Morning all.
A short post this morning just because there’s very little news around.
Just a few years ago, there was a constant debate over whether Theo Walcott was a winger or striker. He said striker but Arsene Wenger said no and continued to play him on the wing. With little time to think, he could be ruthless in front of goal, time to think, or players to pass, he wasn’t as effective.
I think there’s a similar situation going on with Gabriel Martinelli. He can be fantastic on the wing when he has space and freedom to run, but as soon as a couple of defenders stand in his way, things aren’t quite so easy for him. Gabriel Jesus on the other hand has the fancy footwork to get past players which is possibly why Pep played him on the wings more often than not.
Might the team benefit from the two switching positions either at the start of a game or throughout it?
Out of the two, I think Martinelli is the better finisher, I think Eddie Nketiah is a more natural finisher than Jesus too but he doesn’t give the team what Jesus does in other areas. Ultimately, we need goals and with Martinelli roaming more central, his numbers might increase rapidly.
The way to beat opponents is sometimes as easy as doing something different. Switching the two Brazilian players would be doing something different and with Martinelli’s pace, just think how easy it would be for Declan Rice, ESR or Martin Odegaard to just slip the perfect ball through the middle for Martinelli to run onto.
The suggestion might sound a bit reactive after Gabriel Martinelli scored two stunning goals against Crystal Palace but I think it’s something a few of us have been thinking for a while. Let’s not forget, Thierry Henry started life as a wide player….
Catch up in the comments.
Rico, good morning and great idea too.
After the spate of missed goal scoring chances, any idea is welcome as long as it solves the problem.
But the only issue I have with it is that with Arsenal playing most teams, there aren’t spaces for our strikers to run. Palace seemed a bit odd but with most teams parking the bus, we will need only skilful players to maneuver. Unfortunately, the same limitations that Martinelli has on the wings when he is double marked will play out in the middle too.
Morning Daniel, all.
It’s up to us to create and make the spaces though and imo, the way to do that is by upping the speed of play. We did that three times against Palace and three times we scored.
The tippy tappy stuff out from the back closes down the space imo.
For weeks I have been banging on about switching Saka and Martinelli for periods during games and bringing Jesus into the switching mix makes just as much sense. Having players that can play all across the line is one way of confusing defences and we do have players that are capable of doing it. Our problem is that Arteta is rigid in his ideas , he allows flexibility with Odegaard and Zinchenko in midfield but up front no ! Both of the wingers stay wide and play the cut in game and it’s telegraphed and easy to organise against.
If there are to be no changes to personnel then we need a change in pattern of play .
I did have you in mind whilst writing Potter.
I cast my mind back to Freddie and Bobby P who caused havoc for defences with their constant switching. Were wasting a very good attacking unit imo.
You baited the hook and I took it hook line and sinker.
😂
Good afternoon Rico and all.
I’m all in favour of anything to make us less predictable. Swapping the forwards around can only be a good thing, but speeding up the transition from back to front will have a greater effect.
It would also help if we were to build a centre circle ball retention tactic to allow our wingers a breathing space and tease the opposition defenders into coming out and exposing the space behind them. It would also offer a better game management option, when defending a lead, by keeping the ball further away from our goal area.
Evening Cicero, we have a centre circle tactic, it’s just in front of our own penalty area 😂
Rico,
Really good comparisons made there with Theo, Martinelli, etc. Arteta needs to be more open minded and innovative in how he uses our forwards.
He’s extremely rigid in wanting his wingers on the touchline… you can see him and the coaches shouting it at Trosaard, Nelson, when they’re on.
Every one of our forwards could use more chances to come inside more, including how Smith Rowe used that when he started on the wings in past seasons.
The funny part (or not so funny) is the only one who is generally not clinical, is the one we call our striker… Jesus.
Of course he should continue his freelance movement to help the team… but others should be allowed to come into inside left and inside right channels. Especially Martinelli, Trosaard.
My feeling about Saka is that he’s trying a little too hard to hit those beauty goals… the curlers into the upper far corner… they’re usually not very close to going in.
They’re gorgeous when they occasionally go in… to the scorer, they must feel the best….. but they’re very tiny success % .
Saka needs to focus on scoring more of the ugly goals. They count exactly the same as the highlight beauties…. and they change the game state just as much.. meaning opponents need to chase us more, so then we can pile on more counter goals too.
We saw 2 beauties in that counter category against Palace.
Great to see Leah Williams is on her way back. She’s in the squad for the Reading game apparently.
Joe Lewis found guilty of insider trading in U S court
Sentence to follow.
Bad news though if he sells to some multi billionaire…
Arsenal Women 6 – 0 Reading Women. 🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔
Leah Williams came on as a 61 minute substitute and got an assist for Beth Mead’s 80th minute goal. Wonderful to see her back in action after so long out injured.
My apologies to Leah, my Spellchecker removed the last three letters of her name and I didn’t notice. 😕
It looks, Rico, that you have the same problem. 😉
I blame the predictive text Cicero. We all know it’s Leah Williamson 😀
Sorry Nigel, I missed your comment last night.
It’s weird with Arteta because he’s happy for his defenders to do different things, ie Zinchenko popping up on the right wing, yet as you say, he’s pretty rigid with how he wants the wingers to play. This of course creates predictability which makes life so easy for the opposition. If only we could mix Wenger’s attacking mindset with Arteta’s defensive one…
New post up by the way.