Arsenal fans rage at duo who ‘can’t start together’ as both get hooked in Newcastle loss that has title hopes in tatters
ARSENAL fans have been left raging at Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard following the devastating defeat to Newcastle.
The Gunners limped to a 1-0 defeat at St James’ Park in a horrific blow to their Premier League title hopes.
Alexander Isak’s solitary goal was enough to split the sides and left Mikel Arteta‘s outfit five points behind Manchester City.
The Magpies star headed the hosts in front inside the opening 12 minutes, but Arsenal were unable to get themselves a goal.
Supporters have pointed to the lack of contribution from attacking duo Martinelli and Trossard.
Martinelli was in his usual position on the left wing but struggled up against Tino Livramento.
The defender won every tackle, aerial dual and ground duel against the Brazilian.
This massively impacted Martinelli’s ability to pose a threat, as he did not provide a single accurate cross or shot on target before he was subbed.
Trossard was just as ineffective for Arteta playing in the No10 role.
The Belgian only touched the ball in the Newcastle box four times throughout his time on the pitch.
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The attacker was often forced to collect the ball from his own half before he could try and move forward.
Many fans suggested that the duo aren’t capable of co-existing on the same pitch.
One said: “Trossard and Martinelli in the same team just doesn’t work, we are missing creative passing and it’s very obvious neither has that.”
A second wrote: “Can’t watch Trossard and Martinelli together on the pitch.”
A third commented: “Trossard and Martinelli are two of our three best wingers at the club. They are absolutely soul-sucking to watch.”
A fourth said: “Sub Martinelli off and send Trossard on the wing.”
Another added: “Trossard needs to switch to Martinelli’s wing. Sub off that ram and bring Ben White in.”
After the game, Arteta insisted that he was “very frustrated” with the defeat.
He said: “We deserved to lose today. I thought we started really well and were really dominant. We didn’t defend the box well enough. Credit to them. They scored a great goal with a good ball.
“Then the game changes and you start to play a different game. You have to adapt and we didn’t do that well enough. I am very frustrated.
“We got dragged into a game they are looking for constantly and we couldn’t play the game that we wanted.
“We had two big chances – Mikel had a big one, Declan had a big one. We lacked answers.”