Speedster re Martinelli (my fave, I know), even on the counter 1 v 1, he often would rather "skin the player on the outside" or whatever that term was, utilizing his pace and quick feet. The problem then becomes two fold: 1) when he does beat his man, He lacks what Dules likes to call pausa, he is not able to read the picture and let it develop into a clearer chance, instead, he would often dump the ball blindly into an area where no one has arrived yet, or runs himself down the line till he is out of room and is forced to either win a corner off his left foot, or take a right footed shot from a very low xG angle at full tilt.
2) when he has a defender who he can't beat for pace/physicality (think Dalot, Konate, Walker back in the day, etc), he becomes very predictable. They begin to dictate where they want him to go, and force him down the byline because they know they can recover and body him off. Sometimes they even just anticipate and go in front of him and literally wait for him to bring them the ball, and he obliges, making him easy to dispossess. We've seen this movie so many times.
This video from 3 seasons ago illustrate his qualities and limitations perfectly:
TL,DW? Here's a summary:
In the NBA it's called a triple threat. When a very good player has the ball one v one, he has 3 options.
a) he is quick so he can "blow by" you if you come too close, and if you're not double teaming with a secondary defender you're in big trouble, bucket.
b) his jumper is reliable, so if you give him too much air space (back off a bit too much cos you're wary of his quick first step/the blowby speed), step back or just lift off, bucket.
c) his passing /court vision/IQ is good, so if you try to take away both the jumper and the blowby option by making a secondary defender available (double team), he reads it and passes the ball off to an open team mate, where they can then take advantage of the space offered by the committed double team and translate into, yep, bucket.
Saka has the footballing equivalent of a triple threat. He can dribble past you on the outside, he can cut inside you for the shot, he can pass it off accurately when you double up.
Martinelli has a 1.5 to double threat on his best days. Great pace, inconsistent passing/finishing. He reminds me of a Doku/Traore (ok, he's slightly better before Big Wills pops an artery). The pace/acceleration he has is unreal though, so more often than not, he falls in love with the blow by option and goes to that well frequently, and he is able to get away with it against most poorer quality teams with bad organization, slower fullbacks. But once the defender can read it, or can keep up with it, or the team is disciplined enough to show him a double team, he's essentially neutralized.
