Philippe Coutinho was voted as Liverpool’s Standard Chartered Player of the Month but was quick to shift the attention from himself, saying that he only performs as part of a greater collective.
According to Liverpool’s official website, Coutinho won the monthly accolade as decided by a poll which allows fans to choose who they believe was the club’s best player for the previous month.
The Brazilian won by 56% and few can deny that his influential displays in October don’t deserve the recognition that the award brings. In four appearances, Coutinho scored one goal and made two, but it wasn’t really his goalscoring contribution that made people stand back and realise how good he is, but rather his creative talent and ability to constantly drive his team forward in attack.
That being said, it’s all a little bit irrelevant because the man himself has said that individuals don’t matter and has pointed to the bigger picture.
When he was handed the award, Coutinho told Liverpoolfc.com, “I am happy to have won the award, but as I always say the most important thing is that the team have played well throughout this month. We have achieved excellent wins but we must continue to work hard to continue this winning trend.
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“My teammates have been very important to me winning this because football is a collective sport, so when the collective performs well that means everyone is doing an excellent job.
“It means the team is performing well with everyone’s input for the benefit of the team.”
Coutinho is part of a deadly front four that has scored 15 goals in 10 games and the Reds are league’s joint-top scorers with 24.
“Liverpool have a group of players of excellent quality here,” Coutinho went on to say. “All our players are top quality. Not just the ones that come in to the side, but the ones who are also working for a chance to go out and play.
“Everyone performs to the top of their capabilities, so that is good for the manager and fantastic for Liverpool.
“Of course, having all of these options is excellent because as forwards we are always looking to create new ways to score. We have been practising all of this during our training sessions to make sure everything works well during the match.”
Liverpool’s attackers will be looking to exploit Watford’s three at the back system when the Hornets visit Anfield on Sunday. The game will present the opportunity to go top of the league and with Arsenal playing Spurs there is potential for Liverpool to climb the table at least into second place.