Gary Neville was left frustrated after seeing Gabriel Martinelli struggle from corner kicks during Arsenal’s win over Manchester United.
Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli did not impress pundit Gary Neville with his corner-taking ability on Sunday afternoon.
The Gunners had to come from behind to beat Manchester United on Sunday with Marcus Rashford opening the scoring for the visitors.
Arsenal responded quickly through Martin Odegaard before winning it late on through Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus.
A 3-1 win may have somewhat flattered Arsenal, who don’t quite seem to be at their best this season.
Mikel Arteta’s men continue to pick up results though and if they’re only dropping two points from the first five games without being at their sparkling best, then there could be some huge victories to come.
The Emirates Stadium was a scene of absolute delirium in injury time as those Rice and Jesus goals sent the place barmy.
It wasn’t all good for Arsenal though and one particular aspect of their game left Gary Neville pretty frustrated.
Gary Neville criticises Gabriel Martinelli corners for Arsenal
Gabriel Martinelli was very effective at winning corners against United, but maybe not as good at actually taking them.
The Brazilian struggled to beat the first man with his corners and one moment encapsulated it all for pundit Neville.
With 85 minutes on the clock, Martinelli won another corner from Aaron Wan-Bissaka and placed the ball down.
Arsenal’s defenders had come forward seeking a late winner but Martinelli’s corner was a shocker, easily cleared by Bruno Fernandes at the near post.
The score was 1-1 at that point and Martinelli had wasted a chance to get a great ball in and really challenge the United back line.
Speaking on Sky Sports (03/09, 6:15pm), Neville couldn’t believe just how many times Martinelli had put in a poor corner, noting that the Arsenal fans were groaning at his final effort before being substituted.
“How many times has he done that? How many times has he done that today? The groans around the stadium follow him…” said Neville.
Arsenal did go ahead from a corner as Rice fired home Bukayo Saka’s ball in, but maybe Arteta will be tempted to try somebody else from the left side with Martinelli having an off day from corners.
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