Diogo Jota tells Liverpool teammates to ‘improve defensively’ after win vs Nottingham Forest
Diogo Jota had a 12-month Premier League goal drought that just didn’t seem to end for him in a Liverpool shirt.
But when it rains, it pours. The Portuguese forward finally got on the scoresheet as Liverpool beat Leeds United at Elland Road 6-1 on April 17.
Jota scored two goals and grabbed an assist in that match. He managed two goals once again as the Reds eked out a narrow 3-2 win against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League earlier today (April 22) at Anfield.
Jota scored the first goal of the game via a header in the 47th minute, with Fabinho Tavares providing the assist. Neco Williams scored an equaliser in the 51st minute and did not celebrate against his former club.
Andrew Robertson was nowhere to be seen as Morgan Gibbs-White set Williams up for his striker. By the time the Scotsman got back in position, all he could manage was a wicked deflection which wrong-footed Alisson Becker.
We need to tighten up at the back
Robbo’s free-kick in the 55th minute found Jota inside the box, who chested the ball and volleyed it past the Forest goalkeeper. But not long after, a long throw-in from centre-back Moussa Niakhate wasn’t cleared well by the Reds.
Virgil van Dijk’s clearance found Gibbs-White, who finished brilliantly from 16 yards out to make it 2-2. Jota was happy with the win and the attacking performance after the game, but he wants his teammates to tighten up at the back.
He said after the game, via BBC:
“We had to wait for that goal to arrive and they did come back twice which can happen, but it’s something we need to look back at. Set-pieces are very important and we know that they scored from them too. We need to improve defensively, but offensively we were almost perfect.”
Thankfully, Mohamed Salah was on hand to finish off a brilliant Trent Alexander-Arnold free-kick to hand us a 3-2 win at home, taking us to 50 points from 31 games – just three away from fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.
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But we really have to do something about our defence. We have shipped 10 goals in our last six league games and our backline has been leaking goals for fun this season. An ageing, uninspired and out-of-form midfield hasn’t shielded the backline well but our defenders have also made uncharacteristic errors over the course of the season.
