05 Jul 2020 10:23:19
Morning eds1.
This is in no way player bashing. It’s just a question, before people think am having a go at him. Am just interested in how would you think bobby has done this year compared to their seasons. Do we need someone to push him more on the goal scoring front.
I personally love him in our team. Am getting a lot of stick from mates who aren’t LFC fans. ?
Thanks.

05 Jul 2020 10:35:50
I think his performances have dropped big time, we need to sign cover to push him on, i love him in our team but klopp needs to have a word or i feel he will be replaced.

05 Jul 2020 10:36:43
He takes ages to get into his rhythm after breaks and has 1 good game in 5 max. Question for me is if even when he’s not on form, is he still crucial to Salah or Mane’s game or can they play with someone else who can score more than Bobby. Feels like the press is less important to us these days as we have most of the possession so that takes away some of the need for Bobby’s game but we’ll never know if we can be better without him until we sign another world class forward or he is injured. If we get a playmaker in midfield with Fabino and Hendo we would need Bobby less but as it stands he’s crucial to our team right now even when he’s not playing that great.

05 Jul 2020 10:42:06
People are to harsh on him, he isn't a striker, he isn't going to score 30+ goals a season, what he does off the ball is majorly important to the team and how we work, also his link up play with salah and mane is amazing, sometimes scoring goals doesn't make you a much needed player, and if he was to be replaced he would be missed massively.

05 Jul 2020 10:42:07
I thought Minamino was brought in to cover his role?
Hes the player that makes our whole offence tick for me and I think he’s had an excellent season.

05 Jul 2020 10:54:40
Agree. Which is why werner saga was such a disappointment. I think he could have played through the middle as he's technically good as well
as pacey. bobbys a purple patch player that never takes his 50.50 chances. it was no surprise he fluffed his shot against city and I immediately thought werner would have buried that. 0 goals at home in this team.

05 Jul 2020 11:00:39
He’s a great player and had a good season but needs to improve his finishing. I don’t expect him to get 20 goals a season with the role he plays but sometimes when takes a shot on he should really hit the target or score and doesn’t.

But every player has something to improve on which is good means the team can get even betwee 💪🏽.

05 Jul 2020 11:19:08
I like Bobby and when he’s on form he’s one of our integral players. I just don’t think he’s as consistent as Mo or mane though. Bobbys been up and down this season and I think his best form came around the Christmas period. I also think he falls into the category of if any LFC fan questions him they get accused of not being a proper fan or not knowing anything about football so it’s a no win. For me Bobbys strong points are his hussling and the fact he pulls players out of position to create space. The issue we now have is we have the lions share of possession most games so there’s less chance of him to pinch balls and pressure defenders. Also most teams now park the bus or are positionally disciplined against us so trying to pull players out of position doesn’t work when there’s another 10 of them behind the ball.

05 Jul 2020 11:21:59
Anyone else thinking ‘what are you guys talking about’.

Taking a while to get going - I thought he was class versus palace, most we’re poor vs Everton and let's not mention city.

He’s scored the winning goal in 6 games this season I believe.

Yes he’s never going to score a hatful, but he isn’t a bad finisher. His he up play and link up play is quality for an average sized guy. We need someone with the intelligence to move as he does to allow mane and salah the space to get in behind. If all 3 strikers ran in behind, it would be easy to defend. Centre backs worry about firmino dropping in, keep their eyes on him and not mane or salah coming in from the side. If a Werner type was last man, there would be no space to make the goals the. Salah scores against palace for example.

05 Jul 2020 11:50:52
I think you can't measure what Firmino does with only goals and assists. If he doesn't drop down to midfield or the sides and drag defenders with him, Mane and Salah can't rush into the space left behind and get their goals. And if Salah and Mane don't push in towards the center then where do Robertson and TAA run into and cross? He's the key cog to our attack. If he doesn't start the press up front and harass the defenders with his endless running, our midfield and defense doesn't get the protection they do. And his goal celebrations are absolutely the most weird and the best, unlike the repetitive celebrations we see from Mane and the moody ones from Salah. 😁.

05 Jul 2020 12:00:33
Without bobby the system changes, we're a better team when he plays. We'd all like him to be getting 20 plus a season, I dare say he gets the opportunities to get that many. I've believed and said for about 3 years now that if he had that extra yard of pace and got an extra 10 a season he would be spoken about as one of the worlds best. Let the world put hin down, as long asbwe and klopp appreciate what he does it really doesn't matter imo.

05 Jul 2020 12:05:54
He's the 1st number 9 to win the league with us in 30 years. come on seriously. He adds so much more than what you see on tv.

05 Jul 2020 12:07:13
I thought he was class vs Palace too. He's the best footballer at the club. I wasn't gutted when we missed out on werner.

05 Jul 2020 12:08:36
ArAy, fantastic summary of what Bobby brings to the team, now if someone can get an urgent message to him that the season has resumed we will all be cooking on gas!

