Topic: Roberto Firmino

[Joff]

Hands up those parents of young kids playing football who say 'Just watch Bobby...'

Apart from the skill, yeah

[David in Edinburgh]

Love Bobby. He's the high grade oil that makes the front three tick.

[keyop]

He just plays like he’s still a school kid.

He’s never nervous, he doesn’t take it too seriously.

It’s just a game to him which he loves....

I think apart from his skill, thats his biggest asset - he doesn't seem to feel pressure, and if a move doesn't come off, he'll try it again until it does.

It's also not being done to show off, and all the tricks and flicks have a purpose - no showboating involved (well, apart from those no-look goals...)

[Stussy]

will be PFA player of the year

will be our Cantona

will be a Balon d'or contender under Klopp

[Stussy]

Series of tweets about how Bobby is being noticed in Brazil:



Juninho: "(Roberto) Firmino is a new generation of number 9. Children in Brazil will look upto his style and his effort and believe that they too can be successful in the Premier League." #LFC


Juninho: "Firmino will change the way young strikers think about football, like how Rivaldo revolutionized the wing forward role which Neymar tries to emulate, even the simulation. Firmino however is made of an iron shell." #LFC


Juninho: "For too long Brazilian forwards were seen as tactically whimsical by managers. Firmino is changing that trend and opening eyes. Without a doubt one of the most intelligent movers of the ball today." #LFC

Marcelinho: "#LFC is Firmino's dream come true.

Not only does he have a manager whose philosophy he embodies, a team that loves him, but also I've never heard a Brazilian's name sang so often and so much love outside -- not Senna not Jorge Ben."

Marcelinho: "I don't want to upset players by saying this, but the truth is truth, and the numbers speak -- I will declare #Firmino is the remedy to Brazil's 'me-first, me-first' football. He should be our number 1 choice to build a team around. A player who makes others better."

Juninho: "I agree. The Brazil captaincy should be in #Firmino future... He'd have an armband at #LFC if there weren't already so many leaders in their team. This is why everyone hates playing them, they are a team full of captains. Van Dijk, Salah, Mane, Henderson, all of iron."


https://twitter.com/LFC_360/status/1173188535383248896

[reddebs]

Wow praise indeed, not that we needed them to tell us how brilliant he is but I'm sure it's appreciated in Bobbys house.

[Bird Bird Bird The Bird Is The Word]

Found this snippet about Firmino in an article about New York City FC player Heber:

That is brilliant, thanks for sharing it.

[The Naby Keita fan club]

Brought a bit of press we needed, but Bobby needs a time to get back to full fit. Think he will score more than last year.

[JC the Messiah]

"A player who makes others better."

That's our Bobby.

[exiledinyorkshire]

Utter filth yesterday.

Unbelievable.

[na fir dearg]

Series of tweets about how Bobby is being noticed in Brazil:



Juninho: "(Roberto) Firmino is a new generation of number 9. Children in Brazil will look upto his style and his effort and believe that they too can be successful in the Premier League." #LFC

this is so important, football should be about enjoying it, playing for fun - he will inspire so many kids

[Bird Bird Bird The Bird Is The Word]

Is there any substance to Firmino coming back overweight from the summer back in previous years?

I've seen it suggested that his lack of a full summer break, due to the Copa America, has been beneficial because it meant he didn't put on excess weight so has been fully match fit and match sharp. Basically his blistering early season form is credited to his lack of a full summer break rather than being hampered by it.

Its a nice pet theory but wondering if Firmino has ever spoken about struggling with his fitness/weight or similar?

[him_15]

The FIFA 20 rating for him is an insult.

[Bjornar]

will be PFA player of the year

will be our Cantona

will be a Balon d'or contender under Klopp

Good post, we'll see but I think this has a decent chance of coming true, Bobby's certainly special enough.

[kcbworth]

Is there any substance to Firmino coming back overweight from the summer back in previous years?

I've seen it suggested that his lack of a full summer break, due to the Copa America, has been beneficial because it meant he didn't put on excess weight so has been fully match fit and match sharp. Basically his blistering early season form is credited to his lack of a full summer break rather than being hampered by it.

Its a nice pet theory but wondering if Firmino has ever spoken about struggling with his fitness/weight or similar?

Anecdotally I reckon there's truth to that (talking out of my arse of course)

[rojo para la vida]

I'm a great believer in showing the love and that Bobby song, belted out even when he's on the subs bench, must make him feel like a 10' tall Superman. He's constantly improving and is now approaching world class status. My promise never to get emotionally attached to a player again, after being ditched by Fernanando and Luis, is in danger of being broken.

I was on the Kop for the Arsenal game and he did something just outside the box, that was impossible to believe and drew gasps from those standing around me. He sort of stamped on the ball, bounced it over Cebellos's head and hit a volley towards the goal. He's like watching a football version of the Harlem Globetrotters.

