Mohamed Salah Responds To Liverpool Fans Wanting Diogo Jota To Start Ahead Of Roberto Firmino

Mohamed Salah has insisted that Roberto Firmino is still doing enough to start for Liverpool as fans argue for Diogo Jota to start ahead of the Brazilian.

Liverpool splashed out a reported £41m (rising to £45m with add-ons) to land Jota from Wolves in September.

And Jota, 23, has already made his presence felt at Anfield by scoring seven times in 10 appearances across all competitions.

Firmino, on the other hand, has only scored once and picked up two assists in 11 appearances for Liverpool this season.

Fans now believe that former Wolves star Jota should be starting ahead of Firmino thanks to his brilliant impact at Liverpool.

Salah has praised the arrival of Jota and believes the 23-year-old Portuguese forward has brought the additional attacking threat Liverpool needed.

The 28-year-old Egyptian winger told beIN SPORTS: "Since he [Jota] has been here, he's been scoring a lot, and that has helped us greatly because now we have more options."

When he was asked if Jota could be starting ahead of Firmino going forward, Salah responded: "I can't say about this because I am not the coach, I can't decide something like that.

"I can't look at what Firmino has done for the club and what he gives the team and say he should sit on the bench because his recent scoring output isn't amazing, this is a player who has given everything to the team for five years and creates so many chances.

"The way our system works in a way sacrifices his scoring output slightly as he drops deeper and gives us the ball on the wings, so I can't say he should sit on the bench or that he isn't working to the best of his ability.

"Sure, there can be more goals, but he creates so many chances regardless."

Firmino, Salah and Sadio Mane have been integral to Jurgen Klopp's squad and the trio helped fire Liverpool to the Premier League title last season.

When he was asked if he noticed any change in chemistry with Mane and Firmino, Salah said: "No, I don't think so. I don't count how many goals the three of us have.

"But we have been together for four years, sometimes we don't score every game, but we play well and the team wins and that is what's important.

"You won't find an attacker that scores every single game, so I think we contribute a lot in other facets of the game in terms of creation and assists for other players, and that helps the team as a whole."

Liverpool will resume their Premier League title defence today with an away trip to Manchester City.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Liverpool, Football News, Football, REds, Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota, Premier League, Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, Football News, Football, REds, Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota, Premier League, Mohamed Salah

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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