Always felt Jota was at his best at Wolves when he played closer to Jimenez in a 352 formation than wider in a 433. Still an issue for us now that the support players to Jimenez like Traore, Neto and Podence are not players that spend much time in the opponents area so we don’t get the tap in goals that are the bread and butter of many teams

Miss Jota, exciting style, direct, loved the way he harassed defenders when they had the ball too, but we have other exciting players, beginning to think playing Moutinho and Neves together may not be the best plan

I think, in Podence, we have a better player all round than Jota. For me, Jota was a wee bit too greedy at times, whereas Podence is just as quick and has already doubled the assists Jota had all last season. If Traore can match his assists from last season, Jimenez, hopefully can get a hatful again.

It'll be interesting to see if Nuno persists with the 3-4-3 style and where he might play Vitinha in that formation.

With 5 top class forwards to choose from, I'd like to think we can score more goals this season.

comment by herecomesthelight (U17321)
posted 3 hours, 46 minutes ago
Miss Jota, exciting style, direct, loved the way he harassed defenders when they had the ball too, but we have other exciting players, beginning to think playing Moutinho and Neves together may not be the best plan
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I think the days of Moutinho being one of the first names on the team sheet may be coming to an end. Still will make a contribution but I don’t see him starting as often. Dendoncker makes a bigger contribution nowadays to me, and unless we bring someone else in, I see him and Neves as the more regular starters

I think Dendoncker is pretty vital to how we want to play at this stage. Would love us to add a more attacking midfielder for certain games as well but perhaps we will see Neto behind a front two at times this term or maybe Vitinha will develop into something like that.

Worst part of our system is the gaping hole between midfield and attack centrally.

comment by Spangles (U17289)
posted 5 hours, 31 minutes ago
Always felt Jota was at his best at Wolves when he played closer to Jimenez in a 352 formation than wider in a 433. Still an issue for us now that the support players to Jimenez like Traore, Neto and Podence are not players that spend much time in the opponents area so we don’t get the tap in goals that are the bread and butter of many teams
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Worth noting that Jota only scored in 4 premier league games last season. So he wasnt really getting many of the 'bread and butter' tap ins either.

Marcal out for a couple of games probably with a calf injury, so looking like Vinagre to start on Sunday.

Semedo will start I guess provided he's up to match fitness, as far as I can tell he had some minutes off the bench for Barca in a couple of friendlies last week but no competitive football since they got humped by Bayern. (Probably doesn't count as competitive football actually).

Jotas record last season was poor to say the least

Willing to bet his time at Liverpool isn't successful either

Could go either way at Liverpool I think. He is a different style of wide forward to Mane and Salah, so will either have to adapt or they will have to adapt to him.

Liverpool fans are acting like they have a like for like replacement though, which isnt what he is.

Jota got a number of tap ins last season but it seems on this forum the Europa league doesn’t count. I don’t see him as a radically different style of player to Mane and Salah and I think he will prove to be an ideal alternative. Still young and I’m sure Nuno would have made a top player of him and I’m also sure Klopp is capable of doing the same

17 goals in all competitions last season and we have to hope our forwards can compensate for that loss and not put more pressure on Jimenez to score even more

All premier league games this weekend and the weekend after are to be televised but no decision yet on whether that will be the case thereafter.

The Premier League are evidently concerned that this arrangement adversely affects the contracts they have with other countries to show the games because of the variable kick off times.

If half the games are not shown while they are taking place behind closed doors there will be uproar from fans, and illegal streams will be in for a bonanza

Jota scored 16 not 17 and only scored in ten games all season. No doubt at all we all expected more last season and he was disappointing overall.

Nobody is discounting the goals he scored in the Europa League at all. The point I and others are trying to get across is, he only scored 7 Premier League goals and had 1 assist in 34 games.

As cinci stated, he only scored 16 and the comparison this season has to be the goals and assists he made in the league as we're not in Europe this season.

Podence has already surpassed Jota's assist with only 2 games gone.

Personally, I don't think he'll make that much of an impression at Liverpool, unfortunately. Hope I'm wrong for his sake.

