Friday round-up: Man Utd prep, Merino up top

Morning all.

A quick Friday blog for you, because today is the first golf day of the year. I haven’t played in a long time, so hopefully the weather is ok because that’s about as much as I can hope for this morning.

Mikel Arteta will meet the press around lunchtime as we prepare to face Man Utd at Old Trafford on Sunday. They were in Europa League action last night in Spain, drawing 1-1 with Real Sociedad in San Sebastian. On paper, that is pretty much the perfect result for us, as it leaves them with work to do in the second leg – and with just a couple of days to prepare for Sunday.

Who knows how it will play out though. Games don’t take place on paper, and with a few extra days to recover before that game, they can give 100% on Sunday. What’s not clear now is whether there might be some injury issues that mean Ruben Amorim has to prioritise the Europa League, or if the players’ focus is much more on the competition they can actually do something in.

What’s definitely clear is that Arteta will prepare his team as if none of that is part of the equation. In his press conference he’ll talk about United being a big club, with a good manager, and with some quality players, thus making it a difficult match where we have to be as good as we can possibly be if we want to take all three points. We’ll have all the stories from the presser on Arseblog News a bit later on.

Meanwhile, Mikel Merino reflects on life as a striker after his recent deployment in that position. He says:

It’s kind of crazy, to be honest. But at the same time, it’s about having the right mentality, the right approach of the game. If the coach tells you to play one position, all right, you have to take all your characteristics and put it on the table for the team.

I’m trying to adapt, I’m trying to do things the best way possible. Obviously, some days will be better, some days will be worse, but the work is there every day, the grind. I’m trying to improve every single day in my position, in my new position, I’m trying to help the team.

It stands to some kind of reason that the more often he plays there, the more comfortable he’ll get in the role. There will always be limitations because he’s not playing in his natural position, but I would say that if you’re in this kind of emergency situation and you need to repurpose a footballer, Merino is more or less the perfect kind of guy to have at your disposal.

By that, I don’t mean that he’s the perfect striker, but as a facsimile for 6’4 Kai Havertz, previously a left-footed left 8, a 6’2 Mikel Merino who is a left-footed left 8 fits the bill in that sense. Beyond that though, he seems like a really good character, a willing runner who will do those hard yards up front, and understands that when a team needs something, an experienced player needs to step up without complaint and do the best possible job he can for the team. Footballers can be precious, there is a lot of ego at this level, but you don’t get that from him.

At this stage there’s no point rehashing the whys and wherefores of us being in a situation where we need to play Merino as our centre-forward. We have been there, done that, worn the t-shirt, then donated the t-shirt to charity in one of those clothes bins they have beside the glass recycling. On Tuesday night, he got a goal and an assist, as well as being an asset defensively because of his height (he made 3 clearances, Saliba and Gabriel 5 each).

Hopefully after the Interlull we have more options available to us, but until then we need him to deliver. And, if he does, I think there will be least parts of games where even with players like Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli back, he’ll be deployed up top because the game-state demands it. So, let’s hope he has more good days than bad in his new role, ultimately that will benefit the team.

Right, I’m gonna leave it there. We’ll look ahead to the Man Utd game later this afternoon on our Patreon preview podcast. If you want to sign up, it’s just $6 per month for that and all the content we put on there, and you can do it at patreon.com/arseblog

For now, have a good one folks.