i would say bring him on when hopefully we are comfortable in the game, we start him, for me it will be unnecessary pressure and expectation to perform straight away we will put on him.

There's a surprising amount of articles on the 'l' board

No, I'd bring him on. The team that played against City is obviously our strongest at the moment.

Coutinho on the bench. Same team that played against City, to start.

Lukaku is gonna give our defence a hard time.

What Rodgers said

Whether he starts will probably depend on an assessment of his readiness in training, but I doubt it, tbh. Downing’s doing OK anyway, and I hope we’re not expecting this lad to be an instant world-beater.

My worry about him is that he sounds a bit like Aquilani: creative midfielder with a good touch, but slight of build and not very physical.

He’s very young, and wasn’t getting a regular first-team game in Italy. Might take him a while to adjust to the Premiership.

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What Anfield RAP said that Suso the Magician said that Rodgers said

My worry about him is that he sounds a bit like Aquilani: creative midfielder with a good touch, but slight of build and not very physical.


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I think he'll initially be played out wide, where he'll find it easier to pick up the ball in space and under less pressure.

What I find a bit odd is that he seems quite similar to Suso, except with more emphasis on dribbling compared to Suso's game which is based on penetrating passes. Both of them are players who'll want to play as second strikers but who'll probably have to play out wide first to get games; IMO it'll be hard to ever include them whilst retaining balance in the team.

I'm happy we got Coutinho, I just wonder whether the signing should've been a priority and whether it'll harm Suso's development. Suso's an absolute gem and we have to give him every chance to develop.

I don't know what Rodgers Revolution said

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IMO it'll be hard to ever include them whilst retaining balance in the team.


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Clarification: Imo it'll be hard to include them BOTH in the same team. We could end up in the same situation as Ajax when they'd Sneijder and Van Der Vaart coming through but struggled to field them both at once.

Coutinho hasn't started a game since the 6th December.

He won't be ready to start until maybe the Wigan game I wouldn't have thought, because he has played very little football for 2 months and just came back from injury too.

What I find a bit odd is that he seems quite similar to Suso
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Yes, and I do wonder if it's physicality that's holding up Suso's progress.

We'll see. We're always keen to see new players and it peps things up a bit, but it's very hard to second-guess these things until you see them play for a while.

( And at that point, we all become know-alls)

When I watch the Academy games, they all look decent, to me, and there are only a few exceptions that stand out, like Sterling. I'm willing to admit that Tom Ince, for example, didn't look to me signifcantly better than some of the other lads.

Also a bit dismissive to assume we should win comfortably.

West Brom are a good side on the counter.

Our home form is good so we hope to win, but it won't be easy.

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unless he's been looking like a world beater in training, then the bench

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I think if Gerrard plays 90 for England tonight I would consider giving him a rest too.

Play Shelvey, with Gerrard on the bench.

I'm not looking forward to playing Swansea after the trip to Russia. Even if a good few are rested against Zenit, a trip to Russia a few days beforehand is hardly ideal.

I'm not looking forward to playing Swansea after the trip to Russia. Even if a good few are rested against Zenit, a trip to Russia a few days beforehand is hardly ideal

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Agreed

I think its madness to be talking of him being a starter. He's young, injured of late, hasn't pulled on a shirt for us or any other team in months and now people are speakign of how he has already moved ahead of suso, sterling, downing etc in the pecking order. aren't we getting a bit carried away here?

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Yeah he needs to be played as much as possible to get him ready for hitting the ground running next season, however Sterling has been benched lately after poor form after a great start to the season and I think he deserves a chance to get back in the team.

He started like every game when he went to spain, and scored 5 goals in 16 games, so he can handle it, i dont expect him to start straight away, but after a few games coming off the bench i expect he will be in our starting 11