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Succata Episode

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2 Powder

1:23

Daniel Farka! FARKA!

1:26

This is Arscast Extra. Hello

1:28

and welcome to another Arscast

1:30

Extra as always. James from

1:32

Gunna Blog James, goodly fucking

1:34

morning to you. Yes,

1:36

goodly morning mate. And happy

1:39

St. Totteringham's Day. See, I don't care

1:41

about that. Don't care about

1:43

it. We've got bigger fish to fry,

1:45

yeah. Yeah, it was quite funny yesterday when I

1:48

saw people saying, oh, it's St. Totteringham's Day. I was like, yeah,

1:51

who cares? We've got more

1:53

important things to play for than just, like, St.

1:55

Totteringham's Day. Maybe

1:57

that's me. I hear you, bud. My standards are high. Hi,

2:00

you know, in it's absence,

2:02

I felt it's absence quite

2:04

keenly. That was that horrible

2:06

little period that I refuse

2:08

to reflect upon. Okay. But

2:12

yeah, I find it always,

2:15

always a delight and particularly to secure

2:17

it at their ground as

2:19

well. Yes. But

2:21

you're right, we do have bigger fish to fry. But

2:23

I did find this very funny. The

2:26

Arsenal Brisbane Group on

2:29

Facebook put together a St.

2:31

Tottie Ringham's Day prayer. Would

2:33

you mind briefly? Please,

2:36

let everybody please

2:39

kneel for the prayer. Thank you very much.

2:41

Father James, our

2:44

neighbours who art in shadow, fellow

2:47

be thy game, thy

2:49

fandom scum, thy tires plums.

2:52

In truth, none would make our 11. Give

2:56

us this day our Champions League and

2:58

forgive us for taking the piss as

3:01

we laugh at those who finish behind us and

3:04

lead us not into N17, but

3:06

deliver us from levy. For

3:08

Arsenal is the kingdom, the

3:11

power and the gap. Forever

3:13

and ever, Arsenal. Very

3:17

good. I

3:20

don't know if they all said that originally,

3:22

but it really made me laugh. So happy

3:24

St. Tottie Ringham's Day. Well, happy St. Tottie

3:26

Ringham's Day. Yes, I shouldn't be so dismissive.

3:28

You know, I'm tied

3:31

up in this title race, this whole potential

3:34

of being champions or whatever. But

3:36

I did think it was quite interesting that this

3:39

was a big thing to celebrate in the not too

3:41

distant past. And the fact that we are where we

3:43

are and this season is going the way that it's

3:45

going, it became something of an afterthought. And I

3:48

think does anything quite sum up

3:51

what St. Tottie Ringham's Day should be

3:53

about, then simply an afterthought. Not

3:56

quite. I mean, it tells you where we are. And

3:59

I think... Am I right in

4:01

saying, was it yesterday we secured campusly

4:03

qualification? Yeah. Barely

4:06

a blink of an eye. You know,

4:08

we didn't register, did it? Because

4:10

our sites are set higher. But I think

4:12

it's good to maintain that sense of perspective

4:14

as well and be like, you know, there

4:16

was a long period of time where we

4:18

couldn't take something like that for granted. The

4:20

fact we now can tells you

4:22

a lot about the progress that we've made. For sure. And look,

4:25

it wasn't too long ago. What was it a couple of years

4:27

ago when, you know, things went

4:29

wrong towards the end of that season,

4:31

lost at Spurs, lost at Newcastle and,

4:34

you know, serious pundits who are paid

4:36

lots and lots of money for their

4:38

opinions on the biggest broadcasters in the

4:40

game were saying, well, that's it for Arsenal.

4:42

This is their chance. They've had it. Tough

4:45

luck. Off you go. Back into wherever it is

4:47

we think you're going to go to. And

4:50

they could not have been more wrong about that.

4:52

And they could not have been more wrong about

4:55

what what was going on

4:57

at Arsenal, which is why we are where we are.

4:59

And we can qualify for the Champions

5:01

League. We can make St. Tutteringham's

5:04

Day happen at their ground. And

5:06

everyone's like, great, but let's fucking

5:08

let's go for the real prize here. And

5:10

I think there's a lot to a lot

5:13

to take from that. And going back

5:15

to the prayer from Arsenal, Brisbane and,

5:18

you know, what they referenced in there, despite

5:21

the fact that this game made

5:24

my palms sweat for

5:26

the last 10 minutes, 15 minutes or whatever it

5:28

was, I literally had to

5:31

go to the kitchen and wash my hands when

5:33

I was finished doing the live blog because I

5:35

was sweating. There is a lot to enjoy and

5:37

there's a lot of funny stuff in this game.

5:40

And I think we should do

5:42

our utmost to to

5:44

relive that with our listeners because, you know,

5:47

the what you

5:50

have to do at this point of the season

5:52

is win games and are so one night game

5:54

was it as convincing as we thought it might

5:56

be at one stage? No, but

5:58

ultimately, we. gone away to

6:01

Tottenham for the second successive season and

6:03

taken three points in a

6:06

way which has driven them mad only yesterday

6:09

one of their fans didn't go so crazy

6:11

that they kicked our goalkeeper. Yeah,

6:15

absolutely. But I think if you

6:17

watch the fallout on social media

6:19

their fans have still gone

6:22

pretty crazy. So a lot to enjoy

6:24

like you say. I think the North

6:26

London Derby is a very quite a

6:28

funny game like a lot of mad

6:31

stuff happens in it. Yeah. And this

6:33

definitely I think can be you know,

6:35

another entry in that history because it

6:38

was a very odd 90 minutes,

6:41

but one that turned out all right for

6:43

Arsenal. So it's fine. Yeah, I think that's

6:45

true of quite a lot of

6:47

Derby games that there is this weird

6:50

dynamic that it's it's almost

6:52

inexplicable as to why so many

6:55

crazy things happen in these fixtures and

6:58

it's happened down the years, you

7:00

know with Arsenal Tottenham and made reference

7:02

to this in our preview podcast on

7:04

Patreon where you know,

7:06

even when we had the invincibles and man

7:09

for man, they were just

7:11

so superior to what Tottenham had at that

7:13

time. It was always difficult to

7:15

go there. There were always these crazy

7:17

games. Remember that was it a five

7:19

four or five three game?

7:23

Yeah, Perez and Yumberg and Faber-Gaz you know,

7:25

you have five four and it was like,

7:28

how is this happening? How can this

7:30

happen with these players and those players? But that

7:32

is just part of the the

7:34

dynamic of these Derby games. So we'll get

7:36

into it and discuss, you know how it

7:39

went and what happened and the things that

7:41

we enjoyed and the things we didn't quite

7:43

enjoy as much I guess, or

7:46

let's remember with an undercurrent of

7:49

laughing at Tottenham because we beat them. So

7:52

that is that is the thing

7:54

that will run through this entire podcast. Well, I've

7:56

got to say the first

7:58

half, which we'll get

8:00

into shortly, was one of the funniest 45 minutes

8:03

of football that I've ever seen. I

8:07

mean, my main

8:09

takeaway from the Chelsea game in

8:11

midweek, which I watched in Spain,

8:15

with my Chelsea sporting brother, which was

8:17

a particular delight, was

8:21

that it was just a very, very

8:23

funny occasion, and I

8:25

think that that carried through into what happened at YRL.

8:28

Yeah. Starting, by the way, with

8:31

the trumpeters atop the

8:33

toilet bowl. Yeah,

8:35

that was hilarious. I

8:38

was like, is this something they do all the time? Because

8:41

I don't watch Tottenham games, but it feels

8:43

to me, this was

8:45

a special occasion for them, so they brought in a

8:47

couple of guys with trumpets. Trumping

8:50

into the toilet from... Trumpeting?

8:55

From its lid? From the cistern, and

8:57

they were standing on the cistern looking

8:59

into the toilet bowl, trumpeting away. I

9:02

mean, where do you go after that? What happens at the end

9:04

of that game? Do you just

9:06

sort of trudge disconsolately home with your, oh,

9:09

I better take my trumpet and go home now. That didn't

9:11

go as well as we would have liked. Do they have

9:13

to stay up there the whole game? Presumably they

9:15

couldn't get down. They would stood

9:17

up there next to the bird,

9:19

the weather vane, or the toilet duck,

9:23

as I think we should rename it. Toilet

9:25

duck? Yeah,

9:28

that was weird, wasn't it? Because

9:31

when that was happening, I was like, this is fucking strange, because

9:34

they were doing their when the Spurs go marching in thing.

9:39

Yeah. I

9:41

mean, it wasn't very inspiring to

9:43

hear a couple of really treble-y trumpets

9:45

from fucking 200 feet in the air.

9:49

Evidently, so it didn't help them. I

9:52

mean, other clubs, they do like fire, Arcels

9:54

do a bit of fire, you know, I

9:57

got people going with fire, telling them I've gotten fucking... two

10:00

lads with rusty trombones up the top of

10:02

the fucking stadium. So

10:06

that was very funny and the teams

10:08

lined up below, any big

10:11

thoughts about the starting 11? Not

10:14

really, I was sort

10:16

of expecting Giorgino to play rather than

10:18

Thomas Partey but beyond that there wasn't

10:21

anything particularly surprising. I thought

10:23

there might have been a decision to

10:25

make it left wing but Trussard's form

10:27

has been such that he's obviously played

10:29

himself into the team and I think Martinelli's

10:31

form also has been such that even

10:34

if you could make a case for him using the

10:37

space that Tottenham might have left

10:39

behind, I didn't really have any issue with

10:41

the lineup at all, did you? No,

10:44

the Partey Giorgino one was the big

10:46

decision for me and I

10:49

was a little bit surprised it went the way

10:51

it did. I thought Partey was

10:53

very good against Chelsea

10:55

but I just thought this, like

10:57

you, I thought this might have been a Giorgino game and

11:00

I have to be honest and say there were times particularly

11:02

in the first half when I sort of wished

11:05

that it was because what

11:08

was so funny to me anyway about that first

11:10

45 minutes is that while

11:13

we found ourselves three goals up,

11:15

I'm not sure we played especially

11:18

well and there were still some uncharacteristically

11:23

sloppy moments in possession. Yeah, I

11:25

think so particularly in that first

11:27

30 minutes, you know, I

11:29

think we talk about Partey and in general

11:31

I think he was very good on the

11:33

ball but about four or five minutes in

11:35

he gets caught on the ball in midfield,

11:37

they just nicked it off him from behind.

11:39

I think we

11:41

gave it away a few times, they had

11:44

most of the possession, you know,

11:46

there were moments in our box where I thought okay

11:48

could we get rid of it? I

11:51

think Trossard lost it in the box at one point as

11:53

well but then

11:57

even despite that you could see that there was

11:59

danger coming from Arsenal. It was a great pass

12:01

from from Part A to Havarts, he put it in

12:03

the net but he was offside and

12:06

a minute later we're ahead with a

12:08

goal from a corner which

12:10

of course is very

12:13

welcome because set pieces have been so important

12:15

for us this season and we've gone through

12:17

a little bit of a fallow period with

12:19

them in the last little while. Yeah

12:22

I think even before that the way we

12:25

won the corner was kind of interesting. Arsenal

12:28

were doing something a

12:30

little bit different in terms of the way they set

12:32

up out of possession. They

12:34

had this very narrow diamond

12:36

almost in midfield and Sky at

12:38

one point zoomed right out

12:40

on the match coverage so you could see

12:42

it. It was like Havarts, No

12:45

Degas, as a front two and then a diamond

12:47

with Rice actually seemingly the most advanced

12:50

pressing high trying to nick the ball

12:52

off Hoya whoever it might be and

12:54

Saka and Trossard tucking right in Part

12:57

A at the base and

12:59

it gave you the impression that Arsenal felt like

13:01

they could catch Spurs you know they had enough

13:03

players who maybe weren't that secure

13:05

in possession that we could get after them and

13:08

I think we did you know

13:11

we targeted Davis who was tucking into midfield

13:14

and I think it was one of those turnovers essentially

13:16

led to that first corner. So yeah it was a

13:19

poor interesting from a tactical perspective. It was a poor

13:21

kick from the goalkeeper as a poor pass out to

13:23

Davis on the left hand side he just tried to

13:25

hook it up the line and we

13:28

wanted high up the pitch I think Odegaard fed

13:30

Rice Rice shot out for a corner and

13:34

well we have the the first set

13:37

piece we have the first mention

13:40

of your friend and mine and

13:42

everybody else's the golden thighs of

13:44

Ben White meddling with

13:47

the goalkeeper I have to say I

13:50

found this kind of astonishing because

13:55

you know anyone who has watched Arsenal we talk all

13:57

the time don't we about We

14:00

had a conversation a couple of weeks ago actually about why

14:02

have the set piece goals dried up?

