Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool > FC Barcelona)

Finally back on the scoresheet. Made up for him, you could see the relief on his face. Expecting a flurry of goals for the rest of the season now that he's got that monkey off his back.

Just got to do a little work on his finishing, 3 goals from 76 shots is almost identical to Henderson's ratio of 2 from 50. Both need a stint in finishing school.

I'm always shouting at him not to shoot.. but we desperately needed that yesterday! Well in!!

(his shooting does need huge improvement though)

If he keeps making passes like he has to Sturridge, I don't care if he scores goals. Sturridge, Coutinho, Suarez...don't care who scores and who sets up who as long as the ball goes in the back of the net.

Coutinho-angry-no-trying-to-improve

Philippe Coutinho's array of attacking abilities have been showcased in full in recent weeks, but it's fair to say Liverpool fans have seen a different side to his game – and it's all due to assiduous work on the Melwood training pitches.
 
Courtesy of Daniel Sturridge, the Brazilian has earned the nickname 'The Magician' this season, and he lived up to his moniker as he proved instrumental in the Reds sweeping aside Everton and Arsenal at Anfield.
 
But in addition to producing 'wow moments' against the Blues and the Gunners from a central role, Coutinho operated diligently in midfield, harrying, harassing and helping win possession back for the team.
 
It was an indication that the effort and determination to improve the defensive side of his game was paying dividends for the 21-year-old.
 
So much so, in fact, some supporters pointed out on social media networks that Coutinho was taking to the field almost angry.
 
"I think it's just an impression," the man himself says at Melwood with a smile. "I always do my best and help my teammates when I'm on the pitch.
 
"I've been trying to improve intensity, marking and defence forms in training. I believe this is helpful at matches as we may take the ball from the opposition and it's easier to attack when we have more blank spaces. I've been trying to improve in this aspect.
 
"I've been trying to do this in training as well as in games. I believe this is a positive aspect at which I've been improving."
 
That's not to say Coutinho's contributions in an offensive capacity have taken a back seat. On the contrary, in fact.
 
His signature move - the expertly-executed through ball - helped carve out goals for Sturridge against both Everton and Arsenal, while the No.10 also netted a crucial equaliser en route to a last-gasp 3-2 win at Fulham.
 
So, is Coutinho feeling at the peak of his seemingly unlimited powers?
 
"It's hard to say that but I'm always working to be in good form for matches," he replies. "The team have been performing very well recently and of course all players do well as a consequence because we encourage and help each other.
 
"I didn't play so well in some games but I've had the chance to improve and I'm looking forward to improving even more going forward."
 
Coutinho's strike at Craven Cottage - a left-foot curler from 20 yards - was his third goal of the season so far.
 
"It had been a while since I had scored my last goal," he ponders. "Sure it's good to score; however, the most important thing is that we win as a team.
 
"We've been playing well recently and I hope we can keep this pace."



[url=http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/155701-coutinho-angry-no-trying-to-improve

F**k ME it took me 30 minutes but I think i've finally posted a News Article correctly. Don't ask me how I did it cause I couldn't tell ya. 

Quiet game today, did he even touch the ball in the 2nd half?

Has played a lot of games so I'd say tiredness certainly played a part.

Quiet game today, did he even touch the ball in the 2nd half?

Has played a lot of games so I'd say tiredness certainly played a part.

Don't buy into the tiredness argument. I'd just say he had a quiet game. First half he made some good runs and threatening ventures towards the goal but without those defence slicing passes.

I'd have taken Cout off today in the Allen change. Fantastic player, but imo Allen is doing enough to start ahead of him.
In saying that, if we keep winning games, not going to argue overmuch with BR.

Has anyone seen Philippe? He's been missing since about 2.15. Last seen heading into the dressing room at half time.

He has been average again. He suffers the Maxi Rodriguez syndrome! He produces some great things once in a while but between these, he is invisble on the field.

He should be dropped for Allen. Not based on this only performance but because we are struggling at the back and COutinho is not vital to our attack,

Most fickle group of fans I've ever seen. Dropping Coutinho?


Wouldn't be my first thought. Even when not straight out creating chances...just his presence on the pitch causes the opposing defense worries. You can see it in the way they mark him and the way they try to bully him. To his credit, those challenges where he used to just go down and look for a call, he's standing up and battling back. I actually enjoy watching him more now that he's gained a certain edge or toughness to his play.

This talk of dropping Coutinho is hilarious. The guy is only 21 and on a good day can tear any team apart in the PL. So he isn't consistently brilliant every game but apart from Suarez who in the squad is? Sure we could drop him in favour of Allen to try make us more robust but at what cost to out creativity? Would we score as many goals without Cou's creative influence? I think not.

This talk of dropping Coutinho is hilarious. The guy is only 21 and on a good day can tear any team apart in the PL. So he isn't consistently brilliant every game but apart from Suarez who in the squad is? Sure we could drop him in favour of Allen to try make us more robust but at what cost to out creativity? Would we score as many goals without Cou's creative influence? I think not.

