Raul Meireles

[localny]

one of our best signings in a long time. He's a solid, reliable player. Cost very little, and doesn't get the plaudits he deserves. A highly industrious worker. Any more cliches to add? Quickly becoming my favorite.

 

[Judge Jules]

He's settled in very quickly and I like the look of him currently too, but I'm reserving full judgment yet awhile. In one or two previous games he hasn't seemed to like a tackle much, and we may not always be able to carry that as easily as we can just now.

 

[Markeh]

[quote author=localny link=topic=42409.msg1283218#msg1283218 date=1297369105]
one of our best signings in a long time. He's a solid, reliable player. Cost very little, and doesn't get the plaudits he deserves. A highly industrious worker. Any more cliches to add? Quickly becoming my favorite.
[/quote]

he passes and moves - always shows for the ball - never stands still - keeps his head up - great technique etc

i think he's great, just what we needed someone to get us playing football

 

[localny]

Well said lads. I didn't see the games where tackling didn't happen, but saw comments on here...

Seems like a tough type. So think terrier will emerge no?

So how's it working? He and Gerrard are getting forward.

I can spot a player and their best position quickly, but all this talk of formations gets me lost!

 

[King Binny]

Make that Merieles 5 goals in 6 games under Kenny

 

[RolandG]

Raul is a great signing and fast becoming a fan favourite for his all action style.

Only question mark hanging over him is his tackling which will likely improve but he is a great allrounder that can do it all.

Its a thrill to watch him in tandem with Gerrard, Suarez and Kuyt.

 

[red_maradona]

interestingly he played the dm role for portugal against argentina and was not that bad (according to highlights)

 

[Judge Jules]

His first few games in senior football were at fullback so you have to assume he can put his foot in, or could then. Maybe his recent injury is still in the back of his mind.

 

[King Binny]

Broke his personal best for league goals today with 5 in 23 EPL matches. Previous record was 4 in 28 SuperLiga matches (in 07/08 and 08/09)

With the goal against Wigan, also tied his seasonal best - 5 in 27 app (10/11) vs 5 in 41 app (08/09).

 

[iseered]

he already looked like a bargain when we got him, but now - wow!
seems like he is peaking at just the right time.

 

[Roopy]

Aight its 4.11am here.

Ive stumbled home drunk from town ...

Liverpool were aight, Meireles with the goal as usual.

Went to take a piss, missed the Wigan goal - shit farkin happens.

Night.

 

[Squiggles]

I've loved Meireles from day one but it's just keeps on growing with each match.

He always had the capability of striking the ball well - we saw that early on. But recently everything is on target, everything is hitting the back of the net, and he's always in exactly the right place at the right time.

We desperately needed someone new to contribute more goals to the club and Raul has stepped up with aplomb

 

[Spionkop69]

[quote author=Roopy link=topic=42409.msg1284738#msg1284738 date=1297534348]
Aight its 4.11am here.

Ive stumbled home drunk from town ...

Liverpool were aight, Meireles with the goal as usual.

Went to take a piss, missed the Wigan goal - shit farkin happens.

Night.
[/quote]

What the fuck is this "aight" bollocks? Perhaps in your drunkenness you forgot you were in Australia not Compton LA.

 

[King Binny]

When asked why, the Wigan manager, Roberto Martínez, suggested that Meireles, coming from Portuguese football, would always have required time to adapt, the kind of time Hodgson was never offered. Lucas Leiva thought the answer lay in the way Dalglish employed him.

"He has given him a more advanced role and the belief to score goals," he said. "The little advice he gives to us is massive. He wants us to play like Liverpool did in previous seasons. Every day he gives you a piece of advice that makes you think."

 

[SummerOnions]

[quote author=Binny link=topic=42409.msg1285206#msg1285206 date=1297679857]

When asked why, the Wigan manager, Roberto Martínez, suggested that Meireles, coming from Portuguese football, would always have required time to adapt, the kind of time Hodgson was never offered. Lucas Leiva thought the answer lay in the way Dalglish employed him.

"He has given him a more advanced role and the belief to score goals," he said. "The little advice he gives to us is massive. He wants us to play like Liverpool did in previous seasons. Every day he gives you a piece of advice that makes you think."

[/quote]

Just how it should be, which makes you wonder what respect or authority some managers command if they don't inspire the players.

 

[RolandG]

Lucas is saying all the right things lately.

He is in danger of being a likeable lad! Ha

 

[iseered]

Lucas has always been a model professional. Great attitude, strong mentality, no nonsense off the pitch, always toe the party line in interviews etc.
Only shame about the football.

 

[Judge Jules]

Good post. I'd only add that I think he could do a good enough job to be kept on as a squaddie.

