Not many would have thought that many players in the world could challenge for a spot within Liverpool’s front three, with Sadio Mané, Mo Salah, and Roberto Firmino providing some of the best football we have seen at the club for many years.
This season, however, the signing of Diogo Jota has thrown a spanner in the works for Jurgen Klopp, with the Portuguese forward getting off to a flying start for the Reds with 7 goals in his first 11 games for the club.
Jota’s form has caused a stir on who should start up front alongside Mané and Salah out of himself or Firmino but trust me when I say this – the Brazilian still has plenty to offer.
Since joining the club in 2015 for £37 million – Firmino has become one of the most dynamic, versatile, and unselfish forwards in world football. The beauty of Firmino’s role is that he isn’t in the team to be a goalscorer, he is there as a provider for both Mané and Salah.
Does Firmino deserve more respect from fans?
Yes
No
Firmino is essentially used as a pressing machine for Klopp, putting pressure on the opponent’s defence and midfield in order to gain back possession – he also drops back into a No.9 role very often during games, drawing in the central defenders of their opponents to create further space out wide for Mané and Salah to occupy and form an attack, which often leads to goals galore for the Reds.
The downside to a role such as this is that the individual numbers don’t match the player of there position, with Firmino playing in the same position as forwards such as Robert Lewandowski and Harry Kane but not boasting the same goalscoring numbers due to his role in no being the sole goalscorer.
During his career, the Brazilian has averaged 1.9 tackles per game, again highlighting his defensive duties as a No.9 – yet he also still manages to boast 58 goals and 37 assists for Liverpool after 183 Premier League games, not bad for a forward whose role isn’t the goalscorer.
I have wholehearted trust in everything Firmino does on the pitch and without him, I don’t think we’d be looking at the level of success this Liverpool side has produced so far – so again, trust me when I say, Firmino still has plenty to offer.
What do you think Reds, has Firmino’s dip in form worried you? Let us know in the comments section below…