Curious Case of Coutinho...

Canagel

Full Member
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
13,888
No thanks. We are looking for right wingers. and we don't need another player that gets in Pogbas way. Sanchez is enough trouble.
 
Last edited:

shabz

Full Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2012
Messages
2,595
Location
Manchester
I don't know where he would fit in our team. His preferred positions are already taken and we would spend £100 million for a player that wouldn't even be a regular. We don't want to have another Sanchez situation, buying big names because they are available rather than actually needing them.
 

ravi2

Full Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
Messages
9,043
Location
Canada
We really don't need him and I can't see where he'll fit in plus he will cost at least 120m, spend that money on Sancho and we'll be set.
 

FlawlessThaw

most 'know it all' poster
Joined
Oct 26, 2005
Messages
29,599
One thing we need to avoid doing this summer is funding the transfer wallets of Madrid / Barca for one of their underperforming players.
 

Needham

Full Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2013
Messages
11,747
Ole is a bit of a wizard mixing and matching so as long as Coutinho is willing to pack away his ego and adapt I'd ave im. Brilliant player.
 

mu4c_20le

Full Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2013
Messages
42,729
World class player in his prime. If we cant get Sancho for some reason I wouldn't mind this at all, would be a big f you to the scouse as well
 

Rockets Redglare

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jun 23, 2015
Messages
2,576
World class player in his prime. If we cant get Sancho for some reason I wouldn't mind this at all, would be a big f you to the scouse as well
He’s 26 so should only just be hitting his prime as well. I do worry we wouldn’t have room for him, but he’s a top player.
 

MadDogg

Full Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
15,810
Location
Manchester Utd never lose, just run out of time
Nah. Personally I always thought he was rather over-rated while at Liverpool. His form for his first 6 months at Barca and at the World Cup made me think I may have been mistaken and he was going to take that next step up, but from all accounts he wasn't able to maintain it

Don't get me wrong, he's obviously a good player. Just not the world-beater that he was being made out to be 12 months ago. Not good enough enough to try to fit him in when he probably wouldn't suit the 433 that we normally play.
 

ship50

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jun 1, 2018
Messages
128
I like the thread title. And I think we don't need him.
 

Kapardin

New Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2017
Messages
9,917
Location
Chennai, India
Just like there were some players who you felt would definitely play for West Ham, some players now feel like they are made for PSG.

Betting that PSG will buy him for north of 100 million only to crash out of the UCL in the Last 16 next season. Coutinho is probably disillusioned after his failure at Barca and will move for money and game time. The Brazilian contingent at PSG also would suit him.
 

ravi2

Full Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
Messages
9,043
Location
Canada
Just like there were some players who you felt would definitely play for West Ham, some players now feel like they are made for PSG.

Betting that PSG will buy him for north of 100 million only to crash out of the UCL in the Last 16 next season. Coutinho is probably disillusioned after his failure at Barca and will move for money and game time. The Brazilian contingent at PSG also would suit him.
I can see psg buying coutinho to replace neymar who I suspect might be moving to Madrid in the summer.
 

Hernandez - BFA

The Way to Fly
Joined
Jan 5, 2011
Messages
17,290
No doubt he’s a good player, but I always feel he’s a one trick pony. Give him the ball on the left edge of the box and he’ll go for goal.
 

Rozay

Master of Hindsight
Joined
Oct 22, 2012
Messages
27,025
Location
...
Great player, but not needed. Unless our own star man decides he wants to move on.

That said, with the right DM behind them, he could theoretically play in the double-8 with Pogba, similarly to City.
 

Ducklegs

Part of first caf team to complete Destiny raid
Joined
Jun 17, 2011
Messages
8,761
Good player, but possibly the single most over rated player in modern times.
 

Josh 76

Full Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2018
Messages
5,565
When teams start playing 10 men behind the ball next season against us, its not going to be your Lingards, Herreras or Mctommys that will break them down.

