Steven Gerrard not worried about stuttering form of Philippe Coutinho

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard is not worried about the stuttering form of Philippe Coutinho, claiming that the Brazilian ‘will be fine.’

After a red hot start to life at Villa Park following his arrival from Barcelona in January, Coutinho’s form has since dipped parallel with that of the teams.

After notching four goals and three assists in his first eight appearances, the 29-year-old has failed to add to either of those tallies over the last five, despite starting in each of those games.

His dip in form comes at the worst time with Villa as a whole having picked up just one point from the last 15 available and having scored just one goal from open play across that time.

But Gerrard says the burden can’t be all laid on Coutinho with the rest of the team needing to step up around him, too.

“Phil will be fine,” explained the manager.

“We can’t expect him to be man-of-the-match, creative and goalscoring every time he plays.

”We will continue to work with him and prepare him and I am sure it will only be a matter of time. I don’t have to defend Philippe Coutinho. He defends himself with the level he is at. He has shown in his time here is more than capable.”

Villa’s next two fixtures come in the shape of two relegation threatened sides in Norwich City and Burnley.

The latter may be on a significant upturn in form but if Coutinho is unable to create versus those two along with the team as a whole - stronger headlines will be written and the future of the little Brazilian will become all the more uncertain.

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