Coutinho Bemoans "Goals That Could Have Been Prevented"

Philippe Coutinho reacted to Liverpool’s crushing defeat against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley by lamenting how the four goals could have been prevented. He also revealed that this is an area that Jürgen Klopp has repeatedly spoken to his players about despite little improvement in this area.

"The goals were goals that could have been prevented," Coutinho said. "It started out wide and we end up conceding one of those goals the manager speaks about.

"He speaks a lot about this - we've conceded a lot of goals like this. And obviously in attack we were unable to score the goals necessary to draw or turn around the game.

"We were in the game during the first-half then the goal we conceded made everything worse."

For Coutinho, improvement is urgently and drastically required to "fight more" in the games ahead. The solution may lie in concentrating more, but the problem with expecting certain qualities from players that have never shown the requisite consistency and ability to be part of a long-term solution might be unreasonable.

This isn’t to dismiss Coutinho’s words but to draw attention to the unwelcome reality that players in their late twenties with years of underwhelming performances in a Liverpool shirt cannot be expected to produce more. They are what they are even if Jürgen Klopp and his players desperately need to uphold the pride of this great club as November draws ever closer.

"The first goal started in a wide position where everyone is involved in defending, not just the players right at the back," Coutinho added. "We have to improve this as quickly as possible in order to win games and fight more.

"With difficult games like this one, we know it's these things that decide them. So we need to concentrate more to deal with balls like this.

"The first goal was scored after four minutes and the second one after 12 or 13. It's difficult to play away from home against a strong team when you start like that.

"We have to work hard. Those passages of play, those set pieces from wide positions. We have to concentrate more to deal with them."

Unfortunately, Liverpool will need to do more than display greater powers of concentration to remedy a problem that has plagued both the Rodgers and Klopp eras at the club.