Emiliano (formerly Damian) Martinez will make his Champions League debut for Arsenal on Wednesday night.
With David Ospina injured, and Wojciech Szczesny suspended due to his red card against Galatasaray, Arsene Wenger will hand a European debut to the 22 year old Argentine.
Martinez has previously made just two appearances for the club, both in the Capital One Cup. He endured a difficult first half in that extraordinary 7-5 win over Reading, but had an easier night in a 6-1 triumph over Coventry.
Now the third choice pick, he’ll have a chance to impress in the Champions League, although further enforced changes to the Arsenal backline might be seen as a worry given the inability to select a consistent group so far this season.
19 year old Deyan Iliev is likely to travel to Belgium as the substitute keeper.
Oh
Oh crap….
Where’s he playing, centreback?
Good luck to him and everything, but when did Ospina get injured?
The first day he came, he took one step onto the training pitch and immediately blew both his kneecaps.
Probably.
Hope we have a better plan in attack as well. It seems as if our strategy to score is to replicate jacks goal against norwich last season hence the tiki taka just outside the box. We are over complicating our attack. Need to keep it simple like the chavs. Look how easily they scored their second against palace
At that time, it was 10 v 10 so there was always going to be the space that you need for combinations like this, just sayin
And Fabregas scored with a classic Arsenal run… which is what Jack’s tiki taka goal essentially is. I know we don’t ‘need’ Fabregas, and I have a nasty premonition that he might burn out by March, but when he played that beautiful long ball out to costa against us, that one really hurt. I don’t have complaints about our roster on paper (except for a centerhalf). What I have complaints with is that our attack is toothless because our players don’t seem to understand each other’s basic movements. You could clearly see what Ozil’s absence has removed from the team… Read more »
“The prototype that will never finish”
Metaphor of the decade (For Arsenal)
Part of the reason for that would be that half the attack is new to the team, and the rest of the team never really gelled properly anyway, I still reckon it’s something in their heads more than anything else though; we’ve showed that we can play that football and win it but it doesn’t look like Wenger can get it out of them any more.
The only way we can create a shooting opportunity is through that tiki-taka style or through individual moments of brilliance/madness. Either that, or Wenger comes up with an individual game-plan for each game, which we know isn’t gonna happen.
Bellerin against Dortmund, now this… our youth is really being thrown into the deep end so far this season in the CL!
Hahaha what is our season this year.
hahahaha.. this is beyond our normal crazy..
Ospina got injured on international duty… so good luck Emi!
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29677078
Can’t even answer some “medium” questions.
You can tell he’s frustrated from the result and the current situation. And the pretty douchey journalism. I think he did answer some of those questions adequately but BBC has done the brilliant job of cutting and sniping little bits here and there to make it seem like he had no answers at all. E.g. that last bit with regards to the lack of defenders being the reason as to the amount of goals conceded, he responded with “some other teams have bought many defenders and conceded a lot of goals as well, it was more of a problem of… Read more »
They provided an uncut video footage of the interview. they don’t have to transcribe everything. And this is the first time I’ve seen someone press him with such direct questions, and frankly I see nothing wrong with the interview. Most of the time, these post-match interviews are vague and basically useless, the reporter did a good job there with getting a proper reaction by forcing him to answer, even though he was trying to be vague and evasive.
Oh come on, you can’t defend Arsene here. He was very patronising towards her, I’m used to seeing such answers from people like Mourinho, not Arsene. That final question she asked was a perfect follow up question to his comment about us conceding too many goals, there was no need for such a condescending response.
I’m not really defending him here and i’m just as concerned as the defensive issues as the rest (personally the idea of our 2nd choice left-back also being our 4th choice center back gives me anxiety every time i think about it), im just saying if his answers were vague then those few lines were equally as vague. How many people do you really think actually opened that video and saw for themselves what was being said lol.
I think the interview was fair enough. Ok he wasn’t in a great mood but neither was I after that performance. I think he’s been open enough in interviews over the years to be allowed an off day. He said we conceded goals we shouldn’t have (which no one can deny), and that comes partly as a result of not having a settled back four, which comes from not having enough depth, which comes from…… the manager’s decisions during the summer. There isn’t anyone here who wouldn’t like to ask him why we didn’t buy a defender when it was… Read more »
Bull-Loney the man makes 8 million a year if he can’t handle a few questions (not pre approved) then he can just pack his puffy coat and head on down the road!
He did, he misundertstood one question (hearing who instead of what) and the rest of it was pretty much what you get from every other manager in every other press conference.
If you’re pissed off with the lack of a CB (like the rest of us, although that’s not the reason I think we aren’t progressing) then be pissed off about that but don’t get all pissy about a guy who’s a bad loser being a little riled after losing a match whilst still answering the questions and doing nothing worse than anyone else.
Great news for Martinez, but I’m gutted Ospina got injured. This was his chance to shine with Szczesny suspended, and i was really looking forward to seing him after his calm performance against Dortmund. Looked so focused when he came on, and i really think him and Wojciech will benefit greatly from working together.
Just for once this season, can we be allowed to hand our youth debuts in the PL and CL on our own terms? Bellerin was forced in v Dortmund, now Martinez. The way this is going we’ll see Hayden, Zelalem and the janitor’s grandkid making debuts before December. Fucking hell.
For the record, I’m not saying Martinez won’t do a good job. Good luck, kid.
Goodluck Martinez!
On totally unrelated note, why did he change his name to ‘Emiliano?
