Liverpool

Steven Gerrard: Philippe Coutinho "impossible to defend against"

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 24 September 2017

Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho has the ability to "embarrass" opposition players, according to former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard.

Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has admitted that he used to hate playing against Philippe Coutinho on the training ground as the Brazilian is "impossible to defend against".

Coutinho has returned to the scoring trail for the Reds after netting a free kick in the 3-2 win over Leicester City on Saturday evening, while also setting up another.

After putting his summer disruption to one side, when handing in a transfer request to push through a move to Barcelona, Gerrard now looks forward to seeing Coutinho terrorise opposition players in a Liverpool shirt.

"He's impossible to defend against; when I used to train with him I'd hate it when I was on the opposition five-a-side team," he told BT Sport. "I wouldn't go near him and sometimes i told him to keep away from me because he can embarrass you.

"If he stands you up he can go both ways. He's got such a low centre of gravity, he's so sharp, so quick and he's two or three steps ahead of defenders - he's so, so clever."

Coutinho has featured four times for Liverpool since recovering from a minor back complaint earlier this month, but he has yet to complete a full 90 minutes.