Firmino: Klopp mentality a good fit for me
Roberto Firmino believes the fact he and manager Jürgen Klopp share a 'German mentality' can help him thrive as his debut season at Liverpool progresses.
The Brazilian has seen the start of his Anfield career somewhat disrupted by a back injury sustained during September's Capital One Cup victory over Carlisle United.
He made only his fourth start for the club in the fourth round of that competition on Wednesday, putting in arguably his best performance thus far as AFC Bournemouth were defeated 1-0 at Anfield.
And the 24-year-old, who left Bundesliga outfit Hoffenheim to move to the Barclays Premier League this summer, now expects to keep improving under the guidance of Klopp.
"I was playing in Germany for four and a half years so I have a bit of a German mentality," he said.
"And he has a typical German mentality because he is funny, he is easy to work with and I'm sure he's going to pass that on to us.
"Hopefully things will improve but we are already picking up what he wants to do at the club.
"The manager told me to do my best and to be happy playing football, that's what I love to do."
Firmino's impressive showing against the Cherries has put him in contention to retain his starting place against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge today.
On his cup performance and chances of featuring in the capital, he added: "I am very happy [to get] nearly 90 minutes with the club. Everything went well and I'm happy to be playing for Liverpool.
"With the help of my teammates I expect and hope to carry on.
"I hope [to play against Chelsea] but the last word belongs to the manager. To be honest I'm well prepared for whatever comes."
Jose Mourinho's side have suffered from patchy form this season and go into the game trailing the Reds by three points in the table.
But Firmino refuses to underestimate the reigning Premier League champions.
"I hope it will be a good match," he continued.
"We all know that Chelsea has a good team, they are good players, they are the champions.
"But on this side we also have a good team, good players and hopefully things will work out for us and we will get the win. That is what we want and every player will be happy.
"We all know wins bring good energy to the team and hopefully we carry on winning because this will keep our spirits up."