This “confident” Liverpool teen could be Jota’s surprise replacement

There’s a ripple of trepidation surging all through Merseyside proper now, with all related to Liverpool ready for clarification on the roll of accidents that threaten to hinder an exciting marketing campaign.

Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota are the most recent victims, each withdrawn towards Brentford on Saturday and each leaving the Gtech Neighborhood Stadium braced in protecting gear – Jota with a suspected knee damage.

Jurgen Klopp’s aspect marched on, nevertheless, and secured three factors to protect their slender lead on the Premier League summit, two factors forward of Arsenal and 5 above Manchester Metropolis, who’ve a sport in hand.

Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Dominik Szoboszlai are additionally recuperating from accidents, whereas Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic are longer-term absentees.

Liverpool nonetheless boast a high-quality crop of gamers however, as Klopp conceded, that is “not cool”. Liverpool play throughout three competitions over the subsequent 9 days, internet hosting Luton City within the Premier League on Wednesday earlier than heading southward to Wembley to face Chelsea within the Carabao Cup closing forward of an FA Cup conflict with Southampton subsequent week.

Klopp wants all of the gamers he can discover, and whereas the setbacks are every damaging in their very own manner, the blow to Jota may be the largest detriment to the forthcoming torrent of fixtures.

Diogo Jota’s season in numbers

Mohamed Salah might need taken the limelight for a lot of the marketing campaign, scoring and aiding at a daunting price, however Jota has been chic this time period and has posted 14 objectives and 4 assists throughout simply 18 beginning appearances.

Since lacking most of December with a muscular downside, the Portugal worldwide has clinched six objectives and 4 assists, main Reds correspondent Neil Jones to hail his “medical” efforts.

Solely days in the past, the 27-year-old ace displayed his inventive aspect by dinking a deft header into Darwin Nunez’s path, permitting the brazen Uruguayan to chip Mark Flekken for the opener.

Sadly, Jota could be carried off the pitch on a stretcher lower than ten minutes later, dealing with the potential of a long-term damage.

His absence, to place it plainly, will probably be an enormous blow. As per Sofascore, Jota has scored 9 objectives and equipped three assists from simply 13 Premier League begins, averaging 1.1 key passes per match and thriving wherever performed – proper, left, central, he’s a menace and gives unfavoured laterality in his placing, harmful from each angle.

To emphasize his prowess, maybe his FBref metrics would assist paint the total image of his worth to Liverpool – the £140k-per-week ahead ranks among the many prime 4% of positional friends for objectives scored, the highest 11% for assists, the highest 7% for progressive carries, the highest 10% for passes tried and the highest 2% for tackles made per 90 throughout the Males’s Large 5 Leagues and European competitions over the past three hundred and sixty five days.

Salah’s return is a large enhance to Liverpool’s possibilities over the approaching interval, however the Egyptian machine would at all times be the primary identify on the staff sheet from an attacking viewpoint, and it could possibly be Cody Gakpo who will now must step up with elevated accountability.

Cody Gakpo the possible alternative

Liverpool signed Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven in a £35m switch simply over one yr in the past, the Dutchman arriving off the again of a placing string of performances on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

To this point, the 24-year-old has clinched 17 objectives and eight assists from 60 outings for the Anfield aspect, grabbing his tenth of the season off the bench towards the Bees final weekend.

As soon as lauded for his “completely phenomenal” improvement on the pitch by expertise scout Jacek Kulig, Gakpo matches Jota for versatility and gives a dynamic strategy to his attacking play whereas boasting a fearsome shot in addition, so he is the apparent choose to fill his peer’s sneakers.

Showcasing this, Gakpo ranks among the many prime 17% of forwards for assists, the highest 18% for passes tried, the highest 5% for progressive passes, the highest 16% for progressive carries, and the highest 2% for tackles within the Males’s Large 5 Leagues and European competitions over the past three hundred and sixty five days.

Whereas the 6 foot 1 star will probably be anticipated to keep up a constructive degree of efficiency over the essential enterprise finish of the marketing campaign, he isn’t the one participant who may be known as upon to take Jota’s place, with teenager Bobby Clark and-unlikely, however probably apt, stopgap.

Why Bobby Clark may change Jota

Klopp has not precisely proven an aversion to entrusting youthful gamers with first-team roles all through his Liverpool tenure, with Alexander-Arnold, Jones and Harvey Elliott common and influential members of the squad.

This season, Conor Bradley and Jarell Quansah have emerged as thrilling choices however neither defender could be an acceptable alternative for the injured Jota, clearly.

Nonetheless, Clark might be, having already earned 5 appearances in all competitions, coming off the bench in three of the previous 5 Premier League video games.

Spending his early days as a winger however since transformed into an all-action midfield playmaker, the 19-year-old has landed 18 objectives and 13 assists from 69 matches in all competitions for Liverpool’s improvement sides.

These statistics recommend that he has the potential to step up as each a scorer and a creator of objectives on the prime finish of the pitch, to make up for the attacking contributions that Jota has supplied all through the season, and all through his time on the membership on the whole.

His youth supervisor, Barry Lewtas, is actually an enormous believer in his qualities, saying: “He’s extraordinarily proficient and his urgent is superb. He’s been a very good participant for us, however I additionally suppose he’s made huge strides as effectively, large enhancements, and that’s what he’s going to need to proceed to do.”

Praised for his “assured” disposition by the aforementioned Jones, Clark has the aptitude and multi-functionality to step in for his senior teammate, together with his ‘glorious urgent’ precisely what is required.

Certainly, Liverpool’s assistant coach Pep Lijnders has beforehand gushed over the Portuguese ace’s power and tenacity, calling him a “urgent monster”, and Clark seemingly has the innate traits to emulate this.

The younger gem already made an preliminary mark on Liverpool’s senior set-up and now’s the time for him to stroll the identical path as Bradley, Quansah, and co and begin making an actual influence below Klopp’s management.

It’s now all the way down to him to take his alternative to nail down a spot within the first-team frequently if the German head coach does present him with an opportunity to stake a declare for Jota’s spot.