Martinelli needs to start cutting inside more.
A facet of Martinelli’s gameplay that we must have become accustomed to is his style of taking players on 1 v 1. This has become more prevalent in recent seasons where we’ve seen him get varying degrees of success when implementing it. Martinelli loves taking players on the outside more often than not, this is something which is not uncommon, but for an inverted winger in the modern game, it’s certainly not expected to be a more than frequent occurence in a game.
The style has been very effective at times in an Arsenal shirt as some of us may remember how he absolutely tormented the hell out of Sevilla‘s Juanlu Sánchez in the UCL last season. With that said however, especially more recently, you can say he has taken it a little bit too far which has made his game predictable to say the least. Make no mistake, this article is not meant to slag him off or anything like that but we do have to admit that he has become a touch more predictable due to this reason. Every player has his own unique style of play, I get that, but if you’re a winger and you become too predictable to the opponent then you won’t be able to contribute anything meaningful to the team’s efforts. A little bit of unpredictability and invention in the final third will do him a world of good.
What’s most frustrating about watching him at times is him constantly relying on his pace to beat players which has saw him running down blind alleys at times this season. This has already led to us conceding on the other end of the pitch if you believe or not, with that goal being Salah’s late equalizer for Liverpool a few weeks ago in which we conceded largely because of poor defending from our backline, but also in part due to how easily Martinelli conceded possession while trying to run at the Liverpool backline.
I believe his confidence levels has increased his dependence on his pace and that has in turn seen him preferably going on the outside more. This means that when he eventually cuts inside on his favourable right foot, he often looks short of ideas and Invention, his delivery and shooting abilities when inside are below par which shouldn’t be the case for an orthodox winger. You don’t have to look far and wide to see what am talking about, Saka goes on the outside more often than not but when he cuts inside then suddenly he becomes a more dangerous prospect for opposing fullbacks to worry about due to how lethal he is with his left foot. Martinelli just doesn’t carry that same threat, that’s the same reason why our left functions better with Trossard on the left-wing, he has no where near the pace that Martinelli has but he is better in 1v1 situations as well as creating and scoring while cutting inside.
In this modern age of football where we operate with inverted wingers, there is more emphasis on the wingers being the best dribblers & finishers in the squad which is something that he has to start showing more of if he wants to continue starting in the squad. Our left is no where near dynamic as our right side, I’ll give him a break for that but with the imminent return of Calafiori, I have no doubt that he will have enough support and cover on the left for him to combine and express himself freely.
He seems almost scared of cutting in at times this season, what might be a plausible explanation for this gooners?
BENJAMIN KENNETH.
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Martinelli still plays sunday club football where running at defenders makes you a star. His game has not improved for last few years. Either sell him or loan him. Arsenal wont win anything if he is to be always in the starting 11. You can see now Mikel trust trossard more than him. Its a matter of time before Arsenal recruits a high profile winger to replace him.
For him to cut inside someone has to make a run on the outside to pull defenders away. White and Odegard do this right for saka to cut inside but no one does it on the left. If martineli cuts inside he’ll be running into traffic where he would loose the ball and still get blamed by the fanbase. Left backs and left mids exist for a reason if only someone could explain this to arteta.
Spot on David. As to the suggestion that Saka invariably goes on the outside to his weaker right foot ,this is simply not the case.
Martinelli struggles are a combination of diff factors.
1. As David pointed out, he rarely has his left back or left mid making a run outside to open space inside.
2. his confidence is down so he isn’t shooting at all with his left foot which makes more predictable to defend against. He scored many in 22/23.
3. His runs and good attacking positions are not picked out by teammates. Our attacks lean heavily right but we are not switching play fast enough to find him in 1v1 situation.
4. He has also stagnated in his development especially mentally.
Look at how Ben white runs outside deceaving the opposite players with the hope of getting the pass and Saka will cut. In that case we see the combination Odegaard+Bukayo+White on the right flank and that has been helping Saka alot. But tMartinelli, on the other hand, simultaneously relies on his space to beat the opposite right back, we have witnessed many occassion where the Brazilian had capitalised on his speed to win matches for us, especially, against tough rival. But these days defenders are wise, they study you and your potential. So, if you are ready to generate another level of creativity you will end up producing anything to supplement the quality of your team. A player like Merino and Calafiori must combined to support Martinell to be able to cut in.
While Forest are playing above themselves at the moment, they are not the greatest team. But it was noticeable how together our football was. There were four players in midfield who play with brains (something Martinelli lacks) Jorghino, Trossard, Odergaard and Saka. Probably the worst player on the pitch Yesterday (Jesus) also plays his own game, a bit like Martinelli and isn’t conducive for the team. Martinellis problem is his lack of brain cells and inability to look what is around him.
When Martinelli had that stand-out season teams did not see us the way they see us now Teams opened up against us more and it was a breakout season for Martinelli Now Martinelli is not given space to run into and he is marked and has bodies in front of him Saka can find a way even in a quiet game I’m not sure if Martinelli can ever get back to his best
Have to mostly agree with Reggie but still believe in Martinelli growing as a footballer. Hopefully it’s not just wishful thinking. Trossard for example was an unknown until he turned 25- 26, so there is still a lot of time for Martinelli to make adjustments and continue working on his game. As Bellarin discovered pace alone won’t cut it in the long run. At the same time I believe Martinelli has too often been left high and dry getting almost no support from the inverteds ,such as Tomiyasu, Kiwior and co. He also doesn’t seem to have any telepathy with Harvetz who is a straight up and down player. Hopefully Califiori will stay fit. I’m confident he and Martinelli will be able to spark that left side once they have had enough game time together. A fit Kieren Tierney would also be a positive for Martinelli.