2016/17 Season Report Card: Roberto Firmino

It’s not easy to assess Roberto Firmino’s season fairly because he was like two different players. There was Firmino the number nine, who was top drawer, and Firmino the stand in wideman, who was bang average. 

I find it difficult to be too critical of him when he is played in wide areas because although it doesn’t suit him and he’s nowhere near as effective there, but despite this he always puts in a shift and never complains. I don’t really like seeing him play there, but it’s hardly his fault that there’s a drop off in his performances when he’s moved out of the centre. 

He paid the price for his versatility, and frankly I feel he got a bit of a raw deal as it would have made more sense to play Divock Origi out wide instead. All Origi’s inclusion at centre forward usually did was weaken two positions. 

We were always going to miss Coutinho when he was out, and then Mané when he was unavailable. But in moving Firmino we ended up missing him too, because we only got half the player when he was moved out of the middle. 

I wasn’t expecting him to be as important for us as he has become, but when the season started it quickly became apparent that we were going to be a potent force with him leading the line and flanked by Philippe Coutinho and new boy Sadio Mané. Firmino himself wasn’t prolific, but he didn’t need to be as the team were scoring so many and spreading them around. 

He proved to be a great link man who helped to knit all of the attacks together, and his clever movement dragged defenders all over the place and created space for the likes of Mané and Adam Lallana to run into. Basically, we looked almost unstoppable early in the season. 
Firmino’s form early on was terrific and he was more or less averaging a goal every two games at centre forward. By the time Coutinho was injured against Sunderland, Firmino had scored six goals in 13 games. 

In his next 27 games he was almost exclusively used out wide and he bagged another half a dozen. Of those six goals though, four came in games when he played centre forward. I can’t be arsed going through and working out exactly how many games he played in the middle and how many were out wide, but it’s a fairly good estimate that he was averaging one in two when playing centre forward, and something like one in ten when he wasn’t. 

So when we look at how much the loss of Mané impacted on us, it’s not just about how much we missed the speedy little Senegal man, it’s also about what his absence took away from Firmino. 

It’s easy to look at the rest of the top six and say the main thing they have that we don’t is a 25 goal a season striker because it’s true. Of course it would be nice to have a Harry Kane or a Sergio Aguero, but we can get by without one as long as we strengthen in other areas and add more depth. 

If Firmino had played an entire season as a number nine then I believe he’d have bagged twenty or gotten very close to it. Mané would have too but for the time he missed, and you can make a case for Coutinho too, considering he managed 14 despite having a spell where he managed just one goal in four months due to injury and loss of form. 

So we don’t NEED a prolific centre forward, but it would be nice to have one. More importantly for me though, is that we have viable alternatives to Mané and Coutinho, and that we aren’t having to rely on Origi next year and then having to shunt Firmino out wide to accommodate him. 

Mo Salah would be a good addition and personally I’d take Mahrez too. Add those two to what we have, and we don’t need a centre forward as between Firmino, Sturridge, Mané and Solanke we’re probably all set. 

Best Moment: 

I was tempted to go with him bleaching his teeth and then dazzling everyone with his smile after scoring at Palace (remember that goal? He had his top off before the ball had even crossed the line) but it has to be the winner at Stoke after coming off the bench. A great moment, because the wheels looked like they were about to come off our season until that second half fight back. 
 

Worst Moment: 

Some might point to his weird instagram shenanigans with his missus after the derby win, but I thought that was hilarious because of how much it must have pissed the Blues off. Them singing a duet in the car after we lost at Hull was not so funny, but I’ll have to go with him getting nicked for drink driving over Christmas as his worst moment. Soft get. 
 

Rating: 

7.5 / 10 Firmino the striker was a nine, Firmino the winger a five, so I’ve spit the difference and added on a half point due to him hardly missing a game. 
 

The Future? 

Klopp loves him so he’ll still be a key player no matter who we buy this summer. Hopefully if we get Salah and maybe one other wide attacker, that puts an end to the days of having to ask Firmino to fill in and he can just concentrate on being a number nine. 
If that happens, it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets close to 25 goals next season and elevates himself into that class of top strikers.