Totally agree about Couts.

Sadly players like Lovren and Moreno are still liabilities in defence. There is only so much even Klopp can do with players who make unforced errors so regularly.

Lovren made a mistake, it can happen. At least its rare a far between, he moved on pretty fast from it with hus goal.

Gk is still an issue lets hope karius gets over his nerves and of course moreno was caught out of position and allowed zaha to cross when he should have closed down.

Lovrens been fine this season

I've ever really rated him but he's done very well under klopp

Couts is taking his game to the next level. Isn't shooting too much and end product/decision making has improved remarkably under our new boss

I thought he was already consistent last season to be honest.

People are just catching on.

He missed 12 PL games last season and still scored 8 goals, given players of his ilk often take pens and he doesn't then that's a good return.

I expect he will get nearer to 15 this season, assuming he plays most games, and with the advantage of not having the crazy fixture list we had last year.

Consistency had always been the thing preventing Coutinho being one of the PL's best. Now that he appears to stepped up a level and found it, he's been a joy to watch.

R1, maybe what I'm trying to get at is the way he dictates the play from KO to the final whistle when previously our players seemed to try and find him as an option to dig us out of a hole with a worldie or piece of skill.

It might just be the effect of our new front 4 whose movement is incredibily hard to track which gives Coutinho more space to get on the ball. Firmino is really key in the system as his selfless running creates much of the space and he's not bad in the air either. Origi seems like he'd fit in a like-for-like swap but is still raw and a little out of form.

Coutinho has always been 7/10 minimum in most games he played. Problem post Suarez leaving was he didn't have the quality of forward's to play with like he does now.

This him being inconsistent is more a rival fan myth. Easily one of the best players in the prem.

comment by Aggers Right Elbow (U3402)
posted 35 minutes ago
Totally agree about Couts.

Sadly players like Lovren and Moreno are still liabilities in defence. There is only so much even Klopp can do with players who make unforced errors so regularly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that Lovren's first real mistake that's led to a goal this season? He's been excellent this season, and the majority of last. Yes, it was a bad error yesterday, but he still had the character to go up the other end and make amends almost immediately. He actually reminds me of Hypia in an attacking sense.

Cut the man some slack.

Apparently, according to Alan Shearer on MOTD last night, there's only 2 'world class' players in the Premier League:

# S.Aguero
# A.Sanchez

He initially said it was just Aguero but after the analysis of Sunderland v Arsenal - and some input from Danny Murphy - he conceded that Sanchez was also 'world class'.

If he watched Cout's performances & consistent excellence, he would put our midfield maestro in this bracket too.

# 🙋

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

He's been magnificent, not just over a couple of games, but a number of months now. His decision making and end product now is top class.

For me apart from him personally adding consistency to his game, the signing of Mane has made a big difference. His pace frightens defenders and they m ke they can't afford to give him an inch and the way he hugs the touch line drawing defenders really opens up the little pockets of space in midfield for Coutinho.

Obviously as well his pace means passes can go either inside defenders or outside and there's usually man will get on the end of them.

For the same reasons I think it's why we are seeing Lallana playing so well too. Mane has only missed one game this season, the 2-0 loss to Burnley where we really struggled to create clear cut chances, so we are unbeaten when he has played.

They say the good signings are ones that come into a team and make an impact, the best signings are those that can come into a team and bring out the best signings in others.

Early days still but I think the signing of Mane is an utterly brilliant one, it's taken our attack to a completely new level.

The best in others*

comment by selbstgerechtein (U7048)
posted 2 hours, 3 minutes ago
I thought he was already consistent last season to be honest.

People are just catching on.

He missed 12 PL games last season and still scored 8 goals, given players of his ilk often take pens and he doesn't then that's a good return.

I expect he will get nearer to 15 this season, assuming he plays most games, and with the advantage of not having the crazy fixture list we had last year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree.

The difference for me this season is having intelligent players around him who are moving around at pace. Mane has helped his game enormously because of his pace and movement. Lallana playing in a deeper role has helped to.

(Whilst writing this I see the post above by GNW, covers the same points )

I also think that Klopp has the players fitter than they have ever been, meaning that Coutinho doesn't fade late in games.

I've always bigged up Coutinho on here because I believe we have an absolute gem of a player. I couldn't understand others frustration with him. We are now benefiting from having a team around him which best exploits his talent. Hat's off for the manager for this.

coutinho is the closest thing we have to a world.class player. he is nit there yet but this coudl the the season he delivers.

but blimey how good.amd underrated is Firmino. the skills runs and goals the guy consistently gets.

Coutinho, IMO, has always had the raw talent but has added strength to his somewhat slight frame.

In previous seasons he was so easy to knock off the ball, conceding possession regularly, but there is a new steeliness to his performances.

WC? Not quite yet but the improvement is tangible.

comment by Greatteamswinit4times- a terrible enemy (U6008)
posted 29 minutes ago
Coutinho gave a world class performance yesterday, he isn't world class though. He could be but in some ways, I hope heverything remains at the level he is. If he played like that every week we couldn't keep hold of him.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep this

He had a tendency of going missing for periods of games, can still remember some fans asking for him to be hooked against Arsenal before he scored, but coming up with a moment of genius. His passing and movement has got better compared to last season.

Like Red said he's my biggest worry about the likes of Barca/Real sniffing around if he improves further.

comment by Goofy One (U16087)
posted 6 minutes ago
coutinho is the closest thing we have to a world.class player. he is nit there yet but this coudl the the season he delivers.

but blimey how good.amd underrated is Firmino. the skills runs and goals the guy consistently gets.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Agreed - a lot of what Firmino brings seems to go unnoticed by pundits and commentators. His crossing is very good too - the pass for Mane's goal vs West From was inch perfect, as was his cross for Coutinho's header which he really should've buried.

Mane was excellent again yesterday, apart from that missed sitter that would have been a fantastic team goal (what a pass from Clyne).

Agree on Firmino, he's massively underrated by a lot of oppo fans and still doesn't get that much credit from pundits. I think he has 15-16 goals in 2016 now, and a load of assists too. I think you could see early on unde Klopp that he was likely to be our main front man, our best performances came with that, and that's has happened.

If Mane can sharpen his finishing we are talking 20 goals a season. Individually I think his return so far this season compared to chances he's managed to get could be better.

All the same I'm happy enough.

Can't get my head round why there is always talk about Coutinho and him not being consistent, for me he plays very well / outstanding in 8 out of 10 games but no player has 10 great games on the spin. He is a player of the highest order

Close to 'world class' then.

That'll do.

Sanchez, Ozil and Silva have also a lot of games where they are awful, but you never hear oppo fans talking about inconsistency.
The reason he is better this year is because we have Mane who can run behind the oppo defenses.
Coutinho needs runners without the ball to be effective.

You can tell he's been working on set piece delivery. His first corner was poor then his second was a good ball and lovern buried it.

He was trying to really wrap his foot around it

I think he trusts the players around him more now than he used to