Raul Meireles Joins Chelsea

So was his middle finger really aimed at Lucas?

And he wasn't fit enough for the Bolton game?

Youve got to see the positives, 
1.He fannied out of tackles at every opportunity, 
2.Was only really effective in one position, behind the front two (totally anonymous when played wide or deeper in the centre)
3. His ego obviously thought he was deserving of an improved pay deal because a few standout goals
4. His attitude stinks because he obviously pimped himself out to Chelsea and did a Torres by putting in a late transfer request
5. Kenny must be fairly convinced Gerrard will be back soon from injury
6. Most importantly his looks like a smelly pikey from a council estate

Liverpool will finish above Chelsea this year, I tell ye!

Upsetting. Waking up to this having checked out post-Bellamy arriving at Melwood. My coffee now tastes like shite. F'ing hipster douche.

Well done kenny! in shipping all the sh*te out of anfield none of them had a chance but it was a shame it didnt work out for joe cole, the rest never stood a chance. I dont expect to win the title this year but i wouldnt put it past kenny, next year will be a different story working out who is up to the challenge and replacing them if they are'nt up 2 the standard. IT IS LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS AGAIN

With a fit Gerrard to return, Meireles' first team opportunities would have been limited anyway. In the end we have got rid of a player that didn't want to stay at the club. An unhappy player can cause disharmony in a dressing room, as I am sure Spurs found out when Modric arrived this morning. The silver lining here is that we have an plethora of midfield option to choose from anyway.

So, like many LFC fans I would have preferred Meireles to stay, but hopefully with a fit squad and no European football as a distraction, we should still have a very good season. And as with Torres and Yossi before him, the pattern seems to be that players careers take a turn for the worse when they leave Liverpool and join Chelsea. Good luck Raul.....

Modirc= 40m + transfer request(3months.) Raul(injured?)=12m + transfer request(minutes.) Both had full contracts. I just get more and more confused... Maybe I'm thinking too hard about this... I dont want to say the club decided to just say bye 45 til midnight... He never seemed unhappy...

Modric** never filed a transfer request, he only told the media he wanted to go to chelsea and told harry that he didn't want to play in Europe & the ManC game.

WHAT A GREAT TRANSFER WINDOW!
 
Shipped out Insua, Aquilani, Ayala, Soto, Poulsen, Cole & Ngog. Degen contract terminated. Pacheco out on loan, hopefully for developmental purposes.
 
Shame Insua & Ayala never fulfilled early promise.
 
Shame Aquilani and Meireles didn’t want to play for us – whatever the circumstances may be for that.
 
We’ve brought in a quality left back, an experienced back up striker bought in who can drop deep and drift right (i.e. is a perfect back up for Suarez) and a promising young defender brought in who can be transitioned in gently.
 
We have 2 players competing for each position. Admittedly having Aquilani and Meireles would have given us more strength in depth, but we aren’t in Europe this year so have limited games to keep a whole ‘top drawer’ squad happy. More importantly, with the squad set up, 2 or 3 of those players can play in multiple positions across the park, so the panic about having to rely on Spearing/Shelvey is less warranted. Additionally, they key to developing youth is to enable them to get minutes on the park. There’s no point in having promising youth if you aren’t prepared to give them time on the pitch.
 
A ECL league finish will see further expenditure next year on elite players who will have some further motivation to join us rather than just the history and reputation of the club.
 
   

We rid ourselves of a player that didn't want to be here-- same concept as the Torres deal (with way less monetary return).  Raul's goals were so spectacular last year that I think it's jaded us to his supposed midfield wizardry.  Don't get me wrong, I don't know where we'd be without his contributions last year-- I just don't see any reason for doom and gloom. 

 I'm not sure what his wages were, but there's a rumor going around that Liverpool may have ended up with a zero net spend this transfer period because of the wages they dumped.  If the financial fair play (FFP)  rules ever mean ANYTHING, we just came out way ahead of Chelsea and Man City during the transfer period.  If John Henry made an error in his analysis of the enforcement of FFP, then we might not just worry about the results on the pitch this year, we might be looking for new ownership in about 2 years because this game will be as unsustainable as Greece's entitlement programs.

Calm down, it isn't nearly as bleak as all that. I like this club as much as the next lunatic but this really is not a big deal. Just think of how injured he gets and how useless he is at tackling, and then imagine Agger running directly over him and you won't care anymore.

An Agger elbow would put all my worries to bed, as it did last time. God bless Dan Agger...You wonderful loyal Viking you...

meireles is a top top player but one slight worry i had was that with so many midfielders in the squad and no european games we wouldnt give any games to the youngsters who did so well under kenny last season. dont get me wrong i would prefer raul to still be with us but the silver lining is we can now play shelvey et al. united couldve bought sneijder but are placing their faith in cleverly and kenny too believes that the kids at his disposal are a better option than the alternative which is to keep a player whos not happy and why shouldnt he believe that? i really dont rate cleverly as a better player than shelvey and whilst hes nowhere near the level meireles is at we can get him there by playing him more and getting him experience. all that matters is, is he good enough to play as part of a winning team and the answer is a resounding yes - he proved last season under kenny that he can play well so lets play him. hansen keeps telling us via motd fergie is the master of rebuilding squads but we all know kenny is a better manager so lets keep the faith. after all if an unhappy meireles was a better option than a committed youngster then kenny wouldnt have let him go but he has faith in the squad, why shouldnt we? in kenny we trust

I don't really want to compare Shelvey and Cleverley just yet as they are three years apart at a crucial time in their development but I agree Shelvey looks to have a lot of quality.  His passing range and touch cannot be coached.  He moves fairly well although his inexperience shows on his lack of positional and tactical awareness sometimes.  The NextGen Series will be good for all the under 19's and hopefully they can be mixed in for league and cup matches from time to time this season as well.

yep the nextgen series will be great for the kids but i do think theres nothing like first team experience in the premiership and if shelvey only plays in 20 or so games, coming on as a sub, this will lead to massive progress in his development. in terms of comparing with  i wasnt sure of cleverlys age but what i would say about shelvey is hes a big lad for his age so can hold his own physically and as you rightly pointed he has fantastic passing quality which will only improve playing alongside gerrard and adam. meireles was the kind of player that could change a game whereas shelvey is at a standard where he will 'play his part' so there will be a greater onus on the senior players to provide the spark but in the long term it means shelvey will reach the point where he can do the special things sooner. so whilst i was gutted meireles left i am excited at the prospect of the kids being given a chance to shine and lfc discovering the next stevie g or carra. 

