You don't criticise Coutinho when he's a hard worker. For my part, as long as he runs his ass off I won't say a word against him.
Might be biased on this.
Dembele is impulsive, he even said himself he doesn't know what he'll do next. Coutinho is the same up to a point. But a slow team like we are doesn't handle such players well enough.
It'll take a lot of adapting, in my opinion.
Yes, playing for Barça means a lot of adapting. Coutinho has already publicly stated that it’s tough because the changes of pace necessary are extreme and the only thing that helps is game time. This is a a curtesy he has been extended which Dembélé has not (to a certain extent). I said to [MENTION=6099]JamDav1982[/MENTION] in another thread that as much as Dembélé needs to adapt to the team (which he is doing - you can see with his flicks/backheels etc that the expected positioning of his teammates is becoming an instinctive thing) the team need to adapt to his ingenuity too. He conjours stuff from thin air at times and his teammates will only learn where to be if they play together more.
Regarding Dembélé’s work rate. I think, for the most part, he gets himself into adequate positions but he doesn’t make the press or put in the tackle. It’s an attitude issue which can be worked on.
I was also only commenting on the ball loss issue because Coutinho is just as guilty of it. That he works harder to get it back shouldn’t detract from it.
That said the ball loss is not a big thing when you’re creating chances at a rate of knots.