The downside, now the wider world is waking up to this unique talent? Watch all those transfer rumours to Spain now spring up just before Christmas but for me, Bobby comes across as an intelligent lad, he'll take notice of Coutinho, he'll acknowledge that Klopp is part of what he is and he'll realise that no one loves him more than us. I hope he's the sort of man who believes in a legacy.

Big thanks to the earlier poster for the thumbs up on the PFA award, I made a small investment.

[Medellin]

<a href="https://youtube.com/v/DYAOIlcKTqM" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://youtube.com/v/DYAOIlcKTqM</a>

[PhilV]

I'm sore from all the wanking over that assist.


Honestly... some guy, he is the first player I've had on a shirt (got him on last season and this season) since Torres and if he left I think it would hurt even worse.


I love Bobby.

[redgriffin73]

Don't know how to embed a tweet but this is so sweet from Bobby's wife and daughters.

https://twitter.com/suubs2/status/1172870899772665856

[FlashingBlade]

Can someone knock up a banner with Bobby and his goal celebration with hand over one eye with legend " In the land of the blind the one eyed Bobby is King"

Ta!

[LallanaInPyjamas]

will be PFA player of the year

If he carries on like this I think you're right. He's been outrageously good. Football porn on Saturday.

[sinnermichael]

Didn't get in Garth Crooks' team of the week so is clearly overrated and needs to be sold.

[lionel_messias]

Absolute filth, this guy.
Could be the best out and out 'baller in the division.
I know he has to fight his mates Mo, Sadio and VVD for that honour; tough times for Reds fans these days, eh 

[CraigDS]

Didn't get in Garth Crooks' team of the week so is clearly overrated and needs to be sold.

Spends half his write up about Mane being in it having a pop at Salah too. Stay classy Crooks.

[slaphead]

We have an awful lot of players who are in the top 3, if not best, in the world in their position. What a position to be in.
I wouldn't swap Firmino for any other player in the world, bar none.
Not just because of his outrageous ability, but for how he makes us click as a team. I think people are finally starting to realise that he is our most vital attacking player in a long time. 
I'm serious by the way - you could take out Bobby and replace him with Messi/Ronaldo/Aguero/Neymar/Mbappe - or any other striker - take your pick, I don't think  one of them wold make us click like Bobby does. He's the very epitome of an all round number 9.

[David in Edinburgh]

Spends half his write up about Mane being in it having a pop at Salah too. Stay classy Crooks.

Difficult to stay classy when you've never been classy in the first place.

[sms1986]

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/roberto-firmino-eric-cantona-liverpool-news-latest-steve-bruce-newcastle-quotes/

ANFIELD — Roberto Firmino’s 53-minute masterclass against Newcastle on Saturday prompted comparisons to the mercurial Eric Cantona.

Firmino was supposed to be rested after his midweek international outing for Brazil in Los Angeles but had to be brought into the action by Jurgen Klopp after only 37 minutes after his replacement Divock Origi limped off.

With Newcastle replicating the resilience and organisation that helped them to their shock win at Tottenham, Firmino made an immediate impact with a superbly-weighted through pass to Sadio Mane to score his and Liverpool’s second goal – although Magpies keeper Martin Dubravka made a gift of it.

In the second half, Firmino continued to torment Newcastle, the highlight being a a sublime piece of Cantona-like magic to send Mo Salah through for the third.

‘Perfect balance’
Firmino’s ability to pull defenders out of position by dropping deep, the balance he provides to his pacey fellow front runners, Salah and Mane, plus his audcaious flicks and tricks, gives Liverpool the different sort of attacking dimension that Cantona brought to Manchester United and proved to be the catalyst for four Premier League titles triumphs in his five seasons at Old Trafford.

Newcastle boss Steve Bruce, who spent many a game in his time as a United defender admiring Cantona’s rare qualities, said: “Cantona is as good a player as I’ve ever seen. I haven’t seen Firmino week in, week out, like that, but just when you see him here today and what he gives them, it’s a perfect balance.

“And Cantona gave us that. Back in the day, we had [Ryan] Giggs and [Andrei] Kanchelskis who had frightening pace and stretched sides so much like Liverpool’s front two, and Cantona dropped into that hole and people couldn’t get anywhere near them. That’s what you see with Firmino.

“Firmino is the one that drops in, he drops into that little area where it’s so difficult for defenders to go. But the pace of the other two is frightening, he drops in and the other two are running over your shoulder. And then there is his attitude and work-rate which is so important. Their front three are as good as you are going to play against as a threat to you.”

Title race advantage
Liverpool took a while to recover from the shock of going behind at Anfield for the first time since their win over Burnley in March. Christian Atsu found Jetro Willems on the edge of the area and the Dutchman cut inside Trent Alexander-Arnold to arrow a memorable first Premier League goal into the far top corner.

Although they dominated possession, Liverpool’s passing was too slow and predictable until Andy Robertson set up Mane for his first in the 28th minute.

They moved up another gear following Firmino’s introduction and in the end could have won by a bigger margin as they stretched their club record winning League run to 14 matches – five this season following nine at the back end of last season. In doing so they became the first top flight team to win 14 matches each by a two-goal margin.

