7 - Philippe Coutinho - V1

[Ghostmaster]

What a player And his link up with Messi, Suarez, Iniesta, Alba will be such joy to watch.

 

[Cule Finn]

This guy is pure class.

 

[Hardy]

He showed more yesterday in 20 minutes than all other midfielders in 90 minutes. He will add another dimension to our team.

I say in the last 2 years

 

[Xaviniesta]

the ball sticks to his feet like glue

 

[ronniecro]

i was much calmer watching him down on the pitch playing after recovering from injury than dembele,even when he returns i'll be scared to watch him
and i agree with others,he is pure class,not scared to take the ball and do something else instead of passing it to the first free player,he will do wonders for us

 

[BusiTheKing]

It's kinda weird seing a different player than Messi do some of that casual playmaking stuff. Almost seems like we're cheating somehow.

 

[Raketa10]

ehhhh iniesta yesterday had an amazing game, his dribbling and positional awareness (aka not getting in albas way but setting alba up) were on point... oh and how he shielded the ball and got off sticky situations
i liked coutinho's debut but he needs to adapt to the formation and i'm personally excited to see more from him

I don't share your opinion on Iniesta performance yesterday. I am his biggest fan and he had some great moments but IMHO his overall game was average at best. He is far from the player he was in his prime and biggest problem is the lack of energy. He just doesn't have a capacity to perform 90 minutes in tough games anymore. I am not sure if he'll be able to contribute much against Chelsea and other tougher teams in CL. I might be wrong though...

 

[Senador Romario]

Only club where the fans will pick a player to support and trash another player of the team.

 

[BusiTheKing]

I don't share your opinion on Iniesta performance yesterday. I am his biggest fan and he had some great moments but IMHO his overall game was average at best. He is far from the player he was in his prime and biggest problem is the lack of energy. He just doesn't have a capacity to perform 90 minutes in tough games anymore. I am not sure if he'll be able to contribute much against Chelsea and other tougher teams in CL.

I think the main difference between his performances last season and this is that his defensive duties have absolute first priority now. Which of course means even less energy to contribute going forward. Yesterday I counted four times of him sprinting back to cover a man when we were already outnumbered them pretty comfortably. Something he did very half-heartedly for the most of last season. Even though his it's obviously a shame watching him not being able to spend his fuel at what he does best, ultimately it's a good thing for the team. He was excellent and keeping possession in tricky situations but was hardly an offensive weapon like Coutinho.

 

[Sorin]

Bust. Sell

 

[MessiCam]

I think the main difference between his performances last season and this is that his defensive duties have absolute first priority now. Which of course means even less energy to contribute going forward. Yesterday I counted four times of him sprinting back to cover a man when we were already outnumbered them pretty comfortably. Something he did very half-heartedly for the most of last season. Even though his it's obviously a shame watching him not being able to spend his fuel at what he does best, ultimately it's a good thing for the team. He was excellent and keeping possession in tricky situations but was hardly an offensive weapon like Coutinho.

This. I'd like to see Valverde try him as a 6 alongside Coutinho.

 

[jairzinho]

Nice cameo yesterday.

Looked sharp.

 

[henias]

I think the main difference between his performances last season and this is that his defensive duties have absolute first priority now. Which of course means even less energy to contribute going forward. Yesterday I counted four times of him sprinting back to cover a man when we were already outnumbered them pretty comfortably. Something he did very half-heartedly for the most of last season. Even though his it's obviously a shame watching him not being able to spend his fuel at what he does best, ultimately it's a good thing for the team. He was excellent and keeping possession in tricky situations but was hardly an offensive weapon like Coutinho.

The best option is playing Iniesta together with Coutinho. No one can match Iniesta's ball retention Iniesta has a 73% dribble success rate, 1.6 dribbles per game, pretty impressive since he plays only average 66 mins per game. Iniesta is a ghost in tight situations, with excellent vision he is still useful despite not being an attacking threat in the opponents box. Best thing now is to rest him for the CL.

 

[wisconsincule]

It's kinda weird seing a different player than Messi do some of that casual playmaking stuff. Almost seems like we're cheating somehow.

Yes. Every time he collects the ball he turns towards goal and is looking to advance play/pick out a pass. Drastic change from some of the serial back passers we’ve got.!

 

[Zincubus]

He is the nearest thing to Iniesta out there and the best attacking midfielder in the world for me.

His vision is one of his main strengths as are his footballing brain and awareness.

Absolutely perfect for Barca in a number of positions.

I've been raving about Cout for years and last night he played like a dream - slotted in sooo easily .

I'll get slaughtered here but I can actually see similarities between Coutinho and BOTH Iniesta AND Xavi ..

Our own personal Xavinesta

Plus his fabulous long range shots are legendary over here in the UK