The 31-year-old will undoubtedly be much missed by Liverpool. Salah is having an incredible season in the Premier League, with 14 goals and 8 assists.
However, the former Red Murphy stated today on TalkSPORT that he is “not that concerned” about Liverpool’s No. 11 being sidelined. Even though the commentator thought his former team will finish ahead of Arsenal, he predicted Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo would be prepared to take over for Jurgen Klopp.
Murphy predicted that “they’ll finish above Arsenal because they’ve got better firepower.” “Liverpool is the team that will challenge City because their manager has shown he can compete with Guardiola, something no other manager has done.”
“They have Jota and Gakpo coming in, and they are incredibly good players, so I’m not worried [about Salah heading to AFCON]. Just take a look at Jota’s numbers—he doesn’t receive the recognition he merits. He consistently scores goals. Considering that he is a wide player and rarely starts, his figures are alarming. Thus, no, I’m not all that worried.
Murphy praises Jota’s work
If Jota had scored against Newcastle on Monday, his stats could have looked even better this season.
The 27-year-old has drawn criticism for not putting the ball in the net after going down in response to a tackle from Martin Dubravka.
It would have been great if Jota had scored once more, even if we don’t blame him for falling because we don’t think he could have stayed up.
If it had happened, he would have now scored twice in his two substitute outings since his Boxing Day injury return. It would have been 10 in 12 starts and an assist for a pretty outstanding pass from Alexis Mac Allister. Well, anything.
But despite my annoyance, Murphy is 100% accurate regarding Jota. He’s developed into one of Liverpool’s more reliable threats in front of goal lately.
The Portugal international has significantly recovered after going from April 2022 to April 2023 without a goal.
Now that Salah is out of the picture, Diogo should emphasize his ranking as Liverpool’s second-best forward, behind the Egyptian.
Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz will also be required, in addition to Gakpo. However, Reds supporters believe that Jota holds the greatest promise. It’s time for him to really go all out scary on that “frightening” record.
