When Arsenal signed Mikel Merino from Real Sociedad in August, few expected it would take over three months for the Spaniard to start alongside Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard.
Injuries to both Merino and captain Odegaard, at times simultaneously, forced Mikel Arteta to be patient before deploying what many consider his preferred midfield trio.
That patience paid off on Wednesday against Monaco, as a dominant first-half performance offered plenty of reasons for optimism.
Reflecting on how the trio functioned, Arteta said: “There have been a lot of new units recently. Certainly, that was one. That’s one that obviously we have planned and discussed and I think they can play so well together. And they did a really good job.
“They will play again together for sure in the near future and I think they complement each other really, really well.”
On how they complement each other, he continued: “They are three very intelligent and football brains. Three players that like to play for others, especially.
“And then you have a lot – you have players that can hold the ball in tight spaces, they can run with the ball, you have threat in the box, you have creativity in tight spaces. You have a lot of the things that you want. And the defensive part as well.
“We have two players that are more at holding midfield. There’s Martin that is exceptional in his timings and aggression in the high press. So, very good [options].”
While we’ve come to expect positional fluidity from Arteta’s sides, it does feel like Merino’s acquisition was driven by a desire to fill a gap left by Granit Xhaka when he departed for Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2023.
Since then the manager has signed and played Kai Havertz and Declan Rice in the Swiss international’s former position. However, he never seemed wholly satisfied with their outputs in that role and the knock-on effect their presence had on those playing at left wing, namely Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard.
His pursuit of Merino was supposed to draw a line under the matter.
“That’s something [positionally] that we’ve had a lot of instability in recent years,” admitted Arteta.
“So finding that stability, those relationships, that time together, putting players there that can connect with each other and find those chemistries is very important. And it’s true that we have never had the consistency, especially because of availability in the left and in the right.”
Recent criticism of Arsenal has included an over-reliance on channelling attacks down Bukayo Saka’s right flank. Interestingly, when it was put to Arteta that his side should be doing more to relieve the burden of responsibility from the England international, he said he didn’t have a problem with his side’s attacking imbalance.
“We certainly have that [threat], but obviously it’s never going to be the same because they [Martinelli and Trossard] have different qualities,” said the boss.
“We need to understand that we have many other threats on our left side and over the years we’ve done it. We wouldn’t be scoring the amount of goals that we have scored in the last two seasons, so I’m really pleased with that.
“Different, different is good. It doesn’t have to be symmetric. Asymmetries in football are great and very difficult to combat. And we continue to go, trying to improve.”
On the subject of trying something different, Arteta was also asked if he’d consider playing Gabriel Martinelli as a traditional number 9 and if he’s been tempted to play Saka in a more central position. Judging by his answer, supporters shouldn’t expect any drastic changes.
On Saka moving inside, he said: “I think that will depend a lot on the qualities and the players around him. For somebody [Saka] to be inside instead of outside, somebody has to be outside. That player and that full-back and that attacking midfielder has to allow the space to do that.
“I’m certainly very open to keep evolving players. Sometimes it’s the role, sometimes it’s the position on the pitch. Sometimes there are other things that we can do so he can spend more time in this position because when the ball is fired on the opposite side, it’s our choice what we want. But we’re certainly thinking about these kinds of things.”
As for playing Martinelli up top, he wasn’t so sure. “He’s played there a few times but I Gabi is so good when he’s got the line on his back and he’s facing forward with the ball in the diagonal.
“I haven’t thought too much about that. He’s so comfortable playing there on the left side. I think I see other evolutions more than this one.”
Martinelli as a CF going the same way as Vermaelen as a DM, Walcott as a striker and Lichtsteiner as a footballer.
Lichtsteiner was past his best when we signed him, but was a very solid pro. Bit of a weird example.
Well, you were my first thought, Chris…
Over some heads
I was never any good in any position
My username is inspired by the disappointment of finally going to see my first Arsenal match, excited to see Wrighty and Super Kev Campbell (who’s name I had on my shirt) and my disappointment when seeing the line ups were announced with Hartson and Kiwomya up-top
Funnily enough, Chris Kiwomya was the only goalscorer at the first ever arsenal game I went to. It was also Glenn Helder’s debut.
I’ll never forget walking up the steps and that first moment when I saw the pitch. I’ve been love sick ever since.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/arsenal-fc_nottingham-forest/index/spielbericht/1112485
Wasn’t there some stat about Lichtsteiner that despite his constantly committing tactical fouls and regularly being cautioned, he had never actually been sent off? A pro indeed.
