COUTINHO CLASSIC LETS REDS FORGET
BRENDAN Rodgers believes Philippe Coutinho’s stunning strike has allowed Liverpool to ‘put to bed’ the Stoke nightmare that has haunted them all summer.
The Brazil international produced a terrific late 30-yard winner at the Britannia Stadium to bring redemption for the embarrassing 6-1 defeat in the final match of last season at the same venue.
Coutinho has only been training for 10 days following his exertions at the Copa America and Rodgers admitted he had been close to replacing him with Danny Ings as fatigue set in.
‘You saw a team here with the determination and will,’ said Rodgers. ‘Eleven weeks ago it was embarrassing, but I think that puts it to bed.
‘It is always difficult when you come to Stoke. I thought it was an outstanding collective performance. Defensively we were strong and then we know we have the quality to win a game.’
Of Coutinho, he added: ‘We felt Glen Johnson was getting space on the left side and we moved Phil up, but we still wanted to win the game. So we were going to make a positive change and take him off and bring on Danny. I can’t profess to be any sort of genius.’
Coutinho, though, is the last true star in the firmament at Anfield. Luis Suarez, Raheem Sterling and Steven Gerrard have all gone. Coutinho remains and yesterday he demonstrated the enduring worth of a true match-winner.
The game was heading for a stale draw when he elevated the action to another level.
For all of Rodgers’ attempts to reinvent this team, the Brazilian remains its stand- out player for now. If Liverpool are to move forward as the owners demand in this campaign, it will be Coutinho that is charged with inspiring that progression.
Make no mistake, this was a huge result for Liverpool. They have a cruel early run of fixtures and this opening game was little short of treacherous, considering how the previous season had ended. So to re-run that match as the season’s curtain-raiser must have been a Premier League computer programmer’s idea of a joke. Not that Rodgers will have seen the funny side.
The danger in defeat was obvious. Lose here again and the pressure would be on from the beginning.
The way Rodgers saw it, though, this was the chance for Liverpool to put the past behind them. And through Coutinho, they did.
He r eceived t he ball f r om teenage left-back Jose Gomez, turned and shrugged off the attention of Glenn Whelan. From there, he only had one intention. His burst of pace took him into clean space and he let rip with a curled shot into the top corner.
Goalkeeper Jack Butland was powerless. There was no way back for Stoke from there.
Their manager Mark Hughes was aggrieved that a sequence of decisions went against his team, including a penalty claim when Ibrahim Afellay had a shot charged down by Nathaniel Clyne and, more significantly, when Dejan Lovren elbowed Mame Biram Diouf.
‘We are not disappointed with the performance,’ said Hughes. ‘We didn’t create a great deal.
‘We were the better team in the first half and should have had a penalty when Afellay had a goal-bound shot and Clyne stops it with both his hands.
‘That was one of many decisions we weren’t happy with. (On Lovren) the referee has thought it was a yellow card for an elbow. If that is the case, he was fortunate not to get a red card.’
Inter Milan’s Xherdan Shaqiri was in the crowd yesterday and Hughes confirmed Stoke are looking to resurrect a deal for him.