Merlin Rohl playing for Everton.
Photo by Richard Martin-Roberts – CameraSport via Getty Images
Everton finally lost their unbeaten run at the weekend, losing 2-0 to Chelsea – and Merlin Rohl has just now reacted to the result.
The Toffees finally fell to a first defeat at Hill Dickinson Stadium, with Pedro Neto scoring both of the visitors’ goals. It was a display that left supporters frustrated, with David Moyes making several questionable changes.
Merlin Rohl actually started against Chelsea, which was something of a surprise. He was deployed on the right wing, with Moyes explaining that he was thinking about the attacking threat of Pep Chavarria, who didn’t actually end up playing.
The German played at right wing before moving back to right-back, and this evening he has given his thoughts about the defeat to Chelsea in true Rohl fashion.
It's a first defeat of the season for Everton as they lose 2-0 to Chelsea 😡 Give us YOUR reaction 👇
It’s baffling to me that Tyrique George is still not a regular starter in this team. After such a promising start as well!
@cheet57 because they aren't picking the arse of moyes, get rid now
This Grealish is slowing us down last season he was going past defenders he's lost pace we need to look to the younguns to get us out of this malaise attack the fans would be behind the team win or lose show the effort we need change
Merlin Rohl’s reaction to Chelsea defeat says it all
Today, Rohl took to social media to react to Everton’s defeat on Saturday – and it was the kind of response we have come to expect from the 24-year-old.
He said: “I wanted to write something about losing. I was trying to find words or explain how you could use losing as fuel and present it in a positive way.
“But in the end I was just trying to find smart words. For these kinds of moments, there are no smart words. I just feel emptiness and frustration with myself and the score. The only thing that can change that is the next game.
“And still, so thankful to be back on the pitch in our stadium.”
Emptiness and frustration are strong words that quite a lot of fans would probably echo. And it comes after Jack Grealish didn’t mince his words in his own post. He stated that the performance was ‘nowhere near good enough’ in the second-half.
It will be intriguing to see if Moyes sticks with Rohl for this weekend’s trip to Arsenal.
Maitland-Niles’ form has dipped and there may well be scope for the manager to rotate. Jake O’Brien would be a good option to face Arsenal, but Rohl ended the last game playing right-back and looked better there than he did as a winger.
On the first Chelsea goal, Rohl didn’t track the overlapping run of Jorrel Hato, who eventually got the ball into the box for Neto to score. Perhaps that was part of the frustration Rohl is referring to in his post. But he could be fairly pleased with how he did when he moved to right-back, so there’s every chance he’ll get the opportunity to build on that against Arsenal.