After a brilliant pre-season, Liverpool attacker Philippe Coutinho is almost certain to start this weekend's Premier League opener against Southampton, and Brazil legend Cafu is expecting big things from his 'magical' compatriot this season.
Coutinho was arguably Liverpool's star performer during the pre-season campaign, and his stunning assist for Daniel Sturridge's goal against Dortmund typifies the Brazilian's burgeoning talent.
After watching the Dortmund game, Cafu - who is ludicrously compared to Reds defender Jon Flanagan - tweeted:
After missing out on Brazil's World Cup squad (a huge mistake by Scolari), £20m-rated Coutinho is well-rested, and should be able to hit the ground running when Liverpool kick off the new league campaign this Sunday.
With Suarez out of the picture, Coutinho will probably play an even more integral role for Liverpool this season. The pressure is on LFC's attacking players to pick up the slack, and the Brazilian will hopefully thrive on the responsibility.
Even without Suarez, Liverpool's attacking options look tasty this season, and the Sterling-Coutinho-Sturridge troika reminds me of LFC's supreme attacking trinity of the late 1980s: Barnes-Beardsley-Aldridge, who took the league by storm during Kenny Dalglish's first spell in charge.
Personally, I'm most looking forward to seeing the continued progression of the Coutinho-Sturridge partnership. It's a fruitful source of goals for Liverpool, and the duo seem to have an almost telepathic understanding, which will be vital for the Reds this season.
Just out of interest:
Author: Jaimie K
Coutinho was arguably Liverpool's star performer during the pre-season campaign, and his stunning assist for Daniel Sturridge's goal against Dortmund typifies the Brazilian's burgeoning talent.
After watching the Dortmund game, Cafu - who is ludicrously compared to Reds defender Jon Flanagan - tweeted:
I have just see the play from @Phil_Coutinho! Big future! Will be a big season! Abraços
— Cafu. (@officialcafu) August 11, 2014After missing out on Brazil's World Cup squad (a huge mistake by Scolari), £20m-rated Coutinho is well-rested, and should be able to hit the ground running when Liverpool kick off the new league campaign this Sunday.
With Suarez out of the picture, Coutinho will probably play an even more integral role for Liverpool this season. The pressure is on LFC's attacking players to pick up the slack, and the Brazilian will hopefully thrive on the responsibility.
Even without Suarez, Liverpool's attacking options look tasty this season, and the Sterling-Coutinho-Sturridge troika reminds me of LFC's supreme attacking trinity of the late 1980s: Barnes-Beardsley-Aldridge, who took the league by storm during Kenny Dalglish's first spell in charge.
Personally, I'm most looking forward to seeing the continued progression of the Coutinho-Sturridge partnership. It's a fruitful source of goals for Liverpool, and the duo seem to have an almost telepathic understanding, which will be vital for the Reds this season.
Just out of interest:
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Author: Jaimie K
A magic bag of tricks but still needs to improve on that final pass and his shooting is wayward. However if he can carry on with his pre-season form form it bodes well for LFC. It maybe that Suarez going is a blessing in disguise if BR can mold a team instead of the other 10 deferring to LS and waiting for him to bail them out of a sticky situation
ReplyDeletehe is by far atm my favourite player in Liverpool shirt. sincere young lad, with great read of game. willing to work his boots off.
ReplyDeletei saw some articles preseason ones saying coutinho is liability defensively???!? i did not get that.
he has a big future, i do not know how Inter did not see that.
their loss and our gain! i love the lad
two fantastic young players but coutinho s creativity to bring players into play just about shades it
ReplyDeleteBoth equally important to me
ReplyDeleteAgree with that. When he first came to us, his final pass was superbly weighted, but for most of last season he tended to overhit it, possibly trying too hard, and his shooting carried little threat.
ReplyDeleteHe seems to have relaxed a bit now lets hope he carries on into the season what he's done so far in preseason
let me tell what i honestly think of Coutinho. fantastic talent, great skills, good vision although sometimes overhits the the pass, but thats more when he is rusty and not fit, his through ball is amazing especially for a young kid. hes basically got everything to be a word class no.10. his only downfall is his shooting. Coutinho shooting is terrible and he must improve, last season he never use to look up before shooting and would normally always go wide. other than that hes a fantasic player and should have definately went to the world cup. Willian wouldnt have been there had he still played for Shakthar. for the simple fact he plays for Chelsea they took him, and Luis Gustavo? your having a laugh, Jo and Fred? that team was shambolic my team would have been
ReplyDelete------------------------------Julio Cesar
Alves-------------Silva---------------Marquinhos------Marcelo
---------------------Ramires-------------Oscar
-----Hulk----------------------Coutinho------------Neymar
-----------------------------Firmino/Pato
the experience and quality in that side would have easily won the World Cup, a good partnership with Silva and Marquinhos from PSG. Ramires defensive mid with oscar slightly attacking. Hulk coming in on the right onto his favoured foot. Neymar with the role to get the goals along with Pato/Firmino/Hulk with a perfect creator in Coutinho.
