Is a Mikel Merino and Declan Rice a midfield we can trust to take Arsenal to the next level? After the Newcastle game, that’s a question the Gooners will be asking themselves.
In the today’s Newcastle game, the midfield battle was going to be crucial. It is no secret how physical and intense the Newcastle midfielders always are; they’re what dictates the intensity the Magpies play at.
Ahead of the match, some of us called for Arteta to start Thomas Partey at midfield, but he didn’t heed our call.
The midfield trio of Mikel Merino, Declan Rice, and Leandro Trossard, selected by the Arsenal technical bench for that game, clearly struggled in the midfield battle, especially in the first half.
Based on the performance we’ve witnessed from the duo Saturday, we face a significant challenge if we are relying on a Rice-Merino midfield pivot. Declan Rice and Mikel Merino’s partnership, which we Gooners had hoped would be our future midfield pairing, left us worried. The midfield struggles to progress with these two, and it remains uncertain whether they’ll be better with Martin Odegaard.
That said, it is becoming clear that Arsenal still needs to bolster the midfield with not only a creative midfielder but also a #6.
Versus Newcastle Thomas Partey starting as a #6 would have surely been a difference-maker. The Ghana international playing right back is a waste of one of the best midfielders in the league.
Daniel O
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