Red dippers H Sun 27th KO 430pm

[augie]

Martinelli was poor today no doubt about it, but for me no-one stunk the place out of it as much as that german dud c.unt up front - it wasnt even close ffs He doesnt contest 50/50 balls cos he plays their man rather than the ball, and he gives us no outlet to hold up the ball when we are under pressure - the amount of cheap stupid free kicks he gives away is beyond ridiculous, and I still say that if we had a proper striker up front then maybe we would win that today.

Overall I have a mixture of emotions running through me right now, but I probably would have taken the draw before the game so maybe I should be happy ? That being said, their midfield is fcuking awful, and saka was destroying robertson so why sit back ? I get the subconscious thinking when Gabriel goes off to protect what we have, but all it does is invite them onto us, and the management have to stop that happening surely ?

The disallowed "goal" near the end was of course a very soft/dubious decision, but lets be honest here and admit that he blew early and their defenders did stop playing, so there is no guarantee we would have scored had he not blown. The one I have the much bigger gripe with is the one in first half where konate wiped martinelli out and neither the ref nor var wanted anything to do with it

[General]

What’s this nonsense about Martinelli. This forum is really a cesspool of negativity at times. Yes his end product could be better but it is obvious Temu Pep has lumbered him with defensive duties to the extent that by the time he arrives at the final third his legs are gone. He works extremely hard, still only 23, younger than Foden mind, we don’t have £80-100m to buy a ready made player in that position so the notion of getting of him is not realistic.

[Retro Gunner]

As others have said, City will win the league at a canter. Despite the injuries, we haven’t improved and I said on here a day or two ago that not only are we not as effective as last season, but we’ve lost the attacking speed and fluency of two seasons ago.

It’s all well and good to tighten up at the back, but we’ve completely sacrificed our attacking threat and that’s compounded by having no striker worthy of the name. Havertz gives it his best, but he’s nowhere near a top level striker. Technically he’d struggle in the Championship.

Terrible reaction to Gabriel going off and we played as though we had 10 men, which just invited Liverpool on and no way were we going to hold out with that makeshift defence. Worryingly, even with our first eleven, we have formed the habit, or the deliberate tactic, of dropping back with everyone behind the ball once we’ve gone in front. It surrenders the initiative and makes it difficult to get going again if you concede.

Remains to be seen how we perform once the injured return, but I’m not overly optimistic. Nothing new there of course.

[xgtdec]

What’s this nonsense about Martinelli. This forum is really a cesspool of negativity at times. Yes his end product could be better but it is obvious Temu Pep has lumbered him with defensive duties to the extent that by the time he arrives at the final third his legs are gone. He works extremely hard, still only 23, younger than Foden mind, we don’t have £80-100m to buy a ready made player in that position so the notion of getting of him is not realistic.

His end product could be better, your delusional, have a cookie or something cause your blood sugars low.....in order for his end product to be better it would need to exist. He absolutely gash at all things expected of a forward player. And if he has as you say been lumbered with defensive duties, he shite at those too!! All you have to do is look to the other flank to see how that gets done. The difference is Saka and Martinelli are on polar opposite career trajectories.

Theres a stark difference between works hard and....runs around a lot. Theres 1000's of players who can run and sweat......Martinelli has no end product, be that assists or goals he has nothing to offer and is taking up a shirt.

Luckily legohead will play play and keep playing and in a couple of years he'll be burnt out and worth nothing......

To add to that the club of course would have 80 to 100 and more million to spend if they wanted to, but they dont and they wont. Their super super financially responsible. We dont buy superstars etc etc......unless theyre super super qualiteeee.

The clubs transfer business is a joke, the fact that MArtinelli, Jesus, Zinchenko, PArtey etc are still there is testimony that legohead isnt ruthless enough to be a league winner!

[rodders999]

Absolutely fucking laughable to blame Arteta for Martinelli’s form being in the shitter for 2 seasons now.

The guy can’t do a single thing without fucking up but yeah it’s all the managers fault.

Superb banter

[xgtdec]

Absolutely fucking laughable to blame Arteta for Martinelli’s form being in the shitter for 2 seasons now.

The guy can’t do a single thing without fucking up but yeah it’s all the managers fault.

Superb banter

you bet....a players form is down to the player. Sometimes it dips, sometimes its in over drive. When it dips some players need a rocket lit under them, some need and arm around their shoulder. But as you say Martinellis form has tanked. I think he's roughly less than half the goals he had when he was in form. And even at that it was about 15 or 16 in a season.

Now is Martinelli going to refuse a game, no thanks gaffer im actually a bit of a hindrance to the team at the moment!

not on your life, so yes the player take the blame for the form, but the manager sure as hell takes it for continuously picking the same player with absolutely no end to the horror show in sight.

[Retro Gunner]

Absolutely fucking laughable to blame Arteta for Martinelli’s form being in the shitter for 2 seasons now.

The guy can’t do a single thing without fucking up but yeah it’s all the managers fault.

Superb banter

Rodders, whatever anyone thinks of Martinelli, if his or any other players form has been “in the shitter” for two seasons, then the fact that he’s still getting a game is 100% on the manager.

