Jamie Carragher was left stunned upon being informed of a statistic about one Liverpool player during Monday night’s clash against Leeds.
Although the Reds went on to record an emphatic 6-1 victory, the first goal didn’t arrive until the 35th minute, with Jurgen Klopp’s side having plenty of possession but zero penetration prior to Cody Gakpo’s opener.
Diogo Jota went on to score his first two goals in just over a year last night but endured a particularly difficult 30 minutes, with a number of passes going astray.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ MNF (via Liverpool Echo), Carragher joked that he’d have ‘sold’ the 26-year-old for £25m off the back of his troublesome opening half-hour, with presenter David Jones revealing that the Portuguese forward lost possession 15 times in that period.
The statistic shocked the ex-Reds defender, who replied: “15? Wow.”
The final figures from Sofascore show that Jota lost possession 19 times in total throughout the match, so his fortunes before and after the 30-minute mark made for quite the contrast.
It was as if his delightful assist for Mo Salah’s first goal of the night, which made it 2-0 shortly before half-time, unleashed the Diogo we all love to see, and a weight was well and truly lifted off his shoulders with his two goals after the interval.
That brace could’ve come in the nick of time for the 26-year-old, considering that Luis Diaz’s return off the bench now leaves Klopp with his full complement of attackers to call upon, thus heightening the competition for places.
Ideally, we’ll see Jota add a few more goals over the coming weeks to make up for his surprisingly lengthy dry spell, while also being more economical in possession so that he doesn’t rack up startling statistics like the one which caught Carragher off guard on Monday.