Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes Diogo Jota will learn a lot from watching Sadio Mane and backed his new signing to make significant improvements once he is operating on more than “20 per cent information”.
The former Wolves forward could have had a hat-trick during his 10-minute cameo against Arsenal but capped a home and Premier League debut with the goal to make it 3-1 and finally kill off the visitors’ hopes of snatching a point.
Jota had earlier hit the side-netting with only Bernd Leno to beat and then seen Mohamed Salah take a chance off his toes from a similar position, before finally finding the net in the 88th minute with a neat thigh trap and volley from the edge of the area.
EVERY. SINGLE. ANGLE. 😍 Enjoy @DiogoJota18's beautiful debut goal… pic.twitter.com/NT58Viw7ep — Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 28, 2020
The Portugal international also played 33 minutes in last week’s Carabao Cup win at Lincoln and could start at home to Arsenal again on Thursday in the same competition as Klopp tries to get him up to speed having had no pre-season with the squad.
“Diogo came on, played naturally his football, tried to defend the way we defend,” said the manager.
“He is on 20 per cent of information on what we do exactly; we had meetings to talk about it and that will all take time.
“(Against Arsenal) he had 60 or 70 minutes to watch how Sadio is doing and then he came on the pitch and did incredibly well.
“He scored a super goal, a nice first game at Anfield. He will never forget it, I will never forget it. A cool start.”
Jota said his team-mates have made his integration into the side as easy as possible for him but is aware he still has some way to go to be able to regularly reach the levels which made Liverpool Premier League champions last season.
“When you arrive at a team that are world champions, you always try to adapt as quickly as possible,” he told liverpoolfc.com.
“The way they received me is exceptional. I just thank them for the way they have received me.
“When we are on the bench we are watching the game closely, with attention.
“We know we could come on at any moment and we could have a chance to decide the game in the few moments that we are on.
“That’s what I try to do – always be focused – and when I’m on the pitch I’m always ready to do my best.
“I think we can build up from here and do great things in the future.
“Obviously I could have done better; I had a couple of chances before but I’m happy with this – getting my first goal in my first game (at Anfield).
“And I helped the team seal the result, that is the most important thing, that we got the three points.”
