Liverpool 1-0 Wolves: Five things we learned – the truth about Firmino

Firmino will never be a 20 goal a season striker

For a glorious season we harboured beliefs and fantasies that Firmino was going to complete one of the most remarkable turnarounds in modern football and become a 20-goal-a-season force of nature.

The Brazilian could become the most lethal anti-striker in the game, we thought and we hoped but that hasn’t been the case. Instead, Firmino seems to have regressed slightly and delivered on expectations of a playmaker.

Six goals and four assists in the Premier League from 19 games is a good return but it’s not the heights of elite forward, but Liverpool don’t need him to be. Firmino has reinvented that position and plays it in a way that creates space and opportunities for Mane and Salah.

We can’t get too concerned about his lack of goals when that is not his whole reason for being an Anfield. We saw how deep he drops to get the ball and how important Bobby is to driving the side forward and that is a lot more important than bagging 20 a campaign.

Liverpool have the inside forwards for that. It would be brilliant if Roberto Firmino could match or better his 15 goals and seven assists from 2017/2018, but it looks like those days are beyond him.