Firmino’s Contributions: Massive Or Meh?
While he is a proud winner the 2019/2020 English Premier League, Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino still attracts a number of critics for his performances, or lack thereof, during that season.
Comments regarding his contributions to the team can be found on multiple online forums, such as Football 365, where several people have commented on his underwhelming form this season and fan site Besoccer even mentioned that “Liverpool was better than all teams in the Premier League this season, but they have done so with little input from Firmino.”
However, what many fail to realise is that he has a more specific role in what is called the “false nine” position, meaning that he contributes more in terms of playmaking and behaves more defensively, as opposed to scoring goals like other strikers.
In this article, I will be comparing him to the top three scorers of the English Premier League, as well as the sixth top scorer, to gauge their overall contributions to their respective teams. I have excluded the fourth and fifth top scorers as they play in a different position, and so would be unfair to compare them due to their different roles. Thus, the players I will be comparing him to are Jamie Vardy, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Danny Ings, and Harry Kane. All statistics are taken from the English Premier League website to ensure it is…
