When Coutinho was leaving Liverpool for Barca, Klopp told him that if he leaves he will be a just one of them, but if he stays he will get a statue in front of Anfield, as a Barca fan, i feel sad for him cuz he was playing out of his position and his position was occupied by the GOAT, especially in 2018/19 when he was in need to carry an entire team, he should have listened Klopp and stayed at Liverpool to become their legend

I remember as a 7 year old when coutinho has the world at his feet. Barcelona failed him miserably

Haven’t watched the video fully yet, but just wanted to pipe in and say that, as a Villa fan, he’s been flourishing under Emery. As you mentioned, he only has that one goal but his cameos elsewhere (notably against City) have restored the fans’ faith in him. Unfortunately, he got an injury that’s kept him out for about a month so far, just as he was finding form. If he comes back that same player he was before the injury, he could be a key player in our push for European football.

As a Barcelona fan, i was and still am a big fan of him as he was one of my favorite players. It's a real shame what has happened to him because it wasn't just his fault. I remember when he came back to Barca after going on loan to Bayern, he put in some good performances and he was looking good then got injured. He came back and he didnt have the same confidence he had before until he got that bad knee injury that kept him out the rest of the season and begining of the next season. He's still a special player who can do special things when confident

As a Liverpool fan, he is still one of my favorite players. I bought his jersey when he moved to Villa. There is still a brilliant player hidden somewhere in Coutinho, who knows if we will ever see it again.

Prolly the best finesse shot in the 2010s era of football no doubt Phillipe Coutinho survived the fall off that many Brazilian talents suffered(Oscar,Pato,Adriano) so credit to coutinho for still playing football and performing against top 6 prem clubs

He gained a little bit of form in 2020 when he joined Bayern on loan even scoring 2 goals against Barca and winning the UCL. So if he would've just leave Barca straight after that season, maybe just maybe things could turned out differently.

Liverpool where set up specifically to get the best out of Phil. He was the focal point of attacks. At Barca he was just a bit part player in the wrong part on the pitch doing things that weren't his strengths. His confidence suffered and he dropped off. Now he has a manger backing him and things are looking up again performance wise. I think he thrives with good man management and feeling valued, without that he is not the same player.

He wasn’t just replacing Neymar - thanks to Barça’s lack of forward planning, he was basically made to try and replace Iniesta as well. It was an impossible task from the get go, horrendous transfer for him. Not for us though…

I'm a besiktas fan. I'll never forget the 2014/2015 season when we knocked liverpool out of europa in penalties. I remember coutinho and balotelli being stand out for liverpool. Coutinho was tearing our midfield apart at the time. Him leaving liverpool feels so recent I can't believe how long it's actually been.

You should do a vid on how it went wrong for Alexis Sanchez, one of the best players in the premier league in 2017 at arsenal and went downhill really fast

I loved him at Liverpool, seeing him hit top bins after cutting inside with the ball will be engrained in my memory forever. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have been as successful as we have been . I hope he shines at villa at least next season

Deli, Coutinho and James Rodriguez are all No 10s who are limited defensively - Don’t think that’s a coincidence- No room for these kinds of players in most modern tactical systems - at least according to a couple of videos I saw recently on the decline of classic 10s. Curious to hear your thoughts.

No KZfaq channel is on a bigger roll than Vizeh. He just keeps uploading banger after banger and it’s all amazing quality.

I still remember, he joined us, had 14 goals and 7 assists in 22 games in the first 6 months. Valverde was Abmysal in his management. The 18-19 season he was just trying to occupy the same spaces Messi does and we all know there's just 1 guy who's coming on top of that duel. I'll forever remember the top bin outside the box Curlers he used to score from that left hand side. Really sad he couldn't work at My club

your content has been amazing lately . this is top tier stuff

My favorite new KZfaqr. Great videos man! Those iceberg vids were absolute bangers as well

I think most Liverpool fans expected this. He just never was what Barca needed either at midfield or LW, and was never going to be a like for like replacement for Neymar. It's like Barca bought him without knowing what he was as a player. And at Liverpool, while his replacements (Alisson and VVD) were/are way more important than he was, we still haven't fixed the hole he left at midfield. With neither the Ox or Keita living up to expectations, and Thiago being so injury prone.

