‘Lost interest’: £17m Aston Villa man looks like he doesn’t care anymore – BBC pundit

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Aston Villa’s four match unbeaten run ended yesterday after a 2-0 defeat against Chelsea.

Mason Mount scored a brace to condemn Steven Gerrard’s side to their fifth defeat of the season.

BBC pundit Garth Crooks included Mount in his Premier League Team of the Week.

Crooks praised Mount’s performance, but namechecked one Aston Villa player for criticism.

After saying that manager Steven Gerrard is ‘starting to run out of ideas’, Crooks called out Philippe Coutinho.

He believes that the Brazilian playmaker has ‘lost interest’ at Villa Park after his latest performance.

Coutinho was a second-half substitute, being introduced in place of captain John McGinn.

However, the 30-year-old struggled to make an impact, failing to create a chance for teammates and averaging less than a touch a minute.

After such a promising start to this career at Villa Park in January, Coutinho’s form has declined.

Brought in for £17m in the summer, he’s now in and out of the starting line-up as Gerrard tries to find a winning formula.

Coutinho has lost interest – Crooks

Garth Crooks was more positive about Villa’s performance yesterday, but took the opportunity to highlight Coutinho’s contribution.

“This was a slightly better performance by Villa than the one last week against Nottingham Forest but I sense manager Steven Gerrard is starting to run out of ideas,” Crooks said.

“When players like Philippe Coutinho look like they have lost interest something is going terribly wrong.”

TalkSPORT pundit Ally McCoist delivered a similar verdict to Crooks on Coutinho last week.

McCoist believed the Brazilian needed to start doing more for his side as they continue to struggle in front of goal.

Jamie Carragher has also admitted Coutinho looks too slow for the Premier League right now.

No Aston Villa player has scored more than once in the league this season.

Someone needs to find some form quickly for Villa to avoid being dragged into a relegation fight.

They travel to Fulham on Thursday, who have conceded twice or more in each of their last five matches.

Coutinho may have lost interest, but the chance to score on Thursday might be enough to get him back to his best.