Former Liverpool midfielder Didi Hamann thinks Roberto Firmino is not offering enough to Jurgen Klopp’s team at the moment.
Hamann was reviewing Liverpool’s draw with Manchester City on Sunday for TalkSPORT. Asked for his thoughts on the title race, Hamann claimed that weaknesses in Liverpool’s squad give City the advantage.
“What’s in City’s favour is obviously the bench they’ve got and the squad they’ve got,” said Hamman. “If you look at Liverpool’s bench yesterday, there was Keita, who has been indifferent since he came to the club, then Diaz came on.
“Firmino looks off at the moment, he’s not really an option I don’t think. So off the bench they’ve (City) got more options, they can rotate the squad more than Liverpool can.”
Not sure if we’re on the same page with that to be honest, Didi.
In defence of Firmino
A few questionable comments from Hamann, it has to be said.
Firstly, although Keita has had his injury troubles since his move to Liverpool in 2018, he has been in good form recently and is a more than capable option from the bench.
On Firmino, it’s true that he has seen much less game time than in years gone by this season. However, that’s largely down to injury and the goalscoring form of Diogo Jota rather than any deficiencies on his part.
In fact, given Jota’s frequent sloppiness with the ball, Firmino may have been a better choice to start against City.
The Brazilian’s clever hold-up play often leads to Liverpool keeping the ball for longer, which they couldn’t do in the first-half at the Etihad.
Scoring bags of goals isn’t necessarily Bobby’s thing. If that’s your chosen method of measuring Firmino’s impact than you’re barking up the wrong tree. Having said that, he has still managed to equal his tally for last season in 19 fewer games.
That equates to nine goals in 29 games. Many of those appearances have come from the bench, too. Firmino has only started nine Premier League fixtures all season. Five goals and three assists in that time is an excellent return.
So, sorry Didi, but we can’t get behind these comments. Compare the team’s benches yesterday and you’ll see that one of them had two teenagers on it, with a total of two Premier League appearances between them. It wasn’t Liverpool’s.
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