Liverpool had their spine ripped off but Roberto Firmino’s anger can help – John Aldridge

It was great to see Mohamed Salah come back among the goals at Old Trafford, but I thought it was Roberto Firmino who looked the most refreshed.

For 10 minutes in the second half, in particular, he was sensational.

He gave the ball away in an attack and it was like that triggered it and he got angry.

From there, for about 10 or 15 minutes, he regained his hunger and everything that he had been missing for a while was there.

Suddenly Liverpool came to life, they got the equalizer and some other chances.

It was all about making Firmino angry.

Liverpool seemed to come to life once they got really annoyed with himself.

Maybe it’s something he can use in the future because he knows, as fans do, that he has been fighting a lot for the past several months.

I’m not quite sure why, but look, everyone connected to the club is enjoying it.

Everyone thinks he is a fantastic player, but for some reason something has gone wrong for 18 months now.

Maybe even longer than that, but when he comes to life he’s so influencing the top three.

He just needs to get that little bit of desire and hunger for me back, because we need it. It just clicks.

Liverpool need Firmino back at their best and Diogo Jota to get in shape and then we might see a different side of them in the future.

At the moment, Firmino seems to go through the moves in games like he’s lacking a bit of hunger, desire, and maybe belief.

So that shows you how important it is because during those 10 or 15 minutes Liverpool had written United and it looked like they were going to take the lead.

Unfortunately, they weren’t able to take advantage of it until Firmino was fired.

Liverpool had their spine ripped off

Look what Liverpool have been missing this season.

They had their goalie, Alisson Becker, out for a few games, with all three middle halves injured with Joel Matip in and out of the squad and unable to go on a long streak together.

Jordan Henderson has been absent for games and Diogo Jota has not played since mid-December.

Now these players, no matter who you are, are good enough to form a massive backbone for any team.

This is one of the reasons why Liverpool did not do well last month. This is a huge problem for Jurgen Klopp.

Imagine the same for Sunday’s opponents Manchester United and they came into this game without Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford.

They couldn’t absorb those injuries as well as Liverpool because the rest of their squad are not as good.

But that’s why Liverpool are struggling.

It goes without saying that they missed Henderson because he is so inspiring in the middle of the park. We’ve missed him there in the last two games.

That’s one of the issues, but there have been other areas where things have gone wrong as well. Neither do the foundations of the central halves.

Fabinho was brilliant we can’t fault him at all but it was difficult when Klopp had to cut and change with different players next to him seemingly in every game.

Along with that, the top three have also stopped boiling, so it’s been hard to watch lately.

They missed Fabinho in midfield and I think some people forgot him because he is still playing.

What you’re looking at is Liverpool’s spine is totally ripped off.

Last year the center of the pitch is where they were amazing with Van Dijk, Gomez, Fabinho, Henderson and Alisson.

So anyone would have a hard time if these players were all out. This list of injuries is pretty ridiculous.

And that’s the main reason Liverpool are where they are right now.