Liverpool missing Coutinho spark

After an unconvincing victory over Crystal Palace, it’s clear that Liverpool need the future of Philippe Coutinho sorted out sooner rather than later.

The Brazilian missed the 1-0 victory at Anfield with a back injury amid a third Barcelona bid - that boss Jurgen Klopp refused to confirm or deny - but is reported to be worth around €124million.

But what was apparent during a difficult 90 minutes was that the Reds were missing that spark of creativity that Coutinho has to unlock packed defences as they struggled to breakdown a compact Palace defence that had shipped three goals at home to newly-promoted Huddersfield Town on the opening day.