Liam Thomas

Sat 1 October 2022 14:10, UK

Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard believes Phillippe Coutinho’s Brazilian World Cup ambitions can fuel the fire for some good form at club level.

Coutinho’s form for Villa has been hit and miss, however, the silky Brazilian shone in the club’s last Premier League win over Southampton.

Gerrard admitted the playmaker has raised his performances since being left out of Brazil pre-World Cup squad and he is hoping this can spur him on in upcoming fixtures.

Speaking to the Express and Star, Gerrard claimed the Brazilian will have to be consistent with his performances if he stands any hopes of making the star-studded Brazil squad.

“He’s very honest and self-critical. He knows he hasn’t been at his best level,” he said.

“He also knows if he has any ambitions of going to the World Cup, his form has to be consistent until then. He has to be close to the best level of Philippe Coutinho.

“Since he was omitted from the Brazil squad, we have seen a different level of performance.”

Confidence.

Coutinho is a tainted talent, he can put in world-beating performances one week and then go missing for the next three games.

It’s tough to pinpoint exactly why this is, but it’s likely down to the Brazilian suffering from confidence issues, this can be rectified by Gerrard.

Ever since making the switch to Barcelona from Liverpool, Coutinho has seemed to lose some of the magic which he has displayed occasionally at Villa Park.

There’s no doubt it’s better to have a talent like Coutinho in and around the team, but it’s frustrating that Villa doesn’t get to see the best of him every week.

Hopefully, the thought of missing out on a potential World Cup-winning Brazil squad will be enough to reignite Coutinho’s form and Villa can reap the benefits of this.

Get Coutinho his confidence back and the Villains will be flying, he can still be a key man in Gerrard’s starting XI this campaign.

In other Aston Villa news, Trevoh Chalobah has emerged as a potential January transfer target