Diogo Jota is confident of flourishing as a central striker under new Liverpool head coach Arne Slot after his impressive opening day display against Ipswich Town. (More Football News)
Jota netted the opening goal of Liverpool's first 2024-25 Premier Lꦡeague encounter on Saturday, finding the far corner in the 60th minute after he was picked out by Mohamed Salah.
Salah subsequently marked his 350th Liverpool appearanꦦce with🧸 his 300th goal involvement (212 goals and 88 assists) five minutes later to secure the win at Portman Road.
Jota has now been involved in&n🎃bsp;10 goals in his last 10 Premier League appearances for Liverpool, scoring seven and assisting thr🌸ee.
The Poꦗrtugal international contributed an expected goals (xG) of 0.95 to the Reds' 2.65 total against Kieran McKenna's side, the highest of any player from either team
He also recorded&nbs💧p;11 touch𝕴es in the opposition box, the joint-most in the Liverpool squad alongside Luis Diaz and Salah, while also winning six of his 13 contested duels.
Slot spoke of his belief that🌺 Jota's best position is in the centre of the attack, with the 27-year-old agreeing with his new boss.
"It's obviously a bit different from [Jurgen] Klopp where I maybe was🐼 useful out wide," Jota told Liverpool's official website.
"I think here he [Slot] wants our wingers a lot more in one-v-ones and I think we have better opt🌌ions than myself.
"If I stay in the middle and wait for those chances to come in and score them, I think that is what I 🔴do the best so you can take that into the seas🐠on."
Liverpool struggled in the first 45 minutes against Ipswic𒀰h, managing just three shots on Christian Walton's goal, none of which were on target.
But a much-improved display after the inte♔rval saw the Reds muster 15 shots, five of which were on target with 12 coming from inside the penalty are♋a.
And with Brentford up next in the Reds' first home game of the new season, Jota said their second-half showing has gi🏅ven the team a solid foundation to build on.
"Yeah, a positive performance. Obviously, the firs꧂t half was a bit harder, they were really on it [and] pressing almost man-v-man," Jota said.
“The fans were there and we knew it was going to be a d🧔ifficult first half because they would give it all – [it is] a long time since they have been in the Premier League.
“And then the second half they started giving us a little bit more space, which was enough for us to s🐽tart building and start creating those spaces in behind.
"ꦓ;We created a lot of chances and we ended up scoring two, so in the e💖nd I think it's a deserved three points."
