On Philippe Coutinho

Well, this sucks.

Well, this was expected, even if not for a few more months.

Yes, there's very little that makes sense about doing this deal in January.

It could completely mess up Liverpool's season. On the precipice of top-four going into January, into the knockout rounds of the Champions League for the first time since 2008-09. This is a more well-rounded team, a deeper team, than we've seen since 2008-09, but Coutinho has still been one of the stars. Salah's given him a run for his money this campaign, but Coutinho was Liverpool's player of the season in the previous two by some distance.

It doesn't even really help Barcelona this season, running away with La Liga and with Coutinho cup-tied for the Champions League. You're paying something like €15-20m more just so Iniesta can be rested for Europe? And Barcelona definitely need to sell or release players to balance the books, something I had assumed would happen before buying Coutinho.

But it is what it is. Coutinho really, really wanted to go to Barcelona. Barcelona really, really want him. As with Suarez, as with Mascherano, as with Alonso and Arbeloa, when South American or Iberian players hear from Barcelona or Real Madrid, they're gone. It's not just Liverpool players. See: Cristiano Ronaldo. It's not just Latin players. See: McManaman and Owen, Beckham, Bale. This is the football ecosystem that we live in, despite PSG and City's best efforts at the moment.

And this sucks.

It's hard to be sanguine about it now. It's hard to reminisce when the wound's still fresh. Nonetheless, what's your favorite Coutinho moment?

There are a lot to choose from. Only Henderson, Sturridge, and Flanagan (unfortunately, we're still counting him for now) have been with the club longer; only Henderson's made more Liverpool appearances. We've seen all-around performances, spectacular strikes, brilliant assists. Game-winning goals, game-winning assists, game-winning performances. You could make a hell of a montage just from this season so far.

But I'm going to pick one that most won't. I'm going to pick his first goal for Liverpool. A month shy of five years ago.

Look at that child. He's a hobbit. He's a baby. And he's scoring on his full debut. There's an immediate sign of his potential, cutting inside from the left, with the ball at his feet, with the ball in the back of the net. He was billed as a diminutive playmaker – which he very much was for his first few seasons, and still mainly is – but there was a sign of the goals to come. There was a sign of the player he'd become.

No more signs, signals, premonitions now. For better and for worse, he's all grown up.

Now, Coutinho is potential fulfilled. He is a player capable of the sublime and ridiculous. He is a player at the peak of his powers. He is capable of playing on the left flank, as a #10, and as a more orthodox central midfielder. He's truly dominated games since the end of last season, most notably 4-0 at West Ham in May and 7-0 v Spartak in December, two goals and an assist as a central midfielder in the former, a hat-trick as an outside left in the latter.



He is also a player who has mysteriously picked up injuries as soon as the last two transfer windows opened. He is a player who clearly does not want to be here.

You never want to see your club's best players sold, especially not in January, especially with Liverpool pushing for top four and still in the Champions League. But this is the world we live in. Players get the moves they want, eventually, whether it's Van Dijk to Liverpool, Coutinho to Barcelona, or Neymar to Paris St-Germain. Clubs can only do so much.

Yes, Liverpool could have done more, had they truly wanted. Liverpool could have held firm, as they did over the summer. Deal with his "injuries" this month, get the best out of him until May. What's he gonna do, sit out for five months in a World Cup year? My guess, the only that makes sense, is that Jürgen Klopp's seemingly sick to the teeth of this nonsense. Understandably so.

Between Lallana and Oxlade-Chamberlain, there's at least a modicum of depth in the position Coutinho usually plays. Woodburn, even though he's only 18 and has made just one substitute appearance in the League Cup this season, at least did it in preseason – although he had been rumored to go out on loan this month. Neither are as creative. Neither are as good, period.

As Southampton did with van Dijk, Liverpool have extorted an eye-watering fee. By all reports, €120m now, €40m more with add-ons far achievable than those proposed last summer. Barcelona's highest bid last summer was £82m up front with £36m more in insane add-ons. Liverpool stood firm in the summer, they got more money in January.

This is the second-highest transfer fee ever. It's the highest non-release clause fee. It is €20m more than any other Premier League player has been sold for, and that's before any add-ons come into effect. Coutinho is a very, very good player who is very, very important for Liverpool, but that's still absolutely insane money.

Liverpool have a lot of new money in the accounts as of right this damn second; van Dijk was supposedly budgeted for before this deal. The squad is a lot stronger now than had Coutinho left last season, or even late in the summer having had five months to coalesce both with and without him. But he will need to be replaced, ideally sooner rather than later. I trust that Liverpool have been planning for this day since August. I hope that, as has happened with past huge sales, that trust is not misplaced.

But those fears are for another day.

It's hard at the moment, but enjoy the fact that we got Coutinho's magic for nearly five years. There were growing pains. There was frustration. There were, notably, no trophies. But there was brilliance. There was fun. Football is much better when there's fun, and Coutinho provided an awful lot.

