Raul Meireles

[Ben_Itez]

Quite clearly Gerrard and Lucas are first choice in his correct position and as such he will be played out of position and will not impress.

January will be interesting for him. If we buy a striker likely Kuyt will be back on the Right, whilst if we buy a Rw then that person will play there. Where does that leave Raul?

Surely when we play Gerrard off Torres then Raul will be paired with one of Lucas or Poulsen as the DM. Especially now Kuyt's fit.

However, who knows what Roy will do the team once everyone is fully fit. I just hope we dont see a Poulsen / Lucas CM pairing too often.

[vonk]

Totally agree.

Aquilani would have been a much better option for his place in the squad....to me it was absolute madness to get rid of him, especially for free, after we'd nursed him back to fitness and form towards the end of last season.

I've not written Meireles off yet as he's new to the club/league etc and is clearly suffering from being played out of position and under Roys excruciatingly negative and old school tactics.

He had a bad game tonight but it appears he was ill. He gets stuck in at least which is more than we can say for Aquilani, who was pretty **** tbh. I think we did the right thing in getting rid.

[Mostar]

Play him in the middle and give him at least a year to get used to the league. Pointless really judging him at this stage for all the reasons you've pointed out.

Too early to write him off. He is a good player that plays completely out of position for the one of worst managers in the totally different league he got used to. He needs time and if he is played in the right formation and his natural position he can prove to be a very good signing.

[Pablo]

Hmmm tough one this. He clearly has potential. If we just used him in his correct position I think he'd do alright. I can't say I've ever noticed his passing being as bad as Shaggy is saying to be honest, but then I missed yesterday's game. I'm hoping that was down to him being ill.

A very average start to his LFC career, but I'm not writing him off just yet. I'm still pretty hopeful he'll come good soon when we get a decent manager in

[Rich]

Certainly isn't one of Europe's finest midfielders like our official site proudly proclaims!

But under Roy he will never look good IMO

[JohnDoe]

People saying he's not playing in his proper position are right. However, when is he going to play in his proper position? The answer is never, not while Gerrard and Lucas are in the team and Hodgson is the manager, he's not moving away from 4-4-2.

[Fredo]

Certainly isn't one of Europe's finest midfielders like our official site proudly proclaims!

But under Roy he will never look good IMO

LFC.TV = Pravda

[Fernandinho]

What about 4-3-3 with Lucas Gerrrard Meireles? Surely that would work if we could get a left sided player in. It would be able to turn into 4-5-1 especially with Kuyts phenomenal stamina.

[the rev leeroy brown]

442 formation has got us unbeaten in 7 games now. we look better than when we did start of the season ( although still nothing special ) and as such id likeus to persevere with it. ste in the middle of a 442 looks better then he has done for ages. its a shame lucas had come on lepas and bounds in the last year cause he thoroughly deserves his starying place in the centre at the expense of raul. but lest not forget he has played only 10-12 games or so for us and is till getting a feel for a new country, new team, new teammates etc.... he has shown glimpses of what he can do and in time im sure he will be a good buy for us.

[banditos]

442 formation has got us unbeaten in 7 games now. we look better than when we did start of the season ( although still nothing special ) and as such id likeus to persevere with it. ste in the middle of a 442 looks better then he has done for ages. its a shame lucas had come on lepas and bounds in the last year cause he thoroughly deserves his starying place in the centre at the expense of raul. but lest not forget he has played only 10-12 games or so for us and is till getting a feel for a new country, new team, new teammates etc.... he has shown glimpses of what he can do and in time im sure he will be a good buy for us.

442 didn't work too well last night. I actually thought we looked more dangerous when we switched to 451 in the last 10 minutes.

[danperkins]

Meireles signing always made no sense to me. There are players in there already that are going to be used. Whats the point in buying Meireles and then playing him out of position? Surely with buying Cole, and having Lucas/Gerrard/Poulsen in the centre Roy must have known where he wanted Meireles to play? Spent alot of money and i think other areas should have been addressed. Roy's signings have been terrible so far.

IMO its makes simple sense to play Kuyt on the right and Meireles behind Torres, at least Kuyt will give the RB whether it be Kelly or Johnson that extra bit of support. I don't think Roy trusts Meireles in CM with Lucas, with Stevie in there its added protection and he offers so much more than Meireles so i understand that, but FFS play Meireles centrally (preferably behind Nando) or don't play him at all. Meireles hasn't done himself any favours for sure, his passing is nothing short of atrocious, and to be honest i never thought it was that great previously but can't judge him until he is playing properly, clearly he is not a wide man.

And Meireles along with everyone else looked absolutely knackered last night.

[Ben_Itez]

He had a bad game tonight but it appears he was ill. He gets stuck in at least which is more than we can say for Aquilani, who was pretty **** tbh. I think we did the right thing in getting rid.

I love this received wisdom of Aquilani was ****. Granted he was a total nesh and didnt get stuck in which was my main bug bear with him, however, as an attacking midfielder this isnt as crucial as other positions.

Didnt Aquilani have the highest ratio of assists to minutes on the pitch of any player in Europe last year?

At least he was skillful and could pass, shoot and played with his head up. I thought he was starting to show his real quality towards the end of last season. Pity Purslow was so keen to listen to our 'knowledgable' fans and bomb him out in order to gain popularity (if that is indeed what happened).

If it was Roy then he needs his ****ing head testing. Here's 5 million for Poulsen and while we're at it you can have our 20 million pound midfielder for nothing

[Exiled_red]

People saying he's not playing in his proper position are right. However, when is he going to play in his proper position? The answer is never, not while Gerrard and Lucas are in the team and Hodgson is the manager, he's not moving away from 4-4-2.

I think if we were to go back to our old formation he would be good. With the squad we currently have I'd go with a midfield and forward line of

Lucas Meireles
Kuyt Gerrard Cole
Torres

I think that would work well. I can't see why we brought Meireles in though if we plan to play 442 with Gerrard in centre mid.

[Fredo]

Here's 5 million for Poulsen and while we're at it you can have our 20 million pound midfielder for nothing

That was one piece of business. All hail Dodgson (& Purslow for approving it).

[ianbridgeman]

I think if we were to go back to our old formation he would be good. With the squad we currently have I'd go with a midfield and forward line of

Lucas Meireles
Kuyt Gerrard Cole
Torres

I think that would work well. I can't see why we brought Meireles in though if we plan to play 442 with Gerrard in centre mid.

Would have;

Gerrard Lucas
Kuyt Meireles Cole
Torres

Get Gerrard playing facing the goal not with his back to it waiting for inferior players to find the pass.

Only my humble opinion of course.