The Expert: Is Liverpool's Firmino the Premier League's most complete striker?

Liverpool’s defeat to Swansea City on Saturday isn’t, of course, mathematically the end of their title challenge, but realistically it probably is. It’s not so much that the gap to the leaders Chelsea is now 10 points as the basic flaws that keep on costing them. In terms of the defence and the goalkeeper, they are simply not yet good enough. On the plus side, though, there was another stellar performance from Roberto Firmino that should offer encouragement both for Wednesday’s EFL Cup semi-final second leg and for the longer term. 

Liverpool have leaked 27 goals in 22 games this season. They’ve kept just six clean sheets in 22 games. That means that they keep on having to score two goals to win a game. Where Chelsea have made a habit of nicking games in which they haven’t played particularly well 1-0, Liverpool keep on having to come from behind. No matter how gifted your forward line, that simply isn’t sustainable. Liverpool are on course to concede 47 goals this season. No champion in the Premier League era has ever conceded that many goals; only three have ever let in more than 40, and that includes the first three seasons when there were 22 rather than 20 sides in the league. 

Yet there is something odd about Liverpool’s defending. No team is making more tackles per game (19.9) than the Reds and they have conceded the fewest shots of any side in the league, at just 7.8 per game. That might say something about the two goalkeepers and their shot-stopping capacity, but it also says something about the sort of chance Liverpool tend to offer up. 

But there are still reasons to be positive. It would, after all, even in a post-Leicester world, have been extraordinary if Liverpool had bounced from finishing eighth last season to winning the title this. And one of the foremost is Firmino, who has taken rapidly to the role of false nine. 

There was a sense at the beginning of last season that Brendan Rodgers wasn’t quite sure how to get the best out of the Brazilian - as, indeed, Dunga had seemed baffled by his versatility at the Copa America in the summer of 2015. He was used in a range of positions and it was only after the arrival of Jurgen Klopp that Firmino really began to settle. The 4-1 win away to Manchester City last season, when he linked superbly with Philippe Coutinho, was the first real sign of what he could do. He finished last season with 10 goals and seven assists in the league, a remarkable return for a player who for a long time wasn’t guaranteed a place in the side and ended up making just 24 starts. 

This season, though, the 25-year-old has gone from strength to strength. Saturday’s two goals took his tally for the season to eight in 21 appearances and there have also been three assists. But his value goes beyond goals, which, say, Daniel Sturridge could also offer. Firmino is also vital in initiating the press. He’s averaging slightly fewer tackles per game this season than he was last (2.2 down to 1.6), and making more interceptions (0.5 up to 0.9), which probably reflects the fact that he has tended to start more in the centre than on the flank this season. What is significant, though, is that he regains possession on average 2.7 times per game, almost invariably high up the pitch, allowing the rapid transitions for which Liverpool have become so noted. 

The front end of the team, in other words, is functioning well. The problem is at the back. If Klopp can resolve that before the start of next season, then a serious title challenge may really be on.