Where will this Coutinho fit in?

I don't see Coutinho as a central midfield player, he could play left or right midfield or either side of the striker.

Yeah I don't class Coutinho as a centre mid.

Anyway, centre mid is the most physically demanding position, so you need more options that some other positions anyway. They do the most running, and I would guess, are more likely to pick up injuries.

I think Coutinho gives us a proper Suarez back up in the new system of Suarez behind Sturridge. If Suarez is missing we have someone who take players on and dribble (obviously he is not going to at his level, but he will share some attributes).

Also he gives us options wide so we don't have to play Enrique out of position or anything like that.

Coutinho and Suso are never central midfielders.

It might be worth loaning Suso out.

Coutinho and Suso play best in the CAM role.

Let's not be too fussy that is centre mid.

Comes down to if BR plays 433 with a holding mid or 4231.

But they can never play central midfield.

I would argue they could, infact I would prefer Suso CM to RW in a more roaming role and let Gerrard and Lucas drop back more.

I think Suso can (and has for the academy).

Not sure about Coutinho yet.

Anyway I thought Henderson was a right mid

Suso playing central midfield against boys is different than playing against men. He gets pushed all over the place on the wing, he'd get absolutely overan in midfield.

DM: Lucas, Allen
CM: Gerrard, Henderson, Shelvey
AM: Coutinho, Suso

Good balance for me

comment by Philo (U3120)
posted 2 minutes ago
DM: Lucas, Allen
CM: Gerrard, Henderson, Shelvey
AM: Coutinho, Suso

Good balance for me
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I agree and both Suso and Coutinho have proved the can play the wide forward role also. It's good to have a bit of versatility.

A genuine DM to push Allen up to a CM and I'd be happy.

comment by Kelly Is God (U6983)
posted 28 seconds ago
A genuine DM to push Allen up to a CM and I'd be happy.
------------------------------
I feel Allen in there in a game we're expected to dominate is fine but one where we need protection for the defence, he is not good enough breaking up play.

Allen is no DM, only played their due to Lucas injury. Id like us to buy another CM of quality and sell Spearing.

If I am honest I just do not think Allen & Lucas can play well together...

I can understand having one midfielder who is defensive e.g Lucas..

But to have two midfielders starting who don't score or create chances seems pointless. Plus Lucas gives us well more than Allen...

Alonso and Mascherano weren't exactly attacking threats and they worked fine together.

Suso and Coutinho are central attacking midfielders.

Coutinho can play out wide because of his dribbling and pace but his favoured position is CAM. He played there for Espanyol as well

Do you really want to compare Allen to Alonso??

You are comparing one of the best long passers of the ball in world football who created chances and attacking moves with his slick passing and great vision and who is in the current Fifa world eleven to Joe Allen...

If you want to argue the point give me an example where Lucas & Allen together play well??

Or we could be fair and compare Lucas & Mascherano together in the midfield who also could not play well together and it resulted in the team not creating many chances from midfield...

Coutinho is an attacking mid and a winger. Not a centre mid.

comment by Suarez_7 (U4199)
posted 22 seconds ago
Do you really want to compare Allen to Alonso??
----------------------------
No, why? Do you? Is this a game? What's the rules?

"You are comparing one of the best long passers of the ball in world football who created chances and attacking moves with his slick passing and great vision and who is in the current Fifa world eleven to Joe Allen..."

No i'm not.

"If you want to argue the point give me an example where Lucas & Allen together play well??"

FFS give them a chance they've played five minutes together.

"Or we could be fair and compare Lucas & Mascherano together in the midfield who also could not play well together and it resulted in the team not creating many chances from midfield..."

Yes the were bad together but they are defensive midfielders so that's hardly fair comparing them to a defensive midfielder and a deep lying playmaker like I did with Lucas/Allen, Mascherano/Alonso, which is fair. Yes they aren't on the same level so to compare them in ability is not right but I didn't do that, I compared them in their positions and potential to form a partnership, which they have.

5 minutes?

Didn't realize Lucas has only been back for five minutes..

Allen has been dropped because simply him and Lucas together does not seem to work, just like Lucas & Mascherano didn't work.

You are over analyzing a player to make excuses, a deep lying playmaker? Well a playmaker should make things happen and he just doesn't do that "specially when he plays next to Lucas"
And if your going to describe him as a deep lying playmaker then what exactly does he do if he is not creating chances and not doing the defensive side of things? 2 midfielders in the team deep who do not create goal scoring chances or score goals is simply not a good way to play as we saw with Lucas & Mascherano also Lucas was supposed to be a deep lying midfielder or what ever you call it...

And dare I say it after how much Henderson frustrated me, with him next to Lucas bombing forward and making things happen the midfield works together a lot better..

I was at the Man United game and that first half was a prime example of how poor our midfield is with Allen & Lucas together in it, it was as bad a Liverpool performance that I have seen in recent years United could have been 4-0 up by half time, Suarez was isolated on his own because those two in midfield can not play well together and the team has no flow...

No. Allen has been dropped because he's been playing badly. He was playing badly just before Lucas came back also. Players go into bad form, especially young one's.

You're talking crap to make excuses. Players in different positions can play together and that's all there is to it.