Sadio Mane is not Liverpool’s most missed player and he proved it yesterday

Sadio Mane is not Liverpool’s most missed player and he proved it yesterday

Paul Gorst’s Liverpool verdict after Saturday’s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest in the Premier League at Anfield

In a season of dismal injuries and unwanted absences, Jurgen Klopp felt as good as Diogo Jota.

A hamstring injury, which worsened during one of the first training sessions of Liverpool’s pre-season tour of Thailand in July, has ruined his summer and sidelined him until early September. Jota’s waiting period only lasted around six weeks before his World Cup dream with Portugal was shattered by a serious calf problem in the closing stages of the 1-0 win over Manchester City October 16.

Officially, Jota has been fit and ready since February, but after spending around six months on the treatment table in those two editions, the No.20 has failed to make the kind of contribution that has allowed him to score 21 goals. last season for the Reds. So far it seems.

After a two-goal volley in Leeds’ 6-1 demolition against Leeds on Monday night, the quiet and unassuming forward added more for the week’s tally as Liverpool overcame a tough game against Nottingham Forest at Anfield with a nervous and hard-earned 3 – 2 win.

Like Klopp, he will want a Jota at the top at other times this season, especially during a terrible January that also saw him without Roberto Firmino and Luis Diaz. Defeats to Brighton, Brentford and Wolves would have been different stories had the ‘Portuguese boy’ been there.

His apparent resurgence may be too late to salvage Champions League hopes, but his clinical double has at least helped close the gap to fourth-placed Newcastle, six points clear of Tottenham on Sunday afternoon’s visit.

In a season where lazy pundits have led to suggestions that Sadio Mane was a major failure at Liverpool, the truth is that Klopp regrets the absence of this version of Jota even more. How different would this season have been if he hadn’t had calf and hamstring problems?

In an uneventful first half – played with a low intensity usually reserved for the pre-season program – Liverpool struggled to create clear chances from open play.

Forest’s inability to defend balls in the box gave the Reds the best route to goal, but Jota turned down a glorious chance for his third chance of the week from a tantalizing Trent Alexander-Arnold free-kick after Virgil van Dijk saw a header bounce off the crossbar.

Keylor Navas. The visitors had Neco Williams to thank early in the half when he went off the line on Cody Gapko’s head.

Solid deliveries aside, it was all too slow and unwieldy with little skill to open up a stubborn and crowded Forest rear, despite Alexander-Arnold making the best of it from the new central midfield role he’s taking up when in possession of the ball.

As the first half threatened, Liverpool finally opened the scoring after the restart from a set piece when Jota headed in after Fabinho kept the chance alive from another dangerous Reds corner. Williams shot Forest level moments later thanks to a deflection from Andy Robertson that wrong-footed Alisson Becker in the Liverpool goal. The Welsh international has chosen not to celebrate against the club that helped him become a Premier League player.

If Jota’s former showed his poaching instincts, the latter was top notch as he planted Robertson’s delivery in the box on his chest before slamming into Navas with his left foot. “He IS the Portugal boy, better than Figo you know,” roared the Kop as they dusted off last season’s catchiest patio tune. He’s one who unfortunately didn’t air that much this time around

To their credit, Forest refused to accept their fate and continued to create their own problems with the long pitch tactic. Morgan Gibbs-White hit a low volley past Alisson after a pass into the penalty area was only half cleared by Van Dijk.

It was the Egyptian’s 183rd for the Reds, equaling him with the iconic Robbie Fowler and just three behind Steven Gerrard, who was quite impressed as he watched from the director’s box.

The Reds worked hard for it, but back-to-back victories saw them suddenly smelling the top four again. It may still prove unsuccessful, but there are still 21 points on the line. They couldn’t, could they?