Well, i dont know that Merino will start immediately. It will probably take him a few games to get into synch with the team during training.
Mik Merino
Every game is a final. He starts the NLD.
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Sicario2 - Tier 1 you can't believe that unless you think we need 114 points. If you don't then implicitly not every game is a final.
Let’s not talk about semantics - we MUST go into every game with the view of winning. No parking the bus BS v City either.
Merino wasn’t signed to be on the bench, he just won the Euros so let’s go (admittedly this Sat could be too soon but we got 2 week break after).
Lets be champions this year, not bridesmaids again. Life is short and football is fleeting - let’s go for it.
Sicario2 - Tier 1
Meanwhile in the real world, this current team's gone through 2024 losing once and drawing once. There's some pretty obvious reasons you don't change a team with that record until you're sure. Merino will be a vital part of this team but there's no need to fast track his introduction. I expect he'll be a mainstay in a month or two anyway. The same applies to Calafiori.
Also parking the bus away at City was great. I'd do that again in a heartbeat.
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Sorry I forgot we won something last season?
You’re telling me if we signed that Georgian lad this week you wouldn’t put him instead of Martinelli v Spurs away in 2.5 weeks?
You shouldn’t stand still. Merino is better than old and busted Partey (not sure how much he contributed in 2024?) and should be able to start a game in 2.5 weeks from now.
Sicario2 - Tier 1 mate, we just won 2 games without Merino, including against a team that beat us twice last year. There’s no rush.
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Sicario2 - Tier 1 Sorry I forgot we won something last season?
I'll repeat - since we changed the shape of the team, we've been on a run where we've only dropped points twice - against Villa and City.
Do you remember why we lost the title? Not because we went for a draw away at the Etihad but because this time last season Arteta went fancy and messed around with the fundamentals that served him well in 2022/2023. By the time we went back to basics, we were already second favourites. Merino's role will impact Rice, Martinelli and Odegaard so it's not just a like for like swap.
You're right, you shouldn't stand still but when you're in a good run of form you better be 100% sure you don't slide backwards by being too clever.
Being real, there's definitely no need to start Merino at home to Brighton. Ideally we're ahead and Merino can come on for a solid half hour run-out to be welcomed by the fans and get used to the atmosphere.
To me it seems a pretty bad idea to give him a start, heaps unnecessary pressure on a guy who's just moved countries. But if he's obviously rolling then it's fair game afterwards.
Put the bets in - he going to play LCM with Rice at 6?
Or is Arteta going to start him as a 6?
Probs in Xhaka’s role, but we may see both rIce and Merino playing deeper with Odegaard roaming more
Although it had been "known" for days / weeks now, good to see this finally announced. Hope he lives up to all my shilling 
We'll have to see, I'm not sure benching Partey for someone thats not Jorginho is the silver bullet people think it is. Merino is better than Rice in that regard but I still think he's below those other 2 in ball playing.
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Mirth
Bro swapping an injury prone and depreciating Partey for Merino is not going backwards. Merino on form is prob top 3 number 8 in European football and the stats back it up.
It’s not like we are buying a new number 9 and putting him in that position. Merino is a dedicated 8 and can play there - good players don’t need tons of mins to adapt.
We signed Reyes (rip) in Jan 04 and a week later he was scoring rockets v Chelsea in the fa cup.
If Partey was in amazing form and crucial to our set up in 2024 you may have a point but Merino is a clear up grade so let the guy play. 30 mins off the bench this Sat and a few days training/making tactical adjustments after the international break is more than enough time for him to start his second game from the get go.
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Sicario2 - Tier 1 Bro swapping an injury prone and depreciating Partey for Merino is not going backwards. Merino on form is prob top 3 number 8 in European football and the stats back it up.
Everything that's wrong is in here. You're not swapping Merino for Partey. You're swapping Rice for Merino and then Rice moves back to the base of midfield. The last time he played there, we struggled. Now this time will hopefully be different but it doesn't happen without some work on the training ground.
By your logic we should probably just reintroduce Jorginho back in the team.
As for good players don't need tons of mins to adapt - aren't you Xhaka's number one fan? How many seasons did it take before it 'clicked'?
The bigger problem of Rice at 6 was Havertz at 8. We would have bee fine if it was Rice at 6 and Xhaka at 8.
Basically Rice was not the issue in that configuration, Havertz was. Merino should (hopefully) solve that.
That said, agree that there's no need to rush Merino. We have a good thing going and we can take our time integrating him.
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It's going to be a "horses for courses" and load-balancing situation with Partey. His progressive and accurate passing ability in the final third plus his press resistance still gives him the edge as over Rice as the deepest sitting midfielder in our team. Too many games this season to be trying to phase out a player of his quality, despite the obvious dropoff in physical attributes.
Edit: Basically Merino makes us more robust and gives us additional insurance against the inevitable Partey injury. Like has been noted a few times, MM23's primary advantage is that he raises our floor, not necessarily our ceiling. Arteta consistently states that he wants a team which, on its worst days, still manages to be better than the opponent on their best days. We joke about the 114 points thing, but that is the stretch goal for this team in his mind I'm sure.