Last night I was cooking dinner and I flicked on Sky Sports to have in the background. Almost immediate as the first feature story they had one of their reporters outside London Colney talking about the role Merino played at the weekend, whether he could be ‘the guy’ in at number nine for us for the foreseeable future, as well as showing Merino jumping on Arteta’s back in the open training session that the club show 15 minutes of before getting in to training.

Fun, frivolity and japes. That’s what we like to see. The reporter than talked about how buoyed the players have been with Merino’s performance and how they are all excited for what he could do in that position.

It’s nice. It’s good to see the players looking jovial and I think every one of us are glad that Merino came on and delivered the goods in a pretty turgid football match, if we’re all honest with each other. Couple that with the fact that the two goals he scored felt very ‘strikery’ in the way they were finished (a ‘leaping like a salmon’ header from around the six yard box, followed by a ‘fox in the box’ back post tap in) and we’re all starting to wonder if that is a move that is possible.

Let’s all hope it has some impact. We definitely need it in the short term. But I think there’s a few caveats we should all be mindful of with this potential move. Firstly, let’s not forget that coming on as an impact sub versus playing from the start are two very different things. Solskjaer made a career of it in the 90s but could never turn that impact sub approach into regular starting minutes. That’s because it’s a different game from the start. Defenders aren’t as tired, minds don’t go as wandering as they do when you are in to the 70th minute, which by the time you get to that time you as a footballer also have the physical and mental fatigue as much as the defender. I know it’s not the same level, but I experienced that once whilst playing for my Uni many moons ago; was having an absolute blinder as a centre half, the opposition made a sub with a rapid forward (I was definitely not a quick centre half), I switched off by not dropping deeper for a ball that I knew was coming over the top, we conceded.

Merino from the start will not equal Merino as an impact sub from the bench – that’s all I’m saying.

I’m also not saying that we shouldn’t try it either. After all, that disasterclass from Sterling was so bad that I can’t see how Arteta starts him again in and Arsenal shirt. He was all kinds of useless that I won’t dig up for your PTSD. So Merino in at number nine at the weekend feels like pretty much our only option for West Ham. The ‘break glass in case of emergency’ has had a mallet pounded against it.

And if I put my ‘Captain Positive’ pants on for a second, the fact that the team has a full week of training before we play West Ham, means the players have the opportunity to adapt to this new normal. Merino himself will also be learning when to make runs from Odegaard’s movement, from Rice’s lung-busting runs and when Leo/Ethan take up certain positions. He will be having it drilled in to him this week and the benefit of having a solid five days to do that cannot be understated.

But, like I said, we need to also not project glory off the back of his two well taken goals, because football is not linear and just because he delivered against a stubborn Leicester away, it doesn’t mean we’ll be able to put him in the same positions against West Ham. I hope we do, but we just need to be mindful not to project too much, is all I’m saying.

We also need to probably realise that this shift in tactical approach won’t last forever in terms of impact. It will have a shelf life, we have to accept it, then be ready to move on. Every Premier League team has a small army of analysts observing and recording the opposition. Teams will be looking at Arsenal and will quickly work out what positions Merino picks up and what defenders need to do to nullify him. We had the same earlier in the season when Odegaard got injured; we set up in a slightly different way, for the first few games it appeared to be working, but then teams counteracted the impact of the change and we found ourselves stuttering a bit. Right now we’ll hopefully get maybe two or three more games, tops, before teams work out Merino’s movements and then we’ll have to evolve again. The question will be whether we have any other options available to us by then. Apparently the club are looking at Saka and Martinelli after the international break, which is towards the end of March, so we have to try to muddle through until then. Let’s hope Arteta has some other aces up his sleeve in case the Merino thing starts to stutter a bit.

I think I’ll leave it there for today. I don’t really think it’s worth talking about the MLS fine that the club received – we all know it’s a joke, we all know it’s farcical, but the club will just have to pay the cash and move on. It is what it is – we know the system and authorities in the game in this country are a joke – until some sort of crescendo builds in which there is root and branch change – probably something to do with Liverpool that impacts them I’d imagine – we won’t see any change.

Back tomorrow with some more musings. Catch you then.