Prior to the Manchester City game, there were calls for Arteta to make one or two changes to his starting lineup. Ben White and Gabriel Martinelli were the most pronounced subjects to be dropped.
Against Manchester City, Arteta went on to drop White for Tomiyasu. The Japanese international’s error that led to De Bruyne’s goal may have raised questions about his decision to start over White, but that’s a discussion for another day.
Can we discuss Gabriel Martinelli? Many people have asked this week: Does the Brazilian need a break? Jamie O’Hara stated on talkSPORT, as cited by HITC Sport, after Arsenal’s 3-1 loss to City that the winger needs a rest.
“He has gone off the boil,” O’Hara says. “And I am a huge fan of Martinelli.”
Arteta now has a capable replacement for Martinelli thanks to the £27 million acquisition of Leandro Trossard. Trossard had already scored seven goals in 16 games for Brighton before scoring four minutes after replacing Martinelli last weekend. Arteta has already mentioned how much of a “livewire” he is.
“We took Gabi off for Leo because when Leo’s in those spaces, he’s so good,” said Arteta after the Brentford game.
“He’s so composed, he’s constantly faking movements, playing forwards, he’s got a smell for where the ball is going to land, and we believe it was the right choice to get him on today.”
If Trossard does not start against Villa, what was the point of bringing him in? Aston Villa will not be an easy game, as they have been performing well under Unai Emery. Other than that, the former Arsenal player will have a point to prove against Arsenal, a club many who sympathise with him think he wasn’t given enough time at the helm at Arsenal.
Darren N
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I think Emery was given more than enough time and I’m not entirely sure how he’ll fare at Aston Villa either. On the face of it and with EL wins to his great credit, it should have been better but Emery wasn’t a good fit for us.
Arteta replaced White with poor Tomi and there is the suggestion that Arteta doesn’t rotate enough. Why break up a successful defence v give the other team members a go.
I’ll readily admit to not being tactically minded so I’m not sure if Arteta is not playing to Martinelli’s strengths or if he needs a break. Arteta does have to find a way through this lean spell but most of what has gone before during this season has reaped dividends. He will no doubt be keeping his mind in the EL when it resumes
Not sure why Martinelli is getting the brunt of the blame when players such as Eddie ,Odegaard Xhaka have been just as bad if not worse ,atleast with Martinelli he shows some effort and willingness,obviously things aren’t going well ATM but that is down to the manager to sort out we already seen what happens when fans call for players to be replaced ,white and tomi being the perfect example .
Agree with your first point. On the second, Tomi hasn’t looked so good for a while to be fair, and I’m a big fan, but white was starting to drop off a bit as well, so a change was warranted. I do think the squad would benefit from a bit more rotation to keep everyone sharp – rather than having 11 players who always start, it would be better imo to have, say, 15 regular starters. Maybe we don’t have the squad for it, but I’d have thought Tomi, Tierney, Eddie (before Jesus’s injury), and now trossard and jorginho could be starting more PL games – as it stands, none of them start unless it’s a cup game or someone else is injured. You could even argue lokonga might have faired better if he’d been given a few more starts – probably not in that case, but it’s possible
The fact is, our rotation has been limited this season. Fatigue looks like it is becoming a major factor and we just haven’t had the quality and depth to deal with it. Even after the January window it seems we only have Trossard who is considered “ready” for EPL action. Without doubt we are now realising how far above our weight we have been punching as the lack of fitness, depth and quality now present themselves. We have done so well but this is when the season starts to really get going. And, we look like we’re starting to slow down.
I always thought Unai Emery was the ex coach of Arsenal FC; I never knew he was a “former Arsenal player”, as stated by Darren N?
Martinelli should be rested not bcoz he is bad but he beaten for long and needs time to rest, Eddie Nketiah must pull up to uphold the team in the absence of Jesus, Arteta should also think of Nelson and Viera.
Even when Jesus playing, he was the major link up Martineli, Nketiah needs to link up with Martineli, I believe Nketiah is the weak link and should be replaced.