Revelling in Liverpool’s latest irrepressible display on Sunday, although not their position on top of the Premier League, Jurgen Klopp lauded one of his strikers for their “outstanding moments” in the 6-1 thrashing of Watford. He was talking about Daniel Sturridge, who did not set foot on the pitch until the 70th minute and whose predicament says everything about Roberto Firmino’s standing at Anfield.
Klopp was right about Sturridge’s impact. The England international was twice denied by the crossbar, it was his shot that led to Georginio Wijnaldum’s first Liverpool goal and his all-round application ensured there was no letup for a ravaged Watford defence.
Yet the outlook has changed dramatically for Sturridge since he was part of the devastating attack that last took Liverpool to the Premier League summit in 2014. He is now on the outside looking in as Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mané and Firmino create a fluid, penetrating trident and the test of Sturridge’s patience may well have been on Klopp’s mind when volunteering praise of the 27-year-old’s 20-minute cameo.
Firmino’s flourishing form at the centre of Liverpool’s front three is chiefly responsible for Sturridge the substitute. There is little between the two Brazilians in terms of their importance to fulfilling Klopp’s craving for “emotional football” at Anfield, while Mané’s pace, intelligence and finishing have brought a balance since his £34m summer arrival from Southampton that was lacking last season. Liverpool’s new sporting director, Michael Edwards, incidentally, was involved in the acquisitions of Mané and Firmino, helping explain why Klopp and the owner, Fenway Sports Group, looked only internally when deciding to alter the club’s management structure and to promote Edwards from technical director last week.
Liverpool’s recruitment of Firmino for £29m from Hoffenheim in the summer of 2015 impressed the then holidaying Klopp and the player’s presence partly shaped the German’s belief that the squad was capable of so much more when he replaced Brendan Rodgers four months later. The Brazil international encapsulates the change and improvement that Klopp has overseen at Liverpool since.
Firmino has scored five and produced three assists in his last seven Premier League appearances for the division’s leading goalscorers.
Only four other strikers – Sergio Agüero, Diego Costa, Harry Kane and Jermain Defoe – have scored more league goals in the calender year than the Brazilian’s 14. Yet the 25-year-old’s importance to Liverpool is not measured by goals alone.
His pressing, passing and movement are fundamental to Liverpool’s formidable attacking play, as the fifth goal against Watford demonstrated. Firmino, as he did when sealing victory at Crystal Palace the previous weekend, was first to react and attack the space between central defender and left-back as soon as Jordan Henderson took possession in central midfield. This time he had to make up ground on the defender, brushing José Holebas aside as he did so before nutmegging the defender with a beautifully weighted pass that invited Mané to convert his second goal of the game. Everything Klopp demands from a centre-forward.
Last week it was put to the Liverpool manager that, compared with Agüero at Manchester City, Costa at Chelsea or Kane at Tottenham Hotspur, his team are less reliant on an individual for the degree of menace that any team with designs on the Premier League title needs. Klopp replied that every individual was vital for what he wanted to achieve this season.
“We rely on all the players,” he insisted. “I had the same idea at Dortmund. Everything was about the team but against Real Madrid (Robert) Lewandowski scored four goals and we benefited from all the praise. Had he not scored we would have lost 1-0. Everything we do is about the players and you can’t lose one and still have the perfect situation. So at the moment it is OK.”
OK? That is also Klopp’s message about the form of his team and their league position while he leaves growing expectation about a title challenge in mid-November to others. A manager who knows what it takes to win a championship knows not to be content after 11 games and Klopp again issued a call for improvement after the victory against Watford. There is depth to the new Premier League leaders, with not only Sturridge on the bench on Sunday but Wijnaldum, Simon Mignolet and Divock Origi.
Origi did not feature at all and yet, with the desperately unfortunate Danny Ings out for the season and Mané bound for the Africa Cup of Nations in January, his manager is on record as saying Liverpool may need to sign a forward/winger when the transfer window reopens.
Questions are already being asked over Liverpool’s capacity to sustain a high-intensity game for the duration of the season when the absence of European football offers a counterargument to what is a premature matter. “Nothing else has happened,” repeated Klopp when asked about going top on Sunday.  But what has happened is nine wins in the last 10 games, the only disruption to that sequence coming from a Manchester United team whose overriding function at Anfield was to stop Firmino, Coutinho, Mane, Adam Lallana and co. Everyone else is struggling for a solution at present.