Liverpool’s current problems cannot be put down to one specific issue, but given what pundits have said about one individual, they are certainly missing them.
The injuries to Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez have no doubt hindered Jurgen Klopp’s side this season, but the absence of Diogo Jota over the past few weeks is starting to show.
Going into the final Champions League group game against Midtjylland last month, there was very little riding on the game. Liverpool had already qualified for the knockout stages, but Klopp decided to start Jota who was in the form of his career.
The Portuguese international would then suffer a knee injury which has kept him on the sidelines ever since.
Liverpool have now gone four league games without scoring, and club legend Jamie Carragher reckons the decision to start Jota in Denmark is proving costly.
“I think Diogo Jota has been a huge miss for Liverpool,” Carragher told Sky Sports.
“You look at the manager and the team he picks at certain times. The fact he [Jota] played in a dead-rubber in the Champions League and there is frustration he got injured in that game.
“Liverpool wrapped the Champions League up early and then lose one of their key players in a game that didn’t matter too much.
“They also played a very strong team against Aston Villa’s youth team.”
The signing of Jota came almost out of the blue, but former Manchester United defender Gary Neville believed at the time that Liverpool completed a smart piece of business.
“The signings of Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota were big moves because it signalled intent,” Neville told Sky Sports, back in September.
“They needed to strengthen in midfield with somebody who can play, control the game and do something a little bit different to the rest of them.
“And then Jota up front, who provides a real quality back up to the front three, but doesn’t unnerve them to the point where they want to leave. It was a clever signing.”
As Jota began to find his feet at Anfield, the number of plaudits he received only grew. That includes ex-United defender Rio Ferdinand, who reckoned that the Reds’ No.20 established himself as an undroppable member of the team.
“You’ve got to give time up for this man, Diogo Jota has come in and four goals in his first four starts for Liverpool [in the Premier League],’ Ferdinand said on Rio Ferdinand presents FIVE, back in November.
“The recruitment at Liverpool, what they’ve done to get him so far what he’s producing is fully justified.
“Not many people were sitting there going, ‘let’s get Jota’ but what he’s saying to Klopp is, ‘you can’t afford to drop me, I’m banging in goals week in week out.’
“That’s what you want at a top club, you want players coming in and having an impact immediately, saying to other players, ‘yeah you guys are great, I watched you last season, but I’m here to raise the bar.’
“That’s what he seems to be doing. He’s been nothing short of a phenomenal signing.”
