Steve Nicol has urged new Liverpool manager Arne Slot to start the season with Diogo Jota up top instead of Darwin Nunez, as the latter is not where he should be in terms of finishing ability.
Nunez has struggled to fully convince people of his quality during his time in the Premier League. In his first campaign, he bagged nine top-flight goals, and last season, in 36 games, he found the net 11 times.
In terms of goals in all competitions for the Reds, he was second only to Mohamed Salah, but Cody Gakpo and Jota were both within touching distance of the Uruguayan, and he also missed a number of chance to grow his tally.
As such, Nicol feels that it should be Jota who is preferred up top in the first game of the new season, with new manager Slot having the chance to show who his best side is from the off, and turning his back on Nunez for now.
I think Jota is one of the best finishers in the Premier League and that s the reason I ve got him ahead of Nunez, .
That s [finishing] the one thing that Nunez has to get better at. Jota is a better finisher than him and with a new manager coming in you ve got to want to have a good start, you can t think about the future.
Right now, in terms of finishing, he s not where he should be. Jota is where he should be and that s why I d start him against Ipswich.
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Jota started the last two pre-season games, which were wins against Arsenal and Manchester United, in a sign that it might well be the Portuguese who is going to start the season.
In the last campaign in which he played the majority of Liverpool s games, 2021/22, Jota bagged 15 league goals, as well as six in other competitions.