As a LFC Fan i still love Coutinho. One of my fav players ever. The issue with him was Barca wanted to replace a skillful, fast winger in Neymar with a slower, attacking midfielder (who was played as a LW at times at LFC, but it was clear he wasn’t as effective from that position). You simply can’t replace a winger with a midfielder. You wouldn’t buy KDB and put him in as a LW at Barca….not to even mention Barca was in loads of issues anyways before he came I think his time at Barca being played in the wrong position and then going to Aston Villa that is not his style of play whatsoever just completely destroyed his confidence. I hope he can turn it around and be played in his preferred position but he will have to leave Villa to do so.

As a Barca fan, I really hope he succeeded at Barca. I was a big fan of his signing and I really loved the transfer as well. I was so hurt seeing him fail and it wasn't even his fault.

I'm going to add this before I watch the vid, he's been one of my favorite players for a very long time. Absolute joy to watch play

Viz out here dropping a video on one of my absolute favorites, love to see it!

He'll always be a special player

Whats sucked the most about Coutinho's time at Barcelona was that he arrived at essentially the same time Iniesta and Neymar left, and Barcelona were at the start of their spiral, where they just bought the best 25-30 year old they could afford and didn't bother with thinking about youth players to bolster the future of their team. He had to replace Neymar yes, but he also had to replace Iniesta, which is an impossible task piled onto an already hard task.

Unpopular opinion: Coutinho should have stayed at Bayern as he originally wanted to but Bayern board didn't wanted to pay 80 mil for him but yet they ended up paying the same amount for Leroy Sané.

Great essay as always! Note: 4:25 -> Barcelona has been the world's elite since 2004-ish and Real Madrid since around 1997 (with UCL titles to back them up). Before that, no Spanish team had won the Champions league for 30+ years. There was no permanent elite per-se as shown by who won the European Cup, just a bunch of world class teams, some of which come and go, like Hamburg, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest...

Man he was special i hope he get his motivation back and Work hard and gets back to his best that 2016/2017 season was unbelievable

This man was an absolute joy to watch, his long shots and dribbling were something to behold. However, he also allowed the signings of both Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson to happen, both of which became the best in the world in their respective positions. So, I still don’t know how to feel about his transfer. While he was one of the best midfielders in the world with us, he was also the reason that we made our two best and most important signings under Klopp.

I was devastated when he left Liverpool, but quickly came to thank him for funding 2 of the most important pieces of our squad. I always thought he would bring Liverpool success, and realistically he did. A perfect example of, the grass isn't always greener.

Coutinho is still class for me in villa. But the problem is that he always gets injured and that’s what happened most of this season he played against Arsenal and scored then got injured in training. Injury’s also ruined him.

Sometimes I do wish Phil would have come with us on that journey between 2018-2021 where we scooped every trophy we could, he was definitely a player who deserved it and he would have been rememeber as one of Anfield's greats. Pre Barcelona he was absolutley incredible, he was the beating heart of that Liverpool team after Gerrard left and like I said had he stayed he would have gone on to be truly remembered as an Anfield and Premier League icon. Sadly time will move on and very few will remember the Brazilian genius who left at exactly the wrong time.

It was great when Liverpool had him but like many players that were in Klopp's system they are amazing in his systems then fall apart to mediocre in others. Maybe he can sign as a super sub for ok money for Liverpool again as we are losing so many players this summer.

