Liverpool FC Forum

[Doeboy]

Think people get frustrated with him because when he is on form, he sets the bar so high you look at him and think he would not look out of place playing alongside the likes of Messi, Neymar, Suarez and co at Barca. He is one of the most technically gifted/talented players in the league and his form in the first half of the season was fantastic. As good as Mane and Lallana are, I seriously believe Coutinho is on a different level when it comes to technical ability.

That's why when he goes through a lean patch (these patches tend to be quite long), it just frustrates the hell out of people because we all know, when he on it, no one can get near him on the pitch. Klopp needs to work with him to make sure he is churning out the performances throughout the season. Not part of a season, or purple patches but week in week out. Obviously every player goes through a lean patch but he yo yo's too much for liking. If i thought he didn't have the ability, that would be different but we all know what he is capable of hence why people get frustrated

[maguskwt]

The excuses are wearing thin.
Sh'ite again today...

Oh come on Thommo he wasn't that bad, that reverse pass to put Firmino through one on one with Cabalero should have been the defining moment of the game, if Firmino makes it 2-0 at that stage I think it would have been game over.
City were all over the place at that point and I don't think there would have been any way back for them.

Precisely... and the turning dribble at speed and run he made just before he was subbed out is something only 5% of players in the league could do. The ball control was superb. He is faster, more effective and has more vision than Firmino. It's just that Firmino has more stamina and can be found popping up at different areas of the field. Couts plays deeper than Firmino as well because he is a playmaker, he plays in an area that is congested and opposition players pay alot of attention to him.

He's off the pace no doubt, due to his injury and his confidence doesnt seem to be 100%. But if we cant be patient about a player of this quality, lord help us all. Besides, when Origi came on for him, you could see that our control of the game and the ball reduced drastically...

[kazza]

I thought he was better against City. I did notice something that may have answered my question about what is wrong with him of late. He tried his trademark cut inside and shoot which was saved by the goalie ( shot was too central) and he seemed frustrated he should have scored. Minutes later he was at midfield and tried a chip over the top for Firmino to run onto and he over hit it immediately hanging his head. Wijnaldum then put his arm around him as if to say " don't worry and stay positive, it will come good". It seems he has lost his confidence rather than has an eye on leaving in the summer and if that is the case he just needs to score a goal or two for his form to return.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

I thought he was better against City. I did notice something that may have answered my question about what is wrong with him of late. He tried his trademark cut inside and shoot which was saved by the goalie ( shot was too central) and he seemed frustrated he should have scored. Minutes later he was at midfield and tried a chip over the top for Firmino to run onto and he over hit it immediately hanging his head. Wijnaldum then put his arm around him as if to say " don't worry and stay positive, it will come good". It seems he has lost his confidence rather than has an eye on leaving in the summer and if that is the case he just needs to score a goal or two for his form to return.

He's probably trying to force things a bit too much instead of just letting them happen naturally. Instead of trying to win the game every time he gets the ball with a flash of brilliance he just needs to play it simple for a game or two.

[kazza]

I thought he was better against City. I did notice something that may have answered my question about what is wrong with him of late. He tried his trademark cut inside and shoot which was saved by the goalie ( shot was too central) and he seemed frustrated he should have scored. Minutes later he was at midfield and tried a chip over the top for Firmino to run onto and he over hit it immediately hanging his head. Wijnaldum then put his arm around him as if to say " don't worry and stay positive, it will come good". It seems he has lost his confidence rather than has an eye on leaving in the summer and if that is the case he just needs to score a goal or two for his form to return.

He's probably trying to force things a bit too much instead of just letting them happen naturally. Instead of trying to win the game every time he gets the ball with a flash of brilliance he just needs to play it simple for a game or two.

I think you are right and that was my point. I'd rather it is that, than his head is turned by Barcelona for example and he is not happy in the city. Klopp could work with confidence issues rather than him (or his wife) wanting to leave which Klopp would not be able to change.

[red till i die!!]

Personally I think we are asking a lot of Phil to constantly dig us out of the shyte and we are killing him by not signing better players to play alongside him. When Suarez left phil became the brightest talent at the club and all we did was pile the pressure for him to carry us. His downturn in form could be just down to the fact that he is pi$$ed off carrying so much deadweight for the last few years. Being honest if we hold on to him over the summer I think we will do well.

[maguskwt]

Personally I think we are asking a lot of Phil to constantly dig us out of the shyte and we are killing him by not signing better players to play alongside him. When Suarez left phil became the brightest talent at the club and all we did was pile the pressure for him to carry us. His downturn in form could be just down to the fact that he is pi$$ed off carrying so much deadweight for the last few years. Being honest if we hold on to him over the summer I think we will do well.

