LIVERPOOL FC have been searching for the No 10 playmaker or someone to play in between the lines between midfield and attack for many years. They have tried lots of different players in that position, even Steven Gerrard was played there and up to date he was the most successful.
Unfortunately we have also seen Yossi Benayoun played there, Robbie Keane tried to be forced in there, Harry Kewell, Luis Garcia, Vladimir Smicer and my personal favourite Bruno Cheyrou – the new Zidane – all playing there with varying degrees of success but mostly failing.
What most of these players had in common is that they were mainly wide players who liked to come inside and find space, so they seemed to be ideally suited to play just off the front and link the midfield to the attack. However in truth none of them came close to hitting the heights of the two seasons that Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres linked up, when they were truly frightening.
Fast forward to January 2013 and welcome Philippe Coutinho to Anfield. The diminutive Brazilian attacking midfielder joined Liverpool FC from Inter Milan for a fee of £8.2 million pounds.
I was first aware of Coutinho when he played in a Champions League game for Inter Milan against Tottenham Hotspur. Coutinho was playing as an attacking winger in the two games but like a lot of players, he was over shadowed by Gareth Bale’s performances in both legs.
I do remember being impressed with him though and thought that it would interesting to see how Rafa Benitez developed him. Of course Benitez was sacked shortly after and Coutinho suffered a few injuries and a lack of form and confidence resulted in him being loaned out to Espanyol for six months during the 2011-2012 season. There he made 16 appearances and scored 5 goals.
It appeared that he would return to Inter Milan and resume his career, however things did not work out for him and come January 2013 Brendan Rodgers was more than happy to add him to the Liverpool FC first team.
Whilst excited with the signing, people were still unsure of his ability and his physical condition; he had been injured for a long period and with Inter Milan letting him leave for a relatively small fee there were certainly question marks about his signing.
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The first thing you notice about Philippe Coutinho is his slight build and being only 5′ 7″ tall you would have been right in worrying whether the physical nature of the Barclays Premier League would suit him. However, what Coutinho lacks in stature he more than makes up with footballing ability, both on and off the ball. He has the ability to spot a pass those vital few seconds before the defenders near him know what he is going to do and his movement gives Liverpool FC a fluidity in attack.
Just look at the goals scored by Jordan Henderson against Aston Villa and by Daniel Sturridge against Fulham for an example of his great passing ability.
A surprising aspect of his play however is his strength on the ball and willingness to track back and work hard for the team. Many foreign players of similar builds to Coutinho initially struggle to adapt, but he took to the Premier League like a duck to water.
Initially he was played on the left of the attacking 3 behind the main striker, Brendan Rodgers soon saw that Coutinho had adapted well to English football and so he was moved to play just off the main striker who was Daniel Sturridge. That move also meant that Luis Suarez was moved to play as the left sided attacker, not Luis’s best position but Liverpool FC looked at their sharpest and most fluid in attack when Coutinho was the link between defence and attack.
With his ability to play on the left of the attacking three and as the No10 it was great to see him and Luis Suarez interchanging and linking up with Daniel Sturridge and even more promising was the linkup between Coutinho and Sturridge in the final few games of the season.
With Liverpool FC scoring 41 league goals in the games after Philippe Coutinho joined compared with the 31 leading up to his signing, could the numerous 0-0 results at Anfield be a thing of the past?
Could the boy from Brazil be unlocking those defences and leading us to the top 4?
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The owners need to back B Rodgers properly with £30-£40M on top of whatever money B Rodgers can bring into club on player sales out wards: And then hopefully club can get back amongst top 4 as we have now not been in the champions league for five years/seasons and we have become a top 6-10 side in the last five years/season as at the moment there are 6 clubs with alot better equipped squads than us that have finished above us in last two seasons: Both Manchester Clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea , Everton and Tottenham and all those clubs are strengthening this year.
So owners need to back B Rodgers well as even the likes of Norwich, Swansea are spending more on players than us nowadays:
Rodgers has sold Shelvey for £5-£6m and Carroll for £15.5M-£16M, when T Ince is sold to either Cardiff or Swansea the club will receive £2-£4M of the fee.
That in itself should cover the 3 buys brought to club Alberto, Aspas and Mignolet.
K Toure was free transfer
Rodgers needs to ship out the other 8 dead wood average hard working players and re couperate: £20-£27M
1: GK: B Jones 2: RB: Flanagan 3: CB: Coates 4: Spearing
5: AM: Pacheco 6: RW / RWF: Assaidi 7: LW / LWF: Borini 8: FD: Borini
Then Rodgers needs to find out if P Reina and L Suarez plan to be around and fully committed to the cause for next 2-4 years: If Not, then both should be shipped out as soon as possible
Reina should be sold in swap deal with C Tello(21) Of Barcelona and £2M Cash Or he should be sold for £10-£14M with Arsenal and Napoli fans of his also
L Suarez should be sold for no less than £55M, he is currently the 3rd best player in the world behind Messi and Ronaldo. Neymar went to Barcelona for £61m including add ons and Real Madrid offered £65M+ in their opening bid for Bale, Cavani has buy out clause of £54M and Suarez is better than Bale, Cavani and Neymar so the owners and B Rodgers should stand firm and should not listen to no offers under £55M.
