15 Feb 2018 11:54:22
So, i would like to start off by saying i really rate Firmino and think he is one of the best and unique strikers in world football. But i have a huge issue with people specially on this site undervaluing Salah
because of Firmino. And that Salah is replecable compared to Firmino which is quite frankly just plain stupid, a joke if you will. i'am sorry but what RW's are around that we could
sign who could score even half the goals he does? You understand he is not an out and out striker right?

Do you guys actually watch any thing other than the ball and who has it at his feet? Because you will clearly see that Salah is marked by up to 3 players every single game, creating more space and chances for the likes of Firmino and Mane.

Just watch Firmino's goal yesterday, and see how both the defenders are more worried about Salah and leave acres of space for Firmino to score, or Mane's 5th where basically no one of the 2 defenders in the middle come out to press Mane before he shoots because both are drawn to the right to cover up the passing lane to Salah again giving Mane about 5 minutes to pick his spot. I can assure you that Salah will be irreplacable just as much as Firmino would be and even more so because there are not many players in world football who have that kind of quality to go with that kind of pace and acceleration, its no coincidence Firmino is having his best season playing with Salah taking up 2-3 defenders concentrating mainly on him.

And not to take away anything from Firmino and his impressive numbers but out of his 21 goals, most of them are tap ins or first time finishes due to the chances being clear cut chances, compared to over 16 goals to Salah that came from individual skill and brilliance. Firmino has 3-4 of those in comparison.

For forwards you look mainly at goals, assists, 2nd assists, key passes, big chances created, dribbles completed, shot accuracy/ effeciency, movement off the ball and workrate. (and other more complicated
factors that i will not go into) .
In every single one of those apart from assists and workrate Salah comes out on top in the entire club
and in the top 5 players in every single department apart from assists in all of the top 5 leagues in europe and he is not an out and out striker even though Klopp has used him more in a front 2 with Firmino recently.

Its not only about goals with Salah and even though Firmino deserves the credit he is getting putting down Salah's achievments is nothing short of comical. He is only the 13th player in the club's history to hit 30 goals, and not to mention the 15 other records he has broken in his first season at the club, if this season is Salah's level of performance going forward he will not be here for long if we don't start winning trophies from next season. Without a shadow of a doubt for me the best player at the club this season followed closely by Firmino. And not only that, i'd go as far to say the 2nd best player in the league after Kevin de Bruyne. No one comes even close to his numbers, and comparing him to f. eks to Harry Kane is BS because one is a striker and one is a right winger. Show me those right wingers that are
available who can come close to half his numbers. They don't even have half his numbers in far weaker leagues. Rant over.

1.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 12:02:54
Why not just appreciate both.

2.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 12:04:12
They are both awesome and both compliment each other, take one out and the other will lose something from their game though.
No player is irreplaceable as such but if we lost Firmino I feel we would have to change the whole system, he can’t really be replaced like for like, lose salah and we could find another winger, he would be a massive loss but we wouldn’t have to change the system as such.

3.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 12:18:10
And please can we add Mane to this.
He's had (in my opinion) unfair criticism hurled at him this season.
He has totally been targeted this season which is why he hasn't hit the heights of last but he has still been great.
The three of them together are pretty much unstoppable.
Love being a Liverpool at the moment.
If we beat Porto 5-0 at home then we will have scored more goals in the Champions League than Everton have in the Premiership :)

{Ed025's Note - if everton played porto i would be gutted if we did,nt thrash them flidby...they are an absolute joke mate..

4.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 12:26:03
I prefer Firmino because he is a more complete player who hasn't sent his agent to Madrid. Salah i love too, but he is already looking at a route out. Plus he relies heavily on pace and will be finished by 30-33 years old or basically after one really bad injury. Firmino is so clever that he could easily do a Totti and play until 40 by adapting his style.

There may well be no right forward as good as Salah, but i could list a lot of very good right wingers. However i can't list very many good false 9's. Messi and Fekir? Possibly Son from Spurs. That is all people mean when they say Firmino would be harder to replace. Salah is the best in the world at his position still, whilst Firmino will always be behind Messi until he retires if we're honest with ourselves. So i can see the other side of the argument too.

I love them both really and i think they both profit from each other. Nobody is putting Salah down. Maybe he isn't getting all of our undivided appreciation, but that is a good thing, no? The scary thing is that i think fit and in top form, Mane can be better than both of them at times.

Just enjoy the whole front 3 because we haven't had 3 forwards this good since Barnes, Beardsley and Aldridge.

Firmino is a lot of peoples favourite because he is more committed and works slightly harder. Salah is just as good individually and arguably better. Who on earth scores 30 goals from the wing by February when they're not even a regular penalty taker? Nobody. Not even Ronaldo could without penalties to boost his tally. I can't even name a striker who can do it. Cavani maybe?

