In the past few days, there’s been a lot of chatter about the Arsenal left wing and how it could use some strengthening. After the Fulham game, people were chatting about how Arsenal seemed to favor the right side, with most of its attacking play running through Bukayo Saka.
Some think that how it’s not really working out on the left, it might need to be upgraded for it to get back to influencing the Arsenal attack as it should.
There are already links to some of the best wingers, like Nico Williams. Still, Gabriel Martinelli or Leandro Trossard might have a shot at keeping their Arsenal careers alive since one of them will need to stay while the other steps aside for a new signing.
I believe Martinelli has the potential to stay.
Why so?
There’s a cool stat out there showing how Martinelli plays better alongside Riccardo Calafiori. As you can see below (thanks to Rory Talks Football), Ricci gets Martinelli hyped up.
Martinelli: When he starts with Calafiori:
Games: 5
Goals: 2
Assists: 2
Avg rating: 7.84
Martinelli, when he starts without Calafiori:
Games: 10
Goals: 1
Assists: 0
Avg rating: 6.96
It looks like Martinelli needs Riccardo Calafiori to get back in shape pretty quickly if he wants to keep his Arsenal career going.
I believe these stats clearly demonstrate that the inconsistent team selection at left-back or LCM hindered Martinelli’s performance. Undoubtedly, Martinelli has demonstrated his capabilities at Arsenal; his potential for danger to opposition is well-known.
Let’s hope Calafiori returns soon to help him resume his forward runs and establish himself at Arsenal once more.
Saka’s got Timber and Odegaard to team up with. Martinelli linked up with Calafiori well, and they totally nailed it. The Brazilian winger is still solid; he just needs a little help.
Peter Rix
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Calafiori will probably be fit before White so Calafiori will probably resume LB and Timber, if fit, at RB. However, I don’t think LB is Calafiori’s best position, he is a bit slow for LB. At CB it is not as critical and that’s where I think he is best suited. When all are fit I expect White to be at RB, Timber LB with Saliba and Gabs. I am not saying Calafiori won’t be at LB because with MA you never know. All that said, Martinelli deserves better service and Calafiori would be better for him than Timber, but it’s also about the midfield too. However, Martinelli has not progressed as a footballer when it comes to his decision making, maybe that is rooted in lack of confidence and consequently form, but something needs to come from his side too.
Our whole left side has been Inconsistent because it constantly changes, for various reasons. Martinelli has been made a bit of a scapegoat by online fans, but us in the stadium are still fully behind him. He’s had his moments this season already and there’ll be more to come
Absolutely agree with the support he gets at the Emirates.
He does an awful lot of work off the ball and I concur with Grandad’s comment about switching Saka and Martinelli.
There are two possible solutions to the left flank problem.First of all Odegaard could be used as a number 10 where he could take up a more central attacking midfield position similar to the role currently undertaken by Cole Palmer with Chelsea.Secondly our Manager could simply switch Saka and Martinelli and deploy them as conventional wingers with a view to them crossing on the run with their stronger foot.It’s not rocket science but I’m afraid our Manager seems to be bereft of any imagination when it comes to the utilisation of our wingers, and as such as have become a very predictable attacking unit.
Quick question who do we have in the middle to convert those crosses ?
How many goals has havertz scored on the bounce with his head or a tap in .
Problem is not where our wingers play it’s what’s on the end of the pass .
Makes no difference if they interchange whatsoever,the outcome will be the same since Arteta took over .
Our gameplay is pass the ball to Odegaard to thread the ball through to saka and havertz and hope for an outcome .
No plan B C or D
I believe Tierney put in 15 crosses in 1 game with no end result this is why he’s not in Artetas plans .
Agree with this.
I swear I saw arteta saying he likes wingers on the “wrong” side (as is the fashion these days – probably used the dreaded “inverted” word) because it means they can be more comfortable turning inside rather than out – this means they have more of the pitch available, more options and it makes it harder for defenders to predict what they’re going to do – you can really see how useful that is for sake in particular, as he doesn’t have amazing pace and relies on being unpredictable. Makes a huge amount of sense to me tbh, but he did also mention having overlapping fullbacks really helps as it provides another option or distraction for defenders – something we’ve not always utilised tbf.
What exactly is the expected end result of crossing the ball to no one.
The facts are that neither Saka nor Martinelli can cross accurately with their weaker foot and as a consequence opportunities to score on the ground or in the air are few and far between.
Martinelli has quite some wonderful marketers who could insist he would have been onside had Calafiori been on the turf.
Quite awesome.
Martinelli’s form or performance has nothing to do with Cala, he’s stagnated and he’s not adding anything or dimensions to his game. The game is evolving but he’s not.