Philippe Coutinho

[Hades]

Iniesta has one assist in the last 2 seasons. Stats aren't everything. How well you keep the ball matters for big clubs, which we aren't. 

[Russ Atmosphere]

Iniesta averages less than five goals a season since becoming a regular (I've not bothered with his first two seasons where he got 2 in 26). Barcelona won't be letting a computer decide who to sign like we do.

 

Agreed on Silva though, best player in the league.

Good points. I think his performances do require a little extra consistency too as I see he has the ability and work ethic, but hard to say for anyone in this team right now how much better they'd be doing in a well performing team. I wouldn't rely on stats either, they should back up visual scouting not replace it as we surely have been doing mostly of late.

[VladimirIlyich]

Might be one for the amnesty thread this but here goes. I think he's a good player but in terms of end product he's probably the most over-rated in the league.To put in context his best goal return is 5 league goals in a season which is the same as Mahrez is on now for Leicester. His best return in terms of assists is 7 in a season.He has a lot of potential and is relatively young but those are very unimpressive stats for an attacking midfielder and match up with what I see on the pitch. He's capable of moments of magic but too often spends the game giving the ball away. Almost like a Luis Garcia without the goal return.The hype is clearly built due to the mediocrity around him and I'd still struggle to offer an alternative as our best player but he really isn't the player he's made out to be.

Harsh,but very fair IMO.

I was unaware of his poor assist record,that is a surprise.

If he gets regular goals and assists he will be a great player,but that maybe not here.

[Paco]

Drop tomorrow?

[Ginny]

I'm gonna say it ... I don't think Coutinho is as good as people think he is. I think he's an good player but I don't think he'll get any better. I reckon we should offload him for the highest price when the offer comes.

[Kevin D]

Season after season, people on here keep advocating we sell our best players. It's really, really bizarre.

[ZonkoVille77]

I tend to agree with Ginny. On his day he's amazing but it's few and far between and the strikers we have available at the club don't really complement his play. I'm not including quaver boy and his Caribbean vagina. Origi and Benteke don't look the type to benefit from Coutinho's searching passes. His stock is still pretty high so we'd get a few quid for him.

[magicrat]

I'm gonna say it ... I don't think Coutinho is as good as people think he is. I think he's an good player but I don't think he'll get any better. I reckon we should offload him for the highest price when the offer comes.

He still better than the rest of them and should be last in line to be thrown under a bus

[Russ Atmosphere]

Season after season, people on here keep advocating we sell our best players. It's really, really bizarre.

It's like there could be no general correlation between how good a player is and the high price they are advocating we should accept.

[alles ist gut]

Think I may take up meditation.

Beats sitting round doing nothing, I suppose.

[stringvest]

I agree with plenty on here who say he would look a much better player with half decent players around him, and I agree with those who say given the right conditions he is our best player.

 

The issue we as a team have right now is that the conditions that Coutinho apparently needs before putting in a top class performance just aren't there.  It is left to other lesser players who also may be playing in a less than ideal situation for them to find a way of playing that gives us a chance of winning.  

 

I can't believe Coutinho can only be good in a very narrow range of scenarios.  He needs to step up and show other ways in which he can help the team.  Right now, he's contributing nothing and probably wasting a shirt as there are less talented players who could be contributing more to the team.  I have my issues with Lucas, but no-one can deny he's playing better than Coutinho at the moment; everyone is.  

[Ginny]

Let's not get over dramatic on this. All am saying that even on his day he's a decent player - you must agree with that? But he's no world beater. That's why am saying it makes business sense to offload him for a high price now and put the faith in Klopp to do some business with the cash. Risk vs reward innit

[Paco]

Just thinking we should drop him for a game to see if that gets his shit together.

[Paco]

His best game was against villa when he came deep for the ball and milner was in the hole.

[Jairzinho]

Klopp isn't going to sell Coutinho out of choice. He isn't mentally ill. The only way he leaves is if we can't convince him to stay.

[stringvest]

Klopp isn't going to sell Coutinho out of choice. He isn't mentally ill. The only way he leaves is if we can't convince him to stay.

 

but what will you think if he plays the next 10 games like he has the last 10? 

[thompsonsnose]

I'd say just about the only 2 players Klopp could have built a side in his image around, got injured within a week of him arriving. Goems and Ings. Probably add Clyne to that list too.

For different reasons, you could make a case for binning nearly every single fucking one of them.

[Boss]

but what will you think if he plays the next 10 games like he has the last 10? 

 

He hasn't played that badly, you're exaggerating his dip in form. He was class against Arsenal at the Emirates and Villa at home. Not to mention he won us the game against Stoke. So that's 3 out of 9 right off the bat.

[Mr T]

He needs to improve his output and start making the transition from potential to actual quality.

 

Having players who aren't perfectly suited to his game doesn't mean he can repeatedly give the ball away and fuck up simple passes. At the moment he's more wasteful than Luis Garcia but with a fraction of the end product.

[stringvest]

He hasn't played that badly, you're exaggerating his dip in form. He was class against Arsenal at the Emirates and Villa at home. Not to mention he won us the game against Stoke. So that's 3 out of 9 right off the bat.

 

i don't think so.  The goal against Stoke excepted, there's been precious little.   I don't want him to be shit.  I want him to help us win games.  

[Paco]

Needs to be a 10 goal a season player

[Barrington Womble]

His best game was against villa when he came deep for the ball and milner was in the hole.

You mean when he got the chance to play in a team with an actual real striker too?

[The Golden Eel]

He's been consistently inconsistent.  He's a great talent but he's not ready to be a key player.  Or he certainly hasn't proven that yet. But he should be in the team

[Dr. J]

Two things. First, he's been poor the whole season. Worse is he's got it into his head that he's the new Zico, shaking his head over every mishit shot/pass as if he's falling short of perfection. He  really isn't that good; if he was he wouldn't have lost his place with Brazil.

Secondly, what happened to competition for places? Let him come off the bench and find his form that way.

[Jairzinho]

That he's still injured and has a 20 year 200m runner playing in front of him.

 

We need Sturridge or Ings in the side for any decent number 10 to have a positive effect on the side. If Origi is upfront we aren't going to score many goals. If Benteke is we might as well play Ibe and Moreno as wingers and pack the midfield with yard dogs.

 

Rodgers has built possibly the most unbalanced squad of all time where one of our two best attacking players is made of pavlova and the other needs a player of his ability in the side. We've got three number 10s and several other players whose best position is possibly there as well.

 

Coutinho isn't playing well but he's playing with an injury (remember how shite Gerrard was playing with a groin injury), and he plays in a position that requires someone else to be decent as well. Same would apply to Iniesta, Silva, Ozil, etc.

 

I'm just not entirely sure what people are expecting. I probably would actually take him out of the side and not play him through injury, especially while Benteke or worse Origi are upfront but I can see why Klopp, as Rodgers did, feels he has to play regardless of the circumstances.