Steve Nicol reckons that Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino’s poor form is a huge concern for boss Jurgen Klopp.
He says that the first teamer is the type of player who helps to knit “everything together”, but said that he has not shown any evidence of that recently, something which is a “huge problem” for the manager.
He also accused the entire team of being underwhelming recently despite their 1-0 win over Everton on Sunday, a victory they only managed to secure due to a crucial error from Toffees goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
“Absolutely they’re under-performing. They played the same system last year and were incredible. They’re just under-performing,” he said, as quoted by the Express.
“Firmino’s the guy that we say sort of knits everything together. At the present time he can’t find any of his own team. So that’s a huge problem.”
OPINION
Nicol is right about Firmino – recently, he just has not seemed to be able to get it together and this must be a major worry for Klopp. Many have said that he needs to be rested and they are not far wrong, but he needs to up his game nevertheless. Mo Salah may be a huge source of goals at the moment but that cannot be allowed to continue for the rest of the season, as it is just not viable. Firmino was excellent last season, but this time around, he looks a shadow of the player that once took the Anfield crowds by storm. However, many fans will argue that his poor run of form at the moment does not matter if they are still managing to secure consecutive wins. While this is the case, his inability to perform this season is still a major cause for concern. Everyone knows that he is capable of a lot more than he is showing – so hopefully it is only a matter of time until he hits his form once again.
