Brazilian playmaker Coutinho has told Liverpool fans what the boss Jurgen Klopp is demanding of the squad – both in training sessions and on the pitch.
Our South American is of integral importance to the club and the manager, but is still expected to work ruthlessly hard at Melwood and press intensively during matches.
“I have to adapt to them, but it’s not only me who must do this,” Coutinho told the official website.
“When you get new players, especially strikers, it is the job of all of the team to give them the service they need.
“I have to learn whether it is right to play a fast ball or a pass along the ground, depending on who I am playing the ball to.
“The training sessions are very, very important for this adaptation process to happen. We work on this every day in training and the sessions are very intense.
“If we’re not doing it right, or something isn’t working, we do it again and again until we get it right. The more you train with your teammates, the more you learn about each other and this is important for the team to do well.
“He asks for us to play with as much freedom as possible when we have the ball, but when we lose it we are asked to recover it as quickly as possible.
“We press very high with the intention of trying to make the other team lose the ball close to their goal. If we do it right, and win the ball back in these areas, it gives us a better chance to score.
“The most important thing is that it is imperative for the team to press together. This is what we have been trying to do and this is how we are developing as a team.”
After starting slowly against Tottenham, Rubin and Southampton, Coutinho started to show Klopp what he could do at Stamford Bridge – scoring a wonderful brace to down Premier League champions Chelsea. He followed it up with a goal one week later versus Crystal Palace, although it wasn’t enough to stop us falling to a disappointing home defeat.
Now though, he’ll have two weeks working closely with Klopp due to the fact he (along with Roberto Firmino and Lucas) haven’t been called up to the Brazil squad for the international break.
It’s Manchester City up next, a team Coutinho has an excellent track record against. Let’s hope it continues at the Etihad.