Jamie Carragher details Arsenal’s pressing tactics against Manchester City and explains why Gabriel Martinelli appeared to be out of position for the winning goal.
Jamie Carragher defends Gabriel Martinelli (Image: Sky Sports)
Jamie Carragher has launched a passionate defense of Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli after he was criticized by Roy Keane for his contribution to Manchester City’s winning goal on Sunday. Carragher gave goals a new perspective as City beat their title rivals 2-1, with Erling Haaland scoring the winning goal in the second half.
City’s decisive goal came when Gianluigi Donnarumma played the ball to left-back Nico O’Reilly, who carried the ball into a wide space on the pitch. Seconds later, it was Haaland who raced with Gabriel Magalhães and fired a left-footed shot past David Raya from an O’Reilly ball.
Sky Sports’ post-match goal analysis focused on Martinelli’s decision to step up and close down Marc Gehi, who gave the goalkeeper an option to the left of City’s penalty area. Donnarumma recognized the position of the space and beat Arsenal’s press with a throw out to O’Reilly.
Former Manchester United midfielder Keane told Sky Sports: “Martinelli presses too fast and helps the goalkeeper make decisions. They haven’t quite decided yet.” “They don’t have to chase the game. The mentality and decision-making of experienced players is here…”
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He added: “I want to say this more to Arsenal, credit to O’Reilly. He’s an attack-minded player, his form was outstanding, he defended well today. But Martinelli doesn’t need to press there! He doesn’t need to press! And if anything, it encourages the goalkeeper to throw out.”
Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira said: “I totally agree. When you look at Donnarumma with the ball, I think there was a lot of space between Arsenal’s back four and the players up front. There’s a lot of space. Arsenal weren’t prepared, they weren’t ready to put pressure on.”
But Mr Carragher saw it differently. Speaking on Monday Night Football, he highlighted the risk-reward nature of Arsenal’s pressing at the Etihad Stadium, pointing out that it was Martinelli’s pressing that created a great chance for Kai Havertz minutes earlier.
Gabriel Martinelli’s decision to press into the left space for Nico O’Reilly (Image: Sky Sports)
“This was very important as it was the winning goal,” Carragher explained. “When I said Arsenal were brave, they press and they press high. But if you’re going to press high you have to accept that sometimes you’re going to get caught up, because the whole point of pressing is to win the ball high up and have a big chance to move forward. If you get caught up, you’re going to leave something behind.”
“There was a lot of criticism around Martinelli about the winning goal. I think that’s harsh, but I’ll explain why now. If you’re going to have a chance to press, you have to overcome tough situations even on flat surfaces.”
“The idea at the start of the game is to be aggressive, to press high. He presses here and the ball leaves (Cristian) Mosquera 2-on-1. When you press high, you create chances,” he said, playing footage of Martinelli winning the ball and provoking Arsenal’s counter-attack, as Havertz was denied one-on-one by Donnarumma.
“There was a pass (to City), but he (Martinelli) made a successful tackle. That tackle gave Arsenal a chance to go 1-1 and 2-1 up. That’s a league win. If they convert that chance, they win the league. So Martinelli is going to take advantage of the opportunity and try to help Arsenal win the league.”
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