Former Liverpool great John Aldridge believes that scoring in Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace will have done Reds forward Roberto Firmino the ‘world of good’.
The Brazilian international found the back of the net with what proved to be the decisive goal as Jurgen Klopp’s team battled to all three points at Selhurst Park, and Aldridge feels it will have been a big moment for the 28-year-old.
“It was great to see Roberto Firmino end a run of seven league games without a goal,” he wrote in his Liverpool Echo column. “He has a lot of aspects to his game and he’s not a ‘goalscoring striker’ but being a centre forward he has to score goals.
“I know what it’s like as a striker when you lose your confidence in front of goal and you need a bit of luck to get it back. I think after Saturday that will have done him the world of good and we will start to see more goals from Bobby in the coming weeks.”
OPINION
You don’t know whether Firmino had lost his confidence in front of goal, per say, but this will have been a big moment for him on Saturday. As Aldridge says, it was seven Premier League games without a strike for the former Hoffenheim man, and so he will have been desperate to get on the scoresheet against the Eagles. He is the ultimate team player, of course, but like any attacker he will want to be finding the back of the net with regularity. However, he simply hasn’t done that this campaign. As per WhoScored.com, the Brazilian has scored just four times in 17 games in all competitions. He’s bagged six assists, as well, which shows how much he brings to the table, but he will want to kick on now and get back to top goalscoring form. Firmino is an all-round centre forward, arguably the most creative striker in the top flight, but goals pay the bills and he needs to score more regularly if the Reds are to fulfil all of their ambitions this term.