Remember that, rather than the drama over his exit.

On Adam Lallana

Adam Lallana is now Liverpool's third summer signing, joining his former Southampton teammate Rickie Lambert and Emre Can.

Brendan Rodgers' quotes make clear how much he wanted Lallana at Liverpool. This seems very much a Rodgers signing rather than transfer committee signing. Lallana looks an excellent fit for Rodgers' style: the focal point, fulcrum, and captain of a similar system at Southampton. He's joining players he knows well: yes, primarily Rickie Lambert, but also his England teammates Gerrard, Sturridge, Henderson, Sterling, and Johnson.

He's versatile, primarily a central attacking midfielder but also able to play on either flank, and possibly deeper in midfield against weaker sides. He's two-footed, scoring four left-footed and four right-footed goals last season (as well as one that he scrambled in with a knee on a set play). Like Coutinho (and Allen…), you could see him play as the shuttler opposite Henderson in a 4-4-2 diamond. Or at the apex. Or in any of the positions in the line of three in a 4-2-3-1. Or as either wide forward in the 4-3-3.

From WhoScored:



Some of the differentiation between positions is semantics, but WhoScored has him lining up in seven positions last season, every possible attacking position except out-and-out striker and right-sided midfielder.

And that versatility is a good thing, because Liverpool already have two similar players.



Absolutely all credit for this image idea goes to Ted Knutson of StatsBomb. Rather than bug Ted to do a comparison, I thought I'd try to make my own, with no offense meant to the originator. Ted's innovation with these radars has been superlative, and pretty much everything on StatsBomb is outstanding and I cannot recommend it enough. There are only a few categories different from the style he uses, which I thought worth highlighting.



Coutinho's a more ambitious passer, with lower accuracy but more assists, key passes, and throughballs, and is better defensively (although all three are above average). Sterling's a better shooter, scorer, and dribbler. Lallana is more of an all-rounder – good at most things, only worrisome in how often he's dispossessed and the paucity of throughballs – and is a much more accurate passer, especially in the final third. And he's reliable, appearing in all 38 matches last season, playing more than 1000 minutes more than Coutinho or Sterling last season: the former missing a handful of matches through injury, the latter still growing as a player.

Lallana is first in just two of the above categories, the two pass accuracy categories, but is second in seven of the 14. A jack of many trades, a master of few. Which is as much a compliment as an insult, if not more so. Liverpool need that sort of versatility and reliably, Liverpool need that strength in depth.

That said, Raheem Sterling is 19. Coutinho just turned 22. Adam Lallana is 26.

Lallana is the third oldest player signed by Brendan Rodgers, behind only Kolo Toure (free) and Rickie Lambert (£4m). The average age of Liverpool's 14 previous signings under Rodgers is 23.5 years old. He's a player in his prime, experienced but not old, which is something Liverpool need, but there's also not much more room for improvement.

Sterling, as a 16-year old, cost £500,000, which has probably risen to somewhere between £2-5m based on incentives. Coutinho cost £8.5m. Lallana's fee is somewhere between £23-25m. And that's a lot of money, even considering inflation thanks to the new television deal, even considering the English premium. Like, a lot of money. Only Andy Carroll cost Liverpool more (*sets self on fire*).

So there's encouraging and there's concerning.

Is he an improvement on Liverpool's attacking depth? Without a doubt. But when you're relying on Victor Moses, Iago Aspas, or Luis Alberto, that's an admittedly low bar to hurdle.

I'm not convinced he's a guaranteed starter if everyone's available, no matter his fee, especially considering how outstanding Liverpool's attack looked over the last half of the season. At that price, should he be? Probably. But if anyone's absent – and there will be one important player absent until November – Lallana can slot in almost seamlessly, no matter the absentee. That's incredibly valuable in and of itself.

Of course there are worries about the cost. But this was obviously a player than manager and club had targeted. Prior to this summer, Rodgers' Liverpool had bought six players for more than £8.5m. The jury's still out on Borini (worst case scenario: Liverpool get most if not all of the money back if he's sold), but Allen, Sturridge, Coutinho, Mignolet, and Sakho's success mean that the club has a lot more leeway with me than it used to when it comes to transfers.

Coutinho v Arsenal [Animated Chalkboard]

Consider this an experiment. I wanted to A) see what chalkboards looked like when animated step-by-step and B) remind myself how to make animated GIFs in Photoshop. So, a couple of days back, I asked "Coutinho v Arsenal or Suarez at Tottenham?" on Twitter, without context. Off the top of my head, those seemed to be the most worthwhile to animate: two of Liverpool's best individual performances, against two very good sides, and more complete all-around performances: something more than just 80 different passes (no offense to Liverpool's central midfielders). Coutinho v Arsenal won by a handful of votes.

So here we are. I'm not fully convinced of its usefulness – at least, its usefulness compared to the time it took to create, although any in the future won't be as arduous given that I now know how to create these – but I hope you enjoy.

