Raul Meireles

[Mark79]

Commoli

Can't have been Comolli, he was only appointed in November.

[Daniel 7]

I thought he was a Macia job...

[Shaggy]

Rudo is notable by his absence.

[dom9]

Very few thought of him to be a good signing. Glad he's proven wrong the doubters.

He's the prime example of what a player with confidence can do.

You reckon?

The consensus from where I am was that he looked to be a very good player, but Hodgson was failing to get the most put of him.

He is certainly not a right midfielder.

[little dave hedgehog]

I thought he was a Macia job...

You reckon?

The consensus from where I am was that he looked to be a very good player, but Hodgson was failing to get the most put of him.

He is certainly not a right midfielder.

these.

[Neil Young]

I was certainly under the impression that Cole and Meireles were not Hodgson signings, although he may have OK'd them. Poulsen and PFK on the other hand...

To be fair to Poulsen, he's looked better since Dalglish took over.

[Darkon]

He is fantastic in the box-to-box midfielder role, with a bit of freedom to express himself, great player and an integral part of the team with his current form.

[Qantaga]

After the win at Chelsea, I think we will see much more from Meireles the remainder of this season, like many have said, he will have confidence now after scoring a load of goals in recent games. I really like the guy, fair play a good signing

Off topic, but Kuyt has been playing very well for us last few games, and to think people here would let him go in the summer

[ric.williams]

funny that people were writing him off cos he lost a tackle

[Colonel Angus]

Who bought him? Was he one that Rafa bought before he left or is he one of the very few things that Roy actually got right?

It was Roy, who obviously was clueless as to what to do with him.

[Shaggy]

I remember reading somewhere - can't remember where though - that Meireles had been identified by Macia some time ago and was a target of the club, as it were. Raul said Hodgson worked hard to bring him here so he obviously played some part although I think we were buying him anyway. The fact Hodgson admitted he had no idea where his best position is spoke volumes.

[JohnDoe]

I never thought he had the tools to play such an advanced role. To me he is a classic, orthodox CM, box-to-box. But he's proving me wrong. Big player for us now.

Edit: Misread your post, yeah, we agree.

[Shaggy]

Speaking of Hodgson, he really must be feeling an even bigger chump now than he did when he was in charge.

"No one could do a better job with this set of players"

Oh dear.

The transformation has been unbelievable and almost instantaneous.

[wavydavy]

Get the feeling BBC and Sky will soon be talking about the lad like they talk about VDV. They'll all be piling on the bandwagon now. He's taken on those "hits" that drop on the edge of the area pretty much from the day he's been here without much luck. He finally seems to have found his range and they're flying in now. Two left foot and two right foot. Today's finish would have been beyond a lot of PL centre forwards. Great, modest interviews aswell. Good English. Seems a nice fella, too. Well worth the money now. Was a fairly well known, reliable player so whoever signed him it wasn't exactly a stroke of genius IMO. I think he was on the Radar under Rafa TBF. Bodge didn't seem to know a ****ing thing about him when asked.

[Shaggy]

Hodgson:

'I don't have any fears, worries or concerns,' he said. 'But if you put it to me "You feel there is no chance whatsoever of you getting sacked" then I would be in a minority of one in that respect.

'It happened to Chris Hughton, it happened to Sam Allardyce, Martin O'Neill resigned - we are all in that situation.

'But as someone who prides himself as a professional, who knows his job and is comfortable with doing his job, then you would excuse me for not going down the route you want me to go down in terms of "Who can we get rid of next?".

'Because basically speaking unless there is a major inflow of cash into the club and the team is going to be changed from one moment to the next then whoever takes my place will be doing a similar job with similar players.

'The owners have made it perfectly clear they are in it for the long term and they are going to be patient. They realise it is going to take time.

'They realise we can't turn things around overnight and they also realise that the team I am working with is not the team I put together.

'You don't turn things around overnight and they are aware of the magnitude of the task but they are very focused on what needs to be done and I am convinced they will help me get it done.'