'Work ethic, flair, magic - Roberto Firmino has it all'
James Milner has lavished praise upon teammate Roberto Firmino for the mix of finesse and fortitude he has evidenced increasingly regularly for Liverpool of late.
After a slow start to his Reds career following a summer switch from Hoffenheim, the Brazilian has exploded since the turn of the year, scoring eight goals and providing four assists in 16 games.
Milner insists Firmino's quality was never in doubt given what he had seen in training, though he has been surprised by the speed with which his teammate has adapted to life in the Barclays Premier League.
The No.7 also thinks there is even more to come from a forward whose importance to Jürgen Klopp's side appears to grow every week.
"It's very difficult for any player changing club, never mind a player moving to a new country, trying to learn a new language, and playing in the Premier League," he told Liverpoolfc.com.
"It's obviously a lot different to the Bundesliga and other leagues around the world, so doing all that adaptation and going through that, sometimes it might be 18 months to two years until you see the best of players and he's managed to do that over the last few months.
"All credit to him for being able to adapt that quickly, and he's shown what a good player he is.
"You could see the touches and the quality [in training] and I suppose it was just getting up to that pace of play and being familiar with your surroundings and being comfortable.
"He works so hard for the team. He's got so much ability on the ball, that flair, that moment of magic, but he works for the team.
"When he's up there, he's setting the tempo as well, so I think he's done really well to adapt and I think he'll just keep improving."
Liverpool's recent form at Anfield has mirrored that of their No.11, with home supporters having witnessed three wins in their last three visits to the Reds' ground.
Milner underlined the importance of players and fans continuing to work together in order to make trips to Merseyside the stuff of nightmares for the opposition.
"I think the way we play, we're always going to be dangerous away from home, definitely," he added.
"So you want to make Anfield a fortress and a difficult place to play. We all know how good the crowd is there and the noise, and we need to give them a reason to get behind us.
"If we can keep getting wins, make it a really difficult place for people to come, get the fans behind us knowing that we're going to do everything to get that result, I think between us we can make it a formidable place."