If you'd prefer, here's the file as a YouTube video. The aspect ratio is a bit nutty, but it's legible at both regular size and in full-screen. If you'd like to pause at certain moments, etc.

Also, for thoroughness' sake, here's a table of all the incidents included, linked rather than embedded because it's massively long.

As with the match infographics, this would have been next to impossible if not for Squawka and StatsZone's chalkboards.

On Philippe Coutinho

Finally passing his medical and approved for a work permit, Philippe Coutinho is the 15th player bought since FSG took control of the club. 10 of the previous 14 are still with the club: Suarez, Henderson, Downing, Enrique, Coates, Borini, Allen, Assaidi, Yesil, and Sturridge (no, we're not counting Carroll or Doni). The average age of those players when they signed was 22.5. Downing was the only older than 25, Enrique was 25, and Suarez had just turned 24. Everyone else was 23 or younger.

Compare that to the players brought in during the summer of 2010, the last Hicks and Gillett transfer window: Jovanovic (29), Cole (28), Aurelio (29), Poulsen (30), Jones (28), Meireles (27), Konchesky (29), Shelvey (18), and Wilson (18). While Shelvey, Flanagan, Wilson, Eccleston, Pacheco, and Robinson – all younger than 20 – made appearances that season, you also may remember the likes of Kuyt, Poulsen, Maxi, Kyrgiakos, Konchesky, Aurelio (when actually fit), and Jovanovic playing key roles, especially under Hogdson. All were either 29 or 30. The only players in this season's squad who are that age or older are Carragher, Gerrard, Reina, and Jones.

Liverpool are not wholly without experience. In addition to those four who are 30 or older, Agger, Skrtel, Downing, and Johnson are 28; Suarez, Enrique, and Lucas are 26. Still, Liverpool are the only club to name three teenagers in a Premiership starting XI this season. They've done it in six of the 23 league matches.

That was a long, somewhat tangential introduction to that fact that Philippe Coutinho is 20. If you hadn't heard.

In theory, Coutinho is a player who fits into Rodgers' system, whether 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1. Predominantly right-footed but capable with his left, Coutinho is versatile enough to play anywhere along the attacking line of three. He made his Inter debut under Rafa Benitez, most often as a left-sided attacker, but has increasingly preferred to play as a central attacking midfielder, a #10 in the vein of how Suarez has played in the last 135 minutes of league football, a player who wants the ball at his feet, taking on a defender one-on-one.

Making just a handful of appearances for Inter this season, he's started in all four attacking positions: as a forward, on the left, on the right, and in the hole. His preferred position has usually been filled by Guarin or Palacio. With Stramaccioni often using three at the back, the width has primarily come from wing-backs or out-and-out forwards rather than midfielders, which is why more of Coutinho's appearances this season have come in the front three.



He's only started three league matches, also making seven substitute appearances, but started five of Inter's six Europa League group stage matches. Only Bayer Leverkusen's Karim Bellarabi, who's played in just two matches, is averaging more successful dribbles per match in that competition. There are just nine players who are averaging more shots per Europa League match than Coutinho (he's even averaging more shots than Suarez, although both players have scored just once).

Given his paucity of opportunities at Inter following the departure of Benitez, a loan to Espanyol last season came at a crucial time. Coutinho made 14 starts during his loan at Espanyol last season: 10 were on the left of Pochettino's 4-2-3-1, two were on the right, and two were as the #10. Only Sergio Garcia took more shots per game for Espanyol last season, only Garcia and Vladimir Weiss averaged more successful dribbles. All five of Coutinho's goals and his lone assist came as a left-sided attacker. This seems his most likely position at Liverpool, but it's also where Borini has looked most comfortable in his few appearances, as well as Sterling's preferred position.

The Score, In Bed With Maradona, and the Daily Mirror (I know, right?) have excellent articles about Coutinho's progress and promise if you're interested.

My short version: it's another raw attacker added to a still developing group. Rodgers already has to figure out how to combine Sturridge, Suarez, and the returning Borini (which went, um, poorly last time out); now he's adding another laden-with-potential youngling to the mix. And, of course, I can't go without mentioning that Coutinho will almost assuredly need time to adapt to the Premier League. Brazilian-born and coming from Serie A? Double whammy.

Have you repressed Oldham yet? I apologize for digging at recently formed scabs, but it's not as if Liverpool's problem appeared to be in attack, despite scoring just twice against the League One side. Liverpool were young (the starting XI had an average age of 22.7; only Skrtel and Jones were over 23), Liverpool were unbalanced, and Liverpool were outmuscled. Liverpool can be both mentally and physically fragile, and Liverpool are inexperienced. Coutinho, while an incredible prospect, addresses none of those concerns.

He has piles and piles of potential, but he is a project. Liverpool already have an awful lot of projects.

Also, loan Suso. Immediately. From all I've read and seen, he's the most similar to Coutinho in Liverpool's squad, if younger and even more inexperienced.