MARTINELLI MISSES ONE MONTH

ARSENAL'S SEASON CONTINUES TO DERAIL

Gonna hit you with a little Friday blitz of mini-opinions based on a few things going on in the culture.

First up.

Newcastle popping off

You remember being at school and the big kid, who was a bit of a bully and a little dim, didn't really understand banter but you all had to laugh just in case they dropped a wedgie on you? Kind of feel like that's Newcastle. Anthony Gordon dropping the 'stay humble' line is only funny to dim people who don't understand the mechanics that make banter funny.

Overall, their whole schtick after the game where their main handle trapped off about the ball was... absolutely fine. You live by the sword of banter, you have to take it when you are soundly beaten in a League Cup semi-final. I'm cool with Arsenal fans being victims OF THE GREAT PGMOL CONSPIRACY, but let's not be whingers about tweets we don't like.

Ayto Appreciation PR

Sami Mokbel seems to be the chosen ear at the moment when it comes to Arsenal and the output of his data dump was:

Arsenal appreciated the discipline of the interim Sporting Director

They tried to bring in a host of players

They're going to go big in the summer

People took offense because they had gassed themselves into believing that the 'audition' for Ayto was premised on him spending as much money as possible to appease fans who thought Joshua Zirkzee was a missed opportunity last summer.

I put this on Twitter yesterday, but here's my thinking on this.

KSE has dropped £700m in 5 years, a huge amount that is often used to criticise Arsenal's lack of trophies. Saving cash isn't the MO of KSE or the premise of the Ayto praise. Being strategic, pragmatic, and unemotional about the reality of the market is probably what has caught the eye.

You should never spend money to placate. Family-owned businesses want you to invest like it's your own money. Behaving like a fan and signing substandard players delays success and costs more money in the long run. Fans also don't forgive.

The same folk banging the table for Zirkzee and Adingra are the same ones calling the Sporting Directors frauds when the players they screamed for absolutely tank. Arsenal want game changers like Zubimendi, Williams, Semenyo and Isak - the market didn't have those types of players, it will in the summer, and the club will get their targets.

No one at Arsenal is giving up on the season. They just assessed the window didn't have what they needed and they all agreed (Arteta included) to delay spending. Just the idea that Ayto had an audition to spend money to prove himself is so counter to how a serious business judges success of its operators. It takes three parties to make a move happen. You can't force clubs to sell. We'll be a better club for waiting.

Increasingly, I'm seeing longread Twitter posts from people criticising good business practice as a massive negative. People have been asking me if it's true that Arsenal have strict valuation metrics in place: Yes. All clubs do. It's how you avoid getting shafted. It keeps hot heads cool when opportunities arise to spend £60m on 29-year-olds.

A lot of this chatter has shifted towards 'Arsenal are risk averse' which again, is a little bit of a misread. They are very specific about what they want. Not many players are at the level of the players they want and not many strikers can develop to the level they want. The club is risk averse towards average player profiles. James Maddison is a prime example of a player that looks good to you or me, but Arsenal clearly saw something in him they didn't like, and opted for Odegaard. When he moved to Spurs, there was a chorus of fans who said they'd nailed that signing... now look at him.

MLS attacks reek of...

Young black player having a bit of banter against a player who said 'who the fuck are you' a few months ago and the entire media ecosystem has decided to police him? You have got to be kidding me. The criticism has been so pronounced, even fans of other clubs are stepping in to try and understand what the common thematics are here. It doesn't look good, does it?

You want big characters in the game. I'm not a fan of Haaland, but he brings spice to games. I like that. Big Gabby getting in his face was beautiful and everyone at Sky thought it was really funny when we drew and Haaland pinged the ball at Gabi's head.

Now we have to spend a whole week policing an 18-year-old... instead of talking about the monstrous result? Talksport allowed their presenter to suggest someone might do a Roy Keane > Haaland on MLS to teach him a lesson... I appreciate we're in a post-woke world these days, but really? I mean, I guess if Jermaine Jenas, the worst pundit in sport, can get a job back in sport after disgracing himself, anything is possible.

I have been told that other clubs in the Premier League have called in the big media orgs to complain about treatment and they have gotten their way. What are Arsenal doing to swing back? We're not Burnley. We have one of the biggest fan bases on the planet and we are, to put it lightly, being absolutely mugged off every week by pundits who are acting worse than fan media channels in a desperate bid for clicks. When are Arsenal going to start throwing their weight around? When do you assess that the classy act we like to pride ourselves on is not helping in a world of litigation and bringing lawyers to your club meetings?

Spurs: Rubbish

Ange always wins in his second season, I just didn't realize in 2025 it'd be the hearts and minds of Arsenal fans. What a splendid direction he's taken Tottenham in. The only shame of this whole debacle is their next manager will likely be Iraola and he's a bit of a big deal.

Big Saliba in White?

It's a problematic headline, however you look at it, but I'm talking specifically about Real Madrid here. There's chatter in the Spanish papers that they want him in one of their shirts very soon. It's not surprising, the Frenchman has always had the look of a man well suited to the most decorated club on the planet. That said, Saliba is a king in North London, and he's playing in a young competitive team he seems to really enjoy. Players tend not to leave when they are well remunerated and competing. The most Madrid player that doesn't play for them is Virgil Van Dijk... but he's always stayed in Merseyside because they pay him well and he's treated like a king. There is nothing inevitable about Saliba moving or agitating for a move... for now.

Isak To Arsenal

There's a lot of chatter about Isak being our number one target. Never say never in football. But the truth of the matter here is Arsenal are probably not going to drop £150m on Isak even if he is allowed to leave Newcastle this summer. What's £150m to MBS, who is worth £500b? Also worth remembering... Newcastle don't like Arsenal because Arsenal were one of the teams that kicked off about a nation buying a football club.

I suspect Arsenal will look for a high potential individual they can turn into the next Haaland or Isak and that player is likely going to be Benjamin Sesko. Still, no shame in dreaming.

Martinelli out for ONE MONTH

'Tis the way of the transfer window. For every mistake made, it will always be doubly compounded by the footballing gods. Gabi M, injured as the window shut, is going to be out of the mixer for a month. That’s a lot of consequential games.

• Leicester (A)

• West Ham (H)

• Nottm Forest (A)

• UCL First Leg

• Man United (A)

• UCL Second Leg

• Chelsea (H)

That means it’s all on Ethan, and it now leaves us very exposed on the left as well. It's just not going to be our season this time, is it?

You can't escape the question: Why didn't Mikel rotate Gabi when Ethan was in such fine form?

Ok, that's all I have for you today, we're going to record a FriYAY special a little later, so sub up below if you want to listen.

SUB UP SPECIAL OFFER