Why Roberto Firmino Will Be Liverpool's X-Factor in 2nd Half of Season
Despite the injection of positivity that is Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool's 2015/16 campaign remains a hit-and-miss affair.
While the Reds have reached the League Cup final following Tuesday night's penalty-shootout win over Stoke City, they are yet to stabilise their Premier League form over halfway through the season.
The pursuit of Alex Teixeira this January hints at Klopp's desire to give his side an edge; in short, Liverpool need an X-factor, a special talent capable of matching their passionate manager with match-winning quality on the field.
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With Shakhtar Donetsk general director Sergiy Palki pouring cold water on Liverpool's bid for Teixeira this month, telling Football 1 (h/t the Guardian) that "we will sell him only at the end of the season," the onus may fall on another Brazilian in the second half of the campaign.
Coming to the fore in the first weeks of 2016, this player is likely to be Roberto Firmino.
When Firmino joined Liverpool in June, in a deal worth up to £29 million, the former Hoffenheim forward was seen as a vital cog within Brendan Rodgers' renewed charge for the Premier League's top four.
With Raheem Sterling on his way to Manchester City and Daniel Sturridge recovering from injury, the 24-year-old was required to add a spark in the final third.
Able to cover a number of positions across the attacking line, Firmino was ostensibly signed to provide Rodgers with quality and tactical versatility.
What followed, however, represented a major setback for the Brazilian, with Rodgers regularly utilising Firmino in a wing-back role as he struggled to find balance with his new-look side, preferring to use £32.5 million summer signing Christian Benteke as his focal point.
As a result, the South American's performances were laboured and at odds with the Reds' attacking charge, belying the euphoria felt among supporters on his arrival.
Prior to Rodgers' sacking at the beginning of October, Firmino had played just 275 minutes of first-team football, hampered with a back injury that kept him out of the Brazil squad for the second international break of the season.
However, with Firmino remaining at the club's Melwood training facility as he recovered, he was able to benefit from immediate exposure to Klopp.
Klopp's arrival coincided with a flurry of injury issues throughout the Liverpool squad, with Danny Ings and Joe Gomez ruled out for the season with anterior cruciate ligament problems sustained during October's international break.
The likes of Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi all remain on the sidelines, while the German has been forced to contend with further issues with form pervading his squad.
Benteke's failure to adapt to Klopp's attacking ideals at this stage, paired with injuries to Ings, Sturridge and Origi, has seen the former Borussia Dortmund manager turn to Firmino to lead the line since the turn of the year.
While the Reds' recruitment team will lament the floundering Benteke, Firmino has rewarded Klopp with a run of strong performances.
In eight appearances as a centre-forward for Liverpool, Firmino has scored five goals and assisted on a further four, including braces in January's 3-3 draw with Arsenal and the Reds' recent, remarkable 5-4 victory away to Norwich City.
His finest performance as Klopp's No. 9 arguably came in November, as Liverpool overran Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
Firmino's role in spearheading the attacking line saw the Brazilian dovetail perfectly with Coutinho and Adam Lallana, operating between the lines and pushing the meek centre-back pairing of Eliaquim Mangala and Martin Demichelis back into uncomfortable positions, forcing errors.
It was a performance that perfectly outlined Firmino's qualities, as a tenacious, hard-working, dynamic forward talent—equally at home in the No. 10 role as he is up front.
Crucially, in his last five appearances for the Reds, Firmino has lasted the entire 90 minutes—or in Tuesday night's League Cup semi-final, 120 minutes—highlighting a durability that distinguishes him from his team-mates.
Firmino had remained on the field for a whole game for Liverpool only once previous to this—in the Boxing Day 1-0 win over Leicester City, where he supplied a brilliant assist for Benteke at Anfield.
That Firmino has slowly grown into his role in Klopp's attack was to be expected, as a Brazilian joining the Premier League for his first senior campaign without a winter break, but this emergence as a key player suggests he is perfectly placed to dominate in 2016.
For Brazilian legend Ronaldinho, speaking to the Mirror's David Anderson this week, it was only a matter of time before Firmino showed his potential on Merseyside, though the former Barcelona man envisages a different long-term role to the one he is currently playing:
"I didn't ever question if he would be a great player for Liverpool, I knew that he would be.
He's one of the best at what he does in the world. He's in the same class as [Mesut] Ozil, [David] Silva, [Andres] Iniesta, and all the other great players who play that role.
He's the player that I'm sure Klopp will build his new Liverpool team around.
Klopp is one of the best coaches in the world, he will know that Liverpool need better players, he will know that Firmino will need better players around him to get the most out of his game.
I'm sure when he joined Liverpool, Klopp was promised he could bring in his own players, and with Firmino at the centre of the team, there's no reason Liverpool cannot challenge once again.
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Ronaldinho, who rose to prominence in a central-attacking role in the Brazil midfield, is well placed to praise Firmino as a future star, and as his history of shining as Hoffenheim's No. 10 shows, his long-term position under Klopp may well be behind a striker.
With reports in the Times (h/t the Mirror) suggesting that Liverpool are tracking Bayer Leverkusen's Javier Hernandez ahead of a proposed summer move, it is clear that Klopp is in search of reinforcements in attack.
If the German is able to acquire a top-level No. 9 at the end of the season, Ronaldinho's vision of a team built around Firmino in the Andres Iniesta role could come to life.
For now, though, with Liverpool looking unlikely to add to their forward ranks this January, the 24-year-old can continue to shine leading the line.
As his performances up front for Klopp have shown so far, he is capable of giving Liverpool an X-factor in 2016.
Statistics via Transfermarkt.co.uk.
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