The little magician was close to being replaced before his goal on Sunday
It was a call that was almost made, and one that many had asked for after a tired-looking 70 minutes, but thankfully Brendan Rodgers opted to leave the match winner in the mix.
As it turned out, replacing Ibe instead turned the game on its head as the introduction of Roberto Firmino revitalized the attack, giving the home side another top class attacking option to cope with, allowing Coutinho to work his magic.
But Rodgers admitted after the game that he’d come close to substituting Coutinho before he scored. Speaking via Liverpoolfc.com after the match, Rodgers said: “I was very close to taking him off. We felt towards the end of the game, in the last 15 minutes, Glen Johnson had started to get a little bit of space on the left side and we’d moved Phil out from the central area onto the left.
“But we still wanted to win the game, so we were looking at making a positive change – so he was going to come off and we were going to put Danny Ings on.
“But when you score the goal, your mind changes. I’m glad I kept him on!”
Rodgers’ system had seen his players struggle badly to create any meaningful chances prior to making changes and Christian Benteke cut a frustrated figure after labouring alone up front for over an hour.
The introduction of Can proved key however, and the increased activity in the Stoke half saw Coutinho’s influence grow before he went on to score the winner.
He continued: “I think he’s shown his quality for such a young player. He’s only been back three weeks in training, so he’s not at the top of his fitness.
“It was a great turn, he’s got away from the midfield player and hit a wonderful strike. It was a great strike to win the game.
“It was definitely one for them.
“I think you saw the happiness at the end. They can be proud when they drive back home tonight.
“The supporters at this club, the minimum they want to see is effort and commitment – they’ve seen that [today] and I think they’ll be proud of the team. It was a great victory for us and now we can look forward to the Bournemouth game.”
Do you feel confidence going into the Bournemouth game or do we need to improve vastly on Sunday’s game? Let us know your thoughts below.
The teams were evenly matched we were the ones that got that lucky strike. Still much work to do!!!