Philippe Coutinho

[Gazzla]

I wonder if Coutinho will be given more of a free role higher up the pitch if we don't sign an adequate replacement for Suarez? The downside being that his shooting is appalling for a player of his quality. The way he ripped arsenal apart in the home game was majestic

[Paddy]

Phil was one of those players who suffered from the "rainy cold night away at Stoke syndrome" quite a few times. Hopefully he can improve.

And yes, I know we beat Stoke away last year. Cissokho with a stunner.

[Vermilion]

You're welcome

Why am i not surprised?!

[kop-al-74]

I hope the fact that his 2 best buddies are on their way out doesn't affect him.

[Shaggy]

I hope the fact that his 2 best buddies are on their way out doesn't affect him.

People often laugh but that stuff counts.

[The_weatherman]

People often laugh but that stuff counts.

Who are they? Anyway, Markovic has hopefully picked up some Portugese in Portugal and we can maybe put a buddy program in place, have Enrique grope him three times a week maybe?

[G]

Suarez and Lucas are his best buds.

[Roboklopp]

You're welcome

[Roboklopp]

Who are they? Anyway, Markovic has hopefully picked up some Portugese in Portugal and we can maybe put a buddy program in place, have Enrique grope him three times a week maybe?

It's the culture though- and their missuses.

[baitman]

I hope the fact that his 2 best buddies are on their way out doesn't affect him.

he can breath a sigh of relief as he will no longer have to drink that foul brew just to be in the clique. and having to drink through a rusty metal straw, the same one lucas and suarez have been gozzing all over

[Cormack74]

They've shown previously they hang out with people from other clubs. Cout will be fine.

[RedReet]

Think a lot of people are forgetting how good this boy is. He seems to make very few starting teams next year and many are expecting him to start from the bench. The likes of Walcott, Bale, Sturridge, Ramsey all had their big breakthrough seasons aged 22/23 and comparing how good Coutinho has been at 20/21 compared to them, despite the handicap of having to learn the English game, I see no reason why he can't go on and do the same next year.

At his best, he's as good as anybody IMO, all he needs is a bit more consistency. I predict a massive season for him this year, he'll be one of our best players and Madrid and Barca will come calling next summer.

[DannyMan2006]

Think a lot of people are forgetting how good this boy is. He seems to make very few starting teams next year and many are expecting him to start from the bench. The likes of Walcott, Bale, Sturridge, Ramsey all had their big breakthrough seasons aged 22/23 and comparing how good Coutinho has been at 20/21 compared to them, despite the handicap of having to learn the English game, I see no reason why he can't go on and do the same next year.

At his best, he's as good as anybody IMO, all he needs is a bit more consistency. I predict a massive season for him this year, he'll be one of our best players and Madrid and Barca will come calling next summer.

He's shown enough in his time to suggest he can be a big player for us. If he can sort out his shooting he'll become world class. Has an almost telepathic understanding with Sturridge which helps.

[Cormack74]

Article by some Brazilian footie expert in yesterday's Telegraph lamented the fact that Scolari was too loyal when picking his squad and that newer talents like the Cout should have been included. Easy with hindsight but he certainly wouldn't have done a worse job.

[RedReet]

He's shown enough in his time to suggest he can be a big player for us. If he can sort out his shooting he'll become world class. Has an almost telepathic understanding with Sturridge which helps.

He got 3 goals and 5 assists in 13 during his first season, which is good attacking returns for any midfielder (9 goals, 15 assists over 38). Although he didn't improve on that last year, we did see massive improvement on the defensive side of his game, which was maybe what we were concentrating on in training. Hopefully then he will work on his end product this year, so I see no reason why he can't go on to get 15+ goals this season if he plays enough games. I'll be very surprised if he doesn't get at least 10.