Roberto Firmino can score goals.
The Brazilian scored a whopping 27 for Liverpool in 2017/18, while his total of 22 for Hoffenheim in 2013/14 was what really accelerated Reds scouts’ interest in his services.
Yet despite goalscoring not being the primary function of his role in Jurgen Klopp’s side, his dwindling numbers in the past two years having seen critics question his place in the team.
Such scrutiny has only been enhanced following his returns since the start of last season.
The 29-year-old has only scored four times for the Reds in 2020, with just two of those coming since January, while he infamously didn’t score his first league goal at Anfield last season until Liverpool’s last home outing of the campaign against Chelsea.
Meanwhile, he is yet to get off the mark so far this year following a slow start to the campaign, and was withdrawn after just 68 minutes following a pretty anonymous display in the Reds’ catastrophic 7-2 defeat to Aston Villa last weekend.
Sure, there have been glimpses of Firmino the dazzling entertainer in that time period. And while the goals might have slowly dried up, he’s still registered 15 assists since the start of last season.
But to some, Liverpool have outgrown a number nine who doesn’t score enough goals, such are the heights that they have risen to under Klopp.
Of course, the Reds’ ever-evolving style and how sides line up against them, alongside the form of his team-mates will have contributed to his returns.
In 2017/18, when first partnered with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, the footballing world did not know what hit them as Liverpool’s famous trio terrored oppositions week after week.
Between them, they scored 91 goals as Klopp’s men pounced on any space left in behind defences.
However, since that free-flowing, rock-and-roll, attacking football that took the Reds to a first Champions League final under the German, Liverpool have had to adapt.
As teams cottoned on to their gameplan, leaving less room for Salah and Mane to exploit, the Reds had to get smarter.
Afterall, as good as they had been to watch, they still didn’t have any silverware to show for their efforts.
In the two years that have followed, Liverpool have played the long game and the records speaking for themselves.
A maiden Premier League title, Champions League winners, FIFA Club World Cup champions and an European Super Cup won in two record-breaking campaigns, you cannot bemoan the results.
However, such success has come at the expense of Firmino’s goalscoring abilities.
He has had to work harder and stretch defences wider so his team can continue to get the best out of Salah and Mane.
And with the African duo continuing to score goals for fun, scoring a combined 106 goals in the two-and-a-bit seasons that have followed, to the untrained eye the Brazilian’s unselfish sacrifices go unnoticed.
Of course, he is still capable. He proved that for Brazil in their opening 2022 World Cup qualifier against Bolivia.
Reportedly positioned as a traditional number nine, leading the attack flanked by Neymar and Everton Soares as opposed to his more accustomed deeper role, he scored a brace as the Selecao ran out 5-0 winners.
Showing a poacher’s instinct to convert Renan Lodi's low cross at the far post after being gifted a tap-in for his first goal of the game, his second goal shortly after the interval was Firmino at his best, dropping deep into midfield to retain possession for Brazil before racing half the length of the pitch to provide a first-time finish to Neymar's low cross.
His exploits will have no doubt brought a smile to Klopp’s face and leave the German confident his forward can use the international break to kickstart his campaign.
But while Brazil’s solution to his recent woes might have been to push Firmino into a more advanced role, don’t expect Liverpool to replicate such tactics.
As shown by Gini Wijnaldum’s own exploits for the Netherlands, scoring 10 goals and assisting three in his 16 international appearances since the start of the 2018/19 season, Klopp’s side will always be set up to play to their collective strengths rather than any individual’s.
Afterall, for as talented as Firmino is, his role as supporting star to Salah and Mane remains abundantly clear.
