How we all doing? Surviving the Interlull so far?

I’ve been alright, actually, thanks for asking. I filled my day yesterday with ‘other stuff’ and didn’t even switch on Sky Sports once for an extended watch of something. I’m going proper old-skool today and going to the circus with the management this afternoon (No, not Old Trafford).

But what of our travelling players, eh? How have they all got on?

Well, Zubi started in midfield given Rodri pulled out of the Spain squad and he was replaced on 81 minutes, but by the sounds of it he came off fine and it sounds like he had a good game too. I thought that it was his involvement done for the week but I’ve just seen that the Spanish have Bulgaria on Tuesday, so that means he’ll be back on Wednesday and in to training on Thursday, which I think is the same for most of the other players too. Certainly Mikel Merino, who also made a start for Spain, had five shots on goal and has started his last three games for Spain. You can see why after his stellar September display with four goals in two games, but if we take into account that he’s really been seen as more of an impact player – a little like at The Arsenal – then it shows how much faith his national team boss has in him.

It’s the same with Arteta though. I think most of us were looking at our squad and scratching our heads as to where Merino would get game time this season. With Big Vik coming in that meant his likelihood of resuming a centre forward position would be diminished and certainly this season Arteta has preferred to play Big Vik in every possible minute, other than in the game against Port Vale, although Merino was popping up in midfield positions in that game. But he has been granted plenty of minutes so far and I don’t think it’s just because of the injuries we’ve suffered. I mean sure, when you look at the fact that Odegaard’s injury forced Arteta to make some choices in his favour in the big games, you might say that he’d probably been limited if Odegaard was fit. But I do think it is interesting that he was the first name in Arteta’s mind for midfield in certain circumstances and clearly Arteta values Merino’s qualities in some situations. That means that I think we will see a little more of Merino than perhaps some of us thought we might. Me personally, I thought he’d be very limited because I thought:

  • He’s not going to play as a striker as much (for reasons already mentioned)
  • He’s not a six, so Rice and Zubi will play those, or it’ll be Norgaard
  • He’s not going to be one of the creative eights ahead of Eze, Nwaneri or Havertz
  • He’s not going to play in the wide forward positions (because, frankly, he’s not a wide forward)

So I did think we’d see maybe 1,000 minutes from his season in all comps (that works out to just over 11 x 90 minute matches, or five x 90s and 12 x 45 minute appearances, just for context), but here we are in October and he already has nine appearances, one important goal against Newcastle and 462 minutes played. It’s clear that Arteta wants to use him more and I think it’s good for us as fans to recognise this too, because it’s an example of how we have a different club in our bag if we need it. Merino is good in the air, he’s good in the box, he’s proven he can score goals last season and already this season, plus he is a good tackler and strong in the duels. That has a place in a physical league like the Premier League and clearly, as evidenced by his national team appearances, the Spanish recognise it has a place in international competition too.

So I am re-framing my view on Merino. Last season I thought he was ok, before he came in and did a bang-tidy job for us as a centre forward, even though he wasn’t one. He’s a player for a certain occasion and Arteta clearly needs to get that occasion just right for him to be perfect. I think in the Newcastle game clearly he played the Merino card perfectly. I think in the City game – with the benefit of hindsight and because City got that early goal against the run of play, it wasn’t played too well, but I don’t think any of us expected City to be so passive from the start. Arteta course-corrected and we got a draw, even thought we deserved a win. Merino didn’t start against Newcastle and he didn’t start against West Ham, clearly because Arteta felt that the game needed a slightly different approach. But I do think we will have ‘Merino games’ in future and I personally am going to try to be more open to it and not see it as a ‘Arteta wants a physical battle and this lacks the creative lock to unpick it’ kind of approach. I think that’s probably it for me more than anything else – when I think about the City game in particular – is that Merino is fine as long as there are the right kind of players that compliment his style. You can’t be playing ball-winning, ground-covering, strong duel-winning midfielders all with Merino. You need a lock-picker in there somewhere. Whether that’s Odegaard, Eze or Nwaneri, I don’t mind. But I think to see the most from Merino we need somebody like that in that midfield and when that happens I think I’ll be looking at line-ups from the start and probably thinking that Merino is there for his qualities, not just because of a physical battle ahead.

Hopefully I’m making sense. I am in my head, anyway, but I guess what I’m trying to say is that this is another example of how well-balanced our squad looks. The fact we can have conversations about ‘horses for courses’ games is a really positive development this season. It’s a shame that injuries have so far derailed the full ability of Arteta to truly select his ‘perfect’ horses for the right courses, but on the plus side it means across our whole squad, everyone is involved and everyone is getting minutes.

Right, I’ll leave it there for today. Have a good one and I’ll see you all tomorrow.