Manchester City’s shock defeat at Norwich – which means Liverpool have a five-point lead after just five games – served only to improve an already buoyant mood at Anfield as Klopp’s team fly out to Italy on Monday to begin the defence of their Champions League title against Napoli, the scene of what their manager has described as their worst performance of last season’s ultimately triumphant European campaign.

[Medellin]

[Hazell]

I'm a great believer in showing the love and that Bobby song, belted out even when he's on the subs bench, must make him feel like a 10' tall Superman. He's constantly improving and is now approaching world class status. My promise never to get emotionally attached to a player again, after being ditched by Fernanando and Luis, is in danger of being broken.

I was on the Kop for the Arsenal game and he did something just outside the box, that was impossible to believe and drew gasps from those standing around me. He sort of stamped on the ball, bounced it over Cebellos's head and hit a volley towards the goal. He's like watching a football version of the Harlem Globetrotters.

The downside, now the wider world is waking up to this unique talent? Watch all those transfer rumours to Spain now spring up just before Christmas but for me, Bobby comes across as an intelligent lad, he'll take notice of Coutinho, he'll acknowledge that Klopp is part of what he is and he'll realise that no one loves him more than us. I hope he's the sort of man who believes in a legacy.

Big thanks to the earlier poster for the thumbs up on the PFA award, I made a small investment.

It seems to have taken the wider footballing world a few years to realise how wonderful a player he is and just how important he is for our team. Though I am kind of gutted he not our secret anymore.

[Hazell]

Series of tweets about how Bobby is being noticed in Brazil:

https://twitter.com/LFC_360/status/1173188535383248896

Brilliant that, thanks for posting.

[stockdam]

Could it be said that Jurgen has got Bobby playing to his strengths?

I.e. in any other team and in any other position/role, Bobby wouldn't be as effective..
Is he just as effective in the Brazil team, for example?


Bobby's one of my fave players!
And to be honest he is undroppable...but so are quite a few of the others right now haha

I think Klopp did say that he had been after Bobby for years and was delighted to "inherit" him. Yes maybe they were meant for each other but for me you could always see how good he was especially under pressure.

[stockdam]

Seen the thing on youtube a few nights ago about football tactics. The fella was going on about back in the 50s teams played with 5 upfront but the great Hungary side had the middle striker drop deep and the first false number 9 was born. He went onto speak about Bobby in this clip but I cant remember exactly what he said.

Would that have been Nandor Hidegkuti who played with Puskas or Puskas himself?

Btw Puskas was described as "a roly-poly little fellow who looked as if he did most of his training in restaurants"

[Raid]

Been some big compliments coming Bobby's way in the last week or two. Looks like the wider world is opening it's eyes finally to our genius

[Hazell]

Would that have been Nandor Hidegkuti who played with Puskas or Puskas himself?

Btw Puskas was described as "a roly-poly little fellow who looked as if he did most of his training in restaurants"

Is that a rejected lyric from Paul Simon?

[afc tukrish]

Is that a rejected lyric from Paul Simon?

More likely Art Garfunkel...

[Ghost Town]

Is that a rejected lyric from Paul Simon?

"I can call you Bobby
And Bobby when you call me, you can call me Al (isson)"

[harleydanger]

We have an awful lot of players who are in the top 3, if not best, in the world in their position. What a position to be in.
I wouldn't swap Firmino for any other player in the world, bar none.
Not just because of his outrageous ability, but for how he makes us click as a team. I think people are finally starting to realise that he is our most vital attacking player in a long time. 
I'm serious by the way - you could take out Bobby and replace him with Messi/Ronaldo/Aguero/Neymar/Mbappe - or any other striker - take your pick, I don't think  one of them wold make us click like Bobby does. He's the very epitome of an all round number 9.

People aren’t really just starting to realise. Stop Bobby and you stop Liverpool has been a thing for a couple of seasons.

[Puskas]

Would that have been Nandor Hidegkuti who played with Puskas or Puskas himself?

Btw Puskas was described as "a roly-poly little fellow who looked as if he did most of his training in restaurants"

Oi

[Johns_Barn]

I think apart from his skill, thats his biggest asset - he doesn't seem to feel pressure, and if a move doesn't come off, he'll try it again until it does.

It's also not being done to show off, and all the tricks and flicks have a purpose - no showboating involved (well, apart from those no-look goals...)

Spot on.

[Red Eyed]

Firmino is such an enigma, on the one hand he's a workman like team-player that defends from the front and on the other he's a Ronaldinho-esque maestro with a reading of the game that is up there with the best. He's got the audacious skill that you associate with that kind of player but is so good at picking his moments and doing what's best for the team that he's flown under the radar for so long (not by us though). Whilst his role in this team is largely to be a foil for our other two world class forwards, he's so good at his job that he's becoming the main attraction himself. Irreplaceable for us, and a joy to watch.