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Mikel Merino (now playing for Arsenal)


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Klopp knows of Merino's quality and tried to stifle his play today. That consequently opened up play for Jonjo on occasion, where he was able to pick a pass without any pressure. For that reason I think their partnership might be a good one, especially at home, as teams will target one of them and leave the other to cause problems - which both certainly can.

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He was very decent off-the-ball but, as has been said, a bit sloppy on it. He definitely created more space for Shelvey, mind, and that will be really important through the season.

 

If that becomes a consistent thing that teams want to limit Merino and give more space to Shelvey i'd take it all day long tbh, mainly because Merino is much better at doing something with little space and giving Shelvey time and space isn't the greatest idea in the world.

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Guest Howaythetoon

Wasn't his best game as he got a bit bogged down, but again showed some lovely touches and quick thinking passing or moves away from traffic.

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His worst performance for us so far but no disgrace given the opposition. As already mentioned his break up play at times we immense however a couple of uncharacteristic sloppy passes. Still more than decent though.

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Thought he started off really sloppily but actually grew into the game as it went on, I'm not sure he deserved to be "hauled off" when he was would have taken Perez off the pitch at that point, personally.

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Thought he started off really sloppily but actually grew into the game as it went on, I'm not sure he deserved to be "hauled off" when he was would have taken Perez off the pitch at that point, personally.

Yeah, wanted us to bring Hayden on for Perez and move Shelvey to no10.

        Shelvey

Merino      Hayden

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Instead of saying he played sloppy, I would say it's because he was pinpointed by Klopp.  This is probably the first time in his career that he got "respect" like this from a top team, and I am sure he will learn a huge lot from it.  Well done Mikel.

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Thought he still played well, but perhaps just an element of him not being sure if he has to pull the strings from midfield when Shelvey is alongside him, impacted on his game.

They are two very talented players and when they get comfortably used to playing together could be a great CM pairing.

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If the ball isn't played directly into his feet he really struggles to make up the ground and ends up stretching too much and falling over, weird thing to comment on I know but I see this in every game and he needs to keep his composure in those situations.

 

Broke up play fairly well but thought yesterday was definitely his worst game, he will learn and improve I'm sure, its obvious to most people hes an absolute find.

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Guest reefatoon

Thought he started off really sloppily but actually grew into the game as it went on, I'm not sure he deserved to be "hauled off" when he was would have taken Perez off the pitch at that point, personally.

Yeah, wanted us to bring Hayden on for Perez and move Shelvey to no10.

        Shelvey

Merino      Hayden

 

Why do people keep doing this? Shelvey is anything but a number 10 like. He would have to spend most of the game with his back to goal, making him completely ineffective. What good would that do? He is much better getting the ball deeper and looking for that pass, like he did for Joselu's shinner.

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If the ball isn't played directly into his feet he really struggles to make up the ground and ends up stretching too much and u

Broke up play fairly well but thought yesterday was definitely his worst game, he will learn and improve I'm sure, its obvious to most people hes an absolute find.

Seriously ? He was left stretching a few times because they had more pace than us and pressured high.

 

And Huddersfield was his worst game.

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If the ball isn't played directly into his feet he really struggles to make up the ground and ends up stretching too much and falling over, weird thing to comment on I know but I see this in every game and he needs to keep his composure in those situations.

 

Broke up play fairly well but thought yesterday was definitely his worst game, he will learn and improve I'm sure, its obvious to most people hes an absolute find.

 

I thought he looked tired after the first half hour or so. He puts so much energy into every game, and looked like he needed a break.

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His tackling has definitely been the thing which has impressed me the most. Always assumed he'd be really comfortable on the ball but he's unreal at winning it cleanly and then keeping it when he wins it

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