Mikel Arteta has one annoying post-match habit that needs to stop now

Mikel Arteta is often one to defend his team in public, yet, for some reason, he makes exceptions for Gabriel Martinelli.

The boss hung him out to dry after the 1-1 draw at Brentford last month, saying that the Brazilian “had to score” in added time, and he repeated the trick during his post-match reflection on Arsenal’s stalemate with Bayer Leverkusen.

Talking post-match, Arteta lamented the “massive chance” that Martinelli fired against the crossbar in the first half and spoke of how the game “changes completely” if you can score in those moments of dominance.

One could perhaps excuse the boss here: he was making a wider point about the collective failure to “finish enough actions” as opposed to launching a personal attack. In addition, Martinelli might think himself that he could have done better both at Brentford and at the BayArena, though his miss in the UCL was just unfortunate more than anything else.

Mikel Arteta keeps singling out Gabriel Martinelli for missing chances - it needs to stop now

But to mention the 24-year-old by name is unfair when attention must surely turn to how Arsenal so often struggle to test the goalkeeper. Indeed, they have mustered just 19 shots on target across their recent games against Chelsea (in the Premier League and the Carabao Cup second leg), Leverkusen, Wolves, Brighton and Brentford combined.

And the fact that only eight goals were scored across those six matches – fans’ eyes can attest to this – is a reflection of how those shots were not taken in ‘must-score’ situations for the most part; it highlights how the Gunners are simply not creating a steady flow of chances and, thereby, they are leaving themselves vulnerable to draws and defeats.

If anyone is to bear responsibility for that it is not Martinelli or any one individual player, but rather Arteta himself.   

There are some mitigating factors of course, like the defensive mindset of the teams they are facing – you are not going to blitz sides that park the bus. It is also possible that fatigue might be an issue for a group which is going strong on four fronts, while knocks to stars like Kai Havertz and captain Martin Odegaard do not help either.

There are no easy solutions to it and scapegoating Martinelli for his miss on a night of few chances is certainly not one of them.

Perhaps Arteta knows him better than the fans do, could those remarks put a bit of fire in his belly? If not, then his tendency to pile heat on him is unjust – the boss watches the same games as us, surely he can see the bigger picture?

Martinelli is not the problem, so stop blaming him.