Philippe Coutinho

[SirBalon]

According to today’s L’Équipe Lamar would be Coutninho’s replacement for Liverpool.

What do you think about this?

Very different but Sallah on one flank and Lemar on the other sounds very fetching indeed.

[LFCMadLad]

1 hour ago, SirBalon said:

According to today’s L’Équipe Lamar would be Coutninho’s replacement for Liverpool.

What do you think about this?

Very different but Sallah on one flank and Lemar on the other sounds very fetching indeed.

Mane plays on the other flank to Salah. 

[SirBalon]

2 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

Mane plays on the other flank to Salah. 

Then you’d have two! 

[LFCMadLad]

Just now, SirBalon said:

Then you’d have two! 

Would be a lot of money for a sub! 

i think it’s a none story to be honest mate.  

[SirBalon]

Just now, LFCMadLad said:

Would be a lot of money for a sub! 

i think it’s a none story to be honest mate.  

Weren’t you guys also connected to Lamar in the summer?

[LFCMadLad]

3 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

Weren’t you guys also connected to Lamar in the summer?

Apparently yes but I never understood why? Unless he can play in CM I don’t see the need because he isn’t getting in our front three ahead of Mane, Salah and Firmino. 

[SirBalon]

7 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

Apparently yes but I never understood why? Unless he can play in CM I don’t see the need because he isn’t getting in our front three ahead of Mane, Salah and Firmino. 

As far as I know he plays wide and can play on both flanks... As for playing a more inside role, I don’t know but maybe @Batard does.  L’Équipe do tend to speculate a lot although they also do get a lot of things right.

[LFCMadLad]

13 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

As far as I know he plays wide and can play on both flanks... As for playing a more inside role, I don’t know but maybe @Batard does.  L’Équipe do tend to speculate a lot although they also do get a lot of things right.

Well as I said, he’s only a sub if he comes here to play wide. 

[Harry]

I'm not sold becausee its our strongest area of the pitch. Address the areas that are genuinely deficient like GK, CB, DM. Then spunk any extra money on more attacking players. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

8 hours ago, Harry said:

I'm not sold becausee its our strongest area of the pitch. Address the areas that are genuinely deficient like GK, CB, DM. Then spunk any extra money on more attacking players. 

I agree with this, 100%. It's pretty much common sense at this point. Our front 3 is great, we might need to address a Coutinho replacement (although Keita looks like a very creative player based on the very little I've seen from him)... but we've got some glaring weaknesses.

We need a leader at CB, our keeper situation is far from "solid", and I think for years a lot of fans have been saying we'd probably look a lot more defensively stable, while not sacrificing too much going forward, with a dedicated defensive midfielder. And one that plays more than the squad role that Lucas played in recent years (shame about his injuries - but I'm happy to see he's doing really well with Lazio).

Those 3 areas need to be addressed more than adding another wide player. Especially with someone like Lemar, where the price was supposed to be absolutely outrageous. That's an absolute luxury for a player that would likely be a squad player in our current setup when we've got some areas that need definite improvement for the first team.

[LFCMadLad]

Rumours we’re about to agree a £136m move in January. 

I could understand it if it were next summer but January? It makes no sense at all. He’d be CL cup tied for them while any replacement we got would also likely be Cup tied. 

This would totally undermine our season and I’ll be honest, if it’s true, I’d find it very difficult to defend the club. 

[Cicero]

10 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

Rumours we’re about to agree a £136m move in January. 

I could understand it if it were next summer but January? It makes no sense at all. He’d be CL cup tied for them while any replacement we got would also likely be Cup tied. 

This would totally undermine our season and I’ll be honest, if it’s true, I’d find it very difficult to defend the club. 

He'd still have a league title 

[LFCMadLad]

Just now, Cicero said:

He'd still have a league title 

That wouldn’t really soften the blow for us though would it? 

[Cicero]

14 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

That wouldn’t really soften the blow for us though would it? 

Not if you introduce Lallana in his role and get a decent enough backup in January (that isn' cup tied) 

[LFCMadLad]

1 minute ago, Cicero said:

Not if you introduce Lallana in his role and get a decent enough backup in January (that isn' cup tied) 

It might come to that if the rumours are true. We hold all the cards though and it’s to our benefit (massively) to keep hold of him till the summer and avoid all the disruption mid-season.  

[Burning Gold]

4 hours ago, LFCMadLad said:

Rumours we’re about to agree a £136m move in January. 

I could understand it if it were next summer but January? It makes no sense at all. He’d be CL cup tied for them while any replacement we got would also likely be Cup tied. 

This would totally undermine our season and I’ll be honest, if it’s true, I’d find it very difficult to defend the club. 

The same sources that said his sale was a done deal last summer, or different ones?

[RandoEFC+]

Salah can join Mane on the list of Liverpool forwards who are better and more consistent than Coutinho.

Should have taken the money in the summer and with Salah's form should certainly take the money now.

[LFCMadLad]

1 hour ago, RandoEFC said:

Salah can join Mane on the list of Liverpool forwards who are better and more consistent than Coutinho.

Should have taken the money in the summer and with Salah's form should certainly take the money now.

He’s been consistent for a few years now. This season he has 10 goals and 8 assists in 17 games whilst playing most of the time as CM behind the front 3. Last season he scored 14 times, got 9 assists in 36 games whilst playing on the left off the front 3. 

Its not just his numbers that help the team though. He’s that good that teams often double up on him which creates space for others. He’s also a brilliant free kick taker. 

[Danny]

Why would you sell him before a World Cup? His value could go up even more

[Dr. Gonzo]

They've had Paulinho come out and talk about him joining in January.

That's 8 separate players now. The club should call those Spanish fuckers up and let them know each player making a public comment increases the price by around £30m.

We shouldn't sell in January, but I'm sure we will in the summer - and because he's got no release clause we should make unreasonable demands out of Barca. Either that or refuse to do business with them because of the way they act. The Barca DNA must involve having a totally shite character.

[Cicero]

#FreeCoutinho

In all seriousness, that is vintage Barca and baffling how they continue to get away with it. 

[Dan+]

The talk of you selling Coutinho after the World Cup has just made it occur.... it's seriously been four years since Suarez left? Fucking hell.

[Cicero]

 

[Harry]

For those who don’t speak Spanish?

Is this being asserted as a done deal? Is it for a January move or a June one?

[SirBalon]

15 minutes ago, Harry said:

For those who don’t speak Spanish?

Is this being asserted as a done deal? Is it for a January move or a June one?

No... It’s the rumour that came out yesterday in all of Spain’s major sports dailies because of a supposed tip-off from one of Coutinho’s entourage.

What it says is that apparently negotiations between Liverpool and Barcelona are advanced with the price allegedly being €160m (€120m up front and €40m in variables). Then it just goes onto say that Coutinho and Barça have personal contractual issues agreed.

The only sure thing that’s been leaked in all of this over the past few days is that Nike have been the ones in the background for a number of months pushing for this to happen as quickly as possible.