Mikel Arteta’s ‘finishers’ could prove Arsenal’s cutting edge in the Champions League | OneFootball

As Mikel Arteta was figuring out how to give his team that crucial finishing touch in a fervent San Mames, he looked across the bench, and couldn’t help noticing the manner in which Gabriel Martinelli was leaning forward.

“In his eyes, I could see that he was ready,” Arteta said, before then gesturing to Leandro Trossard. “Leo as well.”

They were more than ready. They were raring to go. Within a mere 36 seconds of coming on, Trossard had hooked a ball over for Martinelli to score a sleek opening goal in this 2-0 win over Athletic. Just minutes before the end, then, Martinelli returned the favour for Trossard to seal the three points.

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Gabriel Martinelli scored less than a minute after coming off the bench (Getty Images)

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Leandro Trossard doubled Arsenal's lead (Getty Images)

Talk about inspired substitutions. Except, that’s not actually a phrase that Arteta likes to use. The Basque is part of “leadership” groups involving elite coaches from many different sports, where they share ideas, and one thought from rugby has struck. Just like Eddie Jones and Joe Schmidt, Arteta describes these players as “finishers”.

“I love it,” he said of the phrase, “because I don’t like other words to describe the players.”

It’s been a pointed message from him to the squad in the opening weeks of this campaign, “that the finishers are going to be more important this season than the starters”.

It might also be an especially important message, given that Arteta has the new challenge of managing a huge and expensive squad. There has already been talk on the training ground of players having to use other pitches they never expected to. That feeling of being sidelined is going to be multiplied for starting selections.

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Arsenal gritted out a tough victory in Bilbao (Getty Images)

“Every time you name the line-up, you are disappointing a lot of players,” Arteta said. “I know how much they want to play this competition and what it means to them.”

He could see it in Martinelli. Everyone else could see how much it meant to the squad for Martinelli to score such a goal, given the sense his career had stalled.

This may have been a significant moment. The Brazilian is not a forgotten man, but a reminder of his real qualities was needed.

Having once been one of the bright prospects for the club’s future - who Paris Saint-Germain were willing to pay a fortune for - Martinelli has fallen from Arsenal’s preferred line-up, while Arteta has signed a series of players who can play in his positions. The talk throughout the summer was that the team could do with someone on the left, and that they were open to selling the 24-year-old.

Martinelli instead stayed, and in Bilbao showed his true value. He got Arsenal’s Champions League campaign off to a quick start, that beautiful second touch so elegantly taking him through to then finish past Unai Simon. The entire team notably rallied around him.

“That's the spirit,” Arteta said. “That's why I really enjoy every single day working with them and being part of this team, because the way they look after each other is genuine, and they really want the best for each other. And they recognise someone that works every single day in a manner that Gabby does. And you can go through struggles or through moments, and recognising that and having that capacity to connect with him, I think it would mean a lot to him.

“I was sure that Gabby was going to react like that. You raise the level to Gabby and he was going to do that. He has such a mentality. He's a player that is constantly willing to learn and he broke himself.

"And that's the moment that hopefully is going to give him the confidence again to go, because he's an outstanding player.”

Here, those “finishers” gave Arsenal that crucial edge - the literal “finishes”.

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Mikel Arteta’s substitutions proved the difference (Getty Images)

Much has already been made of the team’s strength in depth, but this game displayed another dimension to it.

The team had already re-asserted their robustness before the substitutions. Athletic had really put it up to them in the opening 25 minutes, a drive that Arteta said he expected.

“So intense, a lot of direct play,” the manager said. “What an amazing place to play football, and one of the best atmospheres that I’ve played.”

That famous atmosphere was only amplified by the long anticipation and excitement from finally returning to the Champions League after an 11-year absence. Athletic fans showcased a banner before the game which said “unique in the world”, and that definitely felt like it described the scenes they were creating.

Arsenal nevertheless weathered that, to dig in and then start pushing out. They still had the best chances of the game even in the earlier stages, as Viktor Gyokeres twice went close with headers.

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Arsenal got their Champions League campaign off to winning ways (Getty Images)

It was an impressive display of control, that is going to pose a test to anyone Arsenal face this season. They absolutely won’t be bullied, and instead do a lot of pushing around themselves.

Many would rightly say that’s precisely what should happen when you meet a club of far inferior resources.

Arteta’s “finishers” weren’t just a showcase of his team’s new quality, after all, but also a crucial difference between Arsenal and Athletic as well as most of European football. They are far wealthier.

As Athletic manager Ernesto Valverde discussed how his team seemed to start losing duels late on, he simply said “they pay a lot of money to have physically stronger players with superior technique”. That’s saying something.

It was put to Valverde after the game that his squad had cost €60m and Arsenal’s close to a billion.

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There is a stark difference in wealth between the two clubs (Getty Images)

“Well then we should have lost 40-0,” he joked, before adding that the actual pitch is always the different.

Except, the pitch also showed the realities. In this case, Noni Madueke had exhausted the Athletic defence without end product, only for those same Basque players to then face Martinelli. If they couldn’t necessarily see the look in his eyes like Arteta did, that was only because he was too fast. He had all that energy.

It has repeatedly been written in these pages that all of this is a problem for European football, because around 12 clubs are so much wealthier than the rest. Valverde even used the term “super club”.

That is who Arsenal need to overcome, however. This first Champions League match might have been a sign that Arteta is figuring out the finishing touches.