For all Martinelli’s energy and positions he gets himself into, his end product is actually quite poor. He’s potentially a beast of a player but really needs to sharpen up in the final third.Originally Posted by Mac76
For all Martinelli’s energy and positions he gets himself into, his end product is actually quite poor. He’s potentially a beast of a player but really needs to sharpen up in the final third.
Jesus fuckin Christ.
Absolutely clueless, man. Honestly.
Thank fuck Arteta seems to know better than idiot fans.
...just.
His end product is appalling, man.
Same with Saka, who's numbers don't look too bad over last season, but the sheer volume of opportunity it took for him to achieve even that was shocking and the chances that died at his feet was insane. Real difference making stuff, unfortunately.
That said, that wee bit of composure and ruthlessness is often one of the last things to develop or level up from youth level, so hopefully both are better next season. Same with Nketiah and ESR. All 4 of them should be looking to kick on after having a solid season or two under their belts.
Last edited by mandela8; 29-06-2022 at 01:50 PM.
Martinelli’s finishing was incredibly suspect given the opportunities he made for himself. And this is a player I really enjoy watching because of his raw pace, ability to skin defenders and create things.
I must confess despite disagreeing with you about Saka, it will be interesting to see what his goal scoring tally will be when we aren’t playing with Lacazette up front. If he gets into double figures again brilliant but no guarantee of that.
People seem to think I'm harsh on Saka, but I'm just being objective, man.
I think an good striker helps everyone, tbh. Odegaard particularly was victim of the profligacy of the front 3, but Saka and Martinelli suffered too. From the chances they created being wasted to Laca...to the chances they never had the opportunity to create because Laca was 30 yards behind the play to having a proper CF creating space and occupying defenders for them to there just being less pressure on them to deliver the goals Laca wasn't.
I'm hopeful Saka and Martinelli level up next season due to being in a better team and a little more experience.
I don’t think calling Saka shit is especially objective and you have done that. I think some of your criticisms of him are actually fair I just don’t think they amount to him being shit. If you’re saying he’s not the finished product well I certainly hope not.
For me the players in our team last year who were consistently shit were Xhaka, Cedric and Tavares (but to be honest I’d even give him the benefit of the doubt as he’s young)
Odegaard? I actually think he suffers more from the lack of quality behind him. Partey as you say did drive forward but it wasn’t his natural role he isn’t a Patrick Vieira type he’s more of a Petit/Gilberto figure who needs a Vieira or at least someone who can make driving runs alongside him. Xhaka isn’t a defensive player, his tackling is suspect, his positional play poor and he needs too much time on the ball to get it onto his left foot to make passes. Giving him a new contract was the worst panic move we’ve seen from this club.
Odegaard is a player who receives the ball higher up the pitch, he’s good technically and he’s good at through balls and link up play with Saka. But when he wasn’t getting the ball quickly it was easy to close him down and take him out of the game and you see that where we are hesitant to bring the ball forward in the centre of the pitch Odegaard is a passenger. It’s the same for Smith Rowe who I think has less technical ability than Odegaard.
I honestly believe that even with the obscene money in the game that largely priced us out of title challenges, I think the biggest mistake Wenger made was turning down the chance to sign Yaya Toure at around the time Vieira left. You could see that the nearest he got to replicating that player was Abou Diaby.
Agreed with most of that but I absolutely would add Saka to the shit list.
Look, other than a few eye catching moments he disappears for huge parts of games.
He's not actually very good at anything. Not a great dribbler, poor passer, abysmal shooter, takes too long to transition, lazy defensively.
That's about as objective as one can be, man.
Credit where it's due though...Saka is elite at acting like a little bitch every time he gets tackled.
That’s pretty much mandatory in the modern game tbf
I reckon we should try and get Gnabry back.
Didn't like his attitude when he was here years ago, but worth a shot?
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