RM is not going to make or break Chelsea, and he wasn't going to make or break us. Apparently there was something that made him less desirable to Daglish & Co., so they were willing to shop him around a bit. And for now I'm giving mgmt the benefit of the doubt given the results so far, and applaud their decision to put a high value on real Reds commitment -- squad cohesion will pay dividends over a long campaign.

He's a good player in some obvious ways, but also with some limitations that made it hard for him to find a consistent settled role in the first team. What he's going to do at Chelsea is a bit of a puzzle, really.

We'll be fine without RM, really.

What's done is done. Yes, it's hard to take, but who knows this could be a blessing in disguise. Overall, imo it's a successful transfer window. I hope it won't be too long before people say 'Raul who?'.

I am officially gutted. It's a horrible mistake and I can't see the upside when we can't even spend the money.

January? Are we throwing the money away? Chin up.

I just.. can't. Ugh. I'm disgusted. And to think that Meireles scored the winner against them last season.

I am surprised by the negativity expressed by the writer. Another foreign mercenary has been shipped out along with the deadwood, all of it. People slagged Dalglish for going British and criticized for more foreign buys. They just don't have the loyalty. I hope we have a team that will sweat blood sweat and tears for each other now. With money already reserved for January to re-assess how things are gelling. I am over the bloody moon. Absolutely sick of people putting a negative spin on everything. We are 3rd and significantly stronger than last year in every position.

I am so sick of this xenophobic attitude. The midfield has no guile and when we come up against the upper echelon teams we will fall short. I would love nothing more than to see up and coming ENGLISH players coming through but that requires patience and I am not sure the fan base has enough. Also in order to be a high quality player a certain amount of technique and guile is required. Do we have that other than Suarez? No you just can't win that way.

I agree that we're much much stronger overall -- it just peeves me when players don't understand how lucky they are to play for a team with the fanbase that Liverpool has.  But the entirety of this summer transfer window has been revolutionary, the match strategy employed by the King has been effective and exciting (and improving!), and I cannot wait for the Stoke match.  So cheers, drink up, and let's win every bloody trophy we can

Here's how I feel about Chelsea, beware all LFC fans... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

You know my apprehension is directed towards something completely different now. This is the third time it has happened in a yeah where I was dead sure the deal wasn't going to happen and it happened(Torres and adam being the first 2). I now think that no transfer rumors especially if it has chelsea in it can be neglected anymore. I was this naive fuck thinking players do give a shit about the club. Even in torres's case he handed in a transfer request, hence making all these rumor mongering actually credible. I feel like an idiot for assuaging a friend(and buying drinks for him) saying that meriles deal is rubbish it is not gonna happen. Just like I did it for torres's and Adam's deal was the drinking topic for most of the summer. I actually didn't buy into him being worldclass but that's not even the point anymore. I one of those things when you realise a dumb friend of yours was right 3 times and you were so horribly wrong.
Even fucking spurs could hold onto modric when 40 fucking mill was offered. I mean are spurs are better than liverpool for holding onto players now?  Chelsea transfer policy is so simple. Keep a tab on all top 4 players of all major leagues. The moment some fuck wants more money BAM put in a offer. 

fuck I just realised I would rather Man u win the title than chelsea right now.

I read somewhere else and I agree; the FSG policy is not the money but the player. If the player wants to leave and hands in a transfer request, it means that if they force him to stay its just a lose lose situation for both sides. And as talented as RM is, by forcing him to stay, they'll end up getting less for him later and there's the big chance he won't perform with his heart and soul like a lot of the other players.

If anyone needs me, I'll be curled up, spending quality time with my blankie.

If he’s handed in a transfer then he’s had his head turned; I suspect by being reunited with AVB and of course the billions at Chelsea’s disposal. Once Chelsea had bid for him and we’d turned it down, we had signalled our intent. Once the written transfer request comes in though, why keep an unhappy player.
 
                                                Carroll
                                                Kuyt
                                                                                Suarez
                                                                                Bellamy
 
Downing
Maxi
 
                                                                                                Gerrard
                                                                                                Henderson
                                Adam
                                Shelvey                   Lucas
                                                             Spearing
 
Enrique               Agger                    Carra                     Johnson
Aurelio                Coates                  Skrtel                    Flanagan
Robinson             Wilson                   Kelly
 
                                                Reina
                                                Doni
                                                Jones
 
All the deadwood is gone.
 
We have no European football to keep a massive squad happy.
 
We have a lot of promising youth.
 
Its not been a bad 6 months really has it?

I think your depth chart is really accurate.  I hope Coates can push himself into at least the conversation for the first eleven sooner rather than later.  And I think it would be nice to see him partner with Agger.

The Bellamy signing impresses me; not that I think he's world class, but he's the type of player we will use when Luis is out. Busy, pacey, nightmare for defenders. At 32 he know's he's not 1st choice, but he know's he'll be used regularly. Imagine the team without that presence...

