Normally Arsenal has such a right-sided attack. With Odegaard primarily playing slightly to the right that whole White / Saka / Odegaard attack is so good that it is the focus of everything Arsenal tries to do.

Odegaard's absence definitely contributed to blunting that attack, but I also think you have to give a lot of credit to Timber for switching Arsenal to being mostly left-sided in this match. Martinelli is always willing to make turf-tearing runs down that left side, but this time he had Timber working just as hard. That was reflected in Timber's high rating, but I think Martinelli should have been given more credit too. He didn't score or get an assist, but he did a great job defensively, and was so important in relieving the pressure of Tottenham's attacks because he was always available to make a run in behind their defense.

(Also, as an aside, people were saying that Martinelli should have passed to Saka for that chance where he took a shot instead, but to me it looks like, by the time he gets to the box, Saka is very well covered and it would have been much harder to get a successful pass off to Saka than it would have been to just score a goal. He could have crossed it almost immediately after receiving it, but if he'd done that the goalkeeper would have had time to reposition for Saka and Saka would have had to deal with both the Spurs defender and the goalie.)

[–] nuggsy@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, I kinda wanted to change some of my ratings afterwards. I think Jorginho did better than what I gave him as well

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think you kind-of have to grade Partey and Jorginho on a curve. They were thrown into a midfield where Rice, Odegaard and Merino were all unavailable, so they had to do the full 90 minutes with no relief from the bench. Jorginho especially should be given credit for coming in for his first minutes in what, half a year? They weren't spectacular, but given the situation they handled it well.

[–] nuggsy@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I agree. I think that's why I wanted to give him a slightly higher rating. He was coming into a game with very few minutes played, was pressing like he was 25 at 32. It was like he'd been playing week in week out.

It wasn't on the same level as say maybe Big Gabby or Saka, but he stood up when we really needed him and did his part in attack and defence.