Philippe Coutinho. Our magical midfield maestro. He's not been the same lately. Despite a good preseason he has really looked off the pace. I remember reading about Coutinho's career when he signed and am wondering if a pattern is forming. Coutinho first broke into the Inter Milan team aged 18 when Rafa Benitez was their manager. Playing on the wing, in what we would probably call the Kuyt role in a Rafa side, he caught the attention of football fans across Italy. He was exciting, ambitious and creative. A star in the making. Massimo Moratti being quoted saying that "Coutinho is the future of Inter" But it didnt last. After Benitez was sacked Coutinho's form started to slip and soon he was out of the team all together. The following season he was loaned to Espanol in Spain where he had a good season. But could not get back in to Inter's team once he returned. In January 2013 he joined Liverpool and we know the rest. Basically what I'm saying is, Coutinho's career has been up and down. Not constantly inconsistent, but has had fazes of great and poor. Of corse Coutinho is young, currently only 22. But this doesnt seem like the typical pattern of a young footballer. is a pattern growing?
As you say, he is young yet but if he wants to be seen as one of the best his intensity needs to be there every game. It's not at the moment. Sorry to whinge about the same point but I'll give any of the other two of our midfield 3 a bye at the moment as its so disjointed and we are asking too much of them but the least they can do is bring the effort until Brendan brings in a proper DM/HM to back the CM/AM's up.
I remember one of our games v Spurs last season. Gerrard was injured and we played Allen, Henderson and Lucas in midfield. The interplay between them was neat along the ground and the front three fed of it nicely. We won 5-0 at White Heart Lane. I do also feel in that game, other midfielders upped the effort in Gerrard's absence. Allen has improved a lot since then. We should try it again.
Bar his form (last few games), I think he is one of the top 5 players at our club. He and Sturridge know our pressing game very well and work together well. I hope to see them both in the team come next weekend.
I agree with you about the best 5. But best 5 doesnt mean best fitting side. I'd pick Allen over Coutinho right now. Our game flows better with Allen in.
Maybe the opposition are learning about him and stopping him from doing his thing. He needs to learn to mix it up.
Not the biggest Allen fan, but I would have him in ahead of Gerrard, who has taken a drastic step backwards this season.
Agree with this but will add that its not even there for a full game. He rarely plays more than sixty minutes and he's usually hit and miss within that hour too.
In terms of quality, yes he's in the top five. However, skill isn't always enough. I've said it many times, I'd rather have players with desire and consistency over top class ability in flashes and average to poor the rest of the time.
We need to use him selectively. He doesn't do well against teams that press, have high possession, and/or are very physical. Against teams that play on the counter or sit back, he will tear them apart. We need to use him selectively- there is quite a pattern emerging about which games he does well in- and it's when we're against teams not playing too physical who will give him space.
For him to be considered a good player though, he has to adapt and perform well in all games he plays, not being cherry-picked for certain games.
Coutinho's best position is playing in the midfield 3 (beside Hendo/Allen) - picking the ball up deep and driving forward to pick out the strikers. His workrate off the ball is very underrated and he does get stuck in, and whilst he has been poor on the ball, he has been putting in a shift and giving our midfield a bit more mobility and energy. Now looking at his performances on the ball - he has struggled and I won't dispute that. But he is one of the few players currently who is willing to get on the ball and actually do something with it. Henderson, for all of this energy is not particularly comfortable on the ball when he's in limited space - I would go as far as saying he sh*ts himself in that situation. Coutinho is the one who has really struggled without Sturridge because he has no movement ahead of him. As soon as Sterling came against Villa, Coutinho's head was up and he instantly had a target to pass to. I would definitely have Coutinho back in our midfield set up because Lucas and Gerrard simply doesn't cut it, plus it means Hendo has more covering to do and we lose his ability to drive forward.
I think that is a good position when other teams drop off us. if a side decides to match us up and press up then coutinho aint that great in cm role. its ideal to play around the centre circle and pick passes but we have to think a)he f'd off on international duty... has no experience of it and probably ended up out of sorts....i hope we see him improve a wee bit in the next week or two... hope aint a strategy though
If we play a diamond with Sterling on the point and attacking full backs we dont need Henderson to drive forward so much. Maybe we should see how Can does in Henderson's role.He's a very strong runner.
