The only player left at Arsenal with some flair, is being offered to the Turkish side for a 45m fee. Martinelli’s camp has rejected it saying he doesn’t like it and the club either needs to find a better destination for him or he would prefer to stay. But, I’m fuming mate, and there are a lot of reasons for it.
Gabriel Martinelli joined us from Ituano in 2019, when he was a kid. He scored 3 goals in his first season in 14 games. He scored 2 and assisted 1 in the same number of games for the next season as well. 2021-22 was a breakthrough, he played 29 games and scored 6 while assisting another 6 for us. The 22-23 season was even better when he scored 15 goals (more than what Gyokeres has done) and assisted another 5. The next 2 seasons were average for him with 6/4 and 8/4 goals and asists.
Last season was one of the worst in performance from him, only 1 goal and 4 assists overall in 30 games but most of these performances were substitutions. You might think someone with that output shouldn’t even fetch a 45m fee, but there’re three things working against him.
First, Mikel Arteta’s reliance on the right side of the pitch to attack – How often do you see Saka surrounded by 3 defenders and searching for Odegaard or Gyokeres/Havertz to get out of that situation? Martinelli doesn’t have a creator behind him like Odegaard and the team usually prefers or are instructed to play on the right side of the pitch.
Second, Martinelli is instructed to hug the sideline – if you read my post history, I have been complaining about Martinelli hugging the sideline and not moving centrally like Saka does. I don’t think it’s because he doesn’t want to. He has a striker instinct, and he would love to move centrally once in a while to score some like he did in the 2022-23 season. You are not going to see him score goals, if he is not allowed to go in the box.
Third, he is a yes man – he will run the length of the pitch to defend but then again, you can’t score goals if you are doing the defending. He is not Bukayo, he is the Sadio Mane or Mo Salah of Klopp’s system, and he needs freedom and confidence to take the ball and shoot. He will do what you say, but you should be asking him to beat a couple of players and score goals. We have messed up his football, and the confidence.
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Can we fix this now? No. You can’t just ask a player to leave, accept offers from Galatsaray and expect him to stay and fight for you. I would hate to see him go but it’s for his own good. This system of robotic players who like to read instructions more than playing football doesn’t suit him and we have wasted a talent Klopp said ‘the talent of the century, an incredible striker’.
So yeah, lets sell him for 45m and add another 45m on top of it to get a player who can recycle the ball for 150th time in his 90 minutes. I was under the impression that Arteta would be brave now, after winning the trophy and would try to work on the football aspect of football, but I was so wrong man. There would be another robotic and Madueke-esque addition before the transfer window closes.
I can also guarantee he would turn out to be another Martinelli because we will stick to the attack from the right side, and the LW won’t get a benefit of Odegaard behind him.
Bollocks.
Ambarish – spot on with the exception of ” I was under the impression that Arteta would be brave now” – why would you think that? The old saying “a Leopard can’t change his spots” exists for a reason and Arteta is a uninspiring manager who will always play shit defensive football.
Months before we won the title I said Martinelli, Skelly and Nwaneri could be sold this summer – certain individuals said I was talking rubbish. The only thing I thought was Martinelli would push for a move having been treated like shit by Arteta.
Well we’ve accepted a bid for Martinelli, we’re offering Skelly around to the likes of Chelsea and ManU and the rumour is Milan have submitted a bid for Nwaneri.
All so Arteta can fund a bid for another defensive midfielder – he’ll be looking at another full back before the window closes.
Ambarish
Big proper clubs play with bollocks, flair and ambition.
Eg Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munch etc.
You know, clubs that win CLs and European Cups.
And then there is us.
Who play with no fuckin ambition, no fuckin bollocks and no fuckin flair.
All this cunt does is keep on buying expensive, sleep inducing overpriced cack and then try and cheat on a set piece to win.
Normally defenders
Until he goes, support the oppo.
He is a cunt, and does not deserve your passionate support.
As for Martinelli, he is alright.
The cunt gave him a 200k contract a while back.
Apparently we’re “leading” the race for Jack Hinshelwood from Brighton – another DM.
Now I think this is newspaper bullshit but even the papers know all Arteta buys is DM, CB’s. GK’s and full backs so they’re taking the piss out of us.
