Philippe Coutinho

[PaulC]

16 hours ago, tomav84 said:

based on? when he's been fit, he's played under emery. he scored for us just 2 months ago. a nice goal too

Free up the wage bill. One goal in a season is not worth the money we play him. 

[Tomaszk]

1 minute ago, PaulC said:

Free up the wage bill. One goal in a season is not worth the money we play him. 

I agree.

13 minutes ago, ThunderPower_14 said:

He suffered as much as anyone from football under Gerrard and he could benefit as much as anyone from football under Emery. I think our current style of not panicking on the ball around the box and looking for the right passes might suit him to a tee.

Can't recall if I'm thinking of the right games, but all I remember him doing under Emery as well as Gerrard was boot it miles off target whenever he got the ball.

[tomav84]

15 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Free up the wage bill. One goal in a season is not worth the money we play him. 

but he's been injured! what happened prior to that i.e. under gerrard shouldn't count

[SecretVillaScout]

Need him back for the run in

[TRO]

I still haven't given up on him, even though, I probably should.

I think he has had a disrupted time of late, and hasn't really shared the joy of the latest run.

I am not sure he is a 90 minute + player, but he can do things no one else can, like the goal at the Etihad, pure class.

I think he can still come on in a game and add a dimension....unless we have an offer we can't refuse, I would keep him, seems to fit in with the other lads really well too.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

3 minutes ago, TRO said:

I still haven't given up on him, even though, I probably should.

I think he has had a disrupted time of late, and hasn't really shared the joy of the latest run.

I am not sure he is a 90 minute + player, but he can do things no one else can, like the goal at the Etihad, pure class.

I think he can still come on in a game and add a dimension....unless we have an offer we can't refuse, I would keep him, seems to fit in with the other lads really well too.

I think he would thrive in a team playing the type of Football we did against Newcastle.

Just a shame he won't have had the practice time with them.

[PaulC]

5 hours ago, TRO said:

I still haven't given up on him, even though, I probably should.

I think he has had a disrupted time of late, and hasn't really shared the joy of the latest run.

I am not sure he is a 90 minute + player, but he can do things no one else can, like the goal at the Etihad, pure class.

I think he can still come on in a game and add a dimension....unless we have an offer we can't refuse, I would keep him, seems to fit in with the other lads really well too.

I don't think it works like that. No passengers. I don't believe he will be part of Emerys future plans. 

[est1874]

Would make a fantastic 5-a-side footballer.

[MWARLEY2]

Its not a question of selling him. Its a question of finding a club willing to take him  . About £20 mill on his contract. Of course Saudis would pay but i dont think he would have any interest in going. 

Family is important to him. Got all the money he ever needs which was why he accepted a huge drop to come to us  . And has some good friends now here with his family settled. 

He will be here for a while longer i reckon and Emery will get him going. 

[nepal_villan]

13 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said:

Its not a question of selling him. Its a question of finding a club willing to take him  . About £20 mill on his contract. Of course Saudis would pay but i dont think he would have any interest in going. 

Family is important to him. Got all the money he ever needs which was why he accepted a huge drop to come to us  . And has some good friends now here with his family settled. 

He will be here for a while longer i reckon and Emery will get him going. 

If he contributes to the squad, better to keep him - even as a bench player,  than  sending him on loan and still paying a majority of his wages.

[grantholtgolazo]

the vitriol towards Phil is ridiculous, team playing this well & still someone must play punching bag for the permanently aggrieved segment of the fanbase

[Delphinho123]

7 hours ago, grantholtgolazo said:

the vitriol towards Phil is ridiculous, team playing this well & still someone must play punching bag for the permanently aggrieved segment of the fanbase

It’s because of his ties to Gerrard and I think he will always remind a lot of people of the Gerrard era. 

My views toward him haven’t wavered. He’s the best footballer at the club but he’s injury prone and doesn’t look more than an impact sub given his fitness levels. 

He could be an asset but as a club, we’d need to be in the Champions League to be able to afford to pay players 125k a week to sit on the bench. 

We’d be better suited to getting rid in the Summer if we can. As much as it pains to me say, because I love watching him when he’s on it. 

[rodders0223]

8 hours ago, grantholtgolazo said:

the vitriol towards Phil is ridiculous, team playing this well & still someone must play punching bag for the permanently aggrieved segment of the fanbase

What vitriol?

[StanBalaban]

Should we qualify for Europe, we're going to need to utilise our full squad. 

Phil stays for me, and will be a very useful, experienced head to call upon.

[Captain_Townsend]

If we qualify for Europe Coutinho would be a very useful player. I admit, he hasn't always looked at home in the frantic pace of the league. However, I am sure the different pace of European games would really suit him. He is still a good player.

[CVByrne]

1 hour ago, StanBalaban said:

Should we qualify for Europe, we're going to need to utilise our full squad. 

Phil stays for me, and will be a very useful, experienced head to call upon.

My thoughts exactly. I also think Coutinho in this system will become very good in helping us break down low block next season. We will face a lot more of those now opposition teams see us as a top side.

Next season will be difficult as teams will have studied us over summer

[duke313]

8 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

My thoughts exactly. I also think Coutinho in this system will become very good in helping us break down low block next season. We will face a lot more of those now opposition teams see us as a top side.

Next season will be difficult as teams will have studied us over summer

Phil playing off the striker in Euro games and as someone who can come on and change a game in the Prem if needed.

[brummybloke]

21 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

My thoughts exactly. I also think Coutinho in this system will become very good in helping us break down low block next season. We will face a lot more of those now opposition teams see us as a top side.

Next season will be difficult as teams will have studied us over summer

True but I'm sure emery has more than one way of playing. Master this set of tactics and then move on to another set ? That way we are even less predictable?

That's why he needs to stay here for a good 4 plus years, if we continue to get around 2 ppg I can see him wanting to stay for a good while.

[CVByrne]

23 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Phil playing off the striker in Euro games and as someone who can come on and change a game in the Prem if needed.

He'd excel in the current set up where he can drop off Watkins deep to get on the ball and turn to play passes. He is excellent at that. 

Emery has improved so many players and we saw glimpses of Coutinho playing well at the end before he got injured.

[duke313]

2 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

He'd excel in the current set up where he can drop off Watkins deep to get on the ball and turn to play passes. He is excellent at that. 

Emery has improved so many players and we saw glimpses of Coutinho playing well at the end before he got injured.

Coutinho has probably the best vision and passing in the squad, probably only player that comes close is Doug. If he can stay fit he’d be a real asset in Europe, through balls to Watkins would be deadly.