For the past 10 minutes I’ve been sat here. Thinking. Wondering. Waiting. For me, the start of writing a feature is the hardest. You can have your subject. That’s the easy part. During the season it is, anyway. You’ve got your subject and you’ve got your computer. You’re ready to write, ready to unleash. Yet, to start a piece of writing you need a natural beginning. Starting off is the hardest part about writing. Once you get going, you don’t need to think. You just do. You write and you unleash.
On January 30, 2013, Liverpool confirmed the signing of Philippe Coutinho from Inter Milan for the lowly fee of £8.5m. Signed on a ‘long-term deal’ as has been the case for all of our signings since FSG came to the club, the little Brazilian came with even less than little expectation. Few fans had heard of him, but excitement indeed grew as his position and style of play were spoken about by managers past and players present.
With Coutinho’s signature coming in the same month as Sturridge’s, Liverpool fans were given a boost of energy and our team was given some much needed strength in depth. Little did we know how things would pan out.
Coutinho’s career at Liverpool began well enough. Goals, assists and man of the match performances came and went, but as did the player himself when it really mattered. Our new number 10 found asserting himself in games to be a struggle. For every fabulous piece of skill came a difficulty to finish games, or finish chances. For every glowing reference from the coaching team there was an understanding that here was a player who was rough around the edges.
His time at Inter Milan had held him back. Not playing can do that to a youngster, especially one who thrives on putting his skills into practice. Just like writing my piece today, Coutinho found getting started was tougher than he would have liked.
His age, 20, meant he was afforded leeway from the fans, and his manager allowed him time to find his feet. His gift was clear. Obvious. But he needed to learn his trade. Like any magician, he needed to learn how to put his powers to good use. Proper use. There’s no use pulling a rabbit out of a hat at the headquarters of PETA or showing a card trick to a gambling addict. You need to know when it’s right to roll the dice and when it’s best to keep the trick up your sleeve.
For the moment he was merely the sorcerer’s apprentice. But he was learning fast. Fast forward to year two and he had taken in a lot. Coutinho has grown. Physically and as a person. His physique expanded and his attitude hardened. Possibly learning from master of the class Luis Suarez, the little magician has learnt how to growl, how to snap and bite back at opponents. He was no longer the little boy we bought. He was becoming a man. The game against Arsenal at home embodied the transformation, snaffling the ball away from players, quickly setting up attacks and dribbling past opponents like they were kids in the park. He was evolving whilst he left Özil revolving. Fitting that the Arsenal man looks like a fish because he was having trouble Finding Coutinho.
Last season was a tricky one. The team had lost their best players to either injury or Barcelona, yet Coutinho did his best to force silverware into the hands of the Liverpool players. His efforts, however, were futile as Liverpool ended the season winning nothing and coming sixth. Yet the evolution was complete and Coutinho has caught the eyes of everyone in the league, offering up a few club-banging goals that left him knocking on the door of his international team, too.
John Terry said he was one of the toughest players he had played against, a thought I can only imagine had come across the mind of every defender who attempted to get near the 23-year-old midfielder. Unlike seasons earlier, his tricks were helping him in-game. Helping Liverpool score goals. He was also bringing some joy to the fans at a time when there was almost nothing to cheer about. This pre-season saw Liverpool take on a few lowly sides from across the world, with nothing like a Manchester United or a Real Madrid insight, and Coutinho didn’t come into the frame until late on.
His success was our loss, taking part in the Copa America, slowly becoming a regular name on the Brazilian squad-list and making it his own. But when the time came and the season started we saw his name on our own teamsheet. Was it to be a risk or would the magician perform once again? The Britannia stadium was his arena and Stoke City his subject. Again, he struggled to get involved, like the Coutinho of old. Passes were going astray but at least he was trying them. Frustration and infuriation shone through, swinging his arms and looking up to the sky. It wasn’t Liverpool’s day. It wasn’t Coutinho’s day. Yet.
As the clock wound down and his energy depleted, the boy-wonder’s replacement became unseated. Rodgers, looking to change things up had decided he had seen enough of Philippe for one day. Yet, on 86 minutes, Coutinho had his say. Lashing at the ball after turning Steve Sidwell inside out, Coutinho had decided that enough was enough. We didn’t have a Gerrard, but this was our number 10’s very own Stevie G moment. “Right, you’ve all had your fun now but this is all getting a little too close to call. I’m ending this. Now.”
Fitting really, that they’re nicknamed the Potters, because Coutinho’s greatest piece of magic was enough to see Liverpool’s very own dementors banished from the memory. This was a new season. A new time. Positivity has become the new name of the game since Sunday. Or at least it should be. The celebrations after the goal were enough to show that these Liverpool players needed this win. For themselves. After the funeral in May this was a wake. And these players have shown how they were awake. They were ready once more. To fight. The lads, showing that talk of dressing room unrest, however true it may have been, is now wrong. Pulling on the shirt like a man possessed, Coutinho suddenly became our match winner. But not for today only, but for the season going forward. You need a spark. A flame. Some light at the end of the tunnel. We had been traveling in that tunnel for 86 minutes until we saw the light. And who showed us that light? The magician. Actually, scrap that. The sorcerer.
