Life is getting complicated Emiliano Martínez with the corners that fall in the small area, an area that should be their domain and control, as stated in the goalkeeper’s manuals and it is clear from their imposing personality to not allow themselves to be run over. On Saturday he suffered against Chelsea, when Enzo Fernández and João Pedro bothered him in a corner kick that ended in a goal for the London team. Then, in the second half, in a great comeback, Aston Villa turned history around, winning 2-1 and the failure of the Argentine team’s goalkeeper was corrected.
Dibu returned to London this Tuesday, in this case to Emirates Stadium, in a doubly special match for the man from Mar del Plata: against Arsenal pointer, which is also his former club. After a first half without major setbacks, with good timing to go out to cut a free kick in the form of a center, the match led to an ordeal for Draw in the second stage. It was a tough 4-1 defeat, which in addition to preventing the jump to first place meant Aston Villa’s first fall after 11 consecutive victories, between the Premier and the Europa League.
The Aston Villa debacle, who in the first 45 minutes had imposed their method of pressure in their own half and counterattack, began with a thick drawing error on a corner from the right taken by Saka. Unsure and hesitant, the Argentine, centimeters from the goal line, took a couple of steps and tried to catch the center, the ball slipped from his grasp and hit the central defender Gabriel Magalhães for the 1-0 score. The Brazilian went with his arm raised and touched Dibu, who fell and threatened to ask for an infraction. It didn’t feel like it was a foul, even more so taking into account the physical exuberance that the goalkeeper usually imposes in body-to-body contact. Two minutes had passed and the development took a terrible turn in Arsenal’s favor, while the ghosts that he had already suffered three days before fluttered in Dibu.
Aston Villa began to come late to the pressure and the local midfielders, Zubimendi, Merino and Odegaard, took the reins. The disintegration of the set of Unai Emery It included the huge gap left by the centre-backs Konsa and Lindelöf for Zubimendi to drive comfortably and finish next to a post. Nothing to do for Dibu at 0-2, but Hesitations assaulted him again in two other closed corners, Obviously the rivals have already studied that they hurt Aston Villa a lot. And even more so for Dibu, little helped by his teammates, who should take out the opponents who are going to overwhelm him in those small spaces.
In addition, Arsenal dedicates work and preparation to the corners in favor: this year he scored 17 goals in that way, more than any other Premier team. Dibu, in the middle of a crowd of rivals and teammates, stayed in the middle twice more, at the expense of rebounds and the fate of a loose ball.
Arsenal 4 – Aston Villa 1 Highlights
Dibu was saved in those two corners, but Arsenal had already found more than one way to hurt him. Local combinations followed one another, very comfortable in exchanging positions between midfielders and forwards. The Belgian Trossard and the Brazilian Gabriel Jesús, who is an offensive replacement in Arteta’s squad, brought the victory to a landslide with precise finishes.
Dibu was barely able to deflect a mid-range shot from Odegaard. The disappointment had no place on his face. Winner as he is, the defeat was a blow because it exposed his weaknesses.
Arsenal was Dibu Martínez’s entry club to England when he was 18 years old, but Aston Villa, starting in September 2020, is where his career was consolidated and he achieved a projection that took him to the Argentine national team. It is always special for the goalkeeper to face an Arsenal that saw in him a promise that they never fully supported, as proven by the four loan assignments in English football – there was also one to Getafe – until five and a half years ago they transferred him for 17.4 million euros to the Villains.
In the transfer market in the middle of this year, Dibu made efforts to move to Manchester United, that he never finished making a concrete offer for his pass; He proposed a loan that was rejected. Martínez considered that he had completed a cycle in the Birmingham team, but in his permanence he found a perhaps somewhat unexpected motivation, such as competing for the top positions in the Premier League, with three teams that reached this date tight on three points.
He arrived in London in good spirits, it was the opportunity to have a good end to the year, but he left one flank open from above in the first goal, another three fell in 30 minutes and the win made as much noise as the fireworks that will explode at midnight this Wednesday.
