7 - Philippe Coutinho - V1
- Thread starter AnfieldEd
- Start date
Barcelona_Boy
Member
He is a class player but at barca didn't show anything of that. Maybe he was in wrong position, maybe because of tactic... But I dont like how he acts. Maybe if EV goes, and someone else take his place as a coach this guy can be like he was a Liv'pool. Barca spent too much money on him, and if they want to sell him, for what amount of money? I would keep him one more season and wait...
Respekt_III
Anti-everything
doesn't have the stamina, awareness or discipline to play in the middle either, He just doesn't fit anywhere atm. We've gone through this a millions times so can you stop deleting your posts and re-posting the same stupid thing.
Total-Football
Senior Member
he is faster than iniesta who was a master when guardiola played him as a left winger, and he did that quite a lot. ( with a midfield trio of busk xavi keita).
coutinhos position should be a seat at the aeroport. he needs to leave. he dembele and valverde. the axis of evil those 3 constitute.
Messigician
Senior Member
Axis of evil? Someone has been watching too many world war 2 movies
FCBfan22
Senior Member
Total-Football
Senior Member
i say those harsh words for two reasons.. rakitic, as bad as he has been recently, (buskets too) at least had a great ride in the club and earned respect..and above all was cheap. the axis of evil = two 300 millions players and one clueless manager who earns 24 millions a year for sitting on the best spectacle seat in camp nou.
Respekt_III
Anti-everything
That's squarely the boards fault, both players combined shouldn't have cost us more than 120m... Even though you dont like Dembele he poses the abilities some players can only dream of, with the right coaching he could potentially be one of the best players in the world.
He also lacks the abilities that most players playing for Barcelona should have. What's the point of being a great dribbler if you shit your pants near the goal? If you can't pass or control the ball in short spaces?
Considering the support for Valverde, it seems likely he that'll be here until his contract ends as long as he wins La Liga. Are you willing to wait until Dembele's 25 for him to start playing consistently under a new manager? Or should we sell (we know major clubs want him) and invest in a winger with proper technique?
Potroh
New member
I can imagine your "hero winger investment" with finally the 'proper technique'... my Lord...
Respekt_III
Anti-everything
What's stopping someone from developing their game under the right tutelage? a prime example is Raheem Sterling at city under Pep.
Everyone in the world except for the players and board knows that valverde is one of the major issues at barca. Dembele although he has his flaws adds a whole other dimension to the team, he's genuinely the only other player outside of Messi who can win you the game out of nothing(suarez use to be in that bracket once a upon a time way back when..). His pace and ability can not be easily replaced.
If we were to sell him to a team more suited to his style we would be the losers in this situation IMO as he will flourish in the right system. This is actually a similar situation with Coutinho who would most definitely do much better in a team that he has a place in, the only difference is Dembele at barca can still contribute a whole lot more than Coutinho can (and has more of an x-factor). This issue with Coutinho is a bit more complex as i don't believe he was ever as good as he was made out to be as well as needing to play a similar role to Messi to even be remotely effective (Messi is a billion times the player so we shouldnt compromise there)
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Potroh
New member
Don't be naive, the board knows, as well as most players do.
They even knew it when hired a never-successful, faceless and mediocre coach.
Probably the 'key' to this present situation was when L.Enrique decided not to stay. He is not a faultless coach, but 500% better than Valverde in his dreams.
Enrique knew that the way from their great playing, scoring 116 goals in Liga will necessarily be the past very soon. That's why he didn't continue.
So the board had to chose, either to bring in a new coach with vitality, imagination etc., but in that case forming a new team would take time and perhaps meant worse immediate results, OR bring in a characterless mediocre coach, who could carry on with the 30+ years old core players to represent continuity, until the changes would be just inevitable.
You've been seeing the latter variation of events, with the addition that newly purchased players rarely worked under Enrique and the situation is even worse under EV.
The board "forgot" to extend Dani Alves's contract, he left for free (!), A.Vidal and Arda were bad, Gomes was even worse.
Dembele got injured very soon and his talents would need a different strategy, Coutinho is a ghost when he can't play his own game, Malcom is not talented enough, there are no attackers as backup, no offensive-minded midfielders whatsoever, etc.
So the new recruits mostly failed - regardless the $$$ spent - but the coach is happy, the board is happy, that's what they wanted.
(The train stops but steam needs to be released gradually - they say...)
All teams will always suffer if needed changes are postponed under the umbrella of pseudo-continuity or personal interests, which is actually nothing else but: corruption...
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