Röhl putting the work in to make right-back spot his own

Merlin Röhl may have been signed, on the basis of his form for SC Freiburg and Germany’s Under-21s, as a central midfielder but he could end up being either a temporary or long-term solution to one of Everton’s most persistent problems — namely, a chronic shortage of viable options at right-back.

Since being asked to fill in at full-back during the injury crisis that gripped David Moyes’s squad last winter, Röhl’s versatility has come to the fore and the manager has used him both as a right-back and right-midfielder as he has tried to find the right combinations within a painfully small squad.

While the club’s protracted search for a natural right-back capable of filling the role on a permanent basis came up empty over the summer, Ainsley Maitland-Niles was acquired from Lyon on transfer deadline day to help fill the void following Seamus Coleman’s departure and Nathan Patterson’s switch to Torino.

However, despite scoring a stunning stoppage-time goal on his debut to rescue a point against Manchester United last month, Maitland-Niles has made a chequered start to life back in the Premier League and his lapses against Hull City and Chelsea have re-opened the door to Röhl now that the German is fit again after a spell out injured.

It is going to take time for the 24-year-old Potsdam native to fully get to grips with what is a different position than the one he nominally occupied at Freiburg where he played 60 times in the Bundesliga.

Against Crystal Palace on the opening day of this season, he was caught out of position on more than one occasion as Everton rode their luck in the first-half against the Eagles before running out 2–0 winners. And it was his failure to track Sorrel Hato’s run down the touchline against Chelsea that led to the Dutchman powering past Maitland-Niles to set up the first of Pedro Neto’s two goals at Hill Dickinson Stadium nine days ago.

However, while he went completely AWOL for Arsenal’s second goal on Saturday, with winger Tyrique George not reading the situation as Ben White crossed for Gabriel to head home unchallenged from five yards out, there were otherwise signs at Arsenal that Röhl is adapting to the positional demands of the his new assignment.

And he has shown plenty of ability to get up and down the flank to weigh in on the attacking side, offering a drive and turn of pace that neither Maitland-Niles nor the previous stand-in, Jake O’Brien, can.

As he explained to The Athletic’s Paddy Boyland, Röhl has been working with one of the finest full-backs of the Premier League era in Leighton Baines in his bid to become that solution to that void at right-back.

“I always want to get things right and train smart. And when I’m training for the right-back position, I just want to work on position-specific stuff, not just (normal) training or running.

“He’s really helping me with that, because he understands me in a way that maybe today [he might think] ‘I will just leave him’ and then another day [he thinks] ‘maybe there’s something where I can help him’.”

As he looks forward to Thursday’s Carabao Cup Fourth Round tie with Newcastle United at Bramley-Moore Dock, Röhl was keen to acknowledge the desperation to see Everton win silverware this season.

“It’s a big game for us,” he told evertontv. “I think before the season, in our squad, we made it clear the Carabao Cup is something we want to go 100 per cent on.

“Of course, we always want to go 100 per cent, but it’s something we have our eye on. We’ll try to fight on Thursday.

“[The fans’ desire} motivates everybody in our team and myself also. It pushes me to now get the position as right-back and give everything for the team and improve in that position.

“[I want] to give something the fans love, running up and down and try to win every duel. I know it’s not always possible, but they’re the expectations and I love it.”