Quantcast
Featured

Classy Coutinho continues to inspire

|
Image for Classy Coutinho continues to inspire

Coutinho LFCIT’S always a welcome return to Premier League football after the enforced sabbatical of any international break; even more so when the match that precedes the break is a disappointing away performance and result.

So it was with no small measure of anticipation that our eyes fixated on Villa Park on Easter Sunday to watch the Reds’ eagerly awaited chance to get back to winning ways.

Ultimately, it was a good day. A decent performance which yielded the three points Liverpool so desperately needed. The visitors dominated the first quarter of the match, with Luis Suarez as lively as ever, testing Brad Guzan on several occasions.

As with the encounter at Anfield earlier in the season however, the Reds seemed to take their foot off the gas around the twenty minute mark, surrendering the initiative as Villa began to get their passing game going.

Villa entered the contest having won three of their previous five, including their last two. Andreas Weimann, Christian Benteke, and Gabriel Agbonlahor had all scored in the 3-2 win over QPR and it was the latter two who were involved in most of Villa’s dangerous moves in the opening half on Sunday.

First Agbonlahor somehow failed to score when Lowton’s ball picked him out perfectly, just six yards out, Reina did well to make the save but he should never have been given the chance. However, the Brummie frontman made amends on the half hour when his knockdown teed up Benteke to smash home the opening goal from twenty yards.

Reds fans everywhere must have dropped their heads simultaneously, I know I did. The Reds have had an awful record in recent seasons when conceding the first goal. Since the beginning of the 2009/10 season, up until Sunday, Liverpool had won just three EPL games when conceding the first goal. Doom and gloom then as fans feared the worst, a repeat of the Anfield result earlier in the year.

It wasn’t to be however, as the Reds responded almost immediately, Brad Guzan denying Steven Gerrard and the irrepressible Luis Suarez again. In the second-half, the Reds equalised within two minutes of the re-start, when Jordan Henderson produced a fabulous finish after being found by a delicious throughball from Philippe Coutinho. Not long afterwards, Coutinho could have added to his Liverpool goal tally. The Brazilian was found with another delectable, incisive throughball, this time from Suarez; unfortunately he slid his low finish an inch wide of Guzan’s far post.

Liverpool were totally dominant by this stage, if you listened closely enough you probably could have heard the screech of metal as the screw was turned ever tighter. Finally, the breakthrough came. Johnson, having just rattled the post with a deflected effort, found Suarez inside the box, and Nathan Baker did the rest, clattering the Uruguayan to the ground with a ridiculously ill-judged lunge. Steven Gerrard smashed the spot-kick hard and low and, most importantly, accurately, right into Guzan’s bottom right corner, to make the score 1-2.
[ad_pod id=”unruly-video” align=”center”]
For the most part from then on, the Reds were very comfortable and had chances to increase the lead. There was one real scare, which came from a corner. Christian Benteke, who was excellent for Villa again, powered a towering header towards the far corner but, with Reina beaten, it was Gerrard again who came to the rescue with a miraculous goal-line clearance. Benteke had the ball in the Liverpool net in the third minute of injury-time, however the striker was clearly two yards offside, a decision which was correctly given.

So a pleasing performance and an excellent result as the Reds won a game for the first time this season after conceding the first goal. It’s pleasing to see that some of the belief and fighting spirit, which has been so sorely lacking at times, is returning – particularly against an improving Villa side fighting tooth and nail themselves to beat the drop.

Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez will rightly get the plaudits for their performances; however the Reds were good all over the pitch. Johnson and Henderson were excellent and defensively Liverpool were largely sound.

Special mention though must go to Philippe Coutinho. The little Brazilian has been wonderful since his arrival from Inter. Kudos must go to Brendan Rodgers and the scouting team for finding him and Ian Ayre for nailing him down for such a good price. Not only did Coutinho make Jordan Henderson’s goal with a razor sharp pass, but also came oh so close to giving Liverpool the lead himself.

The 20 year old has been an immediate hit since arriving from Inter Milan. In his five starts for the Reds he has scored two, assisted three and could easily have scored three more; a fantastic start to life in the Premier League by anybody’s standards. What he brings, is not only somebody with a deft touch and weight of pass but also someone with the vision and awareness to see the killer pass and deliver it at the optimum moment to cause maximum devastation.

It’s no surprise that since his arrival we’ve seen plenty of one-on-one situations and the general quality of Liverpool’s chances have improved quite noticeably. His link-up play with Suarez has also been exceptional, considering the pair have only trained together for a couple of months, both have quick-feet and the brains to match and you feel watching them that this tandem threat will only improve.

Seven games to go and as fans we now look forward, not so patiently, to Sunday’s home game with West Ham. Another three points will be absolutely vital as the Reds look to finish the season in style and as far up the league table as possible.

Tottenham and Chelsea face a barrage of games in the next fortnight or so and whilst all Liverpool fans would prefer to still be in the cup competitions, perhaps now is the time that the Reds really can profit from their own early elimination. Let’s focus on one game at a time though; bring on the Hammers!

You cxan catch up with Neil on Twitter @Neil1980 and on his blog http://itsallinthegameblog.wordpress.com/
[ad_pod id=’DFP-MPU’ align=’right’]
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at live4liverpool@snack-media.com

Follow us on Twitter here: @live4Liverpool and ‘Like’ us on Facebook

Share this article

8 comments

  • Morgan says:

    Great article Neil I agree 100% kudos must go to Brendon Rogers and the scouting team for brining him in. I think we’ve got a great manager in the making here. Bring on the transfer window!

    • Terry Mac says:

      Lol .we have a joke of a manager.
      A fool who spends 15 m on the weakest midfielder in the league
      33 m wasted.last summer
      Going nowhere with this Muppet

      • Salda says:

        I don’t think you understand that a supporter is meant to ‘support’ their team. Through the good AND the bad. And these aren’t even bad times. Being third in the form table for 2013 isn’t ‘going nowhere’.

    • Neil Patterson says:

      cheers Morgan. Reckon he’s still learning but the signs are there that Rodgers could go on to be a great success at LFC. We shall see. Ta for the comment.

  • BB says:

    It’s way too early to be lavish praise on coutinho , looks class but it’s not time to get carried away as we did with sturridge and his initial impact

    Even if coutinho confirms himself as an excellent purchase , Rodgers record at buying players is awful. I don’t think he should be allowed spend any more money . We can’t take the risk of more Allens or Borinis joining us

    • Neil Patterson says:

      It’s funny you should mention Borini, his movement combined with Coutinho’s vision & passing ability could prove a devastating combination next year.

Comments are closed.