Roberto Firmino: In Salah's Shadow?

click to begin

Youtube

While Mohamed Salah has taken the plaudits, and the PFA Players' Player of the Year
award, Roberto Firmino has also been instrumental in Liverpool's exciting style of football
this season.
Indeed, it's arguable that no club in world football boasts a front three of such all-round
ability, as Firmino, Salah, and Sadio Mane have shown with their breath-taking combination
play, with each other, and as part of Liverpool's overall stylistic approach. This front three
have accounted for 56 of Liverpool's 80 league goals this season, or 70%, and have
also weighed in with 23 assists between them.Roberto Firmino was one of the signings by Liverpool's
transfer committee, brought in from Hoffenheim in the summer of 2015. An article in October
of that year was scathing: "The committee have yet to explain how they came up with
the figure of £29million to sign Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino from Hoffenheim, who
finished eighth in the Bundesliga last season." The new breed of analysts, who sit in "air-conditioned
offices…burying their heads in the stats" clearly saw something in Firmino, though.
Rodgers left the club in October 2015 after a run games that saw them take a 1-0 lead
then draw 1-1, the final of which was the Merseyside derby. Jurgen Klopp replaced Rodgers
shortly afterwards and now, as the 2017/18 season draws to its close, Liverpool are one
game away from winning the Champions League.
Liverpool's 4-3-3 suits Firmino very well, as he dovetails with the inside runs of Mane
and Salah. Dropping deep to collect the ball, creating chances for other players with his
movement and passing, Firmino plays as a sort of false nine, the tactical term popularised
by the use of a player whose creative onus and deeper playmaking outweighs their scoring
contribution, despite nominally being a team's centre forward.
Firmino's dropping in to space means that he regularly looks, positionally at least,
like a number 10, with Salah and Mane advanced ahead of him. He is comfortable dropping vertically
between the defensive and midfield lines, but he also moves wide, with the wide players
cutting inside ahead of him. Both wide men also drop back, meaning that the whole forward
line can begin an attacking phase close to the midfield – in this instance, Firmino
is often the pivot that then releases the quicker Mane or Salah forwards into space.
He is superb at taking the ball, turning, and finding the pass, and this speed of thought
and execution, feeding the equally rapid Mane and Salah, is part of what gives Liverpool
their ability to transition from defence to attack so quickly.
Firmino also works extremely hard to assist in Liverpool's pressing game. The Reds'
front three press in a diamond as often as possible, where Firmino leads the press as
the tip of the spear, while Mane and Salah drop off somewhat to cover passing angle.
Firmino will also press wider, giving Liverpool more of a 4-4-2 look, as one of the wide players
drops in; either way, he is very effective as cutting down passing options and winning
the ball back.
Firmino is an all-round player – he can score, create, drop off to make the pass before
the assist, and win the ball across the pitch by intercepting or tackling. This is manifest
in his metrics, the stats that the Liverpool transfer committee saw and liked, irrespective
of how that transfer was viewed by some in the press at the time. In his last two seasons
at Hoffenheim, Firmino's xG was 0.27 goals per 90 in 2013/14 and 0.3 goals per 90 in
2014/15 [STATS FROM OPTA]. Firmino was clearly, even then, a striker who looked capable of
delivering a strong return of goals.
But his all-round game was equally impressive, and has continued to be. Looking at league
performance from his last two seasons at Hoffenheim, and his time at Liverpool, Firmino shows a
remarkable level of consistency.
His defensive output is extremely high for a striker, as well. Of players appearing as
a striker in more than five games this season, only Jordan Ayew has made more tackles per
90 and only Shane Long has made more interceptions per 90; Ayew and Long have nine Premier League
goals between them, compared to Firmino's 15.
Jurgen Klopp has fashioned a side that works hard, presses brilliantly, and feeds a front
three capable of enormous skill and no little goal scoring threat. Firmino is, in some ways,
the archetypal Liverpool player in the current set-up. Yes, he scores goals and makes them
for others, but it's his intelligence, tactical intelligence, hard work, and defensive contribution
from the front, that really marks him out. And you don't need a spreadsheet to tell
you that.
FIFA World Cup 2018: Panama's Unlikely Qualification Is Mourinho Getting The Best Out of Paul Pogba? | Tactical Profile Price of Football: Premier League vs Europe | Football Backpackers Special Tactics Explained | Man City And The Art Of The Tactical Foul Does Jack Grealish Deserve A World Cup Spot? | Tactical Profile Bruno Fernandes: Portugal's Next Star? | Tactical Profile MLS Tactics Explained | Atlanta United Roy Keane vs Patrick Vieira Rivalry: A Brief History Of Leicester City & Their Owner: A Cinderella Story? | Meet The Owners Bas Dost for Sporting CP | Tactical Profile

Roberto Firmino: In Salah's Shadow? | Tactical Profile

Latest Posts