What's happened to him? He had a back injury a while back and seemed to come back ahead of schedule and had a few sub appearances. Has something happened which means he's now out of favour with Rafa and will never be seen again like Mitrovic or is there something else going on? He's not showing as injured on physioroom.com so I'm puzzled.
I think Rafa sees it as it's either Merino or Shelvey but not both together. In fairness, Diame has been fairly decent in CM from a defensive standpoint. I'd prefer him to Hayden these days. But, yes, I think Merino's fitness is being managed carefully too and he's not playing too many minutes too early.
To be honest we need him back in. He was a big reason for our early season form. I would have liked to see him alongside Saivet to be honest. I don't really rate Shelvey, Diame and Hayden are out of their depth at this level. Both have a touch like Harvey Weinstein.
Personally I don't see it. Hayden is a liability also and invariably gets booked more times than not with his stupid lunging tackles. None of our LB's or RB's are any good as wing backs from a defensive point of view, the last two games have proven that, so if we can go with 4 at the back I see no reason why we can't have a front 6 like this tonight:- Gayle/Joselu -- Perez Merino Kenedy --- Shelvey -- Ritchie I just wish Rafa would mix it up and try different things instead of the same ****ing dross. Then when it doesn't work change make some subs on 77 and 82 mins when it's too ****ing late!
