Mikel Merino played a key role in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday evening. His goal gave the Gunners their second lead of the game and came close to being the winning strike, only stopped by Mohamed Salah’s second-half equaliser.
Merino made his first Premier League home start in the game and that resulted in his first goal for the club as well. It gave the Gunners the lead on the day and at the time, closed the gap to Liverpool to just one point.
However, it was not to be, and Salah’s goal would reopen that gap instead to four which Arsenal now have to surmount in the coming weeks and months. The players need to overcome this disappointment first and based on the first-half performance, the Gunners looked close to being back to their usual selves after some disappointing games and poor results.
football.london spoke to Mikel Merino after the game and he provided a strong summary of the proceedings. The Spaniard was honest in how the game changed at half-time and what his side started to do which saw the emphasis shift in Liverpool’s favour.
“Well, it was a tough game for sure,” he said. “It was a massive game for us, you could feel it in the atmosphere.
“We went into the game with the best of our intensity, with our mentality and I think we did an amazing first half, pressing high and getting the ball and creating a lot of chances, not letting them run. They couldn’t create a lot of chances, only by set pieces.
“In the second half, we started good, but yes I believe we started to do things we normally don’t do, going long, not being able to build up the pitch and that’s the difference. Still, I think we had big chances to take the game for us and unfortunately we didn’t get the three points that we wanted and I think that we deserved.”
A lot of the talk before the game had been focused on who the Gunners might not have available. Despite that, both Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber rushed back to start the game but ultimately had to be withdrawn in the second half.
Some pundits went out their way to suggest that Arsenal could have no excuses if they lost the game. football.london put the question to Merino and there was no confusion in how the midfielder sees the topic.
“Yeah, injuries are part of the game, they cannot be an excuse for results. Injuries have pros and cons.
“One of the pros is that we are seeing young players make their debuts, have good minutes, evolve, develop, and this as a club is what you want – to bring players from the academy, give them opportunities and this club, this team, everyone who is playing is trying to do their best and doing a great job. Even though we don’t have really important players like Martin [Odegaard] our captain, and some others and I think the team is doing a great job, even though we have a lot of injuries.”
Pushed further on the point of not making excuses, Merino revealed that the focus is instead on what the team does have. But was keen to highlight what the pitfalls can be if you fall into the trap of starting to point fingers elsewhere other than yourself.
“When you are a team that is so focused on winning, when you are a group of winners you can’t make excuses, you have to think on the things that you can improve, forget about the rest. If you start making excuses, you don’t give credit to yourself and you have to start to take the positives, take the negatives, improve, get better.”
The game nearly ended prematurely for Merino when he fell to the ground following an aerial collision. Having missed the start of the season with a broken shoulder, he made a swift recovery – faster than perhaps some expected.
Therefore when he could be seen in part and holding again that area, it was certainly a heart-in-mouth moment for the Spaniard. Asked after the game about that specific moment, Merino appeared to admit that the impact had indeed caused some issue but that the occasion was simply too great to allow it to stop him.
“Things that happen in football, you get kicks, you get injuries, I had one of them,” he said. “I couldn’t miss the game, I don’t know, I stand up and keep playing.”