14:04

Is it a case that the opposition

14:06

analysts are looking at Arsenal and they've

14:08

kind of figured out what we're doing? So

14:10

is it incumbent on us to come

14:12

up with some new routines? And

14:15

we talk all the time about how

14:17

nothing lasts really in the Premier League

14:19

like a tactical shift or

14:21

the way a team sets up can be

14:23

really effective for a period of time. But

14:26

then there are so many people analyzing games

14:28

and analyzing the strengths of the opposition. What

14:30

do they do here? When they're

14:32

positioned here, what way are they going to move? All

14:34

of that stuff like in minute detail.

14:39

And yet Tottenham have allowed Ben White,

14:42

who has like caused

14:45

mayhem and annoyed

14:47

goal keepers all season long. This

14:50

is what he does. He

14:52

just gets in there, fiddles with

14:55

the goal keepers glove as he did yesterday, which

14:57

was really, really funny. Riccardo is kind of swatting

14:59

away. Making sure his gloves are on properly.

15:01

Yeah exactly. He's a very conscientious young man,

15:03

Ben White. But a good Samaritan of

15:05

the Stitchyard box. But

15:08

you know, that

15:10

did play a small part in

15:12

maybe unsettling the goalkeeper and I'm

15:14

not sure about the defence. They

15:16

were all standing there. The Arsenal

15:18

players ran across the box. Tommy

15:20

Assou put some

15:22

pressure on Heubergh. Heubergh heads it into

15:24

his own net. It's 1-0 Arsenal. And

15:28

this continued and we will talk

15:30

about the third goal obviously. But

15:33

at no point in that first half did

15:35

any Tottenham player or anyone from the Tottenham

15:39

bench do

15:41

anything about what Ben White was doing from set

15:43

pieces. In the second half, they

15:46

obviously had a conversation at half time and said, well,

15:48

we've got to stop him doing this. But the fact

15:50

that they weren't even aware of it going

15:53

into the game is

15:55

kind of remarkable to me. Yeah.

15:58

I mean, Nicholas Yeovertz, we're going to be talking about

16:00

the game. received his flowers today from

16:03

the Arsenal fans and the wider media

16:05

and rightly so. But I think what's

16:07

the opposite of flowers? Some

16:09

shit in an envelope? Your weeds, I guess.

16:12

I think those things need to be

16:15

delivered to Spurs as well because I

16:17

think they're as bad at set pieces as we

16:19

are good. You know, this has been a big

16:21

theme for them across the season. And

16:25

as you say, the lack of preparation for what

16:27

Arsenal are going to do. Gary Neville said it

16:29

on commentary. It's kind of the same setup

16:32

from Arsenal as it's been all through

16:34

2024, you know, running the big train

16:36

from the back post, all those guys landing up and

16:38

making that late dash. They just seem

16:40

completely unprepared for it. And

16:43

I thought Ben White delivered a masterclass, I

16:45

have to say, in terms of

16:48

how he sort of

16:51

distracted the goalkeeper. And on this first

16:53

goal, for example, his movement is actually

16:55

really good. He's standing in an offside,

16:57

not offside when the corner is taken,

16:59

but he's standing right on the goal

17:02

line with the goalkeeper. What he

17:04

does so smartly is by the

17:06

time the near post flick on happens, he's

17:09

got himself back on side so that if he

17:11

if it then comes across goal, he's actually in

17:13

a position to put it into the net. It's

17:15

not like he's just stood there and messing about.

17:17

He's got a clear plan and

17:20

he executes it brilliantly. Yes. Can

17:23

I say this was the corner that Saka was

17:25

trying in the 93rd minute in Munich, right? Yeah,

17:27

maybe. Sometimes they

17:29

do the job for you. Maybe so.

17:32

I mean, there will be

17:34

focus and obviously so on Ben White's shit

17:36

hasery and the stuff he gets up to.

17:39

Can I just say as well, I think he put

17:42

in a really good defensive performance yesterday. Yeah,

17:44

he was fantastic in his primary role as

17:46

right back and then this stuff on top

17:48

of it. Plus the cogloo afterwards, he said,

17:51

I thought if fixing defensive set pieces was

17:53

the answer to us bridging the gap, I

17:55

put all my time and effort into that.

17:58

He said, which was rather dism his team

18:03

considered two goals from set

18:05

pieces and had they put a

18:07

bit more effort and a bit more preparation into

18:11

dealing with set pieces beforehand, they

18:13

might have had a different result in

18:15

this game. So I found

18:17

his post-game comments really weird as well.

18:20

Well you know what, Arsenal fans won't thank me

18:22

for this but I have to say, watching Spurs,

18:25

particularly in that first half, they

18:27

reminded me of us

18:30

a few years ago. You know, they play

18:33

some good stuff, they make

18:35

chances but they're let down

18:37

by a lack of

18:39

structure, defensive sloppiness,

18:42

individual errors and

18:44

I don't think they have a coach right

18:46

now who is particularly minded

18:48

to address that. So

18:52

long may it continue. Yeah, long may it

18:54

continue. So after that

18:56

goal Tottenham had some moments,

19:00

I think it's fair to say. There

19:03

was a Romero header which went just

19:05

wide although I think had

19:08

that gone in, it

19:10

would probably have been ruled out for what

19:12

looked like an obvious foul on

19:14

Martin Odegard. Romero pushes him in the face

19:17

in order to get to the ball and I'm

19:20

not sure that would have stood. Nevertheless, it was

19:22

a dangerous moment and Romero again got

19:25

above Thomas Partay to head against

19:27

the post from a corner.

19:29

Yeah, that was a good delivery, that one. Yeah.

19:31

We were caught under it a bit. This was

19:33

all in the space of five minutes and then

19:35

they had the ball in the net as well.

19:37

They did. It was offside as

19:39

it turns out but again, very

19:42

close. It's like half a step from Gabrielle,

19:44

could have been the

19:46

difference between that being 1-1 and subsequently

19:50

what happened in that first half where we got

19:52

ourselves into a commanding lead. So

19:54

there are fine margins in these games,

19:56

aren't there, where things go your way,

19:58

you do get the of the green

20:00

very slightly and I watched your video I thought

20:02

it was really interesting about you

20:05

know how outcome really has an

20:07

impact on what people think about

20:09

what they say about what's going

20:11

on on the pitch and and

20:13

ultimately the the

20:15

fine margins can dictate quite a lot in

20:17

how people how people

20:20

view the the result the performance the

20:22

capability of the team and all the rest. Yeah

20:25

I found it fascinating watching the TV coverage

20:27

and I know that TV coverage has a

20:29

sort of tendency to

20:31

narrativize and spin story

20:34

out of outcome but at half

20:36

time you know Arsenal were three

20:38

nil up and to my mind

20:40

were quite lucky to be in that

20:42

position and yet all

20:45

the punditry all the analysis was this

20:47

is Arsenal now look how mature they

20:50

are you know they they

20:52

know how to win when playing badly I'm

20:54

not saying there's no truth in this but

20:56

it was very kind of reductive and then

20:58

when a couple of goals would go in

21:00

the other end you know you start

21:02

hearing the same things of this

21:04

is the arsenal of last year

21:06

you know the familiar weaknesses coming

21:08

to the surface and

21:10

of course like neither is really true

21:12

what's really happening is there are these quite sort

21:14

of chaotic moments that as you say are being

21:16

defined by millimeters in either

21:19

direction and

21:21

these huge sweeping conclusions being drawn from

21:23

them sometimes in the space of the

21:25

same 90 minutes it

21:28

is quite absurd but I do think we

21:31

rode our luck a little bit in that first

21:33

off I mean you know that offside goal when

21:37

who was it when Coventry City had the ball

21:39

in the net against Man United in the final

21:41

bit of extra time I was saying well you

21:44

know is that the spirit of the law is

21:46

any real advantage game there that is actually what

21:48

I think so you know I do

21:51

see that you've got

21:53

to try kind of apply that across the board but under

21:56

the current rules with the lines that where they are he

21:58

is off have you seen what's Spurs fans

22:00

are complaining about this morning. They're unhappy

22:02

that I think

22:04

they feel that the shot deflects.

22:07

And when Tommy Assou plays

22:10

the ball, it should

22:12

reset the offside. But didn't

22:14

that rule change though? Am

22:16

I wrong in thinking that that rule

22:18

has been changed? I think so because

22:21

basically his playing of

22:23

the ball is not deemed, even though it's

22:25

a block is not sort of deemed a

22:27

deliberate action. Yeah. Didn't we have a similar

22:29

one? Yeah,

22:32

we definitely did because we had this debate ourselves. Could

22:34

have been an Eddie and Ketya goal or the ball

22:36

hit Eddie and Ketya and somebody went on and scored

22:38

and then it was ruled out because I can't

22:40

remember. And we're all sort of going, well, you

22:42

know, it was a deflection and it wasn't a

22:44

deliberate, I can't remember the exact circumstances, but I

22:46

remember something like this. Well, the

22:49

point being, whatever the

22:51

truth of the

22:53

situation, it was extremely funny.

22:56

I don't think we should lose sight of

22:58

this. You know, they got the

23:00

goal, they had the big celebrations, the

23:02

crowd were up and then

23:04

it was taken away from them. Beautiful. And

23:06

then two minutes later,

23:10

we went up the other end of the pitch and scored. Oh,

23:12

and that came moments after they felt

23:14

they should have had two penalties. Yeah.

23:16

Well, you know what they feel and

23:18

what's real are two very different things.

23:20

Neither of those are penalties in my

23:23

opinion. No. I

23:25

actually think I've seen a lot of people say the

23:27

Kuleszewski one maybe is more neutral.

23:30

I don't think so. I think there's an

23:32

angle which is kind of behind Kuleszewski and

23:35

Trossard, which makes it look like a trip.

23:37

But there's another angle where it looks like

23:39

he just kicks his own heel. Yeah, exactly.

23:41

And it may well be that there was

23:43

a slight touch from Trossard. I don't

23:45

know, but nothing was definitive. And even if it was,

23:47

I don't think he can give a penalty. I

23:50

don't think you should. I certainly don't think you can

23:52

overturn it on field decision. No. And also wasn't

23:54

it interesting that I wrote

23:57

about this during the week where

23:59

I was speculating that there

24:01

had been some new edict about

24:05

raising the threshold for physical contact in the box for

24:07

a penalty. And then they were talking about that as

24:09

if like we all knew that, as if there had

24:11

been some kind of announcement on

24:13

that. So we didn't get

24:15

the memo again. No, nobody did. And

24:18

then it's part of the commentary, which is

24:20

kind of how the

24:22

PGMOL tends to communicate

24:25

things rather than via, you know, an actual

24:27

communications. Remember at the start of the season

24:29

in the charity shield

24:32

or community shield, we

24:35

had the commentators telling us that these new

24:37

rules about kicking the ball away and delaying

24:39

a quick free kick, that's going to be

24:41

yellow card now. And everyone's like,

24:43

oh, well, yeah, that's something

24:45

new. Would have been nice. That's

24:47

soft launching there. Yeah, exactly. New ideas

24:49

via Gary Neville. Yeah, God almighty. Anyway.

