Glenn Hoddle has stated that Liverpool forward Diogo Jota is ‘deceptively good in the air’, as he told Premier League Productions (19/12/21 at 6:40 pm).
On Sunday, Jota scored with his head when Liverpool recorded an action-packed 2-2 draw against Spurs in north London.
Even though Antonio Conte played three centre-backs, it was the 5ft8 Jota that was doing the business in the air.
Liverpool fans may not like the comparison, but Tim Cahill, who is a similar height to Jota, was as deadly in the air as their £41 million player (BBC Sport) is now.
Cahill was ruthless in that manner for a number of years when donning the colours of either Australia, Millwall or Everton.
Nonetheless, Hoddle spoke about Jota’s aerial battle with Tottenham’s back three over the weekend and how he was winning those duels.
“He’s deceptively good in the air, isn’t he?” said Hoddle. “I mean, there were a couple of times, in the second half, when he was tightly marked and he still won the header.
“Spurs, the back three, it’s very unusual to see all three of them on the right-hand side. Then someone else has to fall into that position and do the job.
“You do the job as a centre-half, you get touch-tight and you make sure you don’t give free headers.”
When Jota first arrived on Merseyside, not many expected the Portugal international to have such an explosive start.
It was always going to be difficult to try and break Liverpool’s regular three – Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah.
But Jota gave Jurgen Klopp no choice but to pick him, whether that’s netting on his debut or scoring a hat-trick in the Champions League.
It could now be argued that Jota has replaced Firmino as Liverpool’s regular man up top because he probably deserves to be in that bracket now.
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