Jürgen Klopp outlined the difference a fully fit front line can make on Liverpool’s form as he praised Diogo Jota’s ‘football brain’ after his goalscoring return to action.
After missing eight matches due to a hamstring injury, the Portugal forward wasted no time in getting back on the scoresheet by netting the Reds’ decisive second in Boxing Day’s 2-0 win at Burnley.
It means Klopp currently has the luxury of five senior attackers to choose from for Monday’s next outing, which sees Newcastle United come to Anfield – and he detailed how each player has a contribution to make.
Asked specifically during his pre-match press conference what makes Jota so decisive, the boss replied: “His football brain, he is a very smart footballer, that’s how it is. He understands the game particularly well.
“I really think Portugal is blessed with some of these kind of players who really understand the game on a different level – and he is one of them, definitely. It gives him a chance to see to see situations slightly earlier, to adapt to different things the opponent is doing a little bit quicker. That’s it, on top of that he is both-footed and a great finisher.
“I love Diogo’s story, now he is back and I hope he is back for the next 10 years and stuff like this, all of that, but Diogo missed chances as well, that’s how it is. That he comes back and scores with the first he has is fantastic, but then it’s always the story that the others didn’t score and now he is coming back… ‘Finally Diogo is scoring!’
“It’s not about that, it’s about creating, it’s about coming into situations and then they all can score. The goal from Darwin was an exceptional goal and in a game where we obviously had a lot of possession, a lot of fantastic football moments, the [first] goal we scored was from outside of the box with the first touch into the far corner, probably the most difficult of all situations we had in the whole game. It was a super finish.
“Then, yes, later Diogo closed the game, it was really good, but we need these boys and we need Diogo. Believe it or not, if you are a Liverpool player you must be a pretty special player otherwise you are not there. It’s as easy as that. These boys have all their real qualities and always had. In the moment, for these last few games even when the results were not always outstanding, we found a good rhythm.
“We had a good rhythm in the game, good fluidity, which is really important, didn’t get too often in a rush and really played in the way we wanted the boys to play and that’s helpful. It’s just helpful because it gives you a good feeling in the game, which is really important.
“You would probably call it momentum and for that you need to be connected, you need to be connected in the right moments. If you are connected you can lose balls because you can win them back quickly and all these kind of things. The rhythm was quite good recently.”
Jürgen Klopp pre-Newcastle press conference
Liverpool will lose the services of Mohamed Salah following the New Year’s Day encounter with Newcastle, with the No.11 set to join up with Egypt for their Africa Cup of Nations campaign in Ivory Coast.
“Everybody was quite positive about our five options, I don’t think we had it that often, to be honest,” Klopp continued. “It was like up front there, especially with the amount of games we played, it’s so important these boys can rotate as well in between them.
“Now, obviously with Mo leaving and with Endo leaving, we need everybody to get back. If Macca could be back for Newcastle, it would be outstanding, but after that he has to be back, pretty much.
“That’s the situation and we just have to make sure we always find a way to line the team up, to give them an idea of how we want to play before. We don’t have to talk about that too much because we did it often enough now, but it must be clear that it all starts with a common defending idea. That worked out somehow until now.”
2023-12-29 11:00:12
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