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new Haute Trapp Helllion The

0:49

new Haute Trapp Helllion The

1:19

new Haute Trapp Helllion The

1:48

new Haute Trapp Helllion a

2:00

bit depressed about that but hey that's

2:03

par for the course, I guess that's par for the course if

2:05

you're routinely watching Spurs which

2:07

I don't do very often as

2:10

you know. Listen

2:13

I managed to find some

2:16

enjoyment in the Spurs game. I laugh about

2:18

the days when I

2:24

naively believed that might be Manchester

2:26

City's hardest remaining fixture. Yeah

2:29

it's all changed on that front.

2:31

World Cup Series Well those were

2:33

the days when you were high as a kite

2:35

on illegal narcotics. Very

2:38

possibly. Yeah I

2:41

also made the mistake, obviously it was at the

2:43

Arsenal game and terrific starts the weekend, had a

2:45

brilliant time and you know I thought I'm not

2:48

going to watch Man City and then I got

2:50

home and it was around the time of kick

2:52

off and I thought oh go

2:54

on then I'll stick it on. I

2:57

stuck on Man City vs Wolves, I

3:00

can't remember how long it was into the game, not very

3:02

long they got given a very soft penalty, Erling

3:04

Harlan tucked it away and I promptly turned

3:07

it off, got on with my day at

3:09

that point in time. You're right, you're right.

3:11

I mean I did the

3:13

opposite in that you know the

3:15

Arsenal game was on, was doing the post game stuff

3:18

and then was like you know what I

3:20

don't even want to

3:22

consider what Manchester City are going to do

3:24

in this game. So I decided

3:26

to go out and have a couple of beers and

3:28

get some food, you know in

3:31

the vain hope that at some

3:33

point while sitting there having

3:35

a couple of pints my

3:37

phone would just start going and I'd

3:41

look and there'd be like 15 watch

3:44

apps from various people going Wolves

3:47

oh my god Wolves, you know

3:50

none of those things ever arrived. Even

3:52

with the three nil down, three

3:55

nil down, Huang got one back, three-one

3:57

and they were sort of ironic. messages

4:00

from a couple of people being like, here

4:02

we go. And then I think Erling Harlan

4:04

smashed one in about 30 seconds later, just

4:06

to extinguish the

4:08

slimmest hopes. So

4:11

there you go. But Arsenal did their part

4:13

very, very well. They certainly did. So at

4:15

least we could enjoy that. We

4:17

could. Nice sunny day at the Emirates. Unchanged

4:20

side from Michael Arterta. And

4:23

I saw quite

4:25

a few people talking about this game beforehand,

4:27

thinking, oh, Bournemouth are good.

4:30

There was the stat going around that

4:32

only the top four have taken more

4:34

points in the Premier League

4:37

since October than Bournemouth. They've

4:39

really settled into life under Andoni

4:41

Iraiola. They play well. They've got

4:44

some decent players. Was

4:46

this a potential banana skin fixture?

4:50

It feels

4:52

a bit like this sort of second

4:54

to last home game of the season

4:56

hasn't always gone well. Like last season,

4:58

wasn't it like Brighton, 3-0, something like

5:00

that? That wasn't great. So

5:02

was it possible that Arsenal could be found

5:05

out with the pressure get to us? Sorry,

5:09

I'm knocking something over here.

5:11

Anyway, not to worry. The pressure's come to

5:13

me. I'm

5:16

ruining my office all around me. But in

5:20

terms of the overall performance, there's

5:23

no question that the pressure didn't

5:25

get to Arsenal. But there

5:28

were a lot of chances or a lot of shots.

5:30

There were a lot of the ball

5:32

not going in the back of the net to the

5:34

point where there was a point in

5:36

the first half where I was thinking, uh-oh, this

5:39

feels like it could be one of

5:42

those days. It

5:44

did have that feel, too. I think if you sort

5:47

of analyse the game with a step back,

5:50

there are similarities between this match and the

5:52

Aston Villa one, which we lost

5:55

in that we were completely dominant in the

5:57

first half and spent a

5:59

lot of that photo. half conspiring to not

6:01

score a goal. They

6:04

were much improved after

6:06

the break, but we

6:09

did get those killer

6:11

moments in the box to get the school line that we

6:13

needed. When they had

6:15

one or two moments in our box, things

6:17

generally went in our favour. A very

6:21

good win nonetheless against a good Bournemouth side. In the

6:23

week leading up to it, I got a bit nervous

6:25

because everyone I spoke to was telling me how good

6:27

Bournemouth are. I convinced myself

6:29

they were going to turn up and

6:32

be like the Harlem Globetrotters, the greatest

6:34

ever Real Madrid side or something. So

6:36

very, very satisfied to get the

6:39

win, especially by such a handsome school

6:41

line, which keeps our goal

6:43

difference looking pretty healthy, whatever city do. Yes,

6:45

I did look at that city score line

6:47

and think, oh god, they've taken a chunk

6:49

out of our goal difference there, but also

6:51

I didn't take into account the

6:53

fact that we won three now. So

6:56

I felt a little bit better. That was the only

6:58

slight comfort I had from the

7:00

Man City win. But the

7:03

way we played in that first half, I think,

7:05

was Michael Artero called

7:07

it maybe, did he say it was the best we've played

7:09

all season or the best half we played all season? It

7:12

was dominant and certainly we had the

7:15

chances, but it was also, I

7:18

think, a good example of what this

7:20

team is about and how they can

7:22

cause the opposition problems because you can

7:24

be quite sure that the Bournemouth game

7:26

plan would have been to try and

7:28

stifle Arsenal from the start,

7:30

maybe play on the fact that there's a

7:32

lot at stake for us, so we could

7:35

have had some nerves. But I

7:37

think it was maybe two minutes in and

7:41

Ben White just threw the ball down

7:43

the line. It could have been Odegard

7:47

who was in behind and you're thinking, okay, we're

7:49

going to get some success out of this Bournemouth

7:51

team because they're not quite where they should be

7:53

in terms of organization

7:55

and there were chances, weren't there, within the

7:57

first 10 minutes or

7:59

so? Saka had a shot blocked and Trussard

8:01

had a shot blocked and you know it

8:03

really did set the tone for what we

8:06

were gonna do. Yeah I think

8:08

you know in the first 20 minutes the game

8:10

could have been won actually you know

8:13

Arsenal were that dominant and had some

8:15

pretty promising openings you

8:18

know I think there's not a

8:20

lot to criticise about this Arsenal team

8:22

at this point in time they are

8:24

playing terrific football and doing extremely well

8:27

I think if a Michael Atherton will

8:29

always be looking for areas of improvement and I think

8:32

maybe one is in these dominant spells you

8:34

know maybe sometimes they just need to show

8:36

a little bit more composure a little bit

8:39

more cutting-edge to to decide

8:41

games when they're so on top

8:43

as they were in that first

8:45

20 minutes but yeah Bournemouth

8:47

couldn't live with us I mean that throw integrate

8:49

example if you don't know Arsenal gonna try that

8:52

throw down the line to someone who's in

8:54

their offside position but not offside then

8:56

you're in trouble because that's you know

8:59

a pretty yeah a pretty frequent part

9:01

of what we do in the opposition

9:03

in the top so yeah there

9:05

was a sign there that we might be able to

9:07

get at them. Yes and I

9:10

think you have to give Bournemouth some credit

9:12

actually in the first half because particularly the

9:14

first part of that first half because of

9:16

how well they defended they got men in

9:19

front of the ball they blocked shots the

9:21

keeper made a couple of good saves like

9:23

I think for all the dominance there wasn't

9:25

you know a moment until maybe a bit

9:27

later in the half where you thought oh

9:29

we've made a ball so that one we should have

9:31

done better with that because you know they did defense

9:34

thatly they did get men in the way there was

9:36

some last-ditch defending I think Sonesi there was one really

9:38

good block Mark Travers in goal

9:40

made a couple of good saves I

9:42

think as well he was he was quite

9:44

decisive at times there were good saves from

9:47

him but there was a moment I

9:49

guess 10-11 minutes into the game that

9:52

will have people talking Ryan Christie with

9:54

a tackle a challenge maybe you could

9:56

better put it on Bekai

9:58

Osaka Which, you

10:02

know, I think could easily have been a red

10:04

card. Can you just fill

10:06

me in? Did he even blow

10:08

up for a foul, the referee? I

10:12

can't remember now, to be honest. I'll have to

10:14

just go back and look at that passage

10:16

of play again because, you know,

10:21

it's the third time in recent weeks that

10:23

a challenge on an Arsenal player could easily

10:25

have resulted. No, he didn't. I'm just watching

10:28

it here. Bang, in comes Christi,

10:30

over the ball. I'm not sure the ref...

