Arsenal legend Ian Wright singled out Mikel Merino for criticism after the side’s 1-0 loss to Newcastle, saying the Spaniard ‘wasn’t tight enough in and around the midfield’.
Newcastle forward Alexander Isak powered a thunderous header beyond David Raya in the 14th minute and the Gunners simply had no answer in another uninspiring showing away from home.
The visitors – last year’s runners-up in the Premier League – were fortunate that title rivals Manchester City went on to suffer their first defeat in 33 games later in the day away to Bournemouth.
With Martin Odegaard out injured, Arsenal have clearly been missing a creative outlet in the middle of the park and Mikel Arteta will be desperate for his captain to be back fit and available for next weekend’s London derby at Chelsea.
Merino, Arsenal’s £32million summer signing from Real Sociedad, struggled to make a significant impact in the final third and was replaced by academy product Ethan Nwaneri with 30 minutes remaining at St James’ Park.
Analysing the match on Premier League Productions, ex-Arsenal striker Wright said it looked as if Merino is ‘still getting up to speed’ with the rigours of English football.
‘Listen, Odegaard has been out for a while now. We talk about our managers… Fabio Vieira we haven’t seen too much of him, he was a player who was supposed to be in the same mold,’ Wright said.
‘Emile Smith Rowe has moved on, gone to Fulham, and he’s doing okay for himself.
‘We’ve seen Ethan Nwaneri come on, the youngster, and he’s got to come on in a game for a team that’s trying to challenge for the title and it is a lot of pressureon him.
‘You just feel that, at this stage of the season, ten games in, we should not be playing and being as tepid as we are, not creating enough, not putting them under enough pressure.
‘I thought, again, Merino wasn’t tight enough in and around the midfield. I think he’s still getting up to speed.’
According to Wright, Arsenal fans cannot keep using Odegaard’s absence as an excuse for the side’s sub-par performances in recent weeks.
‘It really is quite frustrating to be ten games in and feeling like we feel now and that’s only because we know how tough it is to try and chase down Manchester City,’ he added.
‘One shot on target against Bournemouth, one shot on target today. It’s not good enough. It’s not good enough for a team that is going for the title.
‘There is a lot of work to be done in that dressing room. We can’t keep saying that we’re missing Martin Odegaard. We can’t keep saying that because we know we’re missing that.’
In his post-match press conference, Arteta echoed Wright’s comments about Odegaard, telling reporters: ‘We can discuss that all day long.
‘At the moment we haven’t had him, we haven’t had him for the last six weeks and we don’t have him yet.
‘But we have many other answers that may be very effective.
‘Today, we need to look at ourselves, congratulate Newcastle and move on.’