It looks like his middle name is Emiliano, and the Arsenal website has confused him with Emiliano Viviano. The first pic on the website is of Viviano, not Martinez:
http://www.arsenal.com/academy/players/damian-martinez
http://za.soccerway.com/players/damian-martinez/102587/
He decided that he wanted to be called Emiliano rather than Damian. His full name is Damián Emiliano Martinez
I seem to remember him referring to himself as “Emi” in some early interviews…
It’s as if the football gods were offended that we broke our trophy drought with the FA cup win. It is just one thing after the other this season!
Good luck emi
It’s a double edged sword being forced into playing the youngsters. Play well and they’re heroes. Play badly and they are discarded like the babies in 300
Good luck, lad.
FFS Ospina injured as well!
What’s next, the stadium getting injured? The team coach breaking down? The pitch getting herpes? The goal getting a post strain?……Fuck fuck fuckeddy fuck bollocks!….
Hopefully he won’t have a lot to do but does well when called upon.
Yes, I think that covers everything. Wait, no, how about wishing the Queen good health?
Bonaroca:- Mr Wenger in my opinion missed signing a defensive midfielder and a centre back so its good that we are able to see some of the academy players making there debut. I wish all the youngsters taking part GOOD LUCK
If we beat anderlecht, it will give gunners a nice pts in group table just make sure keeper and team players have a communication barrier for the
ball no mistiming unsure decisions or bad tackling you seen our red cards
Wish he had some, y’know, some actual defenders in front of him. You could stick Bob Wilson in goal if you had our old back four playing!
His performance against Reading a couple of years ago still worries me, he had a shocker
I think Arsenal should forget about a trophy this year and just focus on 4th place finnish.
With a minimum of two signings in the summer (hoping that we sign a CB in January), we can challenge for the title next season.
My greatest worry is that the manager seems to be our major problem. This team, under a better manager, would play better and get better results (read the last line of Arseblog this morning).
yeah….heard klopp was disappointed with dortmund so far this season…
“With a minimum of two signings in the summer (hoping that we sign a CB in January), we can challenge for the title next season.”
If I had a pound for every time this had been said about Arsenal, I could make a minimum of two signings.
Yeah next season next season next season
Piss off, we aren’t Liverpool.
Could be worse, it could Dortmund we’re facing. Our season is bordering on farce with the injuries we’re faced with, iffy tactics and a manager becoming more and more defensive when questioned about it. We all knew where the gaps we’re in the squad namely CDM and CB. The manager ignored it so the critics are on his back and he should accept it. 3 points any which way will do in the CL. Just need to get to January and be in sight of top 4 and CL qualification. If the signings don’t arrive then …….. well, it will… Read more »
Fun times, eh?
He could enact the Vito mannone’s fulham 0, arsenal 1. That said, arsenal v Anderlecht away seems like the perfect chance for a 1-5 away win for the Londoners alá the 2003/2004 side at the san siros.
I think we should try to get at least third this year. That’s a pretty realistic target given our injury record this season and our below par performance.
I don’t think we should underestimate any opponent in the worlds top competition.. Why not just play Ospina? Did we sign him to warm the bench?
He is injured.
WTF do we expect when the manager cant even walk through a departure lounge without falling over.
Oh I dunno…maybe go through a season unbeaten or a couple of doubles?
An FA cup here and there.
😉
The injury curse really hitting hard this season. Still, no reason to use it as an excuse. We will just have to deal with it. We have been adequetely covered in all departments bar crucially Cback. There is plenty of experience in all areas of the pitch now. The team has flattered to deceive thus far with too many draws in a league and we are not in the races at present. there is still a very slim window over the next two games to turn things round, if not, we will be adjusted for the fourth spot scrap. In… Read more »
I don’t know how reliable Arseblog News is but somebody should get in touch with the club urgently. Deyan Iliev is not in our Champions League squad so if he goes we would have points deducted or even banned for naming an illegible payer. Our five listed goalkeepers are Szczesny, Ospina, Martinez, Huddart and Vickers.
Good luck to Martinez… My big worry is that defense. Per is only good alongside Koscielny. With Monreal?No.
We become a laughing stock & I feel sory for my fellow Arsenal family , As I mentioned many times the WENGER OUT camp is Growing faster , I’m telling you guys this man is killing my team , how can we not afford DIAME type of players which is 3 million pounds to buy ? Can monreal play as central defender ? Will he be allowed to play in the center in another big club ? Why poldi is not playing ? For how many more years do we have to pay Diabys wages ? With 300 million turn… Read more »
I like this comment for how much retardation someone can possess.
I thought this was one of those joke headlines.
I’m pretty impressed at the way Martinez juggles 3rd place goalie and managing a premier league club at the same time. COYG
It must have been hard for Ospina to mask his joy when Szczesny got sent off. Now that joy belongs to Emi. If only there was a german word for describing the pleasure felt at viewing anothers misfortune.
On a vaguely related topic, I desperately need two tickets for Anderlecht away if anyone has some going spare? I know arseblog has a face value only policy. If anyone can help please email me at [email protected]
Ospina injured. And not having played since the last CL match. You couldn’t make this shit up. What the fuck does Wenger do to them ?
Good luck Martinez. You’ll need it.
Champions league debut for the young keeper. Good luck. If he does well, could even give Chesney a run for his money, since Ospina won’t be doing any running soon.
Slightly off-topic. Wosjciech’s performances this season has to be called into question irrespective of adequate lack of defensive cover.
I’m perplexed, baffled and bewildered to have Wosjciech conceading 4 goals in the last two EPL matches when he’s only got 5 shots on target against him in both matches combined.
That’s not good enough as a top EPL goalkeeper and for a club aspiring to win the league.
Huddart is the reserve keeper going to Belguim. thankfully for once it is good that arseblog news got it wrong!!!!