“Since Merino is not doing well now, I have decided to promote that academy guy to the first-team squad and he’s our no.9 for now”: Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta promote an aggressive academy striker to the first-team squad following Mikel Merino’s poor performance against Manchester United
Following last night’s draw with Manchester United, it would be fair to say that Arsenal’s Premier League title ambitions are over.
Truthfully, Mikel Arteta’s side were probably out of the race midway through last month, but yesterday’s dismal display put the final nail in the coffin.
It was another game in which the Gunners struggled to put the ball in the back of the net, not that they created an abundance of chances, though.
Moreover, it should be the final match in which Mikel Merino starts up top, as he’s simply not cut out to lead the line, and Arteta now has another option at his disposal.
Why Arsenal’s Merino experiment needs to end
The first thing to say is that while this is a critique of Merino’s time leading the line, it’s not a critique of his overall ability, as Arteta has asked him to play a role entirely unfamiliar to him over the last few weeks.
Moreover, while his performances haven’t been good enough overall, his raw output, when looked at in isolation, is not terrible: three goals and one assist in five appearances.
However, football does not work like that, and when you examine those numbers more closely, they aren’t as impressive as they first appear.
For example, Gabriel Martinelli returned to the fold yesterday evening, and while the £46m-rated star didn’t exactly blow anyone away in his 23 minutes of action, he could and probably should be the man to start down the middle for the rest of the campaign.
There are a couple of reasons for this, with the first being the simple fact that unlike the former Real Sociedad ace and the other option of Leandro Trossard, the Brazilian ace would provide some much-needed pace to the striker position.
Despite being somewhat out of form this season, the former Ituano gem is still the joint-third top scorer for the team and has one more strike to his name than the Belgian despite playing five fewer games.
Lastly, unlike Merino, the Brazilian has experience playing up top, a position pundit Gabriel Agbonlahor reckons he can more than dazzle in.
“Martinelli can be like Henry and Henry did it all. I don’t see why Martinelli can start in the centre and drift out wide. He’s got it all as a centre-forward.”
He’s made 16 appearances for the club there, in which he’s scored nine goals, working out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.77 games.
Ultimately, while there isn’t an ideal solution to Arsenal’s striker crisis at the moment, starting Martinelli down the middle instead of Merino is Arteta’s best option.
