COLIN Pascoe has congratulated Brazilian starlet Philippe Coutinho’s initial impressive performances for Liverpool – but states that these performances are of no surprise to him.
Coutinho marked his first start for the Reds with a goal, then accentuated his talent with two assists against Wigan, before impressing further in the victory over Spurs, and Pascoe took to Liverpoolfc.com to reveal that this impact was of no surprise to the team.
“Philippe has been brilliant, he is a quiet, young lad and it must be hard for him because he doesn’t speak much English – and I can’t help him as he doesn’t speak Welsh either! But with Luis, Lucas, Sebastian and Fabio you have Spanish and Italian, and he can speak that.
“I’m not surprised by his impact so far as we knew how good a player he was. He’s got a good eye, he’s got a good awareness of where his teammates are and that’s what he’s picked up very quickly.
“He got two assists at Wigan. The one he crossed for Stewart Downing’s goal with two wingers combining was fantastic, and his goal against Swansea was superb.
“He wants to get into the box and he wants to score goals. If the opportunity is there for a pass he will make the right decision whether to shoot or pass and that’s the sign of a good player. He has been brilliant for us.”
Liverpool have notched 15 goals in their last four games and Pascoe has revealed his satisfaction at seeing Brendan Rodgers’ attacking style of football finally coming into play at Anfield.
“It’s always hard when you implement a new style and it takes time to get used to it, but with the way the lads have been playing it has been fantastic. Daniel Sturridge and Coutinho came in January and they have gelled well with the rest of the lads.
“The lads have been fantastic and every day they are working hard on the style, the tactical and technical style of their game, and good positioning, pressing and passing the ball better. You look at the 5-0 win against Swansea, 4-0 versus Wigan – both high scoring games and we could have even scored more with the way we played. We also played Arsenal and Manchester City and dominated them and were unlucky not to beat them.”
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