Is Emi Martinez going to come back to bite Arsenal?

Can anybody stop Martinez and Villa?

Although I am an avid Arsenal fan, I love nothing more than to keep one eye on ex-players that go on to pastures green.

I don’t follow everyone mind, only the ones that have left in an amicable way whom I have watched and supported from the minute they got through the door to the minute they left, all dependent on their attitude throughout of course.

As you all know I was very upset when Emiliano Martinez left us to join Aston Villa. After his heroics in the latter stages of last season in the league, the FA Cup semi and finals and the Community Shield, I thought we had the best goalkeeper that we have had in a very long time.

But after being told he wouldn’t be promised number one, of course like anyone Emi made the decision to move on to somewhere he would get more chances to play, in order for him to establish himself as Argentina’s number one, who can blame him really, he has to put himself and his career first.

But since he has left us, I still cannot get over the fact that in four games for Villa, they have come away with maximum points. The latest coming in their game against Leicester yesterday where a last-minute Ross Barkley goal and a number of saves from Emi earned Villa a 1-0 win.

In his first game he saved a penalty, but he, along with the goals that his team has scored, have led Villa to second in the table on 12 points, only second because they have played a game less than first placed Everton. Even so, Villa have now built a team that is thriving on confidence and after the 7-2 thrashing of Liverpool, believe they can beat anyone that gets in their way. And so, they should.

With Emi in between the sticks at Arsenal I too believed that we could beat anybody that got in our way, we proved as much in the games at Wembley. And as much as it pains me to say it, I wish Emi the best of luck, because up to now he has proved just why Arsenal should never have let him go.

God help us when we face Villa this season if he is in goal! Gooners?

Shenel Osman

Tags Emi Martinez

46 Comments

  1. Early season. No need to be so alarmed.

    BUT I will agree that Martinez has grown from strength to strength. He showed a calmness and consistency that Leno simply doesn’t have, for all his fine saves.

    We could always buy him back like we did Martin Keown!

    1. he will cost a few more £ than he was sold for after his start . 3 clean sheets and a penalty save . he was disappointed having to leave arsenal and has stayed very respectful but he’s a villa player now and sitting in second with a game in hand he made a great choice in my opinion (must admit villa bias) .

    2. See, its not just shot stopping but being able to shout and organize the defence as a keeper,
      All of a sudden Villa who almost got relegated a few months ago are conceding less and less goals.
      Arsenal with Martinez in goal and now Villa seem quite assured at the back

      Punching the ball back into danger zone resulted into the goal on Saturday against city.

      We now look panicky, and afraid.

  2. Dean Smith has done a fantastic job at Villa and made some shrewd signings, the best probably was Martinez. They aren’t going to win the league (famous last words) but the are now elevated into the zone of teams we are in with trying to break into top 4. The guy is a top top keeper with no apparent weaknesses and he will be Argentina no1, good luck too him, i for one wish he was at Arsenal.

      1. Artes told Martinez that he was 95%certain to start against Fulham.
        So who did Arteta think was better?

        1. Admin Pat he told Martinez he would start because obviously Leno only resumed training a week ago, and he wanted Martinez to continue so Leno fight to get back his spot.
          It’s not as if, Martinez was told he would 99% start because Arteta rates him better than Leno

    1. Eddie, this will go on for some time.
      The only way to forget Martinez is for Leno to improve and perform better.

  3. Hmmm
    Only time will tell
    Leno still don’t give me confidence though
    Flapping crosses and palming back into play shots has always been his trademark

    EMI is better but its over
    Chavski will buy him next season for at least 50m

  4. I still think we should have made Martinez our first choice keeper. He gave me much more confidence than Leno who does little for me in that department.

    1. On that, I agree. Leno sent us out of the Europa League, Martinez got us back in it. And we might not have finished in the top half last season had it not been for Emi.

      1. maybe a short memory? I would argue that the only reason we had a chance at top half was Leno. He kept us alive in first half of season.

        We couldn’t keep both and Leno was chosen. Really end of story.

        Against MC, could not one of the five Arsenal people have moved to Leno’s rebound? He did make the stop…

        1. I like Emi more but to suddenly say that Leno is not good …etc. That is a fish memory, Leno is a great keeper, he made a lot of saves when Rsenal’s defence and midfield were all over the place thanks to Emery.

        2. Leno did make some great saves BUT it was his inability to truly command his defence which led to so many goals being conceded. HE also made more than his fair share of errors under both Emery and Arteta.
          Martinez came in, And I was afraid, but all of a sudden the same defence which looked at sixes and sevens suddenly got it together. No coincidence.
          I’m still willing to back Leno, he is a fine shot-stopper, but he should be criticised if he deserves it. Simple as that.

  5. Godd article Shenel. Could not find any real disagreement in what you wrote and believe me, I looked hard, which won’t surprise YOU of ALL people.

    But it is in the past , even though recent, and as such is academic, though I agree is of interest, through being so recent. The simple and most salient fact is that we could not – for financial reasons, which means Kroenke(groan!!) – hope to keep two top keepers, when a palatable offer was on the table AND when he wanted to leave, which should NOT be forgotten.

    1. “But it is in the past , even though recent, and as such is academic, though I agree is of interest, through being so recent”

      👏👏

      That was wonderful written.

