‘The poorest’… £180k-a-week Arsenal star gets torn into for ‘clumsy’ Porto display

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Arsecast contributor Phil Costa has shared his view on the performance that Gabriel Martinelli put in for Arsenal against Porto on Wednesday night.

Gabriel Martinelli was far from his best as Arsenal slumped to a 1-0 defeat in their most recent Champions League clash.

The Gunners were poor to a man as they were deservedly beaten at the Estadio do Dragao in this first-leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie.

However, Martinelli was particularly off the pace in Portugal, considering the high standards he is known to be capable of reaching. He was poor on the ball, weak in his duels, and unconvincing when trying to take on opponents in one-on-one situations.

The Brazilian also gave the ball away frequently and needlessly, most notably in the final seconds of the match when his attempt to switch the play was cut out and the ball then ultimately found its way into the back of the Arsenal net.

Gabriel Martinelli under fire for Porto disaster

Mikel Arteta will certainly feel that the 22-year-old failed to pose the kind of threat to the Porto defence that was expected of him. With his pace and directness, Martinelli ought to have been. a thorn in the side of the hosts’ defensive unit, but instead he went missing entirely.

The manner in which Arteta used his substitutes in this match has already been called into question, but in hindsight it was a mistake to leave the £180,000-a-week attacker on the pitch for the full duration of the game.

Phil Costa was certainly far from impressed with what saw from the 9-cap Brazil international in this Champions League fixture. Speaking on the Arsecast podcast, he said, “Martinelli, I thought, was probably the poorest performer on the night, for me from an Arsenal perspective. I thought he was really clumsy and clunky in possession.”

Assuming he is included in the starting XI when Arsenal welcome Porto to the Emirates Stadium for the second-leg on March 12th, plenty of eyes will be on Martinelli to see if he can step up to the plate at the second time of asking. To a man, the Arsenal team need to be far, far better in all departments when that match rolls around, if they are to stand any chance of overturning this one-goal deficit and progressing to the quarter-final stage of Europe’s elite club competition this season.