Gabriel Martinelli: Top Tear

[Godwin1]

Being flashy isn’t his game though. He has more in common with someone like Luis Suarez than a Neymar. He has good movement, tremendous work rate and can finish well in and around the area.

Get an odd feeling that Arteta doesn’t really fancy him as a striker the way Emery did.

Playing on the wing is a good way to develop ball carrying qualities amoung other things. And I don't think we have to worry too much about him being detrimental to our overall gameplay over the course of the season.

 

[Macho]

lol not being flashy is a crap criticism - but @Football Manager is kinda right as Martinelli doesn’t have much flair.

He’s more of a workman/efficient player which is why the earlier hype and comparisons he got was kinda funny.

I like his build, power and confidence - along with his willingness to try. I suspect his link up play will be better than Auba and Eddie’s. Lacks the skills to be a great winger for us though.

Upfront as a striker is where his future lies, getting his education on the wing for now is ok though. I’d sooner see him upfront before Eddie after Laca/Auba - he should be 3rd choice when fit.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Yeah I'd like to see him up front, pressing being aggressive, making runs. However for what we currently require in a CF he wouldn't do anywhere near as good a job as what Lacazette does. In a team which is a bit more high press orientated I think he'd be very good, ideally he'd have a strike partner but you look at how Rodgers uses Vardy and I think he could have a similar use long-term if he fine tunes a few things.

 

[Heavy Duty Rom]

I'm worried for this guy. We all want to see him succeed here, but i don't think Arteta is the manager for him. I've said it before, Arteta is very tactical, Martinelli is a free spirit, like Alexis Sanchez. The two don't mix.

Whilst he has obvious talent, i feel he lacks a top level of technique and maybe some football intelligence that might mean he's not suited to a big club, not yet anyway.

Unfortunately for us, i don't think Martinelli is a player to remain patient, you can see he's a player who loves to play and always wants to play. He won't be happy with the limited minutes and early substitutions.

It won't surprise me to see this relationship head the same way as a Saliba or Guendouzi.

 

[Macho]

I'm worried for this guy. We all want to see him succeed here, but i don't think Arteta is the manager for him. I've said it before, Arteta is very tactical, Martinelli is a free spirit, like Alexis Sanchez. The two don't mix.

Whilst he has obvious talent, i feel he lacks a top level of technique and maybe some football intelligence that might mean he's not suited to a big club, not yet anyway.

Unfortunately for us, i don't think Martinelli is a player to remain patient, you can see he's a player who loves to play and always wants to play. He won't be happy with the limited minutes and early substitutions.

It won't surprise me to see this relationship head the same way as a Saliba or Guendouzi.

I couldn’t disagree more with any of this you know

Martinelli will be absolutely fine under Arteta he’s a soldier and extremely professional by all accounts.

He’s high energy and intense but I don’t get the free spirit thing. Pepe is a free spirit Arteta has had to reign in and coax him into defending, Martinelli has never had these problems.

He hasn’t been in the side long enough to question his intelligence either, but seems fine to me - he combined with Tierney very well the few times they’ve played together.

Martinelli isn’t what the fanbase think he is, but a lot of these concerns I honestly don’t share, I think he will be fine barring injuries.

 

[Riou]

Him and Pepe are both players you want further forward, not coming deeper, think that's why Willian came on (who played decently, bar the terrible miss) we needed someone who could help out the midfield more...and Gabby came off as Pepe was playing better than him.

Think Gabby will still have a good season.

 

[SingmeasongSong]

lol not being flashy is a crap criticism - but @Football Manager is kinda right as Martinelli doesn’t have much flair.

He’s more of a workman/efficient player which is why the earlier hype and comparisons he got was kinda funny.

I like his build, power and confidence - along with his willingness to try. I suspect his link up play will be better than Auba and Eddie’s. Lacks the skills to be a great winger for us though.

Upfront as a striker is where his future lies, getting his education on the wing for now is ok though. I’d sooner see him upfront before Eddie after Laca/Auba - he should be 3rd choice when fit.

Won't ever be a worldclass winger, but can become a worldclass striker, at the very least in terms of output.

 

[Football Manager]

Him and Pepe are both players you want further forward, not coming deeper, think that's why Willian came on (who played decently, bar the terrible miss) we needed someone who could help out the midfield more...and Gabby came off as Pepe was playing better than him.

Think Gabby will still have a good season.

That’s the problem, the more players are further forward, the less build up play we will have, which leads to less possession, and therefore less chances/services are created for the attacking players. So less goals will be scored.

You could have a striker with finishing ability of 1000000/100, but if you failed to create any chances, your team will score nothing.

World class strikers wouldn’t just sit there and wait for scoring chances. They would drop deep to carry the ball, dribble defenders, create beautiful combination/passing play...involve in the general play as much as possible. So the team have more possession, create more chances and score more goals.

 

[Heavy Duty Rom]

I couldn’t disagree more with any of this you know

Martinelli will be absolutely fine under Arteta he’s a soldier and extremely professional by all accounts.

