Arsenal new boy Eberechi Eze has been told he needs to up his game if he is to star for the Gunners in the Champions League, having been outdone by Gabriel Martinelli on Tuesday night.
Eze, a £67.5million summer signing from Crystal Palace, started at left wing as Arsenal travelled to the San Mames to play Athletic Club in their Champions League opener. But it was a quiet night for Eze, who looked isolated out wide and had minimal impact on the game.
The playmaker established himself as Palace’s key man while operating in the No 10 role, though Mikel Arteta is still figuring out how to get the best out of him.
A 4-3-3 formation left no room for Eze centrally, with Declan Rice, Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi selected in midfield instead.
Eze was replaced by usual left winger Martinelli in the 71st minute, and the Brazilian quickly showed him up.
Just 36 seconds after coming off the bench, Martinelli raced in behind the Athletic defence before sending his right-footed effort beneath goalkeeper Unai Simon to finally break the deadlock.
Martinelli was instrumental to Arsenal’s second goal too, sprinting down the left flank and taking on his marker before pulling the ball back for Leandro Trossard. The Belgian, another of Arteta’s masterful substitutions, took two touches before scoring via a deflection.
Reacting to Arsenal’s 2-0 away win, TNT Sports co-commentator Ally McCoist labelled Martinelli as the ‘star of the show’.
“Excellent start for them, clean sheet,” he said. “Good performance, not a great performance, the main thing is the result. Arteta will have looked at this as a difficult place to open the campaign, he’ll be thrilled.
“Stars of the show, particularly Martinelli – the substitutes won the game for Arsenal.
“We mentioned it before the game, they now have good players in every position.”
When asked about Eze’s struggles, fellow pundit Steve McManaman said: “He’s facing a different class of opposition. They’re quicker, stronger than he’s faced in the Premier League and with Crystal Palace.
“He knows now his level of game will have to jump up. You’re now playing big boys football in the Champions League against the best teams around.
“If you want to compete you have to better, you have to be quicker than he’s shown tonight.”
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Martinelli stakes his claim
McManaman added: “Just because you get new signings doesn’t make you instantly better than what you’ve already got. It makes the competition bigger.
“All they [Arteta’s existing players] can do is come onto the pitch and make an impact, change the flow of the game. Both of them came on and did that.
“With all respect, Martinelli did more in five minutes than Eze did in 60-75 minutes.”
On the fierce competition for places at Emirates Stadium, former defender Martin Keown said: “The players have to buy into it.
“Martinelli, such hunger when he came on. Completely changed the game, Trossard assist as well. And then he grabbed his goal.
“That’s really good news for the manager and the club.
“Martinelli particularly, really pleased for him when he came on. We saw something similar against Real Madrid when he ran through, he’s really done the business for Arsenal tonight.”
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