As a Barça fan, I wasn't as disappointed in Coutinho as most. I always liked him as a player since his Inter days and I was excited when he joined, in his first two seasons I remember him playing pretty well and we won the league but the entire team capitulated twice in the UCL so it looked really bad on the face of it. I feel like the coaches at the time never played him in his correct position and we already had Messi, Suarez, Iniesta, Rakitic, Dembele so Valverde was never going to change the team to adapt to Coutinho, and Countinho never fully adapted so he never became a nailed on starter. He went to Bayern for playing time and did really well, I personally didn't care that much that he scored against us because the overall result and performance was lightyears worse

As a Barcelona fan, I feel very bad for him. He was such a class player. I just feel like we should have never bought him because our board and the coach had no clear sporting project. It was just to pass to Messi and pray. Same w Griezmann. Class player, but we couldn't use him properly.

Still vividly remember his first few games as a red. What a talent always wonder how he’d be if he stayed

Isn't it interesting that Coutinho thrived first in Klopp's gegenpressing system and then briefly in another German system at Bayern during his loan spell? Not the more natural tikitaka or jdp football that south american players are typically drawn towards

as a barcelona fan, i respect coutinho for that 2-8

My favorite player. I was 9. Turned on the tele and saw coutinho score a banger against Everton in 2017. Then I fell in love w football. I truely beleive he is one of the best players of this gen and one of the most talented players we’ve ever seen. At his best I’ve seen few players as good as him.

His career was sad to see. Was a world class player at Liverpool and could have become a legend there alongside with salah, mane and many more but I don't blame him going to barca because that was a massive dream move

He's a legend for LFC. Enabling VVD + Alisson to come in which helped balanced the team from both attack and defense. Eventually landing the UCL and EPL titles... Thank you Coutinho....

As a Liverpool fan, I wish I could have seen him playing more with the iconic trio - Firmino, Mane and Salah. However, I remember our defence at that time, especially that we had Karius in the goal

as a villa fan coutinho is a bit of a tragedy. He came in and was amazing but i think gerrard ball killed everything good about the team. under unai he has been looking really good and leading up to his goal he was unlucky not to score 2/3 more and he was looking really good. unfortunately he scored and got injured and hasnt played since. obvious not the liverpool world beater he was, but might be staying at villa if he can play like he has been for us

He would do bits if he was still at Liverpool. Especially in our current midfield state

Love the designs on mezalla!!! Beckford one is class mate

He's still really good, he's been solid under Emery. He will get back to good form. He is 31 I think so he has max, 4 years. Either way, he's had a very fruitful career. He is still great

poor lad, wrong place at the wrong time. His move to Barca was a disaster from word go ¦He had to replace Iniesta and Neymar which both positions where not Coutinho's positions AMF, And there was Messi there as well in the free role playmaker, We really lost a generational talent here as LFC, how i wish he had stayed but alas life happened.

Barca fan here. Coutinho was one of the many players brought in during the Bartemeou era. Came in on ridiculous wages and bought too pricey. And one consistent theme of that era was signing players that did not fit the system or players whose roles were already taken by another player. Griezmann too had this issue cause Messi and him liked to cover the same areas of the pitch and do the same things. Even though we bought Coutinho for a hefty sum, at the time I was very optimistic about his signing. Even when his performances were underwhelming, I was waiting patiently for him to show what I knew he was capable of but he never really performed and it broke my heart when he left the club. There is a constant running theme of players dreaming of playing for Barca then coming to play for us only for it to never workout. Because of this, we have become notoriously known for spoiling players careers.

Good note on Coutinho, who I know mostly from legacy Liverpool videos as I am a relative newcomer to European Football, but Wow!, he was fabulous in his prime. Unfortunately for Coutinho, his family, and all fans, the move away from Liverpool, or to Barcelona, somehow caused a fade. But it would be almost impossible for a play to properly mesh into the MSM system even though it would seem like the best possible opportunity for even a middling play to excel. But...giant Respect to Coutinho for all he did through personal endeavors in his years giving joy to the fans.

