http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_7033685,00.html Raul meireles today has spoken about his desire to stay put. I for one am delighted as his work rate is completely unsung but optastats don't lie, he covers more ground than any other midfielder, just cos he doesn't get there late and thorw hismelf into a challenge doesn't mean his work rate isn't first class. So thats meireles, gerrard, adam, henderson and aquilani for attakcing roles then..... figure that one out!
In my opinion, that's good news. However, if a decent offer comes in for Aquilani from an Italian club, I can see him leaving. It's better to have too many midfielders than too little midfielders. Two words: Squad depth.
I thought Raul was one of our shining lights in a dim season..Doesn't make sense to sell him, when Cole,Aqilani and others should be shown the door.
King Kenny is not stupid, media can say any rubbish they like..but the king is tightlipped.You may have to get blood out of a stone. The news is good for all of us.
To be honest I put my hat in the Aquaman camp, but it appears he will be shown the door after all. I do think Merielles can do the job for us as he did last year.
Would prefer to keep Aquilani but only if he is really wants to stay. I'm glad Meireles has pledged his future but I wouldn't be bothered if he were to leave. He doesn't possess any real technical quality i.e. no skill, can't do long balls, no great vision. His only strength is his constant movement and positioning. We have too many players like i.e. Kuyt and Maxi. We need creativity, vision, incision - IMO only Gerrard (starting to lose it), Suarez and Aquillani can provide this (and hopefully Adam will as well).
I think we've a month of time to judge some guys now and hopefully will end up in a situation where guys prove/disprove under the current management whether they have a future with us. eg. 433 reina/doni johnson/kelly/flanagan carra/kyrgiakos* skertl/agger* Aurelio*/Robinson Lucas/poulsen*/spearing Gerrard/Henderson/Aquilani Adam/Meireles Suarez/cole* Carroll/n'dog* Kuyt/? I still see 6 gaps can some guys prove they can make a come back? example cole? Agger? if you look at this list its' not out of the question to call it a top 4 set up if some weaknesses were addressed such at CB,LB and up top.
One problem we have is that there has been so much garbage written about us on top of the most schizophrenic season in memory, that i don't think any of us are really sure what the players we've got are even capable of. Compare Lucas for example to De Jong, Carrick, Song, Mikel/Ramires. I wouldn't swap him for any of those, and yet 80% of other fans will tell us he is not top 4 material, and all of these players are regulars for top 4 sides. There's a lot of quality players in that list, and definitely enough that if they bring the best out of each other in a successful formation they can get us Champions League football.
I think Aquilani is a gem of a player, and one of the few we could get our hands on who would really be on the same wavelength as Suarez. Mereiles does a different job, his positioning and movement as people have said is excellent, and he always moves the ball on into dangerous areas/space. He kind of provides links between each phase of play and i think was almost solely responsible for the few times we didn't play long ball under Hodgson. We will now have Gerrard (i actually think this will be Gerrard's best season in years), Aquilani, and Suarez who are all top class at picking out the space in between defenders, which is why i think Downing will be a good addition. He, like Kuyt, will consistently provide an option. If you watch Downing he will make himself available down the wing all game long, and that will mean every time those other players want to put him through he will be there, and every time they don't then the full back and centreback will be struggling to cover him anyway, giving more space to our main men. If every time one of these get's the ball the opposition knows they have to cover that through ball between the full back and centre back they are going to find it tough.
