Carragher turns his back on Firmino and gets onboard the Diogo Jota hype train

Liverpool has had the perfect front three in recent years. Salah, Mané, Firmino. Three stars who this season have been joined by a fourth one, Diogo Jota. But there is only room for three, and it seems that the general opinion is that Roberto Firmino is the weakest link.

So thinks Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher. The former Liverpool player said he was clear about who should form the attacking trio. "Mané, Jota and Salah. Firmino is not in good form, but that could change if Liverpool reaches a final," he said in an interview with 'TalkSport'.

"I don't think he was in good form last season either but as the team won the Premier League some things took a back seat. Firmino didn't score a goal at Anfield until the last home game against Chelsea," he added.

He insisted that his performance has dropped, and that Jota is at an enviable level. "Liverpool fans understand enough to know that their role is not just to score goals," Carragher continued.

"The team's scorers play in the open and know how to create danger, win the ball and apply pressure. But even looking at their pressure data from last week, they are not usual statistics," he said afterwards.

"That doesn't mean he has to stay out forever and that it's the end of his career, but now it's good that Jota plays and Firmino stays on the bench for three or four games," the former 'red' player also said.

In the end, the goal is what motivates him to leave Firmino out. "When you are not playing well and you are a substitute, it is difficult to play a bad game. The reason I choose Jota is because we don't have many goal scorers," he explained.

"Virgil van Dijk was a great set-piece scorer, in the middle trio there is no one with goalscoring ability, there is no Gerrard or Lampard there ...And on top of that the centre forward doesn't score. But, if you put Jota there, you end up taking away some pressure from Mané and Salah", he emphasised.