Alan Shearer has spoken highly about Roberto Firmino and claimed that he has been Liverpool’s ‘best player’ this season, as he told Premier League Productions (22/10/22 at 12:15 pm).
The Newcastle United legend added that Roberto Firmino has also got the goals his performances have deserved, but he wasn’t able to secure the breakthrough against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Whilst the 31-year-old will be happy that he has performed so well, it comes on the backdrop of a quite poor start to the new campaign from Jurgen Klopp’s side.
It wasn’t so long ago that they were sitting in the bottom half of the table, but recent wins against Manchester City and West Ham United suggested that a corner was being turned.
Only for another stumbling block to hit the Reds because they are now four points outside of the Champions League places after their 1-0 defeat to newly-promoted and then bottom-of-the-table, Nottingham Forest.
Nonetheless, before proceedings could kick off between these two old heavyweights at the City Ground, Shearer spoke highly about the man leading the club’s line.
“He’s been their best player over this season, there is no doubt about that,” said Shearer. “There were questions if Firmino was going to be the one to lose his place.
“But that’s not been the case. His hold-up play has been superb. He’s got goals that his performances deserve.”
FIRMINO ANSWERING CRITICS
Before a ball was kicked this season, it could be argued that Firmino had fallen behind several players in the Liverpool forward pecking order.
The £29 million versatile star (BBC Sport) was seemingly going to be pushed behind big-money summer signing Darwin Nunez, whilst Diogo Jota had played a more starting role than the Brazil star last term, prior to his injury.
But Firmino, when handed his chances, has done his talking on the field of play, scoring eight goals and supplying four assists from his 15 matches in all competitions.
His role becomes even more important now because Nunez missed the defeat to Forest, whilst Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota are out of action until after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
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