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.
–
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.
the fact that Enzo couldn’t convince Rodri to stay could be his undoing…he clearly wants to play with two deeper lying MDs, which is why they’re still going after the Lille kid, but with Rodri now fully healthy, he could have gotten away with a single pivot, which would have helped from an offensive capacity…for a brief period, during that fake-ass summer Cup gig two years ago, he looked as if he had figured out a way to open things up, but as soon as the PL season started it was right back to his Arteta-like boring as fuck ways…Haaland will want out by the winter window unless things improve massively on that front
We didn’t see Cherki doing any keepy uppies today did we , city fans and players skulked away with their tails between their legs after being given a footballing lesson today, though I am not for one minute saying city are finished as when I think back to 1998 when we thrashed united in the charity shield and then beat them 3-0 at Highbury a few weeks later , the feeling was that united were done …..they went on to do the treble , though I doubt city have it in them to mount a credible title challenge after losing the influential silva and Rodri , these same players crumbled at the end of last season so they will need to dig deep as the defeat today in a “meaningless “ game will affect their confidence.
Marc
“All of this without a top first class option at left wing and Havertz up front. Some of our diving today was more than embarrassing.“
I’ll tell you what is embarrassing, yours and Vera’s bitter and twisted comments, you 2 are certainly in for a miserable 9 months going by your reaction to an outstanding win today without probably our 3 most influential players starting, Saka, saliba and rice.
I made the comment the other day that today’s game and performance will be different to our other pre season games and that is how it turned out as our movement and decision making in the final third was very impressive, plus importantly we looked solid at the back against what many consider to be the best attack in the league.
Vera
“Marts wasn’t on the bench for fear that he might get injured before being shipped out…if I was him I wouldn’t want to play either,“
You can only have 18 in the squad on match days so obviously players will miss out .
Unfortunately Martinelli has always been a head down merchant on the wing , he is probably more suited for the striker role but the manager strangely seemed reluctant to play him up top , his best moments (and there were many) usually came from central areas when he was bearing down on goal one on one with the keeper…it is probably a good time for him to leave as a premier league champion and maybe find a manager who will play him in his best position, personally I think we will miss trossard more than Martinelli if he does leave , though it has to be said that Tzolis looks a tidy player on the wing who makes good decisions , definitely has a bit of Brian Marwood about him from the 88/89 season ….
you thick fuck…no one thinks we can’t win the title, in fact we should be Bayern-like favourites, this is about us wasting our potential legacy by allowing this settling self-sbsorbed Pulis wannabe twat to chart our boring as fuck course…maybe I’m wrong and Marts exit might see us return to the market for someone of consequence, otherwise we’ll be relying on the newbie and a couple shoehorners out on the left…you’re perfect for this little project you short-sighted know-nothing hump…instead of praising him for finally getting off the cock-up train against a lesser field, we simply want him to set his sights considerably higher, like PSG, who have not rested on their Ligue 1 laurels under Enrique…it’s amazing how the nuance of a situation continually eludes you
The biggest problem Arteta has is keeping everyone happy, the sooner the Champions League kicks in the better as it will allow the manager to heavily rotate.
The form of skelly may prove to be a headache for Arteta as he looks undroppable , Odegaard looked back to his best and then we have zubimendi/Rice/Bruno/Merino. I see no reason to start Rice, Zubimendi or Saka next week, let’s hope Arteta gives them time to build their match fitness instead of throwing them in the deep end too early..
We are well stocked with centre mids, i doubt that financially we need to sell, Zubimendi is probably top of the list to leave as many clubs will be sniffing around, personally I would like him to stay until at least January as injuries are always a concern after World Cup exploits.
that’s exactly what I mean…who we keep or lose means jackshit, as this manager-centric system will continue to churn out uninspiring football regardless of the players involved…Skelly, who looks to be a different option in the middle of the park, was being shopped last fucking week by the very manager you hold so dear…maybe it’s because he doesn’t want different, even if it means a better brand of football, he simply wants muppets who will allow him to pull all the strings…I’m sure you know all about that
btw our fake news fuck of a manager claimed that the reason Marts, Ethan and Jesus weren’t in the lineup/bench was due to the PL-mandated squad size restrictions…something he claims to have railed against for some time now…that would be quite a coincidence that all the players who appear to be on the outs were the ones most affected by said restriction…he clearly thinks that all of his most ardent supporters are dumb as fucking rocks and he just might be right
TRVL
Did you read that the morinic cunt wants the FA to specifically change the fucking rules, so he can buy more expensive cack and have a squad of about 75 players .
No, how about do your fuckin job properly, you useless cunt and sell some players, like everyone else has to.
Maybe you would sell them easier, if you stopped giving them 200 grand a week.
Cunt
Ufraud
I’m sure Arteta has told Berta (or whoever) who is surplus to requirements, I’m also sure that he has told him who he would like to come in.
I’m also sure that it is not Arteta’s job to organise contracts and wages for the players though I think it’s fair to say that he may have limited input.
As for asking for an increase in number for the match day squad , it seems like a sensible suggestion as it keeps as many players as possible involved and we will have fewer examples like yesterday when martinelli and Nwaneri were not involved .
Slagsy
Berta is a cunt.