10:32

I think he wanted to play Arsenal an

10:34

advantage. Right. Which

10:37

is... Brakes for Declan Rice.

10:39

Martin Hodegaard, I think. OK.

10:43

Saka's down, he's banging the turf.

10:46

There's a Bournemouth player down as well. I don't

10:48

know why. Is it... Maybe

10:52

he's got a bang in the head. I don't really care about the Bournemouth

10:54

player. What I find strange

10:56

is that it

10:59

feels to me like when refs play

11:01

advantage in a situation like that, they

11:03

almost never come back and give it

11:05

the proper attention it deserves. So just

11:07

because you play advantage, to my mind,

11:09

does not mean that you shouldn't be issuing

11:11

a card. And

11:14

for me, the most staggering aspect of this was

11:16

that you didn't issue any card at all. You

11:18

know, I think you could debate if it's a

11:20

yellow or a red, but to get

11:22

away without a card in that instance, especially

11:25

for a player who was eventually booked in

11:27

the second half, you know, it's particularly galling

11:29

that he didn't receive anything. Well,

11:31

I mean, is that a red for you? It's not... To

11:33

me, it's not... I mean, it's not

11:35

a... I don't

11:37

think it's as bad as the Kilman

11:40

on Havert's one. I don't think it's as

11:42

bad as the Jackson on Tomiasu

11:45

one. No. But it's very

11:47

similar to what Fabio Vieira got sent

11:50

off for. And when you look at

11:52

the damage it actually did to Bekai

11:54

Osaka, you know, I'm... I

11:57

don't know why that's not taken into account. I think you're

11:59

right. should at the very least have gone back

12:01

and booked

12:03

Yeats for that challenge. I also

12:06

think it demonstrates an absurdity in

12:09

the VAR system that

12:11

they keep, you know, we know they

12:13

can't tell the ref that should

12:15

be a yellow card. Like if it's not a red

12:17

it should definitely be a yellow but

12:19

VAR can't tell the referee that that

12:22

should be a yellow card and I

12:24

think that's ridiculous. I do

12:26

think that is a ridiculous aspect of VAR

12:29

because VAR has players stopped, VAR has checked,

12:32

they could easily tell the referee

12:34

go and have another look at that, he goes and

12:36

has a look, is it red? No

12:39

I don't think it's quite red but that

12:41

should be a yellow card. You cannot, you

12:43

know, at the very least you cannot make

12:45

a challenge like that and get away with

12:47

no booking whatsoever and I think what's kind

12:49

of crazy is the fact that those three

12:51

challenges, you know, the one on Saka, the

12:54

one on Tomiasi, the one on the Haberz in

12:57

those games have resulted in a grand total

12:59

of one yellow card, that's just absurd to

13:01

me. Yeah well it is and it's very

13:05

odd, well I agree with you this tackle

13:07

or this challenge we should probably say is

13:10

not quite as bad I think maybe because

13:12

the ball is so high there's a bit

13:14

of mitigation as to why the feet are

13:17

high, you know, it's not like the

13:19

ball's on the ground and he's gone in over it but

13:23

yeah I think that there's a sort

13:25

of interesting conversation to be

13:27

had generally about the implementation of VAR after this

13:29

game and after this weekend I mean it

13:32

might not be particularly novel or particularly new but

13:34

you know this game as several

13:37

others were this weekend was characterized by quite

13:39

long delays that ultimately resulted

13:41

in going with the on-field decision and

13:44

it feels like we've sort of got the worst of

13:46

both worlds in that respect, you know, I understand

13:49

wanting to give the on-field

13:51

decision some precedents or make

13:54

sure those referees have authority, you know, only

13:56

overturn if it's clear and obvious error but

13:59

I'd say if you're having to spend

14:01

two or three minutes looking at it and we'll

14:03

get to other incidents later in the game where

14:05

that was the case, then it almost

14:07

certainly isn't a clear and obvious area and you probably need

14:09

to move on quicker for the sake of the game. So

14:11

I found VL

14:14

quite exasperating in this game. As for the

14:16

yellow card thing, I agree they should be

14:18

able to say, look, you need to book

14:20

him for that because him not,

14:22

Christi not being booked for that challenge is

14:25

absolutely a clear and obvious area. No, it

14:27

surely is and about

14:29

three minutes later, Christi

14:32

puts in another challenge on Kai

14:34

Havards which again goes unpunished by

14:36

the referee. I think that challenge

14:39

is a yellow card too, so if he didn't get a red

14:42

in that first instance, he might well, well, he

14:44

would have got away with it I guess, but

14:46

maybe the fact that he was on a yellow

14:48

card might have raised

14:51

something from the crowd. The crowd then would have reacted

14:54

to that challenge a little more vigorously.

14:57

So I think between

15:00

not getting a straight red and

15:03

also not getting two yellows in the space

15:05

of five minutes, Ryan Christi was very, very

15:07

lucky in that first half for Bournemouth

15:10

and I know they will have their complaints about

15:12

certain elements of this game, but you

15:15

can always look at what goes

15:17

on and say, okay, you're a bit unlucky there, however,

15:20

you're also a bit fortunate to have 10 men on the

15:22

pitch. Yeah, and he was

15:24

very clear in the game, Christi, so the

15:27

likelihood is he wouldn't have

15:29

survived the 90 minutes. And also, if

15:33

the ref had flashed up a red card

15:35

immediately after that Christi challenge, I

15:38

don't think the AR would have overturned it, that's

15:40

for sure. I don't think so either. Which

15:44

again, I mean, to be

15:46

fair illustrates that it is a kind of

15:49

subjective decision. I think almost whatever he gave,

15:51

I could see that probably they wouldn't overturn

15:53

it, but I just found not booking him

15:55

to be inexplicable. Yes, but there

15:57

you go. There's a lot of that. going

16:00

on with officials and

16:02

decision making these days. And we

16:04

don't want to get too hung up on that. I

16:07

think what we need to look at is what we

16:10

did do for the rest of that second half.

16:12

And there were moments where, you know, we've given

16:14

Bournemouth credit for defending well, for making good saves.

