LIVERPOOL MANAGER Brendan Rodgers has high hopes for Philippe Coutinho after his goalscoring performance in yesterday’s win over Swansea.
Coutinho, a January signing for the Reds, netted in the 46th minute as Liverpool ran out 5-0 winners over the south Wales outfit at Anfield.
And Rodgers believes the 20-year-old attacker can get even better as he adapts to life in the Premier League.
“He’s a real talented player, Coutinho. He’s only 20 but he’s had good experience playing at a big level,” Rodgers told reporters. “He’ll take a bit of time to adapt to the speed and the tempo, coming from Inter Milan his game is at a slower tempo.
“But he’s a wonderful technician and you can see with his involvement in the first goal the quality and the speed of his passing, and he’s got wonderful game knowledge as well.
“I’ve got high hopes for him. These are the types of players we’re trying to get in – the technicians that have got strong character and mentality – and I’m sure he’ll progress really well.”
Rodgers also underlined the importance of the win following a week in which the Reds suffered consecutive 2-0 defeats at the hands of West Bromwich Albion and Zenit St Petersburg.
“It was an important three points,” he said. “It’s been a bumpy road this week in terms of the games Monday and Thursday. The Premier League is very important for us and we knew that we had to focus and show commitment today against a Swansea team that’s been brilliant this season. For us it was a very important win, an outstanding performance and I think we really showed our character and mental toughness today to get a performance like that.”
Ah poor Brendan. As a LFC fan it amazes me how deluded and blinkered Mr. Rodgers is. We played a second string Swansea side who had zero interest. Until we achieve consistency, defeat a top 4 side and defend properly I’m not falling for Brendan’s vision of an alternative reality. We’ve just moved up to 7th in the table. Now that’s hardly an endorsement of the Brendan Rodgers project.
Agreed that he is delusional of he thinks he will be in a job in 6months , Couthino is an awesome player thou I’ve seen lots of him and I reckon he will be a great base for pool to move forward with
Its shocking that he came out with the statement that we could come 2nd and even worse from Gerrard saying we could win it..Its embarrassing to be put into that position-It will be heart wrenching playing Chelsea and Benitez in their dug out and considering he wanted the pool job is what makes it worse-Owners wanted someone who they could dictate to though…uphill and battle are words that spring to mind even after a 5.0 over Swansea
Next year YNWA