Good afternoon you glorious people. So, now our "poster boy" player has departed, in typical LFC fashion someone else must occupy the role. As iconic as Gerrard is, he no longer implements the same excitement when you see his name on the team sheet as he once did. While many call for maquee signings, attacking flair, a creative hub of the team, do we already have the ready made poster boy in our ranks? As you've probably guessed by the title, I am indeed talking about Phillipe Coutinho. When he first came in he sparked a lot of excitement among us, notching a fair few assists in his first 6 months. Last season was a bit hit and miss, but towards the tail end of the season I do think we begun to see Coutinho hitting good form, while replicating some very impressive performances against some of the bigger sides. Important to note he chipped in with some big goals last season too - Most notably scoring both home and away against Man City, while also notching one goal against both Everton and Spurs. But, while the lad is brimming with untapped potential - Is this now his season to earn a status of being among the top players in the PL? With players like Sturridge, Marcovic, Sterling, Remy, Lallana, it is going to free up plenty of space in midfield, and while he desperately needs to work on his shooting, I do feel Coutinho is the perfect player to be let loose in them pockets of space. But, we seem to have an influx of attacking midfielders at present, with Allen, Lallana, Sterling and Marcovic all being able to occupy that number 10 role. So do we all see Coutinho stepping up to that next level? Or will he fluctuate between ok and excellent performances throughout the season?
Missing out on the World Cup could have really inspired Coutinho to crack on so that he doesnt miss out next time. Though he was better than every midfielder in that Brazil squad...
He needs to become a regular in the in the side before contemplating being the poster boy. He is a quality player but needs to add consistency and finishing (he may have got important goals but he missed (the target) a lot more) to his locker.
He definitely has the attributes to be a great player but what impressed me most last season was his willingness to get stuck in. He wasn’t afraid of tackle. Hopefully, not being part of that debacle of a Brazilian team will motivate him.
He is probably the closest to Suarez in terms of dribbling At one point yesterday he took on all of Roma but it came to nothing because the Liverpool players were just watching him with their jaws on the ground
According to Rodgers hes the Brain of the team , which would lead me to believe hes going to feature heavily in the side next season.
He's a great little player but he needs to be central where he can influence and control the ball more.
Good point Hash.. http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/167047-brendan-coutinho-is-this-team-s-brain Brendan: Coutinho is this team's brain please log in to view this image Brendan Rodgers described Philippe Coutinho as 'the brain' of his Liverpool team after the Brazilian turned in another stellar performance as the Reds were overturned 1-0 by AS Roma. The No.10 displayed much of his unique repertoire of passing, close control and trickery during the clash at Fenway Park in Boston, the first of the club's pre-season tour of America. A late goal by the Italians was the decider at the conclusion of a hard-fought match at the iconic baseball venue, which was regularly lit up by the technique of Coutinho. "Coutinho is the brain in our team, the continuity player," said the boss later. "He might not score many goals, but he's a wonderful reference for the team. "He is the one that gets the team ticking, gets the movement in front of the ball. He goes and gets on the ball. He's a fantastic talent for such a young player and he's still gaining his fitness. "He makes the crowd get off their seat. For someone so small, he's very tough and robust. He's a wonderful technician that has a great idea, tactically, of the game." On the encounter itself, the Northern Irishman continued: "These are two Champions League teams, two teams that are at a good level of pre-season and two sets of committed players that are very competitive. "Pre-season friendly or not, both teams wanted to play well and work well. I thought it was a perfect game at this stage of our preparation phase. "This is one of a number of good games that we've got coming up that are going to really sharpen us up for the beginning of the season." The Reds have now won one and lost two of their first three preparation fixtures for the new campaign, with four further matches on the schedule before the opener. Next up is a trip to Chicago for Olympiacos before taking on Manchester City and AC Milan in the States and returning to Anfield to host German contenders Borussia Dortmund. "It's not about results at this stage," Rodgers explained to reporters gathered inside Fenway. "The most important result for me is the first game of the season. "You have a choice - you can play friendlies that probably make you win every game and you might not find anything out. We've got a really tough set of fixtures over the course of the pre-season. "We've got a great tour out here and then we go back and within a few days we'll play Borussia Dortmund. We're really pitching ourselves in at a good level to get a good gauge. "The most important objective is that we're in a really good physical condition for our first game of the season, against Southampton. "And that technically and tactically, we'll have honed up all of the principles and ideas that have made us so successful in the last couple of years. That will be the most important result for us." The manager also revealed that the likes of Adam Lallana and Lazar Markovic, summer recruits, plus the returning England contingent are in line to feature from Chicago onwards. He added: "They only really began training on Monday. I put Jordan Henderson in because of his level of fitness. Jordan could play 10 games on the spin because he's so fit and strong. "It was nice to give him a 15-minute period at the end. But those players, like young Markovic, who is an exceptional talent, will be involved when we arrive in Chicago."
One of our best players and he's certainly better than Lallana. I thought he had a decent season last season - he was a little inconsistent but the lad is only 21. Think he will shine without Luis - he has a great relationship with Sturridge, similar to how Gerrard and Torres used to operate by using that pace and playing off the last defender.
I have stated this already as the one player i am looknig to step up is coutinho O feel his stamina and fitness are a concern to deliver consistency. I want him playing deeper supply passes into forwards to score more
He's a very naughty boy! My thoughts on Coutinho: First half season with us: Holy crap this guy is a bloody genius- he's going to be immense! First half of last season with us: What happened to Coutinho? Why is Joe Allen wearing a Coutinho shirt and why does he have Coutinho's haircut? Second half of last season with us: Coutinho is back!!!! He's showing glimpses of that first half season with us again... can he keep up this form? So which are we going to see next season? The Coutinho we were first introduced to that had such creativity and promise? Or the Coutinho that was the Brazilian Joe Allen for a while last season? He definitely seems to be a weather vane rather than an individual playing. When we're merely "average" or "good" he too is "average or good". When we're fantastic and setting the world on fire- then Coutinho is equally fantastic. He's not a Gerrard of old/Suarez who can be magical even when the rest of the team is having a bad game. When the team around him plays well- he is the master of the field... when the team is having an off day- so does he.
Now that Suarez has gone I think the rest of the team will step up. We played well without Suarez last season. When suarez played you sometimes had the impression that as soon as an LFC player had the ball he looked for Suarez even if other players were in better positions. To win something you need a good team not an average team with one good player I think we will have to play differently this year which will be good as our rivals we think they have got us worked out and we will baffle them with a 1-1-8 formation, or something similar.
The way Brazil played during the world cup, I'm pretty certian they'll be looking at the youngsters and Coutinho won't miss out next time. He'll progress to take the spot of any of the useless (mostly Chelsea) Midfielders/playmakers that disgraced a whole country. P.S. He is already better than everyone of the midfielders took to the WC by Brazil, all of them a pile of ****e.
