HOW FIRMINO IS OUTGUNNING ALEXIS SANCHEZ, STERLING & PAYET AT LIVERPOOL

The Brazilian has a wonderful balance of flair
and fight and his stats for the season suggest
his performances should be generating greater
praise
He has played less Premier League minutes this
season than Alexis Sanchez, the man Liverpool
were desperate to land in the summer of 2014,
but Roberto Firmino has recorded more goals
and assists than his Arsenal counterpart.
Dimitri Payet, a contender for the PFA Player of
the Season, has the same attacking figures -
eight successful strikes and seven set-ups - as
the Brazil forward, but his defensive
contributions are nowhere close.
The Reds moved for Firmino in July last year as
Raheem Sterling pushed for a switch to
Manchester City, and the 24-year-old has posted
much better numbers than the England
international.
The former Hoffenheim man is Liverpool’s top
scorer in the league for 2015-16, their prime
creator, is instrumental to their pressing system
and has proved to be a tireless worker, yet he
doesn’t garner as much column inches as the
aforementioned names.
Payet’s luminary performances have been a
driving force behind West Ham’s accomplished
season thus far and he is deserving of every
superlative he receives. But in yet another
campaign of flux for Liverpool, Firmino has
proven to hugely effective regardless of where
he's stationed on the pitch - without the
plaudits.
In fact, just a month into the season, the
‘thiever of balls’ was labelled a flop and at
the end of 2015, he was featured on multiple
lists counting down the top 10 worst signings in
the league.
Jurgen Klopp preached patience over Firmino
when he took over from Brendan Rodgers last
October, detailing that just as he needed to learn
about English football, so too did the attacker.
Firmino moved from the Brazilian second
division to Hoffenheim, a tiny town south of
Frankfurt with a population of only around
3,000. It is referenced as a development club of
sorts, where he was allowed to quietly settle and
grow away from the glare present at a European
giant in a gigantic city.
As Klopp explained: “Firmino is a complete
offensive player. He can play each position. It
took him time to move from Hoffenheim — a
small development club in Germany — to play at
Liverpool.
"It was a big difference and Firmino needed to
adapt to his new situation, this new pressure.
“I know him very well from Germany so he
does not have to show something special to me
because I know everything about him and his
qualities.”
It is no longer just the manager who should be
appreciating the Brazilian’s talents. No player
in the league has been involved in more goals
for his club in 2016 than Firmino with 11, and
he has registered 54 tackles this season, winning
83% of them.
As Liverpool attempt to make “consistency a
hobby,” it is the man from Maceio, who has
twice netted against Manchester City and
Arsenal, that can make the difference for them.
If Firmino continues as he has, expect him to
feature on the lists counting down the top 10
Premier League signings of the season.