Philippe Coutinho divides opinion amongst Bayern Munich legends
Bayern Munich forward Philippe Coutinho gets a fair bit of praise and criticism from former club legends.
It has been a tough few games for Bayern Munich. Niko Kovac‘s men have won one of their last three games across all competition. They dropped points in two consecutive gameweeks of the Bundesliga, slipping to the third position in the league table.
Die Roten has struggled defensively as the structure is chaotic at the back, and they concede cheap goals. The recent injuries to Lucas Hernandez and Niklas Sule have piled up more misery on the defensive department of the squad.
On the other hand, the attacking players have struggled to find the back of the net apart from Robert Lewandowski. However, the attacking players have managed to create a decent number of chances in every game.
Over the past few weeks, Philippe Coutinho has been one of the chief creators for Bayern in the final third. However, Dietmar Hamann believes that Coutinho is not fulfilling his duty. In his column for Sky Sports (via SportBild), Hamann insists that Coutinho needs to be dropped as he is not contributing on the pitch.
"“There is a difference between not playing well and playing well. Coutinho is playing bad right now.”“He has already played some games for Bayern and an improvement in performance is not recognizable for me at all.”"
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Hamann firmly believes that Kovac should consider dropping Coutinho and play Thomas Muller behind Robert Lewandowski. Muller has been sidelined on the bench in the last five weeks as Kovac decided to give Coutinho an extended run in the number ten role. The Brazilian has managed to contribute to six goals during this run. It will be interesting to see if Bayern publicly defend Coutinho. The club took this step last year when Hamann had criticized Lewandowski.
On the other hand, Giovane Elber has praised Coutinho and urged Die Roten fans to show patience with him. Elber believes that Bayern Munich will enjoy having Coutinho in their team as he can nonchalantly play defense splitting passes in the final third. Elber also told AZ that Coutinho will benefit from quickly settling down at Bayern.
Hamann’s criticism is harsh at the moment as Coutinho has shown signs of progress in October. The Brazilian is confident that he will steadily improve at Bayern. He has been linking up well with Lewandowski, and his productivity in the final third has been decent.
Next. Bayern Munich reportedly ponder a move for Unai Nunez. dark
Bayern Munich recently expressed satisfaction with Coutinho’s transfer. The Brazilian will have to go elevate his performance to another level to seal a permanent move to Bavaria. Barcelona is reportedly ready to negotiate a transfer fee for the Brazilian, but it is too early for Die Roten to decide whether to sign him permanently.