We saw on Tuesday against Nottingham Forest, that Liverpool need a lethal striker up front to take the multitude of chances that they create.
In the Premier League, LFC are 4th in the shots to goal ratio with 10.6% of the shots taken turning into goals.
The leaders of this shots-to-goal table is Saturday’s opponents, Brentford, who are 4% more lethal then the next club, and LFC. The Reds do have one lethal striker.
His name is Diogo Jota, and he rescued the point for Liverpool with his first touch on Tuesday, but Diogo’s problem is his fitness, he’s far too injury prone.
The Statistics
Like most of his time at Liverpool there have been some injuries which have prevented a consistent run in the starting XI for the Portugal international.
However, in 13 games, 7 of which he started, Diogo has 5 goals and 2 assists, alongside 2 goals in the Carabao Cup.
The instant impact he made against Nottingham Forest came as a surprise to no one, all LFC fans know he’s a top striker.
This season he has averaged 3.3 shots per 90, nearly half of these shots hit the target and unbelievably, 0.48 of the shots-on-target find the back of the net. Lethal.
Even when looking at the past season, 23/24, he was averaging similar shots and shots on target, extraordinarily, his shots-on-target to goal ration was even higher at 0.53. This predator instinct is not a new thing and is certainly not something everyone is born with.
He has changed his play style in his time with LFC. At Wolves he was seen as a tricky winger. Under Klopp and now, Slot, Diogo has fully developed into a fantastic fox in the box style striker, akin to a Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
The Problem He Faces
As mentioned before, his injury record makes for bad reading for anyone affiliated with Liverpool. His one injury this season saw him miss nearly two months of action with a muscle problem.
Looking at his time at Liverpool, Jota has had 6 injuries that have caused him to miss over a month of action, the longest of which, was a 117-day absence due to a calf injury.
On 4 of these long-term Injuries, he has missed over 10 games. This just is not good enough for a club like Liverpool, who need a deep squad to battle on all fronts and for someone else to step-up in the second half of the season and to do so on a consistent basis.
As Liverpool fans we all know Diogo Jota is the man who should play in that No. 9 role, he is a great link-up player and has unbelievable predatory instincts, but the injury record and depth in attack mean that he has been slightly held back to make sure his fitness can be retained for longer.