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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Alex Milne

Philippe Coutinho breaks his silence after his performances are heavily criticised

Philippe Coutinho has admitted the Bundesliga is a 'difficult' league to get to grips with, but insists he is happy with both his and his side's performances at the start of the season.

After an underwhelming two seasons at Barcelona the ex-Liverpool man signed on a season-long loan with the German champions over the summer, and got off to a promising start, scoring two goals and creating three assists in three games at the end of September and start of October against FC Koln, Paderborn and Tottenham in the Champions League.

Recently, however, Coutinho's form has dipped, and he was uninspiring as Bayern toiled to a 2-1 victory over Union Berlin on Saturday.

Philippe Coutinho has not found it easy to adjust to German football (PHILIPP GUELLAND/EPA-EFE/REX)

However, speaking to Bundesliga.com after the game Coutinho said: "All games and teams in the Bundesliga are difficult; we always have to fight until the end.

"Today the team fought until the end. We were calm when we had the ball. We also know that we can improve our game, that is obvious, but today i leave here with good feelings."

The result saw Bayern climb back to the top of the Bundesliga temporarily, although Monchengladbach overtook them again with a 4-2 victory over Eintracht on Sunday.

Coutinho's side are looking to win their eighth Bundesliga title in a row, as well as competing to try to win their first Champions League since 2013, having lost out to Liverpool in the last-sixteen last season.

Thomas Muller is challenging Coutinho for a place in the team (REUTERS)

Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann recently claimed Coutinho should be dropped in favour of Thomas Muller.

"There is a difference between not playing well and playing badly," Hamann wrote in his column for Sky Sports Germany . "Coutinho is playing badly at the moment.

"He is on loan for a year, has already played a few games for Bayern and I can't see any improvement in his performance at all."

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