  6. I still can believe that we let EMI go. It not by chance that he was between the sticks when we won against top sides Liverpool and city. Leno has not had the same effect. We where more confident with him behind. The minimum the board could have done was to convince him to stay at least one more season and give him a chance to play. Its a no brainer. Does anyone think its by chance that villa can win away against Leicester and not concede any goals. If he stayed, we could have allow him a run in the lead to see if he was the real deal or a genuine article. In my view Arsenal has made a big error of judgement on this one.

  7. “But it is in the past , even though recent, and as such is academic, though I agree is of interest, through being so recent”

    👏👏

    That was wonderful written.

    1. Yes, c😢😢ry baby cry, long enough as a reminder to the wrong decision makers not to repeat such mistakes

      1. Seriously I’ve been thinking about it lately, Martinez is an excellent goal keeper. I hope it doesn’t come back to hurt us

  8. It easy to conclude that the recent criticism of Leno is because of the recent performances of Martinez but I think not. I have read a lot of post on here pre lockdown where Leno was considered good ‘shotstopper’ but an average goalkeeper. This remains true today.. He has excellent reflexes, but cannot hold onto the ball in awkward angles and has difficulty communicating with defense. Martinez for some strange reason holds onto everything…even when his body is parallel to the ground..

  9. He was assured 95% starting which i feel was enough assurance. He decided to leave and not because MA wanted him sold. Please enough of crying over spilled milk. He has moved on, let’s move on too. In life, you win some, you lose some.
    AM crying over loss of Partey while Arsenal is jubilating. AM has moved on over their loss so why not Arsenal ove Emi’s loss to when it was not even Arsenal that push him out.

  10. All the teams above us (including 1st place Everton) have conceded more goals than us, how come they’re above us? Go figure!

    This agenda of picking on specific players and running them down is becoming very stupid. Villa managed 18 shots (11 on target against Liverpool). Why are you not talking about our Frontline performance?

  11. He wanted guaranteed number one spot, I’m sorry but that’s the wrong attitude.. you work hard and prove to the manager your worthy of being number one every game! He simply wanted to be number one in good or bad form, and when told he must compete with Leno he was like nope I’m off then..

    1. Fair comment
      Still thought he was good enough and through gritted teeth, I’m glad he is doing well at AV

      1. He certainly did look good enough Sue 👍 but he kinda left Arteta in an awkward position with his demand… It was probably the right decision though as we might not have signed Thomas Partey and I believe he will be an excellent addition and something we have been missing for a long time, and I still have faith in Bernd Leno, his performances last season are being overlooked because of Martinez being very good for those 12 games.

  12. The club made a choice based on good reasoning that we will never get to know. Players come and go but will always be there. Time to end this conversation and move forward. To me, Leno is a top-class keeper who will continue to improve. Not to forget Leno is younger than Emi.
    Also to be aware, we would not have signed Thomas Partey if Emi was not sold.

  13. Any team winning a major title, be it premier league or champions league has one thing in common. A commanding keeper. The keeper might not be an excellent shot stopper. But title winning keepers are COMMANDING and confident.

    Leno sadly for all his great abilities lacks both. And Martinez appeared to have these qualities. No doubt our wins against the major teams in major matched involved the latter in goal.

    But now that we have Leno, talking about Martinez isn’t going to help. We have to support Leno no matter what. And he is good enough to get us into top 4.

    One thing I am very sure though is if we are ever going to challenge for titles in future, Leno isn’t the man. The sooner we realise the better.

  14. Again Kev I can only agree. Just hope he does work on trying to catch the ball rather than parrying and punching when catching is doable. The club is not in the comfortable position of having a bottomless pit of money. His sale definitely helped bring in Partey. I’m not against Leno – as you said he was solid before his injury

    1. Oh yeah I agree Sue.. his constant punching of the ball can be frustrating, it’s definitely something he needs to work on but I believe he’s a very talented keeper and can improve his game.. some fans seem to forget how many times he kept us in games last season, he was sensational. Yeah there’s no doubt it would have been great keeping both keepers but we needed to strengthen in other areas and I think Arteta is happy with Leno so he was comfortable letting Martinez leave.. our problems isn’t the goalkeeper it’s in midfield and we have solved one problem Sue but I still think we need a creative midfielder and a new right back as I’m not convinced on Bellerin.

        1. Yeah Sue I think there will be some outgoings maybe Mustafi and Sokratis and hopefully we can bring a midfielder in although I doubt it will be Aouar.. I would be looking at Szoboszlai he’s an excellent young footballer but right now we play with what we have and I’m confident we can do alright until January 👍

  15. Emmy is better than Leno. Just a fact. Willian is not a CF. Why play him there when we have one of the best CFs in the EPL….Aubameyang.

  16. I’m not convinced which keeper Arteta is more in favor of, but it seems the only reason for Arsenal to let go of Emi rather than Leno, is simply because there are clubs bidding for Emi, not Leno.

  17. Since the EPL reboot, Emi has played 3 competitive games against Liverpool, with 2 games representing Arsenal in both EPL and community shield, 1 game for Villa in EPL. And in total, he conceded only 4 goals, and has been on the winning side 3 out of 3. I don’t think there are any other keepers in the league is able to do that.

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