A perfect weekend so far, apart from the Martinelli bit
This is shaping up to be a fun weekend, all things considered, eh?
We kicked off with a lovely, comfortable, impressive 3-0 win at home to Coventry on Friday, then yesterday were treated to Man United losing the early game of the day to Hull. Lovely stuff.
I hope this doesn’t come back to bite me on the arse, because hopefully we beat Hull home and away, but losing to them and having their fans do that embarrassing ‘mauling’ gesture has to be the footballing equivalent of having your nose rubbed right in it. What the hell, man, that’s just cringe on levels that I didn’t think of before. And seeing Man United fans having to endure it is absolutely amazing.
On the pre-match preview of the season pod we did on Thursday, Cookie talked about United coming second. Yesterday the guys did a post-match pod to discuss the Arsenal win, but if they’d have waited a few hours longer and not podded in the morning, they could have had double-bubble fun, both celebrating our win, as well as laughing at both United and The Scum. You can check out the pod here though if you’re looking for something Arsenal-related to consume.
Our attention now turns to seeing what’s going to shake out in terms of transfers this week, and you’d have to think that there will be a Martinelli exit and a left-wing incoming. I have to say I agree with what Wrighty was saying on Friday night about the respect needed to be shown to Martinelli. Here we have a Brazilian international, somebody who scored a winning goal to put them through to the next round of the competition in the World Cup, who has bagged important goals for us and been a brilliant servant for many years. Yet he’s not even making matchday squads. Hey, we didn’t need it on Friday night against Coventry, but you can’t convince me that we won’t need him this season if we’re not signing a replacement. And if that happens, I’m fine with it; Martinelli is a good player. Yeah, he’s had a bad season from an output perspective last season, but he’s also had good seasons too. We know the type of player he is, we know his limitations, but we also know that there isn’t exactly a wealth of options out there at left wing. Julian Alvarez has played as a left winger six times in his whole career, so he isn’t that guy. Plus, I don’t want a guy who is only interested in Barca; stick around at Atleti, mate, if that’s what you think about The Arsenal. We’re nobody’s second choice these days; we’re champions of England and Champions League finalists. We need players who see Arsenal as a dream move.
So for me, like I already said last week, I’d be more than happy to keep Martinelli and have him and Tzolis – who everyone is rightly raving about – share the minutes on that left-hand side. But to basically ostracise him from the group is a strange one, because Arteta has always loved to use Gabby, he’s always been appreciative of his work rate, so I would have thought he’d be happy to have him in matchday squads as an option.
Perhaps it’s a diktat from Berta and the club? I know Arteta is the main man, that whatever he decides, he can have, but if Berta has told him he’s going out and getting him a left winger, but we can’t risk a possible injury to Gabby Martinelli, so to just leave him out of the Community Shield or the first league game of the season, maybe Arteta is complying on a short-term basis. Because if we can’t get a player in, I find it hard to believe the club won’t integrate Martinelli back into the team when the window closes. You’d have to, because the other options away from Tzolis are all square pegs in round holes. He’s been reluctant to use eze there, Madueke has failed to impress and it’s not his favoured side, Ethan seems to be no longer seen as a wide forward, and Max is probably too young to be fast-tracked into a position he hasn’t played there yet as, either.
One way or another, at least we’re coming to the end of the window this week, the end of the nonsense, so we can focus on the proper stuff that happens on the pitch. Maybe we get some noises todday about some movements, but I’m happy enoough to see us easy winners, see those Spurs and United fans unhappy, and we can all just drink it in knowing that we’re looking like we’re in good shape.
Right, I’m going to call time on today, I have to get out into the Portuguese sun and enjoy some R&R. catch you all later.
