He was the only player that Hodgson brought in that was actually any good. Thought he was good even though couldn't tackle for crap. Was also played out of position quite a bit out on the wing which didn't help him. Certainly wouldn't have done any worse than Allen has done this season but £15mil from Chelsea was a good deal at the time after signing him for £8mil I think it was.
Meireles is one of those players that I appreciated more after he left. He had a reputation of being a dynamic midfielder who would provide energy but I never really saw it. Instead, he was a clever player who made the right decisions and could score a few goals. Decision making and game intelligence are attributes that are very hard to come by, but I think Raul definitely had it. In fact, both he and Aquilani had it - it's a shame neither stayed long enough.
Is that a good or bad thing? And agreed on Mulumbu. Someone like him or James McCarthy, as I mentioned yesterday on the player in, player out thread (my post sadly killed the thread )
I liked Meireles, he regularly ran further than most of our other players and had an eye for goal too. However, I tend to take the stance of "if you don't want to be at this club and play for the Liverpool then you can ****off", probably goes some way to explaining my disliking for lazy bastards too
