Roberto Firmino

[Red_Polo]

On reflection Firmino needs to start scoring more of these chances to keep his place in the team otherwise whats the point of having a deep squad of attacking players if the man out of form does not get replaced,

Maybe go back to Mane , Salah and Cout as a front three.

I like Firmino a lot but his place is too comfortable and we don't have anyone else we can truly rely on. He could do with someone who is more of a poacher to push him, and we could do with it not just for the goals but to round off what would then be an excellent skill mix in our forwards.

[Kenneth]

He's not the only player who would create space for Salah and Mane if playing there though, is he? It's not a unique ability.

[labourRed]

The only real option i can see is putting Mane through the middle and Coutinho on the left, but that's not a perfect solution either.

[DeeTheDog]

He's not the only player who would create space for Salah and Mane if playing there though, is he? It's not a unique ability.

No he's not but he's good at it.

The point was more in reference to our style of play and the idea purported by some that adding a goalscorer equals more goals. Firmino's role is simply not to score goals (which he does, although not prolific) but to create space and press to enable others to score. To replace him with another type of forward I believe would reduce the goals scored by Salah and Mane.

[RedReet]

The only real option i can see is putting Mane through the middle and Coutinho on the left, but that's not a perfect solution either.

Or we could give our preferred front 4 more than one game before writing them off?

[red g]

He is just going through a rough patch, he is a quality player and will bounce back.

[Bender]

Or we could give our preferred front 4 more than one game before writing them off?

Sure why not.... we've given the **** defence 2 seasons and not sorted that out

[Maxiedge]

He looked much better when Sturridge came on and he was playing a bit deeper imo

[labourRed]

Or we could give our preferred front 4 more than one game before writing them off?

We're not, we're talking about one player's suitability as a #9.

FWIW on form I rate Firmino in that role, but regardless... speaking about alternatives is valid as he may not be in form, be injured, suspended, necessitated by opposition weaknesses, etc.

[RedReet]

We're not, we're talking about one player's suitability as a #9.

FWIW on form I rate Firmino in that role, but regardless... speaking about alternatives is valid as he may not be in form, be injured, suspended, necessitated by opposition weaknesses, etc.

You said 'our only real option', implying we've no choice but to change it. We've been trying to get these 4 on teh pitch together since pre-season, so now that we have them, why are we looking at other options after one game?

Klopp bought Salah so he could move Mane left, drop Coutinho back to midfield and play Firmino through the centre. It's been his plan all along. We played late on Saturday, so must have flew to Moscow on Sunday, had one proper training session on Monday before playing last night. No excuse, we should still have won easily, but since pre-season these players have had no time playing together and not even proper time to prepare in training and you are already talking about ripping up the blueprint and moving various players around.

Newcastle away is going to be a tough match, then the players will be away on Internationals again before we play United, so it will probably be late October before we can actually see how good these 4 can be together. Not that most will be willing to wait that long though.

[labourRed]

You said 'our only real option', implying we've no choice but to change it. We've been trying to get these 4 on teh pitch together since pre-season, so now that we have them, why are we looking at other options after one game?

Klopp bought Salah so he could move Mane left, drop Coutinho back to midfield and play Firmino through the centre. It's been his plan all along. We played late on Saturday, so must have flew to Moscow on Sunday, had one proper training session on Monday before playing last night. No excuse, we should still have won easily, but since pre-season these players have had no time playing together and not even proper time to prepare in training and you are already talking about ripping up the blueprint and moving various players around.

Newcastle away is going to be a tough match, then the players will be away on Internationals again before we play United, so it will probably be late October before we can actually see how good these 4 can be together. Not that most will be willing to wait that long though.

Only real option in the context of not playing Firmino in a #9. I thought that would have been obvious in the Firmino thread talking about his poor form of late and other options.

We have a lack of alternatives to Firmino as we don't have a striker that's anywhere near the quality needed. Mane is the only thing I can think of as a viable alternative.

[SB]

Not one of his better performances was it. He's struggling for form & Klopp is sticking with him to help him through it it seems. He should have buried that header but let's be honest the others had equally if not better chances & screwed them up too. He'll get his mojo back soon I'm sure.

[Buzzo]

Yeah, if we look at our rivals.

ManU - Lukaku
City - Aguero
Spurs - Kane
Chelsea - Morata
Arsenal - Lacazette

all Centre forwards in form, all look a threat every game. We dont have that from our centre forward. We obviously have Mane and Salah in red hot form, but can we really go an entire season without poaching a few easy goals from an in form number 9?

[Maxiedge]

Yeah, if we look at our rivals.

ManU - Lukaku
City - Aguero
Spurs - Kane
Chelsea - Morata
Arsenal - Lacazette

all Centre forwards in form, all look a threat every game. We dont have that from our centre forward. We obviously have Mane and Salah in red hot form, but can we really go an entire season without poaching a few easy goals from an in form number 9?

I said that in last night's match thread. Bobby F probably has more ability than all of those players but he's not an out an out goalscorer (stating the obvious, I know!) even though he'll make a good fist of it. The issue is that over the season, the conversion rate won't be high enough.

For me, I think he's got all the traits to be a goal scoring midfielder, chipping in with 10-12 goals a season

[baitman]

defo need to give him some arse splinters and let solanke loose.

bobby isnt fast enough to rotate with mane or salah, and also like to drift around a bit.