Lijnders explains why Liverpool trio should fear ‘pressing monster’ Jota

Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders says Diogo Jota has the technical qualities to challenge the club’s famed front three.

The Reds confirmed the signing of Jota last Saturday, the 23-year-old arriving for an initial £41million.

Such a fee could be questioned given his arrival will initially help keep Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah on their toes.

However, Lijnders is confident Jota can prove his worth by staking a serious claim for game time at Anfield.

“What can I say, his technical level is on the same as our front three,” Lijnders told a press conference on Wednesday.

“He has so much future in his feet and he will have a great pathway inside our club. He’s like a pressing monster so he will fit in straight away.”

Lijnders was speaking after being asked about the impact Thiago Alcantara will have on Liverpool.

The Spaniard impressed on Sunday in his Premier League debut as the Reds beat Chelsea 2-0.

Thiago ‘will help Liverpool evolve’

Thiago Alcantara

“Good teams need good players and we’re really happy that he’s with us,” Lijnders added. “This team deserves a player like him because he will make sure that we keep evolving.

“Teams adapt, teams try to destroy our plans and what’s most important is that we stay unpredictable and unpredictability means that, fr, each position, we can play the last pass and we can speed up the game.

Thiago does that for us, so he’s a great signing and we didn’t buy a problem, we bought a solution.”

Another player to impress against Chelsea was Fabinho, who stepped into a centre-back role to cover for the injured Joe Gomez and Joel Matip.

Lijnders feels it is a showing of Fabinho’s steel that he can willingly adapt for Jurgen Klopp.

“It shows his character, that he’s always ready to help the team,” Lijnders said. “He never normally plays as a centre-half and he sacrificed himself.

“If you saw the difference between the Leeds game and the Chelsea game, it’s a big compliment of our last line. The way we defended and controlled the movements of Timo [Werner] going in behind.”

READ MORE: Pundit claims Thiago deal has left ‘many unhappy faces’ at Liverpool