- Roberto Firmino had a successful eight-year spell at Liverpool
- Popularly known as Bobby, he became a fan favourite under Jurgen Klopp
- Beloved by the Reds faithful, he did not always get his flowers from neutrals and pundits
A former Premier League player has lifted the lid on his “horrible” experience of playing against Roberto Firmino at Liverpool.
Nothing summed up Jurgen Klopp’s era at Anfield more than the electric front three of Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
Over the years, the Reds front three gained a reputation for running riot over opponents, firing the club to every major trophy in the process.
Salah and Mane were the destroyers, putting games to bed with their goals, but Firmino was the architect of it all, the perfect Klopp player.
After a lacklustre start to his stint as a Liverpool player under Brendan Rodgers, the attacker became an important player under the German, who deployed him as a false nine in what was ultimately a genius move.
The Brazilian bagged 111 goals and 76 assists from 362 matches across all competitions for the Merseyside-based club, but what made him special was his work off the ball.
Isaac Hayden waxes lyrical about “horrible” Firmino
Liverpool understood that, while opponents learned it the hard way. However, it was neutrals and pundits who often missed the Maceio-born footballer’s genius.
It would not be too wrong to suggest that opposition players understood Firmino more than anyone else, as evidenced by what Isaac Hayden said about him.
In a recent interview, the former Newcastle ace turned into an analyst, as he dived deep into why ‘Bobby’ was criminally underrated.
Hayden explained that the forward’s physicality often went under the radar, pointing out how he dominated the charts for distance covered and high-intensity sprints.
In an interview with James Allcott (17 March), he said: “The front three for them – Salah, Mane, Firmino – was special. Firmino doesn’t get the credit that he deserves. I think Liverpool fans love him, but from the outside, everyone talks about Mane and Salah, but, for me, when you play against Firmino, what goes under the radar is his physicality.
“If you look at Firmino’s data as a number nine, and his distance covered and high-intensity sprints, he was always in the top five percentile of any striker in the league. He used to run everywhere and he used to press. It’s horrible.”
Hayden went on to admit that it was “horrible” to play against the Brazil international, whose selfishness allowed Salah and Mane to flourish.
He added: “He used to drop in here [deeper, behind the two wingers]. It was horrible because you sit there and you think, ‘You’ve got the three to deal with’ because they always had a two 8s and a 6, whether that was [Jordan] Henderson or Fabinho. Again, [Georginio] Wijnaldum, seriously underrated player.
“Their balance was just so good. The thing with Firmino is that he was so clever. He used to drop into spaces so that it used to get centre-halves to jump onto him and then you just get Salah and Mane in behind. It’s like a decoy to just get them in behind, but Firmino was very, very unselfish.”
Liverpool fans miss Bobby
Bobby epitomised everything good about the Klopp era – high intensity, high metal football combined with tekkers.
Arne Slot’s arrival has seen the six-time European champions move away from that brand of football for the most part, as the Dutchman prefers control over chaos.
In Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike, the Reds have two top centre-forwards, but it remains to be seen if they can replicate Firmino and his legacy.
What is certain, though, is that Liverpool fans dearly miss their beloved false nine’s beaming smile.
