9 months ago
134 Garth Crooks noticed something interesting about Diogo Jota as Liverpool suffered a 3-1 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday.
The man from Bucknall made the comments when writing his Team of the Week segment for BBC Sport.
So, what was said about Liverpool No.20 Diogo Jota? Let’s take a look…
What Crooks noticed about Jota without Nunez
Well, the 65-year-old felt that Jota missed the physicality of Darwin Nunez alongside him as Arsenal picked up all three points on Sunday.
Crooks wrote: “It was his (Gabriel Magalhaes) display in defence against Liverpool that really impressed. He never gave Diogo Jota a kick, who looked like he missed the physical presence of Darwin Nunez.”
We agree with the BBC pundit.
Jota’s lack of pace or aerial prowess ensured William Saliba and Gabriel had a fairly simple afternoon at the Emirates Stadium.
The Arsenal duo seemed to be aware that the Portugal international cannot exploit space in behind as effectively as the likes of Nunez or Mohamed Salah can, which led to the Gunners pushing higher up the field and suffocating Liverpool.
Jota needs pace and movement around him at Liverpool
In our view, the £40m man is half the player without physical outlets such as Salah and Nunez operating alongside him.
Liverpool adopted a very slow attack on Sunday as Jota played alongside Cody Gakpo, which – as WhoScored shows – did not produce results.
The Portuguese forward failed to have a shot on target despite playing the entire 90 minutes, nor did he register a successful dribble or win any fouls from Arsenal.
It was a very quiet display from Jota, whose best attributes, such as spacial awareness, finishing and dribbling, were easy for Arsenal to deal with in the absence of a physical powerhouse such as Nunez.
Hopefully, the pair can be reunited on Saturday when Liverpool face Burnley at Anfield.
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