It's being over-complicated really. You're more likely to win, the better players you have. We've lost one of our best players (if not our best player), we've also lost a match winner and our main creative source from midfield. Without that and without replacing him we're a lesser team.
There is no combination from Henderson, Can, Gini, Lallana and AOC that will be as creative as two of those three alongside Coutinho, so we're worse off. It doesn't even come into question. And if people want to say that it might make us defensively more stable in midfield, have a look at Monday again. We didn't score and we conceded a typical Liverpool soft goal.
As Larry said, it's fine saying he underperformed in alot of those games - Liverpool have for years now, and that's down to consistency, which is usually down to a lack of quality in certain areas, and by quality, I mean players who perform more regularly than most. ie, Not your Can's who average a good game in eight, or Gini who will be one of the best players on the park in a big game and then go missing until the next one. That's not something you can regularly pin on your Gerrard's and Coutinho's. If they drag us through a large percentage of games per season with match winning performances or key contributions, why does it then become just as much their responsibility if in a certain game they underperform? If they're dragging us through alot of games with their individual quality, then it's upto the rest to make up the shortfall on the few occasions they are underpar.
For example, Salah clearly not quite as sharp after his injury - you'd expect Mane or Firmino to take responsibility. That didn't happen. One of the midfield needed to take the initiative, but we ended up with frustrated centre halves carrying the ball through the midfield to try to force it themselves. That's what happens when you have inconsistent players. Others who also aren't good enough, try too hard, the whole thing becomes disjointed, we don't play our natural game and we fuck it up.
If Keita was the replacement, then we should have ensured a January deal was a certainty, or kept Coutinho until the Summer. Or had a replacement lined up, should Keita not be the direct alternative. As it is, Coutinho was sold either with no planning for immediately replacing him, or with some degree of arrogance and/or naivety that this side can cope for 4-5 months trying to stay in the top four while competing in two major cups. We don't have the quality in depth for that, and as said, we're one major injury away from potential catastrophe. Anyone who thinks we can go the rest of the season banking on sheer luck, is burying their head in the sand.
