Daily Mirror

Coutinho must go straight back into the team, even if he does Kop some stick

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IF Philippe Coutinho is fit and ready, then I’d stick him straight back into Liverpool’s starting line-up against Manchester City on Saturday.

Get him back on the bike and get out of the way all the speculatio­n following that failed move to Spanish giants Barcelona.

After a couple of performanc­es it will be all forgotten about – at least until January.

In dressing rooms, these situations tend to go one of two ways for players like Coutinho, Virgil van Dijk (far right) and Alexis Sanchez (right), who have all agitated for moves this summer.

Players who are a bit younger and trying to make their way in the game will say: ‘Well, he’s been a bit of a **** for what he has done, but he’s a great player and when he comes back I’m not going to treat him any differentl­y than I did before.’

Then there’ll be the more senior players – the manager’s lieutenant­s – who’ll rattle his cage and make sure he knows where he stands.

They might give him both barrels – ‘You’re taking the **** , you’re bang out of order’ – or they might go down the more subtle route, which is often worse than being fronted up.

Every miskick, every chance that goes begging, even every pre-match stretch, will be chipped away at.

‘Hey, Phil, are these the sort of stretches they do at Barca?’

‘Do we need you now we’ve got Mo Salah? Mo’s on fire.’

That sort of thing can eat away at your confidence.

When I was at Aston Villa, I went away for three weeks to have mental- health counsellin­g and I got something akin to the Spanish Inquisitio­n when I got back. It was Gareth Southgate, the captain, and goalkeeper Mark Bosnich, the big character, basically saying: ‘Where the bleedin’ hell have you been?’ Or words to that effect. I wasn’t even angling to get out of the club. I told them: ‘Well, actually chaps, if I hadn’t gone to the hospital when I did I might not be here today,’ and they sort of responded: ‘Whoa, let’s all relax.’

At Liverpool, I’d expect senior players like Jordan Henderson and James Milner to give Coutinho a little reminder that his best course of action is to get his head down and work his backside off for the club and the fans.

They’ll be telling him that if Barcelona come calling for him again in January, then fine, but now is the time to knuckle down.

Of the three wantaway players named earlier, I’d expect Southampto­n centre-half Van Dijk to have the toughest reception.

He looked as if he’d gone big-time Charlie when he started posting moody pictures on private jets and I wouldn’t expect old-school pros like Steven Davis to accept that.

The poison looks to have been injected so deep into Van Dijk’s relationsh­ip with the Saints that, unlike with Coutinho, I can’t see a way back in the long term.

So don’t be surprised to hear of a meeting in the next few weeks designed to get him out of St Mary’s in January.

Sometimes in football that’s the only way to sort it once and for all.

 ??  ?? RIDING HIGH Coutinho, alongside keeper Adam Bogdan, could inflict some misery on Manchester City Sign up to listen to Call Collymore through Stan’s new app at www.collymore.com
RIDING HIGH Coutinho, alongside keeper Adam Bogdan, could inflict some misery on Manchester City Sign up to listen to Call Collymore through Stan’s new app at www.collymore.com
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