In Carroll and Kuyt we have 2 different types of striker, a midfield that are flexible enough to play 4-3-3, 4-2-2-2 or 4-2-3-1. (only a true right winger is mising from this squad as far as I can see) and a bit more depth in defence.

The summer transfer window will also be key.
A world class replacement for Carragher, someone who will slot straight in effectively. I'd like to think we could attract a Hummels/Subotic quality player (if they continue on their ever improving trend)

Alongside that we then assess the squad players and work out if the youngsters are good enough i.e. Spearing, Shelvey, Wilson, Kelly, Flanno and Robbo all get assesed this year. Spearing at 22 is the one most likely to be motiored most closely and whoever isn't good enough will be replaced.

Beyond that it will be dependant on where we finish, but looking to the future, we'll need to plan for replacing Gerrard (31), Maxi (30), Bellamy (32) and Kuyt (31)

I'm sure Bellamy wouldn't have been 1st choice striker target, though he's certainly not a bad choice, so question is, who was on the list above him?

worse thing is Chelsea are strengthened a bit re our ECL challenge.  But we have Gerrard and Adam.

I think his leaving is over-egged though there's no doubt he looks good when playing in Adam's position before.

Next summer we would have to renegotiate his contract as it would be down to 2 years at the age of 29.  Ok that's not the critical thing but that becomes a tricky decision for FSG - not convinced it would happen.

We have plenty of midfielders and Gerrard comes first if fit (fingers crossed).  He's not that great on the wings and doesnt score a hatfull, though he's not terrible by any means.  Gets niggly injuries it seems.

We've moved to more of a wing based playing style, bought in the proven Bellamy which is very attack/pace/wing  minded which is what we've tried using Raul for.

Add to that, he's more than doubled his wages in what is his last senior contract.  He also gets Champions League footy, so hard to blame him really.

The net result is we have a more attack minded squad than before and if Adam [or Gerrard] are doing the distribution, we need clinical attackers to receive: Downing, Suarez, Carroll, Bellamy, Henderson, Gerrard, Maxi, Kuyt.  Raul, though competent, is not a number 10.

I think the net result is better because Dalglish wants a more attacking squad in front of Lucas and Adam.

So its official, Liverpool have
now consummated its position as Chelseas feeder club in the same way Arsenal
has reconciled itself to its existence as man cities apprenticeship nursery.

Ambramovich being the apotheosis
of an efficient businessman has abandoned the Frank Arnsen home grown talent
developing project and instead seeks to leverage value out of allowing other
premiership clubs to buy foreign talent and then waiting a season or two to see
which one adjusts in order to proceed with first, a coy media flirtation and
then a-garden-variety-tapping up. Why have one Frank Arnesen taking 4 years to develop
the likes Manciennes, Josh, Aanholts, Kakutas etc only for them
to be loaned out at the first opportunity when you can depend upon the scouting
regimes of 19 other clubs.

To those saying its not a
significant loss.

The premiership is a squad based
competition and it will take a full squad with a full complement of players to
compete. There will be injuries and so called "back up" players
suddenly find themselves elevated to the position of first team regulars for
weeks and even months at a time. Its not a coincidence that the most fluid and
dynamic periods of play Liverpool have had recently (2-5 vs Fulham and 0-2 vs
Arsenal ) have come with  Meireles in the
team. Carroll and the other “athletic”, vertical types of players who think in linear lines, decrease mobility and decrease the productivity of 3rd,4th
and 5th phases of possession, Meireles is the kind of player that
increases it.

Who knows what role Meireles
might have played, two or three long term injuries into the season? He could
play anywhere across the front midfield. Gerrard is in decline, Henderson is
still in development and neither Spearing, Shelvey or Maxi have yet to be fully
trusted with a consistent place in the team. This entire move hinges on the
question, do you think Shelvey, Spearing, Maxi, Henderson can add what Meireles
added to the team?

Fenway capital for all their talk
of taking a sober, analytical and quantitative approach to managing the playing
roster have left themselves badly exposed. Yes Meireles might have indicated an
implicit desire for a move, yes Meireles might have expressed ambivalence as to
his place in the squad but foreign clubs were an option, why strengthen rivals
when the cubs managements expressed goal is to secure at a minimum 4th and
champions league football for next season? With Chelsea and arsenal
strengthened and Liverpool weakened they have made the realization of their own
goal that much harder.£12 million for Meireles (and no Sturridge etc) against
a potential loss of £40 million in champions league revenue doesn’t make much
sense. Saying Meireles existence would have guaranteed Champions league
football is of course exaggeration but what is not an exaggeration is to say
keeping him at best or selling him abroad at worst would have been a statement
of the clubs serious commitment to realize its goals ahead of strengthening
rivals.

The definition of a successful
transfer deadline window is one that increases options available to a team and
the dimensions a squad can play in. This period hasn’t increased options, its
reduced them.

The fact that Chelsea’s original
offer for £11 million including benayoun together with Meireles own late
transfer request suggested that this deal had always been a contingency for the
potential collapse of the Modric deal. This should alerted Liverpool to have
replacements ready. Instead, they lose a current international form player and
gain Bellamy, an ex player in decline. This is the second time in less than 8
months that they have found themselves in this position.

Why do Liverpool players seem
uniquely vulnerable to this game of tapping up and capricious brinksmanship?
Who is next in the next transfer window? The same early expressions of a commitment
to the club; the same denials of interest from other clubs; then the inevitable
leaked stories of disaffection and contract wrangling’s used as a pretext to
create the platform for an offer; then synthetic and cosmetic intransigence
from the club; a failure to cultivate credible replacements in time for the
window; then a player handing in a late transfer request with Liverpool’s media
department having to use players like Carroll and Bellamy as a form  of public relations compensation.

