Our young manager is still finding his feet in the Premier League and we’ve seen a lot of tampering with the squad to find the right formation and the players to suit it. Of late the Arsenal youngsters and injury have been making the job slightly easier for Arteta.
Smith Rowe and Saka have been virtually unplayable, the young England internationals have been the greatest source of hope for the club since their emergence to the first team. After gifting Smith Rowe the famous No 10 shirt over the summer, Arteta still thought it wise to recruit another attacking midfielder.
After all it wasn’t until Martin Odegaard arrived last January that Arsenal really found their momentum. With Arsenal finally managing to get Ozil off the books, the club were left with a gaping whole in the midfield that Ceballos was never able to fill, no offence to Ceballos. It was a move by the club that was seen to have hampered Arsenal’s ability to create goal scoring opportunities.
Odegaard didn’t arrive with a flurry of assists, but he was integral to Arsenal’s ability to transition from defence to attack, often dropping deep to collect the ball himself, not to mention his determination in the press. This is why despite the links to James Maddison and Emiliano Buendia, Odegaard remained at the top for Arteta and Edu’s transfer shortlist.
So bedazzled by Smith Rowe I was reluctant to see Arsenal sign someone who would take away from his game time, instead preferring Arsenal to have signed someone with a little more experience to play his understudy. Nevertheless, I was and still am a fan of the Norwegian and despite my worries that Smith Rowe would spend more time on the bench, as fate would have it, the exact opposite would come to pass.
A rocky start to the 2021-2022 campaign saw Arteta very quickly trying to reconstruct the defensive shape that had helped his side Arsenal concede less goals than they had in the years previous to his arrival. It seems to have worked, with Arsenal having gone 10 games unbeaten and keeping a clean sheet most recently against Newcastle, after a somewhat predictable humbling to Liverpool.
For all the hard work in defence, once again creativity has suffered. Arsenal are only managing 1.62 goal creating actions per 90 which puts us firmly tie with Leeds in 13th on the leader board. It’s not for a lack of trying because Arsenal are actually in 4th place when it comes to Shot Creating Actions per 90. Stats only tell half the story because it’s clear to anyone watching our games that for the most part, the shots we are taking are anything but clear cut opportunities.
Only managing a goal piece against Burnley and Norwich, Arteta saw fit to field both his No.10’s against Tottenham in the North London Derby in search of more scoring opportunities. Unfortunately for Odegaard he wasn’t able to help his teammates secure 3 points against Brighton and Crystal Palace in the following fixtures and paid the price, as Lacazette came on against Crystal Palace to remind Arteta that he still has a place in his side.
As I implied earlier, player form has massively dictated Arteta’s direction. Smith Rowe has been a firm fixture out on the left since Spurs, Pepe’s failed to show he is senior enough to keep Saka from taking his place on the right, and Lacazette’s fiery determination displaced Odegaard from the squad, allowing Arteta to try and rekindle some of that Aubameyang Lacazette bromance up top.
Arsenal were the last team I expected to revive the “4-4-2” but it worked and we went on to secure wins against Villa and Leicester who in recent times have been a thorn in our side. The truth of the matter is that we weren’t really playing a 4-4-2, Lacazette was being asked to drop deeper and help the midfield, which paid off against underperforming Villa and Leicester sides, but against Liverpool exposed our woeful inability to go from defence to attack.
I’m not sure many expected Odegaard to return to the starting XI for Saturdays game against Newcastle, but showing his faith in his £30m signing, Arteta appears adamant to stick with the formation that worked against Spurs. It’s a choice I liked because as much as I am fond of Lacazette, with him apparently not having much of a future left at Arsenal it’s right he be phased out, and likely why he wasn’t starting to begin with this season.
At this point you might be thinking what on earth has this article got to do with Martinelli? Everything. Martinelli can’t get minutes because Arsenal are simply not playing well enough, and certainly not well enough to risk taking off Smith Rowe or Saka early. If Arsenal are going to create any chances Arteta must feel he hasn’t got a hope in hell without Saka and Smith Rowe on the pitch.
Martinelli’s game time is intangibly tied to Odegaard’s performances. If Arteta can get a tune out of Odegaard, he may feel less pressure to keep Smith Rowe and Saka on the pitch, even when they’re not having a great game themselves. The fact that we aren’t scoring or creating enough means few opportunities are presenting themselves for Arteta to rest players or try something different, instead we are inclined to protecting the lead by bringing on Elneny or Maitland Niles, than to go for the kill.
