Twinkletoes Coutinho

[ILD]

Really happy with his performance last night. He raced out of the traps which was welcoming as he is often accused (and rightly so) of being a slow starter in games.

His ability to carry the ball is excellent and very important to us. Sturridge is also very good at this but Coutinho picks it up in deep areas and has the ability to carry it into the opposition half into dangerous positions.
I remember Yossi being quite good at this too back in his day.

What impresses me most about Coutinho is his ability to change direction as he is carrying the ball. Combine that with his elegant balance and guile and we have a very good player on our hands. Pity he can't sort those shots out though eh.

I'm hearing a lot of people posting about the high line Spurs play? Coutinho will relish splitting them open. Does he get the nod over Sterling?

 

[Mystic]

He was very good, towards the end he kept coming in from the left and creating opportunities for us also. I wouldn't start him, I'd go for Sterling, Gerrard, Henderson and Allen are enough to pick out those passes, Sterling, Sturridge and Suarez should be under instructions to run straight at the Spurs backline every time possession turns over, as we'll get lots of joy.

 

[ILD]

This thread is also to lavish praise on Coutinho btw, the silky little bastard.

 

[SummerOnions]

He was absolutely boss last night. Full of tricks and basically did what he wanted. If he could score he could get to a Suarez kinda level

 

[RolandG]

I love the fact that he was getting stuck in and winning tackles

 

[gkmacca]

He's come back into top form at a great time.

 

[Judge Jules]

When the little fella's on his game, as he was last night, his short passing is as spectacularly good as his running with the ball IMO. Yes, he could score more, but even Suarez took a while to get going properly in the scoring stakes, and look at him now.

I'd start Coutinho for the Tottenham game myself. In addition to the form he showed last night, I suspect Sterling may be more likely to make the kind of immediate impact you ideally want from a sub.

 

[Fox]

I liked his maradona like balance when being pushed off the ball.

Shame he didn't square it for studge when Suarez chipped him through. Would have been great goal.

 

[Glen C]

 

[Ali]

The pull back at 2:14 is simply class.

A magician we have on our hands.

 

[Halmeister]

Not sure if it's a bit too attack minded, but I think Sterling needs to play against Spurs, but I also think Coutinho is the best player to exploit his pace. Therefore we may consider dropping Allen.

 

[Glen C]

Not sure if it's a bit too attack minded, but I think Sterling needs to play against Spurs, but I also think Coutinho is the best player to exploit his pace. Therefore we may consider dropping Allen.

Spurs don't really play a high pressing game so its possible to get away with it but could leave us vulnerable in the middle. I think sterling is essential considering the high line spurs play.

 

[Ryan]

Said on the walk back to the car last night that if he could score goals regularly he'd be one of the best players on the planet.

 

[Leo]

It was pure Futsal style ball at time.
Wizardry.
He was superb towards the end of last season if I remember correctly which is encouraging

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

It was pure Futsal style ball at time.
Wizardry.
He was superb towards the end of last season if I remember correctly which is encouraging

Yes he was. I guess a lot of people (me included) didn't know what to expect from him and he was like a breath of fresh air. He's struggled this season to replicate the success from last season though; was kicked a lot in the earlier part of the season, and has been stop-start since returning from his injury against Swansea I think it was.

Still, he's just 21 so he has loads of time and opportunities to improve. So often, we see top class players have a season where their production jumps compared to the previous season (e.g. Fabregas, Ronaldo, Bale, Van Persie, etc.) and they then seem to just take off from there. Hopefully, that's next season for Coutinho (and the other young ones in our squad - Henderson, Sterling, etc.).

 

[Fox]

David silva in disguise ?

 

[Halmeister]

Yeah if he could score and improve his shooting he'd be in the £30m - £45m bracket of players.

 

[Judge Jules]

His ability, coupled with the results Brendan's achieved with other players, gives me confidence that he not only could but will get there.

 

[doctor_mac]

If he had only played in Studge instead of tried to lob the keeper he would have capped a brilliant game (and saved palpitations).

 

[Mystic]

The goals will come too. He reminds me of Fabregas in those early seasons at Arsenal where his shooting wasn't quite developed. His shooting was often on target and with good technique, but often very tame or at the goalkeeper, similar to Coutinho now. With time though Fabregas' shooting got more and more clinical and he became a sensational player, I suspect something similar will happen with Coutinho.

 

[peterhague]

Yeah, I think Coutinho will score more often in the future. I don't think his shooting is as bad as he's made it look this season - he does at least strike a ball well. He had a good record at Espanyol, and I think at Inter, too.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

Not too good at Inter; but decent at Espanyol - 5 goals in 14 starts and 2 sub appearances. He actually did okay for us last season, with 3 goals in 12 starts and a sub appearance. If he'd maintained that rate, he would've been on 9 or 10 goals for a full season, or about 6 goals (double his current tally) right now.

I happen to think that part of his problem this season has been his over-eagerness to score more goals in an attempt to convince Scolari to pick him for the World Cup. As a result, he'd snatch at chances or take long range shots when last season, he'd seem to be more patient and look to set up others more.

 

[tony]

Not too good at Inter; but decent at Espanyol - 5 goals in 14 starts and 2 sub appearances. He actually did okay for us last season, with 3 goals in 12 starts and a sub appearance. If he'd maintained that rate, he would've been on 9 or 10 goals for a full season, or about 6 goals (double his current tally) right now.

I happen to think that part of his problem this season has been his over-eagerness to score more goals in an attempt to convince Scolari to pick him for the World Cup. As a result, he'd snatch at chances or take long range shots when last season, he'd seem to be more patient and look to set up others more.

Maybe Rodgers has given him a target to aim at. He has certainly bulked up a bit since he first came, he has been much better defensively since last season. I hope he doesn't score too many whilst SAS are banging them in, its good for us he's under the radar of the big clubs.

 

[Judge Jules]

No offence, but bollocks to the so-called big clubs. As Carra once said in an interview, who's bigger than Liverpool?

 

[peterhague]

No offence, but bollocks to the so-called big clubs. As Carra once said in an interview, who's bigger than Liverpool?

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man Utd, Bayern Munich.

Not many others though.

 

[tony]

No offence, but bollocks to the so-called big clubs. As Carra once said in an interview, who's bigger than Liverpool?

Bien sur, by that I mean the cunts who can afford £80 million for him ie; Real PSG Bayern City etc

 

[Judge Jules]

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man Utd, Bayern Munich.

Not many others though.

We've never even conceded a goal to Real, never mind lost against them, and we have a better record in Europe than all the others on that list. Big they certainly are. Bigger than Liverpool though? Arguable at its absolute best.

 

[tony]

Judge completely agree with you, still can remember Paris 81!
Sole criteria for big = shitloads of cash - sadly financially we are not on the top table anymore

 

[rurikbird]

The goals will come too. He reminds me of Fabregas in those early seasons at Arsenal where his shooting wasn't quite developed. His shooting was often on target and with good technique, but often very tame or at the goalkeeper, similar to Coutinho now. With time though Fabregas' shooting got more and more clinical and he became a sensational player, I suspect something similar will happen with Coutinho.

Actually Coutinho's technique when shooting is not always good – he leans back too often and rarely hits the ball cleanly. Definitely needs to work on that. Other than that goal at Fulham, his other goals for us, as far as I remember, have all been finishes from close range.

 

[peterhague]

Actually Coutinho's technique when shooting is not always good – he leans back too often and rarely hits the ball cleanly. Definitely needs to work on that. Other than that goal at Fulham, his other goals for us, as far as I remember, have all been finishes from close range.

The one vs QPR at the end of last season was a good clean strike from distance.