Martinelli, Bradley and the remorse code.
Arsenal winger genuinely contrite but needed to show it more.
Liverpool fans don’t forget. Gabriel Martinelli needed a more fulsome response and show of contrition than the 44-word apology the Arsenal winger posted to the stricken Liverpool full-back Conor Bradley on Instagram last night. When push comes to shove, after the push and shove in the 89th minute at the Emirates, Martinelli and those close to him needed to understand the remorse code better because Kopite critique is rarely forgiving.
I know the modern way of communication is via social media, rather than in person, but did Martinelli have an opportunity to make the short journey to the Liverpool dressing-room to apologise directly to Bradley for trying to shove him off the pitch so the game could resume? Nobody is doubting the genuine nature of Martinelli’s regret. Martinelli might have got a frosty response in Liverpool’s dressing-room but at least he’d have been seen to make an effort and that might lessen the tsunami of abuse frothing his way.
He should thank Liverpool’s manager Arne Slot for taking a remarkably mature approach. “I think the problem for him - and it’s a problem in general in football - is that there is so much time-wasting and players pretending that they are injured in the final parts of the game and during the game, that you can sometimes be annoyed if you want to try to score a goal that you think the player is time-wasting,” Slot told reporters at the Emirates. “You cannot ask Martinelli to think so clear in the 94th minute.” Fair play to Slot. Most managers would not have been so understanding.
I don’t completely buy the argument that players are so programmed to believe an opponent going down is routinely play-acting and that Martinelli’s reaction was somehow a sad, inevitable reflection of the game’s current culture of gamesmanship. As somebody frequently frustrated by injury himself, Martinelli should have realised the possibility of serious injury. He’s been there.
Even in the heat of the moment, Arsenal pushing for a goal, and Martinelli looking to have the beating of Bradley as seen in a brilliant run moments earlier, the Brazilian should have considered the extent of Bradley’s plight before his shove. It wasn’t an instant reaction, but spread over 15 seconds after Bradley twisted his left knee dealing with a punt from Gabriel, the Arsenal defender. As Bradley lay on the pitch, beating the turf with his right hand, Martinelli’s first response was to drop the ball on him followed by a stoop down and sympathetic tap on the shoulder.
Bradley was writhing there, still mainly on the pitch, but making sure he rolled back fully on. Martinelli signalled to the referee, Anthony Taylor, to get Bradley off and then took matters into his own hands and tried to drag the full-back off. Throughout this process, there was enough time for Martinelli to reflect that Bradley really was badly injured. Martinelli’s reaction also guaranteed that valuable seconds were used up in the ensuing melee which didn’t help his own team. Bradley then departed on a stretcher and finally left the Emirates on crutches with his left knee in a brace.
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The problem for Martinelli is that this also doesn’t end here. There are calls for retrospective additional disciplinary action. He was only booked by Taylor. Where Martinelli will experience more discomfort is that “Liverpool fans don’t forget” as one former employee of theirs messaged me last night.