Only a man who knows him well could have elicited that debut. Stevie: “Now, Phil. Let’s get a little tighter to goal. None of those thirty meter blasts.” Worked perfectly.
I thought he was exquisite.
Good on him, I say.
He chased his dream, which turned out to be more of a nightmare, but he had a crack. I don’t begrudge him the fact that dream was incompatible with my own aspirations for him, and I wish it had played out a little bit differently on his behalf, but I’m certainly not gonna hound him for it.
I had to give up on one of my dreams for various reasons, and I’d do a great many things to go back, if I could.
And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
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Do you have Gumpism too? See Losing weight thread
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I watched the Villa game. He was good when he came on, took the goal very well. I don’t blame us for not going for him as there were a lot of questions hanging over his injury record but he has definitely started to answer them. He would have been a great option to have for this period when we don’t have Mane or Salah at the very least.
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Clearly still has the talent, the question is how consistent he can be week after week going forward.
As was noted in this game, he is clearly short of match fitness at the moment and can’t give a full 90 yet. That is where we will start to see what the effects of the back injury really are.
He would have been a good signing on loan but I get the feeling Klopp was hurt by the transfer… Klopp doesn’t seem the sort of guy who forgets easily either
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£60m.
But @Nobluff is right, buying VvD wasn’t dependent on us selling Coutinho. Coutinho enabled us to splash the cash on Alisson though.
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He took back Kagawa and Sahin, and was seemingly open to with Goetze again despite him leaving under what I’d consider worse circumstances.
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He doesn’t forget easily but he definitely forgives.
Klopp strikes me as exactly the opposite, someone who doesn’t take it as dramatic/personal and would be willing to consider it if it made sense for all parties. I think there were/are no issues between him and Coutinho. But it doesn’t make much sense and that’s it. We’re looking for something different and Coutinho is looking for regular football. Not really a topic.
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It’s an interesting move by Gerrard and Villa, and it will be especially interesting to see if they end up exercising the reported 40-million option, but I don’t think Coutinho’s a very good fit here, even on loan.
He’s already 29, and we need to get younger. Even in his best form, he’s not likely to start regularly for a team as good as ours. And it seems like that’s what he wants–to get more playing time and win that final big contract.
He’s probably still decent going forward–especially passing quickly after regaining possession. However, when he was here, he was never very good at pressing when the the opposition had the ball (well below Mane’s level), and he’s probably a little slower than he was when he was with us 4 years ago.
He also doesn’t offer much different from what we have. He’s kinda like Thiago in that he can play the quick through ball, but he’s not as strong as Thiago. He can hit a free kick, but he’s not going to do much of that when we have TAA starting.
You could argue that ON LOAN he’d be good to have while our forwards are at AFCON, but Klopp’s probably been telling Minamino and Ox for weeks that come January they are going to get their opportunity to shine. And as soon as Afcon ended, Countinho would likely be back on the bench sulking.
Rehabbing ex-stars is a difficult, which is probably why Klopp’s never really tried it here. (The closest example is Shaqiri?) What Klopp and Edwards are good at is finding good youngish players that are ready to take the next step and become superstars: see Van Dijk, Salah, Mane, Robertson, Fabinho, Jota.
Klopp did take back some of the guys who left him at dortmund though. Guys like Sahin , Kagawa , Gotze… So there is history on that front. If it was someone like Gundogan coming in next season for example , i have no doubt klopp will take him on a 2 year contract… Wages and all notwithstanding.
Its also not to do with age. Klopp doesnt mind squad players like Milly and Hendo and was willing to convince FSG to push for Thiago cause he is one of a kind.
With Coutinho , if he wants to come back and be a squad player ? Someone that can be used to break down low block defenses , the idea does have merit as in he still has the ability to form partnerships with people around him. But he would have to come in on a much lesser salary on a very short term contract (2 years) and accept that hes a squad player at best. He is still friends with a lot of liverpool players and there are a bunch of brazillians in the side. We get a player who can be a useful option off the bench plus someone who provides an option for freekicks , as good as trent is , coutinho is better at those.
the problem with Coutinho, is he isn’t good enough to bump any of our other players from their positions.
He’s not going to displace ANY of our front three including Jota or Diaz.
and he’s not good enough to play in our midfield three ahead of Hendo, Thiago, Fab, Keita. I’d say he’s on par with Curtis or maybe Elliot whom we haven’t seen in a while. But doesn’t put in the energy we need. that’s not his style of play.
I was a BIG fan of the little magician but I think we’ve outgrown him. Maybe he could be a short-term backup to Thiago with his skillset of passing and such, but he’d have to take a backseat role
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I think you are hugely over rating our midfield.
Coutinho is a huge upgrade on where Elliott and Jones are currently. Maybe not how they will be in a couple year’s time but where they are now.
No thanks though… I don’t want coutinho back. He is on his way down while Elliott is on his way up.
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If you say Elliott’s development is on an upward trajectory while Coutinho’s is downwards, there will be a point where they are equal. After that Elliott/Jones will surpass Coutinho surely?
So how can he be a huge upgrade over the two youngsters? Maybe temporary, but on a long term (and the way we recruit/develop players) we have a huge upgrade solution already in-house.
And with the same reasoning, I disagree we are over rating our midfield. We have rated them perfectly fine and hence no longer go for a short term solution ( like a ‘huge upgrade’ in Coutinho).
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I think we have a very good midfield, albeit the legs are getting a bit tired as the miles are racking up. Henderson is good for 60-75min these days, Thiago can cruise around for a full 90 as long as he doesn’t have to track back too often. Fab is going to need relief at some point. Keita is solid for a full match but his trick is consistency.
We are feeling the loss of Gini a bit as he was nailed on for 3000+min a season. That said, we’ve still managed to not have to dip into the Jones/Elliot section of the bench for a while…but I’m not sure whether that’s a good or a bad thing. I want those two to get minutes but we haven’t seen much of them lately.
Barcelona have agreed to sell Phil Coutinho to Aston Villa for €20m - just €380m short of his release clause.
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Another Edwards masterclass…
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Could do with Phil scoring a hatrick against City on the final day of the season. Come on mate, do it for the reds, do it for Stevie.
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