24:52

Yeah, I mean, I didn't think either were a

24:54

pen. And then what

24:57

followed was obviously brilliant from an

24:59

Arsenal perspective shades of 2004 sweeping

25:02

counter-attack end to end. I

25:05

do have to take a little bit of time to

25:08

talk about what on earth Spurs were doing

25:10

in those moments, particularly Ben Davis, who I

25:14

mean, it was apocalyptically bad

25:16

defending. I think

25:18

it was. And I just want to before we

25:20

get on to that goal and the move, because I think there's

25:23

a lot to like about it. And it

25:25

would be remiss of us on a

25:27

day like today not

25:29

to call out James Madison for what was

25:31

an obvious dive that thankfully

25:33

the ref didn't buy for a single second.

25:37

And he is really just a terrible

25:39

cheating little prick. And I think it's important for

25:41

us to get that across. There was a moment

25:43

in the first half as well where I think

25:45

they had a corner and he went down clutching

25:48

his face in the box. He

25:50

was doing that grappling thing with Tommy Assu. The

25:52

shot of replay. The shot of

25:54

replay. There was nothing. Nothing at all. And

25:56

he's gone down holding his face, but somehow

25:59

cheeky mad. You

26:01

know, he's the fucking head boy at

26:03

the Madison family Sunday roasts. He decides

26:05

who gets the fucking Yorkshire Puddings, which

26:07

is about all he's good for, really.

26:11

Anyway, I just wanted to call out that dive because it was a

26:13

dive. Rice wins the

26:15

ball. He goes over theatrically and we

26:17

go up and score. So fuck yes, Madison. He looked like

26:19

he was hit by one of his own imaginary darts. Yes.

26:24

Yeah, so that was great. And

26:27

the goal itself, obviously it's well worked and it's a

26:29

brilliant pass and go. I do think

26:31

there was a moment where I thought he had gone,

26:33

you know, because he held the ball slightly longer than

26:37

I certainly on my sofa wanted.

26:41

But he did play the right pass

26:43

in the end and where the

26:45

Spurs defenders are all going and where they

26:47

think the Kiyosaka is at that particular moment

26:50

in time, I do not know. And

26:53

obviously it's a brilliant pass from a guy who

26:55

had a really good game. The

26:58

Saka is really composed,

27:00

but I don't even think it's Saka's best

27:02

turn inside. I'm not sure he gets

27:04

his feet quite right. And yet

27:07

he's still able to do the thing every

27:09

single person watching knows he's going to do.

27:12

Yes. I mean, I

27:15

think maybe the slight,

27:18

I don't want to say clumsiness, but the touch

27:20

inside the box is not as cleanest, right? No.

27:23

But that is completely offset by his first touch

27:26

from the Havert's pass. Which reminds

27:28

me, never see that video of

27:31

Ronaldinho where he's just sort of

27:33

booting the ball up in the air. It's like a

27:35

warm up and he's having a grind all the time,

27:37

just kind of wandering around the pitch and he boots

27:39

the ball about 3000 feet

27:41

in the air, takes a few

27:43

steps, waits for it to come down and just

27:45

sort of kills it dead on his foot. It

27:47

reminded me of that. It's so good, that first

27:49

touch. But then you're right,

27:51

you know, what Ben Davies does and what

27:54

Ben Davies should do are

27:56

two completely different things. It's

27:59

easy to say. show

28:01

him onto his right foot, but that's what you should do

28:03

there if you're a good

28:06

defender, is try and show Bekaiosaka

28:08

onto his right foot. He can still finish with his

28:11

right foot, but he

28:13

comes back inside, the touch is not brilliant, but still the

28:15

defending is not good enough and he rolls it home to

28:18

make it to an ill. I think it's a great goal.

28:21

That's a brilliant goal. And

28:24

as I say, coming off the back of

28:26

a period of Spurs pressure, so

28:28

it was just a

28:31

wonderful moment to see us go up the other end

28:33

and score and find ourselves 2-0

28:36

up. It was exactly what we needed

28:38

at that moment in the game. I

28:40

think we actually have to say, give

28:42

Arsenal a bit of credit here as well. Like I say, I

28:44

don't think this was a great performance,

28:47

particularly in that first 45 minutes.

28:49

I think we played better in the second

28:51

half and lost that 2-0.

28:54

But when

28:56

we countered on them, we did

28:58

so with real purpose and threat.

29:01

There was a moment early on

29:03

where Kai Havoc had the ball

29:05

in the net and was offside.

29:08

But when we went forward, we

29:11

carried real menace and

29:14

this was a brilliant execution of a counter.

29:16

And I think there was actually talk about

29:18

this on the TV about how Arsenal

29:21

were decisive going forward. And I think

29:23

that's right. We were quicker with our

29:25

passing, we were quicker with our movement.

29:27

We knew when those spaces opened up

29:29

how we were going to get into

29:31

them. And the talk

29:33

on TV was like, well, the moments where

29:35

Spurs turned over the ball and they didn't

29:37

go at Arsenal, they didn't attack Arsenal, which

29:40

is probably fair. But I also think

29:42

it's important to point out that the

29:45

defensive discipline and organisation in this Arsenal team,

29:48

despite the fact we can see a couple

29:50

of really scrappy goals in the second half

29:52

in general, is really, really impressive.

29:54

So by the time Spurs'

29:56

tiny little brain switched on to the

29:58

idea that they might have had an opportunity

30:00

to get at us, we had men behind the

30:02

ball or we were blocking those passing lanes. So

30:04

I think they didn't do quite as much as

30:07

they could have, but I think the Arsenal defenders

30:10

and the wide players in particular, Pukayo

30:12

Saka has a goal, he has an assist

30:15

as well. Does forcing

30:17

an own goal from a corner count as an

30:19

assist? I'm not 100% sure. I

30:21

feel like it should do. It should do. Look

30:25

at Pukayo Saka's defensive

30:29

contribution. Five tackles,

30:31

two interceptions, one clearance,

30:34

Kai Havart's four clearances. Declan

30:38

Rice with five tackles, Martin Odegar's

30:40

three tackles. The

30:43

players that we have in those forward

30:45

areas are so quick to get back

30:48

that it makes it so difficult for the opposition to try

30:50

and hurt you when you do lose the ball in the

30:53

slightly scrappy way that we lost it at

30:55

times in yesterday's game. Yeah, that's

30:57

true. We collapsed brilliantly into our defensive

30:59

shape. And

31:01

when Spurs were on the ball in their own half,

31:04

we set up brilliantly to press

31:06

them and counter them in half-spec. So

31:10

yeah, it was a good defensive

31:12

performance, one ultimately, and

31:14

we'll get onto it and let down by

31:16

just moments of sloppiness. But

31:19

before that, we had a third goal. This

31:22

is a very funny goal as well. Not

31:26

only was Ben White at it again with

31:28

nobody anywhere near him. I

31:31

mean, I don't know. What's the keeper doing there, by the

31:33

way? I mean, we can talk

31:35

about... He's a disaster on corners, this guy. It's

31:37

been happening all season long. White

31:40

gives him a little bump, doesn't he? Just the ball comes

31:42

in and it's very weak

31:45

goalkeeping, I have to say, on both

31:47

the corner goal. But why isn't

31:50

he? I don't know about what Tottenham's

31:52

manager and coaches didn't see and didn't

31:54

react to until

31:56

the second half, but why is Vaccario

31:59

having... been on the receiving end more

32:02

than once by that stage, how is he

32:04

not talking to one of his defenders to

32:06

tell them, you get between... I

32:10

mean it's dumb as fuck from the Tottenham defenders

32:12

by the way because at the very

32:14

low level I played in my life, if

32:17

the opposition player tried

32:20

to do that to our goalkeeper, one

32:23

of the defenders would stand between

32:25

that player and the goalkeeper to protect the goalkeeper

32:27

and allow him to move in a way that

32:29

you need your goalkeeper to move. You would do

32:31

it at Sunday league level, you know. It's

32:34

crazy to me that A, none

32:36

of the Tottenham defenders reacted and

32:38

B, the goalkeeper didn't tell them, hey fucking

32:40

one of you guys give me a hand

32:42

here. Right, so that's... Well

32:44

you know what, I think sometimes

32:46

you leave your keeper to it

32:49

because you know your

32:51

keeper has so many advantages over

32:53

the outfielder. You know, usually he's

32:55

taller, he's stronger,

32:57

he's able to come and use his hands

33:00

and the referee gives him the benefit of the doubt in

33:02

80% of situations like that.

33:05

Yeah, at least. So you know,

33:07

with a lot of keepers you'd say, alright

33:09

yeah, you've got a full back stood near you who's a bit

33:11

of a nuisance but that's your job

33:14

to win that battle and I just

33:17

don't think Vekario does that at all. It's

33:20

a really good delivery from Declan

33:22

Rice and

33:24

Kai Havarts heads it home. I have

33:26

to say he was so relaxed about his celebration that

33:28

I initially thought he'd been another own goal. Yeah,

33:32

I mean when you look at it though the movement

33:34

is brilliant because he runs off, I think it's Koulisewski,

33:37

he runs off Koulisewski who runs into a

33:39

crowd of his own players. I

33:41

mean Jesus, these Tottenham players are

33:43

dumb. And Havarts gets

33:45

around, gets up, nods at

33:47

home. Vekario's nowhere because he's been bumped

33:50

all over the place by Ben Wyatt, he doesn't

33:52

know what day of the week it is. And

33:54

it's a lovely goal, it's a lovely finish from

33:56

Havarts, lovely header, who

33:58

I thought actually yesterday. was

34:01

really really good. I think the

34:03

two players I would pick out

34:05

from an Arsenal perspective yesterday were

34:08

Pekai Osaka and Kai Havarts and

34:10

I thought Havarts all-round play, the

34:13

way he runs, the way he works

34:15

for the team, the outlet he gave

34:17

us, the way he won the aerial

34:19

duels, the way he held it up at

34:21

times and there was one time in

34:23

particular where we were

34:25

struggling to get it out and he held the

34:28

ball up and won us a free kick, just

34:30

eased the pressure. I thought it was just a

34:32

really really impressive centre forwards

34:35

display from Havarts, you

34:37

know on top of a goal and assist as well. Yeah

34:41

I thought he was our best player on

34:43

the day. The numbers in terms of his

34:45

attacking contribution continue to be really impressive. Is

34:47

it something like 9-11 or something crazy like

34:51

that? I don't know, he's on a brilliant run of form. A

34:54

run of form that you know if we went and spent big on a

34:57

striker in the summer as there's been some

34:59

discussion about if they produced anything like these

35:02

kinds of numbers you know I think

35:04

we'd be very content with that. The

35:09

other thing I would say about him is he's

35:11

played so many minutes and I think he's maybe

35:13

the only player in the squad who I don't

35:16

think has ever looked particularly tired. You

35:18

know his fitness levels must be

35:21

amazing because he just

35:23

keeps going and for a manager you

35:25

know that's such a gift. I suppose in some ways

35:27

you know that's the way in which he's

35:29

most reminiscent of Granite Shaka. I

35:31

know extensively he was brought to

35:33

replace him and but he's now

35:35

playing a very different position, a

35:37

very different role but they share

35:39

that capacity to seemingly always be

35:41

available and these huge reserves of

35:43

stamina that they you

35:46

know show off in 90 minutes. I mean

35:48

the ground he covers is quite amazing. And

35:51

I think that's probably part of what makes him

35:54

a favorite of Michael Arteris as well is that

35:57

that energy you know there isn't really a

35:59

dream drop in his

36:02

physical output. You can plow their

36:04

form and what they produce fluctuates

36:07

over the course of the season. But I do

36:09

think the one consistent

36:11

thing to Kai Havertz since

36:14

he arrived, and I think we'll all

36:16

acknowledge it took him a while to

36:18

settle in properly and show the

36:20

best form that

36:22

we've seen in the last little while. But

36:24

it was never a case that he didn't

36:27

shirk his job or his running or his

36:29

defensive duties. That

36:31

was there from the start. And

36:33

I think that's part of what makes Mikkel Arteta

36:35

so fond of him. Before we

36:37

move off this goal and on to the second half, we

36:40

do have to talk about what was very

36:42

funny about it was the three guys behind

36:44

Declan Rice as he's about to

36:46

take that corner. The

36:51

three unfortunate looking men behind

36:54

Declan Rice who,

36:56

as many point out, one of them looked

36:59

like Weird Al Yankovic. But

37:04

they're giving him dog's abuse as

37:06

he's taking that corner. And if you

37:08

watch again, what's hilarious about this is

37:10

not just the fact that

37:13

when Kai Havertz heads in, Declan

37:16

Rice turns around and gives them a bit back.

