Roberto Firmino needs to be dropped against Everton

Liverpool should drop Roberto Firmino for the Everton clash.

The Brazilian has not at this usual standard this season and should be given a breather on Saturday.

His finishing hasn’t been excellent for the past two campaigns but that’s rarely mattered as Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah have picked up the slack.

But this season is appears to be different.

Roberto Firmino has been guilty of missing important chances and hasn’t been leading the Liverpool press with the same energy and precision.

Not only does the Brazilian appear down on his usual dynanacism, he’s also getting off fewer shots than normal.

According to stats from FBref, he’s making fewer successful pressures than ever before. Last season was Firmino’s most successful ever, at 31.3%, while for 2020/2021 that’s down to 21.5%.

As the heartbeat of the attack and the man who leads the press, Bobby normally is in a position to tackle defenders and those attempting to break through the lines.

But he’s not doing that either.

In 2017/2018 Firmino made 0.29 tackles on dribblers per 90. 2018/2019 was 0.17, 2019/2020 saw Firmino recover those levels and make 0.31 tackles on dribblers.

This campaign? Zero. He hasn’t made a single tackle in four games.

Firmino has also made less shots than normal (0.54 vs 1.11).

A spell out of the side could showcase the strength of depth that Liverpool have and give Takumi Minamino a chance to impress.

For a long time, Jurgen Klopp has struggle to rotate his forward line without witnessing much drop in quality. Diogo Jota has brought that ability on the flanks, while the arrival on Minamino can do the same for the central forward position.

It would also send a signal to the rest of the squad that Klopp is prepared to switch things up, even if it means dropping those who were previously thought to be undroppable.

This would be a big call to make against Everton, but on the base of Firmino’s performance against Aston Villa it won’t be a very risky one.