We love Bobby. He’s a Liverpool legend. He’s been a major, major part of the great things we’ve done under Jurgen Klopp – and this will never be forgotten.
But wow – it’s incredible that a player with such technique and skill cannot put his foot through the football.
“Roberto Firmino has never scored enough, but the more his goal attempts carry the velocity of a backpass the more it becomes a major concern,” writes Chris Bascombe in the Telegraph…
And he’s right. Firmino either scores tap-ins, the odd-header, or he doesn’t. His shooting ability from anywhere around the penalty spot and further out is abysmal.
This term, he has six goals in 31 Premier League matches. Only Timo Werner has a worse record in comparison to his expected goals (xG) this season.
When Sadio Mane was scoring too, Virgil van Dijk was chipping in with headed efforts from set-pieces, Trent Alexander-Arnold was firing in freekicks and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain offered a steady return from the bench, we could get away with his lack of goalscoring.
But now, it’s Salah or bust. There’s too much pressure on the Egyptian’s shoulders. It’ll be much easier to cope when our defenders return, as we may only need one goal to collect three points – but still – more consistent finishing, probably by a new centre-forward – looks increasingly more necessary.