Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard aren’t doing themselves any favors; the left wing is still not doing much to steer this Arsenal team to glory. Recent Arsenal games have left some wondering, “What does this team have apart from that run down the right wing from Saka and set pieces?”
The left wingers are just not doing justice to this team; they don’t offer much in attack.
Martinelli hasn’t been able to recapture his 2022-23 form; he exhibits moments of brilliance, but we need him to maintain consistency. In contrast, Leandro Trossard is unpredictable; he’s impactful at times and sometimes less impactful than you would expect from a previously prolific striker.
Arsenal’s right-sided bias has been even more extreme than usual so far today. After 30 minutes of action, 62% of their attacks have come down the right side. That’s compared to 19% on the left.
— Sam Dean (@SamJDean) December 8, 2024
Currently, Arsenal would be wise to pursue a top winger to enhance their performance at the left wing; they can no longer overlook that transfer need.
On their quest for a top left winger, I’d advise the Arsenal technical bench to consider signing a winger who could devastate with “out to in” runs or one who can reliably carry the ball and only release it when playing that final pass.
They should have acquired such a player in the summer, but they failed to do so. I’d imagine Arteta thought Martinelli would rediscover his mojo and be that winger who’d be perfectly executing the “out-to-in” runs. He must also have considered Leandro Trossard a ball carrier. However, neither player has done anything to perform those roles.
Arsenal needs to rejuvenate their left-hand side; they may have purchased a left back and an LCM in the summer, but they may now need to add a winger to balance the LHS equation.
For how long will Arsenal have to depend on Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard on the right? When they possess a proficient left-hand side, they can launch attacks from every direction.
Surely Arsenal would be unstoppable then.
Jack Anderson
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I feel it’s not only about the left winger but also the complete left side starting from LB,LCM. Calafiori has played only a handful of matches.
Though Martinelli has not been great this season he didn’t get the overlap, underlap or support which saka gets in the right side. Odegaard is a great player but I feel he is too one dimensional because of his weak right foot and moving to the right wing. Just my understanding.
I’ve been saying this now for a while. Martinelli has been wrongly criticised , look at when saka is on the right, odegaard, rice , timber/partey/white are all close by ,
When it’s on the left Martinelli is by himself.
We need an actual lb for cover , someone who is ready to step in when calafiori is injured
Zinchenko lack of form injury issues , tierney long term injury and tomiyasu injured – timber can play there but better to play him in the right
I thought with merino coming in with him being left footed he would start but due to his injury issues, partey playing the best he has – the left side is still missing
Either we play myles ( who is also injured ) or we get a lb .
200% correct
I agree. I think MA should set aside his ego and get rid of the left-sided crocks such as Zinc, Tomi and Tierney, and buy Ait-Nouri from struggling wolves. He’s a good defender, and even better going forward. He’s rarely injured which is our players most important trait nowadays.
I see fans make excuses for Matinelli alot…no help, no overlap; and sometimes, I wonder if we all saw the same match. Here is a winger who will not pass back to his defender, who will refuse to give the ball when other players are requesting for it or making the run, here is a player whose decision is always to run to the opposition byline irrespective of how many obstacles lies ahead of him. Literally, a player that seems to forget most of the basic things in football. But we see people giving excuses of no help. Do you know how many times Saka had to pass the ball back to the defenders and Milfielder in a game? Compare that to that of Martinelli and see why naturally, players are weary of attacking through that flank. Best thing is an upgrade.
Neither Martinelli or Trossard are good enough to be starters, we badly need a new LW. This became obvious last season. But we also need a striker and cover for Saka. And there are things to do in central midfield for next season as well. The lack of squad depth has already cost us this season. So much to do before we can compete.
I would go all out for Khvicha from Napoli. He’s yet to agree on a new contract and Napoli are keen to avoid similar situation they had with Osimhen.
I think either Trossard or Martinelli need to go next summer. Martinelli has stagnated big time and Trossard isnt’ getting any younger.
“Currently, Arsenal would be wise to pursue a top winger to enhance their performance at the left wing; they can no longer overlook that transfer need.”
You must have forgotten who we have as a manager. He can’t set up an attacking front line, he buys defenders left and right.
All of us have screamed for 2 seasons for a CF, we don’t have one. We sold Xhaka and never replaced him. We have a manager who can’t spot attacking talent and a non existing recruiting department.
MD-Gunner
What is the possibility of Nwaneri filling those shoes of an attacking midfielder?