If Martinelli does go we’re going to need a proper left winger (PSG are after Mika Godts so he’ll be quality) – hopefully Arteta will keep to form and shoehorn Eze or Havertz into the position.
Ambarish is a prime example of what fans are going to be like this coming season – they put up with the shit football because they were desperate to win the PL now they’re going to want Enrique football.
The media will turn on Arteta as will the fans – we need to hound the cunt out of our club.
Marc
I think media has given up or paid enough. Half of those idiots are discussing Ronaldo’s rumoured marriage contract but yes, you are right in saying that fans like me were more excited in winning that the football. And we won, so our expectations is to win again but in style.
AF
Blame the master of this shite. We need someone like Ferguson or Wenger to revive this shite.
Ambarish
Luis Enrique would take the players we have and with a couple of additions blow the competition away – we’d be celebrating our first CL and playing football Wenger would drool over.
Ambarish
The simple truth is Arteta fluked the PL even with all the money spent he could only win it in a season where City players switched off because they knew Pep was leaving and ManU, Liverpool and Chelsea sacked their managers.
He was always a bad choice and in a decade people will look back and wonder why the fuck they supported him.
Marc—as to the last thread, you probably knew more before your 12th birthday
“Mikel Arteta says he wants Ethan Nwaneri to remain at Arsenal but believes the teenager must be guaranteed sufficient first-team football for that to happen.” (which is a laughable quote in the first place)…next thing you know we appear to be looking at another MD, BHA’s Jack Hinshelwood
Marts rejects Gala bid…why would a young forward, who lit up the CL last season, want to go to a League that appears to be landing spot for those who can no longer secure a starting spot on a significant European side and the MLS is a year or two away
in some ways our recruitment model is starting to look a little too similar to that of Berta’s former side, right before he got axed, when he kept swapping young profiles for old/expensive ones…we’ll still be the decided favourites going in, but more so because everyone chasing us is actually in a worse starting position than last year, except maybe United, who I still feel is more of a spoiler than a bona fide contender…all that said, I would place more blame at Berta’s feet if it weren’t for the fact that MA has done literally nothing to cultivate our young prospects, whether that be Marts, Ethan or even Skelly, who he ghosted for months on end…all I wanted was Jesus, Tross, Nelson, Vieira and Norgaard sold, but you can only sell players for less than half of what you paid for so long before you need some pure profit sales to fluff-up your piss-poor record in the open market…what a fucking tool
Martinelli has no desire to go to Turkey – at 25 and on a good wage he has another year left to run on his contract. The club can extend this by a year. Martinelli may have a good agent who will screw El B. He may get a loan deal with AFC contributing a large percentage of his wage.In the meantime the sweet shop owner is frustrated as his customer El B will not make up his mind – he could go for the sherbet dip – bitter sweet
I’ll preface this by saying that the community shield means absolutely dicksquat to me…as such it would make far more sense if we lost by 3 without registering a single goal ourselves…this would give City a false sense of bravado, which might come back to haunt them when the games really matter, and it might likewise encourage our asleep at the wheel manager(et al) to properly redress some of our issues up top…just saying
TRVL
Are you suggesting that playing a central midfield of Zubi, Rice and Guimaraes with Havertz as a striker isn’t addressing our issues “up top”?
