Philippe Coutinho Warns Against Complacency Ahead of Rubin Kazan Trip
Liverpool attacker Philippe Coutinho may have bagged himself a sublime brace in Saturday’s impressive win over Chelsea, but the Brazilian isn’t about to rest on his laurels ahead of Thursday’s meeting with Rubin Kazan in the Europa League and he’s urged his teammates to stay focused ahead of the tricky trip to Russia.
“I think everyone’s happy with the result,” enthused the Brazilian, reflecting on the win at Stamford Bridge. “We know the work is just beginning and we have to keep it up, but I think we’re on the right track. Of course, we’ve had a run without any wins, and everyone was focused on winning, which was important for us,” he continued. “Three points and against that opposition, it’s given a boost to our confidence and I hope we can now focus on each game and be successful. We can’t spend too much time thinking about this one, we have an important game during the week, and I hope we can perform well again and win.”
The 23-year old put a poor run of form behind him by scoring on either side of the half against Chelsea on the weekend, one with his favoured right foot and one on his weaker left — a skill he’s admittedly been working at in training.
“I’ve been working quite hard, on all aspects of my game,” he said. “I haven’t been playing well, it wasn’t a good phase for me, but I always concentrate on working hard,” he explained. “There are many things to work on before the next game, and I hope it continues,” said Coutinho, hinting that there’s more to come from him this season. “As for my left foot, I’ve been working on it in training and it came off… thank God!”