37:19

It's the fact that Weird Al just goes storming off

37:21

up the stairs. I don't know if he's going for

37:23

a piss or a shit or a pint or whatever,

37:25

but he just can't take it anymore. And

37:28

having made an absolute dickhead of himself on

37:30

live television and all around the

37:32

world, not just the millions of people

37:35

that were watching on Sky, that was

37:37

on the Premier League feed everywhere in

37:39

the world. You're jumping up

37:41

and down like a moron and Declan

37:43

Rice and Kai Havertz and Arsal just made

37:45

you look like a twat. So

37:48

great. And even the first goal,

37:50

there's a video I've seen

37:53

from the Spurs end. I mean, why anyone would

37:56

film this as a Spurs fan and then release

37:58

it into the world? do

38:00

not know but it's of them giving dogs

38:02

abuse to Bekai Saka singing you know you

38:04

let your country down just before

38:06

he takes that corner and Heuber heads

38:09

into his own net. Barely

38:12

enjoyed that and Saka even after his goal

38:14

gave it the old hands to the ears.

38:16

He did. You can find that video on

38:20

Arse blog today and the Arse blog post

38:22

it's from I think fun with flares on

38:24

twitter and like you I'm amazed that

38:27

a Tottenham fan would film that and

38:29

then upload it but I guess it's

38:31

sort of part of the world we live in

38:33

right now you know these fail

38:36

compilation videos or somebody's doing something in

38:38

their bedroom and they're the only

38:40

ones filming and something goes

38:43

terribly wrong like they I don't

38:45

know and then they still upload it to the internet

38:47

I don't know what's wrong with people. I know absolutely

38:50

mad but you know very very funny.

38:52

Very funny for us and

38:55

I enjoyed it a great deal. So second

38:57

half. Fair

39:00

to say I think that Arse could have been

39:03

further ahead. There

39:06

was a Tommy Asu diving header there was

39:08

a chance for Saka whether he would have

39:10

been offside or not. I'm not

39:12

sure it was a habit. Yeah some people

39:14

have said that was offside but

39:17

I've watched the replay and I'm not convinced it

39:19

was. If you look at kind of I mean

39:21

who knows with VAR and where those lines would

39:23

be drawn. I actually

39:25

felt that was quite a big moment

39:28

that because I think if

39:30

you score early in the second half I know

39:32

it sounds absurd when you're already 3-0 up but

39:35

at that point it's completely

39:37

over you know. Whereas I

39:39

think I suppose we've got to

39:41

give the keeper having

39:43

giving him his shit in an envelope give

39:46

him one flower that was a

39:49

decent save. But

39:52

yeah you know I suppose it just kept the

39:54

match alive but I will say that we started

39:56

the second half in general much better than we

39:59

did. the first

40:01

and you know Tommy Astley had that

40:03

chance didn't he from set piece and you know

40:05

I thought that by

40:08

funnily enough around kind of

40:12

the hour mark I was thinking are

40:14

we actually look very comfortable here and I was

40:16

even thinking we might score more

40:18

goals you know. Yeah me too. A

40:20

really historic victory. Me too I'm just

40:22

looking at the replay again of the

40:25

the SACA chance I I'm with you

40:27

I don't think he's gonna be don't

40:31

think he's gonna be offside there. No I know

40:33

that there's an angle from the side when he

40:35

looks offside but if you follow kind of the

40:37

grass the lines on the pitch I

40:39

think Havoc's is okay. Yeah there's a guy in

40:41

the middle is it Davies or I know it

40:43

could be Huyberg not a hundred percent

40:45

sure but looks like Huyberg could

40:48

be playing him onside. Yeah but I

40:50

won't claim to be able to second-guess

40:52

VAR so who knows

40:54

but it was it was a great chance

40:56

and I'm sorry to

40:58

say it brilliant save. Yes it was a great

41:00

save but it was sort of playing

41:03

out to you know what

41:05

looked like it was gonna be

41:07

a routine Arsenal win and then

41:11

there's a very big mistake

41:14

from David Ria which just sort of gave them

41:16

goal it gave them

41:18

hope I don't like that

41:21

I don't like giving them anything not even

41:23

the one flower no I wouldn't you

41:25

know even a dandelion I wouldn't give them a

41:27

dandelion as a flower but

41:31

yeah it's it's a big mistake

41:33

how do you how do you

41:35

view this Arteta said where

41:39

was it what

41:41

was he gonna say I didn't like

41:43

the principles reapplied at that moment and

41:46

after that a mistake can happen you misjudge

41:48

the situation you try to make the

41:50

pass and you don't and then you you have

41:53

doubts so I think there's

41:55

two things we need to to discuss

41:57

one is obviously the mistake from

42:00

Ria and the other is Ria's

42:02

response to the mistake. Yeah

42:05

because I think he responded

42:07

really really well. I think

42:10

because what happens is Romero who by

42:12

this point was in full Romero

42:14

mode you know I think moments

42:16

earlier he'd sort of plowed into Tomiasu

42:18

who didn't make much of a fuss

42:20

about it and I thought here

42:23

we go you know the

42:25

red card is probably imminent and

42:27

what happens in this instance is he just charges up

42:30

the field from

42:32

his own penalty area to basically play

42:35

an up front and I think maybe Arsenal

42:37

are guilty I don't know

42:39

if that's the word but maybe

42:42

looking to sort of bypass him you

42:44

know I think that Declan Rice for

42:46

example sees Romero run past

42:49

him and thinks well rather than

42:51

go with him I'm going to

42:53

wait in the gap that he's left and

42:56

if we if if David Ria can find

42:58

a pass beyond him or

43:00

over him as he tries that's

43:03

I think it's five or six Spurs players

43:05

out the game. Now

43:08

I don't know what Mikal Eterczyk exactly means when he says

43:10

he doesn't like the principles does

43:12

he think that was a sort

43:14

of an unnecessary unnecessarily ambitious

43:17

thing to do with 3-0 up does he

43:19

think that the players around Ria

43:22

hadn't given him enough easy

43:24

options? Yeah I

43:26

mean I'm looking at it again I've watched this quite

43:29

a few times I

43:31

think I don't think that pass

43:33

is on but just don't think

43:35

that pass is on it's a difficult pass with

43:37

your left foot as well and it's a great

43:39

passer but much more so with his right than

43:42

that. I had a little bit of a discussion

43:44

with somebody on the Arceus today about this as

43:46

well where perhaps when Arteta is talking about the

43:48

principles of it you know Thomas Partey

43:51

is looking and showing for the ball but he's asking

43:53

him to make a pass that

43:55

really isn't on and

43:57

I'm not blaming Partey it's 100 a

44:00

mistake from David Ria, but I do wonder

44:02

if in that situation, I know this is

44:05

a split-second thing, Partei needs to just sort

44:07

of say, look, put

44:09

it back upfield, Spurs have committed men forward. We

44:11

do have a player up there in Kai Havertz

44:14

who has won a lot of aerial duels, so

44:16

if you get it in his direction, it's quite

44:18

possible we could win the header, win the flick-on,

44:21

and get somebody behind who knows. I think

44:24

it's a bad mistake from Ria, obviously, but

44:26

I do think as well it's one of

44:29

those where, you know, if that situation develops

44:31

again in a game, and again,

44:34

I know they only have a split-second to make a decision

44:36

and think about what they're going to do, the thing

44:39

to do in that case is just put

44:41

your foot through the ball because it's

44:43

not the best pass back to him

44:45

from Saliba, it's not like

44:48

a bad pass, but it's not the best

44:50

pass, and I just think that cocktail of,

44:53

even if the ball does go to Partei, there

44:55

are quite, what, two or three Spurs players around

44:57

him as well, so I like

45:00

the way we play, generally speaking. I like

45:02

that we're capable of

45:04

playing around the press and

45:07

we want to keep the ball, but

45:09

there are moments in a game where

45:11

you're away from home, it's a North

45:13

London derby, just don't give them anything

45:15

stupid, don't give them any kind of

45:17

encouragement or hope, and unfortunately that's kind

45:19

of what we did in that moment.

45:22

I think it's a

45:24

really interesting kind of case

45:26

study about sort of the

45:28

duality of Partei because I

45:32

don't think Ria would give Giorgino

45:34

the ball in that position. I

45:36

100% agree and I don't

45:38

think Giorgino would be looking for the ball

45:41

in that situation either, so I think there

45:43

is something to that. But the brilliance of Partei,

45:45

when he's playing well and when things go right

45:48

for him, is that you can give him the

45:50

ball in that situation and he can wriggle out

45:52

of it. The other side of that coin, as

45:54

we saw I think in the first five minutes of the

45:56

game, is that sometimes he'll

45:58

try things that... He

46:00

gets caught on hmm and

46:04

and yeah, I just think

46:06

that sort of illustrates I think

46:08

that What he comes

46:10

with he gives you that? verticality

46:13

and that ability to kind of find

46:15

a way through the press and he's got

46:18

astonishing talent in that regard But

46:21

he does carry that that riskiness

46:23

with him. Mmm all that

46:25

said obviously it's on Raya, but

46:28

I do also maintain

46:30

that if you ask your keepers

46:33

to be as involved as he is

46:36

in our build-up then Two

46:39

or three times per season this

46:41

is going to happen Mmm,

46:44

and it happens to every team

46:46

who plays this way even the

46:48

very best in the world The

46:51

Edison's and the Allison's this

46:53

does happen to them So I'm

46:56

never ever gonna kill a keeper

46:58

for being caught out with

47:00

a misplaced pass when outfield players misplaced

47:02

passes You know, yeah I

47:06

have to say I really liked the

47:08

response from Raya because it could

47:10

be a case that you get jittery and you get

47:13

nervous and you You

47:15

second-guess yourself or you decide right? I'm

47:17

not gonna put myself in a position

47:19

where I'm gonna make a mistake again

47:21

I think his kicking changed a little

47:23

bit after that mistake. I think we

47:25

were more inclined to go long obviously

47:28

But where I thought he was really impressive was With

47:32

crosses his handling was solid.

47:34

It was decisive You

47:37

know, he came for things he got the things

47:39

like if he come for one of those and

47:41

missed one of those Like

47:43

the last 20 minutes would have been absolute chaos

47:45

because they'd had just been pumping balls at him

47:48

But he was really really impressive in that regard.

