'Nobody can take free-kicks away from Coutinho now'
Philippe Coutinho cemented his place as Liverpool's resident free-kick taker with his stunner against Arsenal on Sunday, according to fellow goalscorer Adam Lallana.
The No.10 found the right angle at the right time for the Reds at Emirates Stadium when he sent a dead-ball effort swirling into Petr Cech’s top corner moments before the half-time break.
His equaliser galvanised Jürgen Klopp’s team and they seized the momentum in the second period, scoring three more to eventually secure a 4-3 victory in London.
“Phil again came up trumps with the free-kick,” Lallana told Liverpoolfc.com.
“We were working on them a couple of days ago – there’s just no chance anyone is getting anywhere near a free-kick.
“But we all want him to have them because he can produce that, and I think that’s the best I’ve ever seen him score. It was further out than usual and it was right in the top corner, the ’keeper had no chance.”
Lallana took up the baton himself four minutes after the interval, coolly controlling Georginio Wijnaldum’s cross into the area and driving a finish beyond Cech to edge Liverpool ahead.
His strike kick-started a period of complete dominance and further goals from Coutinho and Sadio Mane left Arsenal shell-shocked as the Reds took command.
The midfielder said: “It was a bit of a slow start for myself – a little bit slow and sluggish but I felt like I got into the game. The team felt like we came into the game.
“A great bit of magic from Phil gave us that belief and confidence going into half-time. That was massive for us and we came out in the second half like we were possessed, it was brilliant.
“It was great to be involved in and we just need to show that for longer periods of time, over 90 minutes.
“There were three debutants and I thought they were all brilliant, it was a great game for them to be involved in.”
Joyous celebrations followed Mane’s sensational solo fourth for the Reds, given that it established a three-goal cushion at the home of a rival in the opening game of the Premier League.
Klopp later admitted that was an error and Lallana agreed – with work to be done in the week ahead to ensure a more complete display at Burnley on Saturday.
He said: “At 4-1 we maybe got a bit complacent, a bit over the top. We were soon back down to earth when it was 4-3.
“I was on the bench in the last 10 minutes and it was unbearable to watch at times. But we have a benchmark now and we can assess it and look at things we need to improve on.
“The manager will do that, for sure. He won’t be entirely happy with the performance – there’ll definitely be things we need to work on. We’ve got a full week’s training now to prepare for Burnley.”