and changing the system on a regular basis as he searches for the right balance so it would be premature to call time on Jota’s stint on Merseyside, especially as he only signed a new deal last summer.
If this becomes the norm though and the Reds are unable to get the best out of a fairly unique attacker, decisions will have to be made because it is doing him no favours right now.
