On 23rd June 2015, while competing for Brazil at the Copa America, Hoffenheim and Roberto Firmino agreed terms for him to make a transfer to Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool for a fee of up to £29million pounds on conclusion of the Copa America competition. Liverpool then confirmed the signing the next day on 4th July 2015. In addition to the capture of Firmino, Rodgers also added the signing of Christian Benteke that season as he tried to compensate for the loss of Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling who were part of the trio alongside Daniel Sturridge that nearly won Liverpool their first League title since 1986 in 2015.
Roberto Firmino arrived in the Premier League after a hugely impressive few seasons at German First Division club 1899 Hoffenheim where he hit an impressive 49 goals in 153 appearance in 4 years from the N0.10 position, but it was his penultimate season at the German club where he gathered much notice and acclaim. During the 2013/14 season Firmino hit an outstanding 22 goals in 37 games and finished that season the fourth highest goalscorer in the German Bundesliga with 16 league goals. Team captain Andreas Beck hailed his development as “outstanding”.
It was that season that Firmino experienced a positional and tactical change as manager Markus Gisdol exploited his strengths in a false-9 role, a role where he fully realised his potential and abilities. It his versatility and will to play in any position across the attack, which brought the attention of Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers. One particular match in which he stood out from the rest was his memorable performance against Jurgen Klopp’s former side Borrusia Dortmund in his last season for Hoffenheim, where he completely ran the show and forced Rodgers and even his later coach Klopp to take notice. His aggressive pressing and ball retention abilities caused havoc amongst the Dortmund defence, this is evident in his goal in that game where he dispossessed Serbian defender Neven Subotic, ran through on goal and audaciously chipped Roman Weidenfeller reminiscent of his fellow countrymen Robinho who scored a similar type of goal against Arsenal for Manchester City.
His performance that night was certainly warrant of a move to a bigger club, a club like Dortmund or Bayern Munich who were also linked with a move for the Brazilian playmaker. It was at Liverpool where he desired to continue his football as Rodgers was aiming to the recapture the similar football and style he that succeeded the previous season as he so nearly won the Premier League title at the expense of Manchester City. The departures of Suarez and Sterling to Barcelona and Manchester City respectively later played on a damning effect on Rodgers as he failed to build on the impressive performances of the previous 2014/15 season. As a result, Rodgers invested in both Firmino and Benteke to find another solution and build on Liverpool’s 14/15 season along with Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Mario Balotelli, Lazar Markovic and Danny Ings but it wasn’t to be for Rodgers as he failed to find the right formula for his signings. Besides that, Rodgers received such criticism regarding his use of Firmino and Benteke, especially the big Belgian striker whose sheer size and ability in the air thrives off crosses but the tactics of Rodgers did not exploit the Belgians strengths. Roberto Firmino was praised for his stellar performances but his combination with Christian Benteke drew much criticism.
Liverpool’s performances simply were not good enough and Brendan Rodgers was finally relieved of his duties after pressure and protests from the fans as Firmino was left in a loop as his expected future at the club hanged in the balance, but over a year on, in comes Jurgen Klopp and the German coach is enjoying the lavish spoils of Rodgers’ last signings. Under Klopp’s management, players like Adam Lallana, Coutinho, Emre Can and especially Roberto Firmino have discovered a new lease of life. Rodgers’ signing of Roberto Firmino has proved a huge blessing for Jurgen Klopp. The German coach certainly knows the player well from his days at Dortmund, and must have been licking his lips when he arrived at Anfield and he’s made great use of the attacking players at his disposal so far.
In one of his first games at the helm against Manchester City, Klopp found himself on the end of a dominant and impressive victory at the Etihad as Liverpool put in a performance that was typical of a Jurgen Klopp side with free flowing counter attacking football as Firmino, Coutinho and Adam Lallana ran Pellegrini’s city ragged, at the heart of the play was Roberto Firmino has we used in a false-9 role – a role he was familiar with at his old club Hoffenheim. Firmino ended the night with a goal to cap off a controlled and stylish performance, his combination play with Coutinho was a joy to behold that night as both players found themselves on the scoresheet.
It’s the kind of combination that Klopp so cherished at Dortmund with Mario Gotze and Shinji Kagawa the year they won the league title under the noses of Bayern Munich. Klopp created a dynasty at Dortmund and imprinted his blueprint in which Thomas Tuchel is now clearly adapting to at the German club. Now, Klopp is doing the same at Liverpool with the attacking prowess at his disposal, clubs are now looking at Liverpool as a force to be reckoned with.
The high pressing style game is a system Klopp has the perfect players suitable and highly suitable to the “gen-gen press”. Roberto Firmino, Adam Lallana, Coutinho and Jordan Henderson are all adhering to Klopp’s desired game perfectly because of their high energy and skill – to add to the firepower, he has also brought in Sadio Mane from Southampton who has already made an instant impact on the team and is vastly becoming a fan favourite at Anfield.
In the impressive 5-1 victory against Hull, Klopp deployed a system that would aim to from the first minute, get at Hull’s backline. The 4-3-3 formation is working wonders for the German coach; the movement, technical ability and pace of the from 3 of Firmino, Mane and Coutinho is a nightmare for any defence across Europe much to the delight of Klopp who in his post match interview stated:
“It was a brilliant performance, especially in the first half where we played the football we had to against Hull. We saw in the first few minutes that they started well with their counter attacks, which was quite impressive.
We had to play the game like we did, really patient, never lost direction, were always greedy in front of goal. But, when they had the ball, we had to be kind of positive-aggressive in the counter pressing situations, and that was brilliant. How we won the ball back was really impressive.”
Certainly, Liverpool’s football was a joy to behold. Once Hull had possession in their own half, they could not withstand the aggressive press from Klopp’s side. The energy and high intensity was key to Liverpool’s victory, Hull could not cope with it. It is Klopp’s use of players such as Firmino that is really captivating. The Brazilian’s ball control, technical ability and link up play was impressive. At the start of the season, we all would have thought that Daniel Sturridge would be Liverpool’s main man up front but instead Klopp is placing his trust on Firmino to lead the line in a more withdrawn role – resigning Daniel Sturridge to just a place on the bench despite his goal scoring record for the club. The Red’s front five will rightly take the plaudits for their movement, skill and tenacity but that should not detract from the work-rate and contribution from the other players in the squad. Liverpool were more energetic and more aggressive throughout, harrying the Hull players and denying them the breathing space and time to think and look for a pass.
Whatever term you use to describe Klopp’s tactical approach, the benefits have been clear to see now his squad have the time to digest his message. Without participation in any of the two European competitions, Liverpool can truly reap the benefits of that throughout the season. One thing is clear, Liverpool look a totally different outfit to last year and it is clear that Klopp’s approach is slowly but progressively working. It is only a matter of time before Klopp forms an formidable outfit, a side built and moulded in his image just like his former project at Borrusia Dortmund.
So can we truly argue that they are Premier League title contenders? Without the European competition, Liverpool have the luxury of more tactical work on the training pitch and also more time to gel with each other to get the most out of Klopp’s ideas. As we’ve seen so far this season, the tactical work is reaping its rewards but there is still more twists and turns to come in this season with regards to who wins the Premier League. The bigger teams all look much more prepared and hungry than last year when Leicester surprised the whole world let alone the whole nation with their Championship win. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City look just as impressive as Liverpool while Arsenal and Manchester United both came away with big wins this weekend and also there is Chelsea, Tottenham and Leicester to contend with also. But with the way Klopp has got his players performing, there is no reason why they can’t mount a serious title challenge come the end of the season.
The future is looking bright Jurgen Klopp and his Reds.
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