Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino enjoyed his best season in a Liverpool shirt last season scoring 27 goals, but so far this season the goals have dried up somewhat for the former Hoffenheim striker.
He is the focal point of the Liverpool forward line, in an attack widely regarded as one
Firmino has looked a shadow of the player he was last season and has scored just two goals in the Premier League, with his game lacking that same intensity and quality.
The Anfield club are using a different style of play where defence has become the rock of the side and more a more structured style is preferred - with Firmino
It is his absence that seems to show a correlation with the goalscoring slump in which Firmino finds himself. Since Oxlade-Chamberlain was injured, Firmino has just four goals in 22 games, having scored 11 goals in the previous 22 game with him in the side.
A one in two ratio to more than one in five clearly shows how much his game has slumped. This is backed up with 10 of Firmino’s 27 goals last season coming when he had the former Arsenal man on the field with particular eye catching link ups between the two seen in the wins over Manchester City and West Ham.
Some may argue it could be fatigue from the sheer amount of football he has played in the last year but the stats do back up the fact that Firmino performs better with Oxlade-Chamberlain in the side.
Source : 90min