Courtino would be ideal. Upgrade on Mata.
 

KennyBurner

New Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
Messages
4,673
Location
ATL
When teams start playing 10 men behind the ball next season against us, its not going to be your Lingards, Herreras or Mctommys that will break them down.

Courtino would be ideal. Upgrade on Mata.
It’s funny that you think coutinho has the intelligence to play in midfield. It’s far from it. He is a One trick pony who will frustrate with his 5 shots per game. He excels higher up the pitch coupled with midfielders who can control the game for him. It’s a similar situation to pogba. Imagine him and pogba playing next to each other. That’s already 10 shots per game from each of them. Before you know it it’s the 85th minute and we are looking for a goal against Brighton who have sat back all gAme while kicking legs and frustrating our players.
 

Josh 76

Full Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2018
Messages
5,565
It’s funny that you think coutinho has the intelligence to play in midfield. It’s far from it. He is a One trick pony who will frustrate with his 5 shots per game. He excels higher up the pitch coupled with midfielders who can control the game for him. It’s a similar situation to pogba. Imagine him and pogba playing next to each other. That’s already 10 shots per game from each of them. Before you know it it’s the 85th minute and we are looking for a goal against Brighton who have sat back all gAme while kicking legs and frustrating our players.
When you play against 10 men behind the ball. You don't need 3 "midfielders".
City last night had both Silvas and the three front men in the team.
 

KennyBurner

New Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
Messages
4,673
Location
ATL
When you play against 10 men behind the ball. You don't need 3 "midfielders".
City last night had both Silvas and the three front men in the team.
That’s true but we don’t have the back personnel like city. Ashley young and smalling can’t pass out the back like Laporte and kompany which is why city can play with attacking midfielders.
 

Judas

Open to offers
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
35,964
Location
Where the grass is greener.
If I could be convinced of a position for him other than someones backup I'd be interested, but I don't see how he'd fit, he'd cost loads. Liverpool managed to get the absolute best out of him as he was there star player and the key man, he'd never be that for us if everyone was fit.
 

buckooo1978

Full Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
13,740
Coutinho for 60m would be a good signing - he was ridiculously over priced by Barca

he's able to play anywhere around our attack but obviously a dedicated wide player should be our priority

Coutinhos ability to create and score would be a boost
 

Josh 76

Full Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2018
Messages
5,565
That’s true but we don’t have the back personnel like city. Ashley young and smalling can’t pass out the back like Laporte and kompany which is why city can play with attacking midfielders.
That's why we need a new RB and CB.
 

MikeUpNorth

Wobbles like a massive pair of tits
Joined
Apr 26, 2007
Messages
19,938
For £50-60m, yes sure, but he’d presumably cost way more than that given what Barca paid.
 

harms

Shining Star of Paektu Mountain
Staff
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
27,952
Location
Moscow
Great player, but not needed. Unless our own star man decides he wants to move on.

That said, with the right DM behind them, he could theoretically play in the double-8 with Pogba, similarly to City.
Both Silvas and De Bruyne have exceptional work rate for attacking midfielders, something that Coutinho lacks. That is the problem for him at Barca — he was signed as Iniesta’s replacement, but he can’t play in midfield behind an attacking trio. Especially considering that they already have Messi, who doesn’t participate in defending at all and occupies similar zones as Coutinho does at his best (pretty much in the hole).
 

simonhch

Horrible boss
Joined
Aug 17, 2010
Messages
14,368
Location
Seventh Heaven
Supports
Urban Combat Preparedness
If we were to settle into a diamond formation with Martial, Rashford and Lukaku competing for the two up front spots; I think Countinho would be sensational in the number 10 role. We could feasibly sign just two players to make that formation work:

De Gea

Dalot - - - De Ligt - - Lindelof - - - Shaw

Fred

Herrera - - - - - Pogba

Coutinho

Rashford - - - - Martial
Subs: Romero, Young, Smalling, Matic, Pereira, Lingard, Lukaku