I say this as someone that was a huge Martinelli fan and who thought when I first saw him under Emery that he’d be world class, but his end product and decision making has been dire for quite a while now. I still hope he comes good, but he’s regressed and I can’t keep making excuses to myself about him.

Anyway, bottom line is that this is Arteta’s team and after 5 yrs and 800 million spent, it’s on him if Havertz, Partey, Zinchenko, Jesus, Sterling and for some, Martinelli are in the team or in contention for it.

[General]

What’s this nonsense about Martinelli. This forum is really a cesspool of negativity at times. Yes his end product could be better but it is obvious Temu Pep has lumbered him with defensive duties to the extent that by the time he arrives at the final third his legs are gone. He works extremely hard, still only 23, younger than Foden mind, we don’t have £80-100m to buy a ready made player in that position so the notion of getting of him is not realistic.

His end product could be better, your delusional, have a cookie or something cause your blood sugars low.....in order for his end product to be better it would need to exist. He absolutely gash at all things expected of a forward player. And if he has as you say been lumbered with defensive duties, he shite at those too!! All you have to do is look to the other flank to see how that gets done. The difference is Saka and Martinelli are on polar opposite career trajectories.

Theres a stark difference between works hard and....runs around a lot. Theres 1000's of players who can run and sweat......Martinelli has no end product, be that assists or goals he has nothing to offer and is taking up a shirt.

Luckily legohead will play play and keep playing and in a couple of years he'll be burnt out and worth nothing......

To add to that the club of course would have 80 to 100 and more million to spend if they wanted to, but they dont and they wont. Their super super financially responsible. We dont buy superstars etc etc......unless theyre super super qualiteeee.

The clubs transfer business is a joke, the fact that MArtinelli, Jesus, Zinchenko, PArtey etc are still there is testimony that legohead isnt ruthless enough to be a league winner!

I’m not one to defend players to the hilt but he has 2 goals and 2 assists this season. That’s 1 fewer goal than Saka and more goals than Doku and Savino who apparently play in a superior team. He also has the same number of assists as Savino and Luis Diaz. If his end product is non existent as you say, please explain how his numbers are comparable if not better than players in a similar position. He’s undoubtedly a gifted athlete who can’t erase the impression that he’s lost his way but let’s not go overboard.

[augie]

Again I will say that martinelli contributed more than that german c.unt up front did today - I am sick of seeing us waste time and useless chav rejects

[rodders999]

Martinelli wouldn’t be near the team if everyone was fit. He’d already lost his place to Trossard but unfortunately Odegaard’s injury got him back in.

When he gets into a dangerous position I have no faith he’ll produce either a decent pass or shot. I expect him to fuck it up and he almost always does. He ran past the ball that led to us losing possession for their second.

You could sign someone from legaue 2 to run around the place like a headless chicken if that’s your thing. He’s finished. There’s no way back for him. He has stunk the place out for 18 months and today was his Calum Chambers v Swansea moment - game over, he ain’t coming back from that.

[rodders999]

Again I will say that martinelli contributed more than that german c.unt up front did today - I am sick of seeing us waste time and useless chav rejects

Havertz had scored in what 8/9 home games in a row. He has money in the bank at least.

Martinelli has been shit for 2 full seasons now, a corpse in a shit.

[rodders999]

Absolutely fucking laughable to blame Arteta for Martinelli’s form being in the shitter for 2 seasons now.

The guy can’t do a single thing without fucking up but yeah it’s all the managers fault.

Superb banter

Rodders, whatever anyone thinks of Martinelli, if his or any other players form has been “in the shitter” for two seasons, then the fact that he’s still getting a game is 100% on the manager.

I say this as someone that was a huge Martinelli fan and who thought when I first saw him under Emery that he’d be world class, but his end product and decision making has been dire for quite a while now. I still hope he comes good, but he’s regressed and I can’t keep making excuses to myself about him.

Anyway, bottom line is that this is Arteta’s team and after 5 yrs and 800 million spent, it’s on him if Havertz, Partey, Zinchenko, Jesus, Sterling and for some, Martinelli are in the team or in contention for it.

I agree to a point Retro but like I said earlier with everyone fit Martinelli isn’t near that team. He’d lost his position for most of the back end of last season to Trossard and again played second fiddle to him this season until the Odegaard injury.

Trossard moving to 10 opened the door for Martinelli to come back in but instead of grasping the opportunity he’s been consistently our worst player in games. Can’t shoot, can’t pass, can’t do fuck all. A liability.

Now there’s definitely a question to be asked about whether Trossard should play on the wing and throw Nwaneri in at 10. I’d be all for that.

[rodders999]

Doesn’t blow the whistle for the original challenge in the air. Once it looks like we might score he does. Disgusting.

https://x.com/itsredwhitearmy/status/18 ... cNVBoGD_Fw

[Retro Gunner]

Again I will say that martinelli contributed more than that german c.unt up front did today - I am sick of seeing us waste time and useless chav rejects

Agree with this 100%.

The guy is absolutely useless.

[rodders999]

Stacked deck. Disgusting

https://x.com/gideoomatic/status/185058 ... cNVBoGD_Fw