Philippe Coutinho

red thru&thru

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He’s some what of a luxury player, I guess. Not for a team who are in need of bit of a rebuild. Amazed it hasn’t worked for him at Barca this year. Would be interesting to hear from the regular Barca watchers as to why not?!
 

foolsgold

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Good player, upgrade on Mata but why would anyone join us without knowing who the manager will be next season?
 

Pfmpd

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Unlucky coutinho, I thought he was doing well tbh. But I've not really followed barca this season.

Can see why he forced his move there, who wouldn't want to go play in Barcelona?

Looks like an Owen mistake to me so far. Gone from being idolised by Liverpool fans to being slagged by his barca fans.
 

el3mel

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Great player. Doesn't have a place here unless we're bringing Fernandinho esque midfielder and playing the City way with Coutinho and Pogba number 8s attacking.

If we're going to play him on the wing, save the money.
 

Ducklegs

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No thanks, hugely over rated and not worth anywhere what it would take to buy him.
 

Womp

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Incredible player, will never happen though. Not what we need and he's ex Liverpool, not to add would cost a fecking fortune, despite being a benchwarmer.
 

Nick.

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He justs wouldn't fit in our team. It would be a huge mistake to spend £100m on him and not Koulibaly
 

Halds

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Although we actually improved after he left, I'd take him back in a heartbeat! Our midfield consists of workhorses without creativity. We got no AM's, and i think it prevents us from adjusting our style when needed. He could play as a left forward too.

It could be argued that our hardworking midfield adds to our defensive record, but like today, every now and then I feel we miss a link between midfield and attack. And that must also have been the reason why we were after Fekir in the summer.

I can't see it happening though. He will most probably bounce back in Barca, besides there's no way we're gonna pay anywhere near the amount we got for him.
 

Macedonian Red

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And where will play? On the left we have Martial, Sanchez and Rash, at AMF we have Pogba. Maybe he can play like CB.
 

BULB

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Messi wants Neymar back so someone will have to make way.
 

Ciro

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As if Coutinho would join utd having played for the enemy. Not a cat in hells chance this is happening.
 

Trizy

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Football fans have some short memories, I watched every single one of his games during his last 6 months at Liverpool and he was literally unplayable every game, World class. He was on target to hit 23+ goals and 20+ assists that season if he stayed
No one is doubting his quality but he's just not the right fit for us or Barca by the looks of it. He doesn't suit a 433 when we have Pogba who is better imo.
 

Sultan

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And where will play? On the left we have Martial, Sanchez and Rash, at AMF we have Pogba. Maybe he can play like CB.
Against the easier teams, the team can be set up with Pogba and Coutinho as attacking midfielders with a defensive midfielder. Coutinho can also cover for Pogba when he's injured. I can see the logic. However, we have other priorities.
 

Feed Me

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He actually had a very good first season at Barca if you look at his numbers and influence on winning trophies.

Can't help but feel he's being thrown under the bus after his first downturn in form. Why wouldn't Barca persist with him having made such a fuss to sign him in the first place?

Questions over stylistic fit, a la Cesc, is maybe what the club is thinking, but that was clear before they signed him. I feel he's caught in between being an Iniesta and a Neymar replacement.
 

cyberman

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He could play Lingards role. Start on right hand side but with licence to drift.
Jesse gets into fantastic goal scoring position all the time and Coutinho is a better player than he is.
Not everything has to be a fixed role, look at how Pogba is playing.
 

Jib

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Be could play Lingards role. Start on right hand side but with licence to drift.
Jesse gets into fantastic goal scoring position all the time and Coutinho is a better player than he is.
We need a RW not a left AM.
 

cyberman

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We need a RW not a left AM.
Do we though? If we have fluid movement across the line then Rashford would be drifting right to allow Pogba / Coutinho the space to make forward runs into the box.
Salah destroyed European football last year by playing wide right and not being a RW.
Hell Coutinho himself was excellent as an inside forward from the left.
Wide men are going out of fashion, inside forwards is where its at.
 

settembrini

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This is such a silly story. I don't think he wants to leave Barcelona, they would want a fortune given what they spend on him and he's not even close to being the type of player we need.
 