Reserves: Grant, Jones, McTominay, Garner, Mata, Gomes, Chong, Greenwood

Sell: Bailly, Rojo, Darmian, Sanchez

Additional signings: Versatile fullback such as Tierney, or a starter such as Wan-Bissaka. Other potential area would be a controlling CM.​

This would be the route I would take IF we can’t get Sancho. Personally I’ve loved Ole’s diamond, as the forwards run the channels really well, allowing the 10 to attack from deep, or act as a false 9. Other times it gives you way more presence in the box, and Pogba really attacks from that left sided channel.

My hope is for 2-3 high quality but young signings of players who are just exploding onto the scene, or about to enter their prime. Coutinho is a magnificent player IMO, and would give us a brilliant attacking threat, not least from distance. Something tells the that the link up between Pogba, Coutinho and Martial would be jizz worthy.

I also think the highly intelligent movement and runs of Rashford would be best exploited by the addition of a player like Coutinho. Sancho is a sensational player, but I do feel Coutinho in this system would help us control the middle of the park in a way that would hugely benefit us.

At the end of the day, I would take either; and be bloody happy for it.
 

M Bison

Full Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2015
Messages
6,795
Location
In the Wilderness
Supports
York City
If by some miracle we could include Sanchez in the deal, it would be worthwhile but failing that, I think we’re best looking at other options.
 

arthurka

Full Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2010
Messages
18,664
Location
Rectum
If anyone has bothered to watch Barca this season they would have seen all his shortcomings. We should use the money on a RB,RW and a CB not on this clown.
 

carvajal

Full Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2015
Messages
11,053
Location
Spain
Supports
Real Madrid
His body language in the field is similar to André Gomes.
He looks out of place and more careful not to spoil the play than to contribute with something different.
In long possessions he loses easy balls and often tends to constantly repeat the same moves.
A small dribbling to the right to prepare the shot.

In a parallel universe without this bubble, he would cost 50 million.
 

Andersons Dietician

Full Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2016
Messages
13,192
The two positions he is probably best at we have Martial and Pogba in, why would we be wanting to spend north of 110 mil for someone who most likely won’t replace them. Think it’s just one of those BS stories, it was just before January was it not that Barca were fed up with Dembele and were going to sell him.
 

davidmichael

Full Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2015
Messages
3,373
I like Coutinho but I think we’d be trying to shoehorn him in somewhere just to fit him in and we’ve been doing that for years rather than buying players to play their best position.

Coutinho is best in either Pogba’s or Martial’s position and I don’t think Coutinho is better than either of them two in either position, if we brought in Coutinho on a loan deal and just paid his wages whilst also offloading Sanchez then I’d be perfectly fine with Coutinho coming to us but I don’t want us to spend any of our transfer budget on him.
 

Jim Beam

Gets aroused by men in low socks
Joined
Feb 10, 2017
Messages
13,013
Location
All over the place
If we plan to make 4312 or diamond as our main formation then he would have a place.

Still, I would much rather go for Dybala in that scenario.
 

AndyJ1985

New Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
8,954
He's a very good player who would improve us, but any big money signings we make need to be in areas where we're really weak, such as a RW and full backs.
 

Kidders

Full Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
1,283
Location
1 Hour 40 Minutes away
It's fake news, Coutinho wants out of Barca, and we are one of the few clubs who could afford him, throw a United Link in the mix and it hits the headlines, who's his agent BTW ?
 

The holy trinity 68

The disparager
Joined
Apr 10, 2016
Messages
5,790
Location
Manchester
Coutinho is best in either Pogba’s or Martial’s position and I don’t think Coutinho is better than either of them two in either position
Coutinho is head and shoulders above Martial, even in that position.

Martial has huge potential but is over rated and Coutinho is far better at the moment. He might not be in his best form but he is still a top class player.