47:50

I Enjoyed the reaction

47:52

at the final whistle where he

47:54

and his teammates celebrated He

47:56

knew he kind of gotten away with one a little

47:58

bit I

48:02

like the fact that when a player makes a

48:04

mistake in this Arsenal team, we

48:07

no longer have this culture where

48:09

someone makes a mistake and

48:11

they don't own it and they point at

48:13

somebody else or they blame somebody else and

48:16

we don't need to go through that

48:19

in any great detail because you all understand what I'm

48:21

saying. We've seen it too many times where

48:23

these mistakes happen. Everyone trudges back, heads go

48:25

down and the guy who makes a mistake

48:27

is blaming the goalkeeper or blaming somebody else.

48:29

We don't have that anymore and I think

48:31

that's really important to

48:33

point out. The reaction at

48:36

the end was good. Ria's reaction to

48:38

the mistake was really good but

48:40

there's still a part of me that just slightly

48:43

begrudges him, the trauma he

48:45

put me through for the last few minutes of this

48:47

game. I hear that because without that moment. Yeah, without

48:49

that it's a routine of… I

48:52

think it's probably fine and

48:54

maybe there's even a fourth and a fifth

48:56

and… Yeah. You know,

48:59

I mentioned the sweeping counter-attack goal, reminding

49:01

me of 2004. In some

49:03

respects the game did. You know, that was the

49:05

game where Arsenal were playing there to win the

49:07

title, were in a commanding 2-0 position and Spurs

49:10

came back into it, got two goals of their own

49:13

and a keeper was kind

49:15

of at the heart of that in some respects in

49:17

Jens Lehmann. Fortunately, this time

49:19

we had the third goal which

49:21

gave us that added bit of protection because I just

49:23

think in a

49:26

derby, particularly this

49:28

derby which is always so

49:31

health to scout, you're

49:33

never 100% safe. No.

49:37

No, 100%. We're

49:39

not 100% safe. I agree because

49:41

like a thing can happen

49:43

in an instant where all

49:45

of a sudden the complexion changes and that's what

49:48

happened in the 84th

49:51

minute, 85th minute Declan Rice. This

49:53

was interesting again for Arteta for the penalty.

49:56

It was another principle inside the box that

49:58

you cannot do. which is

50:00

let the ball bounce. You can't

50:02

let the ball come down. I was going to say,

50:04

which is kick someone right in the balls. To

50:09

be fair, I think it was more underside of the thigh,

50:12

but you know. So he missed, so.

50:14

He missed. He missed all the balls.

50:16

He missed all three balls. Yeah,

50:19

no, you're right. You're right to make that point. I mean,

50:21

it was scrappy

50:23

stuff and unlike us. Yes, so they

50:25

have a penalty and it's 3-2. And

50:31

sun scores and there's still whatever,

50:33

5 minutes of normal time

50:35

and 6 minutes. I was looking for the

50:37

concourse of my flat at that point in

50:39

time. The corridor

50:41

rather than the concourse. Yeah, there would truly

50:43

have been a corridor of uncertainty, wouldn't it?

50:46

Because... A lot of people

50:48

messaged me actually saying like, I

50:50

now understand that feeling you've had of like,

50:52

I can barely watch this. I know of

50:55

quite a few people who had to leave

50:57

the room. Oh, yeah. I've

50:59

seen it on Twitter replies

51:01

and I've seen it in our Discord as well.

51:03

People who just went, no, I

51:05

can't do this. I'm going to go sit in the

51:08

garden. I'm going to go walk the dog. I'm going

51:10

to turn the TV off like there was one reply

51:12

I saw. Sorry, I can't remember who it was, but

51:14

someone... He saw how

51:16

much normal time

51:18

was remaining added on the extra time that

51:20

he thought was going to be like 12

51:22

minutes there, thereabouts. Set a timer, turned it

51:25

off and came back to find out what

51:27

had happened. Like, I have

51:29

to say, I've spoken to people who

51:32

were like, oh, I came very close to

51:34

turning this game off. And I

51:36

completely and utterly

51:38

understand that because those

51:41

last, whatever it

51:43

was, 10 minutes or so

51:45

after the second goal were

51:48

genuinely, genuinely horrible because

51:50

you could... Everyone

51:53

could envisage 100,000 ways

51:55

that Spurs might get that equalising goal.

51:57

And it was a question of holding

51:59

on... digging in, you know, for the most

52:01

part, I think we did well. They might have

52:04

had one shot, but when they have corners, when

52:06

they have a free kick deep in our half,

52:08

when they're sending their goalkeeper up for a corner

52:10

as well, you're like, Oh, no, please

52:13

just don't do this.

52:16

Even our tedda, even our tedda said he

52:19

was praying on the sideline. Well,

52:21

because I think we've

52:23

all enjoyed this immensely and it's

52:25

always great to win a Derby.

52:29

But we have to just take a

52:31

brief moment to acknowledge that had they

52:33

somehow come up with

52:35

a third goal, I

52:38

think it would have been the worst

52:40

thing ever. Yes. I

52:43

honestly cannot

52:45

think of a worse thing that could

52:47

have happened because not

52:50

only would it have been all the

52:52

narrative about bottling ear and,

52:54

you know, same as last season Liverpool

52:56

West Ham, but

52:58

Spurs would have been able

53:01

to claim that they derailed our

53:03

title challenge, justifiably claim they

53:05

derailed our title challenge. It

53:08

would have been Spurs. They would

53:10

have been happy. I

53:13

honestly like I know we've had some

53:15

traumas as Arsenal fans down the years,

53:18

Newcastle away and big defeats

53:20

at Liverpool and Chelsea and

53:23

United. I think

53:25

this would have been the worst thing

53:27

ever. I think it would really have

53:29

undermined what we've

53:32

done this season, which is a weird thing to

53:34

say because we've had this conversation about outcome

53:37

and how the narrative is shaped by results.

53:39

And but I think it would have it

53:42

would have just would have just because Arsenal

53:44

are three nil up coasting away from home

53:46

in the North London Derby and somehow they

53:48

contrive to, you know, throw

53:50

the game away and drop a couple

53:53

of points and basically hand the title

53:56

hook line and sinker to Manchester City. I mean,

53:58

it makes me feel sick. even hearing me say

54:00

that. I know, yeah, I know. I've

54:03

got like that feeling in my stomach again

54:05

that almost as if

54:07

I'm reliving those last ten minutes by talking

54:09

about them to you. So

54:11

it was hugely important, wasn't it, that

54:13

Arsenal were able to get this

54:15

over the line and you know, maybe

54:18

there is a difference between this

54:20

Arsenal and you know, Arsenals of

54:23

the not too distant past where

54:25

perhaps we wouldn't have been able

54:27

to. Because the frailty that

54:29

is inherent in the

54:32

team, which I think was

54:34

evident in certain performances and

54:36

certain results, you know,

54:39

we've, I'm not going to say

54:41

got rid of it completely but maybe

54:43

there is just enough inner strength there,

54:45

enough character, quality, resilience,

54:47

whatever you want to call it, to

54:51

see off you know, an energised

54:53

Tottenham team in the last ten minutes of this because

54:55

it was our own fault and we had to correct

54:57

that and we had to make sure that we got

54:59

this result in three points.

55:02

Yeah, and I suppose you would say in

55:04

fairness that if there was an Arsenal team

55:06

in recent years that you

55:08

would trust,

55:11

could see out those final few moments, it

55:13

would be this team but

55:17

yeah, it was still absolutely

55:19

terrifying. And

55:21

again, another sort of echo 2004 in

55:23

some respects, let's hope it's a positive

55:26

omen but I like the way that

55:28

despite the second half not really going

55:30

in their favour, the players still absolutely

55:33

claimed it and planted a sort

55:35

of metaphorical flag in

55:37

the ground at full time,

55:39

you know, celebrated properly. We've

55:43

talked about this before but I think there is often

55:47

a difference between how a game

55:51

feels when you're watching versus how a

55:53

game feels when you're playing. Yeah.

55:56

Like at the end of that game, the

55:58

only thing that the Arsenal players gave

56:00

a single shit about was the fact that they'd

56:02

won the game. And that's

56:04

all they cared about before. Sure. That's

56:07

all that mattered, weren't this occasion. Yeah.

56:10

Whereas we're sitting here going, well, they could have done that better, they could

56:12

have done this way, you shouldn't do that, you shouldn't do this. You

56:15

know, of course they're going to analyze the game and they're

56:17

going to learn from it and

56:19

everything else. But in that moment, you

56:22

know, we're sitting there absolutely relieved. I'm

56:24

sure there was a measure of relief

56:26

from them as well. But

56:28

ultimately it was about, well, we've gone to

56:30

White Hart Lane, we've won the Derby, we've

56:32

taken three points, we've put a little bit

56:34

of pressure temporarily on Manchester City and,

56:37

you know, we did what we needed to do.

56:39

All the discussions before this game would have been

56:41

about whatever happens, however it happens, take

56:44

three points and that's what

56:46

we did. So... And I

56:48

think we should contextualize that as well. I think, is

56:51

it just the second time? No, let

56:53

me get this right. We've won consecutive games

56:55

at White Hart Lane. Is

56:58

it for the first time in 35 years? Yeah, it

57:00

was George Graham was manager the last time we did

57:02

that. I mean, that shows you how difficult that is

57:04

to do. And also, let's look at the week we

57:06

had. Since going

57:08

out to the Champions League, the response has been

57:11

amazing and, you know, obviously the winning at Wolves

57:13

was great. But then to beat Chelsea

57:15

and Spurs, putting eight

57:18

goals past them, it's,

57:21

you know, you don't get many better weeks, is the last one. On

57:24

their own merits, those two games are really,

57:26

really impressive and it takes a lot

57:29

to do that. Like, I think

57:31

these two games were so pivotal to what

57:34

might still happen in this season. I

57:36

said this to you last week, I think if we win

57:38

these two games, you've got a great chance because we've

57:40

got other winnable fixtures and I do wonder if

57:43

there might be a slip along the way from

57:45

Manchester City. Maybe there won't be, but,

57:48

you know, you looked at these two fixtures

57:50

on paper and thought, that's

57:53

going to be tough. That is going to be

57:55

really tough for all the reasons

57:57

that we all understand about Darby

57:59

Gaines. and what's at stake and

58:01

you know. Spurs was the one for me

58:03

I have to say I take nothing for

58:06

granted in the remaining games because

58:08

we've you know seen how we

58:10

can drop points unexpectedly but Spurs

58:14

was the one that I always thought well

58:16

that's gonna be really different. Yeah it was our

58:18

most this was the most difficult fixture

58:21

for sure for sure.

58:24

So fantastic to

58:26

have come through it and after losing

58:28

to Villa you know I think we both kind of

58:30

felt wow to give ourselves a shot we probably have

58:32

to win all our games. We

58:35

are doing that currently so

58:38

and look at what's happened

58:40

to Liverpool sustaining this kind of form

58:42

at this stage of the season

58:44

it's not straightforward. No a

58:46

big big win big win and I

58:49

think one that the team will will

58:51

take a lot from and they've got a week

58:53

off now more or less to sort of rest

58:55

and recuperate and to you know

58:58

get some freshness back in

59:00

the legs ahead of a an early

59:03

kickoff against Bournemouth on Saturday. So all in all

59:05

I think you'd have to say it was

59:07

a great day it's a great day. It

59:10

was very much a great day. Okay let's take

59:12

a little break here we'll come back with your

59:14

questions and more in part two right after this.

