If Klopp picks him, his place is justified.
Who else does he need to answer to?
You?
He's not in the best of form, we've played half a dozen league games, and you're seriously talking about him "having to justify his place"?
I don't give a f**k about players at other clubs.
The season is a long one full of ups and downs.
Everyone knows this, and yet some have already decided who the league champions are, how we're going to end up mid table, and that we haven't a chance of winning the league.
How did chelsea get on in their first dozen games under Conte?
What happened after that?
The start to a season is no indication of how the whole season will unfold.
This is season number three for Roberto Firmino at Liverpool.
In 2015/16, he started 40 games and made 9 sub appearances and he ended up with 11 goals, 11 assists.
In 2016/17, he started 39 games, and he ended with 12 goals and 11 assists.
The only season where he cracked 20 goals in all competitions was in 2013/14.
You might say that you do not care about players in other clubs, but whether you like it or not, that is the standard to whih Firmino is going to be judged; it is always going to be against other players in the same position at other clubs.
It is also funny that you compare Liverpool to Chelsea last season. Antonio Conte adapted when things were not going well for him; he went to a back three that he was comfortable with and by the time the season was coming to an end, he had a top 3 defense, the second best attack in the land, and 16 clean sheets to boot. He had also led Chelsea to the title, and got them to the FA Cup final.
As we speak, only three teams have conceded more goals in the league season i.e. Crystal Palace, Leicester, and West Ham. Everton and Bournemouth have conceded the same amount of goals.
If you were to look at clean sheets, there are two total this season in 9 games. If you are reaching and you want to include the Champions League qualifiers, it is still two clean sheets in 11 games. Now Klopp trusts, or maybe hopes that the defenders will get better, that there will be a decrease in mistakes. I would assume that he also reckons that the goalkeeping department is not too shabby.
I can understand why Klopp keeps picking Firmino; he believes that pressing is the best playmaker any team can have, and he is on record as saying that. That at the end of the day is the system that he has built, and no other forward lends himself more to it that Firmino. Some people complain about the player, but it is a system issue that can only be resolved the moment the manager comes up with another formation that can create for a striker that is not a pressing merchant.
Until that happens, the man who has averaged 11 goals the last three seasons, is the man that leads the line for Liverpool.