London: Liverpool attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho has called for calm ahead of his club’s visit to France to take on Bordeaux in the Europa League on Thursday after suffering back-to-back defeats in the Premier League.
The Brazilian was shown a red card during Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat by West Ham United on August 29 and missed the weekend 3-1 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford, a result that sent the Merseyside club plunging down to 10th place in the league table.
“It is vital to stay calm, mainly because we are just at the beginning in all competitions,” Coutinho, who is likely to return to the starting line-up against French Ligue 1 side Bordeaux, told the club’s website (www.liverpoolfc.com).
“We have a long season ahead and many things can happen. The Premier League is tough — all clubs have great teams — and we know twists and turns will happen.”
The 23-year-old said the league defeats would act as motivation for Liverpool, who are struggling to create chances, scoring only three times in five league games so far.
“We have to look ahead now and get over these two recent games we lost,” Coutinho said.
“After two consecutive defeats, we’re conscious there’s going to be more pressure from the outside — we have to do things right on the pitch so we can achieve good results.
“It [Bordeaux] is a very important game as it’s our first in the Europa League.”
Manager Brendan Rodgers could do with a much-improved display from his side, especially after they performed so poorly in Europe last season. A year ago, Liverpool finished third in their Champions League group behind Real Madrid and Basel before being eliminated from the Europa League by Besiktas in the round of 32.
The English side are without captain Jordan Henderson, who has travelled to the United States to seek advice on a heel injury. Adam Lallana and Daniel Sturridge might feature, however, against a Bordeaux side who are not the force they once were but are fresh from a respectable 2-2 draw at Paris Saint-Germain on Friday.
The other English side in the group stage, Tottenham Hotspur, face what on paper looks like their easiest tie at home to Qarabag of Azerbaijan before also taking on Anderlecht and Monaco in Group J.
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino is likely to heavily rotate his squad for the game, but might be tempted to hand a start to Harry Kane, who has yet to score in the Premier League this season but netted seven times in the Europa League last season. The champions of Azerbaijan, Qarabag have already visited the British Isles this season in Champions League qualifying, losing to Celtic.
Celtic may not have gone on to qualify for the Champions League group stage, but the draw for the Europa League handed them some glamour ties to look forward to in Group A, starting away to Ajax.
“Last year we progressed in the Europa League to play Inter Milan in the knockout stages, and the group this year is a Champions League group in all but name,” Celtic manager Ronny Deila told the club’s website. “We know it’s going to be difficult but we’ve got the players here to definitely believe we can get through.”
Ajax are unbeaten domestically and sit top of the Dutch Eredivisie.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said this week that Borussia Dortmund “belong” in the Champions League, but Thomas Tuchel’s side are in the Europa League this season.
They begin their Group C campaign at home to Russian side FC Krasnodar and will be bidding to continue their fine start to the season. Dortmund have won every game so far, including beating Austria’s Wolfsberger and Odd of Norway in Europa League qualifying and recording four wins out of four in the Bundesliga.
Basel failed to qualify for the Champions League group stage, so the Swiss champions can instead focus on trying to reach the final of the Europa League, which will be played in their own stadium, St Jakob-Park.
Their opening game in Group I is away to Fiorentina in Italy, which means a reunion with Paulo Sousa. The Portuguese coached Basel to the Swiss title before leaving for Florence in the summer.