59:53

And look at she stares almost straight back

59:55

at her eyes glaze over like

59:57

she's looking straight through me. what

1:00:00

seems an eternity when they open

1:00:02

up she's looking down at her feet. S'il

1:00:05

vie a hame. Oh

1:00:07

no it's hard to just put her

1:00:09

mind in this room. S'il vie a

1:00:11

hame. S'il

1:00:15

vie a hame. S'il

1:00:17

vie a hame. Oh

1:00:19

no you want to make the

1:00:21

scene a little bit different. S'il

1:00:23

vie a hame. S'il

1:00:26

vie a hame. S'il

1:00:30

vie a hame. S'il

1:01:00

vie a hame. It's

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a brand new year and what better time to get

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going with that online store you've been

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in. shopify.com/Arseblog. Welcome

1:02:49

back to the Arsecast Extra. This is part two of

1:02:51

the show where we answer the questions that you send

1:02:54

to us on Twitter at Gunnerblog and at Arseblog. Also

1:02:57

on the Arseblog Discord chat server, which you get access

1:02:59

to if you are an Arseblog member. On

1:03:02

Patreon, just a quick

1:03:04

shout out to our friends at

1:03:06

the Arse Division podcast. We've been supporting

1:03:08

their fundraiser, helping to raise funds for the

1:03:11

Arsenal Foundation in the month of April. The

1:03:14

grand total raised this time around was £313,331,

1:03:16

which is absolutely amazing. So

1:03:23

thank you so much to everybody who

1:03:25

contributed to that fundraiser. It's

1:03:28

just incredible the kindness

1:03:30

and generosity of the Arsenal community, James.

1:03:33

Man, it's crazy. I mean, that's such a huge

1:03:36

amount of money. And

1:03:38

it's going through a really good cause. And yeah,

1:03:40

congratulations to the guys and thanks to

1:03:43

everyone who contributed to it. All

1:03:46

right. We're going to do your questions. So

1:03:48

do you want to go first? Yeah,

1:03:52

go on then. We talked about

1:03:54

him a little bit, but we

1:03:57

have quite a lot of questions about Thomas

1:03:59

Pard. and his

1:04:01

role and potentially his future.

1:04:05

So David Johnson on Twitter

1:04:07

said, I think we've all collectively forgotten how

1:04:10

good Partay was in the first half of

1:04:12

last season. Is there a question now

1:04:14

that if we only get 20 games out

1:04:16

of him next season, is it worth

1:04:18

more to us than getting £20 million

1:04:21

from Saudi? And

1:04:24

then, you know, Aaron, Aaron 1991 said, Goodly

1:04:28

morning, gents. David Orton expects only one of Partay

1:04:30

and Giorgino to stay beyond the summer. We

1:04:33

saw that Partay's ball progression is something only

1:04:35

he offers in the squad on that level,

1:04:37

but Giorgino is more reliable. Who

1:04:39

would you like from them to stay? I

1:04:43

think it'd be really risky

1:04:45

to go into next season,

1:04:47

depending in any way on Thomas Partay

1:04:49

and his fitness, because I think he's

1:04:52

been unreliable. Only

1:04:54

there's ever been any question about Partay's

1:04:57

ability as a footballer. It's been about

1:05:00

his availability as a footballer.

1:05:04

I guess it will come down to whether or not the club

1:05:06

feel like the injury problems

1:05:08

are a thing of the past, or if

1:05:10

they might be recurring, you know, where at

1:05:13

the end of April, and

1:05:16

he's, you know, making his first real

1:05:18

appearances of the season. He had those few games

1:05:20

at right back at the start of the season,

1:05:23

but his first few games in midfield are at the end

1:05:25

of April. I mean, what happens

1:05:27

if next season

1:05:29

something happens again? And we're in the

1:05:31

same situation where we are

1:05:34

a player short in midfield, because

1:05:36

we've put some eggs

1:05:38

in the Partay basket. So if you'd

1:05:43

asked me this a few months ago, I would

1:05:45

have said, Jorginho, I don't think I will change

1:05:47

my mind on that. I do think

1:05:49

there is a difference in the two players,

1:05:51

obviously, but it's just

1:05:53

for me a question of, you know,

1:05:56

are you going to learn your lesson about this

1:05:58

guy's fitness? And

1:06:00

that's what would make me wary. Yeah,

1:06:03

we've fallen into this trap many times before,

1:06:05

haven't we? Where, you know,

1:06:07

we see Shiny Thomas Partey doing

1:06:10

Shiny Thomas Partey things and we

1:06:12

think, imagine if we had him

1:06:14

every game and it doesn't happen.

1:06:18

For me, I think there is actually another point beyond

1:06:20

the fitness as well. As

1:06:22

I kind of alluded to it in part

1:06:24

one, I think there is this duality to his

1:06:27

game where he does

1:06:29

bring you all this progressive

1:06:31

play, but there is this element of risk to

1:06:33

it. And I've spoken about

1:06:36

Zinchenko almost feeling

1:06:38

like a relic of last season's

1:06:41

team in some respects. And

1:06:43

I almost feel the same way

1:06:45

about Thomas Partey, that he's

1:06:47

a kind of maverick talent,

1:06:51

but one who maybe

1:06:53

doesn't fit into the

1:06:55

kind of super structured shape

1:06:58

of this new Arsenal team. And

1:07:01

I think I could see Arteta going for someone

1:07:03

in that position, whether it's Declan Rice or whether

1:07:05

it's a new signing, who

1:07:07

he feels can provide more stability

1:07:10

and consistency. And I mean that

1:07:12

both in terms of availability, but maybe

1:07:15

also in terms of playing style. Yeah,

1:07:17

I agree. When I thought about what kind

1:07:19

of midfielder we might buy this

1:07:21

summer, it always felt

1:07:24

to me like it would be

1:07:26

a version of Giorgino more

1:07:28

than a version of Partey, if that

1:07:30

makes sense. I agree

1:07:32

with that, yeah. So whether

1:07:35

that informs whatever happens with Partey in

1:07:37

the summer, we'll have to wait

1:07:39

and see. I have a

1:07:41

chance. Matt Taylor, who's

1:07:43

on Twitter at AFC Matt09, he

1:07:46

says, Goodly St. Tutteringham's morning gents.

1:07:49

How important do you think it's been to

1:07:51

the squad to see Arteta behave more calmly

1:07:53

on the touchline? Understated

1:07:56

celebrations yesterday from the boss, and

1:07:58

it seems to be instilling a new goal. and calmness

1:08:00

to the team which is key? Yes,

1:08:04

it's interesting. I don't know how

1:08:06

directly it sort of correlates

1:08:08

between Michael's demeanor and the players' demeanor,

1:08:10

but I really liked the way we celebrated

1:08:13

those first two goals, you know,

1:08:15

straight into the huddle. I think in

1:08:17

one it was Odegard talking, in the other it was Rice.

1:08:21

All about focus, all about, you

1:08:23

know, not getting lost in

1:08:25

the emotion of the moment. So

1:08:29

I think that was actually really encouraging.

1:08:31

And I'm sure that the

1:08:34

way in which Michael behaves must inform the

1:08:36

players' approach, right? You know, he's the last

1:08:38

thing they hear before they go out there.

1:08:41

He's, you know,

1:08:43

they're trying to pay attention

1:08:45

to him during the 90 minutes, how possible

1:08:47

that actually is, who knows. But

1:08:50

I think it speaks to a growing

1:08:53

maturity around the project, you know. I

1:08:55

think the same thing applies to the

1:08:57

coaches, to the players. Mmm. I

1:09:00

think part of it as well is the fact that

1:09:02

they said on TV yesterday that Michael Artero is booking

1:09:05

away from

1:09:08

another touchline band. So I think that

1:09:10

might also be playing a

1:09:12

part in the behaviour on

1:09:15

the sideline because

1:09:17

there was a moment, I don't

1:09:20

know if you spotted this, but there was a moment in this,

1:09:22

I can't remember his first half or second half. I

1:09:24

think first half, where Ben Davies

1:09:26

went in on Saka around the halfway

1:09:28

line and to me

1:09:30

it looked a foul, but Ben Davies was allowed

1:09:33

to get away with quite a lot on the

1:09:35

Kaio Saka yesterday. And you can just see Artero

1:09:38

almost begin to throw his hands in the air and then

1:09:40

he just puts both hands over

1:09:42

his mouth to sort

1:09:44

of stop himself saying something. So

1:09:47

I think he's probably aware that

1:09:49

if he is too demonstrative on

1:09:51

the sideline, if he objects too

1:09:53

strenuously to, you know,

1:09:55

a sort of 50-50 decision if you want to

1:09:58

call it that, even if I think it was

1:10:00

a foul line. and Saka that he runs the

1:10:02

risk of being

1:10:04

suspended and facing a

1:10:06

touchline ban for what could

1:10:09

be three of the most important

1:10:12

Arsenal games in our recent history.

1:10:15

Imagine what it would be like for him to

1:10:17

have to sit on the sideline or be in

1:10:19

the stands for example if we go to Old

1:10:21

Trafford. So I think that might

1:10:23

just be playing a part in how

1:10:26

he's behaving. I imagine as well if

1:10:28

we go to Old Trafford and he picks up a

1:10:30

booking there and there's a

1:10:32

game where Arsenal are playing at home

1:10:34

against Everton, his former club potentially

1:10:36

to win a first Premier League title for 20

1:10:38

years and he's not on the touchline. I think

1:10:41

we can expect

1:10:43

to see Miquel on his best behaviour over

1:10:45

the next couple of weeks. I

1:10:48

have another follow-up on that. Do you mind me asking

1:10:50

you this one? Yeah, no, not at all. From Wise

1:10:52

Marklar on the Discord, he said, I remember Miquel Arteta

1:10:54

being part of an Arsenal team that ground out results

1:10:56

towards the end of the season. I think it was

1:10:59

13-14, it wasn't, it

1:11:01

was 2012-13. There was a

1:11:03

game against Queens Park Rangers and Spurs that

1:11:05

I remember. We

1:11:10

lost to North London Derby and

1:11:12

I think Arsene Wenger made a

1:11:14

change at the back. He dropped

1:11:16

Thomas Vermalen but there were some

1:11:20

difficult games for Arsenal in that period

1:11:22

where there was a 1-0 win away

1:11:25

at Queens Park Rangers. Theo Walcott scored in

1:11:27

the first minute, do you remember? I do.

1:11:30

And then it was just like, oh god. It

1:11:33

was real back to basic stuff, wasn't it? It

1:11:35

was. Like

1:11:37

we sort of completely changed the face of

1:11:39

the team, mixed up

1:11:41

the defence, became very pragmatic in the

1:11:43

way that we played and particularly the

1:11:46

way we defended and sort of

1:11:50

managed to get over the line. And yeah,

1:11:52

the question was though, do you think

1:11:55

this has any influence on how Arteta

1:11:57

is telling his team to go out at this moment

1:11:59

in time in the...? these big games, sort

1:12:03

of back to basics to an extent in

1:12:05

terms of, you know,

1:12:07

you might be missing

1:12:09

something in terms of performance but what you've

1:12:11

got to do when

1:12:13

it comes to effort and endeavour in these

1:12:15

games, you can't let that drop for a

1:12:17

second because you'll get punished. Yeah,

1:12:20

I mean, we know a

1:12:22

little bit about what's important to our tester

1:12:24

at this stage of the season because there

1:12:26

was a photograph of Gabrielle, wasn't there, in

1:12:28

the dressing room with the

1:12:31

word basics on a big

1:12:33

poster on the wall behind him and

1:12:36

each of those letters in basics. From

1:12:38

yesterday. So that's different.

1:12:41

But we don't, B and A are obscured

1:12:43

by Gabrielle's head but shape, intensity and compete.

1:12:45

Was that yesterday? For yesterday's guy, I didn't

1:12:47

see that actually. I believe so. I mean,

1:12:49

you know, they do this every away game

1:12:52

as far as I'm aware. Yeah. They,

1:12:54

you know, put up these posters to make themselves feel more at

1:12:57

home, away from home in which emphasise

1:12:59

key messages but basics

1:13:01

is one of those key messages and to be fair

1:13:03

to others, I think it has been throughout his time.

