Gabriel Martinelli: Got That Dog In Him

[avenellroad]

Marti is finished here. Sad, he had huge potential at one stage 2-3 years ago. Time moves fast in football and he is noticeably worse than he was at that stage whilst not improving any facet of his game.

Maybe he needs a new environment away from Arteta’s dictatorship approach. Either way, it’s best for both parties if he moves on and we get a decent sum of money to put towards an effective left sided forward.

 

[Batman]

I constantly read similar stuff. How do you guys think someone improves their thinking, decision making and becomes smarter? Those are factory settings, they don't improve after a certain point in life. He can drill some specific situations and potentially with experience some things might happen to be more automatic, but a lot of that simply can't be improved. The player you see today is gonna be more or less the same player in 5 years

He's the same age as Saka yet we can see Saka growing in real time. He's far better at beating his man now than he was even last season let alone 2-3 seasons ago. It's not just that he's added better dribbling to his game. He's becoming more adept at reading the defender and making the correct decision of how to attack them. 23 is still plenty young enough to improve your decision making.

There are late bloomers in all sports who get better as they mature between the ears. Hell, guys like Cristiano and Messi have lasted as long as they have because they've kept learning and improving their decision making to compensate for what they've lost in terms of explosiveness. Even just sticking to football, both defenders and goalkeepers get better after what we would regard as their absolute physical peak because their ability to think and make decisions improves. There's no universal limiting factor that is preventing Martinelli from reading the game better and improving his decision making. It's a Martinelli problem.

 

[Rasmi]

Sofascore not only rated him our best player. But best man of the match

 

[Geofranco]

He's the same age as Saka yet we can see Saka growing in real time. He's far better at beating his man now than he was even last season let alone 2-3 seasons ago. It's not just that he's added better dribbling to his game. He's becoming more adept at reading the defender and making the correct decision of how to attack them. 23 is still plenty young enough to improve your decision making.

There are late bloomers in all sports who get better as they mature between the ears. Hell, guys like Cristiano and Messi have lasted as long as they have because they've kept learning and improving their decision making to compensate for what they've lost in terms of explosiveness. Even just sticking to football, both defenders and goalkeepers get better after what we would regard as their absolute physical peak because their ability to think and make decisions improves. There's no universal limiting factor that is preventing Martinelli from reading the game better and improving his decision making. It's a Martinelli problem.

But we have to consider cognitive abilities. Just like coordination and fluidity of movement is mostly something you're born with, even though people can also improve coordination and flexibility. He can improve his decision making, but can he improve it to the level needed to compete for the EPL and CL season after season?? That is the real question

 

[Batman]

But we have to consider cognitive abilities. Just like coordination and fluidity of movement is mostly something you're born with, even though people can also improve coordination and flexibility. He can improve his decision making, but can he improve it to the level needed to compete for the EPL and CL season after season?? That is the real question

It's a good question. Maybe he can but not at Arsenal. Clearly the message he's getting here is not one that resonates given how he's stagnated.

 

[Xln]

Good player ruined by his coach. People will be hating on him but it ain't his fault if the coach doesn't want to attack.

 

[Xln]

@Batman Ange would make Martinelli a top 10 player itw btw

 

[Fallout]

Form has been poor for ~2 seasons now

I've soured on him unfortunately

Good work rate but seems to have lost the fearlessness and youthful arrogance that made him so effective as he was climbing the ranks a few seasons ago

Think we should sell while we can still get decent value

 

[Dennis_Bergkamp_10]

Work rate isn't enough to win trophies. At the moment he wouldn't improve mid table sides in the PL.

He's young so it's too early to say he's done, but we need improvement. Some time on the bench, behind a proper winger might give him the motivation to improve the lesser sides of his game.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

I constantly read similar stuff. How do you guys think someone improves their thinking, decision making and becomes smarter? Those are factory settings, they don't improve after a certain point in life. He can drill some specific situations and potentially with experience some things might happen to be more automatic, but a lot of that simply can't be improved. The player you see today is gonna be more or less the same player in 5 years

You right that's why I say Im at stage we just have to upgrade if you want to compete a LW with consistent output needed since 22 Martinelli just not same player because teams started to play more defensive against us and he out of ideas

 

[mpower2540]

Good player ruined by his coach. People will be hating on him but it ain't his fault if the coach doesn't want to attack.

