Roberto Firmino Player Thread (F)

I don't agree.

It's lazy thinking. About as lazy as you can get.

Something happened at Dortmund, therefore it will inevitably happen here?

It's pretty medieval. It's the sort of stuff I'd expect to hear from people who believe in witches. Or Jesus. Or Father Christmas. Whatever. And this "OMG it's happening AGAIN" thing is going round and round the internet, and it's Liverpool fans who are making that happen. (Probably not what HUYTON RED or me might call 'proper' Liverpool fans, but they think they are)

We've not played with that degree of intensity since the swashbuckling 2017/18 season. We didn't just marginally step off the gas. We virtually took our style of play and completely reversed it.

We don't press anywhere near as much as we used to. Not to my eye anyway. I think I saw some stat that we were still just about the most intense pressing side in the league. I find that very very hard to believe. It just doesn't tally with the games I've seen. Even if it is true, which I don't believe, it must still be well well below the intensity of our press of 3 or 4 years ago.

Our build-up play is classic continental and has been for 3 years since Lijnders came in and reversed the philosophy of 'Brains'. Slow slow and then quicken up when you get into the final third. That's got to be way less stress on the players' bodies. Our league title season was absolutely riddled with games that we won with barely as much as energy as we needed to put in to get the result. Game management. Henderson and Gini are brilliant at it.

I've got a layman's understanding of the physical fitness and medical side of the game - i.e. almost no understanding - but it doesn't strike me that we're picking up lots of injuries that would be caused by overplaying. The assault on Virgil. Matip clearly has tall fella type chronic back problems, which is just down to his height and build; nobody could accuse Matip of playing too much. As far as I know cruciate ligament injuries aren't due to overplaying. I saw Jota's happen and I was surprised nobody really seemed to pay attention to it because I saw his leg go sideways and I went "oh no!" and I immediately feared it was another cruciate. It was subtle but defo visible.

Also, Klopp has been bringing in various specialists from Germany in the last couple of seasons, and judging by titles such as 'Chief of the Chill-Out Room' and 'Director of Doing F**k All for a Couple of Days', Klopp is pretty focused on recovery and only too aware of the load on his players.

So I don't worry about 'Dortmund II - Klopp flogs his players to death (again)'

If anything these German recovery supremos seem to be doing too good a job. it's almost like they've talked about rest and recovery so often that the players have been sort of hypnotised into feeling knackered. Based on this season our next fancy appointment should be something like 'General Get Yer Arses in Gear Lads!'. Someone to put a rocket up em.

The only thing I would be concerned about is the increase in games since Dortmund. Germany only has one domestic cup. OK, Klopp tends to rotate in our domestic cups, so maybe that isn't too much of an issue, but I'd lay a fiver that our lads are playing half a dozen games a season more than the Dortmund lads were and we know the calendar is only ever going to get more crammed as FIFA and UEFA try to cram in as many games as the calendar will just about allow.

It's quite offensive that you would link my belief in Jesus to belief in father Christmas.

As if your agnosticism or atheism makes you intellctually superior to one who believes in religion. Holding those beliefs doesn't make you clever.

We were still pressing and hounding last year. Teams couldn't get out of their half. Pinned in with a relentless press.

Imo it's had an effect on the players fitness like it did at Dortmund

It's quite offensive that you would link my belief in Jesus to belief in father Christmas.

As if your agnosticism or atheism makes you intellctually superior to one who believes in religion. Holding those beliefs doesn't make you clever.

We were still pressing and hounding last year. Teams couldn't get out of their half. Pinned in with a relentless press.

Imo it's had an effect on the players fitness like it did at Dortmund

If you believe in the resurrection you really shouldn't be too worried about Klopp killing his players.

Lovely pressing and assist for Thiago’s goal

Superb tonight probably Bobby's best game of the season.

Long overdue but better late than never.

Hopefully he can bang in a few more these last massively important 3 games.

we all love Bobby again.

Superb tonight probably Bobby's best game of the season.

Long overdue but better late than never.

Hopefully he can bang in a few more these last massively important 3 games.

My fav player, just love him - imagine playing football with him down the park, mesmerising

Real soft spot for Bobby. Massively infuriating for long periods but we wouldn't have won any of our recent trophies without him. Made up for him tonight.

Huge goals!! Just what we needed.

we all love Bobby again.

His thread gets a hell of a lot more action when he doesn’t score than when he does. Odd.

When he plays well, we play well. Such a good player and basically ran the show last night

When he plays well, we play well. Such a good player and basically ran the show last night

True, he’s a vital footballer for us. 17 direct goal involvements this season, 9 goals 8 assists

He’ll be back to his best in front of crowds again next season

A wonderful player, and one of the signings that heralded the success we achieved shortly thereafter.

Thought he was good last night, feel like he has been dropping a bit too deep this season to influence the game, a few occasions hes been taking the ball off the CB's, that has definitely harmed his goal return. We hadn't really see him score that type of goal for a little while, quick dart into the box and a decent finish.

He could not score another goal for the next 3 years and i'd still love him.

Looks like Bobby's wife is in labor...hope he can get some sleep before Sunday. At least she's giving birth now, there won't be a chance of missing the game.

So much for a rest.

Brasil have got a World Cup qualifier this weekend and then another one midweek. Then it's the start of Copa America a few days after.

Hopefully it'll be cancelled. Colombia had already pulled out as co-hosts, and now Argentina have been stripped of hosting it. So there's a major tournament starting in 10 days and nowhere to play the games.

Love it if they just cancelled the whole thing and our lads got an extra month off, as long as Ali doesn't go too mad down his local churrascaria.

Looks like Bobby's wife is in labor...hope he can get some sleep before Sunday. At least she's giving birth now, there won't be a chance of missing the game.

Guess I had this wrong, there was a picture of him and her in the hospital. Guess it was an old picture. I do believe they are expecting another child though.

ffs 

Conmebol have taken the Copa America off Colombia, who didn't want it because of Covid, and Argentina, who didn't want it because of Covid

and moved it to F***ing Brasil of all places, with half a million Covid deaths and that's likely to be well under the real figure.

That has to be the worst decision by any football authorities in the history of the game.

This needs shutting down

I really hate international football. He needs a good rest for the new season.

Can’t wait to see his silky skills in action again, I genuinely think we are going to see 20+ goals this season.

10 rocket headers

Bobby has a hamstring injury.

Out for 2 to 3 months.

It begins.

Bobby has a hamstring injury.

Out for 2 to 3 months.

It begins.

3 minimum I'm seeing

3 minimum I'm seeing

Nothing official but all over Twitter.

Hopefully it's bullshit, if not I'd be concerned with only Origi and Minamino as back up forwards.

He wasn't holding his hamstring. When hamstrings go it's immediate. He jogged off the pitch.