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It’s the countdown to the start of the season now, and I don’t know about you, but I’m really feeling it. The anxiety of getting over the line from last season is gone. We’re champions. We’re the ones with the gold badge on the arm. We’re the club that everyone is looking at and aiming to beat. And until that Community Shield game last week, we’re the ones who have had a few rival fans trying to banter us when they looked at some of our pre-season results. But that game at the weekend will have been watched by a lot more people than our friendlies. We watch all of those; rival fans just see goals on Sky Sports, but what we saw on Sunday was a televised game in which the world was taking note. It’s a glorified friendly, of course it is, but it’s also the first time our whole squad was available. The absence from the matchday squad of Nwaneri and Martinelli was a worry, I will admit, but with only 18 players allowed in the matchday squad, and with Arsenal having a deep squad now that Arteta would call on around 22 players, this was always going to happen. What I don’t want to happen is for that to be a signal that we’re going to lose those two guys. I’m even at the point where I’d say that unless somebody amazing shakes loose in that left wing position, we should ‘stick’ rather than ‘twist’ with a big money gamble. Barcola looks destined for Liverpool, Kvaratskhelia isn’t leaving PSG, Vini Jr signed his new deal, and if you pay attention to websites like this one, or TransferMarkt, the options are hardly mouthwatering. It’s Doku, it’s Gakpo, Yildiz, Raphinha, or Luis Diaz. The latter two are 29, will cost a pretty penny, and I don’t think either of their clubs would want to sell anyway. So Yildiz seems the only one worth having a look at. And he’ll by no means be a sure-fire success transitioning from Italy to the Premier League. That’s why I’m kind of thinking we have a go at Martinelli and Tzolis fighting it out for that position. I also watched this video by James Allcott, and I gotta say, I’m liking the idea of Bruno G being able to unlock more from our attacking players with his progressive passing. I said it on the Arsenal Opinion Podcast with Johnny several weeks back, that I thought Bruno might be a more transformational signing than if we were to get Vini Jr, and whilst I was given a bit of gentle ribbing online for that ‘hot take’, I did believe it then, and I still believe it now. And this ain’t no jilted lover “didn’t want you anyway, Vini Jr” stuff either – I do believe that more incisive and progressive passing from deeper in midfield could release some of our attacking players more. Which brings me back to Gabriel Martinelli. Think about where his best moments have come from – running in behind. Martinelli even said himself back in December that in the Champions League teams don’t play as deep as in the Premier League, which is why he finds more space to run in behind. Now, that isn’t suddenly going to change this season domestically, but I do think that we have wasted opportunities to play in players when teams have ventured into our half. We need quick back-to-front situations, and last season I think we dwelt too long on the ball when there were opportunities to play in rapid players. Much like with Martinelli, I think the two players who would be excited to have Bruno G pick up the ball deep and distribute are the Brazilian wide forward and Big Vik. If he’s being played in by Bruno more often – which won’t always come off – then he’s going to get more of the chances that we just didn’t see from the Swede last season. Martinelli will also make those runs in behind, from out to in, and if Bruno is looking for him (he found him for his goal in the World Cup, by the way), then I think we should see if we can have a go at giving Martinelli a chance. There will be plenty of you reading this who will roll your eyes. I get it, he’s had several seasons to prove he has the ability of that 2022/23 season and just hasn’t shown it, but watching that Community Shield (for which Myles was also very progressive in his passing too, by the way) and seeing how freely some of those players were moving the ball, it’s got me thinking twice about some players. And it’s exciting. What do you think? Give Martinelli another go if nothing really spectacular doesn’t work out? Or do we just need to cut our losses, move him on, and try something….anything…different? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.