To a certain extent, you are right. He is a playmaker. He's not really a goal scorer. I don't expect him to score every time he does the cut in and shoot from outside the box. To expect him to win games is non-sense. He's not Steven Gerrard. He's not Suarez either. I am happy if he's playing his best and pulling strings for our attackers. I don't consider him as an attacker like Suarez, Ronaldo, etc. etc. I consider Mane and Firmino as attackers. They are the ones that's supposed to score goals. Coutinho's primary role is to penetrate the opposition's defense. And he needs good attackers to play off him. When he first came, his partnership with Sturridge was top notch. He could play off Sturridge's off the ball running. And Sturridge was fast and quick to react. After that he could supply to Suarez. Suarez himself was a handful for defenders so the attention was not on him. I think currently he has a good connection with Firmino. But with Mane, he doesn't have as much. Mane is a bit of a one-man wrecking crew. Even with Firmino, recently Firmino has been slow to read Coutinho's plays. At times Firmino is actually quite fustrating. He is technically good and sometimes he can be unpredictable for defenders to read. But there are times I feel fustrated with Firmino because he seems to move in slow motion. Don't get me wrong, he looks nice on the ball, but sometimes defenders could tackle him because his movement seems like he's moving in water. Yes, I think Coutinho is a bit fustrated with the quality of players around him. But he looks like he's also not 100% fit and his confidence is down.

[redshade]

Bottom line is we need a proper striker uptop who will bang in the goals. Players like Couts, Mane, Firmino and Lallana could chip in and score but our main goal scorer must be a proper striker. A lot of burden/pressure will be off Couts and the rest.
If we have a natural goal scoring bull uptop and sort out our defensive frailties then im sure we will have a stable unit that could compete.

[Thommo's perm]

I expect people to make excuses because he is supposed to be one of our best players. I like him a lot and I believe he will probably return to some sort of form before the season ends. I only hope that whatever the fu'ck is wrong with him and causing him to be dragged off in the last couple of matches is sorted in enough time for him to do something to help us keep the top four place.
At the moment he is a liability, no matter how you look at it

[maguskwt]

I expect people to make excuses because he is supposed to be one of our best players. I like him a lot and I believe he will probably return to some sort of form before the season ends. I only hope that whatever the fu'ck is wrong with him and causing him to be dragged off in the last couple of matches is sorted in enough time for him to do something to help us keep the top four place.
At the moment he is a liability, no matter how you look at it

Mate... if you like him alot, I dont understand why you're this critical about him. He is not a liability, even when he's not fit, the team performs better with him in it than without him. Liability is Mignolet, Karius, Klavan, Henderson, Can, sometimes Clyne, sometimes Milner (when defending). Not Coutinho.

[maguskwt]

Anyway, whenever there is an international break, there is noise from Neymar that Couts would be perfect for Barca, blah blah blah. We better be prepared to losing him. If they bid for 50 million, I dont think the owners will try very hard to keep him. But i think they'll lowball us with lik 35 mil first...

[Klopptomaniac]

Matter of time til Barca take him. Probably our best player on form but he's never really shown that over a full season - he always seems to fade in the cold months of the season and then picks back up. Would be annoying to lose him but for the money we'll find a more than capable replacement I reckon

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

We need to hang on to players like Coutinho, we can't keep selling players like Alonso, Mascherano, Torres, Suarez etc and realistically expect to be challenging for titles. We are just kidding ourselves if we think we can sell our best players and still win things.

[kazza]

Matter of time til Barca take him. Probably our best player on form but he's never really shown that over a full season - he always seems to fade in the cold months of the season and then picks back up. Would be annoying to lose him but for the money we'll find a more than capable replacement I reckon

Every time we sell one of our better players Suarez, Alonso, mascharano etc we end up saying the same sort of things and justify selling him. If we sell Courtinho it will be the same thing and we will look back at us selling our best players, add him to the list and then say we should not sell our best players.

As others have said, sell our best players and we will not win anything.

[woof woof !]

As others have said, sell our best players and we will not win anything.

Problem is that unless/until we start to win something significant we'll find it almost impossible to hold onto our best players and hard to attract quality replacements.

I also think that even if we won the league some of our players could still have their heads turned when the likes of Barca or Madrid come calling.

Ultimately if a quality player makes it clear he wants to go clubs have little option but to sell for the best possible price or run the risk of the player not putting in a shift and just running down his contract before leaving for free.