Roberto Firmino, the most overrated player in the Prem.

[giorno]

Heh. 27 goals in 17/18 when he was the team's second main goal-scorer

16 last season as the team's third main scorer

This is his first "poor" season for them, and poor is relative. He's still been instrumental to their pressing scheme - which is keyed on him - and as a linkup up player between attack and midfield. He's been poor in front of goal in the PL

 

[Andersonson]

I don't think he's overrated. He is a very very good fotballer. He offers alot in other areas of the game, but he has a major weakness and that is his finishing. He misses alot of chances.
He fits the style perfect and there arent many other strikers that would fit as good as him. Unlucky for us Liverpool has done a very good job in the transfer market and I wouldnt be surprised if a striker is signed and hits it off.

 

[JPRouve]

Heh. 27 goals in 17/18 when he was the team's second main goal-scorer

16 last season as the team's third main scorer

This is his first "poor" season for them, and poor is relative. He's still been instrumental to their pressing scheme - which is keyed on him - and as a linkup up player between attack and midfield. He's been poor in front of goal in the PL

His best season by some distance see him with a goal every 155 minutes, last season it was a goal every 210 minutes that's bad for a top striker, this season it's a goal every 391 minutes that's just tragic. He is routinely above 200 minutes which isn't good at all.

 

[giorno]

His best season by some distance see him with a goal every 155 minutes, last season it was a goal every 210 minutes that's bad for a top striker, this season it's a goal every 391 minutes that's just tragic. He is routinely above 200 minutes which isn't good at all.

He's supposed to be the second or third option for his team in terms of scoring. Their attack is good but it's hardly manchester city's

Yes, he's been poor in front of goal this season. That's it

 

[JPRouve]

He's supposed to the second or third option for his team in terms of scoring. Their attack is good but it's hardly manchester city's

Yes, he's been poor in front of goal this season. That's it

He is a poor goalscorer and that's it, I like the player but we can't bamboozle people and make them believe that he is anything else than bang average when it comes to goalscoring, his respectable season was the exception not the rule. He is a very good creator and a key player when it comes to defending on the front foot though.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Unreliable goalscorer.

Otherwise, a very good all-around team player.

 

[Snow]

He isn't one of the easiest players to replace for France, his competition failed to do it because Giroud generally scores goals for France. He has scored at a higher rate than Benzema, he simply had an uncharacteristically poor WC when it comes to goalscoring. Firmino doesn't score for Liverpool, he never has while Giroud has the third goalscoring record for France behind Platini and Henry.

Benzema hasn't played in 5 years. He would instantly be an upgrade as both he and France are better now than 5 years ago. Giroud's record during the same time Benzema was playing was shit. He's up there because of the amount of matches he's played in a good team. He's got nothing on Papin, Trezeguet, Henry, Fontaine to name a few.

Ben Yedder has played 8 matches and he's been scoring for years. The only reason Giroud is still playing is because he's decent and Deschamps, like NT managers tend to be, is conservative in his player selection. We've seen the same thing with England forwards since forever. Fact is there isn't much chance to experiment so if something works fine they stick with it.

 

[JPRouve]

Benzema hasn't played in 5 years. He would instantly be an upgrade as both he and France are better now than 5 years ago. Giroud's record during the same time Benzema was playing was shit. He's up there because of the amount of matches he's played in a good team. He's got nothing on Papin, Trezeguet, Henry, Fontaine to name a few.

Ben Yedder has played 8 matches and he's been scoring for years. The only reason Giroud is still playing is because he's decent and Deschamps, like NT managers tend to be, is conservative in his player selection. We've seen the same thing with England forwards since forever. Fact is there isn't much chance to experiment so if something works fine they stick with it.

Giroud had a better record then Benzema during the same time. It's daft that people talk about something they have absolutely no clue about.

Giroud has better numbers, even when you count assists Benzema doesn't have a better goal involvement. Giroud has 1 G+A(39+10 in 5518 minutes) every 112.6 minutes while Benzema has 1 G+A(27+18 in 5130 minutes) every 114 minutes. And that's without taking into account the fact that Benzema performances were bad and often disruptive for France because he was trying too much to be THE guy, at least that's my theory.

No. Neither Deschamps nor Blanc based the team on one player and if you really wanted to find one it would Pogba and before that Ribéry not Benzema. I think that it was coming from himself, I think that sometimes it's difficult for players to relax and just play football for their national team, they put extra pressure on themselves.

And Giroud was outperforming him when they were in the same team too, so Benzema has zero excuses when it comes to context, he was just extremely inconsistent between 2011 and 2015. During that period of time, If I'm not mistaken Benzema registered 24 G+A while Giroud registered 16 G+A which leads to respectively 1 G+A every 120.5 minutes for Benzema and 1 G+A every 113.9 minutes for Giroud. And again Giroud was actually better in game, I hated his style but he was better.

