‘Coutinho has gone up another level’ says Lucas Leiva

Liverpool’s veteran Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva thinks Philippe Coutinho has gone up another level this season. Coutinho is enjoying an excellent season with the Reds and has forced his way into Brazil’s starting line-up since September. Lucas believes Coutinho is enjoying a career high in terms of form, telling ESPN, “He has been very important […]
by
sambafoot_admin
2016-11-21 15:28:00

Liverpool’s veteran Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva thinks Philippe Coutinho has gone up another level this season. Coutinho is enjoying an excellent season with the Reds and has forced his way into Brazil’s starting line-up since September.

Lucas believes Coutinho is enjoying a career high in terms of form, telling ESPN, "He has been very important to the team for the last 2-3 years now, but I think this year, he has gone up another level in terms of consistency and numbers and assists. He is not a guy that likes the spotlight, but he likes to take responsibility.

"He has been doing brilliant, for Brazil as well, and he is in a very good moment. Everything is happening very quickly for him. He just needs to keep going, he can improve because he is only 24 and he has the desire to improve. He will have a brilliant season again."

However, Lucas also believes that his team are benefitting from shared responsibility, "The beauty of this team is that we don"t rely on only one player. We had the Chelsea game for example. Roberto Firmino didn"t play, Daniel Sturridge came in and we won.

"Coutinho didn"t start against Leicester and we won. Of course he is an important player, probably the best in the league at the moment in my opinion, but we share a lot of responsibility around the team and I think he feels comfortable with that. But with his skills, he can change a game at any time, like he did for Brazil against Argentina [a 3-0 win].

"The game was very hard, but there was a moment in which he scored and it just changed the game in Brazil"s favour. He has the ability and the skill to change course of any game over the course of this season."