7 - Philippe Coutinho - V1

[Pepe Silvia]

When I got myself into football in 2006-2007, I actually started following Boca Juniors and Club America a little before I discovered Barcelona.

Barcelona is my Overall Favorite Club since I discovered Ronnie in 2007. If Barcelona met any of my other clubs in Europe, I'd undoubtedly cheer for Barca.

Barca is my heart and obsession. My other clubs are entertainment.

That said, I think it makes watching other leagues more entertaining to have a team. Without having a dog in the fight in each league, what's the point of following those leagues besides keeping track of individual players that Barca could potentially sign. That doesn't seem very fun.

 

[Co0ter]

Coutinho being started on the R side yet again. Valverde learning from his mistakes quite well....

 

[FCB1987]

I'm probably rooting for Liverpool in the PL as well this season.

I've always hated Chelsea, I've never liked United and hate Mouyes, I like Arsenal but they won't challenge, and while I loved Pep while he was here, him taking over clubs like Bayern (reigning treble winners, buying Dortmund's best players) and City (oil club, outspending everyone) has turned me off a bit.

 

[kadeng]

I can understand being a Barca fan and supporting your small local team, but how can you be a Liverpool and Barca fan?

i see no problem here

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Liverpool is like our new LaMasia. Why would we hate them? Suarez, Masch and Coutinho all came from there. Love them..

 

[hamoon32]

He was interesting at RCM. I guess it's Valverde's solution to Messi constantly cutting inside when playing on RW. He can cover him like Rakitic did in 2016/17, but he suits that role far better offensively.

 

[DonAK]

He was interesting at RCM. I guess it's Valverde's solution to Messi constantly cutting inside when playing on RW. He can cover him like Rakitic in 2016/17.

What a massive waste of Coutinho that would be.

Put Arturo Vidal there instead and Messi centrally and play with a proper RW.

 

[hamoon32]

What a massive waste of Coutinho that would be.

Put Arturo Vidal there instead and Messi centrally and play with a proper RW.

I think he actually suits that role. RCM/RW on attack and RM on defense. Suarez can play in his natural position, and i think Messi is better off starting at RW. He's a bit harder to mark there.

 

[FCBfan22]

He was interesting at RCM. I guess it's Valverde's solution to Messi constantly cutting inside when playing on RW. He can cover him like Rakitic did in 2016/17, but he suits that role far better offensively.

And we lose his deadly cut and shot from the left into the middle. Stupid setup by Valverde.

 

[hamoon32]

And we lose his deadly cut and shot from the left into the middle. Stupid setup by Valverde.

Yes, you lose this, but tactically you gain more balance.

As we've seen against Sevilla and Boca, playing someone versatile on RCM(Rafinha or Coutinho) and a CM with ability to play on double pivot on LCM gives you the ability to attack with 4-3-3 and defend with 4-4-2. You can't do this if you play both Coutinho and Dembele on the left side.
So, if we want to play with Coutinho, Dembele, Suarez and Messi at the same time we either play Coutinho on left and Messi centrally (4-4-2 all the time, same as last season) or play LCM Coutinho and RW Messi (4-3-3 all the time, we know how that went with a better starting 11 on Lucho's last season) or what we tried last game which imo is more balanced and stable.

It's actually pretty smart setup by EV imo.

 

[FCBfan22]

Yes, you lose this, but tactically you gain more balance.

As we've seen against Sevilla and Boca, playing someone versatile on RCM(Rafinha or Coutinho) and a CM with ability to play on double pivot on LCM gives you the ability to attack with 4-3-3 and defend with 4-4-2. You can't do this if you play both Coutinho and Dembele on the left side.
So, if we want to play with Coutinho, Dembele, Suarez and Messi at the same time we either play Coutinho on left and Messi centerally (4-4-2 all the time, same as last season) or play LCM Coutinho and RW Messi (4-3-3 all the time, we know how that went with a better starting 11 on Lucho's last season) or what we tried last game which imo is more balanced and stable.

It's actually pretty smart setup by EV imo.

Balance? We looked incredibly left-side heavy in those two games. It's a stupid setup by Valverde. Instead of building on his success of last season, he is copying Lucho now.

 

[jairzinho]

How many players in our team can score longshots from outside the box.? We should be playing our best players in their best positions, especially a player like Coutinho with his long shots. Coming inside from the left and shooting with his right foot is one of his biggest weapons. Look at his highlights and you'll see what he does best. We should be using that to our advantage.

 

[EdmondDantes]

Playing Coutinho on the right is like shackling him with one of these:

He still does well but you take away from his ability to be what he can be, exceptional.

 

[Flavius]

Why this guy starts on bench is beyond me..

We finally have a real '7' number...I don.t remember our last pure 7....Gudjohnsen? )

 

[Tekkers]

baller