Philippe Coutinho

[villa4europe]

4 hours ago, Keyblade said:

That's unfair, I think he was genuinely world class at Liverpool. Maybe not 140m or Neymar level, but he was better than the likes of Griezmann and Dembele who went for similar fees around that time. In terms of pure #10's at the time, he and Eriksen were the 2 best and Eriksen was being touted for a move to Madrid for a similar fee at that time.

And then barca played him as a left winger

The value of it was ridiculous and shouldn't be used to judge him, he was great but he wasn't that great

I had reservations over him when we loaned him, I thought it was too big a step down for it not to impact him mentally and that his heart wouldn't be in it, now I'm just not sure he's physically up to it, same as everyone in the squad he needs a new manager to tickle his pickle before we should properly judge him but he just looks off it and not a particularly happy boy

[duke313]

Have we had our pants pulled down by signing Coutinho?  He looked so good on his debut, came on and changed the game.  You'd have thought he'd be hungry to recapture that form considering there is a World Cup next month, which as things stand, he will not be attending.

[spiezels]

Bring him on later in games like we do with Emi, When there’s more tired legs out there. 

[handsworthvilla]

Its revisionist to suggest he wasn't world class when Barca bought him. Klopp and Liverpool fought very hard to keep him, he was the best player in the PL at the time. 

But now his legs are gone. Carragher for once was spot on with his analysis, he doesn't have the power in his legs anymore to burst away from players and create his own space. Just compare the energy / running of Buendia with Coutinho and you will see this clearly. Both similar builds but at different stages of their career. Unfortunately for us you can't really be a wide player in the PL without bundles of energy / running these days. 

You could maybe get away with him at No10 but I'm always suspicious of any system that accommodates a No10 ... none of the top teams use them anymore. 

[The Fun Factory]

Perhaps the alarm bells should have rung when none one else really went in for him in the summer. However most of us were delighted he signed for us. He could still do a job for us if had a better coach but we haven't. Was a bit of a headline signing really considering we had Buendia. 20-30 million spent on a class box to box midfielder would have made more sense in hindsight.

[Steero113]

19 hours ago, villa89 said:

Not for me, even at the time he left there weren't too many complaints from Liverpool fans. Graeme Souness was happy to see him go, especially for that price.

The exact reason why he was actually quality. 

This is the same person who claimed Casemiro has been bang average his entire career. 

[Tom13]

It's crazy to me that he only left Pool 4.5 years ago. Feels a lot longer than that.

[Sulberto21]

Coutinho is a box player now. When Konsa played that brilliant through ball to Cash Coutinho was free in the box because he lost his marker.

But Cash’s poor technical ability meant he needed two touches and then he was dawdling on the ball and eventually pulled the ball back to a forest player. Had he squared it first time Coutinho has a tap in. 

There’s been many more instances like that where Coutinho has got away from his marker but only for his teammates to take too many touches and then lose it. 

Coutinho needs to adjust his game as others have mentioned he can’t get away from defenders with the ball. However he makes many intelligent runs into the box when the ball goes wide. 

[Keyblade]

57 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

Coutinho is a box player now. When Konsa played that brilliant through ball to Cash Coutinho was free in the box because he lost his marker.

But Cash’s poor technical ability meant he needed two touches and then he was dawdling on the ball and eventually pulled the ball back to a forest player. Had he squared it first time Coutinho has a tap in. 

There’s been many more instances like that where Coutinho has got away from his marker but only for his teammates to take too many touches and then lose it. 

Coutinho needs to adjust his game as others have mentioned he can’t get away from defenders with the ball. However he makes many intelligent runs into the box when the ball goes wide. 

The way he played on his debut. Edge of the box, playing 1-2's with Emi, JJ and Chuck, that's how he needs to be played. He doesn't have the legs anymore to play as the old Coutinho.

[Spoony]

Whatever happens I never want him or Luiz taking another free kick. 

[tinker]

Non of our players can be judged until Gerrard has gone, we have no runners and no movement into space for a player like Coutinho to pass or run into. Hes still got something to offer but his signing was foolish at the time and many people pointed this out. 

