Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew hails ‘unnatural’ Liverpool star Firmino

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Roberto Firmino maintained his impressive goalscoring run against The Eagles and Pardew admits that the Brazilian tore his defence apart.

Alan Pardew has lauded the intelligence of ‘unnatural’ Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino after the Brazilian put his Crystal Palace side to the sword on Saturday, according to the Liverpool Echo.

Firmino clipped home late on to round off a supreme attacking performances from Jurgen Klopp’s side at Selhurst Park after Emre Can, Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip had laid the groundwork for an impressive 4-2 win.

The result elevates Liverpool to the top of the Premier League, albeit level on points with Manchester City and Arsenal, and opposition manager Pardew was in no doubt as to who captured his imagination at close quarters at the weekend.

“They’ve got some fantastic players. Firmino plays that striker’s role really clever, you don’t really know where he is and it’s unnatural for centre halves,” the former Newcastle manager told the Liverpool Echo.

“He pulls you around, pops up in midfield, then he’s in midfield, someone else replaces him. It’s like a piston in an engine working there.

“They are as good as anyone we’ve played this year.”

As it stands, Liverpool have more points after ten games this season than they did when Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge inspired them to second-place in 2013/14, their dreams of a first ever Premier League title ruined, ironically, by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park after the Eagles soared back from 3-0 down to salvage an unlikely point.

However, although the current Liverpool crop is lacking the star quality of the rampant Uruguayan goal machine, the likes of Firmino, Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho (below) have stepped up to another level since Klopp’s appointment.

The Brazilian, in particular, has eroded the inconsistency that dogged his early displays after arriving from Hoffenheim last summer, with his intelligent link-play and composure in front of goal helping him to five strikes in 11 appearances in all competitions this season while thriving in his new ‘false nine’ position.