Coutinho out for 6 weeks :'(

I'll get stick but to be honest I don't see anying that wrong in the tackle.

Yes, it's a bad tackle and the player left his foot out to cause a foul. But in the same spot, if a player of Coutinho's ability got through our defence I'd expect someone in our team to stick up a leg to cause a foul then to let them get inside the box.

Just very unfortunate that this has caused his injury.

Get well soon, we need to back as soon as possible.

It's a massive blow and it leaves us short for the weekend. A few are suggesting Alberto but I haven't seen anything from him to suggest he can fill the gap, he does not look any sort of a threat to run with the ball and I can't see him being up to it if I'm honest. I would prefer to see Henderson move inside and then give Sterling or Ibe a run out from the right hand side. Although I've got a sneaking suspicion we will probably see Aspas again.

If we had kept the lad I would have simply liked to have seen young Suso slot in the to be honest, he is a better bet than either of our two new Spaniards and I find myself scratching my head every time I think about his loan move.

Alberto to step in maybe? Or Stevie to push up?

Hell be a loss no matter what only thing is the fixture list isnt too daunting in those 6 weeks.

By the way I doubt the FA will be looking at the tackle so Id advise next time we meet that somebody does Williams big time the piece of sh*t

 It is sad news that we have lost Coutinho for 6 weeks,without a doubt we always look likely to win with him in the side.Just got to hope that the return of Luis Suarez to the team makes up for the loss of young Coutinho.

I'll get stick but to be honest I don't see anying that wrong in the tackle.

Yes, it's a bad tackle and the player left his foot out to cause a foul. But in the same spot, if a player of Coutinho's ability got through our defence I'd expect someone in our team to stick up a leg to cause a foul then to let them get inside the box.

Just very unfortunate that this has caused his injury.

Get well soon, we need to back as soon as possible.

Leave it out Tom, the ball had long gone and the height of his boots was ridiculous.
Isn't there a direction that if the boots are above waist height the official should take action?
Philippe probably had stud marks in his chest.
Beside the fact it was obvious Williams was intimidating players from the off in order to provoke a reaction or do them some damage, the ref was as much faulted with those decisions as he was with the incident that forced Coutinho off.

Leave it out Tom, the ball had long gone and the height of his boots was ridiculous.
Isn't there a direction that if the boots are above waist height the official should take action?
Philippe probably had stud marks in his chest.
Beside the fact it was obvious Williams was intimidating players from the off in order to provoke a reaction or do them some damage, the ref was as much faulted with those decisions as he was with the incident that forced Coutinho off.

Totally agree mate, said at the time he should have been sent off for that. It was not a 'professional foul' it was an assault, if Coutinho handn't hurdled his leg he'd have had a kick straight to his midriff, absolute disgrace of a challenge.

Moments before he had a strong 50/50 with Gerrard where he acted like the big man and the ref should have pulled them then, after he didn't he should have shown red for a shocking challenge. Players like Coutinho need protection from bruisers, I've no problem with a hard challenge, like the 50/50 Johnson got injured with, but when there's no attempt to win the ball, that's when it should be dealt with harshly.

These lads shouldn't fearing injury just because they beat a man.

Totally agree mate, said at the time he should have been sent off for that. It was not a 'professional foul' it was an assault, if Coutinho handn't hurdled his leg he'd have had a kick straight to his midriff, absolute disgrace of a challenge.

Is correct Luke, as posted previously if someone did that on the street they would get done for ABH. If they were a professional athlete wearing studded boots the implications would be a lot more serious, on the field of play apparently negates the law of the land - that might seem an over-reaction yet it is factually correct.

Hopefully this will put an end to the constant idiotic commentary of "We don't need (x-player), we've already got _______ to play that position."

Easy to see how everything can go south in a heartbeat.  You can't just hope that all your top players are going to be able to play the entire season.  We've found out in recent years what the reality is.  Suspensions, injuries, or just poor form--it's so much better to have two top quality players at each position, not only for competition but in case one of them, for whatever reason, is out.

Now Coutinho is going to be out for a month and we don't have one single proven attacking midfielder to step in.  Anyone we put in there it's going to be out of their natural position.  The closest like-for-like we have right now is... Suso.  And he's not even here anymore.

People scoffing over the summer at the idea of Eriksen or Banega etc, "because we've already got Coutinho." 

Well.  Now we don't have Coutinho.

How nice would it be to have said "Coutinho's out, no problem, _______ can slot in, it's his best position anyway"?

Oh well.

Now Coutinho is going to be out for a month and we don't have one single proven attacking midfielder to step in.  Anyone we put in there it's going to be out of their natural position.  The closest like-for-like we have right now is... Suso.  And he's not even here anymore.

Coutinho wasn't proven before he played for us, either. Luis Alberto should be put into the exact same position. His passing level isn't on par with Coutinho's but he showed a lot of promise with his recent U21s performance, linking up well with Sterling and bagging a somewhat lucky hat-trick.

Obviously a massive blow for us. He creates so many chances upfront, plays these little one-twos etc.
Hopefully we still can cope without him, there's Suarez coming back, good chance for others to step up.

Massive blow this is .Most of our success and creativity has come from him

BUT

We have Suarez coming back who will be very hungry to play
Also think Moses will have to step up big time now to fill the void left by Coutinho in the creativity department

Man, didn't realise he would be out for so long.
This guy promised much last season, and has delivered at the start of this one.
BIG loss.
Moses I guess will come in for him, decent start v Swansea.
Think we'll miss Couts creativity though, don't think we've another player quite like him ... plus, I is just gonna miss watching the guy play.
Get well soon dude!

On a bit of a downer there federer!

Look, in 2 games Suarez is back and last time I checked he was quite a good player.
A front 3 of Suarez, Sturridge and Moses looks alright to me.
Basically, its just a question of who comes in for the Southampton game.
Pretty sure it'll be Sterling, who yeah isn't quite up there with Suarez and Coutinho, but is still a good player.

The players we really have little cover for are Gerrard and Sturridge ( and then Suarez).
Coutinho being out is a blow, but we do have decent alternatives, as long as those 3 above don't get injured.

Gutting to lose Coutinho for up to six weeks. Such a clever little footballer.

For what it's worth, I think Suarez coming back will help to soften the blow slightly. Obviously, it will get hard to get past Suarez's jackassery (for lack of a better term), but we're undoubtedly a better team with Luis in the side.

Gerrard    Lucas
Hendo       Suarez          Moses
Sturridge

And when Coutinho returns

Gerrard     Lucas
Suarez      Coutinho      Moses
Sturridge