If anyone wants him, that is the minimum club should accept for Suarez, Suarez is and was a better player than Torres and club got £50M out of Torres sale, so club expect to get more from better player.
Then if the 8 dead wood players are sold and the two world class players we have are sold: 10 players in total:
Along with C Tello(21) in swap deal with P Reina.
Then 9 other players need to be brought to club: Five Defensive players and 4 Attacking Players: To bring more class, quality, quality competition for places and DEPTH to SQUAD:
And then we could have squad capable of competing with one another on all fronts all over the course of season:
Five/5: Defensive players: That should be brought in to bring more stability, competition, mobilty, power and Strength to Squad: Cost =£30-£50M
1: GK: A Mccarthy(23) Of Reading for £4-£7M to compete with Mignolet(25) for the next 3-8 years at club
2:CB: K Papadopolous(21) Of Schalke for £10-£16M to compete with Skrtel(28) for next 2 years. And then to take over from Skrtel
3:CB: Toby Alderweireld(24) Of Ajax for £7-£10M to compete with Agger(28) and Toure(32) for next 2-4 years and then to take over the mantle with K Papadopolous
4: LB: A Cissoko(25) Of Valencia for £2-£6M to compete with Enrique(26) For next two to three seasons.
5: DM: E Capoue(23) Of Toulouse for £7-£11M to compete with LUCAS(26) for the next 3- 5 years.
Four/4 Attacking players: Cost= £42-£62M
1: AM: I Munian(20) Of A Bilbao for £10-£15M to compete with Alberto(20) and Coutinho(20) for the next 5-10 seasons at club
2: LW/ LWF: D Capel(25) Of Sporting Clube De Portugal / Lisbon or B Arfa(26) Of Newcastle for £4-£10M to compete with Aspas and IBE for next 3- 4 seasons
3: FD: C Benteke(21) Of A Villa for £18-£22M to compete with Sturridge for the next 5-8 years at club
4: FD: L Muriel(23) Of Udinese for £10-£15M to compete with Benteke and Sturridge for the next 5-8 years at club.
These players would all bring more class, quality, quality competition and depth to squad: Only one player would cost over £20M but Goalscorers are worth their money
Rodgers is assembling a good side, but what the club does need that we currently lack within Squad is power, size, steel, strength and pace and speed. And the players I have mentioned we should bring to club would rectify all that
In Mccarthy(23) You have young hungry Gk who will want to compete and become No1 at club competing with Mignolet week in week out and both keeping one another on their toes.
In K Papadopolous(21), T Alderwierld(24), A Cissokho(25) and E Capoue(23), You have class, quality, qulaity competiton for places mobility, pace, power, speed, strength brought to Defensive side in Squad.
In Munian(20), You have another classy, creative magician in the Cazorla, Coutinho, Iniesta, Mata, Oscar, Sliva Mould with pace and speed in his locker who will compete with Alberto(20) and Coutinho(20) for that AM Role, these players will unlock the best teams in world. But they need mobility, movement pace and speed in front of them for their passing skills to be regularly shown.
In Arfa(26) OR Cape(25)l and Tello(21), Club would have two classy quick pacey direct wingers who the likes of Alberto, Coutinho and Munian would look to find at will with their pace, speed on break. These wingers have the pace and speed to trouble any side in world football and when we played the teams competing with us: Man United, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Tottenham: The likes of Raphael, Evra, Zabaleta, Clichy, Sagna, Gibbs, Coleman, Baines, Walker and Essou – Ekotto will not be galavanting forward at will if we had these wingers on either wing against them, they would be forced to do more defending than attacking. And no matter how quick those full backs are: They will no the pace, speed they are up against would cause them problems all game and would have to be very cautious coming forward. Rogers should bring Capel and Tello to Anfield, both would keep teams stretched with their directness, movement, pace and speed. And Ibe and Sterling would learn their trade from two very direct lively class quality spanish wingers
In Benteke(21) and Muriel(23), club would have two powerful, mobile strikers, one has pace and speed( Muriel) The other is average speed and runs channels well with good movement but is a bully, good in the air and is a handful for any defender in world football(Benteke) both competing with D Sturridge(23) for the next 5-8 years. And all the three strikers would offer the club something different in attack
This is not FM2013 you cant chance the whole team in year not at this level anyway
Give him a few more seasons before FSG cash in, their transfer policy tells you this, sad but true.