I don’t think anyone is making him the scapegoat, Kabak or Thiago seem to be the best placed for that title at the moment.
Criticising his performances though? There’s some of that going on. Maybe there’s an argument that says Firmino is playing well and these performances aren’t worthy of criticism. That’s certainly an interesting take.
1 goal in his last 14 appearances probably suggests otherwise.
Yeah, he’s not playing well. The things he was always weak at or not great and are even more evident in these times. Some of his weaknesses are nothing new to me. Salah’s numbers are always high, but I’d argue that he’s not playing better either. Even he has dropped in the performance part. As a goalscorer, he’s still great. Bobby will be a bit more important even when not playing well than we think. Of course, Klopp and his staff can’t be blind. But at the moment I don’t think we’re changing anything. Probably a bit more when Jota returns. Decisions to make in 21/22 (in a normal market it would’ve been now, in 20/21), with so many contracts up to 2023.
He’s nowhere near the root cause of the problem. On similar numbers to the last two years. Third in goals, might score a number less than last season in a campaign where we’re struggling generally. Leads the club in assists. Yesterday, Everton scored a quick goal and then sat in a low defense. That always makes forwards look less effective.
Hey you put that crowd around me I’d look good. 
You know what for someone who has been in such awful fucking form and claims the fan support in the stadium matters so much you’d think he’d maybe think twice before liking Richalisons Instagram post celebrating winning against us. If Bobby hadn’t been shooting and passing like an out of form Benteke Richarlison couldn’t have made the fucking post for him to like it!
Can anyone recall any top Brazilian players still playing at their peak entering 30?! They seem to peak younger and be done by 30 for whatever reason. Must be the samba / party lifestyle?! Highly doubt Bobby’s out on the piss every night though he’s a workhorse maybe he’s just absolutely knackered. He’s been a pressing machine for years. Doesn’t seem like there’s much left in the tank, he looks spent.
Why is he liking Richardlsons instagrams of him celebrating against us. First time they have beaten us in fucking years and that’s liked. Even Ali laughing and chatting with Pickford after the game pissed me off.
Form is temporary.
Class is permanent.
Let’s stay patient with the lad. He has given us so much over the years, he deserves it.
Not writing him off. Don’t want him to leave in the next 1-2 years but it’s time we bring in a real CF.
We saw it with Jota. Our Front3 didn’t start the season very good but when Diogo came on things started to get better.
Bobby needs competition and we need an alternative to the False9.
I’d like to agree with you but we all know that football players reach a point where the levels of the past become impossible to reach again. For some that is 35-37 and for some its even as low as the mid to late 20’s. He’s been off for the greater part of two years now. He’s never been the quickest but he looks even more sluggish off the mark and over the ground than he ever as. I really hope its form mate but he’s going to be entering his 30’s now.
As @GermanRed said, maybe he needs competition and a fire lit up his ass. I hope that’s all it is.
I think it’s a tactical issue myself. With Mane and Salah tucking in along with a deep blocked defense he’s being asked to deliver in the most congested part of the field. He’s clearly trying to drop into space etc. but that takes him too far away from goal.
The more I think about things the more I feel we need to look at a 4-2-3-1 and have a good think about where he plays. The problem we have is numbers available to play that shape.
This is what he shouldn’t be doing, we need that magician between their lines not trying to get past them. The biggest problem we have since Klopp came is getting players between the lines to cause havoc, yet we have players players who came do that and Firmino is one of them (oh minamino has gone for a while).
Oh! and before changing formation I think we should look at style, positioning and movement, both teams on the pitch start with 11 it’s what they do that counts not where they are on a piece of paper!
To be fair Firmino has been doing that if you watch closely. The problem is after that. There’s no space between the lines as they’re cramped against the opposition 18 yard line.
Formation has a huge influence on selection, movement and how you defend / attack so just shouting at the TV “move more” doesn’t address the issue.
With 4-2-3-1 you naturally start with 2 at the base of midfield which can cover the full backs. This can give them more freedom and cut out any long diagonals. But you sacrifice something higher up as the 3 need to play a touch deeper to add that midfield strength. Then of course you have the lone striker and there’s questions over who that is and how they play.
Currently I don’t think we have enough fit players to make that work 100%. For starters you need 2 of Fabinho, Henderson, Gini and Thiago free for the base of midfield. Jota is also needed for one of the 3 or the loan striker. it also raises a question on whether Firmino plays or not which would probably suit some on here.
Surely it’d be Jota as the one up top if we switched to that formation, with Bobby, Sadio and Mo as the three behind him?
And if Bobby continues to struggle, we have Shaq, Curtis and Ox able to play that role too.
Although they’re all just temporary placeholders until Harvey is ready. 
True but he gives up and falls deep as you pointed out. The problem I see is he doesn’t use the simple options propsed to him, soo often he tries turning taking 5/6 touches rather than just feeding the ball to the obvious outlet. After 3 touches or more, against park the bus teams, those supporting him have no more room to move.
It all comes back to us slowing the game down too much. We need to work on the acceleration aspect and we just have too many players who don’t see or won’t take the opportunities to accelerate. In fact we have too much of the opposite, a player accelerates the game the recieving player slows it down. Fuck no play the tempo FFS!
This is the problem with too many players thinking they are playmakers and Firmino is one of them. We only need 1 playmaker, either Thiago or Henderson, the rest should just follow their lead.
Certainly possible and I personally suspect why he was brought in with Thiago. Some evolution if you like.
I suppose Bobby could play there as well if it was felt that counter pressing would be needed.
Overall I think the big question is who would play in the middle of the 3. Would that be Bobby or AN Other? I don’t know to be honest.
Or just use 2 swiss knives that do everything in Hendo and Camavinga.
Fair comment. I would add that I think there’s a time and a place to accelerate a game. That time is usually when a slight opening is created or the defensive shape is manipulated so that you can create an overload or whatever.
A penny for Klopps thoughts on how he sees that happening
I think subconsciously, our attacking players are not trusting our current defenders as much as VVD and Gomez/Matip. They tend to take more risks last time, knowing that even if they lose the ball, VVD is there to mop it up. So the movement is faster, the passes are more direct and risky.
Now, it is all about safety first, only attack if there is a clear opening. Coupled with our attackers losing their scoring touch, it comes at a detriment to our results.
He’s 29, and has at least four good years of football in himself. Most players who decline early are those who rely on pace (not his case) or due to repeated bad injuries (not his case).
Also, his dip is more like since the start of the covid shite, thus around a year. Before that, he was fantastic. Without him in top form, we couldn’t have won all our league games and decided the league before the pandemics began. Yeah, he had problems to score at Anfield, but scored away from home, and provided a lot of assists anyway.
I’ve said it already: I’m sure that as soon as people are allowed back into the stadia, he’ll blossom again.