In the 84th minute of Sunday's win over Newcastle, Unai Emery made a substitution. The fact that he made a change at that point of the game isn't particularly interesting. It's the stage of a match when replacements are made with frequency by most managers, but the nature of this one caught the eye. The Spaniard brought on 18 year old Gabriel Martinelli in place of Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The Armenian hadn't had his best game, it would be fair to say, but with his team 1-0 up away from home, in driving rain and difficult conditions, the type of player he chose to bring on was quite telling. In these circumstances a manager will often err on the side of caution a bit, maybe look to shore things...
Full Story »