Gabriel Martinelli

[FrankDrebin]

I remember there being loose links with Rashford going to Arsenal just after the last campaign.

 

[Fortitude]

I get that he didn't cost much. However, the media were hyping him up to be much better than he actually is, at one point. He just doesn't seem to have received any real criticism despite despite being poor for some time now.

He doesn’t have the body of work for them to dismantle him or make a bigger point than young player needing to find himself again. It’s an age old tale, so he doesn’t stand out for falling back into the pack; there has to be a constructive, established angle to go to town on and he doesn’t have one as of yet.

 

[saik]

But he’s an irrelevance in the grand scheme of things and still a success story for the price purchased for. He’s not going to get both barrels until established and defined. At that point, the stories practically write themselves - he simply hasn’t had the longevity for it to be a thing yet, and he can’t be labelled expensive flop etc. because he wasn’t expensive.

I get that he didn't cost much. However, the media were hyping him up to be much better than he actually is, at one point. He just doesn't seem to have received any real criticism despite despite being poor for some time now.

Basically what Robbie said. Even I was guilty of hyping him up during that time but his fall off has been shocking. If any of our players did that they'd be getting pelters in the media already.

I mean there were articles already on Mainoo blaming him for conceding a goal against some team(I don't remember if it was Iceland) in a meaningless friendly.

 

[Fortitude]

Basically what Robbie said. Even I was guilty of hyping him up during that time but his fall off has been shocking. If any of our players did that they'd be getting pelters in the media already.

I mean there were articles already on Mainoo blaming him for conceding a goal against some team(I don't remember if it was Iceland) in a meaningless friendly.

Mainoo is hyped as a potential great. That’s the angle he will be attacked from.

 

[saik]

Mainoo is hyped as a potential great. That’s the angle he will be attacked from.

Unless I'm remembering wrong, Martinelli was also hyped up as a great young winger after his breakout year in the same breath as Saka.

 

[Fortitude]

Unless I'm remembering wrong, Martinelli was also hyped up as a great young winger after his breakout year in the same breath as Saka.

He’s a halfway house; no guarantee he’s going to realise his potential or make the leap Saka did. If he managed to elevate himself to that level and then slumped, the tone would be set and he would be treated differently to now. I mean, what angle do you think there is that is tangible and holds up to scrutiny? He’s not going to get super star column inches because he isn’t one, and he isn’t going to be talked about as the next prodigious prospect because he didn’t come to Arsenal as one. His story is very much diluted at the minute, which keeps talk of him to a minimum.

 

[Remember the geese]

He’s a halfway house; no guarantee he’s going to realise his potential or make the leap Saka did. If he managed to elevate himself to that level and then slumped, the tone would be set and he would be treated differently to now. I mean, what angle do you think there is that is tangible and holds up to scrutiny? He’s not going to get super star column inches because he isn’t one, and he isn’t going to be talked about as the next prodigious prospect because he didn’t come to Arsenal as one. His story is very much diluted at the minute, which keeps talk of him to a minimum.

Many Arsenal fans were viewing Martinelli and Saka as one of a kind. Two potentially World Class players. Martinelli did elevate himself to a high level a couple of years ago (15 Premier League goals in the 22/23 season). It has been a big drop.

 

[Fortitude]

Many Arsenal fans were viewing Martinelli and Saka as one of a kind. Two potentially World Class players. Martinelli did elevate himself to a high level a couple of years ago (15 Premier League goals in the 22/23 season). It has been a big drop.

As I said, if it’s not sustained, it’s not established, which means it is not really an angle. Right now he’s just another kid who had a moment in the sun; Saka has been a huge player for them for years now and is established as such, which means a different level of scrutiny and assessment.

Perhaps fanbases can feel one way, but as far as selling a narrative to an audience at large, Martinelli just doesn’t have the gravitas off the back of his career or story to date.

 

[Grande]

Or instead of the 'media' not having a go at these players it could just be that the fanbases of the so called media darling clubs are just more supportive of the player or atleast less penetrative towards the player.

Who had a go at Rashford? Was it the media or the fan base? It was the fanbase.

Who made an absolute meme about Maguire? Was it the media or our own fanbase? It was the fanbase.

Is Antony getting talked about in the media all the time or is it the United fans talking about how crap he is? Its the United fans.

People need to realise that the fanbase is the media.

When Rashford came out and said that he felt bullied by the media - was it Skysports bullying him or the United fans bullying him? It was the United fan's bullying him.

You might see someone like Graham Souness say something stupid every once a month about one of our players -

But we as 'supporters' have a go at our players every second we can (proof is in the forum) & unfortunately that's been a part of our club culture for a long time now, especially compared to clubs like Liverpool who have had a lot of inconsistent players over decades but have been less aggressive towards their own players & have managed to get more use out of their more inconsistent players than us.

We are both the supporters and the media. When players refer to the 'media' - it's talking about their own fanbase & not just Skysports News.

This is unfortunately all too true. We like to think that the players don’t read comments on the redcafe, x or insta (and hopefully they don’t), but the pundits and journos do, looking for stories and angles, and it filters through in the streets.

Phil Jones just told how it was affecting him mentally during his fight to get back from injuries, that everywhere he went he could feel people stare at him, hearing snippets and fragments of sentences as he passed by about him ‘stealing a living’ etc.

It’s easier for us to say ‘it’s just banter’, but the truth is it affects players ability to be 100% of what they can. Sir Matt knew this already in 1953 when he insisted United should pay £29.999 for Tommy Taylor instead of £30.000.

 

[saik]

He’s a halfway house; no guarantee he’s going to realise his potential or make the leap Saka did. If he managed to elevate himself to that level and then slumped, the tone would be set and he would be treated differently to now. I mean, what angle do you think there is that is tangible and holds up to scrutiny? He’s not going to get super star column inches because he isn’t one, and he isn’t going to be talked about as the next prodigious prospect because he didn’t come to Arsenal as one. His story is very much diluted at the minute, which keeps talk of him to a minimum.

I mean he managed to reach the level of Saka, even if only for a season. And Arsenal believed in him enough to give him a bumper new contract last Feb (Capology has his wages at 180k/week) which probably means he was supposed to be first choice for a title challenging team.

 

[simonhch]

To be honest, it’s amazing that Arsenal are as good as they are given that, between them, Martinelli and Jesus have scored about 5 goals in the last 18 months. Havertz has proved to be an excellent signing, despite the initial ridicule.

 

[Gene Loblaw]

He's in this weird area for me where it's undeniable that his end product is completely missing. There's no denying that. But he's also been playing not that badly imo. He was easily better than Saka against spurs. And has had some good matches this season. He just can't put the ball in the net.

I'd personally like to see him continue to get a run of games just to see how he does with Timber supporting him. I always felt bad for him receiving a bunch of criticism when he played with Zinchenko just because Zinny offered no support for him.

 

[ROFLUTION]

Have you watched Sterling in the past year?

And they are trying to win the league, they had plenty of money if they wanted to ship into a new top winger.

I think he’s fairly bad too compared to his heights, but still last season in Premier League Sterling had 8+8 G+A. That’s basically a better performance than anyone in United’s team and a better one than Martinelli too.

 

[ArtetaInInIn]

Arteta trusts him. He gets up and down the wing and never shirks his defensive duties. He may be dropped, but there is zero chance he gets sold