Steven Gerrard has stated that Philippe Coutinho was ‘brave’ when scoring his debut goal for Aston Villa, as he told Sky Sports.
The Villa boss made it clear that ‘you don’t lose talent’ after Coutinho helped Villa come from 2-0 down to record a 2-2 draw against Manchester United.
Prior to the game, there was a lot of talk and fuss around Coutinho’s signing and his potential debut against Man United.
When Coutinho was getting ready to come on, Villa were still trailing 1-0, before a Morgan Sanson mistake, just after the hour mark, resulted in Bruno Fernandes scoring his second of the match.
Coutinho was then well up against it when he was introduced into the action, but he made a positive impact, aside from his goal, because he was also involved in Jacob Ramsey opening the scoring for Villa.
Nonetheless, after the game, Gerrard was full of praise for Coutinho and the impact he had on his debut.
“You don’t lose talent,” said Gerrard. “The key thing for Phil is that he needs to be in a place where he is loved and supported.
“He needs to be smiling and enjoying his football. I think if anyone, who goes to work and they aren’t enjoying themselves, it’s difficult to perform at your best.
“He is 29-years-old. He has won all kinds of different things. He still has the hunger to contribute. Once we get him fitter and stronger, I have no doubt he can create and score goals for this team.
“I thought he was brave for the goal. He was involved in the first goal as well. He has probably had the impact he dreamt of when I shouted for him to get onto the pitch.”
The decision from Villa to bring Coutinho to the Midlands could prove to be a masterstroke by all involved.
This is a win-win situation for Villa because, not only can Coutinho help elevate this side to the next level, but if things go wrong, then he is only on loan.
Last season, West Ham loaned Jesse Lingard from Manchester United and he couldn’t stop scoring at the London Stadium.
And those in the east London boardroom will be kicking themselves that they didn’t put some sort of purchase clause in his contract because of the impact he had.
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