Diogo Jota reveals Jurgen Klopp’s key instructions to ‘unlock’ West Ham in Liverpool win
Four in his first nine games for the Portuguese forward since arriving at Anfield
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Your support makes all the difference.Diogo Jota was delighted to once more prove the match-winner for Liverpool after coming off the bench to score against West Ham on Saturday.
The Hammers took an early lead in the Premier League game, but goals from Mohamed Salah from the penalty spot and Jota’s late finish sent the champions top of the table.
Having also netted the winner last week against Sheffield United, Jota has quickly proven an astute purchase for the Reds - but far from stating he should be starting every week, the ex-Wolves man said his role from the bench was to watch and figure out the route to goal.
“On the bench I think what could I do different to unlock the result,” he told Sky Sports.
"[I scored] two goals, one didn’t count, but thankfully we got the victory. We just want to keep winning games.
“I played two games in the starting 11 before this one; this is a team, the manager chooses the 11. We just need to do our job.”
Jurgen Klopp turned to both Jota and Xherdan Shaqiri to unlock the packed West Ham defence, with David Moyes’ side playing a deep 5-4-1 after scoring their own early goal.
While they defended well initially, the introduction of fresh minds and legs in attack proved too much as the subs combined to score the winner - after Jota had shortly beforehand put the ball in the net, only for a pitchside VAR review to rule it out.
Jota says the manager encouraged more speed in the play from the subs, which ultimately proved enough for the points.
“[Klopp asked us] to be lively, with the game time the other team gets tired so we need to [show] movement. In the end I got the space, a great pass from Shaq and I could score.”
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