Arsenal fans mustn’t put unhealthy pressure on Gabriel Martinelli | OneFootball

Martinelli is Not the Answer

Arsenal fans have a bad habit of worshipping players who are injured whenever the team is in a bad rut. We idolize the memories of those injured and expect them to come in and solve all of our problems.

Here’s the bitter truth: Gabriel Martinelli won’t immediately come in and solve our attacking woes, because our problem is not the absence of Martinelli’s passing or shooting or dribbling but the lack of the ball in the final third.

Haven’t you noticed that no one is shooting in this team because they don’t have the ball often enough in situations where they can shoot. This is a systematic issue with our progression of the ball. Aubameyang has averaged only 1 shot per game this season. How many goals do you think Martinelli can score from just having one shot a game?

This is not mentioning the fact that Martinelli is a teenager coming off from a long injury. For an example of how difficult it is to return to form after a long layoff, look no further than Hector Bellerin.

Bellerin has been superb on the attacking front this year but he was very much out of it after his return from injury last season. It was a slow, painful process to return to his level and it might likely be the same with Martinelli.

Rob Holding is another example of how long it might take a player to return to form after a long injury. It took Old Bighorn some months to get back to his best.

Martinelli might take some time to get to full speed again and knowing his age, it would be an imperative to not place an unhealthy amount of pressure on his shoulders. He must be allowed to be a kid while he can. We do not want another Wilshere, do we?

Agboola Israel