Liverpool don't really miss playmaker Philippe Coutinho - here is why

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Bengaluru, February 27: A key star's unavailability often ended up hurting Liverpool's performances, but the departure of Philippe Coutinho for Barcelona has not left the Reds in the lurch.

Fernando Torres’ injury ruined a title march, Daniel Sturridge’s fragile body arguably cost Brendan Rodgers his job and Sadio Mane’s African Cup outing caused a mini slump in Liverpool’s performance. People then feared the worst when Coutinho, arguably the most creative player in the Premier League, would not be replaced. Gone are the days when a player's unavailability would dampen Liverpool's season.

Since Coutinho left Liverpool, they have won seven matches out of 10, suffered two losses and drawn one game. They have also scored 26 goals in as many matches, giving one the liberty of saying that his departure has not really affected Liverpool as many had predicted.

One of the major factors has been manager Jurgen Klopp's decision to constantly rotate his team and his good sense to increase squad depth over many seasons.

Pundits felt that Coutinho was the most important cog in Klopp’s wheel. Liverpool were essentially a team that exploited spaces left by teams trying to playing attacking football. However, trouble surfaced when they met teams at the bottom of the table. These teams would not give any width to exploit and stand in their own half at all times.

Coutinho’s trickery and creativity was important when it came to unlocking such teams. Not replacing him with Riyad Mahrez or Lorenzo Insigne was seen as a ludicrous decision. Not anymore.

The other important factor why Liverpool don't miss him is their tendency to play more crosses now. Liverpool were never really known to be a crossing team, under Klopp and Rodgers as well. However, in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, they now have two able attacking full-backs, who are good crossers of the ball.

Teams that lock down their own half required Coutinho to unlock them. Now, these two have been putting in accurate crosses that can be headed into the net.

The aerial route, which nullifies a parked bus, has helped Liverpool score the first goal against such teams, which in turn forces them to come out and attack Liverpool. Once these teams decide to attack, the front three of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah are more than capable of destroying them through counter attacks.

Moreover, Liverpool have been a team that counter attacks. This is vastly different from the early Klopp days where they would relentlessly attack even if they were 3-0 up. This has allowed them to break down teams sensibly and protect whatever lead they might have. Moreover, Liverpool’s front three are firing on all cylinders, this has invariably softened the Countinho blow.