cyril C
Full Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2017
- Messages
- 2,649
I am sorry, you are using 2 completely different example. How many goals did Firminho scored? His contribution is on his link up play and assistance to Salah and Mane, and being able to score some important goals in key games. Firminho is useful but to Liverpool only. Had we kept Lukaku, then it might be a better comparison but this is another story.For me, the respective coverage of both of these players is yet another example of one player being rated more favourably because his team wins more matches.
I think both players share similarities - they are not your traditional 9s. The ‘goalscoring positions’ Martial is repeatedly critiqued for not getting into are not occupied by Firminho either. The ‘clever link play’ and ‘happy feet’ displayed by Firminho are also displayed by Martial. Firminho seems to regularly go through these ‘hasn’t scored for 8 games’ or ‘hasn’t scored at home for x months’ runs over the last couple of years, and very little is made of it.
Long and short - I think Martial is a slightly better version of Firminho, but the disparity in the coverage they receive is huge, with Firminho seen as some sort of genius. For the individual reputation of a player, it is so important to be part of a winning team. Martial is a better goalscorer for me, and is a younger player with more growth capacity. I hear people say that ‘of the Liverpool front 3, Salah is the most replaceable’, which is a nonsense to me.