Why do the Chelsea board assume
Liverpool wont be able to resist their persistent moves for their players where
as the likes of Tottenham, Man Utd etc will. Modric stayed at White Hart Lane despite
a 3 month campaign from Chelsea to unsettle him and the final offer of £40
million. Liverpools resolve these days it appears can be measured in a matter of minutes. Look what Alex Ferguson did when a player that even he did not think was a first team regular requested a move to Anfield. He forced Heinze to move aboard. This pattern will be repeated with Reina, Suarez, Agger and co over
the next few transfer cycles and the public relations spin will be some miserly
platitude about “bringing in exciting British talent for the future”.

Minus Meireles, Ngog,Cole,Poulsen, Kyriagos Insua etc
Plus Bellamy

Minus 5 admitted squad players surplus to requirements but one current relevant player and adding a 31 year old inside forward you had when he was in his prime years ago......

No pure striking backup for Carroll, no adaptive midfielder who can play anywhere across the front of midfield changing the dimension of play.

Now a conventional 1990s era 4-4-2 premiership set up with a holding midfielder and a deep laying anchor player seperated from the forwards, without the ability to convert to a fluid 4-3-3, contained, while the squad waits on Gerrard to return.

WTF?
"Its not a coincidence that the most fluid and dynamic periods of play Liverpool have had recently (2-5 vs Fulham and 0-2 vs Arsenal ) have come with  Meireles in the
team""Gerrard is in decline, Henderson is still in development and neither Spearing, Shelvey or Maxi have yet to be fully trusted with a consistent place in the team.""Fenway capital for all their talk of taking a sober, analytical and quantitative approach to managing the playing roster have left themselves badly exposed""The definition of a successful transfer deadline window is one that increases options available to a team and the dimensions a squad can play in. This period hasn’t increased options, itsreduced them.""Bellamy, an ex player in decline. This is the second time in less than 8months that they have found themselves in this position."

I could have added a lot more, but hey.  We can all have opinions, but your's are just way too nutjobby for me.  All I saw missing there was claiming Degen was our best player.    Just admit it,  you really do know you're talking utter rubbish, don't you?  

Not sure what's the statistics on players who've moved from Liverpool to Chelski having any form of success but if the current trend remains true then we'd gladly be "Chelski's feeder club."

Ironically, the 67 million pounds from Torres, Benayoun and now Mereiles has effectively brought us Suarez, Downing, Adam, Jose Enrique & Coates. "Feeder club" indeed, might just be the other way round no?

Fuck me, I didn't realize George Castanza read LFCOffside. I'm not even upset by this epic ode to resignation; I'm impressed. Do you do commencement speeches?

"So its official, Liverpool have now consummated its position as Chelseas feeder club"
    Yes, because taking Benayoun and Torres from us has worked out so well for you so far. Benayoun      is gone after one season, and Torres is doing his best to become the next Shevchenko. He may still regain some of his old form, but fleeced Chelsea on that deal plain and simple.

"a coy media flirtation and then a-garden-variety-tapping up"
    Hey everybody, we're a bunch of cunts!

"Who knows what role Meireles might have played, two or three long term injuries into the season?"
    And who says he wouldn't have been one of those long term injuries. Yay for what ifs!

"With Chelsea and arsenal strengthened and Liverpool weakened..."
    Yes, Chelsea did strengthen, as did we. You have to look at our transfer business as a whole, from the opening day til the window closed. Yes we took a step back selling Raul, but overall this window we took a big step forward. One sale, specifically a fringe starting 11 player, does not negate a whole transfer windows worth of work. And Arsenal strengthened? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? They replaced Fabregas/Nasri with Arteta/Benayoun ffs.

"Why do the Chelsea board assume Liverpool wont be able to resist their persistent moves for their players"    Because for better or worse, if you don't want to wear the shirt and want to leave, then Kenny will let you go. Kenny is not going to keep a dissatisfied player around a la ol Arry and Modric. To sum up our philosophy is that if you don't want to play for us, then good riddance. 

"Minus Meireles, Ngog(did not impress),Cole(crap),Poulsen(crap), Kyriagos(old,slow) Insua(did not impress) etc
Plus Bellamy".....Henderson, Downing, Adam, Doni, Coates. Fixed that for you.

"Look what Alex Ferguson did when a player that even he did not think was a first team regular requested a move to Anfield. He forced Heinze to move aboard. This pattern will be repeated with Reina, Suarez, Agger and co over
the next few transfer cycles and the public relations spin will be some miserly
platitude about “bringing in exciting British talent for the future”."    All massive speculation. One singular event does not a pattern make. And if you want to go ahead and say "Hey! First Torres, then Raul, that's two! THe beginning of a pattern! These two situations couldn't be more different. The beginning of last season was awful for Liverpool, and directly after FSG took over, no one knew what to expect. They were saying all the right things, but then again so did H&G. Now after this summer of signings, it's clear the direction FSG want to take Liverpool and there is cause for legitimate optimism. That was definitely not the case when Torres was sold.

" no adaptive midfielder who can play anywhere across the front of midfield changing the dimension of play."
    We didn't really have that when Raul was here. He could play adequately on the right, but he was far more effective playing centrally than anywhere else. I can't remember him ever playing for us on the left. So in the context of this situation, this statement means fuck all.

Yes, losing Raul hurts our depth and takes a little luster off our transfer season. But this is not the end of the world event that people are making it out to be. I'm sad to see him go and would have loved to see him stay, but people need to stop acting like the sky is falling on our season. Now if we lost Suarez, then this reaction would be appropriate. In all likelihood, Raul swapped our bench for Chelseas plus more money and CL football. So all in all, kind of a savvy business move on his part.