Should have never left Liverpool. As Klopp said ‘stay here and they’ll build you a statue, go elsewhere and you’ll just be another player’.

Nothing sums up his career better than his best game while at Barcelona being against Barcelona themselves in the 8-2

Basically barca wanted him to replace Iniesta himself and played him out of possession and with roles he can't do it Just like Griezmann. Bartomeu has bought players depending on their fifa rating, Just as what todd boehly is doing currently by signing players depending on what the other big six clubs targeting.

I think these 2 video concepts could be good to discuss about; 1. The Story of Marco Reus (Would could have happened without the injuries and his loyalty to Dortmund) 2. Why do/did Belgium fail/ underachieve with their golden generation

Mad how i remeber him banging in goals for Liverpool, I miss him it's sad, maybe he isn't worth nhat much and had too much to live up to, what might have been

Sad to see such a talent find the grass is not greener as they thought it would be.

Countinho literally made Liverpool win a champions league and a prem lmao 💀🙏

Just adding on my comment he really does have the skill to compete at the highest level even in the premier league he just needs the right manager like Klopp to get the best out of him.

Still one of my Faves🤲🙏❤️‍🔥

As a Villa fan I think it's unfair to judge him on this season. Gerrard was such a shambles of a manager the entire team looked a shadow of themselves. Coutinho's injury problems since Unai arrived limited his game time in a team with any form of game plan and he has expressed his desire to stay. I hope Unai will be able to get him to even 80% of his old self if given the time.

Coutinho is the perfect example that the GRASS IS NOT ALWAYS GREENER on the otherside.

Hi Vizeh did you know that Liverpool’s first ever FA Cup Trophy was in 1965 when they beat Leeds United 2-1 they previously were runners up in 1914 vs Burnley they lost to them 1-0 and 1950 losing to Arsenal 2-0 since 1965 they’ve won a total of 8 FA Cup titles

bro was my fav as a kid after suarez left, get him on the left handside of the box and hes gonna slap it top right everytime

One of my favorite players growing up man :/

Coutinio was amazing, I was heartbroken when he left on an emotional level. On a business, realism level I understood that we would be a much better team without him. He was too slow to be a truly brilliant winger, did not defend enough and was too small to be the best midfielder he could be. He worked best when given free reign. When allowed to float around (like Messi used to do) and turn up where he could hurt teams the most. The issue is that means you feel sometimes that you have 10.5 outfield players and others like you have 9.5. When he was out of the team we were more solid. Add VVD and AB to that and it becomes a no brainer. I genuinely thought he would be a flop at Barcelona. He is a luxury flair player who isn't quick enough. At that time Barcelona demanded more from their players than Liverpool did. If I was him I would have stayed at Liverpool. Liverpool would have kept him for the long hall and payed him handsomely. I do think Liverpool would have struggled to win the Champions League and Premier League with him in the team. Saying all that, I still love the guy and from a solely emotional place I would take him back 100%. Albeit, to use as a flair player against lesser teams. Although we took Fowler back at one point and that didn't exactly go to plan.

Not really, Coutinho was bought by Barcelona to replace Iniesta who was going to retire from the club at the end of the season. Dembele was the player they bought to replace Neymar In his first season (second half of 17-28) Coutinho was actually performing as usual because he was ploaying as a midfielder in a 4-4-2, but for whatever reason, valverde decided to go back to the 4-3-3 and use coutinho as a winger, making him ain a position where he cant play and at the same time not letting Dembele have any minutes even when he was aviable

He just needs to be at a club with some pride and enthusiasm. Honestly if he goes back to Liverpool it would probably be a good move even though they're struggling right now.

As a Stevenage fan on the way to Villa Park seeing that Coutinho was starting, I was intimidated. But he was genuinely awful, couldn't get a shot on target and was marked out of the game by Luther James-Wildin and Jordan Roberts.