Edit: Since I'm sounding like a Benzema hater, I want to say that I really like him and I would trade Giroud for Benzema even if it's not deserved.

 

[Snow]

Giroud had a better record then Benzema during the same time. It's daft that people talk about something they have absolutely no clue about.

Benzema has 16 goals in 49 games 2011-15. Giroud has 13 goals in 45 games. Case in point, Giroud's record was much better later on during the time that Benzema hasn't played. To say that Benzema wouldn't be better because of his record earlier is a poor argument as Giroud hadn't shown anything better himself.

 

[JPRouve]

Benzema has 16 goals in 49 games 2011-15. Giroud has 13 goals in 45 games. Case in point, Giroud's record was much better later on during the time that Benzema hasn't played. To say that Benzema wouldn't be better because of his record earlier is a poor argument as Giroud hadn't shown anything better himself.

Giroud and Benzema didn't play the same amount of minutes, his record was better.

 

[giorno]

He is a poor goalscorer and that's it, I like the player but we can't bamboozle people and make them believe that he is anything else than bang average when it comes to goalscoring, his respectable season was the exception not the rule. He is a very good creator and a key player when it comes to defending on the front foot though.

Yeah, he's not a great goalscorer. That's not his main job though. For that matter he's not really a striker, he's a converted attacking midfielder(hence he's effectively a false 9 for liverpool)

He's not a world class player, but he's really, really good

 

[Snow]

Giroud and Benzema didn't play the same amount of minutes, his record was better.

That's splitting hairs. The difference is neglible. Benzema is much better player today than he was 5 years ago. Giroud is not as good as he was 5 years ago.

 

[JPRouve]

That's splitting hairs. The difference is neglible. Benzema is much better player today than he was 5 years ago. Giroud is not as good as he was 5 years ago.

No it's not Giroud had a better record then, he has a better record now and he was one of our best players during the Euro qualifiers.

 

[Snow]

No it's not Giroud had a better record then, he has a better record now and he was one of our best players during the Euro qualifiers.

He has a better record now because he plays in a much better team that bashes small teams. Leading up to the Euro qualifiers his record the previous 2 years was bad yet not one else got a chance and you don't wonder if France can do anything better than him? I have no doubt that Martial or Ben Yedder would have managed to score against Andorra, Albania, Iceland and Moldova as well. Perhaps France would have played better instead of having to play with someone than him. We're playing much better now after selling Lukaku who was our top scorer and is a player that generally scores goals (against smaller teams). Playing Giroud means you're playing limited football. He's a phenomenal header of the ball but the rest of his overall play is limited these days. 4 goals in his last 18 WC/EC matches. You can do better.

 

[JPRouve]

He has a better record now because he plays in a much better team that bashes small teams. Leading up to the Euro qualifiers his record the previous 2 years was bad yet not one else got a chance and you don't wonder if France can do anything better than him? I have no doubt that Martial or Ben Yedder would have managed to score against Andorra, Albania, Iceland and Moldova as well. Perhaps France would have played better instead of having to play with someone than him. We're playing much better now after selling Lukaku who was our top scorer and is a player that generally scores goals (against smaller teams). Playing Giroud means you're playing limited football. He's a phenomenal header of the ball but the rest of his overall play is limited these days. 4 goals in his last 18 WC/EC matches. You can do better.

He had a better record when they were in the same team, you keep repeating the same thing even though it's factually wrong. And everyone got a chance, they simply didn't took it, Deschamps always play the second team during the second game of international windows. Before the Euro we didn't had a lot of option Lacazette failed to take it, as did Gignac. After the Euro Martial wasn't good for France, he also wasn't playing that often for United and later Ben Yedder hasn't been particularly good for France, definitely worse than Giroud but he has started two of the last three games.

And France reached the finals of the last two tournaments with Giroud, so I think that France were doing something right in terms of football.

 

[RashyForPM]

A shocking start to the season for him after a relatively poor one last year. Pool fans talk about this ‘defensive striker’ FM terminology nonsense to cover up for his lack of goals, but I don’t even see his supposed great pressing or creativity for Mane and Salah. The latter two’s goals are all just individual quality or brilliant crosses by the wingbacks. He’s nowhere near the best strikers in the league. In fact, here’s a list of those I deem better than him at this moment in time (not years ago when he actually scored a few):

1) Aguero
2) Jesus
3) Kane
4) Son (been playing there with Kane this season)
5) Werner
6) Giroud
7) Auba
8) Martial
9) Greenwood (much better finisher already, and I mean much better)
10) Vardy
11) DCL
12) Jimenez
13) Ings

People may disagree but prove me wrong using only evidence from 2019 onwards, as per my point of him not being anything more than an average striker at this moment in time.

