Anfield has always loved a talisman, a player to pin hopes on and look to in times of difficulty and adversity. From Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush to modern day heroes like Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard, the Kop have developed a love affair with the individual brilliance they’ve so often been treated to. The best teams Liverpool have fielded have always been about the sum of the parts, but that key figure remains a constant.Even in the lean years on Merseyside there was the constant of Gerrard, but his exit left a void that looked like nobody was ready and waiting to fill. Some tipped Jordan Henderson as new captain to step in, but it’s been Philippe Coutinho who has moved up to take the limelight, offering the individual talent good teams need to be excellent teams.[ad_pod id='now-tv' align='centre']The Brazilian has been at Anfield since the winter of 2012, but despite showing flashes of his true brilliance, many feared he lacked the consistency to be a Suarez-esque focal point. His hot and cold game infuriated almost as often as it enthralled, while it’s notable that his contributions during the 2013/14 season in which Liverpool came as close as they ever have to winning the Premier League are often overlooked as the expense of Suarez and Daniel Sturridge’s ‘SAS’ combo and Raheem Sterling’s emergence.Alas, in the seasons since, Coutinho has progressed almost immeasurably, replacing Suarez, Gerrard and indeed Sterling, while moving ahead of Sturridge amid his injury woes, to become the Reds’ key man. So often looked to to provide moments of inspiration, when the man Jurgen Klopp dubbed the ‘Little Magician’ plays, Liverpool play.

His rise has not gone unnoticed either, with the 24-year-old having been awarded the 2016 Samba Gold award, handed to the best Selecao star playing in Europe, beating competition as illustrious as Neymar. Some will scoff at this with the Barcelona man having scooped La Liga titles and a Champions League winner’s medal since his move across the Atlantic Ocean from his South American home continent, but it’s hard to talk down Coutinho’s improvement and progression at Anfield.

Although this season may not be his stand-out in terms of numbers, there is a clear correlation between campaigns and increasing numbers. Indeed, the silky attacker is just shy of his best goals and assists return per-game of his Liverpool career (both occurred in 2015/16), but he is creating more chances and averaging a better return in terms of pass accuracy, which both hint at his increasing contributions in the final third and to the team’s overall play.

It can be no coincidence that Liverpool’s own season-lows have coincided with his injury absence and recovery. A nasty ankle knock suffered late in November saw him miss the Christmas period before being rushed back into action during the first weeks of January, and while he was both away from the team and working his back up to fitness, Klopp’s team showed vulnerabilities that were not there in the early week’s of the season. Granted their goals-per-game in all competitions only dropped from 2.8 to 2.6 while Coutinho was actually unavailable for selection and Sadio Mane’s absence played its part too, but it was more the lack of inspiration that was the biggest issue. So often the former Inter Milan prodigy has looked to provide the moment to unlock the defence or aid the transition from back to front, so his removal, either through injury or not being at full-fitness, slowed the play, contributing heavily to League Cup and FA Cup exits and the team falling away from Chelsea at the top of the table during January and early February.

Mane’s AFCON exit may have been the factor most associated with the decline, and there is reason to back up this view given that his eleven goals and four assists mean he’s directly contributed to more of the club’s league tally of 54 strikes than any other player, but Liverpool’s deficiencies were more to do with Coutinho than the Senegalese star. More a result of being unable to created the chances rather than put them away.

With Klopp’s team having had a mini winter break given their lack of fixtures over the course of the past few weeks, they’re sure to be primed to explode back into action over the coming fixtures, and with Coutinho back to peak physical condition, the electric play of the Autumn months may be a memory Reds fans get to relive thanks to their talisman.

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