Roberto Firmino put on dream display vs Watford when Jurgen Klopp needed it

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Roberto Firmino had his name up in lights on Saturday with a hat-trick against Watford. It was exactly the display Jurgen Klopp needed.

Liverpool face Watford with some problems. Alisson couldn’t play but that one sorted itself – Caoimhin Kelleher stepped between the sticks.

Midfield was a bigger issue, though. Fabinho was out, meaning Jordan Henderson had to play the holding role. Thiago, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott were all injured, too – and that left Liverpool very short.

Those three are the progressive midfielders in the side. They’re the forwards Klopp turns to in order to move the ball forward and between the lines. And with Diogo Jota playing as a centre-forward, that trio were especially important – they linked the midfield and attack.

So with none of them available, Jurgen Klopp had to turn to someone else. That player was Roberto Firmino in his False 9 role.

Firmino vs Watford

We wrote a few weeks ago that Liverpool had an obvious problem when Jota played as a centre-forward. He’s not brilliant at dropping deep and working between the lines, nor does he link with midfield all that much.

The Reds could survive that issue with someone like Jones working those lines instead. But without such a player against Watford, Liverpool used Firmino where Jota has been playing.

The result was a Liverpool attack that moved with complete fluidity. You can see it in the raw numbers, in fact.

Take the 3-3 draw with Brentford. Jota played the full 90 and started in that centre-forward role. He completed 19 passes in the game and had 36 touches – the fewest of any Liverpool player.

Against Watford, Firmino completed 36 passes from 68 touches. The Brazilian was heavily involved from start to finish, constantly causing chaos between those lines.

Firmino’s first goal showed it best. He dropped away from the defenders and picked up the ball before moving it left. The forward then continued his run into the box and got on the end of James Milner’s eventual cut-back.

It was an all-action attacking display. Firmino moved around the pitch getting involved in everything, creating three chances for teammates on top of his three goals.

With Liverpool missing so many creative players for this, Klopp needed something special from Firmino. He got exactly that – the Brazilian is in fantastic form right now.

All stats per Whoscored.