Why Brendan Rodgers Must Be Bold and Pin His Faith in Philippe Coutinho

In times of struggle you begin to doubt yourself. Your methods and your actions suddenly aren’t good enough, your rivals are too good, your dreams are too big.

This often drives you to make strange and rash decisions.

“The Bernabeu Incident” might be one such moment in Brendan Rodgers’ managerial career, but it would do the Northern Irishman, his fans and his detractors well to realise that he and Liverpool were only playing on such an elevated stage because of the overachievement that went before. The sudden case of vertigo that the Reds have experienced this season wasn’t supposed to even be possible for a year or two.

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As Rodgers has seen his side struggle for form, how he’d have loved to have called upon the services of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge. One is in Catalonia (and was banned until very recently anyway) and the other has been on the treatment table.

It was perhaps because of this that Philippe Coutinho began doubting himself, too.

Many a time last season you would see the little Brazilian and Sturridge embrace following a Liverpool goal, each acknowledging the work that the other had put in to creating it—with Sturridge even sometimes postponing his trademark dance to single out the dynamic No. 10.

The pair had an understanding, while the form that Suarez was displaying made it impossible for both—and Raheem Sterling, Steven Gerrard and others—to not enjoy playing with him. It all seemed so easy.

Yet as scowls replaced smiles at the beginning of this season, Coutinho was one of the most affected.

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He suffered a noticeable dip in form, as passes failed to come off and dribbles remained uncompleted. He always appeared to be looking up for Suarez and Sturridge, yet neither was there.

Just recently, though, there has been an upturn.

It started in the chaos of the win at Queens Park Rangers last month, when Coutinho came on as a substitute for the final quarter of the game, inspiring Liverpool’s madcap win by scoring in the 90th minute and then teeing up Sterling to create the 95th-minute own goal winner.

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In the next fixture he had Liverpool’s only bright moment when he crashed a 25-yard shot against Iker Casillas’s post at the Kop end with Real Madrid 3-0 up just before half-time. He was then the brightest spark during a cameo in the draw with Hull and impressed from the start against Swansea in the Capital One Cup.

The point of this is that you can never be sure whether or not Coutinho is going to start a game for Liverpool, and it might be time for Rodgers to change that.

The 22-year-old’s early-season struggles coincided with a first return to his national team in four years, a reward for his fine displays last season.

In Brazil’s post-“Germany 7-1” times they are desperate to find new stars and so suddenly a young player who was on the outside looking in was pitched right into the middle of the action. He was soon taking selfies with Neymar, an old friend for whom he created a goal against Japan by reprising a double act from youth level five years previously.

That will have got him thinking about the Suarez-Sturridge link-ups, too, but he needs to be given the opportunity to develop new ones by Rodgers, who has to give him more consistent starts.

The ongoing and correct criticism of Coutinho is that he isn’t “a numbers player.” He doesn’t rack up the same amount of goals or assists as attacking midfielders at other clubs, most notably Saturday’s opponents Eden Hazard, Oscar and Cesc Fabregas, or the likes of David Silva, James Rodriguez or Angel Di Maria.

The £8.5 million that he was transferred from Inter Milan to Liverpool for in January 2013 is a mere fraction of what all of those players cost so maybe that is to be expected but if ever there was a time for him to step up to their bracket then it is now. The goal at QPR showed what he can do, while he has been shooting and getting into scoring positions noticeably more in recent weeks.

Perhaps Rodgers has had a word with him, but there should be more words and they should always begin with three. “Philippe, you’re starting.” Then, when he does start he shouldn't automatically be the first player Rodgers substitutes, as was the case against Chelsea when the fans reacted negatively.

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The losses of Suarez and Sturridge have acted as severe blows to the development of the Brazilian, but he can recover and go on to be one of the modern game’s best attacking midfield players.

As Liverpool know to their cost, if he does that then some big clubs are likely to come knocking on the door for him but when you’re in the form Liverpool are in you really can’t afford to think like that.

Right now it’s all about getting points on the board and progression in the cup competitions.

Coutinho can help drive that, so it’s time he was given more of a chance to.