We have 3 special players and i won't pit any of them against each other, even though Firmino is admittedly my favourite. He's just "loco". Salah celebrates with a smile. Firmino takes off his shirt and fly kicks an invisible Chuck Norris! His passion endears him to people and maybe that makes us a little biased in the heat of discussion sometimes. I'm just excited where that whole trio can take us!

5.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 12:35:40
Salah is world class. He's the second fastest EVER to hit 30 Liverpool goals. Firmino is improving and adding goals to his skill set, exciting times for him and us.

6.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 12:42:35
Very long post. I don't think I've seen one post where someone has said Salah is not Amazing.

7.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 12:59:57
Ed025 has to fishing there! Everton shipped 5 at home to Atalanta. Although to be fair. you will always have the famous night at Goodison under the lights where your boys managed a credible 2-2 draw with Apollon Limassol.

{Ed025's Note - if appollon limassol played porto i would expect them to beat porto about 10-0 mate..

8.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 13:12:21
Come off it es25 your lot couldn't beat an egg.

{Ed025's Note - we are absolute pants p1...but still miles ahead of porto mate..

9.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 13:52:36
Firmino is our system around which others are build hence he is the most important element. Now regarding who could score all those goals! Those are a part of the system that creates itself. Salah wouldn’t be half the player without Firmino.

There are lot of wingers who could score goals but I have not seen a single player that is even remotely close to Firmino! Firmino was world class even at Hoffenheim, He had the best assist ratio before moving to Anfield. Taking nothing away from Salah but without Firmino we wouldn’t survive!

10.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 13:53:47
I think you're misunderstanding what people mean by replaceable. They don't mean we won't suffer, won't take a hit on quality etc. What they mean is the ability to continue our style, system and general way that the team operates. With Salah, we could find another hard working, fast, skilful winger with enough money.

They exist if price is no object. Yes they probably won't be as effective as Salah, we will almost certainly score less and have a long period without some of the more intricate movements Salah has already developed without the teams. But we wouldn't have to buy someone that the whole team has to change how they play to fit in.

In replacing Firmino, I cannot think of anyone with both the close control, the phenomenal work rate and the goalscoring ability of Firmino. Not a single player can do all three at that level - they are better goal scorers, better players with the ball at their feet and harder workers, but no combination of them all at his level.

To replace him we'd either have to buy a false 9 and sacrifice a huge amount of goalscoring power, or an out and out striker and change entirely how our midfield brings the ball forward and our wings support the build up play. That's why he's irreplaceable - not because he's so much better, but because there isn't anyone who can bring any close equivalent of what he does to a team.

As for who is better? I'll let you know when one of them leaves.

11.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 13:54:28
Porto would school Everton.

12.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 14:16:34
Salah has been just incredible so far - the best player in the league IMO except perhaps KDB or Kane. Having said that, I can’t help but love Firmino just as much for his ability to make the game seem so beautiful, it’s like he owns space and time sometimes, and those no look goals and karate kicks show his cheeky character and love of the game.

Both very very special, and Mane isn’t far behind, and would be right up there on form.

13.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 14:54:35
Firmino is doing it in successive seasons.
Salah has had an amazing first season, expect him to be targeted next season. Hopefully he will overcome it 👍.

14.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 15:11:50
Ron, Salah is already targeted every match by multiple players. I would agree to assume that teams may get more intelligent in their defending against Salah, but there's only so much you can do against players of his quality. Leaving out Messi, there are no better right-sided players in the world - none.

15.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 15:48:09
What a ridiculous thread, show me one poster who doesn’t think Salah is a fantastic player! We have a couple of amazing players right now, we can appreciate them all, why rant about something so trivial?

16.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 16:33:20
Hey smeg head sorry but I just don't think salah is fantastic.

17.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 16:20:24
I like Everton fans more than any other on the planet (apart from ours) I think your Uefa cup would have been very different under big Sam but porto are not as bad as you're making them out to be and they are not the first decent side to be demolished by Liverpool FC.

Porto had a tough qualifying group and beat some decent sides. To suggest some eufa cup cannon fodder (who I've never heard of) would beat a team in the business end of the world's elite club competition 10 0 is ludicrous, if truth be told, porto would beat them as they beat everyone at home. We done well. While I don't like fans who can't be gracious in victory (making Everton jokes) I equally feel people should be gracious on defeat.

18.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 17:02:41
Supersalah, Ed025 has played you mate 😂 he's taking the micky because lots of our fans were suggesting Porto are a terrible team who we can beat in the second leg, even if we make loads of changes!

This is Ed025. He is here for one reason; to make Liverpool fans look silly. He's very good at it unfortunately 😉 actually there is a second reason; he is in a civil partnership with Harry! Negativeredwalter was best man. It was the most depressing wedding I've ever been to.

19.) 15 Feb 2018
15 Feb 2018 18:16:46
Mk Harry's all mine.