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Liverpool’s relatively recent rise to the top, both in England and across Europe, can be largely attributed to the excellent field management provided by Jurgen Klopp, as well as the excellent recruitment, led by Michael Edwards.
Focusing solely on recruiting, it’s fair to say that the club has put together one of the best teams on the planet with almost no weakness in any area of the field. Although that side has largely been brought together throughout Klopp’s tenure, there are two regulars within the team that predate the German’s arrival at Anfield.
Reigning Liverpool Champions League winning captain Jordan Henderson arrived in 2011, with the Reds under the leadership of Sir Kenny Dalglish, while forward fullback Roberto Firmino joined the club in 2015 with Brendan Rodgers still in charge. After a turbulent first few years at the club, Henderson has silenced almost all of his skeptics. This has been as a result of his outstanding performances for Liverpool and has also been helped by the fact that Klopp has kept him as captain throughout the Reds’ rise to the top.
Like Henderson, Liverpool’s current number 9 can also often divide the fan base. But not in the sense of whether it is good, it would be a very short and silly debate. Instead, the question is how good?
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Opinions formed can often be a consequence of the areas of your game that people choose to evaluate. For example, his eight-goal league score seems pretty unremarkable, specifically given that Mane and Salah have a total of 14 and 16 this season.
However, it is important to reiterate that Firmino’s influence goes far beyond the goals scored. He is a striker by title, but he is a facilitator and creator for those around him. He has recorded the second-most joint league assists in Liverpool this season behind Trent Alexander-Arnold, who, of course, is helped by taking most of the pieces at the club. His count of seven cannot be surpassed by any other striker in the Premier League either.
It also ranks in the top ten in the division in terms of goal-setting actions with 0.56-to-90: these are the two offensive actions that lead directly to a goal, such as passes, bounces, and draws. (Note: The following is filtered for players who have played as a striker or as a midfielder and striker throughout the season, depending on FBref.)
(Image: @DAHughes_)
(You can see the image above in high definition here)
While it ranks eighth on the list, it’s imperative to note how many of the above take a large number of pieces of your gear. These dead ball situations always increase the creative number of players, making it difficult to analyze their true creative open play skills. Firmino rarely takes set pieces in Liverpool, with his creative production in place exclusively through cunning open-play actions. But even despite the impressive numbers above, part of its greatness isn’t always reflected in traditional metrics.
This is because he will regularly fall deep and far from the goal, shaking off the defenders and working as an advanced pivot linking the attack with the rest of the Liverpool team. His vision of the game is unrivaled and his movement off the ball is simply sublime. An example of the same is below and is taken from Liverpool’s Champions League victory against Genk earlier in the season.
As Gini Wijnaldum advances with the ball, the obvious career for Firmino, who has fallen deeply to support, would be to run forward and receive a short pass from the Dutchman. However, be aware of the head movements of the Brazilian, as he is aware that his career could affect the pass line to Mohamed Salah.
Therefore, he makes a short, curved run behind defender Genk looking to close the ball. The smart run is rewarded with a sharp pass from Wijnaldum.
The Genk defender who previously marked Salah has to move forward to try to close Firmino, but without even looking (no surprises there), the Brazilian plays an excellent one-touch pass to Salah, now unmarked, which introduces the ball into the area where Sadio Mane is on hand to locate Liverpool’s third
This cunning brilliance probably would have gone unnoticed by most, and would not have rewarded the striker in terms of goal or even assist. However, it serves as a reminder of just how influential he is on this side of Liverpool.
In a soccer world where we can all obsess over statistics and data, Firmino serves as an epitome and reminder of a player whose influence can only be quantified in numbers up to a certain level. It’s worth remembering that next time your skills will be debated again.
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