Liverpool Must Ensure Star Man Philippe Coutinho Does Not Burn out
Philippe Coutinho rose to become Liverpool's best player last season, developing into Brendan Rodgers' go-to guy in an otherwise troubled forward line, and with this form earning the 23-year-old a call-up to Brazil's Copa America squad for this summer's tournament, there is a very real chance he could suffer burnout in 2015/16.
Liverpool must ensure this does not happen.
Despite signing Coutinho's compatriot and burden-lightener Roberto Firmino this summer, Rodgers will still be relying heavily on his No. 10 to provide the creative spark as his side look to remount a challenge for the Premier League's top four.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
This won't be possible if Coutinho burns out early and struggles with fatigue—a way to work around this must be found prior to the domestic season's opening game.
A year ago, Coutinho was nowhere near the Brazilian national squad.
Perhaps a surprise omission from Luiz Felipe Scolari's 23-man selection, Coutinho was spared the misery of the Selecao's World Cup capitulation on home soil in 2014, and the ignominy of a 7-1 semi-final thrashing at the hands of eventual winners Germany.
This was a squad smattered with the turgid (Jo, Fred, Paulinho), the aged (Maxwell, Maicon, Julio Cesar) and the tragic (David Luiz, Bernard, Hulk), who dissolved wretchedly when star man and shining light Neymar Jr. fractured a vertebra in his spine. Scolari's uninspired selection lacked any verve, or indeed fight, when they lost their talisman—Luiz's desperate performance in the aforementioned semi-final drubbing is the perfect example of this.
"Neymar on his injury and Brazil's World Cup exit: "I stayed in my room and cried like a little kid. I was so sad." pic.twitter.com/Pmz8jgJPQY
— Seleção Brasileira (@BrazilStats) December 22, 2014"
There should be no surprise, then, that under new manager Dunga, Coutinho is a key man.
"It is a great opportunity for me and I am very happy to be called up for the Copa," Coutinho told the club's official website on his call-up for the Copa America. "Like every child, I dreamt of being selected for the national team and I hope that I will be able to make a contribution to the team's success in the tournament.
"The other nations are very good as well and the Copa is always a very difficult competition to play in, but Brazil have very good players too and I am confident that we are going to do well."
Not just fulfilling a dream on the sidelines, however, Coutinho now performs the key creative role in Dunga's side, similar to that which he fills for Liverpool. It seems that Brazil no longer miss Neymar (now suspended) as much as they did at the World Cup, and according to Bleacher Report's Robbie Blakeley, writing after their recent 2-1 win over Venezuela—the win that ensured they remained in the tournament—this is largely due to the influence of Coutinho:
"Out went Fred and Neymar [from the previous clash vs. Colombia] for Philippe Coutinho and Robinho. The switch paid off, with Robinho creating the opening goal within 10 minutes for Silva, and Coutinho continuing his upward trajectory in the famed yellow shirt. Oscar may well be watching this competition with increasing trepidation as the Liverpool player makes a convincing case for his jersey.
Coutinho now looks the team's best bet for that incision, that creative bit of genius to decide a tight affair. But Brazil should take heart from this performance.
"
Without Neymar, Coutinho is taking up a big responsibility in front of a notoriously fickle Brazilian fanbase—and he is thriving. But now, playing that focal role for country that he performed so comfortably for his club throughout 2014/15, there is a considerable risk that he will be overworked—at least in Rodgers' eyes come June.
The notion of burnout is a rather controversial one within the footballing world, with the lazy rhetoric being that these are extremely highly paid professionals and therefore they shouldn't feel fatigue—after all, all they do is run around, right?
Some footballers themselves support at least part of this theory, as England U21s striker Harry Kane discussed prior to his involvement in this summer's ill-fated tournament, with his words relayed by Sami Mokbel of the Mail: "I am fit and raring to go for the Under 21s. I will have a week off to recharge the batteries and then I will meet up with the squad to get ready for the tournament. I’m really looking forward to it."
With England crashing out in the group stages with a loss to Italy U21s, the Tottenham Hotspur striker will perhaps be wishing he'd spent those two weeks in Marbella. As would his manager, Mauricio Pochettino, who told Sky Sports last month how he felt Kane needed a rest ahead of the 2015/16 season.
"It is our job to design a very good strategy to try and give Harry after the tournament a good rest and prepare him for the next season," he detailed. "We need to back Harry and that Harry can be sure and confident in our skill to manage him when he is back from the tournament, so that next season he will be stronger."
To infer and paraphrase, the message there was: "We'd rather you didn't go to the Czech Republic, Harry, as it may mean that your form stutters, like it did at the end of last season." After all, the previously free-scoring Kane netted just twice in his last eight Premier League games in 2014/15.
