In January 2011, after the game against Blackpool, I tweeted something on the lad.
It was along the lines of ‘with each passing game, I’m beginning to think Meireles is just overrated’.
Till that extent, I’ve only seen fleeting glimpses of brillance from Liverpool’s No. 4. My mind churned out an impression of him, coming to a definitive conclusion that he just wasn’t good enough.
For close to five months of football, what had he offered in the red shirt? Just the usual industrious nature, hard running, and perhaps, some brainless footballing. His shots rocketed into the stands on occasions more than one in games!
However, that conclusion proved to be short-lived. How wrong I was. Bam.
Just when I was starting to moan on how rote his football looked, and how dumbfounded I am whenever he gets his start, he proved all his critics wrong in the most emphatic fashion.
Even Tony Barrett, the most respected Liverpool journalist by a mile, stood in awe.
‘TonyBarretTimes Tony Barrett
His unusual error misspelling the word ‘Raul’ only served to underline his excitement at the nature of the sublime finish Meireles conjured up yesterday. I could imagine him, hands punching the air in delight, and having barely settled down, tweeted the message furiously after much elation!
His rich vein of form came after smashing a supreme shot past a hapless Tim Howard, flapping his arms in utter desperation. Was it a sign of things to come, or was it just a one-off? Little did we knew, but till then, it was perhaps a welcome relief that Meireles managed to grab a goal and ease the weight from his shoulders.
And from then, his confidence flew. Sky-high. The bald head started strutting his stuff in a Liverpool shirt. The following weekend, when all we needed was to exorcise the ghost of the away games curse and come away with a much needed victory, Raul smashed a dipping peach only to see Hennessey rooted, gazing in amazement as the ball ripped the back of the net.
It’s been business pretty much ever since. Yesterday’s goal against Wigan, yet another supreme volley, put him on a roll of 5 goals in 6 games.
Dalglish’s return to the hotseat has certainly inspired the Portuguese. The King has ulitised him in an advanced attacking role, and the impact it had has been mind-blowing.
Professionalism, belief, optimism, and confidence in himself. The inspired revival of a sleepy Meireles has been brought out by the King himself.
Twitter @redsonfire
Dear Charles, the issue here is that like many, you tend to judge players on their performances with the Reds. You need to have some history of how these players were performing before they came to Anfield. It is very probable, that if they caught the eye of the scouts, then these were playing their best football in their ideal position.
When Meireles came to Anfield Roy played him all over the place and never in his favoured position. This is proved by the fact that once he was positioned where he could express himself, there is no other player that has scored more than him even though he is not an attacker.
The same happened with Aquilani under Rafa. First we waited endlessly for his injury to heel and for the player to be fit. When he was fully fit we used him so sparingly he got bored and requested to be loaned out. He is a first team regular with Juventus, and Juventus are not exactly Scunthorpe United (will all due respect).
Managers don’t always get it right friend.
SOME MANAGERS NEVER GET IT RIGHT – NO NAMES REQUIRED.
Absolutely agree with Tonio Bone here. He was never bad or useless and most players do not hit the ground running in a new league, even the best ones can sometimes take time, look at Bale or even closer to home look at Carragher, he took years to come good because he was made to play somewhere else. Just because he didn’t score goals before it didn’t mean he played badly. He played quite well in a lot of games even though he was played out of position often and had not settled into english football yet. If he plays deep again and doesn’t get into scoring positions and thus doesn’t score goals will you say he’s crap again? This site might be a place where average fans can express their opinions but honestly this is why journalism takes precendence over blogs. We can slam the media when we wish to but it doesn’t change the fact that most people cannot present something that is of quality. Good intentions do not make good discourse. Please think more carefully and do some more research before you write another piece.
Just like other critics. They all concluded that Raul was a bad buy and a below par player. I had never seen him play before but the first time I saw him play for Liverpool, I knew he has it in him to make it at Liverpool and in the EPL. In fact, in all my comments in the various sites, I had opined that he is a good buy & will be a good midfielder for Liverpool.
Even when played out of position, he still exhibited his skills sparingly – the ball control, good movement at times and a keen eye for goal. If you are a footballer yourself, you would have concluded the same. Any footballer would noticed it. Only that ROy did not use him correctly. So, please do not be an arm chair critic. Play the game and appreciate the game before you start passing judgments on players.
with all due respect charles, the game of football is much more than scoring goals. RM has played great all year and since the first match was close to scoring, but while he didnt score, he was easily our most consistent midfielder, tackles well, passes the ball with precision, works hard playing box to box and stayed healthy (which is very important for us, considering out bench is not exactly Top 4 quality). you were dumbfounded whenever he got a start? who would you have started? We are talking about the quality of a central midfielder thats starts for Portugal. One of the top countries in the world.
This isnt the Portuguese Liga, its the EPL, the most revered and toughest league in the world, and its shown in the past that it takes time for players to get adjusted to life in England and furthermore, PLAYING in England. Once Stevie came back and Kenny put RM in his more familiar position of central midfield, the quality has shown even further.
Before RM scored his first i believe he hit the post a few times, and then it happened, and now the faucet is open. not only that though, he is controlling our midfield. against wigan, you noticed a difference in the team once he was taken off. we had no one in the central midfield that could hold and distribute the ball which is why we were counter attacking for most of the half. and with gerrard playing behind him he is even more threatening because gerrard solidifies the back 4 and the midfield allowing RM to run wild in the opponents half.
don’t be so quick to judge players, ESPECIALLY on statistics. in a sport that only has a few goals per match, judging someone on how often they score is not exactly the best indicator of performance.
but let this be our biggest problems at LFC….and may Raul keep scoring.
Great players can play well out of position, whilst goals from midfield is not the best indicator of how important their contribution is to the team. Patrick Viera is/was a fine example of this, Mascherano another. Perhaps Meireles doesn’t like doing the dirty jobs so much, whereas those like Dirk and Lucas are the example of what playing for the team really means.
Not that I am defending this article of course, but to be fair to Charles, he is confessing the errors of his judgement here: “How wrong I was. Bam.”.
Perhaps by sharing his thoughts serves as a warning to other fellow detractors who seek to pass premature judgement on new or foreign EPL players in future.
Wouldn’t it be more refreshing if other broadcasters or journos or ex players/managers came out and did the same once in a while?
I wouldn’t get so worked up over this article.
helo CHARLES thanks for your comment,i don’t think that[RAUL]was a bad player i’ve watch him playing for-FC,PORTO]and i’ve seen some good touches he has made while playing,the problem we were having was-ROY-did’nt know how to use these players in their right positions that was our problem we the-LFC-fans personaly myself was against-ROY-to remain in the our club,atleast since the starting of [mr.KENNY]we’ve seen the differernt in both managers.
You could tell he was quality in the world cup in the summer where he was portugal’s best player. I was made up when roy signed him and you saw it in fits and starts but kenny’s bringin out the best in him.