Gini Wijnaldum believes it hasn't quite sunk in to Liverpool's players that Philippe Coutinho has left the club - both the player and the man.

The manner of the Brazilian's £142m switch to Barcelona last weekend was such that many of his teammates said their farewells on social media with Coutinho already vowing to return to Melwood to say his goodbyes in person.

Wijnaldum will be part of a Liverpool midfield which must adjust to playing without their playmaker, with Manchester City the not inconsiderable challenge facing them on their first game since the Catalans got their man.

The Dutchman is likely to be a starter at Anfield on Sunday so will the remaining players be extra keen to show they can win these big games without the Brazilian?

Wijnaldum said: "To be fair it’s still strange, I think we still have to realise that he’s gone.

"We didn’t speak that much about it. We always want to get a result against any team, not because he’s left.

"I think we all want a result every time and it’s also a good moment to have it because all the other teams are quite near each other in points.

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"A good result would be good for us and help keep confidence up."

That confidence has sprung from a 17-match unbeaten run which is the best of Klopp's reign at the club while no-one has left Anfield with a victory since Crystal Palace in April last year.

Wijnaldum, with 29 appearances this season including 24 starts, accepts that Liverpool's Premier League rivals will be pleased to see the back of Coutinho

"Yeah, I think every top team is probably happy he leaves to another team in another country," he said.

"That’s how it is. They might have the same problems in a few years or maybe next season. You must not think a lot about it because you can’t control it.

(Image: (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images))

"A quality player like Phil, every team will miss a player like that if they leave. It is what it is. He wanted to go to his dream club. As players we are all happy for him because he was a good guy.

"He was one of the best players we had in the team but as a person he was maybe even the best.

"He was not like 'I am the best' or arrogant or something like that. Phil was always a person who listened to the team, who listened to the coaching.

"He was a really nice guy to work with, that is why we are happy for him that he can make the move, but also sad that he didn’t stay because with Phil in the team, you are a better team of course. We all enjoyed to play with him."

The post-Coutinho era starts at Anfield on Sunday though and fans will want to see who within the Liverpool midfield can step up to try to fill that void left by the little Brazilian.

(Image: Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

Wijnaldum, Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are the midfielders supporters may feel could start to step up even more, especially in making up for some of the goals which have disappeared to the Nou Camp.

Wijnaldum has just one this season - after six in the last campaign - so is he putting pressure on himself to step up or has Jurgen Klopp spoken in similar terms?

"No, the manager is not a manager who would put that kind of pressure on players.

"Every player is different. The only pressure the manager puts on us is to give 100% and try to use the quality we have.

"He is hardly ever upset in a game if he sees you giving 100%. Only if, for example, you’re nervous or don’t try to do the things you’re good at or if you’re scared, then he’ll get angry.

James Pearce reacts to Jurgen Klopp's pre-Man City press conference

"He’s not a manager to say ‘Phil’s away so you have to step up and do this or that.’

"Also as players he just wants us to enjoy the game and try to do our best, use our quality. then we will see what happens.

"The most important thing is you do it well as a group and not as an individual, you only can win as a group. It makes it easier if every player performs but if you do it well as a group you’ll reach more."

With Coutinho departed though and Naby Keita not yet at Anfield, is it a chance for Wijnaldum to establish himself as a number one in the Liverpool midfield?

He added: "I don’t really look at it that way. I just try to play my games, do my best and try to enjoy it. It’s not like I think ‘okay now I’m got to show I’m the best man or the number one’. But it always has to be the intention, to show that you’re the one that has to play but that’s normal.

"Everyone wants to show he’s the best at his position and I try that too but I don’t play with that intent, it’s (just) always there."

One of those six Wijnaldum goals from last season was the winner against Man City at Anfield in a New Year's Eve fixture of rare intensity at a time when their was still belief Liverpool could be part of the title race.

A disastrous January put paid to that but it must still be a fixture he enters with good thoughts.

"It was an excellent game not just for me I think but for all of us. We played very well against a good playing team, a good organised team. And I was lucky that I scored the winning goal. So, yeah, this is a good moment to look back on."

That City team was good of course but the new improved version has proved unbeatable in the Premier League.

Where does Wijnaldum see their progression?

(Image: Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

"I think they are more consistent. You see they barely don’t give games away that they have to win. We had a couple of good games but at the end we didn’t get the result we wanted to.

" I think they also have more luck than us this season. The way of winning goals isn’t also not only luck, it’s also their quality. They still focus until the last minute of the game because they know they can get a goal. They have a confidence.

"But I think the biggest difference is that they are consistent. Almost all the whole of the season until now they are the most consistent team.

"Week-in, week-out they have good performances and even if the performances aren’t that good, they still win their games. I think that is a big difference between them and us, and them and all the top teams."

Wijnaldum thinks City got a little of that luck in the reverse fixture at the Etihad when Liverpool played with 10 men after Sadio Mane's red card but he accepts that City's quality then came into play.

"It was an accident (Mane challenge), sometimes he gives a red card, sometimes a yellow. The week after there was a game between Newcastle and Swansea in a similar situation with (Matt) Ritchie and the ref gave the yellow card. So in that situation you have to be lucky.

"But it’s not only lucky that they scored five goals. We did a few things wrong where they could score and also their quality. Until the red card it was close but a red card is not a guarantee that you will score five goals so they showed quality.

"It was difficult for us - Sunday we will play 11 against 11 - if it stays like that it will give us more chance to win the game!"