Pochettino is a manager whose ideals align very much so with Rodgers, who experienced a similar quandary earlier in the season, relating to Coutinho's current team-mate Raheem Sterling. Sterling was roundly criticised for telling England manager Roy Hodgson that he was tired while on international duty—bringing up the "how much is he paid?" theory—but rather than ignore the issue, Rodgers made the decision to allow Sterling a break from football over the New Year. The result? A return to form for the forward.
Despite what Kane believes, it is safe to assume that there is at least a possibility that Coutinho will struggle with fatigue if he isn't managed carefully, so how do Liverpool ensure that the 23-year-old doesn't burn out next season?
One key contributing factor may well be the arrival of Firmino.
A £29 million signing from Hoffenheim this week, Firmino is the player charged by supporters with bringing back top-four-challenging success and, most importantly, the joy that comes with watching positive football. As Allan Jiang writes for Bleacher Report, his rise has been exemplary, and he can be a key player for the Reds next season:
"Possessing Denilson de Oliveira's willingness to surge past opposing defenders while also functioning as a creative outlet a la Ronaldinho, Firmino is a superlative footballer.
Firmino has back-to-back seasons with 10 league assists or more. He created 137 scoring chances in the last two seasons.
[...]
[Firmino is] a once-in-a-generation footballer.
"
Firmino's arrival was likely designed to take some of the creative pressure off Coutinho, allowing the pair to work in tandem in supplying the likes of Daniel Sturridge up front—it is a tantalising prospect, with the Brazilian duo roundly predicted to light up the Premier League.
Last season, despite Sterling's best efforts, Liverpool lacked another truly dependable creative player to take some of the weight from Coutinho's shoulders (Adam Lallana could have been this player, and could be next season, but his fitness issues are worrying). Now, Firmino can take some of this physical and mental burden from Coutinho, and thus reducing the threat of burnout—in theory.
However, with Firmino also playing a key role for Brazil this summer, as Dunga's centre-forward, there is a similar risk that he will be burned out if he plays too much football, too early. If Brazil go all the way in Chile, with the tournament rounding off at the beginning of July, Coutinho and Firmino will likely arrive dead in the middle of the Reds' pre-season, and dead on their feet. So, again, Liverpool must find a way around this.
So if Rodgers is presented with a tiring Brazilian pair at the beginning of the 2015/16 season, and Lallana is still struggling with regular injury problems, how does he combat this without reducing his players to worn-out stubs? The simple answer would be rotation.
A favourite of former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, rotation—again, in theory—allows a full squad to remain refreshed and vital for longer periods; though the notions of consistency and rewarding form need to be accommodated, also. This is something he explained to the Mirror midway through the 2007/08 season:
"I have always said that when Sir Alex Ferguson rests players at Manchester United he is changing his team, yet when I do it I am rotating.
I explained earlier in the season that if a team wants to win trophies then it is important for the manager to use all of his squad. I wanted us to be alive in all the competitions.
We can only win the Champions League now, but we have a good chance because the players have all had a rest. I have used the same group of players for a while now and our form has been good. There is some tiredness, but physically we can manage.
When we played Arsenal in the Champions League we got the result because the players were all able to work at their peak until the last minute. That is because the players are not too tired at the end of a tough season.
"
Benitez is a master of tournament football, boasting nine trophies with various clubs over the past 10 seasons, and this is largely due to his sensitive approach to squad management. If a player is looking fatigued, he needs to be rested; if a player is even showing signs of being fatigued, he needs to rested.
After the signing of Firmino, Rodgers is now blessed with at least three players who can fill the No. 10 role that Coutinho has made his own at Liverpool since his arrival in 2013. Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana could and should be rotated in 2015/16 when possible, with Lazar Markovic, Jordon Ibe and possibly Sterling all waiting in the wings when required.
Rodgers must plan ahead to do so. But given his approach to Sterling midway through last season, this is a likely situation—he must know he can't rely too heavily on Coutinho.
This forward planning should stretch, too, to the January transfer window.
Last January, Rodgers was papering over the cracks with an impressive switch to a 3-4-2-1 formation, which got the best out of Coutinho, along with many others. But when other sides worked out the nuances of this system—the dual-No. 10s, the marauding centre-backs, the linchpin central midfielder—Liverpool had no answer and no means to resurrect their top-four hopes. Recalling Ibe from his Derby County loan was an inspired decision, but—as the arrival of Firmino suggests—they needed a more established creative talent to supplement the efforts of Coutinho.
2015/16 must be different. If the Reds are struggling in any area as they enter 2016, the January transfer window should be utilised—whenever possible—to strengthen the squad; a burned-out Coutinho may be a key area needing attention at that point if he is played too often after a long summer in Chile.
Coutinho will remain Liverpool's most important player this season, but they need to be careful that he doesn't diminish with too much game-time.
Through the support of Firmino and Lallana, careful squad rotation and sensible forward planning, this should be easily avoided.
Statistics via WhoScored.com and Squawka.com.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
