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View from the Kop

Does their display force Roy into a RIGHT captain’s dilemma?

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I was at White Hart Lane to witness what was surely Liverpool’s best away display of the season on Sunday. That might not be saying much as the Reds have had a pretty poor away record for the calendar year with only two away wins, but the first half especially showed a great deal of promise for the future. I wrote in an article yesterday that I was surprised about the boldness of Roy Hodgson employing a 4-4-2 formation, and the attacking mentality nearly paid off. If we had taken our first half chances, we would have surely been rewarded with a victory.

Central to Liverpool’s good display in parts was the partnership of Lucas Leiva and Raul Meireles in central midfield. I have mentioned already in another article about Lucas’s recent displays and suffice to say, he is streets ahead of our other defensive midfielder Christian Poulsen at the moment, breaking up opposition attacks, intercepting passes and starting off threatening attacks for the Reds. Meireles has however also found his feet in his two most recent games. It can be no coincidence that his best displays have come playing in his favoured position in central midfield in Steven Gerrard’s absence. Although certainly not playing at his optimum level yet, there are more and more glimpses that he is getting to grips with English football and the Premier League.

Against West Ham a couple of weeks ago, he began to show his good passing range and his control of the game, which was lacking when he was sidelined to playing on the right hand side. The 27 year old neither provided any width from the right nor contributed a great deal in more central positions, with the exception of a few perfectly weighted passes and one twos. It was said that Roy was trying to find his best position but if his two previous performances are anything to go by, it looks clear that the manager was trying to accommodate him in the starting eleven while Steven Gerrard took his place in central midfield.

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6 comments

  • Scooter says:

    Gerrard on the right and Kuyt up front with Torres, he looked good there a couple of weeks ago.

  • Eric says:

    What’s the point of bringing a quality central midfielder to the club and playing him out wide? Doesn’t really make sense to me when he was played on the right and his performances in the centre of the park shows that he’s more than capable of featuring in the middle. He’s a quality all-round midfielder who can defend adeptly, his passing is fantastic and has a great shot. I would stick with the Lucas-Meireles partnership cause that’s working very well in my opinion so when Stevie G returns he should play just off Torres and I think that would be the most sensible thing to do considering that Stevie and Torres have such a wonderful partnership. It would be such a waste if Meireles has to play out wide cause I think he’s an excellent central midfielder so I really hope Woy makes the correct decision when Gerrard returns and play him off Torres and continue to field Lucas and Meireles in the centre.

    • Lan says:

      true to that eric. what we need now are wingers and strikers. but i’ve noticed that ngog has improved a lot since last season. well i would like him up front as well.

    • tee somethang says:

      sell kuyt,buy adam johnson and let steve play off tores.

  • Neo says:

    We need players in jan to have strong second half of season the league is wide open

  • bren says:

    Agree,Lucas has probably been our best player this year and while I was not always a big fan I have noticed great improvement in his tackling and ability to win ball either commin head on or in recovery from behind in closing. He is a very honest player and is improving fast, he is still young, his heading in front of goal could improve as he ofthen gets on the end of things in set plays.

    Meireles looks like a proper central mid filed player to me, he is adapting but I love the positions he takles up and his decision making. He could be the man to replace Alonso (who is undoubted a hard act to follow), he probably does not hurt teams from as deep as Alonso but he will also score goals shortly, reminds me of Ronnie Whelan and that is a good comparision.

    I would prefer Kelly at right back, dont think he would have been so caught out for first goal and push Johnson to right wing.

    Stevie can play behind Torres as Meireles starts to settle and he is cover for mid field. We need to unload Poslon, Joanavic (useless) , Babble – time is up and our useless left back from Fulham.

    Buy a top no 9 and 10 strikers, one could be cheap or a free, give cole a kick up the arse and stick hom on left but buy someone like Mata to compete with him, that will bring best out of him, and we need at least one left back, JAR I would say for next 2 or 3 years with a young player challenging.

    No need for center backs unless one goes but if we do get one then Taylor on a free would be my choice.

    In place of Polson, I would get Kevin Nolan from Newcastle, a scouer, underated and scored 7 this year, he would be a good squad addition.

    The choice of strikers are critical, I would get Robbie Keane back for under 5m, RCS for same, unless some top striker is available for 15 to 20m (Benziman as the #9 or Carrol, I have been saying for over 2 years that van der vart was a top #10 player to play with Torres) and that does not include C.Cole or Crouch either or Cisse. My view watching a little Italian football is that strikers there wont cut it in the PL.

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