That goal will boost Martinelli’s confidence for the fixtures ahead.
Arsenal’s elite mentality and never say die attitude was on full display in the game against Leicester on Saturday, snatching a winner and then the icing on the cake after the 90th minute at the Emirates to seal a dramatic 4-2 victory.
We dominated (in my opinion) every aspect from start to finish but still found ourselves level going into the end of the game, with the winner eventually coming through an own goal forced by Leandro Trossard from another set piece on Saturday afternoon.
Martinelli was visibly delighted to put us into the lead in the 20th minute however it was the miss a few minutes earlier that would’ve made the goal an even sweeter one for the Brazilian.
Having been put through on goal by Bukayo Saka, he took a heavy touch before blazing his shot over in what was a very good goal scoring opportunity, He made no mistakes with his goal however with a lovely turning finish from a Timber cross.
Why the goal will also be a relief for him is due to the fact that he hasn’t scored a goal for us since March, seven months ago! His struggles for us have been well documented throughout last season and even into this one, with the Brazilian international struggling to recreate that form we saw him on a couple of seasons ago, This has seen him understandably get less and less playing time. However he’s already starting to show this season that he’s hungry to get back to his best.
He got an assist last weekend against Manchester City, then followed that up with a goal and another assist against Leicester this gameweek, that goal especially will boost his confidence to get more in the coming games ahead, and that will only further help us in this never ending fight for glory. A fit Martinelli is a good player for any squad to have, but a fit and firing Martinelli is one of the best player’s a squad can have. He’s still incredibly talented with so much more still to offer, and I have no doubt that this goal will be a platform for him to have a very good season ahead.
KENNETH BENJAMIN.
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I will be honest, I thought, he disappeared after scoring. I hope it does boost his confidence but his decision making has to be boosted as well. Loads of talent and promise but no idea.
Reggie,
I agree with you. While it was good to see him get a goal and an assist, he far to often makes the wrong decisions when well placed.
He needs to start improving that side of his game, if he want’s to progress as a player.
👍
I notice the difference in Martinelli since he’s had two excellent players supporting him from behind.
Timber and Califiori have given him the opportunity to showcase his undoubted talent once again and he is thriving from the experience.
His defensive work is also improving and, just like every other player, he will make mistakes.
I disagree his decision-making has been particularly poor, it’s more execution. Saka takes similar decisions, which often look poor in retrospect eg when he shoots from tight angles and doesn’t test the GK – the difference is he often finds a telling pass or shot of real quality, whereas it hasnt been coming off for martinelli. It looks as though arteta has faith in him and is looking to play him out of the bad form – if he was doing the wrong things ive no doubt hed have lost his place a while ago with sterling and trossard available.
I didn’t realise we were comparing Martinelli to Saka and not should we in my opinion.
Two different players, both with strengths and weaknesses.
Both get two defenders at them whenever they get the ball – both are young in age – Martinelli still hasn’t had the amount of games that Saka has had – Martinelli has not had a stable, first class player backing him up game in and game out (like White) – I expect him to flourish now that MA has addressed that problem.
That wasn’t really my point – I was addressing those saying martinelli’s decision-making has been poor, when imo it hasn’t, it’s more that the things he’s tried haven’t come off. Saka is just an example of a player who doesn’t get criticised so often for being selfish in certain situations when he could have passed it – we want both of them to be “selfish” and have the confidence to take on shots when close to the goal.
I do disagree with the “backing him up” idea – I think that’s just excuse-making as trossard hasn’t really suffered when he’s played left wing. Top players adapt and find ways to influence games even if their situation isn’t optimal. Imagine if he was playing for a poor team – would we not expect him to stand out, even though his team mates are poor players?
Thanks for the Martinelli/Saka explanation, my mistake.
I do believe that each player is an individual and need different kinds of “help” to bring out the best in each of them.
I don’t see that as a weakness, more as an opportunity and it’s taken MA time to get the right support for Martinelli – strangely, it was also the weakest area of our defence (LB).
As you rightly say, it didn’t seem to affect Trossard, but he seems to need something different, that being the need to make a regular impact when starting a game.
👍 fair points. My example about playing for a poor club, while valid, is a bit simplistic, I know. Trossard is a different type of player, who’s a bit more capable of getting involved in the build up, whereas martinelli is more of a forward who we try to release imo, so different setups will definitely favour one or the other
Martinelli issue is that he is overthinking taking too much time to shoot or pass which leads to a poor touch or defenders catching up. One of the reasons he was considered one of our best finishers not long ago was because of his quick instinctive shooting. E.g his 1st chance where he takes another touch which puts the ball a little away from him hence the bad shot whereas the 2nd chance he took it 1st time and boom goal.
Yes, I think you’re probably right tbh.
I think the consensus is our left side wasn’t great last year …perhaps that cost us the title.
Xhaka going also didn’t help Martinelli.
With Calafiori and Timber and Merino once he is fit and playing I think we will see the Martinelli of 2.seasons ago
Considering also Calafiori Timber and Merino plus Sterling and now possibly Nwaneri…that’s a lot of news players to assimilate into the team. We cans ee we haven’t quite hit our straps yet but still up near the top
Hopefully we can now have an injury free period and really get our flow going