Mo Salah chimes in on Jota vs Firmino debate

Lewis Oldham
Salah Liverpool

Liverpool star Mo Salah has suggested that Roberto Firmino should get more credit for what he offers to the Reds.

Diogo Jota has made a superb start to life as a Liverpool player. He joined from Wolves in a deal worth around £45m this summer.

The Portuguese international has scored seven goals from his first ten outings. This has started a debate as to whether he should start over Firmino in Jurgen Klopp’s front three.


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Firmino meanwhile has scored just once for the Reds this season. This has put him under threat of losing his starting spot if Klopp sticks with his 4-3-3 formation.

Salah told beIn Sport, as cited by The Metro, that Roberto Firmino deserves more credit for what he offers to Liverpool:

“Since he [Jota] has been here, he’s been scoring a lot, and that has helped us greatly because now we have more options.

“I can’t say about [whether Jota will begin to play more than Firmino] because I am not the coach, I can’t decide something like that.

“I can’t look at what Firmino has done for the club and what he gives the team and say he should sit on the bench because his recent scoring output isn’t amazing, this is a player who has given everything to the team for five years and creates so many chances.

“The way our system works in a way sacrifices his scoring output slightly as he drops deeper and gives us the ball on the wings, so I can’t say he should sit on the bench or that he isn’t working to the best of his ability.

“Sure, there can be more goals, but he creates so many chances regardless. We have been together for four years, sometimes we don’t score every game, but we play well and the team wins and that is what’s important.

“You won’t find an attacker that scores every single game so I think we contribute a lot in other facets of the game in terms of creation and assists for other players, and that helps the team as a whole.”

It might well be the biggest weekend of the season so far. The two biggest title contenders finally clash in a long-awaited meeting, but will Leicester or Wolves come out on top? Liverpool also play Manchester City or something apparently.