A lot has been made about the loss of Coutinho (remember him?) in the last few hours and how we are a much better since his departure. But how? Few can match Coutinho's skillset and ability to score goals from nothing but how is it that we are a better team without him?
I've been thinking about this recently as well. I'd put it down to a few factors:
- We are not quite so dominant in possession without Coutinho. We still boss it against the lesser sides but I think Klopp recognises that Coutinho was a big part of our ball retention (particularly as you could give it to him even with players right on his back and he would retain it) and our style has become more direct as a result. Salah and Mane (especially) rarely play the ball backwards.
- We've got so much better at the back since Van Dyke has come in with notable contributions from Robertson and Karius. It has enabled us to playa more counter-attacking style, to be more comfortable and secure when we don't have the ball and then kill teams on the break. Pre-Christmas we simply weren't capable of this.
- Klopp alluded to other players having to take more responsibility and this is absolutely true of our centre middies. I think that every single one of them is playing 10-15% better than they were earlier in the season. Milner's form has been very impressive, Can has been consistent, Henderson has stayed injury free and found some form and even Gini has performed well in games when called upon.
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