 

[King Binny]

Raul MEIRELES says his red-hot Anfield form is down to the fact Kenny Dalglish believes in him more than Roy Hodgson.

The Porto midfielder had been a long-term Liverpool target before he became ex-boss Hodgson’s first major signing for the club last summer.

He joined from Porto for £11.5million, but endured a miserable first half of the ­season, until Dalglish returned.

Meireles, 27, has been a revelation since King Kenny took over nine games ago – scoring five goals in that period.

He said: “It is certain that ­under Dalglish I get more c­hances than I did in Hodgson’s time.

“I don’t know why, but perhaps Hodgson didn’t think too well of me. But I am the same now as I was then.

“The system we play now is different. We play more in ­attack, which helps me.

“Kenny Dalglish is closer to the players and he also speaks to them a lot more in training. The relationship between the players and coach is more ­direct.

“Hodgson is a veteran coach, an old-school gentleman, and was respectful towards the players. But the injuries and bad start to the season damaged our work with him.

“The key was to win the first few matches, which would have increased the squad’s morale.â€

One battle Meireles was always going to win hands down was most tattoos in the Liverpool dressing-room.

He added: “I have more tattoos than Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel, and each one corresponds to an experience I will always remember.

“I have been a tattoo fanatic since the age of 18. If Liverpool win the Europa League I will get a new tattoo – but I won’t say where I will have it.â€

Meireles knows three points will not be easy to come by today at a West Ham side fighting Premier League relegation.

He said: “They need to win against us because they are scrapping for their lives. They will give us problems and victory will not be easy. Both teams need three points and it will be a battle.

“We want to end the sason very high – in the Europa League positions.â€

 

[ILD]

9/1 for first goal today. ftw.

 

[SummerOnions]

I've got him FGS and us to win 3-0.

 

[Stulikesdrums]

[quote author=ILD link=topic=42409.msg1291931#msg1291931 date=1298810777]
9/1 for first goal today. ftw.
[/quote]

Hmmmm, tempting.

 

[Boozer]

First goal & 0-3 100-1. Definitely worth a quid.

 

[King Binny]

In the slim shape of Raul Meireles, Liverpool have someone who has driven the club forward while Gerrard, the man to whom they have perhaps looked too often for salvation, has struggled to find form and fitness.

Yesterday was a homecoming of sorts. He grew up and played for Porto, where the road from Braga meets the Atlantic, 30 miles away and when asked why his form had blossomed since the departure of Roy Hodgson, the man who had invested £11m of the club's money in him last summer, he gave a straightforward answer.

"The big difference is that this manager is playing me in a different position," said Meireles, who was habitually employed by Hodgson on the right wing. Lately, he has been used far more centrally and responded with five goals in six matches, the last of these against Wigan Athletic. There has been pressure on him to change his game but he is anxious to maintain the style he displayed at Porto. The only concession to English style he has made was to have his head shaved, an operation that initially was performed by his six-year-old daughter.

"It is difficult for me to be aggressive because I am not naturally like that," Meireles said. "Every game in England there are lots of tackles. I don't know if you can learn to be aggressive. If you are like that when you are young then it is always there.

"I don't think I need to change my game, it is not my style," he added. "I try to do my job, as I did at Porto. I am just me."

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

Can't get enough of our tattooed vulture. The following clip is about Suarez versus Man Utd,* but you can see in several plays how Meireles ran intelligently into space or made himself available to Suarez.

There are a couple of good examples in the first 2 minutes of the clip, but look at around the 2:10 mark for the box-to-box run he made to connect with Suarez's cross. It's breathtaking! Only realized now the distance he made up to get into that position. I think, Suarez's little bit of magic aside (and Kuyt's deadly finishing from 1 yard), that would have to be the most impressive bit of individual performance in the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCMX_gfyalw&feature=player_embedded#at=336

Ming deserves his own awesome LFC video compilations.

* similar to MKB's compilation in the Suarez mega-thread, except it's in HD

 

[LadyRed]

Isn't he so cool

 

[RolandG]

He is struggling a bit against Braga. Wonder if he's carrying an injury?

 

[Buddha]

[quote author=LadyRed link=topic=42409.msg1298401#msg1298401 date=1299783125]

Isn't he so cool
[/quote]

I don't know. I tend to get lost in those "come to bed' eyes.

 

[Portly]

[quote author=RolandG link=topic=42409.msg1298409#msg1298409 date=1299783386]
He is struggling a bit against Braga. Wonder if he's carrying an injury?
[/quote]

I think he may just be knackered - he has been putting in a hell of a lot of work lately. Important as he is, I think it might we a wise move to rest him for at least one game.

 

[Modo]

Don't need to rest him, 7 days to the next game.
Entire squad including Agger and hopefully Gerrard should be back for the return leg.

3 days later

Sunderland away - LOSS.