Philippe Coutinho started and ended the season playing like a superstar. The bit in the middle was crap though, and because of that he’ll probably still be a Liverpool player next season. So at least some good came of that slump in form.
I’ve long been a critic of the little Brazilian for two reasons. Firstly he’s inconsistent, and secondly, I didn’t like the way he was put on a pedestal by many of our fans simply because we no longer had a world class player and we desperately wanted him to be it. He was labelled ‘world class’ by some even though he hadn’t done it often enough to justify it.
I haven’t changed my mind on either of those issues, but I do believe he’s getting closer and had he not been injured at the end of November, he might already be there. Up until then he was absolutely dazzling. There were one or two disappointing games, but generally he was boss more often than not, as was the entire team in that period between August and November. He’d found consistency at last.
The front three were on fire and Lallana’s forward running and link up from a deeper position gave us the most electrifying attacking quartet in the league. The goals were flying in and the football was stunning at times. There was a twenty minute spell at Arsenal that was frighteningly good. The Gunners didn’t know what had hit them, it was beautiful, and Coutinho was at the heart of it all.
The following week at Burnley was a massive letdown and Coutinho was as disappointing as anyone that day, but rather than being a sign of things to come, it was more of a blip and over the next couple of months few teams could live with us. Too often in recent years Coutinho probably felt (with good reason) that he had to do it all himself, but that was no longer the case. The pace of Sadio Mané, the clever movement and link up play of Roberto Firmino and the brilliance of Lallana meant that Coutinho was able to just do his own thing without the pressure of carrying the team.
The goals were flowing and the little Brazilian was in the form of his life. Then he got injured against Sunderland at the end of November and it all went wrong. Obviously Coutinho was missed, but the team was still able to function without him and results didn’t suffer too much, even if we were no longer hammering teams the way we were in the autumn.
A win over City on New Year’s Eve had us sitting pretty in second spot, six points behind leaders Chelsea who had set a blistering pace by winning 13 straight or something. Still, Coutinho’s injury hadn’t derailed us as much as it could have.
With Mané departing for the African Cup of Nations after the 2-2 draw at Sunderland on January 2, Coutinho’s return couldn’t have been any more timely. We needed him to come back at the level he was before, but unfortunately he didn’t. He was like the invisible man at times.
It was perhaps unreasonable to expect him to just step back on the pitch and immediately be at his best and he was always going to need some time to get back up to speed. But his slump in form just went on and on and on, as did that of the team. Even on the odd occasions when the team did perform, Coutinho was just not at the races.
This went on through January, then February and then March. It was worrying and also infuriating. Not gonna lie, I was getting majorly pissed off with “the Little Magician” and his frequent disappearing acts, especially away from home.
It couldn’t have been about the injury anymore, he’d been back for months. No, it was just a slump in form and he desperately needed something to snap him out of it. That something came in the form of an international break, so often the bane of our existence. For once it worked to our advantage, as Phil had a good week away in Brazil capped by a fine performance for his national side.
He came back full of confidence and then ripped Everton a new arsehole in the Anfield derby. After that he didn’t look back. The old Coutinho had returned, just in time to stop us from completely blowing a top four spot.
Not having Mané there impacted on how effective Coutinho was, but that wasn’t really his fault. He did as much as he could really, but the whole dynamic of the forward line was different without the Senegal man. Divock Origi came into the side but generally isn’t on the same wavelength as the two Brazilians in the way Mané is, and Origi’s presence in the middle meant Firmino having to play out wide, which completely reduces his effectiveness.
Lallana missed a month too, and all of this put extra pressure on Coutinho to deliver and to his credit he usually did. The bad results we had were not down to him, it was more down to a lack of quality around him, but when Lallana returned for the last two fixtures we won 4-0 and then 3-0 and looked more like the team that had topped the table in October.
Klopp switched him to a deeper role for those two games and Coutinho responded with three goals and two brilliant performances. That might be a sign of things to come next season, but wherever he plays, the important thing is to surround him quality because that’s the way to get the best out of him.
Best Moment:
There were loads, as most of his goals were pretty special. The free-kick at Arsenal was amazing but I’m going to go with his goal in the Anfield derby, because that was pure quality and sparked his return to form at a vital time for us.
Worst Moment:
Getting injured against Sunderland. It kept him out for six weeks but it may as well have been four months because that’s how long it was before we saw the real Coutinho again.
Rating:
8/10 Probably generous considering he did nothing in the months between the end of November and the beginning of April. His form in the opening three and the final two months of the season would have had him close to a 10, he was that good.
The Future?
Assuming we don’t sell him, and although I feel that’s unlikely I’d never rule it out with this club, next season is going to be very interesting. Will it be the year he finally puts it all together on a consistent basis? If it is, it’ll probably be his last season with us because that inconsistency is probably the only reason we’ve held onto him this long.
Personally I feel that playing in the front three contributes to that inconsistency and if he was to be moved full time into midfield he’d step it up another level. I remember writing two or three years ago that we should turn him into a midfielder in the same way Spurs moved Modric into a deeper role. He’s perfect for that role and, much like Lallana, I don’t think his goals and assists numbers will drop off by moving deeper.
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