And one other thing that James said on today's Arsecast was about Martinelli's straying offside on what would've been the winning goal. He got semi-crucified about that from various quarters. But James didn't fault him for that, especially given the fine margins, and (for my money) the speed of the game at real-time. Sure, in hindsight, Marti should've been more aware of the offside line, but when we criticize players or officials in these tight offside calls, I think we forget that those folks aren't sitting at home watching slo-mo replays or stop-action stills... they're playing a very fast game in real-time. Personally I'm quite sympathetic towards players and officials when they're having to make split-second decisions in that kind of environment.
Merino is a leftie- he was brought to do the Xhaka job. What's taking so long to integrate him, I don't know.
Merino isn't integrated yet because Rice isn't a 6. So Partey or Jorginho need to play. Rice isn't a LW either, so Gabby or Trossard start.
Funny the Arsecast guys seem to think that Rice is a more natural 6 and they'd like to see him used there, then Merino (or preferably someone even better suited) at L8. I do recall that he played 6 at WHU and when asked not long ago what was his preference it was as a 6.
If Rice isn't a 6, why did they get Merino? Where was he going to play? Merino is not a 6 and definitely not an Odegaard. Merino not integrated is mostly down to injury/fitness and because Arteta definitely prefers Partey and maybe prefers Jorginho. I don't really think Xhaka was right for the Xhaka role, even when he was playing well, a lot of fans talked about how he was a bit of a square peg in a round hole and ideally, the left 8 could be someone quicker with the ball under his feet at the edge of the box.