Sue,
Maybe we should play him at left back, everyone else seems to be getting a try.😂🤣👍
I have watched Arsenal style of play, and observed that we are one-dimensional… Always going to the right. Everyone is looking for Saka. If Arteta haven’t seen this then he should leave. He is not as we think
Smith Rowe lol
We are just too one dimensional on our play. We should have gone for Nico Williams or Pedro Nero. Martinelli and Trossard have been a huge disappointment so far.
I’ve thought this about Arsenal’s left side from the start of the season. They’re just nowhere near as affective as the right side.
And while I’ve not been overly impressed with Martinelli, or any other player down the left to be fair, (Trossard, Jesus, Sterling and the like).
What I will say is, that the left sided players don’t get the same help that the right side does.
Now Tierney may not be able to adapt to this inverted left back nonsense (in my opinion), but at least he would give us better balance down the left, and he would help the left sided players with his overlapping runs.
What a short memory our manager seems to have. He treated Smith Row badly in my opinion, and seemed to forget what a good player he was and what he could have offered us given the chance.
And sadly he seems to be treating Tierney in exactly the same way. Why have him on the bench, if you have no intention of using him. Another wasted talent, sitting on the bench twiddling his thumbs.
Whether it be in January or the summer, Arsenal need to look at the left side closely.
Teams are defending our right side more, and don’t seem worried by our left side, just look at the Fulham game to confirm this.
All the comments sound like broken records. We all know what we think should be going on and it becomes all to obvious when things aren’t going our way but surely the manager can see what we can see. Not sure why we didn’t buy a striker and another left sided winger, when our play is becoming all too predictable. Martinelli has regressed since his one good season. Jesus, Zinchenko, Tomiyasu are taking up good wages when they barely play as they are often injured. I feel sorry for Tierney as he is a great player when fit (again, rarely fit) but MA doesn’t seem to rate him, so why even put him on the bench if he’s never going to use him.
It’s not the players on the LW but the tactics and system. Switch Martinelli and Saka and watch Saka’s game die off from constant double teams, no support from a fullback, and Odegaard playing on the RW 90% of the time.
LW is isolated, no support, or creative player creating chances for them.
The obsession with inverting the LB and focusing on possession more than movement and being direct is yielding predictable results.
Robinson gives Saka trouble every time, and without that RW controlling the attack, we were out of ideas and dead in the water.
Can’t push midfield forward, Jorghino lacks the legs to cover on his own, but Partey could.
Partey can’t overlap and make those 40 and 50 yard sprints, but Timber could on the right.
That selection of players could only play one way, they could not go to plan B due to lacking the skill set needed to pull off overlaps on the right and covering midfield defensively by themselves.
Arteta got this one wrong, it happens sometimes. Simply can’t defend the selection and not making necessary changes at halftime.
We need a striker! That what we are desperate for! A striker that scare the living daylights out of people. A striker that defences worry about when he’s up top. A striker that will demand the ball off the wingers and will be telling martinelli to stop f ing around and provide some decent crosses or play the ball in to him early. The left wing is not performing presently but most of us knew for a long time if we have havertz and Jesus as our striker it will take luck and other teams not performing well for us to win a trophy when we want to win silver ourselves. It’s crazy because we are only one or two players away from that and that has been the case for many seasons now. Ps with a top striker martinelli and Trossard will look like top players.
We need a player better than Martinelli and Trossard on the left wing, but we also need to balance the team in other areas on the left side.
our left hand side was our weakness last season and continues to be today – and it is a big problem
not only in goal output, but our left is so easy to defend against and offers such little threat that opponents can afford to double mark both Saka and Odegaard and just generally flood the right with bodies because our left side is so lame
it has to change
i saw Calafiori and Merino as recruited to rebuild the left hand side threat, Calafiori (when fit) certainly offers a threat himself but has not brought Martinelli in to the game, and Merino doesn’t seem to have fired yet, or find Rice playing the left #8
it is not just Martinelli having [another] bad season but dare I say it Rice has been average at best in the left #8
moving Merino or Nwaneri to left #8, and Rice to #6 may help a bit, but face it Martinelli has not developed his game in 2 years and is now a wind-up doll that repeats the same head down running nowhere every time, too predictable and too few goals
yes, top priority for January for me would be a dynamic left winger – the goals for Liverpool and Chelsea are not coming from ‘striker, striker, striker’ but from wide and midfield, that is the blueprint Arteta wanted too but Martnielli is the weak link