Diogo Jota makes valid point about Salah’s AFCON absence that Liverpool fans may have overlooked
Diogo Jota has hit upon a pertinent point when discussing the absence of Liverpool teammate Mo Salah during the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Reds are currently having to manage without their top scorer while he represents Egypt at the continental tournament – his country’s first group match takes place on Sunday – and he’s not likely to return to Anfield for at least the remainder of January.
Speaking to LFC’s official matchday programme (via Liverpool Echo), the Portuguese attacker said that the 31-year-old will be missed on Merseyside, but also pointed out that the team coped impressively without their number 11 during the last AFCON in January/February 2022.
Jota declared: “Obviously we will be without Mo Salah for the next month or so while he is with Egypt at AFCON.
“If I remember rightly we did quite well two years ago when he was last away at the tournament but it is never easy because the team is used to having Mo on the that right wing and we know what a threat he is for the opponent. Just his presence even sometimes without touching the ball is enough.
“We will not have that so we need to adapt. On the other hand, I know we have the quality in this squad to make his absence look like it’s not happening. We know with him it would be easier but we are all ready to give it a go.”
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Jota makes a valid point regarding Liverpool’s results in Salah’s absence during the last AFCON two years ago. With Egypt going all the way to the final that year, the Reds attacker missed six matches for his club.
In that period, Klopp’s side won five games and drew the other, progressing to the final of the Carabao Cup and through two rounds of the FA Cup without their talisman, along with picking up maximum points in the Premier League (Transfermarkt).
Furthermore, it could be argued that we have greater attacking depth now than at the start of 2022. Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo weren’t LFC players at that time, while Luis Diaz was signed in the midst of the African tournament.
Although Bobby Firmino, Divock Origi and Sadio Mane have all left the club since then, the latter was also involved in AFCON (his Senegal side actually triumphed over Egypt in the final), so Liverpool did remarkably well to keep winning without two of their most important players.
Obviously Salah will be missed until such time that he returns to Anfield, but the Reds showed in similar circumstances two years ago that they can still come up with big results even in the absence of their top scorer. The challenge over the coming weeks is to do so again.
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