Apart from Salah, these three Amigos (Firmino, Thiago and Allisson) always seem to hit the headlines for Liverpool in recent times.
Salah for good reasons, the other 3…..hmmm, for questionable reasons and it is evident in Liverpool’s position on the EPL table after today’s big loss to Leicester City.
Liverpool’s final collapse today was caused by these three Amigos.
Roberto Firmino, for not scoring again as a #9. I would suggest Klopp just moves him to an attacking midfielder or playmaker position since he finds it easier to make assists than score goals. Thumbs up to the poor fella for the assist he provided Salah today, his footwork that led to the assist was wonderful. Definitely I see Klopp spending almost £70m on attacking reinforcements in the next transfer window. Divock Origi should start club-hunting even if Firmino is lucky. So far this season (2020/2021), Roberto Firmino has a total of 7 assists and 6 goals in all competitions – what a contrast for a #9.
Thiago Alcântara was brought in to reinforce Liverpool’s midfield based on his success in Spain and Germany. However, in my honest opinion, he has not been the addition Liverpool sought. No doubt he is always involved all round the field but his activities do not translate to goals nor defend goals. Today, he was the cause of The Foxes comeback story after he caused a tricky free-kick at the edge of Liverpool’s box. That call which could have been a penalty either way, brought about Leicester’s first goal. Hopefully, he will be more of a goal maker than an enforcer next season as was expected of him.
Allison must be suffering from PTSD because he does not seem to have recovered from his shocking performance against Manchester City. Today, he made another sad blunder that led to Leicester’s second goal two minutes after Maddison’s 79th minute goal. Though he denied Vardy from scoring a brace, he could not stop Barnes from making it three goals in six minutes. Klopp really needs to help him regain his confidence by resting him for the next few games before they find themselves competing with Arsenal for the EPL 10th place position because of his continued unforgiveable errors.
Alexander-Arnold is also to blame for Liverpool’s lose but we will ignore him today since his free-kick was impressive.
One lesson that stands out is that every team should always have a reliable replacement for every key player. Firmino, Allison, Van Dijk, Mane and Salah all have no reliable cover at Liverpool. Though Liverpool conquered the world without backups, it just highlights the fact that a spare tyre is always better than none if you are in the journey for the long haul.
Klopp’s Liverpool is now hoping they can qualify for UCL next season as Westham and resurgent Chelsea are right behind them with 1 point each and 1 game in hand.
Congrats to Manchester City in advance.
Ballerz FC 