Liverpool's wretched performance in the 3-0 defeat at Watford on Sunday had no redeeming features. There were so many poor individual displays that singling one out seems absurd -- at least at first.
Dave Usher gave Adam Lallana equal billing in rottenness with Roberto Firmino in his postmatch player ratings: Both received a meagre 3/10 score. Dave is normally a big admirer of former Southampton man Lallana, yet in this instance he gave the midfielder a little credit for making an effort, as he always does.
The same could not be said for Brazilian playmaker Firmino, and it's a worrying trend for a player that cost £29 million, just over the £25m paid for Lallana. Dave once gave Mario Balotelli 2/10 when Liverpool beat QPR 3-2 last season, and Firmino was lucky he didn't match the Italian this time around. At least Balotelli nearly scored that day.
Though Liverpool seem to be making a habit of such performances in recent weeks, fans will be especially peeved with players who don't appear to be giving all they can, at least physically. Firmino's summer signing from Hoffenheim came at a low point for Liverpool supporters. There wasn't much known about the player, but his credentials were good. He was a Brazil international, and the summer's previous business -- James Milner on a free and Danny Ings for a presumed small fee set by a tribunal -- hadn't generated much excitement.
Fans raced to YouTube and statistics-based websites to find out more about their new recruit. Largely it was just the size of the fee that excited them, convincing many that Liverpool still meant business. The Reds were then stalling on signing Christian Benteke from Aston Villa. The Firmino deal coming out of the blue recalled the days when the club did their business out of the media glare, efficiently and methodically.
As with most transfers, an element of trust and chance were involved and there were whispers from Germany that deemed the fee excessive and that Liverpool had pulled off this coup because no other major club was interested. Firmino's youth and promise negated such talk and since few had heard of Philippe Coutinho either, before he signed from Inter Milan in 2013 and excelled for the Reds, there was enough of a buzz about the player before the season began.
He started quietly, albeit with signs in a 0-0 draw with Arsenal that the player worked hard and had some neat touches. The number of ineffectual performances that followed were put down to the whole team's struggles under former manager Brendan Rodgers. There were different formations due to injuries and a seemingly perennial struggle with making the various pieces in the squad fit into a coherent shape. Clearly a new player in a new country could not be reasonably expected to rise above the ensuing chaos.
This began to look very familiar. The previous season Lazar Markovic had also signed for a £20m from Benfica, also with question marks over where he should play and how resilient he seemed in the face of the usual fast and furious English style. After two goals in 19 league appearances, Markovic has been loaned out to Fenerbahce.
Injuries to strikers once again saw Liverpool resorting to stranger formations with no traditional forwards at all. Klopp's arrival was felt to be promising for both ex-Bundesliga players in red, Firmino and Emre Can. The 3-1 win over Chelsea showed promise but it was the 4-1 victory over Manchester City that demonstrated what the Brazilian supplies when he's in form.
His general performance was excellent, but the reverse pass to Coutinho for Liverpool's second goal was inspired and had supporters finally purring for a talent they'd been told was there but had not seen too often. His finishing remained poor, though there was general sympathy in the light of his performance that put misses down to good keeping by Joe Hart. In truth, the England shot-stopper should have been left with no chance but few grumbled at the time. Firmino had arrived.
Or so everyone thought. His performances since have, on the whole, been dismal. The period of injury that straddled the transition between Rodgers and Klopp must be taken into account. The multiple changes to the team because of two games a week can't help either.
That's what makes the whole Watford performance so unsettling, not just Firmino's. It was felt with enough rest and preparation, similar to what happened before the impressive win at City, the Reds might produce some quality and commitment. The lack of either was alarming, somehow the Brazilian's paucity standing out from the overall incompetence around him.
His statistics from Vicarage Road are appalling, yet what hangs over every poor display is that match at the Etihad in November. The player showed what he could do. It was a thoughtful and most of all passionate and aggressive performance that he hasn't even come close to replicating since.
It doesn't always follow that a talented footballer will be able to fit in and play anywhere his manager asks him to. Some need a strict regime in order to get the best out of them. Klopp is still adjusting and blending, experimenting almost, yet the same front three that tore City apart played like strangers against Watford.
Firmino's large fee tends to be forgotten. There's been more focus on whether Benteke was worth the £32m paid to Villa. They certainly wouldn't be the first expensive flops in Liverpool's recent spending either. That may have provided a certain amount of camouflage for Firmino's poor showings. Not any more.
It was felt that Klopp would show more understanding with a player he was familiar with from the Bundesliga, but as results begin to deteriorate the coach is not going to select a team that might just as well have 10 players in it.
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