Philippe Coutinho was signed by Liverpool for a rumoured fee of about 8.5 million pounds and the Merseyside faithful are longing to see what the young South American has to offer.
He was signed by Inter at the age of 16 after coming up the ranks in the famed youth academy of Brazilian giants Vasco Da Gama. He impressed earlier on, but failure to cement a spot in the starting 11 over other players, who had vast amounts of experience, saw the young Brazilian being loaned to Espanyol in Spain. He played under current Southampton manager, Mauricio Pochettino, scoring 5 goals in 16 appearances, earning plaudits along the way.
His return to Inter should have seen him earn a spot in the first team; however, he once again found himself warming the bench and scored thrice in 10 games. Liverpool seem to have a pattern in how they pick up bench-warmers with little experience, and mould them into better players. Coutinho is a proper No.10 and, in all honesty, Liverpool have lacked one since the days when Ajax legend, Jari Litmanen, graced the fields of Anfield. Everyone’s been saying that his main role will be right behind the striker, where Rodgers has experimented with Henderson and Allen. However, neither have yielded good results.
He might not be the strongest player on the pitch, but his agility and pace is something Liverpool can take advantage of. His ability to find space and open up defenses with his through balls are his strongest point and that’s what Liverpool need. One problem he faces, though, is that he likes to drift left whenever the chance arises. This could be good news for Brendan as he could use him as a left winger, where Suso and Sterling have been rotated so far. This gives Liverpool some extra depth along with quality. He doesn’t hesitate at all while approaching defenders and this could help him on the wings.
He could be the heart of Liverpool’s creative tank, as Cazorla is for Arsenal, Mata for Chelsea and so on. However, there’s a hint of a possibility that Anfield might once again see another Aquilani and Joe Cole, but the Brazilian is quite young and could easily turn into a world-class player. Liverpool have most definitely landed a bargain.
Analyzing this tactically , I would say this would be a very strong Liverpool team without any injury concerns -
I have gone with a solid back four of Enrique, Carragher, Agger and Johnson. The full-backs have to provide width as the midfielders should be playing somewhat compact to keep up the intensity of tiki-taka. I have chosen a pivot of Gerrard and Lucas; this can be turned into an Allen-Henderson partnership or a mixture of the two. Then, as one of the three midfielders playing behind the striker, I have Suarez, who plays in the hole behind the striker, making forward runs whenever needed, and is equally adept at playing as an out-and-out striker, just like Rooney. Then you have Sturridge or Borini upfront. Both of the players can play on the wings, which bumps up the versatility in the attacking third even higher.
Then comes Coutinho on the left wing and Sterling on the right. Due to the presence of tiki-taka, we can safely say that an exchange of positions will always be present. This destroys man-marking and then comes the area where chances will have be created. Coutinho will play a huge part in this, and it all comes down to whether he can adapt to the Premier League and deliver the goods.
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