Most Liverpool fans would agree that Raul Meireles is pretty much the only summer signing who can call himself a relative success this season. Although not yet considered a hit, the former FC Porto man has often shown glimpses of his class during matches and will have done his growing reputation no harm with his recent derby day goal against Everton.
The first goal for Liverpool was a long time coming for Meireles, who has missed his fair share of gilt-edged chances during his short time here. Anyone who has seen him play for Porto and Portugal though will have known that it was only a matter of time before he put one of his chances away, and the Merseyside derby was the perfect opportunity for him to announce his Premier League arrival. I just hope that the goal helps to spur Meireles on for the rest of the campaign because I believe that he possesses the ability to become one of our star players once he’s fully settled in.
In the last few years, we’ve lost midfielders the calibre of Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano and it could be argued that they have yet to be replaced. Lucas is steadily improving and has made himself a great squad player to have, but to be challenging for the top honours I believe we need a little better. Lucas Leiva is very much a player with some talent but isn’t yet the finished article, meanwhile Christian Poulsen has been average at best whenever he’s played.
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I`ve seen better, plus hes a bit light weight.
He’s not a patch on Alonso, I think its fair that we have to give him time but if I’m honest I prefered Aqualani but because of Hodgson & Purslow I dont think we will see Aqua in a LFC shirt again
i total agree , think meireles will prove to be a very good player for us. he played well 1st half against spurs.i’d like to see a top defensive midfielder bought then sell lucas n poulson .in some games we could play gerrard n meireles but against top teams we need a defensive midfielder
Sell Lucas? I know he’s had his detractors but the lad is starting to come right, he’s one of the very few in the squad who can hold his head high this season as far as I’m concerned.
As for wanting a defensive midfielder what do you think Lucas is? He’s not an Alonso (who is?) but his work rate and effort this season combined with the sheer bloody mindedness to win the ball back when he loses it has been commendable….. or haven’t you noticed?
Unfortunately his reputation gained amongst some supporters has blinded them to seeing the improvement he has made over the last season and a half.
This does not surprise me however as we have seen this before. Remember Ray Houghton? Pilloried by some supporters as being lazy and lacking in effort but in his last couple of seasons he was one of our most outstanding players.
no doubt, lucas has improved a lot but even at his best, he is only a squad player…
do u think he wud make the first team at any of the other top teams??
i wudn’t want to sell him but wud use him as a squad player.. we hv still not replaced mascherano and i hope we get a world class defensive midfielder in the summer if not now…
So you are agreeing with me don’t sell Lucas….I never said he should be an automatic first choice but when we need to dig deep and work hard for a result he is the perfect player, not pretty but has his uses
Yup we need a good quality cm beside him to realize his full potential in a high paced league like bpl. Someone like banega or mousa sissoko or lass diarra. There are however no doubts about meireles’ class, he reads the game well, is an excellent passer of the ball, makes intelligent runs, has a venomous shot. In time he will be one of our star players.
merieles was one of the top midfielders at last years world cup, given time he will show it for liverpool. he is one of the best midfielders in europe
maybe not an alonso but he’s definitely better than aqualani…
i dont knw why so many ppl obssess over aqualani, he was never cut out for the premier league…
i prefer Meireles to Aquilani and remember that Aquilani had his best games very late of last season when he was starting to find his passes and pace better.that’s what i expect from meireles at a higher value.but still we aint very good when it comes to marking that’s why we need a defensive midfielder.Lassana Diarra would be very good in my opinion
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Coentrao
L.Diarra
Gerrard Meireles
Cole Torres Suarez
Bench:….SIGN PLAYERS!!!and also promote some lad from the academy like Suso,Sterling and Ince
also dont forget that Meireles was played(without a reason!!) at right midfield by Hodgson..the guy is a CENTRAL MIDFIELDER
The way he shirked the tackle from Rafel at Man Utd said it all for me. Better but not good enough.
NEXT???
Mereiles looked to be still feeling the ankle injury that kept him out the previous week, when he opted out of tackle with Rafael. If he had tackled, chances are he would have had a broken leg. Not a good way of proving Rafaels challenge was worth a sending off.
its the guys 1st season… give him some time… once KK establishes our pass and move game, things will turn around. this will not happen straight away, but it will happen and then you will see how the whole team plays with better freedom and expression to show what they can do… stop ebing so critical!!!
Raul Meireles is one of the best midfielders in Europe. His passing might not be as good as Alonso but his all round play and work rate is much better. He has exceptional skills and 11 mil for the guy is a bargain. It’s his first season here but we’ve already seen some of his quality and I expect him to go from strength to strength over the next few seasons. He can no doubt play with Gerrard in central midfield but I think it’s better to play with a ‘midfield destroyer’, perhaps someone like Lassana Diarra, Moussa Sissoko or Anthony Annan would do the job. Meireles has also proved his class at Porto and in the Portuguese team and if he can further replicate that form at Liverpool then we truly have a world class central midfielder at our disposal.
great read first of all, meiereles has been one of better players this season IMO, i do not understand why he has been playing right midfield of late but feel like he’ll be great player for us towards the end of the season, he has a cracker shot and i believe i wasnt the only one waiting for that ball to go into the top corner as soon as it feel to meierles, if we could sign a better defensive midfidler and a striker ( suarez it would benefit our team.