I’m a lfc fan he was once my hero in football sad to see his downfall

Liverpool fan here, thanks for the memories and the money

As a Liverpool fan, Coutinho is a bit of an unsung legend. A class touch of business from the Liverpool front office sold him way overpriced. Which helped them get 2 world class defenders (2023 form debatable), and coutinho did his best sleeper cell double agent impression in that semi final. Contributing to the team even after he left!!

He has no one to blame but himself. Just after signing new and well paid contract and almost at the end of transfer window he pleaded club to let him go to Barca without giving time to replace him. And he would say he's injured only to play in national team. What he did to Liverpool was disrespectful

The J Cole type beat, the amount of times I’ve tried to freestyle to that 😅

quality video!

stick this man in that liverpool midfield I swear that man can walk straight with no challenges to our XI

What annoyed me as a Liverpool fan was seeing him not celebrate his top bins when he wanted to leave.

Who is here after Coutinho joined the Qatar league?

Lowkey, i think if we (Barca) signed him now, he would be so good in Xavi's system, because even though Felix has been quite good, i feel like Xavi's more direct play this season would have helped Coutinho greatly. But again, because we bought him too early, with a shite president that had no idea how to build a project (Bartomeu), he was ruined. I also heard however that Coutinho is naturally very shy, and he built a very close connection with Klopp because if he had a bad game, Klopp would hug and reassure him, and the fans would forgive him. So i think he failed not just because of him playing out of position, but also because he naturally doesn't have thick skin. When he's reassured, he's good, if not, he would begin playing badly. We could not run with it. Lewandowski for example does have thick skin. He was able to convert a winning penalty in a very recent away game against Osasuna despite Osasuna's fans whistling and booing him, attempting to destabilize him (dick move). However i am also tired of the "culers" calling players "shite" "mid" or "need to be sold" during a rough patch, because they have no idea what's going on in their heads mentally, but sometimes they cause it! Because of MSN being so incredible, we are naturally very spoiled and thinking that when a player hits a good patch, that they'll be able to succeed Neymar, Suarez or Messi, but then call them bad when they have a bad game. Its not good. And it nearly destroyed Ferran Torres.

tbf u didnt mention the fact that pretty much all villa players were awful under gerrard at the start of this season. then when emery came in coutinho and all villa players started to show good form and he even scored 2 goal in 2 games; unfortunately one of them VAR took away due to a very tight decision. you also didnt mention that hes been injured for months so wasn't able to flourish under emery . i think there's still hope for him being a key player at villa.

The reason I love football. I want that Phil back 🥺

I didn’t think these vids can get better but then they do 😂

Even as a Barca fan I never wanted him to leave Liverpool, it was obvious that if had stayed he’d be a club legend and would’ve won the Champions league with them which would’ve added on to his legendary status but it is simply a what if…

In recent years, there has been a decline in the prominence of the number 10 role in football. Traditionally, the number 10 was given to a team's most creative player, the player responsible for orchestrating attacks and providing assists for the strikers. However, with the evolution of football tactics and formations, the importance of the number 10 role has diminished. One reason for the decline of the number 10 role is the rise of pressing and counter-pressing in modern football. Teams now prioritize pressing and winning the ball back high up the pitch, which means that traditional playmakers have less time and space to operate in. Instead, teams are more likely to use a midfield trio or quartet that can interchange positions and maintain possession, rather than relying on one player to create chances. Another factor is the emergence of the false nine, a striker who drops deep and creates space for other players to run into. With the false nine, teams don't necessarily need a traditional number 10 to create chances, as the striker can fulfil that role while also scoring goals. Finally, the increasing importance of fullbacks in modern football has also played a part in the decline of the number 10. Fullbacks now play a more attacking role, providing width and crosses for the forwards, which means that teams can rely less on a central playmaker. Overall, while the number 10 role may be dying out in its traditional form, the evolution of football tactics means that creativity and attacking flair can come from a variety of positions on the pitch.