05 Jul 2020 12:25:28
I agree with most of the comments. When Bobby plays well he makes the team better. Last year though he was average at best and injured at the business end of the season. This season he has been slightly better but no where near the top of his game like in 2017-2018 season. Bobby is not as important to the team as he used to be. No home goals will at some point become an issue if anything happens to Mane or Salah.

We of course are all over the moon with the past 2 seasons but nothing wrong with looking forward. I think we need one attacking player in order to stay on top. If Mane or Salah are missing we lose too much.

05 Jul 2020 12:38:49
Bobbie's inpact on the team's performances overall is no longer up for debate, IMO cos we all know/ should know what he brings to the table and how important his contributions are. I see that he has only scored 8 goals this season and tho that is a low amount, his overall play has been excellent. Btw, some of those goals goals that allowed us to win games by a one goal margin vs Spurs, Wolves, Flamengo etc. His assists as well have been crucial to the cause this season as well.

Now is Bobbie having a dry spell? Of course cos every player does. Can we get someone in to help out? Err, we tried for Werner who would have been perfect as a rotational player at first and could cover Salah and Mane as well but that didn't happen. Hopefully, we can get someone in to help out but let's wait and see.

05 Jul 2020 13:14:16
If Klopp keeps picking Bobby then Bobby is fine.

Don’t think any of us can really challenge Jurgen’s judgement can we?

05 Jul 2020 13:44:07
Mark08, I fully disagree that Bobbie is not as important to the team as he used to be. Bobbie is still very important to the team cos Klopp keeps picking him, end of story. Your stat that he is not important or as important anymore cos cos he is yet to score at Anfield in the PL is also a false argument cos for me, it does not tell the whole story.

The goals Bobbie has scored have ended up being winning goals for the most part at Spurs, Wolves, vs Monterrey, vs Flamengo, double at Leicester etc, all crucial to our title/ World club Cup tilt this season. So you see, he as still be a great influence regardless of his limited goal tally. Coupl that with his immense output when not scoring (as ArAy1969 described in his post) then he has had a very good season, all things considered. And him not scoring at home? No problem cos Salah and Mane are in charge of that as majority of their goals have come at Anfield.

If we can add someone to help out then why not cos after all, we wanted Timo Werner but let's not start moaning amd slating him just cos he has not scored in the stadium we prefer.

05 Jul 2020 14:50:42
We just have other players that are more important IMO

VVD, Allison, Salah, Mane, Hendo, Trent, Robbo these players to me are more important and all had better seasons this year and last than Bobby.

05 Jul 2020 14:57:33
If we had a more naturally creative midfielder, Bobby could realistically play 20 yards higher up the pitch.

He's not a bad goalscorer. He scored 27 goals only 2 years ago. Since Coutinho has left though, he's basically been dropping deeper and deeper to initiate attacks and get involved in the build up play.

If he didn't have to do that he'd be on the shoulder of the last man or in the 6 yard box a lot more frequently and in turn he'd score a lot more goals. Would potentially occupy space that Salah and Mane currently run into though so maybe they could score less?

I'm sure Klopp will have a plan to consistently evolve the team. He changed it up after his first 2 full seasons by dropping the gegenpress for counter pressing. Maybe he will now look to a more possession-based style seeing as we have the quality in the squad to play that way now. Evolution is key to never being figured out. You don' wait to be figured out, you tweak it every so often so that nobody can. Either way, i'll back Klopp. How can we not after Number 19?

05 Jul 2020 15:02:04
I love Firmino and think he often gets taken for granted. One thing I will note is our different approach we attack with now compared to previously makes firmino get less chances to be involved on the ball, 2 years ago our quick counter breaks and heavy pressing would see bobby have a more obvious role in creating attacks. Now that we often play with more patience and control against deeper defences we utilise our width and full backs more and even though firmino is still vital with his movement out of possession he gets less opportunity to be the danger man needed to put the finishing touches to chances.

In my view it's the altering tactical approach that can give the impression that he's not as important as he was when we played a different style and it's not at all the notion that his performance level has regressed. Even a traditional prolific no.9 would find it hard to be scoring freely unless we adjusted our system to use him and that likely comes at the expense of stifling salah and mane to an extent.

05 Jul 2020 15:47:54
Guess we will see today how Mane and Salah do and how we play without Firmino and with a more attacking midfield.

05 Jul 2020 16:27:33
Mark08, whoever is more important is a an argument I am not interested in cos everyone is important in diff. ways esp. in our team where the group approach prevails. In fact, I can argue that those who don't play often like Divok are the most important cos you have to keep those guys on side and keep them sharp and motivated cos as a manager, you know you are going to need them to play a blinder for you when required. Divock Origi is the best example.

You know who shared this notion? Jose Mourinho. He said that the best job he did at Inter when they won the treble was to keep the veteran international players like Samuel, Materazzi etc onside, motivated cos he knew he was going to need them to perform when called upon or to keep the squad in harmony. So that whole schtick about certain players being more important than others, is neither here or there, IMO. I did not say that. Jose did and Klopp has said that repeatedly. Peace.