16:16

I also think we have to look at a couple of the

16:18

chances that we had and say we didn't do quite as well

16:21

as we should have with them. And the two

16:23

I'm thinking of are one

16:26

from Thomas Partey, where he just booted it

16:28

over the bar. I

16:30

know that's his, you know, trademark finish,

16:33

but still from 10 yards out I was expecting

16:35

him to do a bit better. And

16:37

Declan Rice as well, I think it was

16:39

a really good cross. Great head down from

16:41

Kai Havarts. And

16:43

he hit the ball on the bounce and just

16:46

spun it wide of the near post where you're

16:48

kind of expecting someone

16:50

like Declan Rice to be able to put that in the

16:52

back of the net. When maybe with

16:54

the outside of the foot because of the way the ball

16:56

was bouncing, when perhaps he could have

16:58

gone with the inside of the foot, but those

17:02

were two moments I think where had

17:05

we gone in nil-nil at half time we'd

17:07

be thinking, oh gosh, those

17:09

were the two big chances

17:11

of that first half. Yeah, and

17:13

listening to Declan Rice's post-match interview, I

17:15

think he stayed with him. Maybe it

17:18

propelled him into what he produced

17:20

towards the end of the game, you know, sort of

17:22

having that mist hanging over him. But

17:24

they were great chances and two brilliant

17:27

headers actually, you know, Havarts for Rice

17:30

was it and Tommy

17:32

Yassou who sets up Thomas Partey

17:34

with a brilliant header, you know, the ball's going

17:36

the opposite direction, he manages to turn

17:39

it back into Partey's

17:41

path. Should have scored there. There was

17:43

a little scare by the way at the other end,

17:45

I don't know if you remember, where I

17:47

think Gabrielle made an error and Saliba had to

17:50

bail him out. So, you know, and

17:52

Gabrielle I think looked a little bit shakier

17:55

in that first half than he has for

17:57

most of the season, just had one or

17:59

two moments. moments, but

18:01

fortunately his mate was there to help out

18:03

when required. Yeah, you mentioned Tommy Assek, we're

18:05

probably not going to talk about him in

18:07

any great detail because there are

18:09

other players who really stood out for Arsenal in

18:11

this game, but I think he had a low-key

18:13

excellent game. You

18:16

mentioned the chance he set up for

18:18

Thomas Partey, but also he set

18:21

up one for Kai

18:24

Havarts with a lovely little clip ball from

18:26

midfield over the top. Havarts had a shot

18:28

at the near post which the keeper saved

18:31

and I think defensively he was really good. I

18:33

don't think any player won more aerial duels on

18:35

the pitch than Tommy Assek the other day. So

18:38

I think he had a really solid game

18:40

and ahead of a big game

18:43

against Manchester United at the weekend, I think he

18:45

did more than enough to keep his place at

18:47

left back there. I don't think that's even going

18:49

to be a debate beyond

18:51

any kind of fitness issue. I

18:53

think he's well

18:56

set for that game, but we

18:59

did go ahead via a penalty.

19:04

Martin Odegard with a really

19:06

excellent pass. Kai

19:08

Havarts took it on, the keeper

19:10

came out, Kai Havarts went down,

19:13

referee pointed to the spot, there was a

19:15

VAR check, goes back

19:17

to what you were saying

19:20

about the on-field decision and

19:22

I do think it is one of those where

19:24

when you

19:26

look at it and you look at what's happened

19:28

over the course of the season, there was no

19:30

reasonable expectation that they would

19:32

overturn the on-field decision. But

19:36

I was a little bit worried all

19:39

the same because it felt to me

19:41

like, well they do change the way

19:43

they do things. No, that's not a penalty anymore, even

19:46

though it's been a penalty all season. It

19:48

wouldn't have surprised me if that

19:50

decision had been overturned. How

19:52

did you view the check and

19:55

how did you view the incident itself? I

19:57

must say I think it's a penalty. Right.

20:01

So nailed on penalty. Right. Yeah.

20:04

I think that's interesting. Because

20:06

I think he, Kai Havards

20:08

basically doesn't change his path, you know, he's

20:10

running in a straight line, keeper comes out

20:12

and catches him.