Don’t really buy this. I know Arteta has his frustrating elements but personally I just think Martinelli isn’t at the level and if he went somewhere else I think he’d fall into obscurity.

Seeing lots of “he worked really hard tonight”. If you’re an offensive player and your stand out attribute is work rate then I think it’s worrying.

His attitude is top but tbh his quality is really really mid and I’m tired of watching him. I feel nothing when he gets the ball.

Someone said about him recently on here and they were spot on actually that he lacks athleticism and power, he’s very fast but his change of direction and ability to ride challenges is pretty poor. Thought it was a good observation. Frankly I don’t think we’ve got time or money to waste on trying to get the best from a player that I think has always had a ceiling.

 

[Maybe]

His attitude is top but tbh his quality is really really mid and I’m tired of watching him. I feel nothing when he gets the ball.

For all the negative talk here, there is something to admire about him. No, he doesn't have the talent of Saka, but he plays for Arsenal which is massive for any player, especially someone with less natural talent.

 

[Riou]

When he ran at people back in 2021-2023, he genuinely looked like he could get past anyone...he was the one that created the discussion around Trent being poor defensively, but for the last season and a half though...

Commentary: "And Martinelli with a great chance to go 1 v 1 with his man"

Martinelli:

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

When he ran at people back in 2021-2023, he genuinely looked like he could get past anyone...he was the one that created the discussion around Trent being poor defensively, but for the last season and a half though...

Commentary: "And Martinelli with a great chance to go 1 v 1 with his man"

Martinelli:

He didn't improve fullbacks just learnt his predictable moves unlike Saka who kept evolving. Really that 22-23 season was very good he just connect with everyone on pitch not sure maybe because Xhaka and G.Jesus helped him massively

 

[SA Gunner]

Its difficult to still back him.

Gets into good areas but then its his decision making and general lack of confidence that lets him down. Like for example last night against Inter, he had time to receive with this left foot running into the box down that left halfspace, and then cut in to give himself the angle.

What does he do? Shoot from a title angle with his weaker foot.

Its these things that disappoint me, and will probably result in him becoming a bench player sooner rather than later.

He will go onto do well in his career, but not for a team that plays the way we do now, where space isnt there anymore.

 

[Dokaka]

He will go onto do well in his career, but not for a team that plays the way we do now, where space isnt there anymore.

I was very high on him for his potential but he's starting to look more and more like the type of forward we've seen time and time again in the Prem who'll do well and put up good numbers for a mid-table side, get a chance to move up, fail, go down again, shine, repeat.

If the current version of him had played for us under Moyes I don't doubt for a second he'd sleepwalk to 10+ league goals, not even a question in my mind. That'd earn him a move to a better club, he'll face a lower block and look much worse etc. He still has incredibly quick feet and good athleticism, which is all you really need to do very well somewhere where space is more abundant.

 

[Rasmi]

If Martinelli was black he would get far more abuse. There I said it and you guys all know it’s true deep down

 

[Trilly]

I constantly read similar stuff. How do you guys think someone improves their thinking, decision making and becomes smarter? Those are factory settings, they don't improve after a certain point in life. He can drill some specific situations and potentially with experience some things might happen to be more automatic, but a lot of that simply can't be improved. The player you see today is gonna be more or less the same player in 5 years

Been telling them this for years bro, years.

Because he purple patched his way to 15 league goals as a 22 year old or something everyone decided he was definitely going to improve year on year and that pointing out the red flags in his game was just hating.

Countless examples of young players starting very bright but being figured out by defenders and/or never pushing on.

 

[Trilly]

If Martinelli was black he would get far more abuse. There I said it and you guys all know it’s true deep down

A certain player who had similar flaws in his game that was also playing in a setup that didn’t make the most of his strengths was routinely insulted and had their intelligence question despite being much more talented.

In here it’s always Arteta or his LB/LCM being blamed.

 

[Bloodbather]

I noted a while ago that his finishing used to be his standout attribute and has since gone missing, another thing I'm noting with him is that he plays like a left-footed LW despite being right-footed.

He doesn't really invert and take shots or crosses with his right. He drives it to the left and tries to push through from there. But since he's not left-footed, he can't really cross the ball from there that well, he'd have to use the outside of his foot to do so, and he doesn't have that in his locker.

I really don't get why this is the case.