Pundit and self-confessed Arsenal fan Micah Richards appears to agree with many Gooners who believe one player should no longer be starting for the club, and that it may be time to find his replacement.
Gabriel Martinelli’s underwhelming pre-season displays have left fans questioning his place in the starting eleven. Some argue he should be sold, while others suggest he could be more effective as an impact player from the bench.
Richards calls for new left-wing approach
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, former Manchester City defender Richards shared his views on Arsenal’s ongoing left-wing dilemma. He suggested Martinelli should now be seen as a bench option and backed a move for Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze.
“I still believe they need a left winger as well… they’ve been linked with Eze, haven’t they,” Richards said.
“I think Martinelli can definitely do a job, but he’s more of an impact player right now, great to have off the bench. So if they could get Eze, that would be amazing.”
Arsenal’s evolving left-wing plan
A left-wing addition was on Arsenal’s radar early in the summer. However, their top target Rodrygo proved difficult to land due to high wage demands and doubts about his desire to leave Real Madrid – though Rodrygo to Arsenal rumours still abound.
Instead, Arsenal moved to sign Noni Madueke. While he is primarily viewed as a right winger, he is also capable of playing on the left, a versatility that may have influenced the club’s decision.
Regardless of the personnel, Mikel Arteta must now find a solution for the left side. Whether the answer is Madueke, Eze, a reinvigorated Martinelli, or a suprise Rodrygo swoop, that flank has to function effectively.
If it does not, the Gunners risk another season where a key attacking imbalance costs them, much like how past shortcomings were often attributed to the lack of a proper striker.
You thoughts welcome in the comments.
Daniel O
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No, because Martinelli is the only inverted-LW who can reach the byline constantly for Arsenal
Trossard, Nelson and Eze don’t have the pace to cross from the byline, so they tend to cut inside predictably as our energizer Chilean bunny did in his prime
Madueke will be able to reach the byline frequently if he plays conventional LW, but he won’t be able to cut inside easily since he’s too left-footed
Martinelli is still our best option to penetrate the left wing, because he can make byline cross, diagonal cross and inside-cutting easily with his pace and skills
If you want to drop him, Arsenal should sign an inverted-LW of his caliber, such as Rodrygo, Vinicius Jr, Nico Williams, Alejandro Garnacho, Luis Diaz, Mathys Tel, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doeue and Kingsley Coman
@Gai I partially agree with you. I would have agreed with you absolutely but the player in question hasn’t been efficient in what he does lately, he seem to be retrogressing. Matinelli can hardly dribble past a player in recent friendlies. Even when he crosses it doesn’t lead to any goal.
IMO, he should be sold and if Arteta wants badly a player than can reach a byline a nother productive player should be signed.
But if you ask me, I want a dynamic coach who is able to vary his tactics, use other players and get result. Matinelli is simply not at his best again. Even in our last three games Trossard and Nelson in particular contributed more than him.
Based on last season’s games, Martinelli got past defenders more than Saka and Trossard did
Martinelli was able to reach the byline more often than the other Arsenal wingers who opted to cut inside or dribble sideways
That is why I am not sure why we are so in love with Eze, except his Arsenal past. Yes, he is good, but we have Ethan and Max for minutes from Ode, and Kai will also play there. We need a fast left winger, Rodrygo is best option, may be Malick Fofana otherwise.
Yes, Malick Fofana seems a decent option. Doku would be a good choice too
Another point for Martinelli is that non of these supposed replacements can defend like he can . Fans are looking only at his offensive output….that is half the job.
Good shout Crispen, I was going to comeback to GAI with much the same thing but also yes he gets to the byline but hardly ever crosses with his left foot.
Spot on
maybe he needs position change since he barely making any impact offensive wise
If we don’t drop martinelli, then the season is heading for same result aslast season, the rw is tye only place treat comes from coz nothing is happening in mattinelli wing and making us predictable
I like your thinking. team know threat is the right, this is where they place emphasis since left is not doing anything
Indeed , one of the reason the defense is good on the left side and miles luis Skelly looks good is because of all the defensive work martinelli does. People are calling for rafael Leo . Rafael leo scored 8 goals same as martinelli in serie A . And had a higher assist but their defensive work is not the same. Instead of looking at the flavor of the month we should focus on our players and encouraging them. I remember at one time fans really wanting moussa Diaby …he came to the premier league did not do much. We are looking to win the premier league there are very few players better than what we currently have.
Martinelli did quite well in 22/23. Back then,we took EPL teams by surprise as they didn’t expect us to be that good. Most teams still played open football against us,leaving lots of space,which Martinelli thrives on,given his pace.
When teams realised we were good, they started setting up in compact defensive blocks; dropping deep and parking the bus. Without the space,he couldn’t thrive as before. The loss of support from Zinchenko,Xhaka and Jesus also made him more isolated on the left. Nonetheless,he’s always been a hardworking player.
It’s worth noting that Arteta said and I paraphrase, that we should see a departure from the notion of a first 11 or second 11. That players should be selected based on their suitability to the opponent of the day. For instance,we’ve seen Martinelli excel against Liverpool-a team that plays open football. On the other hand,you would expect someone different against a team like Newcastle.
I also believe Gyokeres and Zubimendi could provide some of the support Martinelli got from Jesus and Xhaka. I wouldn’t write him off until I see how he performs within the new team dynamics.
Agree with your analysis Onyango. I’ve wanted to see the effects on Martinelli of Eze being in the left 8 for a long time.
Great last paragraph Onyango and I’m very hopeful Martinelli will prove his doubters wrong.
Not sure her Daniel O gets his idea that there are more against than for regarding Martinelli and, if pre season games are a way to judge players, then I expect to see Raya as a bench warmer, along with Odegaard!!