20:15

I think that's been a penalty, like you say, all

20:18

season long. Do you think Kai Havards could stay

20:20

on his feet there? Oh yeah, don't get me

20:22

wrong. I was a

20:25

bit disappointed that he didn't, in that he's

20:27

done the hard part. Like he goes around

20:29

the keeper and I think I have this

20:31

and I think Kai Havards a really good

20:34

game, but I would like

20:36

my centre forward to stay on

20:38

his feet and put that ball in the back of the net. And

20:42

I think he's absolutely looking for it. But

20:46

nonetheless, I think it is a penalty. What's

20:48

your opinion? I mean, I think

20:50

it's a penalty as well. It's just one

20:53

of those that down the years has always

20:55

frustrated me when they're given against us where

20:58

goalkeeper comes. I mean, Havards does have to

21:00

get out of the way. He does leave

21:02

his leg there to make sure the contact

21:04

is given. Like

21:07

if I were to mention players like Harry Kane

21:09

or Jamie Vardy, it's the kind of penalty they

21:12

used to win against us. And on the one

21:14

hand, you can say slightly clumsy

21:17

from the goalkeeper slash defender. On the other,

21:19

the guy

21:21

has gone down and initiated contact

21:23

with the goalkeeper. So I'm kind

21:25

of, you know, the way I

21:27

view penalties, if it was given against us, would I

21:29

be unhappy, maybe slightly? But

21:35

at this point... He's committed though,

21:37

Travis, hasn't he? He's gone big, like

21:39

he's dived at the player's feet. He

21:42

hasn't got any contact on the ball. You

21:45

know? Yeah, yeah. I think

21:47

that is a foul. Well,

21:51

at least sort of the application of the laws as

21:53

it stands. Like I said, I think

21:55

that's been a penalty all season. I don't think it's quite

21:58

the same as when a player... chucks

22:01

out their leg to

22:03

make contact with the defender or

22:05

goalkeeper. That's fair. You know, it is

22:07

kind of he stays in his lane

22:10

as it were and Travis

22:12

comes into it. The ones where

22:15

someone runs past a player and then flings

22:17

their leg out to the side so they

22:19

get caught, I think that's slightly different. Yeah,

22:23

it's sort of along the lines of one of

22:25

those where a player goes beyond the goalkeeper, there's

22:27

no real contact from the goalkeeper but they fall

22:29

down to make sure that they make contact with

22:32

the goalkeeper and you can say he's impeding him

22:34

and he's obstructing him so he's every right to

22:36

go down. I think Haverts did have

22:38

every right to go down in that situation but like

22:40

I said it would have been, it

22:42

wouldn't have surprised me a huge amount if

22:45

they'd looked at that and said, yeah maybe

22:47

not but I mean they looked at it long enough,

22:49

they looked at it for quite a while. They

22:51

did and again that sort of comes back to my

22:54

point just about sort of the viewing

22:56

experience. I think that a

22:58

couple of replays of that, they should have been able

23:00

to see, well, you know,

23:03

this is not sufficient to overturn the

23:05

on-field decision. I don't think it needed

23:07

that degree of depth and

23:09

study but there you go. That's

23:12

the way it is in the Premier League at the

23:15

present point in time. They're sort of happy to pause

23:17

the game for quite protracted periods and then ultimately stick

23:20

with the on-field which is really

23:22

frustrating. But yeah, I

23:24

also think that these calls, I mean we're talking about the

23:26

red car but talking about the penalty, we've got another big

23:28

one to come in the second half. You

23:31

know, I think you could find lots of people

23:33

on either side of the argument and I think

23:35

that does also illustrate the difficulty they all had

23:38

just trying to set a kind of objective bar

23:40

in a sport where so many of the calls

23:42

feel subjective. Yes. Anyway,

23:44

it was up to Bakayo

23:46

Saka to take the penalty to put us

23:48

1-0 up and he did so in

23:52

a very cool way, didn't he? It was

23:54

a really confident penalty from

23:56

a player whose record from the spot

23:58

this season. 6 out of

24:00

6, is that what it is? Yeah,

24:02

definitely. You know, is he changing your

24:05

mind? You feeling better now when you see the

24:14

kind of sack? I am, I am. But

24:18

yeah, that is a very good record by any standard and

24:20

he couldn't have looked more calm

24:23

and composed tacking this away. No. To

24:25

be honest, actually, he was a bit too calm and composed

24:27

with that chance that came to him early in the second

24:29

half. But in this instance, he got its spot on. Yes, he

24:32

did. And that was 1-0. I think that was

24:34

a big goal in the context of this game and

24:36

the context of the title race. You

24:38

know, we talked about it. Is it going to be one of those

24:40

days? Had we gone in 0-0? Had

24:43

we missed a penalty, it would have really

24:45

felt like it was going to be one

24:47

of those days. But no mistake

24:49

from Bakai Osaka. 20 goals

24:51

in all competitions now for him. So

24:53

it's a lovely landmark for

24:56

him to have achieved so far. This season,

24:59

even though he hasn't really played very well,

25:01

has he? No, can't wait till

25:03

he finds four. Yeah, it'd be good. And

25:06

like you say, there was a really big

25:08

chance for him early in the second half

25:10

where Havertz did very, very well in the

25:12

center forward position, played it to him. I

25:16

wondered, did

25:19

he think he had to take it first time because

25:21

he had more time than he thought there. I

25:23

think he could have taken a touch. Yeah,

25:25

perhaps so. It was really good stuff from Havertz.

25:27

And he's got a lot of options there, Sakha.

25:29

He can take a touch with his left, he

25:31

can shift it onto his right. We know he

25:33

can do that. He takes it

25:36

early, but it's not the cleanest strike.

25:38

And yeah, it was

25:40

interesting because after that, Bournemouth

25:43

had a decent little spell, didn't they? So

25:46

I was worried that that might feel like a

25:48

moment. Yeah. But

25:50

it didn't come to pass. Yeah, they did have

25:53

a chance. Was it Solanke? Wasn't it?

25:55

Yeah, I mean, that's not... At the near post. I mean, there was

25:57

a lot of commencing. Yeah. complaining

26:00

because in the build up to

26:02

that happening, Odegard

26:04

is taken out, like absolutely taken

26:07

out in midfield. Not

26:09

by the guy who has the ball but taken out kind

26:11

of off the ball as he's going to try

26:13

and make a tackle. Riot didn't

26:15

have a great deal to do but he

26:18

stood up well and made the save

26:20

there. But Bournemouth were certainly more in

26:22

it in the second half. They played

26:24

higher up the pitch, they pressed a bit higher. There

26:28

were a couple of bookings I think that we got.

26:30

Havarts got booked for jumping. I don't know what

26:32

that was about. It seems mad to me that

26:34

Havarts can get booked. There was

26:36

a really good tackle on Sacco, wasn't there

26:38

in the box. Again Havarts down the left

26:41

played a good ball into the middle and

26:44

Bournemouth defended pretty well. And it was

26:46

more open. I'm

26:49

not saying it was quite end to end

26:51

but as a game it was certainly more

26:53

open. We felt

26:55

a bit more open but maybe that's because Bournemouth

26:57

had far more of a ball in this half

26:59

than they did in the first. Yeah,

27:02

I think the first half was something crazy,

27:04

like 80% possession wasn't it. They

27:06

adjusted, I think they made a couple

27:08

of tweaks and were a much better side

27:10

as a consequence of it. So

27:13

much so that our second goal arguably

27:16

came a bit against a run of play

27:18

but the relief that it provided was huge.

27:21

Arsenal, we spoke about the first goal and the

27:23

timing of that and us really needing it. You'd

27:25

say the same for the second, it was a

27:28

goal that suddenly made what felt

27:30

like quite an awkward game a

27:32

lot more straightforward. Yeah, I mean the

27:35

way we worked this ball, Tommy

27:38

Asu wins a really big header on the touch

27:40

line, gets across very well, wins a

27:42

header, Trussard gets it back and then we worked the

27:44

ball across the pitch and

27:46

up the pitch. It's

27:49

a nice piece of play and I'm sure people

27:51

have seen the analysis of where Declan Rice was

27:53

at the start of the move, he was

27:56

on the edge of our box and

27:58

I think it's Odegard Haverts. Pass

28:02

doesn't quite come off but Rice is there, takes

28:04

a touch. It's not the best

28:06

touch he'll ever have in his life but the way

28:09

he improvises and just sort

28:11

of turns and plays a ball with the outside

28:13

of his foot to Trossard is fantastic. I mean

28:15

it really is just split second, realising

28:19

where he is, what he can do with the ball

28:21

and finding Trossard in the way that he does. Finish

28:24

from Trossard who, you know, I think

28:26

he was okay in this game but once

28:28

again he's popped up with a big goal at

28:30

a big time and a big game. Absolutely

28:33

yeah and you

28:35

know we spoke about Saka maybe taking the shot

28:38

too early. I think taking the shot early

28:40

for Trossard here works a treat because Kieper's

28:42

not quite set. It doesn't actually go right

28:44

in the corner or anything you know but

28:46

it's just a decent strike, low and hard,

28:48

Kieper can't get down to it. Yeah listen

28:52

he's got the nose for goal, Leandro

28:54

Trossard and another big contribution and like

28:57

I say the timing of it was

28:59

just so critical. It just gave us

29:01

breathing space at the point of the

29:04

game where we really needed it. Absolutely

29:07

there were changes then from

29:09

both sides and then a big incident in

29:12

our box where they had

29:14

a goal disallowed. And

29:16

again they stuck with the on field you know which again

29:20

I've sort of you know I

29:23

do understand that and I think

29:25

that there's merit in that but

29:27

for me

29:30

we got away with one here. I

29:32

think that this was a really soft decision

29:35

from the referee. You

29:38

know I don't think there's a lot in it

29:40

and when you break it down and watch it

29:42

frame by frame I

29:45

think you know Bournemouth can feel

29:47

a little bit aggrieved by that

29:49

one. Well here's

29:51

my thoughts on this. Yes go on. I sort

29:53

of agree with you but what I think I

30:00

mean the ref made his mind up quickly right and

30:03

what I think got

30:05

us the decision in the end because

30:08

I agree it's quite soft on Raya. Like

30:11

it's not a huge amount of contact there was a goal

30:13

in the Chelsea Spurs game

30:15

the other night remember it was

30:18

disallowed late on. Was

30:20

it that was it Chelsea? Yeah Chelsea

30:22

Villa maybe actually. Where there

30:24

was a nudge in the box and Chelsea scored

30:26

and then it was disallowed. Oh yeah I did

30:28

want it yeah. Well

30:31

like I don't think there's even as much

30:33

contact in this but what

30:36

I think swings it for us is the fact

30:38

that when you look at the replays Raya decides

30:40

to come for the ball and Salenkey

30:42

decides to go for Raya. He

30:45

doesn't go for the ball he doesn't decide I'm going to

30:47

challenge for the ball here. He's

30:49

not jumping for the ball he's not jumping

30:51

to try and get there before David Raya.

30:54

He looks at Raya and

30:57

backs into him and

30:59

deliberately attempts to foul the goalkeeper.

31:02

Now I agree the contact is not much but

31:04

the intent is there I think that's probably

31:07

what gets us that decision. Like if Salenkey

31:09

goes up to challenge for that ball as

31:11

much as goalkeepers are protected if it's the

31:13

same amount of contact

31:16

in two players going for

31:18

the same ball I don't think we get

31:20

that. But he's

31:23

not even trying to go for the

31:25

ball and I think that is probably what

31:28

gets us that decision because I do think despite

31:30

the fact there isn't a great deal of contact

31:32

the sufficient contact for Raya not to be able

31:34

to make the right punch right

31:37

it does impact the way he punches

31:39

the ball. I think where the

31:41

more interesting or the more dubious

31:46

element of this from an Arsenal perspective is

31:49

whether or not there's a foul by Saliba on billing.

