Sunday Review: How Klopp's Liverpool came, saw and captured Jota
Liverpool's Diogo Jota, left, scores his side's opening goal on Saturday.Â
Diogo Jota's development into what Jurgen Klopp describes as "world-class striker" is helping to fuel Liverpool's unprecedented quadruple bid.
The Portugal international had impressed during his three seasons with Wolves but there were still a few raised eyebrows when Liverpool paid £45m (€53m) to bring him to Anfield 19 months ago.
Klopp and his recruitment department, however, had spotted the potential in Jota to develop into the prolific game-changing goalscorer he has become and his 20th goal of the season in all competitions - and third in three games - underlined that improvement.
He has pace, skill, work-rate, football intelligence and can score with his feet and head. Saturday's breakthrough goal resulted from his anticipation of Joe Gomez's well-flighted cross. He made a clever, darting run in between two defenders and beat on-rushing goalkeeper Ben Foster with a glancing header.
His arrival has eased the scoring burden on Mo Salah and Sadio Mane. Salah had a rare off-day following the disappointment of Egypt's failure to reach the World Cup finals while Mane - who helped Senegal dispose of the Egyptians in midweek - was kept on the bench until midway through the second half when he replaced Salah.
Jota has now scored vital goals in Liverpool's last three games - the first in the 2-0 win at Arsenal, the late winner in the FA Cup at Nottingham Forest and now Watford. In between he also netted in Portugal's World Cup semi-final play-off win over Turkey.
He could have had more against Watford but was denied by a Foster save and send a second-half shot and header into the Kop when he should at least have tested Foster.
But Klopp is delighted that the signing of the 25-year-old is proving to be more shrewd business for Liverpool, who haven't made any mistakes in the market in recent years.
"It was always clear that Diogo is not a pure winger, " said Klopp. "He is a striker who can play on the wing and defend the wing - both wings, thank god. He played for us all three positions up front and did always really well.
"In a game like Watford it is really important that the boys play the game and not the position. That means you have to end up in these kinds of situations. Where we struggle sometimes is being too static. The goal was a very fluent situation where Diogo was high up, a great cross from Joe but then if there is nobody there it is just a cross with no outcome.
"It was a great goal. Absolutely. He is that guy. It was always in him for sure. At Wolves he had a different job and he did that job so well that we thought, 'we want him.'
"And since he came in he improved a lot. That is a little to do with his age, he is growing into the world-class striker role step by step and he is delivering for Portugal pretty consistently which is a difficult job to do with all the offensive talent they have, so he is actually the player we thought he would be and also a little bit better."
Despite Jota's 22nd minute goal, Liverpool were not at their fluent best and toiled to make the game safe until the 89th minute when substitute Fabinho converted a penalty after Jota had been wrestled to the ground by Juraj Kucka, referee Stuart Attwell making his judgement after a VAR review.
Liverpool's 10th successive League win put them top for a couple of hours but Manchester City's equally predictable win at Burnley means they go into the potential title decider with Pep Guardiola's team at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday a point behind with the same number of games played but with a better goal difference.
Klopp is adopting a relaxed attitude towards that showdown and the business end of the season in general. Rather than feel the pressure he is telling his players to enjoy the glittering opportunity that is in front of them.
“I really appreciate the situation we are in," he added. "I told the boys yesterday if someone had told us in the summer that at the end of March, early April, we would be in the situation we are in - won one trophy and still in three other competitions with a full squad available - we would all have taken it.
"The only better situation would be to be 20 points ahead of City but that's not possible. That's why it is all fine like it is. I don't think we are favourites in any of the competitions we are in but who cares, we will give it a try.
"It is nothing to do with managing the pressure, it's not like I pretend to be in this [relaxed] mood. It's not managing the situation or the pressure. People may see the situation like pressure - I'm not sure I can change that. We create a basis which we could use but no-one knows because opponents have their own targets and go for it. We see it as an opportunity to enjoy rather pressure."
Part of his seemingly relaxed attitude is that Liverpool's title hopes were written off by many when they slipped 14 points behind City in mid-January - although they had two games in hand.
Klopp admits that at that point he was thinking more of securing a top four place and doing well in the cup competitions than reigning in City and ending up as champions.
Before they can turn their attentions fully towards the City game, Liverpool have the small matter of a Champions League quarter-final first leg against Benfica to deal with - they fly out to Lisbon tomorrow for Tuesday's clash in the iconic Estadio De Luz.
Roy Hodgson meanwhile was aggrieved by Liverpool's late penalty but saw enough in Watford's workmanlike performance to believe they can still claw themselves out of trouble - if they can replicate the graft and commitment they showed at Anfield.
Alisson 6; Gomez 7, Matip 6, Van Dijk 6, Robertson 7; Jones 6 (Fabinho 61, 6), Henderson 6, Thiago 8 (Milner 89); Salah 5 (Mane 68, 6), Firmino 6, Jota 7.
: Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold, Tsmikas, Konate, Diaz, Oxlade-Chamberlain.
: Foster 7; FemenÃa 6, Kabasele 6, Samir 6, Kamara 7; Sissoko 6, Louza 6 (Cleverley 77, 5) , Kucka 6; Sarr 7, João Pedro 6 (King 77, 5), Hernández 6 (Dennis 77, 5).
Subs not used: Ngakia, Masina, Sema, Cathcart, Bachmann, Kayembe.
: Stuart Attwell.
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