Was Gabriel Martinelli’s performance against Palace his best in a while?
The Brazilian winger has not been having the best time in red and white lately. On the pitch, he hasn’t been as influential as we know he can be from his 2022-23 performances. He’s had to warm the bench at times, and his luck is that Leandro Trossard, his alternative, has also been struggling.
Gooners have been critical of Martinelli, with many feeling an upgrade for his services is necessary as they believe he will never get better.
Well, on Saturday night, Martinelli surely seemed to have stepped up.
Stats suggest he loves playing against Crystal Palace. Before Saturday, he had scored 4 goals in 4 games against them, making them the Premier League team he has scored the most goals against (5).
Starting as a left winger, he had to switch to the right wing when Bukayo Saka was subbed off (in the 22nd minute) due to what appeared to be a hamstring injury. On the right, he didn’t look out of place at all. He was so good that Saka wasn’t really missed, and he gave Palace LB Mitchell plenty of problems.
The Brazilian winger’s impressive role on the right wing was a delight! His efficiency in attack and resilience in defense were commendable, and his goal crowned what was a great game for him on Saturday night.
After seeing Martinelli shine on the right wing, I wonder why Arteta doesn’t have Saka and Martinelli switch wings during some games to shake things up. That could be a strategy to prevent the team from being too one-sided and throw opponents off their game. How would they handle Saka on the left wing when they have planned to stop him on the right?
Saka’s injury worries me, but if we can play Martinelli next to Odegaard, we would still be good offensively, don’t you think?
Sam P
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Martinelli has played well in that position before and is able to more easily get to the goal line and cross with his better right foot. I was pleased to see him there TBH.
Some food for thought there. The idea of inverting wongers is presumably so that FBs are trying to stop them with their “wrong” foot”, but it’s probably offputting for the winger as well, so maybe it’s best to just play them where they play naturally.
The take on Tierney’s cameo role in midweek was that he was playing more or less as a winger… maybe the line-up with Saka’s injury should be Martinelli RW and Tierney LW 🤣😎
* Inverting wingers, not wongers
👀
It obviously did throw our opponents off their defensive plan in handling our right side (which wouldn’t have been effective regardless imo) and while MA has played Martinelli in a non-static right side position during games on sporatic occasions, this tactic has not been utilized nearly enough.
clarification: I meant that CP’s defensive plan wouldn’t have been effective regardless.
A right footed right winger crossing on the run ,resulting in a goal!This might just catch on.The right wing is Martinelli’s natural side and I have no doubt be will be far more effective there than on the left.In the same way Saka could light up the left flank and perhaps avoid damaging the hamstrings on his weaker leg.
🤣 Love the sarcasm Grandad
I have been a constant critic of Martinelli this season, but I thought he played well on the RW yesterday, he looked much more natural as an orthodox winger.
@Grandad, playing Matinelli at right wing would be like Theo Walcott esque when playing for Arsenal. The dissavantage is that a good left wing back would easily defend against him because he must get to byeline most times to cross the ball. Unlike Saka who can cut into his left foot to a devastating effect. But if Matinelli is very skillful like TWalcott and use his pace well he can drift inside the box to good effect and score goals. But that would require some training and tactical adjustment from Arteta. Imo, Arteta won’t shift his tactics easily knowing Saka would be back.
We should only hope that the injury to saka is not serious, what he brings into our system of play cannot be replicate effectively by Martinelli and co. They’ll try but we’ll miss Saka presence.
He’s simply irreplaceable
Spot on Chronicle. They way Saka plays means he far more effective on the Right Wing than he would be on the Left Wing.
Arteta used to swap wingers in matches before, don’t know why he stopped. It made our wing play more unpredictable
As much as I hope Saka’s not out for to long, this could be a blessing in disguise in regards Martinelli. A stint down the right, might just kick start a better run of performances from him. Here’s hoping.🤞😉
Good to see the option of a right footed player on the right wing in Martinelli, who put across some very good crosses.
Good to see a change in winger tactics; a cross resulting in a goal as well. Hopefully now we can digress from inverting every position and try other options.
Martinelli had a fullback overlapping and Odegaard on his side and produced, anyone honestly surprised?
Is Martinelli just lucky? Has he regressed as badly as some think?
Or perhaps the LW is a graveyard for wingers?
The tactics on the left will dry up any winger you put on that side; no fullback for width, no creative midfielder, just isolated, double teamed and wither on the vine.
With due respect, it was Palace, who were very porous but, he is playing as a winger on the right side for him. Lets hope 🤞he can improve on his season so far.
I would prefer to have Jesus fill in for Saka while he’s out. He was outstanding in that position for City and despite this week isn’t fooling anyone that he’s a striker. A front line of Jesus, Havertz, Sterling is quite promising on the face of it.
I do believe that some on JA have been calling for Saka and Martinelli to swap wings for quite a while now.
We’ve also been saying that Martinelli needed support in order to see him at his best.
Funnily enough, due to the injury sustained by Saka, both things happened Saturday…… so let’s hope all this talk about Martinelli not improving these last two seasons now stops.
Lets hope🤞