You had me at "Arsenal strengthened..."

Also add in Enrique to those we signed.

Oh.  Well I guess we're screwed then.  We've lost Meireles, so might as well give up now.  We'll never make it to the top 4.   In fact eventually all our good players will leave, and we'll be relegated right around the same time England falls out of the FIFA top 100.  

Ah well, it was nice while it lasted.  See you in the Championship then...   

Thank you for so adroitly summarizing my feelings on the matter.

Hey Yo Bro, Go Support Chelsea.

Now Chelsea just needs to buy two of my ex-girlfriends, my mother, and my third-grade teacher Mrs. Larsen, and then my therapy sessions will be entirely about Roman Abramovich

Sigh, it hurts to laugh

The Liverpool website is sucking Bellamy's balls right now http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news.... 

"our new no.39"?? Where the hell is the new number 4?? 

I promise to be reasonable in the next 24-48 hours. Apologies to Ed and Noel. 

Maxi and Dirk work just as well with Suarez as Raul did.

I would really like to finish above Chelsea just to rub it in Raul's face

I might have to unplug my internet to prevent myself from trolling.....twitch.twitch.

If you are easily offended, read no further. Jesus Fucking Christ. I refuse to trust a single goddamn player in this team unless they came from the Academy itself. 

I guess it's time for me to dig out all those articles I loved to hate about Meireles not being good enough and all that. Might bump into a number of 'I told you so' along the way.

Perspective:As far as I can tell, #LFC have cut £30m off their wage bill and earned about £25m in transfer fees this summer. Net spend.

Is that you or @rorysmith_tel?

Rory. Too much math for me.

Without Gerrard or Suarez we'll struggle. Just like we have every time Suarez has come off. But I guess he had his head turned by wages so nothing we can do..

I'm pretty much working under the assumption that Gerrard won't give us more than 20
games this year, total. And while everyone else up front CAN feed Suarez,
they were brought in for Carroll, and they aren't exactly the kind of
one-touch, clever passers with whom Suarez works best.  Yes we still
have Suarez, but we just shipped his two best partners, so all this talk
of different line-ups and strategies for different occasions is just
about scrapped, as we're going to see a lot more of what started against
Arsenal and very little of what finished against Arsenal.  I had the impression that our best line-up involved Luis and Raul, and Kenny, knowing this, has been waiting until absolutely necessary to employ that line-up in order to get Carroll's attack to develop more chemistry. Well that chemistry better develop really quickly, if we're to be even a 1-dimensional squad. You also have to wonder, if things continue in this manner, how long before Suarez becomes
discontent? All this and we strengthened Chelsea as well?  The more I consider it, this move is completely unforgivable with respect to all parties involved. Yes, one player can make that kind of difference, particularly when he represents a lynchpin to an alternate on-pitch strategy.

We did play another game after Arsenal, fyi. It ended up pretty well, with no Meireles to be seen. Not very fair to judge the team's whole season based on one weak performance when all the new boys were still finding their feet. Especially because they followed it up with a real cracker the very next week.

I don't think you're giving Kenny enough credit, if for no other reason than the man would have to be not only tactically deficient, but a grade A moron not to sign people he thought would get the best out of Suarez, arguably the best player on his team.

Did you see the way Downing created acres of space for Suarez to score during the Bolton game? That's what led to that inch perfect cross from Suarez and, ultimately, our first goal (nearly scored by Downing himself, before being hit by another new boy, Henderson). Downing is clever off the ball and drags defenders with him into the center of pitch, leaving Suarez to run rampant on his preferred left side.

If you have a problem with the work Enrique's done so far, I don't know what to say to you. And Adam's set pieces have already earned us two goals, not to mention the one he scored on his own. That's 3 out of the 6 goals we've scored so far in the league. One of which was an assist to, guess who, Luis Suarez.

I'm just saying, you might want to focus on the positives here (or at least acknowledge them), instead of getting yourself worked up over one want-away squad player changing sides. If losing Torres didn't destroy us, this definitely won't. And if Roman wants to keep funding our transfer windows by taking unhappy, injury prone players off of our hands, then I'm not going to argue.

So...are you trying to justify that this was a good piece of business?  I can't imagine that you are, to say that Liverpool come out on top in this deal would require an awful lot of rationalizing. If not, then why are we arguing?  Its too simplistic to argue that we merely lost one player, or that we'll be fine because we survived the loss of Torres last January; the world is more nuanced than that. You have to consider which particular player we lost, and under what circumstances. We lost one striker last January, and immediately brought in two more. Here we have provided no replacement. Further, we have very little depth now for creative midfield movement, and if Stevie can't stay healthy, we're going to be relying on players who aren't nearly the class of Meireles. Its fine and noble to try to be optimistic, I get that, but let's not confuse optimistic tendencies for evidence that Liverpool actually did something positive here. That 4th spot was already a heavy task, and it just got a lot heavier. You don't think this move merits even a little scrutiny?

We brought in two central midfielders before getting rid of two. The only reason you don't see us as having provided replacements is because you obviously don't rate them. That's fine, but it's a matter of opinion. We'll have to see how things shake out, and then I'm sure Kenny will focus on any gaps we have in the team come January.

Also, I didn't say that move didn't merit scrutiny. I said that it was also worth acknowledging some of the positives of our current situation.
 
I agree that our team would have been better with Meireles, but if a player wants to go badly enough to put in a transfer request, then I think for the good of the dressing room, they have to let him go. I definitely think we could have gotten a better deal for him, and I don't think we should have sold him to Chelsea regardless. We can agree on that. But I'd rather us do our business this way than like Tottenham, stubbornly holding onto a player that's refusing to even play. Look how much good that did us with Torres in the first half of last season.

