devaney » Mon Mar 07, 2016 3:56 pm wrote:metalhead » Mon Mar 07, 2016 3:28 pm wrote:ethanr » Mon Mar 07, 2016 2:09 am wrote:I think Firmino has shown that when he has some ability around him, he's obviously a lot more useful. Early in the season he had Benteke who was struggling and Coutinho. Coutinho went out injured, no Sturridge and Firmino was moved into that lone striker role which I don't believe suits his style of play very well. He's picked it up lately, especially with the return of Sturridge and Coutinho. He is still hit & miss, but I think he's much more consistent now than he was when he first came in. He's had some incredible games against top opponents as well, so we know he has the ability to be a really good player. If he continues to improve and pop in the goals and assists he has been, he'll be a starter week-in week out, regardless of who we have. 8 goals and 7 assists in his first PL season is really good, and we're only 75% of the way through. Even if he continued to be inconsistent, that sort of output from a player is not going to send them to the bench.
He has improved considerably since he joined. I don't think he would have slotted his shot past the goalkeeper yesterday in his early days with LFC. His record in Germany was fantastic. Klopp rate him highly which suggests a lot.
Suarez when he first joined struggled to finish and his assist record was mediocre. Many people including myself wondered if he was the problem or the answer to the problem. We all know the answer now. It takes time. Sakho and Lovren are also beginning to look like they could be half decent buys.
Good call re Sakho and Lovren, what I like about those 2 is that they both come across as strong characters and whilst they may not be the best CB pairing in the world you do get the sense the pair of them would run through a brick wall if they had to.
They are certainly the most physical CB pairing we have had for a good while and infact Jurgen has had trouble getting them off the pitch even when they have been injured which is something you don't see often these days.
Lovren in particular has shown a lot of guts to turn his career around here, at one point when Rodgers was constantly picking him ahead of Sakho the entire crowd were almost willing him to make a mistake just so they could get on his back but he toughed it out and kept on going, that is what you call character.
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