Danny Higginbotham has singled out Roberto Firmino for criticism.
Our Brazilian started the campaign in superb form, scoring three goals and registering three assists in our first five games – but has gone off the boil since – bagging just one goal and no assists in our past six fixtures.
In fairness, his team-mates have been equally as wasteful in the final third, but Firmino is judged as our no.9, the number he was given in the summer.
What’s more, he’s compared against the likes of Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku, Alvaro Morata and Sergio Aguero – all of whom have bagged plenty so far this term.
“I think so, yeah definitely (we expect more from Firmino),” Higginbotham told Sky Sports News, cited in the Star.
“The type of player he is he will be expecting more from himself as well, I don’t think there’s any question about that.
“It’s a very fluid front three so to speak because at times it’s like they’re playing with a false No 9.
“The players drift all over the place. We’ve seen Firmino when balls come in the box, he’s very good in the air as well.
“He scores all different types of goals and they’re creating a lot of opportunities as well.
“That is the type of player that he is, he can get into them areas.
“The frustrating thing is they’re creating a lot of opportunities but since that Arsenal game, they’ve created the most chances in the Premier League but haven’t scored as many as they would like.”
Firmino is one of our favourite Liverpool players – and we don’t think he was necessarily any worse than some of his team-mates during September.
Having said that, we do need him firing on all cylinders upon his return. The Brazilian needs to not only lead our press, but finish the chances that are presented to him.
A player of him immense technical ability should be able to at least hit the target from inside the area, something he’s not been doing in recent weeks.
Once Firmino finds his shooting boots, we can again start talking about one of the most effective attackers in the top flight.