Raul Meireles

[el matador]

I was exactly the same, he didn't seem to do anything but I was impressed with him in the World Cup and hence pleased to see him come.

his biggest asset is mobility but unless you score 10 - 15 goals a season you cant be considered a box to box player.

For me he doesnt have either the passing range or the strength to play in a midfield 2. I dont want to put a downer on him but unless there is some end product to that running power its totally wasted and really begs the question why he was bought.

Surely if hodgson wanted gerrard to play centrally he should have signed someone who can play deeper to shield the defence and move the ball quickly to gerrard when he has it. Meireles isnt that man and for £11m we could have signed a better wide player.

[billd]

Unfortunately, you're assuming that everyone who posts on here has a sound knowledge of football. Most do, but as with any large group of people there are a small handful who are utterly clueless. Literally to the point where virtually every view they have, is the wrong way round.

[banditos]

MOM against West Ham today. Showed his true quality when played in his ideal poistion. Won the ball back plenty of times and showed a nice range of passing. Given that SG is out for a few, I think we'll see him stay in CM for a while and Roy may actually realise that's where he should always be played.

Ideal midfield would be him and Lucas at CM and SG in the hole.

[anfieldanfield]

I think he would look very, very good if he was surrounded by top class players.

He's a good player in a **** team team, which generally makes him look pretty average.

[Craig_H]

Best player on the park today.

Played in his favoured position.

See a pattern?

[McDermotX]

Best player on the park today.

Played in his favoured position.

See a pattern?

Roy doesn't.........expect him at LB next game

[Craig_H]

Or in nets, perhaps.

[Zapater]

Best player on the park today.

Played in his favoured position.

Played against West Ham

See a pattern?

You missed an important step there.

That being said, clearly he'll be better when he's played in his correct position alas I'm still not sure he brings enough to the table to be a starting central midfielder for us.

[Craig_H]

Yeah, that much is true - they were diabolical But our other 9 outfield players were playing against West Ham too - and he was the outstanding player

He's a class player though, as you will know, being a student of the european game

[Qantaga]

I think we need to put Gerrard on the right again. Give the likes of Lucas and Meireles a chance in the centre, playing Kuyt up with Torres or Cole behind Torres and Maxi/Fabio on the left. That's what I would try for a short while anyway. We know Gerrard can play on the right and drift into the centre if Johnson pushes up, Kuyt would provide better support for Torres over Cole at the moment. I fancy a strong 4-4-2 with our players in their more natural positions.

[DannyMan2006]

Lucas and Meirrles played together in the centre against Everton and they got dominated, down to us sitting back and standing off. Change the tactics and everyone looks better.

[RedReet]

Lucas and Meirrles played together in the centre against Everton and they got dominated, down to us sitting back and standing off. Change the tactics and everyone looks better.

They played together against Bolton and Blackburn when we pressed a bit more than usual and they did very well.

Some serious crap written in this thread before yesterdays match BTW, no surprise to see the usual suspects heavily involved.

[Mostar]

MOM against West Ham today. Showed his true quality when played in his ideal poistion. Won the ball back plenty of times and showed a nice range of passing. Given that SG is out for a few, I think we'll see him stay in CM for a while and Roy may actually realise that's where he should always be played.

Ideal midfield would be him and Lucas at CM and SG in the hole.

[dom9]

Lucas and Meirrles played together in the centre against Everton and they got dominated, down to us sitting back and standing off. Change the tactics and everyone looks better.

Tactics had nothing to do with it last night. OK, maybe West Ham's tactics, which were to sit deeper than even Roy could imagine.

[danperkins]

Everyone played well against West Ham, suppose you can only play who is in front of you. I'm not knee jerking about anyones performance against West Ham as they "were" that bad but 3-0 is still a great result. Meireles is definitely more effective in the centre, no brainer really. Roy for some reason doesn't seem to trust Lucas/Meireles in the CM, maybe if Meireles imposed himself on games more and moved the ball around more it might change Roy's mind.

The fact that Stevie is injured gives Meireles the perfect opportunity to prove himself worthy of a CM slot. The Spurs game poses some very interesting battles player for player i.e. Johnson vs Bale & The Konch vs Lennon, but in central areas Spurs have Modric and VDV who has a very free role and drops deep sometimes, Lucas & Meireles will be very busy and will have to get control of those areas.

If i was a manager of any opposition playing against this LFC team, i would set my team out to go at them from the start, fast tempo, close down the spaces and put the midfield/defence under pressure at every opportunity as our ball retention is absolutely awful. IMO we are a terrible passing side and are lacking technically, teams that have got results from us this season have played a high tempo, pressing up the pitch and not giving us much time or space to pick passes. West Ham sat off, gave us acres of spaces to play,put us under no pressure it was like a training session and ultimately played into our hands and Roy's tactics, Stoke,Wigan,Birmingham,Everton,Sunderland,City,Bla ckpool all tightened the noose, gave us no time to think and we seem to panic in possession when this happens, compared to the likes of Arsenal/Spurs/United/Chelsea who are able to play in these tight spaces, nice little triangles and movement, always an out ball.

Should be a very interesting game anyways, IMO maybe Lucas will come in but team will stay the same. Interesting to see Lucas/Meireles in CM against a good team like Spurs as it didn't work out so well against Everton.