31:51

Well that's it like I think there probably is

31:54

that's what when I say when you watch it

31:56

frame by frame there is

31:58

kind of a tug in there isn't there so What

32:00

do you do at that point as a VAR?

32:02

Yeah. Well, we, they cancel each other out. I

32:04

don't know. Yeah. I don't know

32:06

either. I mean, I mean, it's. But

32:09

you know, again, it's a subjective call that

32:11

could have gone either way. And, um, I

32:14

take your point about Solanke and Ryer, but I

32:16

sort of think, uh,

32:20

people in houses with posters of Ben White on

32:22

the wall shouldn't throw stones or something like that.

32:24

No, no, no. But like, you know, did we

32:26

not have a gold disallowed by Ben White? Um,

32:29

you know, a brilliant trust, our goal against

32:31

Lester where, you know, Ben White deliberately

32:35

impeded the goalkeeper. And if you get away with

32:37

it, fine. You know, if

32:39

you can get away with it, I'm all for

32:41

it. But Bournemouth didn't get away with it in

32:43

this instance. And, um, we've been punished for it.

32:46

Yeah. Cause I would have made it much nervey

32:48

than it, than it needed to be. Sure. Um,

32:52

so yeah. So then, and then actually we, we

32:55

even went on to put some gloss on the school.

32:57

Yeah, we sure did. I mean, yeah, that moment would

32:59

have maybe changed things. This was a game I think

33:01

that should have been more

33:03

comfortable for Arsenal, but easily could have been a

33:06

lot more uncomfortable in the final 15 minutes. This

33:08

was like the 73rd, 74th minute when that happened.

33:12

I think, yeah. And it's, you

33:14

know, I think it's perfectly reasonable to be

33:16

frustrated about the sack of

33:19

foul and lack of punishment there. But

33:22

I also think when you, when

33:24

you take a step back, probably, you

33:26

know, we, we did all right

33:28

out of the officiating decisions on the day. I

33:31

think we were the beneficiaries more than we

33:33

were the victims. Yes. Um,

33:35

although we were robbed of an

33:37

absolute wonder goal by Gabrielle. Oh

33:39

my God. Yeah. What an unbelievable

33:41

hit. And it feels, you know,

33:44

slightly harsh to deny something of

33:46

that quality because of what was

33:48

it, it's Havarts arm

33:50

or shoulder or something that was offside. Yeah.

33:52

Cherlish to this level. Gabrielle was

33:54

so gutted as well. Like he

33:57

sort of celebrated it. And when he

33:59

saw. the referee blow the whistle

34:01

he fell to his knees like

34:04

no because he knew yeah oh

34:06

my god just

34:09

watching it again here top

34:14

corner his

34:18

face he'll never score a better one like that

34:21

like have all the goals he scored for Arsenal

34:23

have been headers have they is that fair he's

34:26

got one or two with his feet

34:28

like in the box but nothing like

34:30

that yeah nothing like that unbelievable incredible

34:33

hit you'll probably think about that

34:36

forever i always think you remember the

34:38

ones that don't count or

34:40

that don't go in you know like i feel

34:42

like it's easier sometimes to remember time where you

34:44

hit the bar than a goal you scored because

34:46

it's the nearliness of it yeah yeah

34:50

yeah it's a shame but yeah

34:52

we did get that third goal

34:54

in the end Declan Rice another

34:57

rampaging run forward Gabriel Jesus substitute

34:59

did very well to hold the ball

35:01

up and play him in and he

35:04

did say afterwards Sydney Rice i

35:06

was fuming fuming after that first

35:08

half miss and

35:10

he obviously wanted to get back on the back on

35:13

the score sheet finished very very well

35:15

to make it three nil and who knows you

35:18

know what that goal could mean in the in

35:20

the context of the title race any goal

35:22

is important at this point every goal matters

35:25

and i think you know there is

35:27

something to be said or you've got to

35:29

give credit to a player or the mindset

35:33

of players in a team where in

35:35

the 96 minute and there were

35:38

like eight minutes of added time so we

35:40

were into the seventh minute of added time

35:42

time the game was

35:44

won everyone knows it at that

35:46

point but rice was still determined to make

35:49

a run from deep in his own half to get on

35:51

the end of it to score a goal i think there's

35:53

something hugely admirable about that

35:56

that attitude you know because you

35:58

don't win games like on if

36:01

you're not prepared to put in those kinds of

36:03

yards and doing it in a game like this

36:06

is just part of how you make that happen.

36:09

Yeah, I think it's attitude but

36:11

it's also athleticism. I mean when

36:13

you watch the replays of that

36:15

goal, everybody on the pitch

36:18

is moving at a certain pace and

36:20

then he just appears in the screen and

36:23

it feels like someone's put all his

36:25

physical stats up to 99 and he's just charging

36:27

through. I think it was at the Wolves game

36:30

a couple of weeks ago where it got into

36:32

stoppage time and suddenly he found

36:34

another gear. He

36:36

and Odegard and Saka, yeah. Yeah,

36:39

it's incredible the

36:41

engine that he has and he's

36:44

featured in every Premier League game. I

36:47

think there's one maybe where he started on the bench and came on.

36:51

When you pay a lot of money for somebody, that

36:53

is such an important part of it. Are they going to

36:55

be available to you? He has been for

36:58

pretty much every game, pretty much every minute

37:00

of every game, right up until the 97th,

37:02

98th. Yeah,

37:05

I haven't really got enough surprises

37:07

for Declan Rice. I mean in

37:09

some respects he's been the difference for Arsenal this season

37:11

and like you say, who knows if

37:14

it's possible that goal could be the difference

37:16

come in this season. Well yeah, you never

37:19

know and you don't quite know what's going

37:21

to happen and we're all crossing our fingers

37:23

and hoping for miracles

37:25

and hoping for something to happen that feels

37:27

a bit unlikely at this point but all

37:29

you can do is just win

37:31

your games and see what happens and I

37:34

guess that's going to be the mindset of

37:36

the players. Second last

37:38

home game, that had to win, kept a clean sheet.

37:41

David Ryan of course, Golden Glove on

37:44

the back of that clean sheet. Yeah

37:46

I think he was already confirmed to share it and

37:48

this means it's his and his alone,

37:52

which is nice if you're going to win a Golden

37:54

Glove. The last thing you want is Jordan Pickford's sweaty

37:56

hand getting in it with you. Yeah you don't want

37:58

to share with Jordan Pickford. No, so

38:01

I think it's great and he's been

38:03

a big part of that, but I

38:05

think, to be honest, that's Golden Glove

38:09

is for the whole team as well, because

38:11

he's been incredibly well protected this season.

38:15

We've defended superbly the

38:17

entire team out on the pitch and

38:20

that's just rewarding. There

38:23

were some pretty impressive numbers coming

38:25

out of the game, obviously there was that 15th

38:27

clean sheet for David Ryer. I

38:30

think we, what was it,

38:32

88 goals we've matched last season,

38:35

which was our highest ever goalscoring

38:37

Premier League campaign. Number

38:40

of wins, 26 matches our Premier

38:44

League record as well, which

38:46

I think is held by

38:48

the Invincibles. We

38:50

can't ask for much more, Andrew. They really are

38:52

doing absolutely everything they can to take this all

38:54

the way to Yes, where is

38:57

the other stat that I liked? I

39:01

think I retweeted it, so let me just go back here.