1:13:06

Now, even if you go back and watch all or

1:13:08

nothing, basics,

1:13:10

it's up there with jewels in terms of how

1:13:13

much he talks about it and emphasises it. So

1:13:15

yeah, I'm sure his playing

1:13:17

experience and that time Arsenal informs him in that

1:13:20

respect. He said he'd spoken with Arsene Wenger as

1:13:22

well, didn't he? Yeah. In the

1:13:24

build up to this one, who knows a

1:13:26

thing or two, I think, about being pragmatic

1:13:28

in the final stages of the season, if

1:13:30

it means, you know, winning a title or

1:13:34

finishing a season unbeaten or securing

1:13:36

Champions League qualification. So

1:13:38

yeah, I think the key thing is that at

1:13:40

this point performances

1:13:42

aren't really that important.

1:13:46

It's all about getting the points on the board

1:13:48

and getting the results. And

1:13:50

fortunately, we are still doing that.

1:13:52

It's been an extraordinary run. Yes. Playing

1:13:55

24. Yeah, it really has. It's

1:13:58

speaking of kind of the title race. YM

1:14:01

Archer on Discord says,

1:14:03

Goodly morning, is Chris Wood

1:14:05

the least potent wood of

1:14:08

all time? Did

1:14:10

you see much of Not in Forest against Wences?

1:14:12

Yeah. I

1:14:16

actually didn't watch it. I

1:14:18

have seen some of the misses on social media.

1:14:21

I was kind of doing the turning it off

1:14:23

and hoping for the best. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That

1:14:25

one. I had it on when

1:14:27

I was working. I think I'm quite glad about that. Because

1:14:29

I think if I had been seeing those misses in real

1:14:31

time, I think I

1:14:34

would have been pretty inconsolable. Yeah, Chris

1:14:36

Woodn't more like that. Yeah. Yeah.

1:14:40

I don't know what else to say.

1:14:42

I mean, is that game

1:14:44

not an absolute example of just getting it over

1:14:46

the line in a title race? Yeah, sure. Where

1:14:49

City, if you look at the XG in

1:14:51

the game, I think Chris Wood himself had

1:14:53

more XG than Man City. But

1:14:56

they still win 2-0. So this is

1:14:58

exactly what we're talking about. It's exactly

1:15:01

what you need to do. And it

1:15:03

also demonstrates the sort of the randomness

1:15:05

of football. Because, you know, people

1:15:08

will say this is the mark of champions in

1:15:10

titles and experience for Manchester City. They've gone out.

1:15:12

They've won a game where they weren't at their

1:15:14

best. But if Chris Woods

1:15:16

wasn't drunk or whatever, you know, they

1:15:18

could have been 2-3-0 down in this game. And

1:15:21

everyone's saying, well, they felt the pressure. I mean,

1:15:23

I think the pressure on the XG in the

1:15:25

XG in the XG in the XG in the

1:15:27

XG in the XG. I mean, let me

1:15:29

ask you this then. Do

1:15:32

those chances that Chris Wood had give

1:15:34

you hope? Yeah,

1:15:37

maybe. Maybe because I was

1:15:39

looking at City's fixtures. They've obviously

1:15:41

got Wolves on Saturday. Then

1:15:43

they've got Fulham away. Then there's

1:15:46

a midweek game where

1:15:48

they go to Spurs away. And

1:15:50

West Ham on the final day. Listen, do

1:15:53

not underestimate West Ham on the final day of

1:15:55

a football season. They've been there. They've

1:15:58

done that in the past. That's

1:16:00

you know, did they it was West

1:16:02

Ham against Tottenham wasn't it lasagna gate

1:16:04

course when you see Ben Ayun but

1:16:08

I remember as well wasn't it a year that

1:16:10

Blackburn won the league and Manchester

1:16:13

United went to West Ham

1:16:15

on the final day and West

1:16:18

Ham I think they got battered but

1:16:20

somehow got a draw or won the

1:16:22

game I can't quite remember but they

1:16:24

denied Manchester United the title So

1:16:27

they've got some form in that regard. So even if it

1:16:29

does go to the final day West

1:16:32

Ham old David Moyes there will

1:16:34

will do it for Mikael his his

1:16:38

apprentice and Little

1:16:40

I'll be fine. It'll all be fine. I

1:16:42

mean there irony of all irony the game

1:16:44

I'm really looking at is that one. I get

1:16:47

that Spurs Yeah What

1:16:50

do you think records? What do

1:16:52

you think Spurs approach to that will be I mean it might

1:16:54

depend on what happens in their next game whether or not Champions

1:16:57

League football is still attainable for them

1:17:00

I mean if they don't have the abilities go for

1:17:02

a Champions League football is quite possible They will just

1:17:04

take their foot off the gas and like go through

1:17:07

the motions because that will be the Spurs

1:17:09

the thing of all time right, but

1:17:11

if there is still a chance for them to To

1:17:14

qualify for the Champions League to overtake

1:17:17

Aston Villa I watched pasta cagliu before

1:17:19

the game and he was talking about

1:17:21

well, you know The question

1:17:23

was something along the lines of are you out to

1:17:25

deny Arsenal the title? And he

1:17:27

was like well, you can't really think like that

1:17:29

We've got to do what we've got to do

1:17:32

and you know Whether I think they're capable of

1:17:34

doing it or or you know There's a measure

1:17:36

of ineptitude to the way they approach certain games.

1:17:38

I Would

1:17:40

rather they still had something to play for when

1:17:42

they were facing Man City than not Because

1:17:45

that that I think is the only way it would

1:17:47

happen. They've got a few games before them

1:17:49

and they're not easy games that's the thing

1:17:51

so Later

1:17:53

this week they go to Chelsea and

1:17:56

then at the weekend they go to

1:17:58

Liverpool. Oof now I

1:18:01

know Liverpool aren't in the best of

1:18:03

form right now, but I think they've lost

1:18:05

their last two league games, so it's

1:18:08

not impossible. They

1:18:10

could be on four

1:18:13

consecutive defeats, then they host Burnley and

1:18:15

then they host Man City. So

1:18:17

I guess we need them, I

1:18:20

don't even like saying it, but we probably

1:18:22

need them to get something out of these

1:18:24

games this week to keep their season alive,

1:18:26

or we need Aston Villa

1:18:28

to completely implode. I'm

1:18:31

just looking at their games now, what have they got?

1:18:35

Brighton away on Sunday, okay, and then

1:18:37

Villa host Liverpool on Monday the 13th.

1:18:40

So yeah, it's

1:18:42

all hard to call isn't it at

1:18:44

this stage? Yeah, I still think there's

1:18:47

a twist in it somewhere. I

1:18:49

think there's a twist potentially, but

1:18:52

I still don't think we can afford a twist in

1:18:54

our game. No, no, no, no, no,

1:18:57

absolutely not. We've got to win our games and

1:18:59

win all three to have a chance. So

1:19:01

I'm hoping the twist obviously comes

1:19:05

in the Man City side of things. What about this one?

1:19:07

We talked about Haverts in the first half, but we

1:19:09

had a couple of questions about him, Zach Taze on

1:19:11

the Discord. Goodly fucking morning

1:19:14

gents. We expect Arsenal to

1:19:16

enter the transfer window this summer looking for a

1:19:18

new forward, but do we need to adjust to

1:19:20

what kind of profile we're looking for? Watching Haverts

1:19:22

battle and win those flick-ons was a

1:19:25

joy and makes me think he has

1:19:27

the big man profile covered for us.

1:19:29

Any thoughts on that? And

1:19:31

then Non-Flying Dutchman said a few weeks ago, I asked

1:19:34

if there was anything Haverts could do between now

1:19:37

and the end of the season to convince Arteta he

1:19:39

should be our starting striker next season. Was

1:19:42

that first half performance enough for you? If

1:19:44

not, why not? So

1:19:46

maybe you could have a go at both of those. I

1:19:49

think it's already changed the thinking a little bit

1:19:52

at Arsenal based on what I've been

1:19:55

hearing and I think David Ornstein

1:19:58

has also written about this job. John

1:20:00

Cross as well. I

1:20:03

think that it

1:20:05

was assumed by

1:20:07

many and felt even by many at Arsenal that

1:20:09

a striker was a likelihood

1:20:12

in the next transfer window. I think

1:20:15

that Havart's form has given some

1:20:18

pause for thought there and that

1:20:21

it may be that other positions, you know,

1:20:23

we've spoken about central midfield are emerging as

1:20:25

maybe more of a priority

1:20:27

than anticipated. So

1:20:31

I think already there's been a bit of a

1:20:33

shift. I'm not saying Arsenal won't buy a striker

1:20:35

but I don't think we can take

1:20:37

it as a given anymore. Or

1:20:42

maybe if we do it might affect the

1:20:44

profile of striker, maybe the level of striker

1:20:46

that we bring in. It

1:20:48

might be someone to complement

1:20:51

Havart's and add variety rather

1:20:53

than someone who's coming in

1:20:55

as a undisputed first choice.

1:21:00

If it's down to me, James

1:21:02

McNicholas, I'd still sign a striker.

1:21:06

I think that Eddie and Ketch is

1:21:08

almost certainly going to go and

1:21:10

I think that we would benefit

1:21:13

from adding a different type

1:21:15

of threat to what we've

1:21:18

got. But

1:21:20

maybe, yeah, maybe

1:21:22

it'll be someone who can play wide as well. I

1:21:25

don't know, to be honest. All I

1:21:27

know is that I think priorities

1:21:30

have shifted in the last few months and Kai

1:21:32

Havart's form up front has been a big

1:21:35

part in that. I mean, what do

1:21:37

you feel? Do you

1:21:40

think he has it in

1:21:42

him to lead the line for Arsenal

1:21:44

from August to May next

1:21:46

season? I'm

1:21:51

really encouraged by him, I have

1:21:53

to say. I think

1:21:57

there's something to this player that we didn't see

1:21:59

at Chelsea. that maybe people saw it

1:22:01

by Arlaevo Kuzin and

1:22:04

we're getting that out

1:22:06

of him again. I

1:22:10

agree with you, I'd like to see a sign of forwards,

1:22:13

whether it is an out striker

1:22:16

or somebody who can play across the forward line

1:22:18

which I think is probably more likely and

1:22:21

we've had the discussion before about

1:22:23

the profile of player that we think

1:22:26

it might be like all

1:22:28

the stories about Ozimene and Tony

1:22:30

and the Swedish guy who was

1:22:33

at Coventry, Jörg Körsch, is that

1:22:35

how you pronounce it? You

1:22:39

know I just don't... I've got no idea how you

1:22:41

pronounce it to be honest but that's how I would

1:22:43

do it. Yeah just sort of randomly sort of... and

1:22:45

it sounds vaguely like his name, apologies

1:22:47

to any Swedish listeners. Those

1:22:52

players are going to be very, very expensive and

1:22:54

I don't... and I haven't ever

1:22:56

thought that this was going to be the kind of striker

1:22:59

signing we make. Where

1:23:02

I think it's interesting is that I've

1:23:05

often said to you I think we

1:23:07

are a bit 5'9 in attack

1:23:12

and we're not anymore and

1:23:14

Kai Havert's form and ability

1:23:17

is the reason why. That's

1:23:20

very true. So that

1:23:23

might influence the type of signing that we make because

1:23:25

it was never a case of like right let's just

1:23:28

buy a big lump of a guy and stick

1:23:30

him up front in the last 20 minutes if we need a

1:23:32

goal. That's not how it works

1:23:34

but I think we have seen

1:23:37

the benefit of having somebody who can provide

1:23:39

you an outlet at number 9 and to

1:23:41

be fair Gabriel J. Zusz did quite a bit of

1:23:44

that in the first part of his arsenal career. His

1:23:46

ability to hold the ball up as a number

1:23:49

9, bring people into play, win aerial

1:23:51

duels despite the fact he isn't the biggest

1:23:53

guy was kind of a step forward for

1:23:55

this team but I think we've seen the benefit of

1:23:57

this now with Havert's over the last... three

1:24:00

months or certainly in 2024, I think what

1:24:02

he's contributed to the team has been pretty

1:24:04

much as important as anybody else. It's

1:24:09

whether or not you think he can do that

1:24:11

again and do it again and do it again,

1:24:13

you know, season after season. To

1:24:16

me, he looks integrated, he looks settled, he

1:24:18

looks comfortable, he looks like he

1:24:20

knows the role, he looks like he enjoys

1:24:22

the role. And I think

1:24:24

there's probably more to come from a player who's still only

1:24:26

24 years of age. It

1:24:29

wouldn't surprise me if in

1:24:32

the summer rather than signing a striker-striker,

1:24:34

we brought in a versatile forward who

1:24:37

could play across the forward line, who

1:24:39

maybe has some similarities with

1:24:41

J-zoos, maybe has some similarities

1:24:44

with Haverts and is maybe just somewhere

1:24:46

in between. Yeah,

1:24:48

I mean, he's in a rich vein of form, probably

1:24:52

one of the best of his career. And

1:24:54

I suppose what we don't know yet is, is it

1:24:57

a purple patch or is it something he can maintain?

