Keyblade Posted October 26, 2022 Share Posted October 26, 2022 If he can get back to his January - March form, he's a starter in this team. It's up to him to get back to that level, and I think Emery can get it out of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyexists Posted October 26, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted October 26, 2022 I think he’s arguably the most talented player in the team, so I don’t think it’ll be that hard for UE to get the best out of him. Seems like he needs love and confidence 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lapal_fan Posted October 26, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted October 26, 2022 Play him as secondary striker again, and he'll pop up with goals like he did against Utd. I hate that people are calling him over-the-hill. He was never rapid, even in his "prime", he's a tight-space technical player, not a winger. He's only just 30 FFS! Like loads of players in our squad, we're often not playing them to their strengths.. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaglint Posted October 26, 2022 Share Posted October 26, 2022 (edited) 3 minutes ago, lapal_fan said: Play him as secondary striker again, and he'll pop up with goals like he did against Utd. I hate that people are calling him over-the-hill. He was never rapid, even in his "prime", he's a tight-space technical player, not a winger. He's only just 30 FFS! Like loads of players in our squad, we're often not playing them to their strengths.. Hope you are right. He was never quick in his prime but he was certainly quicker than he is now and in PL a yard can make all the difference. Right now he’s still got the ability but can’t get away from people so they can still get the tackle even after he’s initially beaten them. Maybe another system will see more come from him but right now I’m sceptical. At the moment he looks like a decent backup to Buendia. Edited October 26, 2022 by villaglint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheltenham_villa Posted October 26, 2022 Share Posted October 26, 2022 Can't wait to see what Emery can do with him, build your team around your best players, on talent alone he overly qualifies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thunderball Posted October 26, 2022 Share Posted October 26, 2022 Emery had to consider and face Liverpool’s Coutihno (peak Coutihno) in the 2016 Europa League Cup Final, so I am sure he knows all about his strengths and weaknesses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handsworthvilla Posted October 26, 2022 Share Posted October 26, 2022 1 hour ago, lapal_fan said: Play him as secondary striker again, and he'll pop up with goals like he did against Utd. I hate that people are calling him over-the-hill. He was never rapid, even in his "prime", he's a tight-space technical player, not a winger. He's only just 30 FFS! Like loads of players in our squad, we're often not playing them to their strengths.. It's not so much his speed that has gone. As you say he never really had much pace. What he seems to have lost though is the energy / power in his running. He doesn't seem to have that ability to burst / shimmy past players anymore. In his time at Liverpool he was excellent at beating a player and creating a yard of space of a shot or pass. I don't see that energy in his legs anymore. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 18 hours ago, Pinebro said: Need to show same effort levels as Buendia when losing the ball and generally off the ball. Never gonna happen I'm afraid. It just comes naturally to Buendia, it's in his DNA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinebro Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 (edited) 1 minute ago, Tom13 said: Never gonna happen I'm afraid. It just comes naturally to Buendia, it's in his DNA. You say that. I'm a little old school and I say it should be the minimum expected by any professional footballer. Edited October 27, 2022 by Pinebro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jareth Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 Not sure he'll ever match Buendia for physicality. If we're going to play him we'll be defensively weaker overall and from the myriad of what's been said about Emery - that is not a situation he will often want on the pitch, unless we're really going for the jugular of a vastly weaker team. Therefore I don't see a future here for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 17 hours ago, alreadyexists said: I think he’s arguably the most talented player in the team, so I don’t think it’ll be that hard for UE to get the best out of him. Seems like he needs love and confidence Phil is the most talented player in our squad, but talent alone is not the full compliment. arguably our team is as talented as Newcastle, but they seem to be applying it a bit better....we will see on Saturday, if we have rediscovered our thirst/desire. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyexists Posted October 27, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted October 27, 2022 10 minutes ago, TRO said: Phil is the most talented player in our squad, but talent alone is not the full compliment. arguably our team is as talented as Newcastle, but they seem to be applying it a bit better....we will see on Saturday, if we have rediscovered our thirst/desire. In all honesty, I think 11 for 11 we are better player for player… but as you say that isn’t enough. We need application, intelligence and a plan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 3 minutes ago, alreadyexists said: In all honesty, I think 11 for 11 we are better player for player… but as you say that isn’t enough. We need application, intelligence and a plan. You could be right.....but "better player" for me includes application and desire.....I think we are possibly as talented man for man as the Newcastle team.....but their team work, trumps us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyexists Posted October 27, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted October 27, 2022 5 minutes ago, TRO said: You could be right.....but "better player" for me includes application and desire.....I think we are possibly as talented man for man as the Newcastle team.....but their team work, trumps us. Yeah, that’s true. I suppose I mean the old “on paper” cliche, but that doesn’t get you very far in the real world 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMcKenna Posted October 27, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted October 27, 2022 I don’t think we should worry about Coutinho’s age. De Bruyne is 31, Fabihno is 29, Eriksen is 30 and Thiago is 31 and they are all playing at the top of the PL. If Emery can make him click he could be one of the best midfielders in the England again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 20 minutes ago, MikeMcKenna said: I don’t think we should worry about Coutinho’s age. De Bruyne is 31, Fabihno is 29, Eriksen is 30 and Thiago is 31 and they are all playing at the top of the PL. If Emery can make him click he could be one of the best midfielders in the England again. Didn't you know on VT anyone over the age of 29 is considered an OAP and past it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted October 27, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted October 27, 2022 You only have to look at Bailey's improvement against Brentford to see how much a player can improve under different direction. If Bailey was to get injured, suspended, out of form or we need an extra spark later in a game then maybe Coutinho could play out wider on the left. Who knows until we start to find a decent style of play and some top class direction. I think Gerrard had a major affect on all of our squads confidence, time will tell but from watching this squad play over the last 2 seasons has shown it's has talent........over last 12 months not one player has improved and most have regressed. Hopefully this trend can start to reverse itself now the cloud that was Gerrard has gone. Clean slate for everyone , give them 2-3 months then judge what a player can offer us . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, jim said: Didn't you know on VT anyone over the age of 29 is considered an OAP and past it. Coutinho has shown plenty of evidence of being past it though? He struggles to compete physically. There's a reason he was signed by one of his mates - no-one else wanted him. Edited October 27, 2022 by Tom13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adman Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 22 minutes ago, Tom13 said: Coutinho has shown plenty of evidence of being past it though? He struggles to compete physically. There's a reason he was signed by one of his mates - no-one else wanted him. Everyone in our squad has struggled to get more than a 5/10 imo. If he's still struggling to get a 5/10 after a run of games under an actual manager then you may be right, but I'd rather be optimistic that he'll significantly improve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinebro Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 25 minutes ago, Adman said: Everyone in our squad has struggled to get more than a 5/10 imo. If he's still struggling to get a 5/10 after a run of games under an actual manager then you may be right, but I'd rather be optimistic that he'll significantly improve Emery didn't manage to get a tune out of Ozil and I think it's a similar situation. Some players are just past it and I feel it's the case with Coutinho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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