I'm actually hoping that this lad will improve a fair bit this season, as I thought he was a fraction dissappointing last time around. I absolutely love him as a player, but for me he has to impose himself a little more and like some others, perhaps the departure of Luis will facilitate that. On other threads I saw someone asking about who will take free kicks, and the same applies to who will open teams up. My guess is the onus will fall more on Coutinho than it has before, and while I have absolutely no concerns that he has the ability to do it I do wonder sometimes about his fortitude.
Although it's been great to see him getting stuck into tackles, "putting a shift in" and the like, we and he mustn't ever forget what he's in the team for. He needs to get on the football in the last third and from there, both cause goals to be scored and score them himself. His shooting from distance is prectically a liability and I'm convinced there's a technique issue (which I won't go into here), but I was a bit concerned last season that he was kind of hiding a bit behind workrate and tackles and not doing what he does best often enough. Then when he did try to thread someone in, too often he forced it rather than letting the flow of the game carry him and the ball into the correct position. He reminds me so much of Juan Pablo Aimar that little magician they had at Valencia, and in terms of natural ability and the nack of seeing a pass he's the best in the Premiership bar Silva in my opinion. He can go past him though if he and Brendan can sit down and drag out that extra 20%.
Logged