Phillipe Coutinho
The Brazilian says Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has given the players belief this season and told Sky Sports that the Premier League title is “obviously the dream.”
Coutinho, who moved to Anfield from Inter Milan in 2013, has played a starring role in Liverpool’s excellent start to the season, with the club currently second in the Premier League, a point behind leaders Chelsea.
The Brazilian came close to winning the league in 2013-14, when Brendan Rodgers’ side fell just short of a first title since 1991, and he is upbeat over their prospects of success.
“That’s obviously the dream, and that’s what we’ve got to do,” he said. “We have to dream it.”
Klopp has played down the benefits of Liverpool’s absence from European competition this season, but Coutinho said it has allowed the former Borussia Dortmund coach to implement his ideas.
“There’s definitely more time now to work on our tactics in training and for the coach to get to know us,” he said. “I like the tactical training we are doing. But yes, there is a lot of it.
“He is teaching us to press when we don’t have the ball and keeping that pressure up. Then we have to keep possession when we do have the ball. It’s about putting that mentality into us.
“It’s all about the confidence and the mentality that the coach has given us. This used to be a team that didn’t really believe in itself. Now the players feel more comfortable and this comes from the coach. That’s something that’s reflected on the pitch and in the results.”
Coutinho admits it was “very tough” for him when he moved from Vasco da Gama in his homeland to Inter in 2008 but he showed his potential during a loan spell with Mauricio Pochettino’s Espanyol in 2012 and said he and Klopp had been hugely influential.
“My confidence has been really building since my time at Espanyol,” he said. “The two coaches are actually very similar on the pressing side of the game. They spend a lot of time on that side of it and it’s a lot of hard work.”
