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"Like a schoolboy" - Is Liverpool's Coutinho actually over-rated?

He was on the shortlist for PFA Player of the Year last season and has a penchant for scoring ext...



"Like a schoolboy" - I...
Soccer

"Like a schoolboy" - Is Liverpool's Coutinho actually over-rated?

He was on the shortlist for PFA Player of the Year last season and has a penchant for scoring extraordinary goals from long-range.

But is it possible that Philippe Coutinho has been somewhat over-rated?

Analysing Liverpool's horrendous 3-0 loss at home to West Ham on ESPN. - a game in which Coutinho was sent off - Zonal Marking tactics expert Michael Cox wondered why "his popularity persists despite his frequently underwhelming performances".

It's a point that I wanted to put to ex-Ireland, Chelsea and Crystal Palace defender Paddy Mulligan, and he gave his say on the Rewind podcast. 

"It's a bugbear of mine. He gets knocked off the ball so easy. He's like a schoolboy out there - just gets brushed off it - and then he can't recover," said Paddy of Coutinho.

"He's always flitting in and out of games and what's saving him is the fact that he scores on occasion spectacular goals or has spectacular shots i.e. at Arsenal twice last Monday night. But apart from that, he's doing nothing. He's full of tricks, he wants to dribble, and dribble and dribble and doesn't know when to release the ball. When the ball comes to him, he should know exactly where he's going to play the ball but he doesn't because he has to dwell on the ball when the ball should be gone. That to me is  a huge concern. Brendan Rodgers can talk him up all he likes but he hasn't proven anything to me yet." 

The stats do show that he has been dispossessed over three times per game so far this season but that is less than Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez, Manchester City's David Silva and Man United's Memphis Depay.

Listen to Paddy's full Premier League review via the podcast:

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