Over the course of the recently concluded international break, a number of Arsenal stars were in top form. A handful of key players made goal contributions in national team colours during World Cup qualifying. Martin Zubimendi, Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapié all impressed considerably, while the likes of Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard stole the show. More players also impressed, but the best performer over that period was no doubt Mikel Merino. The Spaniard not only scored in both fixtures for his country, he also achieved a very impressive personal feat. Merino scored four goals against Bulgaria and Turkey, scoring a first career hat trick against the latter in stunning fashion.
Calls for Merino to move further forward
As expected, his performances have generated a buzz, with many praising his natural finishing ability. Many have also pointed out his finishing as his best quality, which has also led to some interesting debates in public discourse. There have been calls for Mikel Merino to be utilised in a front two with Gyokeres, while a fair few have even called for the 29 year old to be converted to a striker. Looking at his goalscoring exploits even beyond recent form, it is hard to argue against it. Due to an injury crisis that now looks like a long time ago, Merino played as a striker for the first time in February, scoring two fantastic goals in a second half cameo against Leicester. From that point onward, he scored an additional five goals and contributed four assists before the end of the campaign. The underlying statistics also back up his claim for a more advanced role. A 0.25 expected goals per 90 ranks him in the 97th percentile among midfielders in Europe, while 1.81 shots per 90 places him in the 91st percentile (via FBref).
Why midfield is still Merino’s best role
Despite all this, however, his best position is still in midfield in my opinion. His output cannot be ignored, but he is simply ill equipped to spearhead the frontline, even in a front two. A lot of his flaws as a striker were blatantly obvious to see last season. The Spaniard is naturally stiff and is not blessed with pace either, which means he hardly ever makes runs in behind the defence. He is also less effective in the press as well.
The case would have been different if he were at a different stage of his career. Already 29 years old, the former La Real midfielder is quickly approaching the twilight of his career, which makes a change of positions all the more inconceivable to me.
His best position is still in midfield, where he can impact the attack with his late forays into the penalty area.
These are my thoughts, would love to get yours.
Benjamin Kenneth
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Merino scored many goals for Spain by playing AM, so his best position in Arteta’s setup should be the left-sided AM
Unfortunately, Rice has to be a starter in most games, because of his set-piece skills and poster boy status at Arsenal. I believe Merino can only play ahead of Rice if the former Ireland player gets injured
Merino could still usurp Odegaard from the right-sided AM position, but he would need more game time there to get used to the new role
@Gai, Yes, you are right. It will take time for Merino to fill in Odegard’s position because he isn’t as creative as Odegard but he has the capacity.. Imo, Nwaneri will do better in that role or even Zubimendi because of his technical ability. I think beyond poster Boy role Rice brings much more to the team defensively, he is also quicker than Merino.
Overall Rice is better as a 6 or 8 imo,.Merino’s only edgeabove Rice is his ability to score more goal but he loses balls at times in dangerous areas and slow down pace of the game.
Merino loses the ball because he likes to take high risks, as compared to Rice who tends to play safe due to his playing experience as a DM
Merino will do no such thing as usurping odegard, he’s not a 10, merino thrived for Spain coz they had a 10 in pedri and nico williams instead of martinelli.
I think arteta should consider rotating rice and zubi, they both dm to me but rice setpiece will make me choose rice over zubi
Merino has been tried in the midfield in Arteta’s system and it has not yielded the fruit many thought or expected; different tactical responsibilities yield different results. Merino had more freedom in the Spanish setup than Arsenal.
This is the reason why, in part, Eze is a left side midfield player, levels better than Merino would be. This is also why Nwaneri can slot into that AM position.
Merino can definitely fill in and do a midfield job for us, but there is a reason why he is not a starter, and likely will not be without injuries to our current starters.
Spot on again Durand. While I was hopeful (and still am), I’m not sure why so many seemed to expect Merino to raise his level and be better than he was at Real Sociedad for half a dozen seasons. I think there may have been an overreaction to his international exploits (e.g. euro ’24 goal against Germany) similar to the most recent success. For the cost, he has been a good acquisition for the squad but we likely need a little more than that to truly compete for the PL title.
Bruised Banana
Merino is a quality squad player, but lacks the pace, cannot quickly turn/pivot with the ball, beat defenders 1 v 1, to name a few shortcomings.
Spain used him well playing to his strengths, but that is not how Arteta manages things at Arsenal. Arteta micromanages too much in my opinion, and without some freedom to play to their individual strengths, you won’t see Merino performing like that with Arsenal.
Arteta prefers static positioning, possession, and organization well above individual freedom and expression of the players.
That is Arteta’s managerial style, good or bad, and it has brought us this far; hopefully can take us to the pinnacle of the Premier League and Champions League; time will tell.
However, it will not be with Merino starting as AM, freely expressing himself as we saw with the Spanish National Team.
Durand, for better or worse, I believe MA very much manages with a mentality much like the defensive midfield player I remember from when he was on the pitch for us. This is not by any means a bad thing and he has brought to the table what we needed to get back into true contention for the title and trophies. Does he need some additional experience in the final third to get us over the top? I believe seeing what he does with the top level depth at his command this season will give us a pretty good idea.
So what makes him a top player for a really serious top team when you mentioned he lacks all those important qualities?so the coach have to mend his approach for a players inability when there are players you are good and better in all those areas you mentioned.yet you fans cry for trouphy and prefer managing players like Wenger did.how long?
Gyokeres.
Eze. Odegaard. Saka.
Rice. Zubimendi.
Calafiori. Gabriel. Saliba. Timber.
Raya.
SECOND 11 –
Havertz.
Martinelli. Nwaneri. Madueke.
Merino. Norgaard.
Skelly. Hincapie. Mosquera. White.
Kepa.
Trossard.
Jesus.
Downman.
AGAINST NOTTINGHAM FOREST –
Gyokeres.
Eze. Odegaard. Madueke.
Rice. Zubimendi.
Calafiori. Gabriel. Mosquera. Timber.
Raya.
Kepa will most likely be given is maiden debut for Arsenal in this game considering it is a home game so expect Arizabalaga to start.
Merino in midfield in a champions league game against teams of other less frantic leagues may be very fruitful…
The EPL is very fast paced, he doesn’t seem to be able to exert himself in EPL games.
Merino for European games against Spanish and Italian teams may be better because he seems to possess a high football IQ. I heard what Van Dijk said about him (Merino was all over the place dragging the defense out of position).
For £27mn he is going to be a good back up for both midfield and now forward positin giving his time spent there last season. So if Gyokeres gets injured he is straight in as we don’t have anyone else till Havertz comes back unless Frossard but he looks to be on his way out