Philippe Coutinho. To some Liverpool fans, the club’s most important player. To some tabloids, an apparent target of European champions Barcelona. To myself, one of the Premier League’s most overrated stars whose popularity hinges upon the abbreviated and superficial nature of Match of the Day.
No doubt, Coutinho is a talented footballer, especially considering he’s still just 23 years of age. Last season he earned a place in the PFA Team of the Year and since August 2014 has been called upon regularly – eleven times to be precise – by Brazil coach Dunga, yet his talents lay in his ability to entertain rather than to win football matches.
That’s not to say the attacking midfielder has never single-handedly won a football match for Liverpool. His Goal of the Month for August claimed all three points in the dying embers of an otherwise scoreless affair with Stoke City on the opening day of the season, but that in itself illustrates the argument I’m making.
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The midfielder’s strike possessed all the quality and imagination you’d expect of a Selacao star, ripping through the air past a helpless Jack Butland, but that one worldie has come at the expense of 42 other opportunities wasted through more futile efforts; the second-most attempts at goal of any player in the Premier League and less than half of which have actually been on target.
Most fall into the category of high, wide and unhandsome and if you let virtually any Premier League player – be they Yaya Toure or John Terry – have 43 attempts from the edge of the box, one will inevitably find its way into the corner of the net and look particularly special whilst doing so. If you give a thousand monkeys a thousand typewriters, you eventually get a masterpiece.
Coutinho’s game isn’t all about scoring goals but that approach to finding the net does typify the Brazilian’s continual protrusion of style over substance. He relentlessly attempts the killer pass, the killer shot or the killer skill, seemingly failing to take into account the inevitable wastage when trying to pull off the spectacular every time he receives the ball.
Manchester City’s David Silva is the best No.10 in the Premier League because he makes goals without losing the ball. After all, that is the ultimate job of a No.10. Liverpool’s No.10, on the other hand, gifts the ball back to the opposition goalkeeper at least four times per match, is dispossessed whilst carrying 2.4 times per match and misses nearly 20% of his passes. That’s around 15 times per match he’s squandered possession this term and 135 times overall, which is hardly justified by a return of one goal and two assists.
Of course, you don’t see much of that on Match of the Day, which is why Coutinho continues to be such a popular figure with the Premier League audience. The highlights always show his moments of mild brilliance but rarely the ordinary football leading up to it. When you watch Coutinho over a full ninety minutes, however, more often than not he’s irritatingly wasteful and tends to only influence games in short bursts. He’s only actually created nine chances in nine appearances so far this season and averaged 42 passes per match. Nine Liverpool players have averaged more.
No question, Coutinho has the potential to make me eat my words at some point over the next few years. Aaron Ramsey, Ross Barkley and Christian Eriksen have all been accused of overcomplicated games in the past but are now amongst the top attacking midfielders in the division. The Premier League is particularly obsessed with dynamic match-winners possessing a knack for the occasional sublime and should the South American’s goal tally venture into double figures, many would argue the countless wild strikes into the Anfield stands are an acceptable compromise.
But right now, Coutinho isn’t producing to anywhere near that level. Match-winning displays are continually juxtaposed by underwhelming ones, just as every worldie is juxtaposed by countless shots of considerable mediocrity, so if the tabloids are accurate in claiming Barcelona will launch a bid for the 23 year-old in January, Liverpool would be well advised to bite their hand off.
Although any potential replacement might lack Coutinho’s streak of the fleeting spectacular, the chances are that they’ll be far more consistent in helping Liverpool to victory.
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