Honestly, I don't think we really disagree much at all.  The one thing I would clarify is that it isn't that I don't rate Charlie or Jordan, I actually like them both quite a lot, its that I am working under the premise that FSG wasn't entirely expecting this to happen, therefore Meireles, having been in their plans as being a different type of midfielder from those other two, was not directly replaced.  Meireles gave us the option of a different kind of attack and chemistry, and I suppose my contention here is that if FSG had accepted Chelsea's bid a week ago, they might have looked for a last-minute replacement for that particular brand of movement in midfield.  As is, he wasn't replaced.  That's what I meant, and that's why I place most of the blame on Raul.  But this is all speculation, and we're speculating in different directions is all.

Not much to say, other than I cosign all of this. I thought we'd at least gotten rid of the "Dalglish is a tactical dinosaur" ridiculousness by now. FFS, Meireles' departure hardly erases all the good that's happened this summer, or the good that's happened in the last three games. 

we shipped the two best partners for Luis? Who besides Miereles? Surely not Joe Cole? And I am pretty sure Aqua never played a single game with Luis.

Aqua and Meireles most certainly would have gotten the best out Luis but it doesn't matter because in the end they both turned out to be cunts who had no desire to play for us. So, while we might be somewhat less creative now we have to move on.

Didn't we sign 3 first team midfielders and lose 1 (Aqua wasn't here last season)? I'm not with you on the weak midfield thing Noel. He simply wasn't Dalglish's cup of tea. Not quite a strong enough central mid, not quite a wide player no second striker.

The writing was on the wall since early summer when he wasn't given the improved contract he was looking for. I genuinely think he would have been an impact payer at best this season. We can compliment the manager all we want for the great football and results but he needs to be backed in situations like this aswell.

For what its worth I lliked Meireles but also find it dificult to envisage where he would have fit into our current team for any prolonged period. A bit of a luxury for the premier league rough and tumble but a good player at that.

Meireles would have walked into our starting 11. The only problem was that he wasn't fit. LFC weren't willing to sell, it was a transfer request from Raul because of Champions league football and wages.

He was fit enough this year and still couldn't make it into the starting XI.  LFC were happy to let him go for a decent price and that is what they have done.  Sounds like great business to me.  He wasn't going to be a major part of LFC's future and we have many better midfielders.

Well no. LFC rejected Chelsea's opening bid and only let him go when he forced the transfer through with a written transfer request. He's as good as Adam, Henderson and Lucas. Only Gerrard would have been ahead of him.

I'm glad he's gone though because he's didn't want to be here in the end.

No, you are just speculating now.  They didn't release news of the transfer request until right at the end and you don't know how much effect that had (Zero, I imagine). The simple facts from these first few games remain, he was behind Adam, Hendo and Lucas in the pecking order and he couldn't get into the team even with Gerrard injured.  He was a fringe player that Kenny didn't think too highly of and getting £12m for a bit part player is not bad at all.

Wow.  That is some serious serious revisionist history.  And awfully quick, too. All I can say to that is : well done, sir.

Simple facts are now called "revisionist history"?  Very interesting indeed!

Not really. It was reported by a number of news agencies that the request came in an hour before and that Meireles had sorted the paper work out with Chelsea before he demanded the transfer.

Those aren't facts, just your opinion. Subtle difference but a difference nonetheless. In my opinion and an opinion held by a lot of people on this site he would've been starting ahead of Henderson bar his injury riddled pre-season.

It's a shame he turned out to be a Judas like Torres.

1. You need to learn the difference between fact and opinion.  

You said "He's as good as Adam, Henderson and Lucas. Only Gerrard would have been ahead of him."    This is OPINION.
I said "The simple facts from these first few games remain, he was behind Adam, Hendo and Lucas in the pecking order and he couldn't get into the team even with Gerrard injured."   This is FACT.  If you have any doubts, just look at the team line-ups so far this season.  As Meireles has proved when he came on, he is not carrying an injury.  That's just nonsense.

2.  "It was reported by a number of news agencies that the request came in an hour before".  No.  This is nonsense.  Negotiations can not be started and completed in an hour.  It would take longer than that for him to get to London for the medical alone.  It was ANNOUNCED then, but the request would have been made earlier. 

"Meireles had sorted the paper work out with Chelsea before he demanded the transfer."

You are just contradicting yourself here.  He could not sort out the paperwork with Chelsea until LFC have accepted a fee and allowed him to speak to them.  If this was the case, then there was no need for a request in the first place.  What screwed up world are you living in to think that a transfer fee comes after agreeing terms with the new club????

FYI, here is the Guardian take on it which confirms all the sources I have heard on the story.   Feel free to fill your boots on information about how it happened......

"While Meireles never fell into the unwanted category under Kenny Dalglish, and Liverpool had been reluctant to trade with Chelsea, they were open to offers that would allow them to recoup the £11.8m paid to Porto for the 28-year-old.Ultimately, the only bid that came close to Liverpool's valuation was Chelsea's second offer for Meireles. Liverpool had rejected a deal of £7m plus Yossi Benayoun last week and made it clear to the midfielder that he would have to submit a transfer request if he wished to be reunited with André Villas-Boas, who managed him for three weeks at Porto last summer.Meireles submitted a request as the 11pm deadline approached after Chelsea, thwarted in their pursuits of Luka Modric and Alvaro Pereira, agreed to meet Liverpool's valuation. He has signed a four-year contract at Stamford Bridge, having been due an improved contract at Liverpool."Exactly.  LFC weren't determined to sell him, but would have been interested in good offers for him.  They got one, they took it.   The actual transfer request have nothing to do with it.  It was the club making him submit the request, not the case of him forcing it on the club.  

