This. If he is overrated then what was Martial? And what is Pogba?
This thread is one of the worst opinions I've heard. Zero knowledge
Roberto Firmino, the most overrated player in the Prem.
- Thread starter RooneyLegend
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This thread is one of the worst opinions I've heard. Zero knowledge
He is important to this Liverpool side as he is a damn fine false nine. A prolific goal scorer he is not. Nor is he a player who can dominate defenders physically.
I still rate him. He is a very good positional player performing his role brilliantly.
Would he work for united? No, but neither would CR7, Messi, Mbappe, Haaland or Lewa. They would all work the graveyard shift hoping for a long ball to make something out of.
I still rate him. He is a very good positional player performing his role brilliantly.
Would he work for united? No, but neither would CR7, Messi, Mbappe, Haaland or Lewa. They would all work the graveyard shift hoping for a long ball to make something out of.
He was very good on Sunday and has had an ok season in front of goal so far. His touch map against United shows how different he is to a typical number 9:
Interestingly we've played fine without him, with a front three of Salah, Jota & Mane. I don't think playing all four of them would work.
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Interestingly we've played fine without him, with a front three of Salah, Jota & Mane. I don't think playing all four of them would work.
Firmino would walk into our side and provide the sort of link play we don’t currently do.
Watched the Jota-Salah-Mane trio a couple of times but it felt like something was lacking. I think Firmino still fits better than Jota who I see more as a backup player to stretch tired legs.
You could play Bruno there and Rashford / Greenwood in the wide forward roles. Then you need actual wing backs to provide creativity from wide and we don't have a spare TAA / Robertson lying around.
One big thing about the game was that Firmino dropping deep + Keita + Henderson + Milner was too much to handle for McFred. They had no idea who they should be tracking and it showed. Fred specifically put in a proper shift in the first half.
One of our CBs should've gone with him but that's what Pool want as well because it opens up space for Mane / Salah.
Bruno can’t play with his back to goal like Firmino does. It’s not his game.
He can't hold it up but he does a lot of cute little layoffs to runners going past him. That ball he plays with the outside of his foot for example.
(this is in transitions)
When we are actually in the opposition half, his role isn't going to be very different from what he does now.
I think the touch maps will be a bit off for all players on Sunday, considering that you stopped trying to score and just passed the ball around for 30 minutes. I wouldn’t look too much into stays like this from that game.
I think it was @Rozay who called him Bobby No Goals and I still laugh at that
I'm not sure what the touch map would look like if it was only the first half, but he played a large part in 3 of the 4 goals in the first half, one goal came from clever link up play in the build up, one from holding the ball up waiting for runners, another was dropping deep vacating the center and finding someone in the pocket. A lot of this came from areas where often you wouldn't find your number 9. That first half is a good snapshot of what he's about, he didn't register a goal or an assist and never looked particularly threatening in front of goal, but had a great game.
Yeah true, but as @Cascarino says, the first half would probably provide a better reading. He wasn't a goal threat but was involved in almost every goal.
Have to agree. However, I think it is because people don't really watch what people do off the ball and prefer to just look at stats.
He averages 21 passes per match, so I’m guessing his touch map for this game is not an accurate example of his standard contribution.
I’m not saying that he isn’t a decent contributor to the team.
I think that’s a bit of a childish, manipulative take on it. Different people who understand football can have different opinions about players; this is what makes the sport so great. I think Firmino is ok, but Liverpool aren’t much, if any, worse off with Jota in his place, and it certainly wouldn’t stop them from ‘getting far’. With Salah in this form, I think Liverpool could get quite far surrounded by McTominays.
The "he was never good" claims are absurd but he was poor for quite a while.
Finally stepped up again in our run in last season and lately lookin back to his best. When he plays well, the team plays well.
Finally stepped up again in our run in last season and lately lookin back to his best. When he plays well, the team plays well.
That's because of Mane, for all that people here keep saying he's not back to his best because he's been profligate in front of goal. He's been doing a great impression of Firmino so far
Good player.
I think as simple as it sounds - 2 inverted forwards with a false 9 works and it's something I wouldn't mind seeing here one day because we have the 2 inverted forwards.
It worked at Barcelona and it worked at Liverpool.
As good as Firmino is - Klopp can get a average player been good, a good player great and a great player legendary.
Think we saw this with players like Van Dijk, Henderson, Salah, Firmino, Chamberlain in different brackets.
Great manager.
I think as simple as it sounds - 2 inverted forwards with a false 9 works and it's something I wouldn't mind seeing here one day because we have the 2 inverted forwards.
It worked at Barcelona and it worked at Liverpool.
As good as Firmino is - Klopp can get a average player been good, a good player great and a great player legendary.
Think we saw this with players like Van Dijk, Henderson, Salah, Firmino, Chamberlain in different brackets.
Great manager.
Firmino does a lot more than that in those tight spaces.
It's hilarious that people keep saying he doesn't contribute much to goals when he's basically outscoring and assisting more goals over the past few seasons than everyone in our team bar Rashford and Bruno.
Liverpool are objectively worse when Jota plays instead of him. So are the performances of Salah and Mane. Their record breaking best as a team also coincided with his form and him being a constant in the side. The fact you do not agree with it speaks volumes. Klopp is not a fool to treat him as such an important player in his system all this time if he wasn't actually worth it and easily replaceable.
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Claiming that they would be nothing without Firmino is a huge disservice to Klopp and several of the other players who are world class. Salah and VVD are far more important than Firmino.
If you are to list Liverpool first 11 in their order of importance to the team where will Firmino rank? Top 3, top 5 top 7?
I will take Salah, Mane Both full backs, VVD and even Fabinho probably Henderson over him
No one said they'd be nothing, rather they simply wouldn't be as successful. Some of you are working way too hard to deny his key role in all their best success under Klopp. A role Klopp himself gave him.
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"Mo [Salah] gets a lot of attention and rightly so but Firmino was outstanding. For people with football knowledge, people will write books about how he interprets the false 9.
"We don't say he invented it but it looks like that at times. It was insane." said Klopp."" That was said after the hiding they gave us sunday
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...o-firminos-importance-to-liverpools-orchestra
" “Bobby is a complete footballer,” the manager said. “A football team is like an orchestra, you have different people for different instruments. Some of them are louder than others but they are all important for the rhythm. Bobby plays something like 12 instruments in our orchestra. He’s very important. We can play well without him as well but I certainly want him on the pitch and if you look at the numbers, I like having him on the pitch a lot.....'
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Bruno as a false 9 with Rashy and Greenwood as inverted forwards.......
Give me the job and Ill try it out!Exactly. Right footed, left footed. Perfectly balanced because they both have that experience as Centre Forwards whilst now playing wider.Bruno as a false 9 with Rashy and Greenwood as inverted forwards.......
We just need the false 9 player to play right and hopefully someone like Bruno could do it. VDB might be a player to try out there too but he might be better deeper.
One other player I want to see just for fun in a friendly is Sancho Centrally and see what happens. He could be going left and right from a central position as the inverted forwards cut in and playing those through balls like we know he can do.
Yep, stick some out and out number 9 there instead of him and suddenly we see Mane and Salah become a lot less effective. It's not a coincidence Liverpool's resurgence has coincided with his.
Havertz would have actually been a perfect long term successor for him so I was very relieved we got him instead.
100% agree. He is one of those anomalies in football like Thomas Mueller. Far more important then their abilities and contribution show on the surface