Judging by how they’ve played so far, Liverpool look more than ready to mount another title challenge against Manchester City.
They’ve made a perfect start to the 2019/20 Premier League campaign by winning all four of their matches and also beat Chelsea in the Super Cup in August.
Liverpool’s latest win saw them beat Burnley convincingly at Turf Moor with goals coming from Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Chris Wood’s unfortunate deflection into his own net.
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The Reds’ standout player in that game and arguably in their season so far was Firmino, with his goal the 50th Premier League strike in his Anfield career, becoming the first Brazilian to achieve that feat.
Firmino’s blistering start is made all the more incredible when you consider he had less time off than his Liverpool team-mates as he was playing in the Copa America, which Brazil won.
Since Jurgen Klopp took over as Liverpool manager, Firmino’s game has improved hugely as the German has played him at the front of his top three in a false nine role.
It’s one of the big reasons why Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, who play either side of Firmino in attack, have been hugely successful at Liverpool.
Unsurprisingly, Firmino has earned a lot of praise for his performances in a Liverpool shirt and Virgil van Dijk told talkSPORT he believes Firmino is his greatest ever teammate.
The Liverpool fans have also taken to Firmino, or ‘Bobby’ as they know him, and have a catchy Si Senor chant dedicated to the No.9.
Indeed, even those linked with other clubs are impressed by Firmino – former Chelsea star Ruud Gullit claiming Firmino would have been the perfect option up front for the Blues shortly after they signed Gonzalo Higuain on loan last season.
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The performance at Burnley led to a new wave of praise for Firmino though and Reds boss Klopp used his post-match interview to recount the time when Liverpool played Barcelona in last season’s Champions League semi-finals.
Firmino was nursing an injury so Klopp played Georginio Wijnaldum in his position instead for the first leg at the Camp Nou.
At half-time, Wijnaldum reportedly said to Firmino in the dressing room: “What the heck are you doing in that position? It’s unbelievable. It’s so intense.”
Klopp then went on to suggest that what he offers to Liverpool is unique.
He added: “Being skilled like Bobby is one thing. Mix it up with the attitude he puts in, that’s unbelievable.
“I’m not sure that mixture is there. Skills-wise, being there, passing in between, stuff like that, for sure there are some players, not really a lot but some.
“But to mix those: wow. It’s exceptional.”
Firmino also earned some gushing praise from team-mate Andy Robertson, who said Liverpool would be ‘lost without him’.
Robertson said: “He does everything, and that’s the beauty of Bobby. He can do it all. He’s our first line of defence, and I’ve not seen anybody better at doing that.
“He presses the defenders and doesn’t give them a minute. He comes back and nicks the ball in midfield for us.
“He’s so important defensively for us, then he goes up the park and scores goals and makes assists. That’s what we need him to do.
“He’s a good trainer, he perhaps doesn’t work as hard as he does in a game, but he saves it for a Saturday. The work he puts in during games is probably more than any other striker in the world.”
Firmino has also earned the praise from some leading football journalists following his display against the Clarets which you can see below.
Praise for Firmino
“If there is a more complete centre-forward in the game right now, they’re well hidden.” – Neil Jones (Goal.com)
“Firmino’s personal showreel against Burnley was full of the player harassing defenders and midfielders when they were on the ball and tormenting them when he was in possession, as seen with the precision pass for Sadio Mané’s goal.
“Where he stands out is that even with that blur of activity, his scoring instinct is not sedated.” – Paul Joyce (The Times)
“Firmino may be not only the most unique forward around at the moment but also, perhaps, in Liverpool’s history.
“Certainly it is hard to think of many others in red who have combined such selfless hard work with high levels of tactical maturity, technical ability and ruthlessness.” – Sachin Nakrani (The Guardian)
Like the majority of Liverpool’s squad, Firmino will go away on international duty with Brazil having friendlies against Colombia and Peru this month.
Klopp will have his eye on how many minutes his players get in the hope that none of them get injured, especially Firmino.
But if Bobby can come back fit and continue dazzle throughout the season then the sky’s the limit for Liverpool.
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