Arsenal: 4 Gabriel Martinelli positives and negatives vs Leeds

2. Martinelli’s Dribbling Left Plenty to be Desired

Fashioning high quality shooting positions and executing those would probably sit atop Martinelli’s CV. His technical ability, with the capacity to play inside and outside, wouldn’t be far behind.

His dribbling against Leeds would’ve have changed that order. His touch let him down on more than one occasion.

It needs mentioning that this is one game. This isn’t ‘Martinelli the player’, it’s ‘Martinelli coming up short in his chance against Leeds as a worrying trend grows’. Numerous times he received the ball out wide and looked to cut in, as if he was seeking to replicate Arjen Robben, which saw him followed by the covering midfielder and resulted in lost possession.

His explosive pace and quick feet normally see him evade his marker. On Tuesday he didn’t deliver a single cross, attempted two shots and got none on target. He attempted seven dribbles and completed three, with his total of losing possession 13 times only beaten by two other players in the team. Yes, one of them was Pepe.

Sometimes raw speed isn’t enough. There seemed to be an expectancy from Martinelli that he could just prod the ball beyond his man and pick up the pieces after jetting past him. For all the brilliance he produced in that incredible first season, he is still a raw talent who has to get a run of games. There is a player there. He just has to get the minutes and play himself into form, whether that is at Arsenal or out on loan.

But, despite the criticisms – they are fair, he was very poor and Pepe can’t be singled out without mentioning Martinelli – there were some aspects of his performance that were encouraging, as well as some mitigation for him.

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