Mirth I watched the MOTD coverage too. Martinelli takes up space like that most games. It's less about Villa and more what we do.

In fact most of their coverage was like that. Made out like Villa had been brilliant defensively and kept us completely quiet when the reality was that we scuppered plenty of good opportunities in their box.

    Martinelli use to play stylistically like Sanchez. Now Martinelli plays exactly like Kingsley Coman and plays exactly as well as Kingsley Coman. Kingsley Coman is a clearly excellent footballer that doesn't get a huge amount of goals and assists. Being a monster at carrying an receiving the ball deep gives us the platform to dominate games. Martinelli is still really good. He did have a bad game yesterday*, though. That's about all there is to it.

    * Though he certainly had a better game than Rice or Havertz. I also don't think Saka or Odegaard did anything that was so much better either.

      Mirth

      I don’t think it has anything to do with Martinelli, more to do with cramming the middle because that’s where the danger is. Remember when Emery did it with us against Liverpool and just let Trent have acres of space in the middle.

        Clrnc — I think this is a fair take, and tough for me to swallow as I’ve always been big on Martinelli.

        A few thoughts to add:

        I do think Havertz drifts more to the left channel and in turn there’s not a lot of space for Martinelli to cross into him (as you described to Jesus’ head). Seems that Jesus played more centrally, or perhaps even favored the right channel slightly. That was an effective use of Martinelli as defenders are so scared he’ll run by them that it’s easy for him to stop short, and cross.

        When Martinelli is put through these days it feels like too often he keeps the ball on the outside (left foot). I’m not sure if he’s overly confident about that tactic, or if it’s by instruction so it isn’t as easy to take by a central defender. Regardless it’s not working and he needs to drive centrally and use his pace to stay ahead of defenders with the ball on his right.

          DiabyKungFu

          If it was one bad game then fair enough but Mart been on a downward spiral for over 12 months now.

          Forget stylistically, players like him should be judged on goals and assists and it’s simply not good enough.

            The problem with Martinelli IMO is that he doesn't really 'see' and process the game, unlike the likes of Saka (and Sterling). He is not the most intelligent player, and he relies on intensity, instinct, unpredictability, and therefore on confidence. I am not sure how coachable he is as a result. He also has serious technical limitations from how one-footed he is on the dribble and how loose his touch is.

            That said, he can still be a useful player in our squad, and we need to maximize him and help him regain his confidence. Transfers can't solve everything, or at least not right away, and we have to use what we've got. He can be one of the best 5-6 forwards in a title-winning squad.

            If Martinelli's winning corners, he's doing a useful job for us. Emery specifically celebrated the fact Villa had held us down to only one corner after the match, but in part that's because Martinelli's execution was notably poor. In fact, his execution versus Villa was far poorer than it has been on the whole.

            Trossard also made the case for himself as a starter and this was touched on in his post-match interview. The press are now beating his comments up as having been "I should start". Truth is Trossard didn't say any such thing explicitly and was diplomatic, but his muted goal celebration together with all that tells its story clearly enough.

            Despite having a shocker against Villa, Martinelli is not "spiralling downward". His struggles to be effective have been roughly the same for a full season, they're not really getting worse or better. There are several causes:

            • Martinelli's limitations as a player.
            • His instructions, his place in our tactics, and the players and patterns he is contending with.
            • His confidence and form taking a hit from the way this has all dragged on, getting dropped, and so on.

            If Martinelli continues in rubbish form I would guess Arteta will drop him again and play Trossard. However, it's not going to be a pure upgrade. Martinelli actually does offer us qualities that Trossard doesn't: foot speed, width and defensive effort for example.

            Jesus meanwhile is injured yet again. Jesus, in my opinion, is the biggest liability among our strikers. He's burdening us with high wages, he is very regularly unavailable or recovering to his best physical shape and form, even at his best he underperforms the xG we produce around him, and he can't run out 90 minutes. He is a top player on his day but it's just not enough.

            Here's two things that may change the current dynamic:

            1. Merino coming in and playing left 8 (with Rice at 6) might help Martinelli out to some extent or change things up at least.
            2. Any worthwhile forward signing taking the focus off this issue.

            The real setback over the next week would be if this situation means we hang on to Nketiah. That'd be a bad mistake in my opinion.

            6 days later

            He really needs to step up to increase our chances of winning the league/finishing ahead of those robots.

            Let's face it, this guy is f*cking up our plan A right now. It appears to me we use our right side to build up/do all the creative stuff and then look to quickly release the player on the left, similar to how Leverkusen have their creative players on the left who often look to release the "runner" (Frimpong) on the right. I think this is how Mikel pictures our attack functioning but Martinelli's poor form has been forcing him to try something different with Trossard who, to be fair to him, has been delivering the goods, but we all know he doesn't represent plan A long-term.

            We need to add that transitional element to our attack for this team to realise its full potential. I don't know what to expect of Sterling after his inconsistent showing for Chelsea but if he recaptures the form he had in the early part of last season, then this role represents a path to him nailing down a spot in the team if Martinelli's poor form/lack of confidence continues.

            4 days later
            15 days later

            ive been johnny raincloud on martinelli for 2+ seasons. is anyone else willing to join me now? this guy isnt it, and until we upgrade his spot in the starting XI, we are going to pay for it

              This has been the worry for me he had a great breakthrough but even then had limitations in his game. The last season and start of this he's lost the impact and the question is was that first season just a good run and not really his level. At the moment he's not looking like a great attacking player for us.

              I've backed him for a year, think this was the last straw. It's a bit hard to watch a handful of our very few presentable chances get wasted with regularity due to his funk. Time to snap out of it or move on.

              lorddulaarsenal he has to really once fully match fit. Martinelli just isn't doing offensively in a team that's lost a big portion of attacking firepower.

              It's a shame because you feel if he gets a single goal it might unleash him from this funk but I'm not sure we're in a position where we can just play him into form right now.

              • Tam replied to this.

                  Goals are not even my primary worry. He’s now unwilling (capable) to take on players too. Seems completely lost on how to fashion a chance and for whatever reason he always brings the ball to his left foot which is near useless.