Max Meyer
When Crystal Palace beat the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool to sign Max Meyer for free in the summer, it seemed like Roy Hodgson had completed a masterstroke. A player of Meyer’s quality is definitely invaluable for a team like Palace and he was expected to be the key playmaker for the Eagles this season.
However, things haven’t really gone according to the script. Meyer, who was offered a lucrative contract of £170,000-a-week, hasn’t been given much preference by Roy Hodgson. In fact, he has fallen largely out of favour since moving to Selhurst Park in the summer.
The 22-year-old German has only played a meagre 175 minutes for Hodgson’s side and has made 6 appearances, five of which have come from the bench.
Palace currently sit 14th in the Premier League standings with 7 points from their first eight games. Although they have one of the best defensive records amongst the mid-table clubs, they have only managed to score 5 goals so far.
Christian Benteke’s performances were quite underwhelming before the Belgian was sidelined due to an injury and Andros Townsend, one of the kingpins of the team’s attack, has misfired as well. Wilfried Zaha has been the standout performer and Jordan Ayew has worked hard but the Eagles need to create more opportunities.
And they should call upon the services of Max Meyer. The German is not renowned for his ability to score goals but he has the ability to spark magic from anywhere in the midfield with his immaculate passing and incredible vision. He is enthusiastic and gets on the ball at every opportunity. Meyer seldom misplaces his passes and has a pass success percentage of 92.3.
To go with his passing and vision, Meyer is an excellent dribbler and has that South American touch to his style of play. His excellent technique allows him to be comfortable while in possession and he combines his technical abilities with his silky dribbling and instant acceleration to get past the defenders.
Although he is a central attacking midfielder by trade, he is a tactically versatile midfielder who can be deployed in multiple positions. Furthermore, his game-reading ability allows him to make crucial interceptions in the middle of the park.
He is the best creative midfielder at Palace and Hodgson should be looking to extract the best out of him. He is certainly capable of delivering the goods but needs regular minutes to do so.
On the other hand, Bernard was another high-profile free-agent who moved to the Premier League in the summer after spending six seasons at Shakhtar Donetsk. He was the second Brazilian to be signed by Marco Silva after the mega-money deal for Richarlison from Watford. Bernard, along with Richarlison, was expected to be the pivot of Everton’s attack this season.
Richarlison has announced his arrival at Goodison Park in grand fashion, having already scored 4 goals this season. He started on the left but Silva deployed him to spearhead Everton’s attack against Leicester City in the previous game and the Brazilian obliged with a cool finish in the first half.
Bernard has played a total of 161 minutes across 5 appearances, four of which have come from the bench. However, the diminutive Brazilian has shown glimpses of his brilliance against West Ham and Leicester City.
He has been energetic down the left and the opposition had a tough time dealing with his pace, flair and dribbling. He has shown good work-rate down the flanks and has always presented himself as a lively presence in the final third. In fact, Bernard has averaged 1.4 key passes and 1.4 dribbles per game, which are incredible numbers since hasn’t played much.
Bernard started the season as Richarlison’s understudy, which is quite understandable since they are both predominantly left-wingers. However, with Cenk Tosun not being able to find his feet, Richarlison has been spearheading the attack. As a result, Bernard should be handed more opportunities down the left.