According to Arteta’s latest interviews, that’s exactly what he wants…”After the 2-0 [Newcastle] we have to go to a different level. We gave too many sloppy balls away and weren’t organised in the press and we allowed them to run a few times…That’s the moment that we have to give even more, and go for the third or the fourth.”
It’s one thing to say it but how does Arteta actually achieve it? I’ve accused Arteta’s style of being too rigid and one dimensional. My biggest criticism is Mikel’s utilization of the midfield. So persistent with attacking down the wings, Partey was never an option for White and Gabriel going forward against Newcastle, Lokonga is being asked to shift wide to assist the progression up the wing, whilst Odegaard is being pushed just as a high as Aubameyang. This leaves the defensive line doing so much more work to get the ball forward than the players you would expect to midfield.
Having been schooled at La Masia, worked under Wenger and Pep and being a midfielder himself, it does puzzle me why Arteta has set about a style and structure that effectively leaves most of the midfield standing about waiting for the ball.
I kept thinking it be better if instead of Gabriel and White having to always bring the ball all up to the half way line, that Partey, Lokonga, Odegaard and one of Saka or Smith Rowe formed a diamond to outnumber the midfield and create passing plays that could open up passages for Saka or Smith Rowe and Aubameyang to get on the end. So low tempo was our passing in the first half in retrospect this may have just presented opportunities for Newcastle to catch us out and counter.
I long to see Arteta revive some of the one touch tika-taka style play we used to pride ourselves on under Wenger, but the team can at times be spread so far and wide, it’s not possible to string together those quick interplays to bypass the midfield or break the defensive lines.
Then I noticed something. I am not sure whether it was something new Arteta was trying, or whether it’s down to Saka using his own initiative. On two occasions Saka abandoned the right flank to link up on the left side. The first occasion leading to Aubameyang’s horrifying miss, and the second for Saka’s own goal.
Arsenal took advantage of the extra man to carve out the chances. this is what I feel Arteta should be asking Odegaard to do rather than having Saka coming right across the pitch to get involved. Whether it is something new from Arteta or Saka, I hope it will open up Arteta’s eyes to what is possible when gifting his players more freedom in the final third.
If Arteta can get Smith Rowe, Saka, and Odegaard doing more of the same from the KO, we could see Arsenal creating the chances to score more and provide breathing room for Martinelli to come on sooner. We’ve seen plenty of Martinelli getting thrown into games we’re struggling in, we know he’s got that something special, now I would like to see him getting chances when we’re up and playing with confidence so he can express himself with more freedom and excite us in all the ways the fans believe he can.
Martinelli’s goal might award him some extra game time, or even convince Arteta, that with a finish like that maybe he should be playing instead of Aubemeyang? Until Arsenal are scoring more and without European football, chances are going to be hard to come by not just for Martinelli, but all the other players waiting to stake a claim.
It’s never good to see a player lose his place to injury and I hope that won’t have to be the case for Martinelli, because if there was a system that could get the best out of Martinelli, Smith Rowe, Saka, Odegaard and Lokonga whilst all on the pitch, I would be even more excited about seeing where this young team can progress to. Nevertheless Lokonga is one player who has mightily impressed me in the absence of Arteta favourite Granit Xhaka. I hope Lokonga can continue to show his eye for a pass will be of much more value to us getting goals, than Partey and Xhaka’s ability to ping a ball 50 yards.
Of course the alternative would be as some fans would already hope that Odegaard is moved on so Smith Rowe can take up the role in the middle. I am not one of those fans, although I would chose Martinelli over Odegaard if it came down to it, and that decision would be base on pure gut instinct alone. Secondly, I have really enjoyed watching Smith Rowe and Saka doing their best impression of Pires and Ljungberg, I don’t think either needs to be moved strictly to the middle, but instead allowed the freedom to interchange and find one another. Add someone doing their best impression of Dennis Bergkamp and I think Arsenal will have their winning formula, whether that’s Odegaard, Patino or someone new. Stick Martinelli in front of all that creativity with his ability to make runs and finishing, I can’t see why any manager wouldn’t be tempted to use this system. If only Gabriel could be convinced to trade in the wing for the middle just like Wenger once did with a young Thierry Henry.