He’s high energy and intense but I don’t get the free spirit thing. Pepe is a free spirit Arteta has had to reign in and coax him into defending, Martinelli has never had these problems.

He hasn’t been in the side long enough to question his intelligence either, but seems fine to me - he combined with Tierney very well the few times they’ve played together.

Martinelli isn’t what the fanbase think he is, but a lot of these concerns I honestly don’t share, I think he will be fine barring injuries.

I get what you are saying, but lets not forget that before the injury last season, Arteta favoured Nketiah, Willock, Nelson over Gabi, He was even going to take him off vs Chelsea until Martinelli made a run down the wing and put in a good cross, we all know what happened next.

We all want Gabi to succeed here, i just think fans were getting carried away with him a bit. Having said that, if Laca iz out, and Auba still can't play, i hope Arteta plays him ahead of Nketiah vs Wolves.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

Really dislike that he got substituted yesterday. He needs some game Ana to find the net. Trust him to score before Willian to be sure. Plus he puts in a defensive shift.

 

[Baguette]

I’m sure there was a valid tactical reason for why he got subbed. Most of us aren’t experts to know what it was. Truth of the matter is we did improve after the sub.

 

[OnlyOne]

I’m sure there was a valid tactical reason for why he got subbed. Most of us aren’t experts to know what it was. Truth of the matter is we did improve after the sub.

Yeah the reason was he stunk it out again.

 

[Ripe Banana]

Striker

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Yeah I'd like to see him up front, pressing being aggressive, making runs. However for what we currently require in a CF he wouldn't do anywhere near as good a job as what Lacazette does. In a team which is a bit more high press orientated I think he'd be very good, ideally he'd have a strike partner but you look at how Rodgers uses Vardy and I think he could have a similar use long-term if he fine tunes a few things.

Interesting. Apart from Laca's hold up play, I can't see anything in his game that Martinelli can't do. With Martinelli at CF, the press on the opponent will be sharper as he will be one more quick player to add to the mix. We'd then have Saka, Auba and Pepe (and Nelson) vying for two wing spots. Yesterday, I feel we suffered a bit with no pace in defence or at CF.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

I'm worried for this guy. We all want to see him succeed here, but i don't think Arteta is the manager for him. I've said it before, Arteta is very tactical, Martinelli is a free spirit, like Alexis Sanchez. The two don't mix.

Whilst he has obvious talent, i feel he lacks a top level of technique and maybe some football intelligence that might mean he's not suited to a big club, not yet anyway.

Unfortunately for us, i don't think Martinelli is a player to remain patient, you can see he's a player who loves to play and always wants to play. He won't be happy with the limited minutes and early substitutions.

It won't surprise me to see this relationship head the same way as a Saliba or Guendouzi.

I don’t get how a “free spirit” can’t excel in Arteta’s system. Also Martinelli is a lot more workman like than a flair player so he should slot into Uncle Mikel’s setup easily enough.

Like others have said he’s a striker. He can score bucket loads with the right players around him and his endeavour. He’s a young buck who’s still coming back from a bad injury and a couple of other knocks. Patience, he’ll be fine.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Interesting. Apart from Laca's hold up play, I can't see anything in his game that Martinelli can't do. With Martinelli at CF, the press on the opponent will be sharper as he will be one more quick player to add to the mix. We'd then have Saka, Auba and Pepe (and Nelson) vying for two wing spots. Yesterday, I feel we suffered a bit with no pace in defence or at CF.

The hold up play is very important for Arteta it seems tho and I don't believe Martinelli i particularly refined at that part of his game to the extent where he'd be effective enough for Arteta's liking in the 9 role. Let's not forget he's been extremely reluctant to play Auba there.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

The hold up play is very important for Arteta it seems tho and I don't believe Martinelli i particularly refined at that part of his game to the extent where he'd be effective enough for Arteta's liking in the 9 role. Let's not forget he's been extremely reluctant to play Auba there.

Playing with his back to goal will be a test. He does well enough on the rare occasion out wide but we can't experiment atm.

 

[REEVIE1995]

Martinelli himself wants to play centrally. His managers see him as a winger.

This isn't true. Martinelli has stated himself in multiple interviews that he prefers playing out wide on the left and that's his favoured position.

 

[Batman]

I'm worried for this guy. We all want to see him succeed here, but i don't think Arteta is the manager for him. I've said it before, Arteta is very tactical, Martinelli is a free spirit, like Alexis Sanchez. The two don't mix.

Whilst he has obvious talent, i feel he lacks a top level of technique and maybe some football intelligence that might mean he's not suited to a big club, not yet anyway.

Unfortunately for us, i don't think Martinelli is a player to remain patient, you can see he's a player who loves to play and always wants to play. He won't be happy with the limited minutes and early substitutions.

It won't surprise me to see this relationship head the same way as a Saliba or Guendouzi.

Literally zero evidence of this. Saliba couldn't get a game whereas Arteta seems to want to start Martinelli if he's even half fit.

 

[Big Poppa]

Yeah the reason was he stunk it out again.

Our fans really don’t deserve our calibre of youth.