Arsenal did not end 2023 on a high as many expected. Some players weren’t at their best, one of them being Gabriel Martinelli. There have recently been calls for Arsenal’s boss, Mikel Arteta, to drop Gabriel Martinelli due to his poor form. But are we being harsh to the Brazilian international, who last season impressed on Arsenal’s left wing on numerous occasions?
I believe we are being unfair by calling for him to be benched. Hearing Jamie Carragher explain why Martinelli might not be at his best this season has opened my eyes. I now understand why, against Fulham, he was still retained on the wing after these claims by Carragher on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football: “I keep mentioning Martinelli because of the front four; he is really struggling.”
“They had Xhaka in that position last season; the fixed 8 was on the left-hand side, Odegaard was to the right. This season, at times Trossard has played there, Declan Rice has played there, Havertz has played there. So, I don’t think that is helping Martinelli.”
Carragher’s assertion makes sense. In fact, based on his comments, I believe he should not be dropped. He should not be dropped since Mikel Arteta may have solved the riddle of the left-sided attacking midfielder role, with Kai Havertz now slowly cementing himself as the left-sided Arsenal No. 8. It’s now simply a matter of playing Havertz and Martinelli more and hoping they develop a strong chemistry as the games progress.
Overall, I hope Martinelli rediscovers his magic and has a fantastic 2024. Arsenal are flying when Martinelli is flying, but does he simply need to regain the consistent support from his team-mates that he had last season?
Darren N
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ESR should be playing in the midfield. His speed and ability to move with the ball would really help Martinelli. We need creativity on the left side of attack.
Can Arteta explain why ESR is not getting games?
To get the best out of ESR, he has to be in the starting line up. he need consistent game time.
Havertz should be playing as a CF. He should be the first choice CF for now. G. Jesus should rotate with Saka on the right side of attack. Nketiah should be on the bench.
Martinelli Havertz Saka
ESR Rice Odegaard
Spot on. We need to try out ESR as left CM ASAP, for a run of games. If he can’t support Martinelli well enough, we have to look elsewhere or revert to a conventional overlapping LB. We need to fix the void left by Xhaka on our left
The mistake Arteta made was to recruit Harvetz as Xhaka’s replacement.
I have argued with fellow Arsenal supporters that what Arsenal needs in this winter window is a proper left sided box to box midfield player to field the void left by Xhaka. In my opinion, this is even more urgent than signing a striker.
If we get a hardworking midfielder to support Martinelli in the attack and Zinchenko in the defense, then Harvetz could be pushed further up to play the false nine position depending on the opposing team and/or the state of the game.
The club hierarchy needs to accept that they didn’t get it all right with Harvetz instead of trying to force him into every game just to justify the huge amount of money they squandered on him
We were negligent overspending 65M on Havertz, something I have said repeatedly. The speed at which the deal was completed showed that Chelsea got an offer they were delighted to accept and they did straightaway.
We still have Chelsea fans thanking us till this day and neutrals asking how on earth did Chelsea got back almost what they paid for Havertz. Factor in his 300K/wk wages, we dug ourselves a really deep hole. Let’s hope we don’t get buried in it
It’s not just Xhaka. Check out our winning rate with Thomas partey as well.
Arteta as a novice manager dismantled all of that midfield. He wasn’t even willing to play Partey with Rice. We were lucky last campaign because Partey played for a long while before getting injured. We need real valid replacement for partey
The normal thing would have been to conserve the winning team and then make additions. But Xhaka left; Partey got injured and then we also have Raya from nowhere.
Now we are pannicking as we may not even get top 4.
The real spoiler is Havertz because he cost the team much and now they are trying to balance books but he is not producing what Xhaka produced.
Simply play Emile Smith Rowe there and give a break yo kai havertz
Havertz’s is not the excuse needed to explain Martinelli’s dip in form (if one believes there is a dip anyway!).
We have Zinchenko who could play alongside Rice and use Havertz as the CF.
We have Tomiyasu who could play at LB land ESR who could give Odegaard a rest.
The obvious thing to happen, is that teams are putting two and sometimes three players around both Martinelli and Saka, but we are not utilising the space this provides by playing Odegaard, while ESR, in my opinion, would create moves for both Martinelli and Saka, along with Havertz
Then swap Havertz for Jesus and ESR for Odegaard during a game and you have plan B staring our opponents in their faces.
The problem is, MA doesn’t see it.
THIS QUESTION MUST BE ASKED OF SAKA, NOT MARTINELLI.
Both Martinelli and Saka are suffering from being overplayed by a Manager who is trying to reinvent the wheel by deploying tactics which win us the possession game but not the more important football match.Unless Arteta sees the light and revert to tactics which are more suited to the players at his disposal, we will, once again be also rans. Havertz will never be successful in a central midfield role .Given the lack of goals from Jesus and Nketiah surely be should be given a run at centre forward or as a number ten where he made his name in Germany.Like our wingers, Odegaard is looking tired and needs a break ,which he is unlikely to get under Arteta.The losses to West Ham, who were largely outplayed by Brighton yesterday, and in particular Fulham, where we were virtually second best in every position, will have hit the confidence of our players, and our Manager now faces what I consider to be his biggest test since his arrival of he is to rejuvenate the team.Tactically, he is unlikely to change with a view to proving a point, but unless he makes 2/3 changes in personelle and positionally, I am not expecting a sudden improvement in our performance I’m afraid to say.