as the final touch to our team i think we should sign Marco Reus for £30M. our formation will be
-------------------------------Simon Mingolet
Manquillo---------------Skrtel----------Lovren-------Moreno
-----------------------Gerrard---------Henderson
-------Sterling----------------Coutinho------------Reus
-------------------------------Sturridge
Subs on: Lallana for Coutinho, Emre Can for Gerrard, Markovic for Sterling or Sturridge
Not picking between those two. Can't wait to see both.
ReplyDeleteBoth of them two players are the now and future of LFC.
ReplyDeleteAnd i can't wait for them to terrorise teams this season in League and Europe.
I am hoping B Rodgers and I Ayre bring M Reus(25) Of B Dortmund to club for £23-£28M as our Marquee signing along with either W Bony(25) Of Swansea, G Rossi(27) Of Fiorentina or L Adriano(27) Of Shakhtar Donesk.
Those two attackers plus a class quality DM and GK and our squad will be complete for the next few seasons.
Attacking players:
1: M Reus(25) Of D Dortmund for £24-£28M Marquee Signing RW / LW
to compete with Markovic(20) and R Sterling(19)
2: W Bony(25) Of Swansea for £14-£17M FD to compete with R Lambert(32) and D Sturridge(24)
Defensive players:
3: Romero(27) Of Sampdoria in swap deal with S Coates(23) plus £3M cash from Sampdoria GK to compete and cover S Mignolet(25)
4: E Capoue(24) Of Tottenham for £6-£8M to compete with S Gerrard(34) www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH0ywzaOLaQ
that being said coutinho has a bit of pace on him
ReplyDeleteJK you naughty boy asking us to choose, nevertheless I chose Coutinho because of he's the catalyst. Sterling offers that penetration that we've lacked for years. I'm in full agreement about Coutinho being in Saurez's shadow, now I fully expect him to grow into an immense player. Fingers & toes cross for another striker!
ReplyDeleteTwo totally different types of player, Sterling explosive speed very strong and can win a game on his own, then Coutinho, just full of tricks with a killer pass that can open a defense up, more so than anybody within the team, so either can be the best player in the team on any given day, both players have many different quality`s both players are very important to the team its just to hard to call equally as good as one and other.
ReplyDeleteI taught Cafu is the one who said he sees himself in Flannagan? I may be wrong. Coutinho is plain ol skoo Brazilian something they were missing at the World Cup and a whole lot of defense and striker. My Brazilian friend who is a Barca fan has taken notice and it's a big fan,
ReplyDeleteYou are my new friend for adding Reus! The Brazilian squad I will put Firmino on the right and hulk up front to muscle people.
ReplyDeletei think sterling is a better player. he is surely at the level ronaldo was when he was 19, not as good as messi at that age. but both are equally important.
ReplyDeleteStoke City likely to sign Victor Moses on loan with medical set for tomorrow. Looks like Assaidi is not going to be sold to Stoke after all. West Brom the only hope now.
ReplyDeleteExactly my views, he ticks every boxes needed to fill in the gap in the team. The only drawback is his age. 16m for a 29 year old does not seem to be model FSG is looking. However if we amortize the 16m over 4 years (without wages), it's like 4m every year. If he can keep us in CL every season, this isn't a bad deal + he oozes with flair and quality and his attitude is top class, chases like a mad dog in midfield, versatile (maybe not as prolific as Suarez but hey nobody in the world is anyway), I rather have him than Ballotelli (rumors implying potential loan).
ReplyDeleteIt won't let me join the league it says it's an invalid code
ReplyDeleteThis is my dream champions league group
ReplyDeletebarcaloena,dourtmount,celtic/ajax,liverpool
does anyone know if this is possible group?
Agree about Cafu and I think he is getting a bit carried away comparing himself to Flanagan. JK is right when he says it is ludicrous.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not unless the person writing up the teams for the draw is trying for extra scrabble points :-)
ReplyDeleteI think game time might be a factor and for various reasons I think Raheem will have the bigger overall impact but I love a Brazilian (though that's another story).
