You have your opinion and I have mine. Truth is he was our best player for a large chunk of the season in my opinion. I said "ton of games" because I could not put an exact number on it, hence the "hyperbole."
A lot of people don't get goals and assists in every games. Sturridge doesn't even do that. Bar Barcelona and Real Madrid players (Messi, Suarez, etc.) not many players do. Look at Hazard this season, he did not play well just like most of the Chelsea team, do you think they are all average players to.
People live and die by statistics, when the way a player plays the game is sometimes one of the most important things. What about the guy that passes it to the person who assists a goal? He doesn't get any statistical figures but his pass help set the play up. Sometimes it is just one person setting up the goal or etc. But a lot of the time goals are a team effort of keeping possession, opening up the defense with runs and finding an opening.
I can't tell you how many times I have seen goals because a player makes a run and takes a defender with him, only for the ball to get passed to someone else and that person scores. While he did not touch the ball, his run opened up the defense.
You have to judge the team and game as a whole sometimes, yes you can judge individually but sometimes it is hard to do, especially if the entire team is playing well. Firmino has had poor games and he has had games where he was our best player (a lot of times in my opinion). That happens to a lot of players and i think you are being quite too harsh on him. But as i said that is my opinion, not a fact.
Good post.
My opinion is that Firmino blows too hot and cold. I read people waxing lyrical about him and it's purely down to the fact he is Brazilian and has an exotic name.
Look, Firmino did have a good run of games earlier on, I'm not denying that.
But what gets my goat, and this isn't aimed at you is that when someone like Benteke misses a one-on-one his thread fills up with people attacking him.
Firmino wasn't that much cheaper, and had Benteke been the one to spoon his positioning like Firmino did when baring down on goal people would have been cuing up to attack the bloke.
Firmino has only scored one more goal than Benteke who scores a goal every 158 minutes compared to Firmino who scores a goal every 198 minutes, and Benteke has played less than Firmino.
On top the stats, the amount of time Firmino cedes possession is alarming, simple passes and control of the ball is relinquished in ominous moments and phases of the game.
IMHO, he's had one good game in the last what 8-9 possibly 10 games since his return, and I'm just tempering the hypebole around him.
Well, in fairness, this thread did drop half way down the board so nobody was coming in to praise him, however, soon as he is attacked posters are quick to defend him where other players in our team would get ample stick for.
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