despite the old adage that defence wins championships, at the highest levels, whether that be the final stages of the CL or breaking the 95 point barrier in the PL, that just doesn’t hold true…when you rely on a aupposed flawless defensive structure and hyper-efficient set piece returns you eventually hit a wall…when things change within the game, for a myriad of reasons, or you face a tactically superior manager(not too difficult consideirng) who locks down the box, you can’t simply wait on a corner or constantly rely on your ability to manufacture set pieces through the tireless efforts of your floptards, you need players who can drop a shoulder, beat a double-team and create something out of nothing
as of right now we have no on who truly fits that description, except maybe Eze and MA’s script provides him with very little in the way of opportunities…Saka and Ode can do just about everything but finish the job on a consistent basis, Tzolis and Noni are still unproven, Marts has shown flashes but has never been part of MA’s plans, and everyone else are biunt instrument-types…maybe Bruno will prove his worth in the final third, but only if MA rescinds his assurances to Rice…who btw should focus on his defensive zone coverage until his set piece services are required
until we acquire difference-makers who can turn half chances into goals we’ll continually face ultra-low blocks, which means a whole lot more sterile sideways performances…it’s like playing with our hands tied…just look at our current window where, minus the empty calorie chatter about Vini, MA wants to spend heavily on defensive floor-raisers and tactical control engines…like we saw in the CL final, MA cares infintely more about not losing than fucking winning
pouring an extra 80-90M into another couple of defenders might prevent a couple goals in a season, whereas if that money was used, at least in part, to capture a world-class attacking threat or two it would put us firmly within the REAL conversation and likewise significantly raise our big game prospects,,,at the very least it would completely alter the way opposing managers would have to gameplan for us on both sides of the ball
I think we missed a chance not getting Isak, regardless of his injury woes last season, as he’s a much better fit than Osimhen, who I don’t think MA has any real interest in anyways…if we had Tonali would have been significantly higher than Bruno on our wishlist, especially with Rice’s desire to play a more advanced role…until we sort these things out or move on from Arteta we will forever remain a thin margins small “c” contender who constantly has an conspiratorial excuse at the ready
Anyone mentioning the ‘T’ word (visual clue 🏆) in connection with today’s charade are the sort of fans Arsenal don’t need, ie the plastic, know-nothing, consumerist fan boys. It ought to be a meaningless game to us as well as City, but if we do prevail expect Stubborn el Bastardo to give it the big one.
Vera
“Mikel Arteta says he wants Ethan Nwaneri to remain at Arsenal but believes the teenager must be guaranteed sufficient first-team football for that to happen.” (which is a laughable quote in the first place)…next thing you know we appear to be looking at another MD, BHA’s Jack Hinshelwood“
I’m not advocating the signing of Hinshelwood , but what is laughable is your ignorance of how managing a squad works.
The argument is , would it better for Nwaneri to stay and rarely play as the competition in his area of the pitch is fierce , or send him on loan to a club like fabregas’s como to hopefully play regularly,I think the latter, and I say that because I don’t want him sold ,plus I am not impressed with the way Arteta has treated him after an excellent start to his career in the 24/25 season, Hinshelwood would happily sit on the bench .
Nwaneri’s regression is as much to do with losing Arteta’s trust meaning he has resorted to low risk football , whereas a couple of seasons ago his dribbling skills,quick feet and ability to find the back of the net were a joy to behold.
There was a similar situation with saliba a few years back when his quality shone through but Arteta sent him out on loan for 2 years, I still believe Arteta got lucky with saliba due to an injury to Ben white at the start of the 22/23 season I think it was , which opened the door for saliba to stake his claim alongside Gabriel , without white’s injury I’m not so sure that saliba would have broke into the first team .
Wicksy
Except we’re not trying to loan Nwaneri we want to sell him – I told you this would happen last season.
If we can’t sell him then my guess is we’ll try to loan him but what’s point in loaning out a player season on season if you don’t want them?
Best result today would be 2 or 3 nil to us with Havertz having one of his 1 in 10 unplayable games that way Captain Fuckwit won’t look to strengthen up front.
Saliba was already in demand before Whites injury. If White was not injured then El B would have sold him and he would now be probably playing for RM. I expect he will be in a season or two.
Pricksy—you’re such a simpleton fuck…everyone understands the need for Ethan to get playing time, it was the manner in which he delivered his commentary…almost as if such decisions were outside of his control, like he’s some sort of cog in an analytics-driven machine…he knew full-well that Ethan was on the outside looking in before the start of last season, so why not arrange a proper loan from the get-go…a good/real manager takes the time to find the best fit for his players, especially a blue chip prospect, and don’t pretend for a second that MA anything to do with Saliba’s loan arrangement, as that was all on the player himself and his team…of course he could always recall the player, should it be deemed necessary…not to mention the potential MV benefits shouldn’t be overlooked…it’s not as if he was entering the final year of his contract…it’s called man fucking management you know-nothing twat
Marc
Did you write the script.