Greck

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We must be the default go-to buyers for every player in the Spanish tabloids.
 

charlenefan

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Football fans have some short memories, I watched every single one of his games during his last 6 months at Liverpool and he was literally unplayable every game, World class. He was on target to hit 23+ goals and 20+ assists that season if he stayed
In no reality would he have hit those numbers
 

Irrational.

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Every now and then, Liverpool manage to integrate players and build teams around them that they look like utter world beaters - and then they get found out at other clubs. It was the same with Torres and now Coutinho. They'll be laughing all the way to the bank at how much they managed to get for him. Limited player who scores the occasional long range potshot worldie.

I think Salah would be shown up in any other team as well.
 

King_Cantona07

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Do we though? If we have fluid movement across the line then Rashford would be drifting right to allow Pogba / Coutinho the space to make forward runs into the box.
Salah destroyed European football last year by playing wide right and not being a RW.
Hell Coutinho himself was excellent as an inside forward from the left.
Wide men are going out of fashion, inside forwards is where its at.
He is useless if starting position is wide right. We have enough wide lefts. Salah is left footed and wide right with cutting in works well for him.
 

marukomu

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No fecking way we should be in for this scrote. When he played for Liverpool, most on here said he was shit. He is.
 

ActionJackson

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More than likely we won't finish top 4 and will miss out on Champs League football. The last 2 times that happened the club responded by making some very bad, overpriced and desperate moves in the transfer window. We overspent on transfer fees for the likes of Pogba, Bailey, Di Maria and Shaw and showed a level of desperation no big club should ever show when handing a massive contract to a over the hill Zlatan.

Maybe the board feel making expensive signings is a way of getting fans back on side after a poor campaign (and amongst the majority of United fans it seems to work) or that with United no longer a big player in World Football based on our on the pitch performances they need to keep us relevant by making noises (very loud and ridiculous noises) off the pitch.
Whatever the reasoning behind it there is a clear pattern that when miss out we throw money around and for that reason I could see us spending a lot of money on Coutinho come the summer.
He fits the criteria of what we tend to sign. A big name who's not good enough to demand a place at the very top sides. He's at a big club so Woodward can try and convince the fans that we are now going out and buying players from the likes of Barca/Real instead of losing our players to them.
And no matter how many of you claim you don't want to buy him or tactically he's not a great fit, as soon as we go out and waste 140million on him you'll all be claiming he's world class and a Balon dor contender.
 
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He’s clearly an excellent player. It doesn’t matter that he played for Liverpool - the first time he banged in a goal and kissed the badge it would all be forgotten.

However, he operates in the area of the pitch we have the greatest strength (aside from keeper), and at £100m+ is not the player we need. Clearly there are many more priorities to rectify first, and for that reason we won’t be signing him.
 

MadDogg

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Every now and then, Liverpool manage to integrate players and build teams around them that they look like utter world beaters - and then they get found out at other clubs. It was the same with Torres and now Coutinho. They'll be laughing all the way to the bank at how much they managed to get for him. Limited player who scores the occasional long range potshot worldie.

I think Salah would be shown up in any other team as well.
Torres was due to the injuries, to be fair. It was obvious he was already half the player in his last season at Liverpool.

I also doubt Salah would have any problems in other teams. Unfortunately he is a very good player, and one that is relatively easy to fit into a team.
 

charlenefan

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It’s purely hypothetical, but he did have 12 goals in 20 matches in the first half of that season - noting its skewed by him scoring 5 in 5 in Europe.

Don’t know about assists, but it’s not outlandish.
It is outlandish. For him to have completed those numbers would have put him in Messi/Ronaldo land
 
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It is outlandish. For him to have completed those numbers would have put him in Messi/Ronaldo land
I think you have misread. He said 23 goals and 20 assists across the WHOLE season, and he’d already scored half that amount in the first 6 months.

Ronaldo/ Messi score twice that - that would be outlandish.
 
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Browsed through a Barca-English forum and the criticisms seem to be similar to the ones put at him when he was at Liverpool.
The fans find him to be technically efficient yet predictable.They're unconvinced about his role within the teams set-up.They dont find him to be the most versatile attacker position wise.
And some are getting annoyed with his constant need to shoot from distance when other options are available.