[duke313]

12 minutes ago, tinker said:

Non of our players can be judged until Gerrard has gone, we have no runners and no movement into space for a player like Coutinho to pass or run into. Hes still got something to offer but his signing was foolish at the time and many people pointed this out. 

I don't recall many people pointing this out, perhaps a few did.  Many people were worried however we wouldn't get him signed permanently.

[Sulberto21]

One thing nobody can deny is that our profile has gone up by signing Coutinho. From a commercial standpoint for businesses it’s an attractive proposition to have Coutinho’s face next to their product. 

[spiezels]

56 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

One thing nobody can deny is that our profile has gone up by signing Coutinho. From a commercial standpoint for businesses it’s an attractive proposition to have Coutinho’s face next to their product. 

I’d wager thats a massive part of it, including the signing of Stevie. 

[tinker]

3 hours ago, duke313 said:

I don't recall many people pointing this out, perhaps a few did.  Many people were worried however we wouldn't get him signed permanently.

You tend to remember the posters that supported your point of view and I remember the ones that supported mine but the majority wanted him, just like the majority wanted Gerrard (at least on villa talk) 

Coutinho ( and Ings) took us away from our transfer policy, buying players with sell on potential. The great part of buying these type of players is the hope it gives the fans. Hes beginning to look like an expensive luxury type player, like the one at Barca. I will however hold my judgement on him, as I do our other attack minded players, the system we appear to trying to playis a complete mess and amounts to little more than kick and hope . 

[The_Steve]

Saw some pathetic post comparing his goal return to Pickford. Coutinho is suffering like a lot of the lads from a lack of confidence because of Gerrard’s tactical liabilities. Let’s not scapegoat him too. 

[Sulberto21]

16 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

Saw some pathetic post comparing his goal return to Pickford. Coutinho is suffering like a lot of the lads from a lack of confidence because of Gerrard’s tactical liabilities. Let’s not scapegoat him too. 

There was one move in the second half against Forest which I think how Buendia and Coutinho should be played and how their roles should be defined.

Buendia was near the centre circle and Coutinho was level with Watkins. Luiz got the ball and gave it to Buendia who then took a few steps forward and found Coutinho free between the line and he shimmied and then gave it to Watkins and went for the return pass. He didn’t get the ball back but in that one instance it (imo) showed how Coutinho could be used alongside Buendia. 

[The_Steve]

Just now, Sulberto21 said:

There was one move in the second half against Forest which I think how Buendia and Coutinho should be played and how their roles should be defined.

Buendia was near the centre circle and Coutinho was level with Watkins. Luiz got the ball and gave it to Buendia who then took a few steps forward and found Coutinho free between the line and he shimmied and then gave it to Watkins and went for the return pass. He didn’t get the ball back but in that one instance it (imo) showed how Coutinho could be used alongside Buendia. 

Once he shifted more outwardly to the wing there was more flow to his game, and he was one of the better players against Leeds. We’ve been crying out for them to play in the same XI but Gerrard still manages to not utilise them to their obvious strengths and how they can compliment each other behind a striker. Genuinely baffling to watch again and again how he gets it so wrong. 

[mikeyp102]

4 hours ago, tinker said:

Non of our players can be judged until Gerrard has gone, we have no runners and no movement into space for a player like Coutinho to pass or run into. Hes still got something to offer but his signing was foolish at the time and many people pointed this out. 

Disagree. Yes Gerrard and his coaching team are ultimately responsible because of their poor tactics, but it’s doesn’t mean that the players themselves shouldn’t be performing better or working at ways to get better results. I still say that under Lambert, it wasn’t him that got them going one season (if anything he could see his instructions on the touch line differed to how the players played). But Benteke Weimann and even Gabby got the bit between their teeth and saw what was working. 
 

[Aston_Villan4]

I see people continual mention he looks like an expensive luxury player. Is £17 million really that expensive? Seems very mild in the grand scheme of modern day footie transfers.