John Aldridge: Raul Meireles can free up Liverpool FC's Steven Gerrard to help Fernando Torres

31 August 2010 02:00
Raul Meireles 300[LNB]WHEN the fixtures for the new season were published back in June, I have no doubt that many of you, like me, will have spent a couple of hours studying and predicting.[LNB]While everyone would have craved taking maximum points from the first three games of the campaign, the quality of teams we were up against dictated that was always going to be a huge ask.[LNB]So you realign your sights accordingly and I think had you been offered five points from tussles with Arsenal, Manchester City and West Bromwich Albion back then, most would have said 'thank you very much' and moved on.[LNB]It would have been an acceptable return but, as it stands, we head into the international break on four points; it's a bit below what was envisaged but, equally, it's not a reason to fear the world is about fall in.[LNB] With better fortune, that tally could easily have been six - even now I am struggling to comprehend Pepe Reina's inexplicable opening day fumble - yet it's worth remembering there are several who would happily swap places with Liverpool.[LNB]The Reds are competing in a marathon, not a sprint, so the fact we are a few lengths off the early pace is not an issue; in time, we will start to move through the field and you would expect performances will improve accordingly.[LNB]Certainly you would hope we get to see something much more dynamic than what was presented to us on Sunday afternoon; the balance of the team looked wrong all the way through against West Brom and that's why Liverpool struggled.[LNB]West Brom were never going to do anything other than sit tight and make things difficult, so to try and take them on with Christian Poulsen and Lucas in midfield - two players with identical qualities - led to a laboured showing.

Source: Liverpool_Echo