1. Okay, so are you trying to convince me that Jordan Henderson is a better footballer than Raul Meireles at this moment in time? He was injured for the majority of pre-season which is why he was only starting from the bench as he was not fully match fit. As he showed every time he was on the field he deserved to be on that pitch. If you disagree, fine. But that's my opinion.

2. It's true Chelsea and Liverpool had been negotiating all day but Chelsea's original offer of £7 million plus Yossi Benayoun was rejected because Liverpool either wanted to keep the player or make a profit, neither of which were achieved. If you're not making a large profit on a player who went from Premier league unproven to PFA fans player of the year in one season, then that tells you that the transfer didn't go as LFC wanted.

You cannot force a player to submit a transfer request. If a club wants to sell, they will sell. If a player wants to leave he'll submit a transfer REQUEST. i.e. he wants to leave.

It was not a good deal. Liverpool paid £11.8 million and only got a reported £12 million back and sold to one of their biggest rivals.

Henry, Werner, Commoli and Dalglish are not stupid enough to sell to Chelsea without making a huge profit, unless there would have been a danger that Meireles would have been unsettled and had an impact on team morale, so they sold him, but only because of the request.

It's possible that Meireles' agent had been negotiating terms with Chelsea all day. It's not something that is permitted but it's something that happens more than you would think. All Meireles had to do was push the move through with a request and sign on the dotted line afterwards.

As for how he got to London in an hour? Time travel? How do we even know he wasn't already there? Perhaps Chelsea took a risk and didn't put him through a medical and a Chelsea representative came to Anfield to complete the transfer?

We don't know all of these things, but the bottom line is that a transfer request means that Liverpool were not willing to sell at such a low price, but weren't willing to keep the player if he was going to unsettle the team.

Now we have to see if Jonjo Shelvey is going to step up and start realizing all that potential that he promises, or if not, we need to go out and buy a replacement in January.

1.  I am not making any comments on who is better than who.  That is just subjective and won't get anyone anywhere. I was saying who was in front in the pecking order. (ie Kenny's opinion, not my own).  Don't keep hiding behind this non-existent injury.  He was in and out of the side when fit last season too.

2. The original offer was refused because LFC had no interest in getting Yossi back.  They would have told Chelsea to come up with a better off and forget about him as part-exchange.  PFA fans player of the year?  Don't make me laugh.  These things mean absolutely nothing.  Meireles did very little in his first and only year in the Prem.  He wasn't exactly the hottest property in the league.  Far from even the hottest property at Anfield.

3.  What is this nonsense about profits?  The guy is 28.  You don't make profits on players that age.  Their price diminishes as time moves on.  The fact they got more than what they bought him for a year ago menas excellent business.

4. The transfer request means nothing, as I said before.  It was only the club telling to player to do so for formalities.  Chelsea eventually came up with a deal that matched LFC's evaluation and the move went through.

5. Of course this deal started earlier in the day, that was my point.  The transfer request played very little part in it.

6. There is no extra pressure on Shelvey.  We have loads of depth already.

The actual bottom line is we got a great price for a fringe player and it was a fantastic piece of business by LFC.  How many other times has someone got more for a player with only a handful of years left than you paid just a year before?  Especially since that player was very hit and miss anyway. 

I'd read the extract I quoted you earlier, if I were you.  I put it there for a reason ;)

If you're so convinced that the club forced him to submit a transfer request, what do you make of this piece by Damien Commoli?

"We've had lots of fans asking why Raul Meireles was allowed to leave the club to sign for one of our rivals?"

"I think Raul said it himself with what I've seen recently in the
press. Basically, he came to see me and said 'I want to leave, I want to
play for another club'. Our intention was not to sell him but we were
put in a corner a little bit when he put in a transfer request and said
he wanted to go and that he didn't want to play for Liverpool anymore. I
think the owners and Kenny have said it, and we all have the same view.
When someone doesn't want to be here it's difficult to say 'you are
going to stay'. We've been through that process in January with Fernando
Torres and this felt like the same situation. We've done it, we think
it was the right thing to do for the club, because it's very, very
difficult to have somebody here who doesn't want to be here. The job of
the manager in the Premier League is already difficult having to manage
25 players and only having 11 to start on a match day, so you have to
deal with all the others. On top of that if you have someone who is
adamant they don't want to be here and wants to play for someone else,
we took the view it's better if he goes and we get the best possible
deal for the club. In the end I think we did well."

Exactly what I said. They weren't willing to let him go because they thought he was a valuable player to the squad and only made the decision to sell him once he submitted a transfer request and made it clear that he didn't want to play for us.

BOOM!!!

I am not sure why fans reacting badly on RMeireles departure.
The fact are:
1) He want to leave (Just like Torres),
2) I think he want a better contract, pay raise whatsoever but not quite work out with the club
3) Liverpool only want player who want to play for Liverpool from the Heart, no matter how good you are, if your have no more passion for the club, then too bad (just like Torres)
4) The center finger incident may well already have some indication.
5) Probably the Club & KK already know very early that they can't keep him, therefore we strengthen our midfield even seem to be over crowded at the point of time.

Most of the Roy's signing are gone. Konchesky, Joe Cole, Pouslen, Meireles....

We balance our pay check.

So, let celebrate, we got Coates, we have old Bellamy back, (just make him stay out of Golf). We have Enrique, Downing, I believe they are good signing.

