OneManGang
Veteran
I’m not mad at this, but my view of the midfield required another ball carrier in that role, not a Xhaka. Xhaka’s last season was highly overrated and coincided with a lucky run of form for several players IMO. Not saying he was bad but I think his role is being overrated nowadays.Merino is there for UCL knock outs and teams can actually play around and against us. Partey is better for breaking lines against low blocks. Also, Merino is more dominant in the air and is a better man to man, open field defender and transition player. He made perfect sense to replace Xhaka on the left of the midfield. I won't judge till I see him in a fully fit squad.
We aren't going to see the best of ANY of the midfield without Odegaard. Not only is he the creative metronome, he organizes the press, so without him we're seeing a crippled Arsenal midfield. He and Saka are arguably the only "irreplaceable" players in the squad. No one has their profiles and skill sets. Perhaps, Saliba as well.
In fact, Nwaneri could even possibly be that player if Arteta wasn’t a coward. Against these teams below us at home why not play another forward thinking midfielder there, who can get us out of presses? I want another Hleb/Santi in our midfield

Edit: Aaron Ramsey even would eat in this team. Maybe Merino shows something like it this season.



