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I wonder whether the fact that Merino scored a hat trick for Spain against Turkey, and had an excellent offensive game against Bulgaria (not to mention his decent role as our striker last season) offers a further insight into Arteta's midset going forwards. Here is a player who has shown he can be an effective goal scorer, but his performances for us so far this season have been far more defensive...
Not really. To work as a creative player in this league you need to be able to have some level of pace and dribbling ability (which Merino lacks). That he’s able to score goals, is a bit of an aberration for an overall stodgy, mediocre water carrier of a player.Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
Arteta’s folly was to start him at Anfield, no more, no less
I'm not sure that's the whole story though. Spain are the European champions and one of the best teams in the world. They are reknowned for their technical brilliance. Merino is a starter for them, and has shown lately that his stint up front has made him a real threat in front of goal. You say he is stodgy water carrier, and I agree that he often looks that way playing in MF for us. So why does he look so different when playing for his country? Whisper it quietly, but I think our problem is that when he plays with Rice we have 2 fairly similar players - both of whom lack pace and dribbling ability. You could say that Rice is more dynamic and better with dead balls, but Merino is clearly better when it comes to the ability to score goals. For me, both players are usually played out of their best positions by Arteta...and Merino could be a lot more effective for us with a more technical player alongside him, who can also drop into MF if Merino advances into the area where hi can be most effective. Spain do it. Why not Arsenal?Quote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
So why does he look so differently playing for his country?Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
He doesn’t. He really, really doesn’t.
He is a starter a) because he has a good partnership with Zubimendi who has become a starter in the absence of Rodri
b) Because he is able to score goals, a trait that seems completely divorced from his primary role and duties on the pitch.
Spain for one reason or another seem to have rather unremarkable forwards, in the European championship they had Morata and now more recently they are favouring Oyarzabal.
And therefore Merino can still the ball away when chances are laid on by more creative players which makes him useful (to a degree it made him useful for us at the back end of last season).
There is definitely an argument that our overall play is restrictive on players more natural creative tendencies, but they have to be there to begin with. Merino simply doesn’t have the legs to be of any use to us in that capacity for the premier league
OK - but if he doesn't look so different playing for both teams, he is far more useful/effective for Spain than he is for us. As for your other points about the Spanish team - they could also apply to Arsenal (with the exception of our ability to lay on chances ;)).Quote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
Well now, the argument would be that we haven’t had the creative players to lay on chances for Merino before recently.Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
But it’s a case of how useful Gyokeres turns out to be before we decide to allow Merino to be a passenger in midfield in order to utilise his I must admit impressive finishing ability
I agree with that. I think that to get the best out of Merino is a similar thing to getting the best out of Gyokores. BTW I don't particularly rate Merino as a MF either - but his progression in the Spanish team shows that he can be effective in a particular role if utilised properly....which was the essence of my original point. Again, I don't think that playing him with Rice gets the best out of either player.Quote:
Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
Playing Merino with Rice is silly and the reasons you pointed out earlier are correct IMO.Quote:
Originally Posted by IBK
Also considering it a bit more, I don't think their is any current CM partnership we have that looks rather capable or fills me with that warm fuzzy feeling.
IMO we've really gone backwards with too many players that don't complement themselves in that department.
We're crying out for a Baleba, or a player in that type of mould to get the balance back.
I think the best MF combo we have is Nwaneri, Rice and Zubi, that needs to be given time and plenty of matches to bed in, ofc it won't because the Liverpool game showed that Arteta will revert to workhorses in midfield at the first opportunityQuote:
Originally Posted by 21_GOONER_SALUTE
btw Arteta has broken some of our players, not least Saka and Odegaard, I wouldn't be surprised if neither of them are able to play very regularly again because he played them into the ground