1:25:00

Yeah. It's

1:25:02

hard because we're going to get to the summer and sort

1:25:05

of have to make that call without

1:25:07

necessarily having the kind of depth

1:25:09

of evidence you would want. I

1:25:11

think the thinking may be simply that, you

1:25:14

know, let's say you can bring in one big

1:25:17

signing every summer. Like we

1:25:19

made several big

1:25:21

signings last summer, but you know, Declan Rice was

1:25:23

kind of the marquee player. I

1:25:28

just wonder if Arsenal are thinking if they are going

1:25:30

to make an addition like that, would it

1:25:32

be better off in midfield than up front

1:25:34

at this particular point in time? I

1:25:37

can see why they might be thinking in that one.

1:25:41

Yeah, I mean, Haverts has given them

1:25:43

something to think about and maybe this

1:25:45

is not what he was bought for

1:25:47

precisely, but if he's delivering and he

1:25:49

is delivering consistently, you know, it

1:25:53

might be a purple patch, but it might just be

1:25:55

a player who is thriving and

1:25:57

producing what. You

1:26:00

know many people thought he could do when he left Germany,

1:26:03

you know, because he was so highly rated so What

1:26:10

about this question so this is

1:26:13

from Master john berry on

1:26:15

discord and they say goodly since

1:26:17

hotterings day everybody I

1:26:19

watched the highlights of the under 21s match

1:26:21

when jure in timber scored that beautiful girl

1:26:24

And I have to say nweneiri really

1:26:26

impressed me What do

1:26:28

you see as his prospects and path

1:26:30

to the first team when we're this

1:26:32

good? Is the loan market

1:26:34

the only way? That's a

1:26:36

really interesting question Uh

1:26:43

I guess it really depends on on you know

1:26:46

how Mikkel

1:26:48

arteta sees him fit into his team

1:26:52

Where is the role for ethan

1:26:54

nweneiri? Where is he going to play

1:26:56

in this system under michael arteta? Could

1:27:01

he be for example A

1:27:04

backup or an alternative to martin

1:27:06

odegaard? Not quite sure.

1:27:09

It's he's still so young as well, isn't

1:27:11

he because Like you

1:27:13

could say send him out on loan for a year Probably

1:27:16

will do him good Let

1:27:18

him develop but he's still only is

1:27:20

he just gone 17 I

1:27:23

don't know. I wonder if they might keep him in house next

1:27:26

season and Give

1:27:30

him minutes, but look like any young player he's

1:27:32

going to have to really really work

1:27:35

hard to get onto the bench for

1:27:37

this team and really

1:27:39

take his chances if if when he is

1:27:42

giving games whether they're cup games or Um

1:27:45

some european games, I don't know the european games

1:27:47

next season are a little bit different. There aren't

1:27:49

likely to be Dead

1:27:52

rubbers in the same way in the champion's

1:27:54

league because this league system means that every

1:27:56

game could matter in terms of where you

1:27:58

end up and prize money And so

1:28:01

I don't know. I don't know. It's

1:28:03

a tough one. This is what happens when

1:28:05

the standards get raised. It becomes much more difficult

1:28:07

for young players to break through, but they seem

1:28:09

very invested in him. I

1:28:12

think he's probably

1:28:15

physically ready in the way that Saka was

1:28:17

when he made his breakthrough. He doesn't look

1:28:19

out of place physically, which is often, you

1:28:22

know, the one thing about a young player who might have

1:28:24

a lot of talent, but are they physically

1:28:27

ready? Here's

1:28:29

a good example of this. Charlie Patino might be a

1:28:31

good example, that there's obviously a talented player there, but

1:28:34

physically did not look like

1:28:36

he was at the right level, you know? So

1:28:40

I don't know. We'll have to wait and see.

1:28:42

It's hard to predict. I

1:28:44

think they're really happy with him and

1:28:46

his development. And from

1:28:48

the bits and pieces I hear, his contribution in

1:28:51

training has been really impressive. They

1:28:53

definitely see him as part of the plans

1:28:56

for the future. I think

1:28:58

you mentioned that Martin Odegard position.

1:29:00

I think, you know, he'll probably

1:29:02

be too strong to say he's been earmarked for that, but

1:29:04

certainly they can envisage a future

1:29:06

where that's where he might be

1:29:08

involved. I tend to agree

1:29:10

with you. I think he'll be around. I

1:29:14

think he'll make some cup squads. I

1:29:17

think he'll get off the bench here and there next

1:29:19

season. I don't see him

1:29:21

going out on loan yet. It might be

1:29:23

something that's in his development plan at

1:29:25

kind of 18, 19. But

1:29:27

I think for now they want to keep him at

1:29:29

London colony. But, you know, it's

1:29:33

difficult, isn't it? I mean, you know,

1:29:35

look at Cole Palmer, right? Couldn't make the breakthrough

1:29:37

at Man City and they

1:29:40

sold it. But they sold him having

1:29:42

given him time in big

1:29:44

games to show his talent and

1:29:46

increase his profile and raise

1:29:48

his price tag. And I'd like to think

1:29:50

that even if Neronere doesn't make it Arsenal,

1:29:52

you know, he will get that sort of

1:29:55

exposure at some point. Yeah. All

1:29:57

right. Let's do a couple of quick ones. I like this one from the

1:29:59

audience. Simon King on Discord, were

1:30:01

you surprised that Ange didn't play

1:30:03

Madison? Hey, I like that

1:30:06

one. Um, where's

1:30:08

the other one? I can't remember where it

1:30:10

is, but I thought this was quite an

1:30:12

interesting one from George Mecornis

1:30:15

on Twitter. Is that George

1:30:17

Mecan 9? I loved

1:30:19

Saka giving shit back to their fans

1:30:21

yesterday. Would you say he

1:30:23

needs this level of cockiness as a winger

1:30:26

to reach another level next year? Hmm.

1:30:30

Do I think he needs it? I'm

1:30:33

not, to be honest,

1:30:35

I think that he is an incredibly

1:30:38

confident and self-assured individual. I just

1:30:41

don't think that he expresses

1:30:44

that outwardly,

1:30:46

maybe in ways that are kind of legible

1:30:48

to us, you know? But if you look

1:30:51

at his career today, if you

1:30:53

look at the times that he's sort of stood up for himself

1:30:55

on the pitch, or taken

1:30:57

responsibility on, I think there

1:30:59

must be enormous reserves of

1:31:01

self-belief behind that. But

1:31:05

equally, I know what the question means in that

1:31:07

the best players, you know, you think of

1:31:09

Thierry Henry, among others, do have

1:31:11

that kind of swagger to

1:31:14

their game. And

1:31:17

I can see him adding that

1:31:19

to what he's

1:31:21

already got and it potentially taking him to another

1:31:23

level. What do you think? I

1:31:25

think it's probably just a mark of maturity as much as

1:31:27

anything. Like, that video that we

1:31:30

referenced in the first half is just very funny

1:31:32

because these guys are giving him dog's abuse. He's

1:31:34

standing there taking a corner. The

1:31:37

ball goes in. They shut up. And

1:31:39

he's like, all right, I heard

1:31:41

you. I heard you. But

1:31:43

look at what I did, or look at what I helped do.

1:31:46

And I like that. I don't think he's

1:31:48

ever going to be – he

1:31:51

doesn't strike me anyway as the kind of guy

1:31:53

who's going to get carried away with himself and

1:31:55

become arrogant and petulant. But I think, you know,

1:31:57

what he's doing is he's going to be a

1:31:59

good guy. When you're subject

1:32:02

to abuse from the stands

1:32:04

or people saying stuff about you and you

1:32:06

deliver with the consistency that he delivers on

1:32:09

the pitch, I think you're perfectly entitled to

1:32:11

have a go back. And I think now

1:32:13

the fact he's what, 22, coming up on

1:32:15

23, he's just in a better position to

1:32:17

do that. 17, 18,

1:32:20

19-year-old Bakayo Sak is still feeling his way into the

1:32:22

game. We could all see the quality, but

1:32:25

now he's got the consistency

1:32:27

season after season to be able to give a

1:32:29

little bit back. And I think, I'm not saying

1:32:32

it's hugely important, I don't think it is

1:32:34

the most important thing, but I

1:32:36

think it is important for a player

1:32:38

of his stature to be able to sort of

1:32:41

recognize that he

1:32:43

is going to be the target for this kind of stuff. And

1:32:48

when you get it, football

1:32:50

fans have to be able to take a bit

1:32:52

back, right? Because

1:32:57

there's always this idea that

1:33:00

players shouldn't react. The

1:33:02

player should somehow be above whatever

1:33:04

the terrible things that fans are singing at

1:33:06

them or saying about them. I

1:33:09

think it just demonstrates a real

1:33:12

maturity from Saka that he's capable

1:33:14

of compartmentalizing the abuse and

1:33:16

turning that into end product,

1:33:19

motivation, whatever else. I

1:33:21

really like that. I enjoyed that aspect

1:33:23

of his response to that yesterday. Yeah,

1:33:26

absolutely. I mean, he'll be 23 next season. He's

1:33:30

not a baby anymore. He's

1:33:33

a star man, not a star boy.

1:33:36

Yeah, but yeah, listen, we

1:33:38

love him, don't we? And I think that

1:33:40

was a big moment for him yesterday scoring that

1:33:42

goal at Spurs, in a title

1:33:45

race, away from home, in

1:33:47

a derby, great goal.

1:33:51

It's just another instance of him delivering on

1:33:53

the big stage. Didn't he score there last

1:33:55

season too? A

1:33:57

force-known goal, I think, technically. Right, okay.

1:34:00

Well, you know, he's causing

1:34:02

them problems. He's causing them

1:34:04

pain in their literal and

1:34:07

metaphorical hearts. And

1:34:10

is that not as much as we can ask

1:34:12

from any Arsenal star? I

1:34:14

think it is. All right. Okay. We're going

1:34:16

to leave it there. Get this podcast out

1:34:19

to you guys. Thank you so much for

1:34:21

being with us. Thank you for listening. We'll

1:34:24

have some stuff for you during the week.

1:34:26

It's a quiet week at last. It's been

1:34:28

hectic helter skelter, but we will have our

1:34:30

Premier League preview or Premier League review podcast

1:34:32

for you tomorrow over on Patreon. If you

1:34:35

want to join us for that, patreon.com/our spark

1:34:37

for now. Enjoy your basking

1:34:39

in a North London derby win

1:34:42

despite the panics it gave us.

1:34:44

We won three points. That's all that matters. And

1:34:46

we will catch you on the next one. Bye

1:34:48

bye. I'm. Tired

1:34:58

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