Arne Slot and Diogo Jota: a one-sided love affair that will NEVER be reciprocated

According to all reports, Diogo Jota put the final nail in his own coffin with his performances over the past week.

In both the Champions League Round of 16 second leg loss to PSG and the League Cup final loss to Newcastle, Jota was ineffective, inconsistent and inept.

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Don’t get it twisted, no one particularly covered themselves in glory between those two games. But a key part of Arne Slot’s plan in both games was clearly to subvert the press by going long into the centre-forward who could win the ball and play in his fellow attackers. Jota plainly failed to do this.

He also failed when Liverpool managed to get in front of goal. As explained in this Anfield Watch article after the League Cup final, Jota had zero shots on target between both Champions League legs and the cup final.

He also had four accurate passes, 1/4 ground duels won and 1/1 aerial duels won, but no dribbles, no long-balls, no defensive breakthroughs in the cup final.

But the most perplexing thing about all of it is that, come the second half of the Newcastle game, no one was surprised.

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Arne Slot will play Jota no matter what

Jota has managed exactly two goals and one assist in the entirety of 2025 despite playing 724 minutes across all competitions. That’s a goal involvement every 241 minutes, or just under every three games.

Yet he is seemingly a point of adoration for head coach Arne Slot. Jota is still his first choice centre-forward despite these appearances. He had been poor up until the first PSG game, was poor in the first PSG game, yet started the second one (in which he was poor) and was rewarded with a start in the cup final.

It isn’t all Jota’s fault. He has had recurring injury issues this season, missing 15 games.

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And whilst Slot’s other options aren’t exactly ideal (sorry, Darwin Nunez) he has not been as kind to any other players who also clearly need to find their form.

Federico Chiesa may as well not be a Liverpool player with how often Slot looks at him, despite having four goal involvements in his season-long total of 387 minutes - one every 97 minutes. This includes the late goal that gave Liverpool a glimmer of hope 20 minutes after he came on.

Harvey Elliott has basically been ghosted since his injury too, yet scored the winner in the first leg against PSG with his first touch of the game and was the only player who looked like doing anything when he came on against Newcastle.

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Yet Jota has received chance after chance.

It’s a confusing relationship that has cost Liverpool the chance of a season for the history books. And whilst reports are now looking serious that Liverpool will be signing a new striker this summer, the damage here is already done.

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