On my lunch today, I read a decent article about Firmino and how he seems to be very much underappreciated in the last couple of seasons by many people.
Whilst we all know he is not your traditional, prolific CF by any means, many people have criticised his lack of goals over the last couple of seasons, with many seeing a decrease in his goals scored over this period as well.
As much as this is true, comparatively, the team actually hasn't scored "as many" over the last couple of seasons either. The highlighted point was the 6 month period that included the departure of Coutinho and the arrivals of Alisson, Van Djik and Fabinho that resulted in a change of playing style, which resulted in less basketball, "we will outscore you"-type games to more conservative results but with far more efficient performances that translated to results.
I do actually agree with this as well because, since Klopp's arrival in 2015-16, this is the teams average goals per game for that season.
2015-16: 1.67
2016-17: 1.96
2017-18: 2.41 (Coutinho out; Van Djik, Alisson, Fabinho in)
2018-19: 2.17
2019-20: 2.05
2020-21: 1.83
A bit of context on these figures would suggest that a team is likely to score more goals being higher in the table, so it's no surprise to see that this season the team has a higher goals-to-game record finishing 3rd compared to 2015-16 where the club finished 8th.
Tying this in with Firmino, his goals-per-game record over the same period is as follows:
2015-16: 0.23
2016-17: 0.27
2017-18: 0.5
2018-19: 0.33
2019-20: 0.24
2020-21: 0.19
Although it may seem obvious that, when your team scores less goals in a season, your CF is likely to do the same, this is really exactly the point. It's not just that Firmino's goalscoring record has gone down, it's the teams as well and whilst his goalscoring record in the last couple of seasons is still less than desirable for the position the club is in, is it fair to just pinpoint him and say he is in decline? Or do we also have to factor in a shift in playing style being part of this as well?
Roberto Firmino: Underappreciated?
posted on 16/7/21
comment by Tomkins (U1116)
posted 1 hour, 26 minutes ago
I always hear about how much he does for the team but that's his job. Michail Antonio is better at it. Its a very strange almost cult following
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posted on 16/7/21
comment by D.I. Humphrey Goodman (U1217)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Tomkins (U1116)
posted 1 hour, 26 minutes ago
I always hear about how much he does for the team but that's his job. Michail Antonio is better at it. Its a very strange almost cult following
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Something to say la?
posted on 16/7/21
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 16/7/21
comment by Tomkins (U1116)
posted 45 minutes ago
comment by D.I. Humphrey Goodman (U1217)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Tomkins (U1116)
posted 1 hour, 26 minutes ago
I always hear about how much he does for the team but that's his job. Michail Antonio is better at it. Its a very strange almost cult following
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Something to say la?
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Not really. Laughing will suffice.
posted on 17/7/21
I’ve always been a big fan. His work rate is often brought up but I love his link up play, his football at times is just an absolute joy. He’s never afraid to try the difficult to make chances. He’s never been prolific, to look at goals is pointless with Firmino.
However, last season was not good. He’s not alone in that but still, it wasn’t good. His confidence looked shot, not just in front of goal but in general play.
I think he probably just about gets a pass for last season. He wasn’t alone in underperforming after all. But I think this year he’s playing for his place and his future at the club. Another series of disappointing performances and it could be time for Bobby.
posted on 17/7/21
I think he’s really declined over the past 2 seasons
posted on 17/7/21
comment by Neo (U9135)
posted 16 hours, 5 minutes ago
He’s just not very good at football anymore. Used to make up for his shortage of goals with being excellent at other parts of his game. Now he’s just average to poor at everything.
Needs replacing.
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Have to agree!
His unsung work used to be world class, but last season he was more of a hindrance to the front line
posted on 17/7/21
with the amount of games each league season, plus all the friendlies and international tournaments. firminho simply hasn't had much of a break over the last 3 / 4 years.
the tournaments ate into any between season holidays. the only lengthy break his had was due to covid shutting the season down. and even then, with no-one knowing what was happening with ending the season, or restarting playing etc, that still wasn't much of a break, the players still had to exercise and try to maintain match fitness as much as possible.
and for a long time it looked like the season might be abandoned and no winner declared. having worked so hard all season to build up such a lead, who knows what sort of mental toll having that weighing on your minds for months will do? yet another stress added onto an already unique season. no one knows what sort of toll that would have had on our players.
put simply firminho has just seemed physically and mentally tired this season. has have a lot of players.
if he can get a decent bit of downtime now, and come back for the new season refreshed and ready, then hopefully we'll see him back to his best.
that said, he is getting to the point now where his age will start impinging on his fitness levels / recovery speed. so whilst he should have several good playing years left in him, it is getting to the point where we need to find a suitable understudy to learn from him, and give him the occasional rest game, before progressing on to become his eventual successor.
posted on 17/7/21
I'm hopeful that we can get some euros players like thiago back into preseason and have a fairly good settler 11 for the first game.
Mane and Salah are in there but our main issues will be fabinho, henderson, firmino and alisson.
posted on 17/7/21
Brazilian Michail Antonio.