Journalist Pete O’Rourke has claimed that Aston Villa have not been clinical enough in front of goal this season.
In the top 11 of the Premier League, Aston Villa have the joint second-worst goalscoring record, netting just 42 times so far. Ollie Watkins is Villa’s top scorer with eight goals in 27 Premier League games whilst Jacob Ramsey is second with six.
Philippe Coutinho was brought into Villa Park in January by former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard, and has shown his class since his arrival back in the Premier League, scoring four times and assisting three times in 11 league games.
With the impressive form of Coutinho and the lack of goals overall from Villa this season, O’Rourke highlighted to GiveMeSport that if Gerrard can invest in a top-class striker, it would be a huge bonus for his side.
He said: “That’s probably been the issue for Villa so far since Gerrard’s arrival, not been clinical enough, maybe not scored enough goals. But they could bring in a Champions League player [up front] and keep Philippe Coutinho, and if he’s providing the ammunition for them, it’d be a real bonus for Aston Villa.”
TIF Thoughts on Pete O’Rourke’s comments…
Coutinho has a clause in his current deal with Aston Villa where there is an option to buy for £33m at the end of the season if Gerrard feels like it would be the right choice. And he has been superb since he arrived at Villa Park – as well as his seven goal contributions, he has an average passing accuracy of 84% and an average of 2.5 shots per game, as per SofaScore.
With the impressive form of the Brazilian, getting a top-class forward in to feed the ball to would perhaps get the best out of Coutinho.
At his previous two clubs, Coutinho has played with the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi, so although it is all but impossible to get this calibre of player in the door, the 29-year-old playmaker would surely highly benefit if he had a more clinical man leading the line.