View: Philippe Coutinho back to his best for Aston Villa v Southampton
Aston Villa picked up what was just their second victory of the season on Friday evening as they narrowly edged past Southampton at Villa Park.
The Villans had academy graduate Jacob Ramsey to thank for eventually putting the ball home after somewhat of a goal-mouth scramble five minutes before the break.
But while the 1-0 win was crucial for Steven Gerrard and the club’s points tally in the Premier League, it still doesn’t solve the problems that they have been suffering from.
Luckily for the boss, he was able to witness one of Villa’s most enigmatic players get back to his best in a tantalising display of skill and experience that few could muster.
Philippe Coutinho always has a lot of eye on his performances wherever he goes and he has yet to live up to the hype with Aston Villa but he is starting to show signs of genius.
It all began very early on as his fantastic agility saw him twist and turn away from James Ward-Prowse before driving towards the area and firing an effort just fractionally off target.
It was more his off-the-ball movement that caught the eye against the Saints though as he started his run into the box on this occasion from virtually on the touchline.
But Ashley Young’s cross was a tempter for many and when nobody got a touch on the ball, the Brazilian was completely unmarked at the back post, unfortunately not getting his header on target.
Coutinho proved it again later in the half as he perfectly waited for the ball to drop and was able to foresee exactly the position it would fall for him.
He was then able to set off an attack thanks to Ollie Watkins’ fantastic aerial ability.
In other Aston Villa news, Jeff Stelling was less than impressed by the entire spectacle of Villa against Southampton and took to Twitter to voice his boredom.