39:09

It comes from at Hente

39:12

underscore AFSC on Twitter.

39:15

Arsenal's current goal difference of plus 60 is the

39:17

is the best in the club's history

39:20

in top-flight football after 36 games played

39:22

in a season. I

39:24

mean, extraordinary. I mean, I'll

39:26

be honest and say, I

39:29

didn't think that

39:31

we had this kind of run necessarily

39:35

in us. When I thought about last

39:37

season, so much of it was

39:39

built on that extraordinary first half of the

39:41

campaign where we just kept winning. And

39:44

that felt like this sort of magical

39:46

thing that being able

39:48

to reproduce might prove impossible.

39:50

But the run since Dubai,

39:53

shall we say, since the turn of the year has

39:56

been astonishing. 14 wins. One

40:00

draw, one defeat. Yeah. And that draw,

40:02

by the way, was at the Etihad,

40:05

one of the hardest places to go

40:07

in world football. And

40:10

I think arguably, you know, we played as if a draw

40:12

was what we were looking for. So we

40:14

took it. Yeah, we got what we wanted. I

40:17

think it's been an incredible

40:21

run. And the only thing

40:23

that sort of makes me more

40:25

incredulous or is more astonishing is the fact that

40:27

it might not be enough. Well,

40:32

I mean, that's just the reality we face when

40:34

you're up against a team like Manchester City. And

40:36

I think, you know, there is I don't want

40:38

to get too far into this because I saw

40:40

a lot of questions about how we should feel

40:42

if it doesn't happen and I'm not there yet

40:44

in my brain, you know, I I

40:48

do have to say, and I said this on the blog

40:50

yesterday, that whatever happens,

40:52

I really, really appreciate the fact

40:55

that we have the team that

40:58

we've been looking for for so

41:00

long, because you can't be

41:02

so entitled, I don't think, as a

41:04

football fan to say, well, only trophies

41:07

are good enough. Only winning

41:10

the league is good enough. You know, that's

41:12

what we all want. And that's what the

41:14

players want and the manager wants and the

41:16

club wants and everybody else. That is what

41:18

you're there for. That's the job that you're

41:20

trying to do. But

41:22

I don't think it's right to say that only

41:24

that. And

41:27

that alone constitutes something that you

41:29

can enjoy or experience in a

41:31

positive way. I said

41:34

time and time again, I'm sure to you

41:36

and on the blog that like all I

41:38

want from an Arsenal team is

41:40

a team that looks like it cares, a

41:42

team that is competitive, a team that can go

41:44

the distance in the title race. And if we

41:47

get it over the line, brilliant. And if we

41:49

don't, you know, it's disappointing and

41:51

it's frustrating and all the rest. But just

41:54

sort of step back a little bit

41:56

and appreciate the fact that these players look

41:58

like they care. players play

42:00

like they care and they play good football

42:02

and they win a lot of games and

42:04

they score a lot of goals and they

42:06

don't let too many goals in and I

42:09

think in another era this would be

42:11

a team that's already won the

42:13

title. Twice. Yeah.

42:17

Arguably twice. Yes. Yeah. I

42:19

mean this is a champion

42:22

level team and

42:25

you know in fairness I did

42:27

say earlier in the season this looks like a

42:29

team that wins things. It's

42:32

a team built to win trophies and it's a

42:34

team that in any other era would be winning

42:36

trophies. I

42:38

think I completely agree with you. It's

42:41

been an outstanding Premier League

42:43

campaign and producing

42:46

title challenges in back to back years

42:49

is a really

42:51

impressive level of consistency. I

42:55

think there'll be a time for kind of if

42:57

we don't do it talking about what

43:00

that means and maybe why we didn't

43:02

and what possible tiny room for improvement

43:04

there might be but I

43:06

also think it's very worth sitting back

43:08

and admiring what has been done this

43:10

season. Frankly whatever

43:13

happens now you know almost whatever happens in

43:15

these final two remaining games this has

43:17

been a fantastic period

43:20

of form since

43:22

the new year and when you look at it as

43:24

a kind of a season I

43:26

think we've done extremely well. I

43:29

mean we could go into the final day

43:31

of the Premier League season with

43:34

the title still up for grabs. Well I

43:36

think that would be fantastic. Yeah we might

43:38

be dependent on and probably will be dependent

43:40

on you know an unlikely

43:42

result happening you know in the next

43:44

couple of weeks for us to win

43:47

the league but if we go into the

43:49

final day and it's still in the balance

43:51

albeit slightly shifted towards Manchester City because

43:53

of you know how easy they have

43:55

it on the final day hosting West

43:57

Ham at home and there's literally zero

44:00

chance that West Ham are

44:02

going to get anything from that game and

44:05

people can clip this up and I guarantee

44:07

it, it's just not going to happen. 100% no way can it happen. There

44:12

isn't any possibility even with football being the

44:14

way it is that West Ham could pull

44:17

something out of the bag on that day.

44:19

I've never been more right about anything. What

44:21

would you prefer to, what would you be

44:23

willing to stake on that Andrew? What

44:26

would I be willing to stake on that? I

44:29

mean obviously

44:31

your reputation. My reputation, my life itself.

44:34

Your life itself. My

44:36

soul, you know my soul, how about

44:38

all that? Your eternal soul. My eternal

44:41

soul. Yeah

44:43

look, if

44:45

it is final day madness, you

44:47

know I obviously hope we come

44:50

out the right end of it but you

44:52

know if you get to that point of the season where it's

44:55

on the final day, there's

44:57

not much more you can do. There's always things you

44:59

can look back on and say but

45:02

that's. You're going to have that

45:04

in any season? Yeah exactly. You're not going to

45:07

take, I hate to break it to everyone, we're

45:09

not going to take maximum points in

45:11

any primary league campaign. It's not

45:13

going to be 38 times 3

45:16

I'm afraid but you know we're getting pretty

45:18

darn close to that these days and

45:22

I just think it would be a tremendous occasion the final

45:24

day. I don't take it for granted that we get there,

45:26

you know we've got a job to do, I'll traffic. But

45:31

if we can, I was at Highbury in

45:34

1999 when that went to

45:36

the final day. I think that's the last time

45:38

that's been the case for Arsenal. Oh

45:41

that was when Manchester United played Spurs.

45:44

Yes it looked briefly like Spurs might

45:46

do us a favor but they're of

45:48

course Spurs. We

45:51

played Aston Villa, I think Carnu scored, we

45:54

won our game but it wasn't enough. But

45:56

you know if you get to that

45:58

point it's going to be a be a party that

46:01

last day, right? Because the Invincibles are going

46:03

to be there, it's going to be a

46:05

celebration of that achievement as well. It

46:08

could be an all-timer of a

46:10

party. It could be. So,

46:12

you know, I know there's a

46:15

lot of

46:17

discussion about what if and what do we do and

46:19

how do we cope or what do we take. I

46:23

feel, I don't know what you feel, but

46:25

I would rather have that discussion afterwards or

46:27

certainly a bit

46:29

closer to the final day because yeah, you

46:32

know, I've got to still believe,

46:34

you know, I've got to still believe that in

46:36

football there is

46:38

just the potential for

46:43

something that

46:45

you don't expect can happen. And

46:47

look, it could happen to us as easily as it

46:50

could happen to Manchester City, but I

46:52

have to believe that we can stay on the right

46:55

track and that something can happen to them and if

46:57

it does, amazing. If it doesn't, you

46:59

know, I think I'm able to

47:01

cope, but I don't want to do that

47:03

just yet. Fair enough. Yeah,

47:06

I agree. Let's stay in the

47:08

hope and yeah,

47:10

let's watch and see because it is, you

47:12

know, so wild sport, crazy things can happen.

