Raul Meireles: Was He Liverpool's Missing Piece of Midfield Left by Xabi Alonso?

Since the departure of Xabi Alonso—widely regarded as the key cog in Liverpool's midfield for their success in the 2008-09 season—Liverpool have started going downhill since they could not find a replacement for the Spaniard.

The arrival of Raul Meireles—the Portuguese attacking midfielder—was a bit quiet as compared to the arrivals of star players at Anfield this January. The Liverpool fans have been waiting for the midfielder to justify his £12 million price tag.

Although many regarded Meireles as the replacement for Xavier Mascherano, under Hodgson, Raul was deployed either on the right flank or just ahead of the back four where he simply did not live up to his potential and couldn't play his natural game too.

Kenny Dalglish—the current Liverpool manager—realised the true potential of the Portuguese all-rounder and more importantly that of keeping it simple and employing players to their correct positions to get the best out of them.

Meireles has just started to flourish under Dalglish. He has now scored three times in his last four games. Most important though is the way he performed on the pitch.

Meireles opens up the play. He passes the ball perfectly—short or long.

Technical ability merely is not enough to blossom in the English Premier League. One needs other bits and pieces too, such as strength, physical attributes and an eye for quick passes that open the scoring opportunity.

The reason why Alberto Aquilani failed to adopt to life in the Premier League was because he was too soft/fragile.  

Meireles has seemed hesitant in going into the tackles and winning the balls back till the game against Manchester United in the FA Cup.  

Because of Steven Gerrard's three-match suspension following the red card in that game, Meireles was given that coveted role of playing in the hole, just behind Fernando Torres.

In the game against Everton—Liverpool's fiercest rivals— Meireles was given the position where Gerrard fits best in Liverpool's system and where Joe Cole failed to impress.

Meireles linked up the play between midfield and Torres. The crucial position can be a player's nightmare if he fails to provide the link-up play.

It was crucial for Meireles to play with energy as it can make Torres isolated if he fails to do that. But he rose to the occasion and provided the much-needed support to the Spaniard. 

He also scored the wonderful goal after which Dalglish joked, "He is going for the Golden Boot!" only for the 27-year-old to take it seriously and continue scoring goals. 

His best performance came against Wolves. On the potato patch of the pitch, he created the first goal for Torres. The beauty of that creation was his ability to avoid the offside trap and then to perfectly inch it past for Torres to tap it in.

The best came after the halftime. Attacking midfielders love to shoot from distance—a trend seen similar in the world's best attacking midfielders. So does Meireles.

Time and time in the past games under Roy Hodgson he tried shooting from distance only to miss the target by inches or miles. A goal scored from volley from 25 yards is a midfielder's dream. Meireles had his best moment in the game when he launched the volley into the top right-hand side corner of the net.

"Two keepers wouldn't have said that," said Mick McCarthy, the Wolves manager. Later on he launched the ball right into Jonjo Shelvy's feet, only for the later to miss the net by some inches.

Meireles has become the pivotal key in Liverpool's play now. He creates goals, he assists and more importantly, he scores.

Confidence really is running through his veins as he continued that form today when he opened the scoring for Liverpool against Stoke City—who butchered Liverpool a few weeks ago in their own backyard.

Two minutes after the second half opened, Gerrard's dreadful free kick landed on to Sotirios Kyrgiakos who left the ball for the Portuguese to smash it into the net with his left foot.

Xabi Alonso was a great passer for Liverpool. He also did the dirty work for the Reds and provided those long-range passes to either Torres or Kuyt to open the scoring opportunities.

Meireles has simply taken that to the next level. He doesn't hesitate to lash into the tackles to win the ball back from opponents, and then he runs down the midfield looking to pass the ball to the striker.

Another one of his improved abilities is to pass the ball on the ground. Yes, he does launch the ball in air as it is required to switch the flanks for play, but he also passes the ball in electrifying speed keeping it on the ground too.

This technique was one of finesses because in a blink of an eye the ball has gone from Liverpool's own half into the opposition's penalty box. This also says a lot about his understanding of the adaptability to the game.

Fernando Torres can control the ball in a better way when passed through the ground as compared to air and Meireles learnt that quickly after Dalglish's arrival, and perhaps his instructions.  

One must not take the credits away from Kenny Dalglish for re-instilling the self-confidence in "his" Liverpool players.

Dalglish has set Meireles free. Again, today he has shown why he was the standout player for Portugal in their FIFA World Cup 2010 campaign by providing the much-needed support to Liverpool's toothless attack, which included only Dirk Kuyt up front.

Meireles' play has left Gerrard in the central midfield. Pairing up with Lucas, the talismanic captain has been able to advance the ball to either flanks or to the Portuguese and to track back and clean the threats from oppositions.

Meireles has responded, in fine tunes, to Dalglish's "pass and move" philosophy of football, which had vanished from their play for some time now.

Surely the midfield is looking much better with the link-up plays and short passes.

One cannot help but to realise that perhaps Raul Meireles was really that missing key to get Liverpool back to the top where they belong. 

Liverpool now need a couple of quality players on the left side of the pitch to mount some sort of challenge to either the Premier League title or the Champions League places next season.

The déjà vu? Luis Suarez scored his first goal on his Liverpool debut today just after 16 minutes coming into the game. Fernando Torres scored his first goal for Liverpool against Chelsea after 16 minutes too in August 2007!!!