Jamie Carragher says Roberto Firmino would not be his first choice Liverpool forward right now and the former Reds defender has called on Klopp to drop him for Diogo Jota.
Much has been said of Firmino’s struggles this campaign but Carragher feels his poor form, majorly at Anfield last season as they won their first League title in 30 years, was actually ‘masked’.
Jota, has been outstanding and while Klopp played all four attackers – with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah included out wide – against City, Carragher says dropping Firmino is the best decision moving forward.
‘Mane-Jota-Salah,’ Carragher told talkSPORT, without hesitation, when asked about the attack he would choose if he was the Liverpool manager.
‘Firmino isn’t in great form now and I don’t think he was in great form last season. Even though Liverpool won the league, certain things got masked. Firmino didn’t score a goal at home in the Premier League until the last game until Chelsea.
‘Liverpool fans are educated enough that Liverpool’s goalscorers are out wide. But even the pressing stats, I checked them the other day and they weren’t at the numbers they normally are.
‘You have ups and downs in your career… sit on the bench. Everyone is looking at him, so just leave him out for me for the next three or four games.’
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Jota has been the one changing the game for Liverpool off the bench since arriving at the club. And he has already scored six goals in 11 matches for the Reds.
‘It’s hard to have a bad game coming on as a sub,’ Carragher added. ‘You can come on and change the game and build confidence that way. The reason I would play Jota is Liverpool don’t have many goalscorers in the team. You only really have Salah or Mane.
‘Virgil van Dijk was a scorer, the midfield three don’t really score, there’s no real Gerrard in that team. If you put Jota in there then it takes the pressure of Mane and Salah.’