I only remember the stat that measured his speed against polar ice cap erosion. And the polar ice cap won.
It was pretty close though.
Icinho de la santa berg had him covered…. even slowed down the last couple of inches
Both Saka and GM comments very interesting
And yet I akwys find it odd, that we fans like slaggibg GM off yet his manager has absolute faith in him. He’s sadly judged against Saka who is alien. I chose to believe GM will be a late bloomer at in terms of numbers output.
Have to say Arteta sees things about Martinelli that fans don’t see.
Which is why Arteta is the manager of the team, rather than the fans.
Ask the people who played against Arjen Robben what they think about attacking imbalance. I’m sure they’d have loved his teams to play more symmetrically… When you have a special player on the wing like Saka you play through him, opposing teams sure hopes we’d be stupid enough not to.
What does Liverpool do? Do they always play through Salah? I will have to say yes.
there’s a reason they call him “Mo Salah”, because Klopp never once asked his team for “less Salah”
So much of their threat comes from Trent’s crazy ability to play passes into the perect space with the perfect weight from 30+ yards and happens to dovetail perfectly with Salah’s mastery of killing a backpedaling defense. If Arsenal had a playmaker like that from deep areas we would’ve been champions last year and right up there with Liverpool this year.
We would be stupid not to, until we reach a point that teams sell out to stop that right side pod. At that point the gauntlet is thrown down. Do you have anyone else who can hurt us, even if we leave him 1 v1 all the time? Can you create danger from your other flank in open play? And recently, nobody has been able to do that. Those great Bayern teams that won champions leagues and played through Robben also had Ribery and Muller and Lewandowski. It’s like in the NBA, right? You need two superstars because good teams… Read more »
Put merino and timber behind him and you see something completely different
I used to think similar about Martinelli, but Trossard doesn’t seem to be affected by our left 8 or left back issues as much as Martinelli when he plays there. Something I’ve also noticed recently is that Rice seems to play better at left 8 when Trossard plays compared with Martinelli. We often think of our midfielders supplying our attackers, but the reverse is true as well. Saka often brings Odegaard into play, and I feel that Trossard brings Rice into play much more than Martinelli does.
Maybe Trossard isn’t as affected by our left 8 as much, but Trossard is also sometimes not very good at all regardless of that so in the end it still doesn’t end up a significant upgrade. He’s not a true winger like Martinelli, he’s an ambipedal forward/attacking mid/false 9 type so of course it less affects him who he plays with on his side of the pitch because he can pretty much roam anywhere he wants, and his lack of pace means he’s not a threat to get in behind regardless of if we play a left back or left… Read more »
Top analysis
Agree on Trossard’s limitations, and in some ways they mirror Martinelli’s. You’re almost left wondering if you could combine the best qualities of both of into one left winger. But the thrust of my comment was that I don’t think we can excuse Martinelli’s poor performances by blaming other positions, and I think that still stands. He needs to find ways to impact games more, by being braver and more creative with his movement and dribbling, by being sharper with his decision making. If anything, the opposition are normally so focused on our right hand side, the left flank has… Read more »
Merino and Calafiori. Timber is for he right side until White returns to full fitness. Then we can Timber up both sides as the occasion demands.
The most impactful partnership I’ve noticed is that he plays better with Jesus. They can exchange with fluidity and Jesus remains a threat from wide areas, while Gabi can go into poacher mode. Calfiori in theory will help him more than Timber who is left footed and tends to roam inside but it’s a very new partnership. He doesn’t seem to do well with Havertz, who has been pulling wide to the other side lately anyway.
Timber who is RIGHT footed.
agree with most of your analysis except for the final point, yes he’s at his physical peak, but I don’t see how that equates to him not being likely to improve further. All of those skills you mention in which he hasn’t improved (since 2021 I’d argue not 2019) are exactly that, skills, not physical attributes, and those are things players improve at well into their late 20’s. That he hasn’t improved is becoming slightly worrying, but as I’ve said here before players’ development is rarely linear and there’s often a step back before another step forward. Whether he now… Read more »
We’re one player finding Saka level output away from this team being truly unstoppable. Hopefully it comes via Rice/Merino/Cali and or MLS getting in a groove (without further injuries please thanks). Right now there is hesitancy and a lack of conviction in the build up toward the left and we fault the players on the front line for not creating on their own. We get that ball around the corner to Saka and Ode BW/Timber aren’t waiting for permission to tear up the right side defenders. Sometimes it looks like our mechanism on the left is. Cali/MLS and Merino are… Read more »