Despite the fact that a year has passed since Brendan Rodgers completed the 'snip' signing of Philippe Coutinho, the Brazilian attacker still catches his manager by surprise on a daily basis.

Having served notice of his outstanding vision, passing range and creativity during a thrilling opening six months with the club, the playmaker has evolved his overall game throughout the current campaign.

Now equally comfortable with constant pressing, retrieving possession and operating from a deeper, central position, Coutinho combined the whole package against both Arsenal and Fulham in the past week.

Those back-to-back performances moved Rodgers to reflect on a remarkable piece of transfer business to take the 21-year-old from Inter Milan just over 12 months ago and his progress ever since.

"He's a snip. He's an absolutely wonderful talent," said the boss. "There are very few players at this level now that penetrate with a pass, that play through teams, and he puts teams on the back foot all the time.

"He doesn't always get there. But the quality of his passing and the weight of his passes is sensational. And he's a good guy as well.

"His talent is remarkable. Every single day he does something that makes me think: 'Wow, what a talent'. If you go on to YouTube and see some of the little clips of him when he was young, 12 or 13, he's exactly the same.

"He is in an environment, a coaching environment, where he can flourish. He's come to a club that's set up to try and maximise what you can get out of players and he's obviously benefiting from it.

"What you see as well is that bit of steel he's got. You watched him against Arsenal, the intensity of his pressing, and if you spoke to him he would say he's really improved his defensive qualities too. Irrespective of his height, he has the physical strength to do that, the ability to press."

Midway through January, Rodgers altered the set-up of Liverpool's midfield by withdrawing Steven Gerrard to a holding role and encouraging Coutinho and Jordan Henderson to move further forward.

All three have flourished following the switch - the Reds are unbeaten in the calendar year - and the manager has explained why the midfield trio are excelling in their individual and collective tasks.

The Northern Irishman continued: "If you look at the way we've been playing, we've got Steven Gerrard deeper as a playmaker from behind.

"Then we have an eight and a 10, and that's Coutinho and Jordan Henderson. And they play centrally in the corridor as an attacking threat. Some teams play with two holders, two defensive midfield players and a 10. We play with two attacking players and one holder.

"We've got the best passer in the league, a technician who can thread and pin it through with his passing, and a runner who can penetrate and run without the ball. So the balance is good.

"When I first saw Philippe, he was playing in a central position. I think he's better on the inside when he starts in there. Coutinho can also play as a No.10, and we did that in the second half against Fulham.

"You see the trust they have. Stevie will give him the ball and Coutinho knows he has that security and solidity behind him. It's very important you have players like that who can feed Coutinho with the ball. It's very important to our style to dominate the central midfield, and with Stevie and Philippe it's an incredible performance level."