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Gary Neville spotted a problem for ‘magical’ Arsenal player against Aston Villa
Arsenal have made it two wins from two to start the new Premier League season having beaten Aston Villa 2-0 on Saturday evening.
Arsenal were beaten twice by Villa without even scoring a sing🌟le goal lasꦑt season, so Mikel Arteta will have wanted to exorcise some demons.
The Gunners did just that, but only after seeing David Raya pull off an unbelievable save to deny Ollie Watkins from close range.
Leandro Trossard and Thomas Parte💝y b⭕agged the goals, handing Arsenal a 2-0 victory and another clean sheet in the process.
Gary Neville on struggling Arsenal star
Any away day victory🌳 is cause for real celebration, even at this early stage of the season.
It wasn’t all good news for Arsenal though as winger Gabriel Martinelli didn’t quite make the desired impact.
Martinelli registered two key passes but on🐼ly one successful dribble alongside no shots on target and two dispossessions.
Leandro Trossard came on for Martinelli and made an almost instant impact with a fine finish to open the scoring.
Martinelli just seemed🤡 to lack confidence, even when facing a rookie right back in substitute Kosta Nedeljkovic.
Gary Neville has🗹 now shared his♛ concern, discussing Martinelli’s performance on the .
Neville feels that Martinelli is comp꧙letely lacking belief right now and is ‘definitely hesitating’ rather than working off instinct when he gets on the ball.
Neville spotted Martinelܫli taking the ‘safe option’ but wonders whether that is due to Martinelli’s form or Arteta’s design.
The former Manchester United star added that Martinelli can be ‘magical’🐬 and ‘breathtaking’ at his best but may need to learn a few things from Trossard in order to get back to his best.
“The one player that I think I would say needs that little bit of belief back in his game is Martinelli,” said Neville. “It was really obvious to me because he was down here in front of us wasn’t he in the first half. I think he’s a💧n instinctive player who is direct, and he’s at his best when he’s running at real pacꦕe and you’re not quite sure what he’s going to do next. He’s definitely hesitating when he gets the ball, not quite knowing what to do.”
“I can’t quite work out whether that’s a lack of belief and confidence or whether there’s a little bit of a Pep Guardiola ‘wide controller’ type coming into the Arsenal game where they get it wide and then they think ‘well hang on a minute, I’m not going 🧔to give the ball away by going one-on-one, I’m going to recycle it’ and he is just coming back and taking the safe option and the cautious option at times.”
“I just feel like he’s one who obviously needs a little bit🌺 of care and attention at this moment in time because he’s not quite there, and I called it pretty early that Trossard would have to come on early in the second half. He wasn’t bad, he wasn’t terrible in the game, but he has definitely lost that little bit of belief and it stands out because of how brilliant him and Saka are when they’re both at it together – they’re a magical and beautiful wide pairing an🦄d he’s just a little bit below that at this moment in time.”
“There’s things that Trossard has that Martinelli doesn’t and vice-versa, but there are may🍌be parts of Trossard’s game that Martinelli could look at in terms of his timing and his understanding of the position is just slightly bett💞er than Martinelli’s, but Martinelli is breathtaking in his own way,” he added.
Gabriel Martinelli looking over his shoulder
Martinelli has so much talent; we have seen it so many times before in the Pre🔯mier🌃 League and he has really terrorised full backs in the Premier League.
The Brazilian hasn’t quite been at it ꧑in the first couple of games this season and actually had a quiet end to last season.
Martinelli faile𝕴d to score in his final 10 games of the 2023-24 Premier League campaign, albeit coming off the bench in all but one of those appearances.
Arsenal’s project has be💜en moving rapidly under Arteta and there is no room for sentiment – as Emile Smith Rowe has found this summer.
If M🏅artinelli doesn’t step it up this season, he may well be left behind as Arsenal continue their push for major honours under Arteta.
Trossard is knocking✃ on the door for a starting ꧙role and Martinelli needs to find his best form again – or find that his role in Arteta’s setup diminishes.