They often say you should save the best until last. Yeah, well that’s not what’s happening here. The opposite in fact. Divock Origi was the most disappointing player at Liverpool last season.
He wasn’t the worst, that was Loris Karius, but I had lower expectations of Karius and besides, the young keeper didn’t really get the opportunity to play his way through his bad spell. Origi made more appearances than anyone else in the squad. There was no lack of opportunity for him to shine, he just didn't make the most of it.
He wasn’t completely useless and he did some good things. His goals tally wasn’t too bad, and he’s still young so there will inevitably be peaks and troughs. Nonetheless, I wanted to see the Origi who was tearing it up at the end of the previous season until he was taken out by that dirty blueshite. Where’s that Origi been? Will we ever see him again? Was he just a mirage? I miss him, he was boss.
The Origi we saw this season was nothing like that. There were one or two flashes, but for the most part he was bang average and the team was usually worse whenever he was in it. It took me a good while to actually warm to him, but he'd won me over during that spell when he terrorised Dortmund and ran rings around the Blues. Now I'm back to being massively underwhelmed by him.
At the beginning of the season he couldn’t get in the team, albeit through no fault of his own. We just had better options, and even if he'd been at his best he still wouldn't have ousted the first choice front three. The thing is though, it should have been good for him because often he’d be coming off the bench in favourable situations.
In those opening months we were usually leading and had opportunities to play on the break. He was coming on with fresh legs and against tired defenders, and everything was set up for him to shine. But he didn’t shine.
It started from day one when he came on against Arsenal when they were chasing the game and leaving gaps all over the place. I honestly thought he’d kill them with his pace on the break, but he did nothing and the team was worse after he came on.
It would become a familiar pattern, as in limited opportunities off the bench he didn’t really do anything. He did alright in the league cup and scored against Burton and Derby, and the one time he looked like the “Spring 2016 Origi” was against Spurs. Even that was only for a spell of about 15 minutes in the second half until he got cramp and had to go off.
He’d been quiet in that game until he just suddenly exploded into life. A mate of mine likened it to NBA Jam when one of your players would “heat up” after three baskets in a row and could suddenly run faster and jump higher than everyone else. Just like the NBA Jam “heater” it was over for Divock as quickly as it started.
It’s not easy to show your best form when you are only starting in the cups, I get that, and I don't want to be unfair to the lad, but you have to take your opportunity when it arrives and for a brief time at the end of 2016 it looked like Origi was finally doing that.
When Coutinho was injured early in the Sunderland game in November, Origi came on to replace him and he was the one who broke the deadlock with a fine late goal. He scored in his next four consecutive games, with his finish at Bournemouth an absolute belter.
His performances weren’t anything special and the fluidity of the team suffered without Coutinho. Not specifically because of Origi himself, but because Firmino had to move out of the centre to fill in for Coutinho and the balance just never looked right. As long as he was scoring we couldn’t really ask for too much more from him. When the goals dried up though…. bloody hell it was dire.
He didn’t score in his next ten appearances (half of them starts) and actually found the net only once in his next 17 (and that was only a consolation in the Wolves defeat). It wasn’t just the lack of goals that was the problem, it was the lack of everything else too.
He wasn’t holding the ball up, he wasn’t offering a threat in behind, he could barely win a header… basically he wasn’t doing any of the things we needed him to. That’s why we missed Mané so much. If Origi (or Sturridge for that matter) had been up to scratch we’d have nailed down a stop four spot with weeks to spare.
He had a slightly better time of it in the last nine games and scored three goals, including one against the Blues at Anfield, which was a nice moment of revenge for him. He was alright at West Ham too, although he was guilty of being a right greedy bastard when he didn't square to an unmarked Sturridge who would have had a tap in. It didn't cost us as the game was already in hand, but still, that was pretty bad.
So all things taken into account I'd say he took a step back this season, but at just 22 years old he still has plenty of time to bounce back and improve. The question is are we in a position where we can wait for that improvement?
Best Moment:
I absolutely loved the goal at Bournemouth. Technically it was an empty net, but it was the emphatic nature of the strike that was so good and it's one of my favourite goals of the season.
Worst Moment:
Difficult really. Lots of bad performances but not really specific moments that jump out. He was garbage at Plymouth and also missed a pen that night after pulling the old El Hadji Diouf "I'm the senior player, I'm taking this" routine. At least Diouf scored when he did it.
Rating:
4/10. Disappointing, must do better. Assuming he gets the chance to. Which brings me to....
The Future?
It’s just a hunch but I don’t think he’ll be here next season. Selling him would be a tempting option if we got a good enough offer, but maybe a loan wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world either.
We do have extra games next season but even so, how is he going to even get on the field? Even if we don’t sign another striker Firmino will start most games, Sturridge will be next in line, Mané could play there if need be and then you have Origi, Danny Ings and Dominic Solanke all vying for playing time. Of course we can't rely on Sturridge or Ings to stay fit, but is Origi going to be happy with being a bit part player, or will he decide he wants out?
Something has to give, and if Solanke lives up to his reputation then Origi should be the one most under threat and all things being equal, I think other than Ings he's the most likely to depart.
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