The Brazilian cost Barcelona 145 million euros between the fixed amount and the variables.
A huge investment, only surpassed by Neymar.
Philippe Coutinho is not meeting expectations.
It's true that he has scored several goals, and some of them are important, but his performance levels are intermittent.
His problem is that he doesn't make a difference on the pitch, and a few individual actions are not enough.
He tends to disconnect too often, and Saturday at the Estadio Vallecas was another clear example.
It's not the first time.
Ernesto Valverde should take action on the matter so that it's no longer a problem.
Why don't Barcelona learn from their mistakes?
Saturday's game was too similar to that against Leganes at the Estadio Butarque.
The team went ahead, relaxed and then allowed their rival back into the match.
The difference in this case is that in the last few minutes, the Catalans had luck in their favour and turned things around.
Barcelona play very well in the big matches, such as against Inter and Madrid, but when the level of the rival is lower, Valverde's team loses concentration: Girona, Athletic, Valencia, Rayo and Leganes are the examples.
Do Barcelona have an excess of confidence?
It is evident that yes, they do.
The team started well against Rayo and getting ahead on the scoreboard.
From there came the disconnection.
They thought that everything would be easy and they took their foot off of the pedal.
Self-criticism is necessary.
What happened to Busquets on Saturday?
He's a key player at Barcelona, however, he was unrecognisable on Saturday.
He lost a lot of balls in dangerous areas and defensively he wasn't great either.
The Catalans always need the best version of Busquets.
Eshant
224
After Messi returns back from injury, Valverde should take Coutinho back into the midfield. Remember last season when he played in the midfield, he was brilliant. This season he has been struggling since he was shifted on the left wing. Let him play his natural game in the midfield alongside Busquets, Rakitic & Arthur.
yenbcimosy
176
absolutely right ! you just wrote what I wanted to say .. Barca must be like killer ,more concentrated. Coutinho , Arthur ,Dembele and all need to play creative ,should play key role..good luck
Timmywealth77
120
Coutinho's situation is tricky. He clearly struggles out wide for Barça, but unfortunately Arthur has pushed him out of midfield. Add FdJ to the mix and Coutinho has no place in midfield. If he doesn't pull up his socks in LW, he'll quickly have no place at Barça
suprabhat
78
coutinho is not playing at his natural position like he use to do in liverpool...he use to pierce through midfield along left flank at electrifying speed...we all know that he can play at various position but we need to realize that he is not much effective at other position...let us try to get best out him...he is our future....good luck cotinho..