Brendan Rodgers: Liverpool star must be more consistent in his performances

Philippe Coutinho could be Liverpool's star player this season if he is consistent

BRENDAN RODGERS believes midfielder Philippe Coutinho needs to be more consistent with his good performances.

 

The Brazilian spared Liverpool's blushes last Sunday as his 86th minute strike gave the Reds an opening day victory.

Despite that late goal, Coutinho was left out of Brazil's squad last week for a pair of upcoming friendlies in the United States in early September - a decision that stunned Rodgers.

"I was very surprised," he said. "With everything I had seen last season, with the changes in the squad, he was going to be one of the flagship players for the new dawn of Brazilian football.

 

"It is hard to understand. He made team of the season in the hardest league in the world, how he cannot be in the squad is incredible really.

"I spoke to him at length on Friday about it and of course he is disappointed but his only focus is on Liverpool."

Coutinho is expected to start against Bournemouth tonight and the Liverpool boss believes he just needs a run of good performances to help him improve as a player.

“It’s just consistency and we have started to see that in his game,” he added.

 

“He’s also the type of player that his numbers will be important. It’s about creating and scoring goals – that’s the type of player that he is, the level that he wants to get to and the level that he’s working very hard to attain.

“He’s a player, like you saw last week, that at the end of the game has got that magic that can just win you a game of football out of nothing.

“We have seen that over time here, how he has adapted and adjusted to life at this level. For me, at the age he is he’s only going to get better and better. But consistency is important for him and that’s something that he’s starting to really show.”