Diogo Jota “has to start more often” as 2 Liverpool forwards score below 5/10

Diogo Jota was Liverpool’s standout player at Nottingham Forest, despite only playing a quarter of the game, but Luis Diaz endured a disappointing night as the No. 9.

The Reds dropped more points in the Premier League title race on Tuesday, although the draw may not look terrible come May.

Jota cancelled out Chris Wood’s early opener with his first touch and, while Arne Slot‘s side pressed hard for a winner, they couldn’t get past a stubborn rearguard.

Here we compare our player ratings with those of the Liverpool Echo, GOAL, FotMob and TIA’s readers.

Jota (8.3) may only have been introduced after 65 minutes, but he easily had the biggest impact in a Liverpool shirt.

The Portuguese headed home the equaliser immediately and was denied twice soon after, injecting life into a hapless performance and providing the Reds’ first three shots on target.

GOAL’s Harry Sherlock described Jota as a “genuine spark off the bench,” adding that he “has to start more often.”

Ian Doyle of the Echo said that he “made a huge difference” as a striker, with Diaz (4.7) not working as a false nine.

In fact, fellow substitute Kostas Tsimikas (6.9) wasn’t bettered by any of Liverpool’s starters in the ratings, sitting joint-second with Virgil van Dijk (6.9) and Dominik Szoboszlai (6.9).

Sherlock believes that Tsimikas “looks like a better option” than Andy Robertson (5.1) now and it’s hard to disagree.

Van Dijk won all five of his aerial duels – the most of any player – per FotMob. It feels like he is holding Liverpool’s defence together at times, though he could’ve kept Woods offside.

It was a grim evening for Diaz, who got the lowest score, with Doyle bemoaning his inability to find the right final pass – please don’t ever force us to rewatch his attempt to play in Gakpo!

Mohamed Salah (4.9) was also off the boil, not winning a single ground duel of the eight he contested – the most of anyone without success for a conversion rate of 0%.

Next up for Liverpool is Saturday’s trip to Brentford in the Premier League which feels even bigger after these dropped points.