The honest truth is, his back injuries have never been resolved since the 18/19 season

From Barcelona to Aston Villa says it all really 😂

James has revived his career at olympiacos

This list of failed Brazillians is making me cry, we've had so many special players and could never feature a world cup final in over 20 yrs G**dammit

Coutinho is one of those players that was never consistent in terms of his brilliance, like the Klopp quote highlighted, "You can't be a genius every day" but he was willing to put in the work in the Liverpool system. Even when he joined Liverpool from Napoli it was at a cut rate price, Napoli had spent big on him and he didn't live up to the pressure of being 'The future of Napoli' and so he became anonymous and his perfomances dropped off, any big transfer to put him front and center was always going to be a lot of pressure that he'd failed to handle in the past. Hi transfer to Barcelon was also a product of the time, Liverpool were seen as a stepping stone to the Spanish giants, Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, Fernando Torres (Although to Chelsea), Luis Suarez all used Liverpool as the step up to get the big moves; However under the ownership of FSG who felt they had been fleeced by the Suarez sale because of the tapping up by Barca players in the season before they were always going to hardball any subsequent sale, so knowing there was 200mil in the bank to burn on a player they exploited that, the money would've always been a rod for him to be beaten with, nevermind going in to a squad to replace Neymar when ultimately he wanted to play alongside him.

We were not looking to sell him until he said he wanted to leave to Barca. He knew he would not be the star at Barca and Klopp told him that. His current value is around 17mil 4mil more then what we bought him for initially and we need midfielders. I don’t see why we shouldn’t give him a second chance other than that Klopp said he doesn’t resign players

you have something wrong here 0:54 osmane dembélé is the one who got fee of 105 million philippe was at least 150 million

You can’t really compare his situation with James’. James’ biggest downfall were his injuries, not his lack of fitting in the systems.

Funny how both Real Madrid (Hazard) and Barcelona got an absolutely mercurial forward out of the premier league and both managed to destroy their respective one.

So many people are saying Barca ruined him but i have to disagree, and I'm a huge fan of his. He came to Barca knowing very well that we brought him in to replace Neymar, and thats why he played on the left. He didn't perform well and the different managers tried to play him in other positions to try and keep him in the squad, which still didn't work. Then we sent him out on loan to Bayern and he performed much better, so the next season he stayed at Barca but again things weren't happening, and by this time we had brought in Dembele and Griezmann so there was even more competition, so unfortunately he had to end up leaving. NOTE: In all honesty, I would've preferred us keeping him if he still wanted to stay

Bro, the way you say "Baaaaarselona".. At first I thought you were taking deep breaths looking at the state of Barcelona but when I realized.. XD No offence, I literally heard this for the first time and I had to express my feelings. No need to change your way of talking ofc. Great videos, keep it up.

Miss Coutinho at Barca😢

Couthino still has 3 years left to perform at his absolute best if he works hard enough and I mean really hard, i think couthino should force a move to Bayern Munich in the summer

Wee Brazilian still struggling to get out of Luther wildins pocket my friend

From an outsider perspective, Phil just needed to be the main man, he's that flairy type player, a dying breed nowadays, who need to be told they're free to do what they want, not work in a system, look up and down the league and you'll see players who are just given freedom and that's what makes them so good, past players could be Ozil, Ronaldinho, current more like Mbappe, Haaland to an extent, Salah, or looking further down someone like Zian Flemming at Millwall, Phil needed to be the main man, and when he went to Barca and wasn't anymore, that's what killed his career

Coutinho is class hope villa can use him well

Bro I'm a Liverpool fan and i forgot about him

Coutinho at liverpool was worth as much as Neymar but he was expensive for not being the main man but he is still Great at villa park sorry I mean camp nou sorry I mean Allianz arena sorry I mean Anfield

The typical career of an Brasilian footballet, come from Brasil wilt 17/18, with 25 at his peak with 28 close to the end of the career.