Agree. He looks comfortable on the ball and isn't shy to go and collect close in which often gets mistaken for being a good footballer, although it's not without merit, especially when your back is to the wall and all of a sudden nobody else wants the ball.

Scott Parker made a career out of it, although to his credit his transitional play in his prime for a couple of seasons was good and he could read the game out of posssesion.

Jairo isn't close to that level. I always judge a central player by the next ball after the one they play and their movement thereafter. Meyer gets some stick and is partial to a sideways pass, but when he does it, it's got pace and he moves forward to take players and create space, therefore allowing the recipient to either run with the ball or pass forward.

At best Jairo's passes either end up going backwards from the recipient, closed down because he follows the pass to receive a one two and gets tracked or he moves behind the ball, back to his sitting position which invites the opposition forward. Off the ball, there's seemingly no comprehension of how his positioning will affect an attack. You can't always sit deep and central when you don't have wing backs stretching the play (in that phase) and bringing the line forward.

He looks like an old school centre half who needs to play in a fluid 3 as the break man between two centre backs. I think De Boer signed him for this speciality skill (which it is) and played him there Vs Huddersfield which was a disaster, but that was probably more down to coaching.

He's got to start dictating where the run is made and playing the ball into it. Hopefully this will click in time as it relies on his teammates being on the same wavelength. Also, I'd like to see him shoot more.

He's got himself into some excellent positions where he should pull the trigger and you can see him weighing it before playing a pass instead. It's easy to forget that he spent a long period grounded at Schalke. I think he's just now adjusted to the pace of the league, hopefully the rest will follow now.

Sorloth has dreadful positional sense. He tends to go back post when he should be going in the middle and vice versa. He just doesn’t seem to have a proper striker instinct. Benteke and Wickham are much better at reading the game and even Ayew read the delivery for his Grimsby header well. I sincerely hope that with Wickham fit, Benteke on his way back and Ayew finding the net we are going to improve in the area you refer to.

Meyer is a good footballer and offers something different to our other midfield options.
I can’t see how he’s going to be a regular under Hodgson though.
On the assumption that Wilf reverts to the left with Benteke or another striker down the middle and Townsend on the right I can’t see Meyer getting ahead of Luka, Mcarthur or Kouyate for midfield positions.
Even in 4-4-2 with Benteke and Zaha up front it looks like it would be between Meyer, Mcarthur and Schlupp for the position on the left of midfield.
Mcarthur is one of Hodgson’s favourites and a very steady player so I can’t see him being left out.
May be another case of another good player that just doesn’t suit the system.

Meyer on the bench is okay with me, the three you mention, Luka, McCarthur and Kouyate are worth their first team start in my opinion. Problem I had yesterday was Schlupp coming on ahead of Meyer. Found that hard to fathom and has happened a few times recently. Schlupp lost possession a few times yesterday and seemed to make wrong decisions when in good positions? Meyer on the other hand is a more skilful player and should have been brought on earlier? Still a good performance yesterday, just disappointed with the first substitution?

Spot on!

Always remembering walking from the Holmesdale to the Whitehorse end at half time!