As are 99% of people who work in the modern game are.
None of the useless cunts , could work in the real world.
Football is about their level.
Its a fucking circus, that a manager does not have any input on what players earn
Well how the fuck do you sell them
Absolute cunts.
Vera
“ that’s exactly what I mean…who we keep or lose means jackshit, as this manager-centric system will continue to churn out uninspiring football regardless of the players”
I think it’s fair to say that last season we did play at times uninspiring football, but as I’ve said previously having the likes of Jesus, Havertz, Saka, martinelli, Odegaard,calafiori, white , timber and Merino out for a good chunk of the season meant that Arteta had to focus more on defence to get us over the line.
As we saw yesterday the full backs have an important part to play offensively, something that was missing last season as Hincape and Mosquera at full back are very good defensively but offensively offer very little in comparison to calafiori, white and timber.
Having the likes of Odegaard, Havertz and Saka 100% fit plus the addition of Tzolis who has settled in well , will give our attacking play more variety and energy , Odegaard playing as a no.10 yesterday was the best player on the pitch , he had good movement around him against a poor city side..
To be honest I was surprised how well we played considering the lack of game time many of our players have had, the fear factor in football is a part of the game that is rarely mentioned, yesterday’s performance will put fear into many of the teams we face in the coming weeks , even if we start with the same 11 we can bring on the likes of Saka, Rice , Eze , Dowman ,merino and zubimendi to finish the job. Hopefully the likes of calafiori and white can stay fit as for me they will become crucial to the way we take the game to the opposition.
As for being “uninspired “,something tells me that you will be made to look foolish ( nothing new there) as the season progresses.
It’a almost time for a history lesson you brainwashed fucktard…just not sure it’s an appropriate use of my time, as it’s more than likely that any such discussion will be beyond your capacity to understand…sort of an in one ear and out the other scenario…btw if you think that Jesus, Havertz, White and Merino are part of the solution, when it comes to playing inspiring football, it speaks volumes about just how low your bar is…not to mention, you might have thought that Marts was out for a considerably lengthy period because he was completely ignored by the manager, except in the CL, but he missed a grand total of 6 games…once again no one thinks we’re not the favourites to win the PL, it’s just that we have a considerably higher bar, which was realistically achievable if we weren’t being subjected to the gutless bullshit of this tactically-stunted self-absorbed twat…have a great day
it’s almost
“It’s certainly the ambition of the club and the owners to be the best club in the world. In order to do that, you need the best facilities, the best stadium, the best supporters, and you need the best squad and the best players in the world. Those are the ones that win you football matches and the ones that can be decisive when it matters”
Now I’ve heard everything…notice how the actual fucking players were last on HIS list…not a single statement forward signing in 7 fucking years and you claim you want to be the best in the world…holy fucking fuck!!! this is what the whole Vini sham was all about…our moto under this fucktard should be don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story…I bet all the Arteta knows best rubes really ate that shit up
Vera
He forgot to say “and the best manager in the world”, Arteta is certainly being talked about as top 5 in the world, unless your name is Vera, Marc or Ufraud.
Sadly they will never admit that they are wrong and will continue to spout nonsense as they become more and more desperate in a futile attempt to discredit our manager.
Vera appears to be losing the plot completely with his nonsensical rants about the manager and team that won the league by 7 points and lost on pens in the champions league final to the best team in Europe last season.
Personally I believe will we see a completely different style of football this season, the handbrake will come off as we start the season with a fully fit attacking line up.
We have 4 world class cms who would get in any team in Europe , our full backs ooze class , calafiori and timber if they stay fit will add so much to the team offensively, we have the best keeper and centre backs in the league, Eze and and a fully fit Odegaard will destroy teams this season , a fully fit Havertz will prove the doubters wrong , Tzolis looks a great addition to the squad with possibly the superb Yildiz also joining, Gyokeres is my one concern , not good enough I’m afraid, and I haven’t even mentioned Saka, Dowman, Nwaneri and Merino.
It wouldn’t even bother me if we have a sluggish start as we have 3 potentially difficult away games in our first 5 games…
Wicksy
Don’t be a cunt – Arteta one of the best in the world?
One title in 6 and a half years after spending a billion quid and that was in a season that saw almost half the division either sack their manager or lose them at the end of the season.
You and out and slag.
Best manager in the world?
Any cunt could do what this cunt has done.
He should have been fucked off years ago.
Cunt.
Marc & AF—I don’t know about you two, but I’m actually elated that this blunt instrument know-nothing fucktard laid all his cards on the table…for some time little Pricksy has been pretending that he wasn’t convinced at times, but now we know he’s been tonguing MA’s ass the whole time…not surprising whatsoever, as I always knew he was a Kool-Aid clowntard
on a side note, Konsa just signed…I like him as a player who can small “c” play multiple positions, but holy fuck this window looks like every other under this fuck…defender, shit Keeper, underwhleming hopeful reach, luxury buy, defender…just like the best teams in the fucking world
TRVL
There’s a rumour that Madrid are going for Zubi – now that would explain going for Bruno but what odds we get less for Zubi than what we paid for Bruno?
If he does go I’m struggling to see how the squads any stronger than last season. Its all very like for like.