Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho has spoken to the Brazilian media after the 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Anfield last night.
Despite looking gutted for not beating the Reds’ main rivals in the title race, the 24-year-old still tried to take the positives from the team’s reaction to Chelsea scoring first.
“The team is to be congratulated for today’s game. We’re back and fighting as we were fighting at the start of the league. Now we must keep these performances to try to win games,” he told ESPN Brasil.
“We have to think about us now, we’ve dropped too many points in January. Now the team is back to being complete, we were lacking Sadio too. Now we must keep working strong to fight up there in these games that are left.”
Still speaking of Sadio Mane, who missed seven games due to the African Cup of Nations, Coutinho mentioned his importance to the squad, but pointed out his absence should be no excuse for bad results.
“Look, Sadio is a very important player for our team. The team certainly missed him a bit, but with the players we have in the squad we must make up for it.
“We’re happy he’s back, he could come on today and now we have a bit of time to prepare for the next game, the manager to make his choices as for who’s going to play and the team to give its best.”
January was a nightmare for Liverpool. The Reds lost to Swansea, Wolverhampton and twice to Southampton. They also drew against Sunderland, Plymouth Argyle, Manchester United and Chelsea. The only win was against Plymouth Argyle in the cup replay.