 

[Remember the geese]

A shocking start to the season for him after a relatively poor one last year. Pool fans talk about this ‘defensive striker’ FM terminology nonsense to cover up for his lack of goals, but I don’t even see his supposed great pressing or creativity for Mane and Salah. The latter two’s goals are all just individual quality or brilliant crosses by the wingbacks. He’s nowhere near the best strikers in the league. In fact, here’s a list of those I deem better than him at this moment in time (not years ago when he actually scored a few):

1) Aguero
2) Jesus
3) Kane
4) Son (been playing there with Kane this season)
5) Werner
6) Giroud
7) Auba
8) Martial
9) Greenwood (much better finisher already, and I mean much better)
10) Vardy
11) DCL
12) Jimenez

People may disagree but prove me wrong using only evidence from 2019 onwards, as per my point of him not being anything more than an average striker at this moment in time.

You're absolutely right. Danny Ings too btw.

 

[RashyForPM]

You're absolutely right. Danny Ings too btw.

Ah he’s miles clear. Completely forgot about him. He nearly trebled Firmino’s league goals last year playing for a poor team.

 

[RashyForPM]

Also, to further my point, I’m sure if you privately asked Pool’s two actually good attackers who they’d rather play with, Werner who they nearly signed or Firmino, it would be the former they choose. Firmino honestly looks out of his depth in this Pool team atm.

 

[Alexit]

Glad to see this thread. I was watching today wondering to myself what does he actually do anyways.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Liverpool should have broken the bank for Kane. Essentially they'd be getting someone like Firmino who scores a lot more goals.

 

[Cutch]

1 goal in his last 20 premier league games. Not seeing anything special in his hold up play either, certainly no better than someone like Calvert Lewin say. It's incredible how much of a free pass he gets. Neville still claiming he gets in any side in the world

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

World Class, my arse! Didn’t he go a year without scoring at home?

 

[IrishRedDevil]

He’s not a striker though, so he can’t be judged as one.

He’s an attacking defensive holding forward, pivoting shield, teamwork enabler, dentist advertiser.

 

[bond19821982]

Everyone including Klopp knows it even though no one would like to admit it. Wouldn't be surprised if Jota takes the spot by end of the season.

 

[sammsky1]

He’s not a striker though, so he can’t be judged as one.

He’s an attacking defensive holding forward, pivoting shield, teamwork enabler, dentist advertiser.

He’s an advanced water carrier for strikers. And bloody good at it.

 

[gorky_utd]

1 goal in his last 20 premier league games. Not seeing anything special in his hold up play either, certainly no better than someone like Calvert Lewin say. It's incredible how much of a free pass he gets. Neville still claiming he gets in any side in the world

Probably don't want him to be dropped .

 

[bond19821982]

He’s not a striker though, so he can’t be judged as one.

He’s an attacking defensive holding forward, pivoting shield, teamwork enabler, dentist advertiser.

Should have added ' libero' as well

 

[VorZakone]

He’s not a striker though, so he can’t be judged as one.

He’s an attacking defensive holding forward, pivoting shield, teamwork enabler, dentist advertiser.

 

[Eplel]

He's a good footballer, but he needs to stop whitening his teeth every Friday, he looks like Ross from Friends.

 

[paulscholes18]

World Class, my arse! Didn’t he go a year without scoring at home?

I’m sure his only home goal last season was the consolation goal V A. Madrid

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

He’s not a striker though, so he can’t be judged as one.

He’s an attacking defensive holding forward, pivoting shield, teamwork enabler, dentist advertiser.

If he didn't shoot at all that would be one thing, and an odd take on an advanced role, but he has plenty of shots with little to show for them. The idea he can't be upgraded and would walk into any side is laughable.

 

[sullydnl]

The only PL striker to undeperform their xG more than Firmino last season was David McGoldrick. So it's not that he plays as some sort of magical striker who helps others and never gets chances as a result. In fact he had more "big chances" last year than the likes of Aguero, Kane, Ings, Jimenez, Martial and Son. He's just been shite at taking them.

 

[1966]

The only PL striker to undeperform their xG more than Firmino last season was David McGoldrick. So it's not that he plays as some sort of magical striker who helps others and never gets chances as a result. In fact he had more "big chances" last year than the likes of Aguero, Kane, Ings, Jimenez, Martial and Son. He's just been shite at taking them.

That's interesting and shocking. For a player who plays as far up the pitch as Firmino, I don't think you can be that bad at finishing and still be called a world class forward.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

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[InfiniteBoredom]

Scouser JLingz

 

[Adisa]

I have always respected his game but a striker that literally does not score can only be classified as useless.

 

[Pow]

I have always respected his game but a striker that literally does not score can only be classified as useless.

Youd think being the site this is its a lot of unfair criticism and maybe it was when they started slating him but for a while now he offers nothing on the pitch. Nothing. Hes just there. Jota is seriously banging on the door to replace him.

 

[Shane88]

It says a lot about how good they are that they can play a waster like him up front in every single game and still win almost every fecking week.

 

[Varun]

Jota will take his spot soon enough.