ReplyDeleteObviously the age factor comes into any signing but with Sept 1st fast approaching Roger's is well aware the team is short of forward line options.
ReplyDeleteI would have thought that a striker would have been high on Roger's list knowing that the departure of Suarez was inevitable, surely preparation's for a replacement should have been in place. Getting a decent striker this late in the window means paying extortionate prices, why leave it so late?
Two completely different players and both will be equally as important this season.
ReplyDeleteLooking at our preseason matches, Coutinho will be crucial when it comes to the link between our midfield and attack in the 4-1-2-1-2 diamond and Sterling might partner Sturridge upfront as his movement and quick feet are just to much for the opposition to handle.
Expecting both to have a brilliant season.
Will join when I finally finish my bloody team :)
ReplyDeleteIf he increases his goal tally and becomes more of a threat for the goalkeeper then definitley
ReplyDeleteCoutinho and Sterling are the two that will need to step up in terms of creativity, and to some extent goals, to fill the void left by Suarez. When on form Coutinho is a wonderful player, but hopefully he can find a little more consistency this season than last. He has a tendency to snatch at his shot so needs improvement in this area too. I've no doubt he has the ability to do that. I wouldn't like to separate the two players in terms of their importance to our cause.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, it's been interesting to read (I know I shouldn't) the premier league predictions of various sports journalists this past week. As an example, out of eight journalists in the Telegraph, only two of them have us in the top four and none of them (perhaps less surprisingly given the squad strength of Chelski and City) have us in the top two. This is reflected across pretty much all of the major newspapers. Underdogs again it seems, which is fine by me.
I am happy with this. What I was worried at the end of last season was that the hype train would take off and the media would just heap praise on us and we would become complacent. Now, we are ready to prove everyone wrong again and I am sure we will.
ReplyDeleteHe's not at the level Ronaldo was when he was 19. Ronaldo would beat his men from a standing start or on the run in a way which you'd never seen before. He had little end product but the way he struck the ball was exceptional -- again, it was completely new. He did things at astonishing pace which seemed impossible in slow-mo. His football intelligence was incredible, and though he chose to dribble too often, he seemed to have more options on the ball than anyone else on the pitch.
ReplyDeleteRaheem is a very good young player, but Ronaldo was incredible, and he's been one of the most important players in the history of the game, changing how it's played by millions of youngsters, and changing our sense of the dimensions of what's possible within the modern tactical frameworks of people like Mourinho, Bielsa, van Gaal and so on. Sterling is a quick, organised attacker, and there aren't many like him around, but he's not on Ronaldo's level and never will be.
I just heard them on the radio having us behind Manchester x2, Arsenal, Everton, and Chelsea. It's unjustifiable, but shows they didn't watch our games, and still haven't woken up to what's been happening; the new level the team has been playing at, not far off from Bayern and Atletico in my view. Suarez was important, but not decisive in that transformation, and his form was actually quite poor in the run-in. I don't see any reason for us not to carry on our team form of the last 18 months into this season. We are an improved side, and surely will be, I think with Arsenal, the team to beat in the title race.
ReplyDeleteI agree. We need confidence from within the club and dismissed from outsiders. We will show them. One interesting thing I have read recently is teams and after their best player leaves. Arsenal without Henry, United without Ronaldo etc. Loads go on to do quite well and considering "doing a Spurs" means dropping three points and one place is the table I feel that these so called experts are way off the mark.
ReplyDeleteFrench teams are poor (PSG aside for obvious reasons), their record in Europe says it all ...
ReplyDeleteBrendan Rodgers shouted "Stay back John! You're not Cafu!" (or something like that) at Flanagan during training in an incident shown on the Being Liverpool documentary. It was a funny moment.
ReplyDeleteThen when Flanagan scored against Spurs, he looked every inch the attacking full-back. As banter with the manager we started calling him the Scouse Cafu. It's a joke, obviously. The joke is in the discrepancy between Flanagan and Cafu, not in their alikeness.
No-one needs to be told that Flanagan is not the same kind of player, and is not on the same planet in terms of talent, as Cafu. He's the Scouse version: not so pretty, not so quick and clever, but cunning, rough, and passionately committed. The joke is mainly self-deprecating, but it has some quiet pride in it, too.
Cheers Bro.. Got me father to join too!
ReplyDeleteMavsx11
No it does not say it all and would not mind Monacos side either.
ReplyDeleteAgain, money ...
ReplyDelete