Merlin Rohl made just his second Premier League start at the Hill Dickinson Stadium for Everton in the 3-3 draw against Manchester City.
The German has been given only three Premier League starts in total by David Moyes since his move from Freiburg in September, two of which coincidentally came against Aston Villa before he shone when Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions arrived on Merseyside.
After the draw – which saw Everton make Premier League history – a comment was made by Merlin Rohl which suggests he disagrees with a remark Moyes uttered as recently as Wednesday.
Who was your Man of the Match as Everton settle for a point? 🤝
Merlin Rohl admits it is “not nice to be on the bench”
Speaking ahead of the visit of Manchester City, Moyes defended himself by claiming that it will do Rohl “no harm to have sat back” and simply “looked” at his Everton teammates play this season.
The 63-year-old said: “Merlin could have easily been involved in some more games and played a little bit more. It’ll do him no harm to have sat back for the best part of the season and looked at it.”
However, Rohl begs to differ.
Talking after his outstanding display against Manchester City, the Everton No.34 said in a downbeat tone: “I watched a lot of the games from the bench. It’s not nice to be on the bench and not playing.”
On the basis of his performance against the Citizens, Moyes has wasted almost an entire season of the 23-year-old’s career.
Julian Schuster – manager of Freiburg – even said he “would have liked to keep” Rohl around, so Everton still could have signed the Germany U21 international and loaned him back to a club who would have played him regularly, aiding his development along the way.
Did Everton make a mistake in signing Merlin Rohl? 🫣
Or do we need to be more patient? 😬
Had Moyes used the man born in Potsdam more often this season, Everton may well have been a lot better off in the battle for European football.
Receive a digest of our best Everton content each week direct to your mailbox
