Aston Villa walked away with just a point from their latest Premier League outing on Monday night.
It was another disappointing road trip for Steven Gerrard’s side, who looked uninspiring in their clash at the City Ground.
Opponents Nottingham Forest went into the game bottom of the table, while a win would have seen Villa climb all the way up to ninth.
However, they didn’t do enough to carve out a victory, creating just one big chance despite boasting 61% of the possession in the east Midlands.
Philippe Coutinho was handed his sixth league start, but came off after an hour having failed to make an impact in the game.
And writing for the Birmingham Mail, journalist John Townley awarded him a mere 5/10 rating for his performance and attached the following comment: “It’s now one goal contribution in 20 appearances for the Brazilian, who has stepped up his level of performance in recent weeks, but needs to start boosting his numbers before the break for the World Cup.”
TIF Thoughts on Coutinho and Villa…
Has Coutinho been a flop at Villa?
Yes!
No!
Villa paid a reported £17m to bring the former Liverpool maestro in on a permanent deal from Barcelona in the summer, but he has struggled for form this season.
After five goals and three assists in 19 Premier League appearances in the second half of the previous campaign, he is yet to be directly involved in a goal in 10 appearances this term.
According to SofaScore, he had just 30 touches against Forest – the lowest of any outfield player to start the game.
He completed 19 of his 22 passes (86%), but played just one key pass and lost possession six times as Villa failed to break down a stubborn home defence.
With Chelsea to come on Sunday, Gerrard may now be thinking seriously about dropping his former teammate, with goals proving hard to come by for the Villans.