47:15

Mm-hmm. So

47:18

yeah, that's that. So three points. We

47:20

were four points clear temporarily. It was

47:22

back to one point and there'll be

47:24

a lot of focus this

47:26

week on getting ready for Manchester United.

47:28

So is there

47:31

anything else for part one, do you think? No,

47:34

no, especially. Good

47:37

win for the women, I guess, rounding out

47:39

the weekend. Yeah, nice to, you know, put

47:41

some sort of dent in Manchester, if not

47:43

in the men's Premier

47:45

League title race yet. Yeah. But we watch

47:47

and we wait. We will wait. All right,

47:49

let's take a little break here. We'll come

47:51

back with your questions and more in

47:54

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more at uh1.com. Welcome

48:58

back to the Arsecast Extra. This is part

49:00

two of the show where we answer questions

49:02

that you send to us on Twitter, at

49:04

Gunnarblog and at Arseblog. Also on

49:07

the Arseblog Discord chat server, which you get access to

49:09

if you are an Arseblog member on

49:11

Patreon. James, do you remember the start

49:13

of the season? Oh,

49:15

it's a long time ago. It is a long time,

49:17

but cast your mind back. Okay. Are

49:20

you there? Yes, I am. You're going. I

49:23

am going. I'm going.

49:25

Okay. You there? I'm there.

49:28

I'm there. August, at temper time. Yeah.

49:31

And the world feels new and fresh and young. And

49:33

we're a little bit worried about what's going on with

49:35

our football team. Why's not have us playing in midfield,

49:37

either? Why who spent 60 million

49:39

on coyotes? No, no, Jurean.

49:43

Jurean, come back. But there's

49:46

something even worse than all of that. What's

49:48

happening? It's the Tottenham are winning games

49:50

of football under their new manager and

49:53

post-acogloo. Oh, no. Oh, I

49:55

know. And oh my God,

49:57

we're in October and my. goodness

50:00

they're going so well that

50:02

they are being compared to the Invincibles

50:06

here's a real headline could Spurs

50:09

outdo the Invincibles I mean I don't

50:11

know how you can fucking outdo being

50:13

unbeaten you can't go double unbeaten you

50:15

fucking morons but anyway Premier League leaders

50:17

taught them on pace to do better

50:20

than Arsenal's greatest ever team after

50:22

beating Crystal Palace what

50:26

happened did they did they did they

50:28

go on beating Andrew did they did they

50:31

outdo the Invincibles hang on here

50:33

comes my fast-forward noise now

50:37

we're we're in the present we're

50:39

in the present James look

50:41

at what's happening look at that everywhere

50:43

they go everywhere they go Newcastle

50:46

four taught them nil Tottenham

50:48

two are still three Chelsea two taught

50:50

them nil Liverpool four taught them to

50:53

four defeats in a row

50:55

and it's fair to say some

50:58

of the Tottenham faithful are not

51:00

happy so much so

51:02

there's a hashtag James can you guess what it

51:05

is I've

51:08

got a few ideas does

51:10

it begin with and yes

51:12

and end without it does it's

51:15

really us I like this one from

51:17

Danny Boyle not a guy who rode train spotting

51:20

he says fuck you

51:22

and your persistence of a

51:25

back four you stubborn myth

51:27

hashtag and jot hashtag leave me

51:30

out good to

51:32

always bring leave me into of course I

51:34

like this one from kg he's

51:37

opened his tweet with hashtag and jot hashtag

51:40

THFC hashtag coz better

51:43

to lose the right way absolute

51:45

bollocks 58 goals

51:47

conceded 18 set-piece goals

51:50

battered by our rivals West Ham

51:53

Arsenal and Chelsea they

51:55

won none of those six fixtures drew

51:57

one and lost five for

52:00

league wins in 2024 negative

52:02

goal difference I'm protesting

52:04

on the 14th of May and

52:07

hopefully you are too. Hashtag

52:10

and out no credentials

52:12

no adaptability no tactics.

52:15

A says out of

52:17

his depth naive pathetic and

52:20

amateur at work hashtag and

52:23

out and there's quite

52:25

a few who really like Richarlison.

52:28

Oh yeah. Yeah they're Richarlison

52:30

fans. Hashtag free Richarlison. Yeah

52:34

one guy says look at that

52:36

you big fat Aussie clown put a

52:38

striker on and you get a goal

52:41

get out the club. Hashtag and out

52:43

another guy says Richie is love Richie

52:45

is class Richie is pure energy and

52:49

is brain dead hashtag

52:51

and out. I

52:54

like this guy

52:57

HK 10 forever and

52:59

his Twitter handle is HK forever

53:01

I mean it must have been a tough year for him. Hate

53:04

this guy with a passion really

53:07

do leave my club you fat

53:09

cunt hashtag and out

53:12

and what I really like about this tweet is

53:14

that underneath it an Arsenal fan called Robert Kelly

53:16

oh he's doing the Lord's work

53:19

he's commented said as an

53:21

Arsenal fan as much as I want to be a

53:23

dick and he's a great manager

53:26

this is his first season and

53:28

you can see clear signs of progress and he

53:31

does need to adjust his tactics in

53:33

certain games but getting rid would be

53:35

a mistake. Lovely stuff

53:37

from Roberto Kelly. Well done. You

53:40

know keep peddling that message hashtag

53:42

and Jim. Well done man

53:45

they're obviously terrified that

53:48

this run a bad form could

53:51

come to an end in the worst possible

53:53

game. One guy says

53:55

if we turn this form around against

53:57

City I'm fully hashtag and out. In

54:00

fact, I relinquish all support.

54:03

I've been worried about that one. Well, yeah,

54:05

I mean, interesting that one I read out said

54:07

he's protesting on the 14th of

54:10

May. And I was like, Oh, I presume that's

54:12

the last game of the season. But of course

54:14

it's the Arsenal, the land city game. Yes. Which

54:16

is their last home game, presumably. So

54:20

yeah, I don't, I mean, listen, there

54:23

was a time, as I mentioned in part one,

54:25

where I thought maybe Spurs could get something there

54:27

at that time. No chance. Has long since. No

54:30

chance. They're going to get hammered. I make my

54:32

eternal soul on it, Andrew. Both of our souls

54:34

go on this. Our souls are on the line.

54:37

Just to finish off with this one, I like this from

54:40

a guy called Tom who said, every

54:43

week we lose. And all

54:45

you have to say is that we have to do

54:47

better. You never

54:49

do better. You bunch

54:51

of bottle job cunts. Hashtag

54:54

Andiad, hashtag Son out. So

54:57

little variety. Son catches them flat. So

55:00

catching a few strays. Yeah,

55:03

I mean, it's been

55:05

enjoyable, an enjoyable recent round. A few,

55:07

a few XG chickens

55:10

coming home to roost. Is

55:14

that the saying? Do chickens come home to roost?

