7 - Philippe Coutinho - V1

xXKonan

xXKonan

Senior Member
His performances at LW when Valverde made the changes were initially not to bad and we thought we had a functioning system for that short time. But like usual it was short lived and the flaws became pretty apparently and Coutinho performances started to dip.

The system we used worked to maintain possession with Valverde hoping it solved the defensive woes as well. But With the Midfield setup, we had to rely on the Fullbacks and Coutinho/Messi to deliver the goods in terms of creation and to feed Suarez.

It was a system that can't afford to have the likes of Coutinho/Messi being in poor form. There's just so much the likes of Alba/Roberto/Semedo can do especially considering how fucked the right side is because Messi doesn't like to stay on the RW most of the time leaving both Bob and Semedo to cover a lot of ground and try to do three things at once.

If Valverde has no intentions of moving Coutinho back into the Midfield and wants to persist in playing a Conservative Midfield which is only sole duty is to maintain control and if Coutinho's form doesn't improve I don't think he should be always playing honestly.
 
FCB1987

FCB1987

Banned
FCBfan22 said:
0f408dbcb0db3a41886778a22843171b.jpg


And you, my friend seem like someone who stumbled here from Barca Reddit.

The fact is that Coutinho has been severely underperforming as a LW. If you can't see that, I can't help you.
Click to expand...

I remember getting downvoted on r/barca over the summer for disagreeing with someone saying Coutinho is a top 5 player in the world
 
Messigician

Messigician

Senior Member
"Explosive and decisive in short spaces, Coutinho lacked the heart and lungs to perform consistently in the great spaces of the midfield. In the physical tests that simulated situations of the game, after two sprints of 60 meters Coutinho could not recover without remaining half a minute completely stopped. Too much, given the tactical demands. With the emphasis on permanent dynamism, Klopp discarded Coutinho to integrate the midfield in 4-3-3. Even when he placed it as an end, he found that it disengaged in the folds. During several days he tried a 4-2-3-1 to place him behind the point, with a smaller radius of action to avoid suffering. If he played as a second point he could stay off the hook without generating serious imbalances, while the rest of the team was ordered 20 meters back. But the 4-2-3-1, in Klopp's opinion, did not allow the team to occupy the spaces in the most efficient way possible.

"Barça's first offer for Coutinho amounted to 60 million euros, about a year ago. Klopp's reaction was perplexing. He thought that Barcelona had the three attack squares covered with Messi, Suarez and Neymar.

"When they told him that [Josep] Bartomeu would sign [Ousmane] Dembelé to replace Neymar and offer more than 100 million for Coutinho to act as relay for [Andres] Iniesta, his amazement broke into hilarity. According to an employee of the English club, Klopp was blunt: "Coutinho is a fabulous forward but he will never feel comfortable in 4-3-3 as an inside; and much less if he has to play in the post of Iniesta in the 4-4-2 that [Ernesto] Valverde practices in the defensive phase, where the longer runs should be done by the wings. Iniesta is a long distance runner. Coutinho no. "
 
DonAK

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
That was a part of Diego Torres long idiotic story where he has no sources within Barcelona or Liverpool. That article displayed everything that's wrong with sports journalism nowadays.

Story debunked a long time ago.
 
ThwiX

ThwiX

Best midfielder around
Can’t even do his trademark shot these days. FFS. The Arda/Cesc comparisons are getting less funny and more real for each game. Just that you could combine what both those cost us, double it and you will still need some more to buy Coutinho.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Home of Barca Fans

Top