My thoughts on the game:
1. Coutinho - Despite the win, I was really worried and frustrated by a few players, and the chief culprit is this guy. Last season we had Suarez to shoulder a lot of the attacking burden and pull defenders away to free up space and perhaps that was the reason Coutinho did relatively well. This game again summed up COutinho's season - 0 impact. I get so frustrated whenever i watch him, especially when we have a break on, he will try to twist and turn 62 times and takes way too many touches when we should be playing 1 touch passing to break down defences that sit deep against us. His passing hasn't been any better either.
2. Lambert - Not good enough. Period. We can use him as a last 10 minute option when we are desperate and out of ideas but starting him just makes us a look like a rich man's Bolton.
3. Gerrard - I thought today our attacking play looked much sharper when Lucas replaced Coutinho(and Mario replacing Lambert) and we pushed Gerrard up. The link-up play was good and was reminiscent at times of the torres/gerrard days. I feel like when Can is back playing him as DM and gerrard further forward would be an option.
4.Defence - Looked Okay today.Our 2 fullbacks have looked decent so far. I'm still not convinced Lovren is a 20m defender, but at least today he and Skrtel was solid. We REALLY need to sort our defending at crosses/set pieces though, I can't get my head round to why Lovren couldn't defend the 2 crosses which the small guy berahino almost scored from.
Coutinho's main attribute has been to find the pass in space and for that to happen, you need players to make call in space and Suarez was a master with others like Sturridge and Sterling doing it too. We are not doing this anymore and Mario wants the ball at his feet. This is why I think Coutinho is not making the difference.
