Reminds me of George Graham in his playing time at Arsenal
el’Stroller
El @Stroller *
Its funny that one of the biggest narratives so far this season is that Arteta is risk adverse and needs to “let go of the handbrake” and the player that confirms this for pundits also has stats like these…
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Anyone got any insight about the sort of role he plays for Spain and how it compares to his role when he plays for us?
Do we even have any Spaniards on here any more?!
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Not a Spaniard myself but his role for Spain depends, which is similar to us I guess.
Mainly he plays as an #8 but sometimes I’ve seen him used as the most advanced midfielder, and sometimes I’ve seen him brought in purely to defend.
I keep saying it, he can play the hallowed ‘Xhaka role’ and make runs into the box to get in goal-scoring positions. Let him cook.
Didn’t he bag a couple of goals for Spain before we signed him too, iirc. Arteta possibly saw something developing in that period and maybe played apart in signing him?
A multifunctional CM that has developed a serious knackered for getting goals is great to have.
What’s Fabian Ruiz Pena up to these days?
Merino scores! £££ value increasing game by game. Nice.
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On a hat-trick 
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Destroyer of worlds
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Specifically @Gladiator’s 
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This guy is just lethal in the box with his head. I keep thinking about that Newcastle equalizer. That was a special header in a clutch moment of the game.
He’s such a great option to have in the team.
Vamos Mikel!!
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With the defence that we have, a 6-10 goals a season midfielder like Merino could be essential.
Like most, I’d like Eze or even Nwaneri playing in Odegaard’s absence, but I wouldn’t be kicking off it ended up being Merino filling in. Ten starts and I’m confident that he grabs 3 goals. That’s more output than our captain.
Only 3 in 10 for Spain’s top scorer in the qualifiers?
We need to consider the variable change: Arteta Ball!
Yep. He’s the new Michael Ballack. He was an even better header of the ball.
.Obviously, he isn’t in the same level as Pedri, but we definitely underrate him.