3) Pick his final pass better.
This Premier League campaign, Jamie Vardy, Matty Phillips, Daryl Janmaat and Kieran Trippier have more assists than Coutinho – who’s racked up just four in 28 matches. For a player with his vision, wonderfully deft touch, and through-ball ability, this is simply nowhere near good enough. Every one of Coutinho’s assists are ‘beautiful’, and that’s an issue… He back-heels Sterling through on goal, he scoops the ball over the final defender for an onrushing attacker, or he weights a defence splitting through-ball perfectly. It earns plaudits – but in the long-run, it’s consistency of numbers that will see him become the top flight’s best player. Coutinho needs to do simple things better. Get himself in space in the final third, quickly pass the ball to a striker’s feet, before letting the fellow attacker shift his body and get a shot off on goal. We all know Coutinho has genius in his locker, but we need to see him do the less aesthetically pleasing things a little better, and a lot more often.