On the flip side, you have to give Nuno and his staff credit for a) letting both Doherty and Jota go and b) getting in suitable replacements, thus quelling the nerves of some on here.

comment by Spangles (U17289)
posted 53 minutes ago
Jota got a number of tap ins last season but it seems on this forum the Europa league doesn’t count. I don’t see him as a radically different style of player to Mane and Salah and I think he will prove to be an ideal alternative. Still young and I’m sure Nuno would have made a top player of him and I’m also sure Klopp is capable of doing the same

17 goals in all competitions last season and we have to hope our forwards can compensate for that loss and not put more pressure on Jimenez to score even more
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You're right, Europa League doesnt count when considering Premier League goals. That's why goals scored in European competitions aren't included in the top scoring charts.

Also worth noting that both Mane and Salah want to get the ball with space to run into or run in behind.

Jota wants to pop up in pockets of space and play on the half turn. It means he is more likely to drop deeper than the other two will and have defenders in front of him rather than being played in behind.

They play differently. Not sure why someone would want to pretend they are the same.

I think the biggest thing holding Jota back is his decision making. He makes the wrong decision quite frequently I'm the final third. There is no doubting he is a talented player with loads of potential though.

I don’t dispute at all that Europa league goals don’t count towards premier league goals. But in assessing how a player’s season went, I would look at all goals scored. But for Jota’s goals we may well have been out the Europa league at the group stage and I would have been disappointed by that and I’m sure I’m not alone. He contributed a lot to our run in that competition and in putting a high valuation on him I’m sure Liverpool chose not to ignore those games.

comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 11 minutes ago
Also worth noting that both Mane and Salah want to get the ball with space to run into or run in behind.

Jota wants to pop up in pockets of space and play on the half turn. It means he is more likely to drop deeper than the other two will and have defenders in front of him rather than being played in behind.

They play differently. Not sure why someone would want to pretend they are the same.
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The role you are describing for Jota here is exactly the role I feel he has been unsuited to in the 433 Wolves play. He is, like Mane and Salah, at his best when getting the ball in space to run into and behind. Many of his Wolves goals and assists, particularly in 18/19 when he played more forward, have come from exactly that and I’m not sure why you would want to pretend different

There must be some money to be made from loaning out players like Wolves do in some volume

Reading that before loaning him to Grasshoppers, Wolves extended the contract of Bonatini until 2023

comment by Spangles (U17289)
posted 1 hour, 25 minutes ago
comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 11 minutes ago
Also worth noting that both Mane and Salah want to get the ball with space to run into or run in behind.

Jota wants to pop up in pockets of space and play on the half turn. It means he is more likely to drop deeper than the other two will and have defenders in front of him rather than being played in behind.

They play differently. Not sure why someone would want to pretend they are the same.
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The role you are describing for Jota here is exactly the role I feel he has been unsuited to in the 433 Wolves play. He is, like Mane and Salah, at his best when getting the ball in space to run into and behind. Many of his Wolves goals and assists, particularly in 18/19 when he played more forward, have come from exactly that and I’m not sure why you would want to pretend different
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Mist of those goals actually came from us countering and interplay with Jimenez. I'm not surprised you think differently though, as you regularly watch a different game to me.

I said ages ago that Jota was not a natural finisher and that we should look for a goal scorer. I also said that I hoped that he would improve. He did not and in fact got worse. Selling him to Liverpool for that much money was a master stroke and I think Nuno had lost faith in him.
I really hope he does well at Liverpool for his sake, but I don't think he will be there in the 2003/4 season.

We will see.

You were correct - he wasn't there in the 2003/4 season.

But the point I’m making Boston is that we haven’t replaced him with a goalscorer. Jota was our second highest source of goals. And we sold Doherty who was the third highest.

So for a team that don’t score enough we may well now have less scoring capability. Traore might get a couple more this season, so might Podence, so might Neto. But proven scorers they aren’t. So we might need our 18 year old starlet to land running to improve our goals scored tally as a team.

Might as well get the 100