You’d imagine that there was a part of Brendan Rodgers that breathed a sigh of relief when Liverpool sold Raheem Sterling to Manchester City this summer.

Not because Sterling was a disruptive influence or ungrateful at the opportunities Liverpool presented to him, although I’m sure those things went through Rodgers mind.

The main thing I think Brendan thought was ‘I am glad it wasn’t Philippe Coutinho!’

After the departures of Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard and then the eventual loss of Sterling, Brazilian whizz-kid Coutinho is very much the star of this Reds team.

The twenty-three year old is the club’s conductor and if Liverpool are to have a successful season this term then they will need to keep Coutinho fit and hope he’s on top of his game!

If any evidence was needed to show Coutinho’s influence around the Merseyside club then we seen it in the opening game of the current campaign.

Liverpool returned to the Britannia Stadium to take on Stoke City. That was the same venue that they ended their 2014/15 season, that game ended 6-1 to the Potters. It was an embarrassing defeat and could have cost Rodgers his job at Anfield.

On the opening game of this season, Stoke showed once again that they are well organised and hard to breakdown,

The game was very even and on a knife-edge, it seemed destined to finish as a goalless lacklustre draw.

But just as a revenge victory seemed out of reach, up stepped Philippe Coutinho who curled in a long range stunner with only four minutes remaining on the clock.

The goal was almost straight out of Steven Gerrard’ playbook. Not just in terms of quality but also in terms of importance and timing!

Liverpool needed a star to get them three points instead of one that day and Coutinho always seemed to be the man who could do it.

The Brazilian international produced something special in a game that was at best ordinary.

It was a valuable win as Chelsea and Arsenal slipped up on that same weekend.

The maestro makes Liverpool tick and he seems to improve as each season passes. That will have to continue this term.

During the last campaign Coutinho scored five and also had five assists in the Premier League, those stats will need to improve now he is without doubt the star of the team.

Fellow Brazilian Roberto Firmino should help out Philippe with his own creative genius, once Firmino gets match fit and used to his new surroundings. If the two playmakers can play in-sync with each other and provide plenty of ammunition for the likes of Christian Benteke and Daniel Sturridge, then they’ll be a joy to behold.

Coutinho is a magician on the park and can be the spark that could see the Reds grab a top four place at the end of the season.

But he needs to stay fit and continue to improve as a player. He looks to be a player that thrives on the responsibility of being the clubs key player.

Coutinho is one of those players that seems to always find space and when on form he’s almost unplayable. He needs to play like that in the majority of Liverpool’s fixtures and especially in the bigger games.

On Monday night Liverpool travel to the Emirates to face Arsenal, hoping to maintain their 100% start to the season. To stand any chance of beating the Gunners, you feel that Philippe Coutinho will be the main man the Anfield side will look to for that one piece of inspiration!

Coutinho really could be the new king of Anfield and the one that thankfully didn’t get away.

Posted on August 22nd, 2015 by scott
Filed under: Article