I really think he is not that important to our team. Sterling is more valuable to the attack than Coutinho IMO. Yes he is young but had Moses vanished as Coutinho did yesterday, we would have said ridiculous things on him. Coutinho as good as he is, should perform better. He is a midfielder and the number of times he lost the ball due to his lack of concentration or laziness is not tolerable. On the other hand, we have Allen who is fighting well for a place in the team. It's just respecting others' effort... If you start you should prove that you deserve the starting place over Allen and at the moment it is not the case.

I really think he is not that important to our team.

Maybe the most laughable thing I've read on here this week and there have been some real laughable posts as of late.

This talk of dropping Coutinho is hilarious. The guy is only 21 and on a good day can tear any team apart in the PL. So he isn't consistently brilliant every game but apart from Suarez who in the squad is? Sure we could drop him in favour of Allen to try make us more robust but at what cost to out creativity? Would we score as many goals without Cou's creative influence? I think not.

I get the point you are trying to make, but we should never sacrifice the performance of the team just to get one player more time/experience.  Unfortunately, Coutinho struggles in the box-to-box LCM midfield role he is being asked to play.  He gives the ball away too cheaply in dangerous areas and puts us under pressure too often.  To get the best out of him he needs to be played as a #10 or at LW in a 4-3-3 where he can be given minimal defensive responsibilities.  However, the problem with this is that it would require one of Suarez/Studge to focus more on defending and we need them to only focus on attacking and scoring goals.  If we had another player like Hendo who was left footed then we could play a 4-4-2 diamond with Coutinho as our #10 behind Suarez and Studge.  However, this would then be at the expense of Sterling who has been in fantastic form lately!!  It's a good problem for BR to have as it also allows him the flexibility to mix things up.  He just needs to figure out how to get the best out of the team on a weekly basis, and if this means omitting Coutinho then that's what needs to be done.

My biggest problem with him came yesterday when Bony was on a run in the build up to the Shelvey goal. Bony had just cut inside and although Coutinho probably wasn't close enough to make a tackle he was close enough to put pressure on him but instead he literally just stood there and watched Bony go past, seconds later they made it 2-2.

I sometimes wonder what our fans are looking at/seeing when they watch us play. 

Ok so he's not producing 90 minutes of brilliance (who is?) but he's playing more of a classic cm rather than a no.10 and like any other player he's still adapting to the new role. 

He still has magic in his feet, can still do the impossible and can still win a game.  He's 21 years old for heavens sake, he's allowed to make mistakes because that's how he's going to get even better.

I'm sure given the chance some of you would prefer to have 9 robots playing (plus Danny & Luis) that are programmed never to make a mistake than have the 6 or 7 young, talented, attack minded players we currently have.

Send him out on loan I hear you shout, let him cost other teams points, bring him back when he's a WC winner and can make a positive contribution. 

Ffs he's not the finished article, he's probably got another 4 or 5 years before he's hitting his peak and that to me is a fu**ing scary prospect.  As it is he's another player that the opposition need to worry about, I'm sure they'd love it if we dropped him 

Same old knee jerk posts!! when he was injured we could not wait to get him back as he is our main creative spark in midfield. Has an off day and well you only need to read some if the posts...........sigh

I sometimes wonder what our fans are looking at/seeing when they watch us play. 

Ok so he's not producing 90 minutes of brilliance (who is?) but he's playing more of a classic cm rather than a no.10 and like any other player he's still adapting to the new role. 

He still has magic in his feet, can still do the impossible and can still win a game.  He's 21 years old for heavens sake, he's allowed to make mistakes because that's how he's going to get even better.

I'm sure given the chance some of you would prefer to have 9 robots playing (plus Danny & Luis) that are programmed never to make a mistake than have the 6 or 7 young, talented, attack minded players we currently have.

Send him out on loan I hear you shout, let him cost other teams points, bring him back when he's a WC winner and can make a positive contribution. 

Ffs he's not the finished article, he's probably got another 4 or 5 years before he's hitting his peak and that to me is a fu**ing scary prospect.  As it is he's another player that the opposition need to worry about, I'm sure they'd love it if we dropped him 

I sometimes wonder if some of these people posting are closet Manc or Chavs fans...I can't honestly understand how people can be so fickle about some really great players that we have.

I really think he is not that important to our team.

Crazy statement this.

A vitally important player for me and you only really notice some of his worth to the team when he isn't there.

My biggest problem with him came yesterday when Bony was on a run in the build up to the Shelvey goal. Bony had just cut inside and although Coutinho probably wasn't close enough to make a tackle he was close enough to put pressure on him but instead he literally just stood there and watched Bony go past, seconds later they made it 2-2.

I might have missed that but I'm sure it was that idiot Skrtel who gave away the needless free kick who was responsible for the second goal and oh yes the third as well.

Same old knee jerk posts!! when he was injured we could not wait to get him back as he is our main creative spark in midfield. Has an off day and well you only need to read some if the posts...........sigh

There are people who do not do positive full stop, they should really be limited to the knee-jerk thread while their contribution is of no F***ing use to nobody.
Imagine having somebody on the coaching staff at Melwood with the  same mindset.

Imagine having somebody on the coaching staff at Melwood with the  same mindset.

We had a manager with a similar mindset not so long ago Stuey mate.

Glad those days are over.