All dust settle, we look forward for the next game with the new players.

in response to your points, explaining why we are upset:

1.) He probably wanted to leave because we didn't pay him what he wanted. There is major disappointment that we are willing to pay for Bellamy's wages to sit on the bench when that money could have kept Meireles happy. 
2.)Once again, major disappointment in the club for not sucking up and paying him what he wants. When he handed in his transfer request, we should have just given him Cole and Poulsen's wages. Maybe not that far, but after hearing all the crap from the Arsenal disaster, I don't want to be guilty of just not going the extra mile for the one player.  
3.)This point makes a bit of sense. But I highly doubt he would be so discontented if he got what he deserved. Don't think for a second that Stevie G wouldn't leave if we didn't pay him what we do and worship him like we do. Just look back at Gerrard in 2005. 
4.)Not exactly sure what you mean by that. So I guess I'll say that Dalglish told Wenger to fuck off. So he's probably taking over at the Bridge come Christmas.
5.)basically the same point as the others. 

I'm sorry if any of that made me sound like an ass. It might have just come out that way but I mean no offense. 

The balancing paycheck thing quite frankly just sounds like some Arsene Wenger bullshit. When the club doesn't need money, it's certainly unreasonable to downgrade the squad. This is when the club should show some balls and buy one more quality player, just to prove they mean business and we are going to compete at the highest level, not sell one of the best players. 

This marks the 3rd year in a row where we have sold our best midfielder. In 6 months, we will all be saying "what the hell happened?". Oh ya. we sold our best preforming center man. Duh. Who's leaving next season? Lucas? 

Best midfielder? :-O

Well, one of the best. Meireles, Lucas, Gerrard. Hope that makes sense. I feel a little awkward now, reading my posts from yesterday. I had my anger-goggles on. hah.

But why 20 minutes before the deadline? If he wanted more money then let the club know in advance so that we can pick up another creative midfielder, even some young kid with potential for something like 3m would have done the trick. As is we have almost no creativity in central midfield at all.  And in a pivotal season in which we absolutely HAVE to make CL, with a razor-thin margin for doing so, my sense of cautious optimism (bordering almost on comfort) that we were going to achieve that goal has now turned to a minor skepticism that as to whether or not we can really compete with the top 4.  Everyone's saying its only one player, but our margin of error this year is nil.  Now, certainly a few pints might undo this attitude some, but for now I feel like Raul royally screwed us.

He didn't hand it in right before the deadline, that's just when it was revealed. This deal was being worked on all day.

I don't want to be doom and gloom either, but I just don't get it.  For the money, Raul?  Better chance at trophies?  Just pisses me off...then just makes me sad....then more pissed off.

We should have sold him to Palermo or whatever Serie A club wanted him not allow a player of his class become another member of the Fake Plastic Chelseas.  Lets hope we can heap the blues upon the two turncoat blues.

So without further adieu, from deep in the heart of Texas it is my pleasure to wish Fernando Torres and Raul Meireles, a whole hearted FUCK YOU.

Quick, roll another sad Lucas montage to cheer yourself up. You know, the awful stuff where one takes copyrighted video (illegal isn't it?), cuts out every other player's contributions from the game, and only keep the stuff where your favourite manages to get within 10m of the ball. Add some fatuous techno muzzak. Yeeahh baby, time for a masturbation session!

Sue, you do know how to give everyone a real nipple twisting - works every time. I think you're fabulous. A complete cock head. But fabulous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

I love you, Sue. I just want to shout it from the mountaintops.

or anywhere noone can hear you.

The troll is back! What brings you out of your hole this evening? 

Oh, of course, to post negatively about the team you supposedly support, thats right.  Said it once, and I say it again, piss off you old hag.

As requested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Hip hop though. Sorry bout that.

WARNING to Sue: it sounded like those boys were smoking dope before they started singing that rap song

No one here likes you, go away

kenny made a funny! nice one

I can't agree with you more, Noel. We don;t need the money at this stage. What we need right now are players in their prime that give Liverpool squad strength and add dimensions. Raul is a technically gifted player that worked very well together with Suarez. And fitted very well into the pass and move game.. I think he is going to do really well at Chelsea. Our loss and their gain...
Brilliant transfer window otherwise though! So I'm still smiling..
Thanks for another great article..

So you're saying our net summer transfer result is a failure.

That's a wee emotional, no?

i really could care less about the transfer fee. regardless of amount, the money does nothing for us between now and january. yet we've handed chelsea a superb player to give them strength and depth in the midfield, something we lack all of a sudden, again. it makes no sense. i'm absolutely devastated by this move. today officially sucks.   

"Today the newfound depth in midfield needed to compete against the likes of the Manchester clubs is suddenly gone once again."

If depth can come and go with one player, I'd argue how much depth there was to begin with.  

Basically, I think we're still strong in midfield, both starting and on the bench.  We lost Raul Meireles, not Lionel Messi.  

Agreed that it's very weird to let him go to a rival.  And we could have probably fleeced them for a lot more given 1) It's Chelsea and 2) It's deadline day and they're up against the wall.  

But in the end, it's a loss.  We'll miss his service.  Life goes on.  Maybe they'll make a Meireles banner with the Anfield gates on it.  And we'll need someone else to score the winner at Stamford Bridge as history repeats itself.

All those jokes about Liverpool's overcrowded midfield, not so funny anymore. A Meireles banner would make more than up for it though.

"If depth can come and go with one player, I'd argue how much depth there was to begin with."

I'd argue that the departures of Aquilani and Meireles - who I considered our two most creative and consistent midfield passers - is a significant blow to depth.

Sure, we have a bunch of squad guys like Spearing, Maxi, etc, but AA and RM were significantly better - regulars on the team sheet for at least half the premier league, and at least starters around 50% of games for the Premier League's top six. Both quality and quantity are important components to depth, and AA and RM represent significant losses to the former if not the latter.

"Maybe they'll make a Meireles banner with the Anfield gates on it."

Hahaha, thanks for that. Fowler knows we need some humor around here today.

Aqua was no loss.  we never used him.