Morning from a very chilly Dublin.
Mikel Arteta will meet the press this morning ahead of our game against Brighton on Saturday evening. Hopefully whatever bug has been going around has been squashed and we’re able to welcome back Kai Havertz for the trip to the south coast. I wondered how we’d do without the man who got the winner in both games against Brentford last season, and thankfully there were others who stepped up and got the goals.
One of them, Mikel Merino, is someone around whom there’s been plenty of discourse. We spoke about him a bit on the Arsecast Extra yesterday (that particular section starts at around 1:14’15), and I do think the Brentford game was somewhat instructive about why he was brought in. I don’t think it’s any coincidence we profiled a tall player who is good in the air, and you could see by the way we were looking for him with balls into the box it was part of our game plan on Wednesday evening.
Obviously he scored a goal (not with his head though), and played a part in the third. Ethan Nwaneri’s cross was like something Bukayo Saka would aim towards Kai Havertz – that very combination got us the winner away last season. In this instance, Nathan Collins got to the ball but Merino’s experience and just a little push unsettled the Brentford defender, meaning his clearance fell for Gabriel Martinelli who produced a nice finish for 3-1. It’s not an assist, but he certainly helped.
Now, you might prefer a different profile of player in that position, and I can fully understand that. If there is a ‘handbrake’ in this Arsenal side you could easily perceive it to be in that ‘left 8’ position. Granit Xhaka did really well there when he was moved further forward, but did so with years of training and playing with most of the guys around him. Even then, with all due respect to him, he could be a bit clunky at times.
When he departed we brought in Kai Havertz to play there, and unquestionably he struggled when he first arrived before making a real step forward when he was moved up front. To this day, even though we have played games with him in midfield and won, there’s a sense the team isn’t quite the same because of the kind of player he is. Technically he’s not always the most secure in possession, and I think he gives the team more when he’s playing further forward – as evidenced by the fact he’s our top scorer having played the majority of his games as our ‘striker’.
Merino is more naturally a midfielder than Havertz, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that physically (first) and technically (second) he’s in the same kind of ballpark as both Xhaka and Havertz. I think we have to acknowledge in his case, and that of Havertz too, the need to build relationships with the players around him has been a factor. As I said, Xhaka knew most of these guys for years – Merino arrived cold after the Euros and got an injury, while Havertz came in from Chelsea like some kind of shell-shocked war veteran and it took him time to connect.
The conclusion we can perhaps reach is that this profile is what Mikel Arteta wants from the player in this position right now. What you or I might like – someone who is a bit more Eberechi Eze or Morgan Gibbs-White for example – isn’t what he likes. At least not for now. I think Merino can and should improve on the ball, he remains a bit hesitant at times, although mostly pretty secure. I hope that will come in time as and when he plays more regularly – he’s started just 6 of our 19 Premier League games to this point – and those relationships develop.
Is Mikel Merino the kind of signing to get you excited or raise the level, per se? No. He is a decent, functional midfield player and perhaps the benefit of that was evident against Brentford. Without Havertz, and with Declan Rice on the bench, he came in, did a job, and helped us win a difficult away game. I fully understand wanting more, and I think in the longer-term how we reshape our central midfield area will be as important as any forward signing we’ll make in the future, but in the current set-up he can play an important role in helping this team win games. He is a classic ‘squad’ signing, but we’ve seen from the last couple of seasons how the absence of those players can impact you when the schedule gets hectic.
My final thought is that Arteta probably sees a bit of himself in Merino. Aside from their name and Real Sociedad connection, he’s someone who arrived at a big club like Arsenal in the late summer of his career. Merino signed at 28, Arteta was 29 when he joined from Everton. Sometimes managers, even ones as detailed as Arteta, operate just a bit on vibes. He spoke after Brentford about how he felt it was the right time to give Nwaneri his first Premier League start because it was the same ground where he made his debut as a 15 year old.
I’m not saying Arteta brought Merino in just because there are similarities between them, he’ll have done far more homework on the player than that, but you could see from the end of the Brentford game he seemed especially pleased for his fellow Mikel. Let’s hope he has more occasion for that between now and May.
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Right, I’ll leave it there for this morning. For some extra reading, here’s Tim’s latest column on how young players are brought through the Academy into the first team. We’ll bring you press conference updates on Arseblog News, and you can join us later on Patreon for a Brighton preview podcast.
Until then, have a good one.
