How this triumvirate could solve the Reds’ creative malaise

There were two crucial differences between Liverpool’s performances against Birmingham City last Sunday and against Steaua Bucharest on Thursday. Firstly we were playing a lower standard of opposition at home to help us to a good 4-1 victory over Steaua, but secondly, and more importantly in my mind, there was greater amount of creativity in the Liverpool team. Of course some of this is down to the standard of Steaua’s defence compared to Birmingham’s but no one can deny that the return of Joe Cole helped the team enormously. Certainly he was given space “in the hole” behind the striker but his overall quality link up play meant he capitalised on the opportunities he was given.

Raul Meireles first start for the club was also promising and although it was a somewhat low key performance, he opted to keep things simple in midfield alongside Jay Spearing, intercepting Steaua attacks when possible and pushing forward to support Cole and the other attackers when he could. Certainly there is more to come from Raul but Roy Hodgson believes the 27 year old will become a crucial player for us in the not too distant future:

“He’s a quality player and we need quality players at this club. We hope the more we work with him and the more he gets to know us that he will give a lot of quality to the side.”

Alongside Cole and Meireles, Steven Gerrard will be the other creative force in the Liverpool team this season, and I believe the three of them will have to play a crucial role in Liverpool’s season if the Reds are to have a successful campaign. With both Lucas Leiva and Christian Poulsen playing against Birmingham City last week, Gerrard looked isolated playing “in the hole” behind Fernando Torres. Birmingham City certainly stifled the Reds attacking play and prevented Gerrard from being an outlet ball, but with the inclusion of both Lucas and Poulsen from the start, there was a lack of service to the front two as too many passes were either misplaced or played square across midfield.

The return of Cole from suspension, and the reversion of Gerrard to central midfield should alleviate the creativity problems that have hampered Liverpool’s start to the season. If Meireles is as crucial to Liverpool’s future plans as Hodgson says, then it can be assumed that all three will start a fair few games together this season; something that can only be seen as a positive move by the manager. Against Manchester United tomorrow though I think it unlikely that all three will start with Meireles and Spearing from the Bucharest match being replaced by Gerrard and either Poulsen or Lucas. I hope I am wrong on this count though as Meireles can play as a holding midfield player despite his abilities in the attacking third; it would certainly be a positive move from Hodgson which would indicate that the Reds were coming to Old Trafford to attack.

In any case, the prospect of this triumvirate starting in midfield in future matches does interest me. How will the three interact and link up? Certainly none of the three could be said to be similar in style to the defensive midfielders of Poulsen and Lucas. Gerrard playing in central midfield will do his fair share of tackling but will also look to play the “quarter back” role distributing diagonal balls from deep and slicing through defences with through balls. I am hopeful Meireles can play in a similar style to Gerrard. He has a good passing range on him and can tackle, so playing alongside Gerrard would mean the possibility of them both interchanging as to when who goes forward and who holds. Let’s hope if Meireles does play in the deepest midfield role though, his abilities further forward are not stunted by his defensive duties in protecting the back four.

The most important aspect if both play though is how they link up with Joe Cole. Gerrard and Cole have already demonstrated that they can play on the same wavelength and if Meireles can be added into the mix without much disruption to the fluency of Liverpool’s play, then it could really add another creative outlet to the team. The three of them are however so far an untried possibility and I hope it is not too long before Roy tries out this exciting midfield unit.

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