Gary Neville has claimed that despite Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino being a ‘world-class’ player, he is still underrated by a lot of people.
Neville was speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast after Liverpool humiliated Manchester United 4-0 last night.
Firmino played no part in the game owing to a knock he picked up in training. That didn’t stop Neville highlighting the Brazilian’s contribution to Liverpool’s attack, though.
“Now Liverpool have got five strikers, if we call them strikers – wide forwards, strikers, whatever you want to call them – who are genuinely world class. All five of them. They are, honestly,” said Neville.
“Firmino has been one of my favourites for the last five or six years. I know he’s the one who is understated and underrated at times, but for me he has contributed unbelievable amounts to the performance levels of this club.”
All of what the former United right-back claims here is absolutely true. Bobby is world-class, he is criminally underrated and he has been an often over-looked key cog in Jurgen Klopp’s winning machine.
Firmino struggles for minutes
From Firmino’s personal point of view, 2021/22 has largely been a season of disappointments. The 30-year-old has slipped out of Klopp’s first-choice eleven and has had injury struggles for the first time in his Liverpool career.
The number 9 usually starts 40 plus games for The Reds over a season. He hasn’t even managed half of that this time around.
That doesn’t mean he hasn’t still been valuable to Klopp though. Whenever called upon, the Brazil international has actually been more prolific than ever. He has 11 goals in 31 games this season. That’s two more than he managed in 48 matches in 2020/21 and one less than he bagged in 52 games the year before that.
From that point of view it’s frustrating that he has continuously picked up niggly knocks like the one that kept him out last night.
Looking to the future
With his contract ending in 2023, Bobby is fighting for his future at Liverpool. For some fans, he may have already shown enough this season to warrant an extension.
Others may see his injury issues as a red flag. Firmino has played an extraordinary amount of football over recent years, the lay-offs could be a result of that.
Since Klopp joined Liverpool in 2015, Firmino has comfortably played the most times under the German. Maybe his body is finally giving way under the high-intensity demands of playing for the manager for so long.
Whatever is left of Bobby’s Liverpool career, he has been and continues to be a world-class operator.
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