Shrewsbury's Ryan Bowman wants to model game on Liverpool's Roberto Firmino
Shrewsbury striker Ryan Bowman has opened up on the ‘selfless’ Premier League frontman he is looking to model his all-round game on.
Experienced centre-forward Bowman netted his 10th and 11th goals of the season for Town in the last two games against Oxford and Morecambe.
He is looking to add to his tally and catch partner and leading goalscorer Daniel Udoh before the season is over having ended a run of 14 games without a goal.
During that draught, however, Bowman won praise from manager Steve Cotterill about his other qualities as a centre-forward, such as tireless running and hold-up play. Bowman offered up the name of Liverpool’s Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino as the perfect example of a striker whose value goes far beyond finding the net. “Of course (we have responsibility to score), you’re a striker, that’s what you get brought to football clubs to do, to score goals, it’s to score goals,” said former Hereford, Motherwell and Exeter striker Bowman.
“But a lot of strikers nowadays, even in the top leagues, it’s not just about goals.
“For me Firmino is the biggest one for that, his all-round game is unbelievable and he doesn’t score as many goals as (Sadio) Mane and (Mohamed) Salah.
“But the reason Mane and Salah score a lot of goals is because of what Firmino’s job is. Obviously I’m not comparing myself anywhere near to him, but that’s what I look up to. The manager has emphasised to me and Dan, we don’t score week in week out but the other side of the game you do is really good.”
Bowman was brought to Montgomery Waters Meadow by Cotterill last summer for a first crack at a full season in League One, in which he turned 30 in November.
Reflecting on his first term with Town, he added: “I’ve got 10 goals and that’s a respectable figure, I’ve played well in games and not played well in games, hence I came out the team.
“But for my first season, first crack at League One, I think I’ve done alright for myself, hopefully next season I can improve that.
“We’re only look ahead of us up the table. From a personal point of view you want to score every time on the pitch. We want to hit our targets and push ourselves up the table.”
