Philippe Coutinho

[Pablo]

Yeah. I really can't imagine a Brazilian born player, stopped by a kid would go.

"No, you have an Everton shirt on, I'm not signing that" He probably asked at a very busy time or was missed out of a crowd. And the bitter being a bitter took it as an insult.

[Cormack74]

Do the right thing, stop making a fool of the kid and buy him a Liverpool shirt you bad parents.

[Fosterbloke]

At least he didn't bite him.

[RedReet]

Brendan: Coutinho is this team's brain

Brendan Rodgers described Philippe Coutinho as 'the brain' of his Liverpool team after the Brazilian turned in another stellar performance as the Reds were overturned 1-0 by AS Roma.



The No.10 displayed much of his unique repertoire of passing, close control and trickery during the clash at Fenway Park in Boston, the first of the club's pre-season tour of America.

A late goal by the Italians was the decider at the conclusion of a hard-fought match at the iconic baseball venue, which was regularly lit up by the technique of Coutinho.

"Coutinho is the brain in our team, the continuity player," said the boss later. "He might not score many goals, but he's a wonderful reference for the team.

"He is the one that gets the team ticking, gets the movement in front of the ball. He goes and gets on the ball. He's a fantastic talent for such a young player and he's still gaining his fitness.

"He makes the crowd get off their seat. For someone so small, he's very tough and robust. He's a wonderful technician that has a great idea, tactically, of the game."

On the encounter itself, the Northern Irishman continued: "These are two Champions League teams, two teams that are at a good level of pre-season and two sets of committed players that are very competitive.

"Pre-season friendly or not, both teams wanted to play well and work well. I thought it was a perfect game at this stage of our preparation phase.

"This is one of a number of good games that we've got coming up that are going to really sharpen us up for the beginning of the season."

The Reds have now won one and lost two of their first three preparation fixtures for the new campaign, with four further matches on the schedule before the opener.

Next up is a trip to Chicago for Olympiacos before taking on Manchester City and AC Milan in the States and returning to Anfield to host German contenders Borussia Dortmund.

"It's not about results at this stage," Rodgers explained to reporters gathered inside Fenway. "The most important result for me is the first game of the season.

"You have a choice - you can play friendlies that probably make you win every game and you might not find anything out. We've got a really tough set of fixtures over the course of the pre-season.

"We've got a great tour out here and then we go back and within a few days we'll play Borussia Dortmund. We're really pitching ourselves in at a good level to get a good gauge.

"The most important objective is that we're in a really good physical condition for our first game of the season, against Southampton.

"And that technically and tactically, we'll have honed up all of the principles and ideas that have made us so successful in the last couple of years. That will be the most important result for us."

The manager also revealed that the likes of Adam Lallana and Lazar Markovic, summer recruits, plus the returning England contingent are in line to feature from Chicago onwards.

He added: "They only really began training on Monday. I put Jordan Henderson in because of his level of fitness. Jordan could play 10 games on the spin because he's so fit and strong.

"It was nice to give him a 15-minute period at the end. But those players, like young Markovic, who is an exceptional talent, will be involved when we arrive in Chicago."

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/167047-brendan-coutinho-is-this-team-s-brain

So are people still expecting that he'll be the one to make way for our new signings?

[Gray]

Not going by pre-season. Good news

[Corndog]

A lot of people don't have him in the 1st XI due to Lallana signing and Sterling also being a great CAM but i think he will prove to be in our 'best team' this season. His through balls to sturridge/sterling can be game winners.

[RedReet]

A lot of people don't have him in the 1st XI due to Lallana signing and Sterling also being a great CAM but i think he will prove to be in our 'best team' this season. His through balls to sturridge/sterling can be game winners.

That’s why I wasn’t that worried about us replacing Suarez with another player of his calibre as I already thought we had 2 potential replacements in him and Sterling. I know they play different positions and are nowhere near as good just yet, but both have the potential to go on and be world class.

With Markovic and Lallana now providing competition as well as Remy and potentially another, I think we’ll be devastating in attack next year.

[SB]

I don't think either Phil or Raheem will score anywhere near enough goals for us but I'd love to be proven wrong. We do need a replacement for Suarez. Whether Remy is up to it , only time will tell.

[RedReet]

Between goals and assists, I think they'll easily get more than enough between them and we'll still be one of the top 3 scorers in the league.

My one worry would be Sturridge's fitness, but with Remy and Lambert as cover, I'm less concerned about that now.

[dww]

I think people have slightly odd expectations of our players scoring exploits - Sterling got 9 last season which is pretty good for a non-striker with no freekicks/penalties. Lallana did the same - we can't expect each player in our entire team to score 30 goals a season.

[SB]

Between goals and assists, I think they'll easily get more than enough between them and we'll still be one of the top 3 scorers in the league.

My one worry would be Sturridge's fitness, but with Remy and Lambert as cover, I'm less concerned about that now.

There's probably 20 goals at best between them IMO. Probably be more assists than actual goals which is why I said they won't replace Suarez. No one can but hopefully Remy can pitch in with 15-20 then I agree that we should still be free scoring.

[SB]

I think people have slightly odd expectations of our players scoring exploits - Sterling got 9 last season which is pretty good for a non-striker with no freekicks/penalties. Lallana did the same - we can't expect each player in our entire team to score 30 goals a season.

No Dave but we need someone to get another 15-20 to replace Suarez's 30 goals IMO.

[Fosterbloke]

He was a little genius last night. He danced around a team that finished (2nd?) last season.

[Gazzla]

With Suarez gone we have room for another attacking player with free licence in the starting line up, I wonder if Rodgers thinks Coutinho is that man?

[DannyMan2006]

No Dave but we need someone to get another 15-20 to replace Suarez's 30 goals IMO.

Last season we had a striker on the bench who scored zero premier league goals - Aspas. Think I'm right in saying Luis Alberto scored zero, Moses can't have got more than a couple.

Now let's say

Remy - Suarez
Lambert - Aspas
Markovic - Moses
Lallana - Luis Alberto

Could those 4 get 30+ between them in the league? I think they wouldn't be too far off. And then we could say that Sturridge May bag more if he's played as the main man every game. Sterling could get more as he'll have a full season to prove himself, he didn't really get going until mid season last year.

Clearly we can't replace Suarez, but if our "reserve" players contribute more this season, we could make up some of the short fall. Goes without saying that I'm also hoping we concede less this season. A 1-0 win instead of a 4-3 or 6-3 won't bother me too much tbh. Same points.