Joe Gelhardt, a forward for Leeds United, commended Diogo Jota of Liverpool for his ability to head the ball
According to Gelhardt, the Liverpool star is “ridiculously” adept at scoring with his head in an interview with Sky Sports. In order to elevate his own performance, colleague Patrick Bamford showed him films of Jota.
“Patrick Bamford always picks on me and also supports me. Like a mentor, he is. He always tells me where I should be or gives me tips on how to score more goals. He’s older than me and has a lot more experience, so I’ll pay attention to anything he says, the 20-year-old declared.
He would even acquire footage from some of my games to show me where I could be more dangerous and what I could do differently at the conclusion of last season when he was hurt. He also played me video of other Premier League strikers.
“I recall that he showed me Diogo Jota’s headed goal from inside the box. He scores absurdly many header goals. I recently heard Pat say, “If you stay between the sticks, you’ll score goals.”
Jota is a ball-header who truly excels. This is a remarkable quality given his height. But even if he were a 6-foot-7 battering ram, his record would be remarkable.
By any stretch of the imagination, Harry Kane is not a 6-foot-7 battering ram. But he has been the Premier League’s most reliable No. 9 over the past ten years. According to premierleague.com, he is also ranked second all-time for headed Premier League goals. It’s interesting to contrast his headed performance with Jota’s.
Kane obviously has a larger sample size. Against date, he has 189 Premier League goals to Jota’s 40.
However, they really score almost the same number of goals via headers. A little under 18% of the England captain’s goals—34 in total—have been scored with his head.
Seven of Jota’s 40 have came from his head for him. This places him slightly behind Kane on 17.5%. Fascinating.
Peter Crouch is now at the top of the all-time Premier League rankings. The former Liverpool striker blows both Jota and Kane out of the water with a remarkable 37% of his 108 goals coming from his head, accounting for 40 of those 108 goals.
He may not have been a battering ram, but Crouchy was and still is a 6-foot-7 man. It would take a miracle for Jota to break that kind of record.
The Portugal international relies on his ability to spot space in the box rather than his height. Liverpool has appeared a little less dangerous without him in the starting lineup. Expect him to soon add a few more headers to his highlights reel now that he’s back.
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