Mikel Merino

[IW8Goalmachine]

What is Merino's position does anyone know?

It will soon be on the left side of the bench

[OneBardGooner]

The whole team played shyte yesterday and he did look "Weak" in the tackles and slow keeping any kind of flow or passing going.

[Natural Born Gooner]

As pointless a signing as everyone really expected it to be.

May as well have kept Elneny and played him instead

[Perryashburtongroves]

Booted it straight at a defender from two yards out. Ran around a bit and then got booked. Didn't we have Xhaka for all of that?

[TeeCee]

He feels like a 'cover' signing but is first choice. He's a poor mans Dekkers and we don't need two of them in the team every game, against the top boys away....maybe, but not fucking Southampton at home for instance (it was Jorginho that day I know). Just fucking play Rice in front of the back 4 then 4 attacking midfielders ahead of him!!

[falkirk goon]

He's utterly shite We flogged a dyed in the wool Gooner for less than we paid for this dud.

[Retro Gunner]

He's utterly shite We flogged a dyed in the wool Gooner for less than we paid for this dud.

Ah yes, but he’s Spanish don’t you know. In fact, better than that, he’s Basque. He’s also called Mikel. I mean what better qualification is there to be an Arsenal signing? Well, other than being a Chelsea or City reject of course.

[SteveO 35]

Like any other Gooner, I will give him this season before making a damning judgement. He's used to all that tip tap shite, so Newcastle playing as they do with Joelinton and Bruno getting stuck in will be new to him

Let's give him a chance fellas !

[Retro Gunner]

Like any other Gooner, I will give him this season before making a damning judgement. He's used to all that tip tap shite, so Newcastle playing as they do with Joelinton and Bruno getting stuck in will be new to him

Let's give him a chance fellas !

I’d normally agree with you here mate, but I think we’ve all had enough of buying cast-offs and/or no marks.

This bloke could come good, but a 28 year old journey man playing for Real Sociedad doesn’t fill me with optimism. If he were top quality, then I’d have imagined that Real or Barca would have been interested before now. The fact that he flopped at Newcastle and Dortmund isn’t an inspiring notion.

We’ll see, but nothing so far to suggest much more than a nothing purchase. Let’s put it this way, I don’t think he’s going to be the top quality centre mid we needed to replace the sub optimal Partey. Wasn’t cheap either.

[SteveO 35]

Like any other Gooner, I will give him this season before making a damning judgement. He's used to all that tip tap shite, so Newcastle playing as they do with Joelinton and Bruno getting stuck in will be new to him

Let's give him a chance fellas !

I’d normally agree with you here mate, but I think we’ve all had enough of buying cast-offs and/or no marks.

This bloke could come good, but a 28 year old journey man playing for Real Sociedad doesn’t fill me with optimism. If he were top quality, then I’d have imagined that Real or Barca would have been interested before now. The fact that he flopped at Newcastle and Dortmund isn’t an inspiring notion.

We’ll see, but nothing so far to suggest much more than a nothing purchase. Let’s put it this way, I don’t think he’s going to be the top quality centre mid we needed to replace the sub optimal Partey. Wasn’t cheap either.

He hasn't started well and you raise a fair point, but I'll still give him a chance. I was more baffled that we targeted that area of the field as a priority. It was a widely held view that Partey would be off, in which case I understand the need to strengthen but giving the baffling lack of CF options, it now seems our priorities were all wrong

[General]

The club was certainly in the market for a striker but in the end couldn’t pull it off. At this point, you either stick with what you have or purchase a dud like United have with Zirkzee.

[Retro Gunner]

The club was certainly in the market for a striker but in the end couldn’t pull it off. At this point, you either stick with what you have or purchase a dud like United have with Zirkzee.

This argument is resurrecting the old Wengerite refrain of "who else is out there?", which we normally hear from Wilson regarding Arteta. I see that Wilson has been quiet about the new managers at Chelsea and Liverpool, who both have their clubs above us in the table. In Slot's case, he's top having inherited an ageing side with plenty of bang average players and has spent nothing.

Anyway, regarding strikers, you'd find an upgrade on Havertz by having a walk over Hackney Marshes on Saturday afternoon. Many of us on here made it very clear in the summer that Arteta had no intention of buying a striker, because no way was he going to replace either of Havertz, or Jesus. That would require admitting he'd fucked up and just like his mentor, he doesn't do that. There are no excuses for not buying a goalscorer and we all knew it would come home to roost.

[Retro Gunner]

Like any other Gooner, I will give him this season before making a damning judgement. He's used to all that tip tap shite, so Newcastle playing as they do with Joelinton and Bruno getting stuck in will be new to him

Let's give him a chance fellas !

I’d normally agree with you here mate, but I think we’ve all had enough of buying cast-offs and/or no marks.

This bloke could come good, but a 28 year old journey man playing for Real Sociedad doesn’t fill me with optimism. If he were top quality, then I’d have imagined that Real or Barca would have been interested before now. The fact that he flopped at Newcastle and Dortmund isn’t an inspiring notion.

We’ll see, but nothing so far to suggest much more than a nothing purchase. Let’s put it this way, I don’t think he’s going to be the top quality centre mid we needed to replace the sub optimal Partey. Wasn’t cheap either.

He hasn't started well and you raise a fair point, but I'll still give him a chance. I was more baffled that we targeted that area of the field as a priority. It was a widely held view that Partey would be off, in which case I understand the need to strengthen but giving the baffling lack of CF options, it now seems our priorities were all wrong

Not buying a striker is the rock upon which the Cone Boy deserves to founder. Zero excuses, the whole world could see it.

[Redarmy]

like most players they need time to settle, but you can usually see small signs of quality.....

thatswhat a lot on here were saying about pepe...give him time....ffs anyone can see he was shit

this guy is definetly dubious at present....and if he dont produce he should be dropped

[General]

The club was certainly in the market for a striker but in the end couldn’t pull it off. At this point, you either stick with what you have or purchase a dud like United have with Zirkzee.

This argument is resurrecting the old Wengerite refrain of "who else is out there?", which we normally hear from Wilson regarding Arteta. I see that Wilson has been quiet about the new managers at Chelsea and Liverpool, who both have their clubs above us in the table. In Slot's case, he's top having inherited an ageing side with plenty of bang average players and has spent nothing.

Anyway, regarding strikers, you'd find an upgrade on Havertz by having a walk over Hackney Marshes on Saturday afternoon. Many of us on here made it very clear in the summer that Arteta had no intention of buying a striker, because no way was he going to replace either of Havertz, or Jesus. That would require admitting he'd fucked up and just like his mentor, he doesn't do that. There are no excuses for not buying a goalscorer and we all knew it would come home to roost.

We have undoubtedly been in the market for the last 2years for an attacker. Chelsea hijacked the Mudryk deal 2seasons ago and there were credible links with Sesko and Gokyeres this summer so you either didn’t follow the news or simply refusing to acknowledge the realities of closing transfer deals for a position that is historically difficult to strengthen due to shortage of elite strikers and high demand

Please don’t compare us to Chelsea and their chaotic transfer approach. We will outscore and finish above them like we have done for the last 2seasons. Despite playing 3 games with 10men, we've only scored 3goals fewer.

As for Liverpool, Slott inherited a decent squad that competed for the title the year before. Where do you get this ageing squad idea from? The average age of their squad is around 26years and they have a good mix of youth and experience. It’s no where near the car crash of a squad Wenger and Fergie left behind their respective clubs. In our case, it’s needed an enormous amount of money to just arrest the decline.
United are still counting the costs and evidently money is no guarantee that you’ll stop the rot.