Great post again Onyango. It’s worth repeating these points.
We are clearly trying to move to a model with more flexibility. We’re not fully there yet of course, but getting closer.
I would just add to your comments about the way Martinelli has been deployed the last two seasons, that from reading between the lines it appears to me that a part of the reason we went in for Madueke was to give us a left-footed left wing option. Something we didn’t have last season. Martinelli and Trossard are different players but neither of them are really touchline hugging wingers of the Tierney variety. Madueke can play that role, and also invert.
On a random note, Nwaneri is actually left-footed as well, and has even filled in at left wing for the U21s I believe. His right foot is not fully developed yet though, so he’s unlikely to offer what say Trossard can with shots from that side. And he’s good in 1v1s obviously, but nowhere near as experienced as the more senior players at defending. But maybe a possibility for the future.
Onyango
Exactly my belief
And with what Crispen said, people are only looking at the offensive side of things and not the defensive side
Trust me, if we sign a player like Rodrygo or Leao for the left side, it means we need another left back cos Skelly will be exposed. None of those two are better defensively like Martinelli.
Martinelli really miss Xhaka and I hope Eze is brought in to help him out.
Saka has been playing with White and Odegaard without changes but Martinelli left side has been changing every season and none is effective as Xhaka.
The big miss here is not that teams played open football against us and now do the low block, while true the analysis of how/why is the opposite of what’s said here
The reason is ourselves, let’s take ownership shall we. Our play has slowed down so much especially in transition that our tactics actually encourage a low block to be played.
2 years ago we pressed heavily, won the ball back high up, and transitioned into attack quickly. We also played out significantly faster from the back
So we need to take accountability and be honest and say our excessively slow play is the reason for compact defences. We never gave defences time to get organised 2 years ago, now we give them all the time in the world. It’s on us, end of.
Two things can be true at the same time PJ-SA. I agree that we slowed down our play but it’s also true that teams became more defensive against us after 22/23.
I think part of the reason why we slowed our play is because the high intensity game we played back then is not sustainable over an entire season,particularly if you are depending on only 11-13 players.Inevitably,these 13 players will get injured or burned out towards the end of the season as we’ve seen a number of times.
I believe this transfer window was meant to address this. Now we can easily have 18 players in the “trusted group” so that they can share the minutes,spread the burden and maintain high intensity throughout the season.
As for our low block problem,part of it was due to a lack of players with certain skillsets needed to break them down. Again,it seems like this window was geared towards addressing that skill gap.
You can go through,around or above a block. For a while,we only had the option of going around-playing through the wings with nothing much happening through the middle-which lead that horse-shoe shape from moving the ball side to side.
We needed more central passing,more runners and more dribblers to cut through teams- skills we get from Zubimendi,Gyokeres,Madueke and Eze if he comes.
When we face mid blocks like Porto,we can now go over them because Gyokeres lives on the shoulders of defenders. A long ball from Raya beyond the defensive line and Gyokeres can peel off the defenders and make the run.
So it wasn’t just tactics imo but also a lack of certain skillsets in the group. Even Odegaard who is one of the best through ball specialists in the world,has never quite had a player who thrives on through balls. Now he has one. Let’s see what happens.
Spot on as usual Onyango. A huge loss in this regard was Jesus’ WC injury and subsequent recovery period on the pitch when he just wasn’t the same player.
@PJ-SA
You just hit nail on the head. Our style of play encourages low block because it’s just the most effective way of stopping us from doing anything meaningful with ball.
Teams just resort to giving us the ball to slowly pass sideways and backwards as we do, with no attacking spark or creativity.
Has @Oyango ever asked himself why these same teams don’t sit and play low-block against Liverpool?
I don’t watch every Liverpool game Twinlight,but I’ve seen them face low blocks and even lose games to teams that play that way. Their first loss of last season against Forest at Anfield is a good example of this.
But they improved after that. The reason why Liverpool could find solutions against low blocks was not just because of tactics but also the tools(read players) needed to break down low blocks.
They have Salah who is incredible in direct play. He runs straight at defenders which will destabilize even the most compact defense. We didn’t have this kind of player. Now we have two- Gyokeres and Madueke.
It’s not simple to play in a certain way if you don’t have the players needed to play that way.You can only play to the strengths of the players you have and not force them in a way not suited to them.That’s like expecting an eagle to swim in the Indian Ocean or a shark to fly across the Arabian desert.
PJ-SA spot on in your analysis, we are now slow in our build up play, pressing is non existent which is even worse when Odegaard is not on the field!
losing xhaka had a profounding impact on the team attacking threat
For the first 45 minutes of the game against Villarreal I would like to see this trio: Saka,
Giokeres and Madueke in the attack. If they combine their abilities they should blow away any defense. But maybe they need more time in training.
Noni on the left is worth a try against Villareal. They are known as a classic counter-attacking team, so if they play that way in our game, then a left footer playing wide on the left wing would allow us to test the theory that we can overcome defensive, low-block teams that way during the season.
Martinelli should be converted to a right back. 😂
He cannot be our first choice when playing teams who play the low block. He is a fair tactical option when we are on the back foot and benefit from his pace on the counter. IMO if Martinelli remains a starter for the majority of our games, he will be the weakest link and we will be left wanting again.
I would love Martinelli to stay in the starting XI, he is my most favourite player in Arsenal. Even though he has struggled for form recently, he will gradually improve, i know it. He is a fantastic player that has skill, pace, and his dynamic.
Whatever happened to playing players on form Mathias! And going with your “favorites” In a competitive game!
Yes, he is not productive or reliable. We have to be ruthless not all goooey with players, if we want to win.
Kenya001, you think Martinelli is kindof Arsenal player. He is actually one of the best if you don’t know, do you know how many records he has broken in Arsenal and in the Premier League.