55:16

They do. Yes. Chickens come. I saw the pigeons

55:18

by the way. Some sort of bird. Pigeons do

55:20

as well, don't they? Racing pigeons. They must

55:22

come home. Pigeons feels better to me, but I

55:25

think it is chickens. It is chickens. Oh, toilet

55:27

ducks. Toilet ducks coming home to roost. Just

55:31

before we get into the questions on

55:33

the Discord, Bex17 says, I

55:36

would just like James to rest easy

55:39

as I have re-torn my ACL to help

55:41

ensure we win the title. With

55:44

any luck, I'll be watching the Open Top Bus

55:46

Parade for my recovery bed. Fair

55:48

play. Well done to you for inflicting

55:50

such a horrific injury on yourself for

55:52

the benefit of all of Goonardum. We

55:55

appreciate your sacrifice and I hope that

55:57

it does turn out the way that

55:59

you see. in there so you're

56:01

hopefully safe James. I do appreciate

56:03

that especially as in

56:05

the press room at the

56:07

weekend James Benj was sort

56:09

of spitballing ideas for me

56:12

to hurt myself to try and get Arsenal to win the

56:14

league. Right, what did he come up with? Shying

56:16

my hand in a door, stepping out in front of

56:19

a bus. Ah, that's a bit much. Well you went

56:21

quite far with it so

56:23

I'm glad I had sort of planned a

56:25

big stunt for this week but now I

56:27

can rest easy. Well I mean I suppose

56:31

I might as well tell you this now but

56:34

the live event that we're doing at

56:36

Alexander Palace in the theatre, you're

56:39

coming in like Peter Pan. Sure, sure.

56:41

You know one of those wires

56:43

and we've yet to buy the

56:45

wire. I'm thinking maybe a roll

56:48

of kitchen twine would probably do it. That should be

56:50

fine. Yeah, sure, sure, sure. I'm not

56:52

heavy so it should be fine. What

56:54

could go wrong? What indeed? So

56:58

let's see, let's see what befalls me for this

57:01

fortnight as well. Go

57:04

on then, shall we have a question? Yeah, I've

57:06

got a question here from Master Johnbury. Okay.

57:08

He said, we talk a lot about

57:10

the stylistic fit of players within

57:13

a team or a system. Do you think

57:15

it's even more important that coaches are a

57:17

good stylistic fit for the team? Why do

57:20

we not devote as much attention to changes

57:22

in the coaching staff as you do to

57:24

changes in the playing squad? Did

57:26

I see it's been confirmed or it's

57:28

likely now that Albert Stuyvenberg is going

57:31

to go and take over Feynord because

57:33

it's a lot? You're ahead

57:35

of me there if it's been confirmed. I'd

57:38

certainly read some reporting about it. Let's have a

57:40

look. Stuyvenberg.

57:44

Well, there's certainly tweets saying everyone is going to

57:46

miss you. It's

57:49

been linked with the job. One from MRTeta8.

57:52

Definitely going to miss you there Albert. Take

57:55

it easy. One from Mr. C.

57:57

Quest. Good luck in your new

57:59

job. I mean, listen, he

58:03

has been a manager before in Belgium,

58:07

and I think has aspirations

58:09

to be the number

58:12

one again. He

58:14

was linked with the Ajax job last

58:16

summer. I don't know if you remember all

58:18

that, but he was talked about in those

58:21

terms. So

58:24

I think that's entirely plausible

58:27

that he could take this opportunity.

58:29

His stock is very high right now. He's

58:31

got great reputation from work he's done

58:33

with Michal. And

58:37

I think it would be a loss, but

58:39

if there's one thing I

58:41

know, however, about Michel Arteta is

58:43

that he'll be very prepared for that eventuality.

58:48

You know, this is a guy who assembled

58:51

a kind of hypothetical coaching staff long

58:54

before he was even a manager. And

58:57

I'm sure he and Albert have got a

59:00

very good close relationship. I'm sure that if

59:03

he is going to go, there will have been communication about that. You

59:06

know, we saw a change in the

59:08

coaching staff last summer, Steve Round, moved

59:11

on, and Arsenal

59:13

have maintained their consistency

59:15

and performance despite that.

59:19

So I think he'll

59:21

be very well prepared for such

59:23

a situation and probably already knows

59:25

who he'd want if Albert were

59:27

to go. Yeah, I do think it's interesting

59:30

as well because remember

59:33

when Arsene Wenger was in charge, he had pretty

59:35

much the same group of coaches all the way

59:37

through. And there was a little

59:39

bit of change towards the end, but he kept a core

59:41

group of people around him,

59:44

Pat Rice, Boro Primerac, Steve

59:47

Bold of course was there. But one

59:50

of the things people talked about

59:52

with Alex Ferguson was how he

59:54

brought different assistant managers

59:56

and people in to give the team a

59:58

different dynamic at certain times. So whether

1:00:01

plays into that I did have a really just

1:00:03

a question that occurred to me about

1:00:05

Freddy umberg Why

1:00:09

do you think Freddy has

1:00:12

sort of issued

1:00:14

the coaching world since

1:00:18

Leaving Arsenal because you know, he was

1:00:21

a under 15th

1:00:23

coach he had the Kyle Saka first worked at

1:00:25

youth level went off to Wolfsburg to me with

1:00:27

that guy Andres young address

1:00:30

young cur came back to Arsenal was

1:00:34

Part of the staff under Unai Emery Spoke

1:00:38

a lot about you know being in

1:00:40

coaching being in management left Arsenal saying

1:00:42

he wanted to maybe go into management

1:00:46

Why do you think? He's not doing

1:00:48

something in that regard. Do you think maybe? Like

1:00:51

in the in the period where he was working

1:00:53

with our tetta and saw You

1:00:55

know how much is involved to be a manager

1:00:57

at a club like that. He kind of went

1:00:59

fuck That seems like a

1:01:01

lot of work I'll just

1:01:03

go on TV instead. I don't think

1:01:06

that's impossible Do

1:01:08

you know what actually? I'm

1:01:10

always hesitant to advise

1:01:13

listeners to watch anything involving Gary

1:01:16

Neville, but I'm gonna take

1:01:18

that risk anyway and The

1:01:20

most recent episode of his podcast,

1:01:22

I think it's called stick football

1:01:25

for the overlap He talked about

1:01:27

his briefs Bell as a manager

1:01:29

over Valencia and

1:01:32

it's really interesting viewing like

1:01:34

he spoke about going into the

1:01:36

dugout and came

1:01:39

up against one experienced manager and I

1:01:42

think I forget who it was exactly, but

1:01:45

I think he changed formations like three times

1:01:47

in the first half Neville

1:01:50

speaks about being on the touchline and just sort

1:01:52

of feeling so out

1:01:54

of his depth hmm and

1:01:59

Yeah, I think it It just illustrates like someone who

1:02:01

had been a coach, who had

1:02:03

been a pundit, obviously, but also a

1:02:05

coach with the England national team had done all

1:02:08

their badges when you actually

1:02:10

take that step into the dugout and

1:02:12

go up against people who've been doing

1:02:14

this for, in some cases, 20, 30

1:02:17

years, and who are absolutely

1:02:19

100% committed,

1:02:22

addicted even, perhaps

1:02:25

to the job

1:02:27

and winning. I think

1:02:29

it is, you have to

1:02:32

be so, so, so dedicated to

1:02:35

even a standard chance of kind

1:02:37

of staying afloat. And

1:02:39

I think it probably is a bit of a shock

1:02:42

for some people. And maybe the other

1:02:45

thing I would say about Freddie, and I

1:02:47

honestly don't know why he's not surfaced as

1:02:50

a coach anywhere, but maybe he has quite

1:02:52

high expectations. You know, he had a fantastic

1:02:54

career as a player, as a coach, he's

1:02:56

worked with quite high profile clubs, Arsenal and

1:02:58

Wolfsburg, held some really good positions at those

1:03:01

clubs. You know, maybe he is

1:03:04

reticent to do what a lot of

1:03:06

managers have to do and go down

1:03:08

the pyramid to cut his teeth. Maybe

1:03:12

he's difficult for clubs lower down the pyramid to

1:03:14

afford. There could be all sorts of reasons, but

1:03:17

it does seem like having been discussed as a

1:03:19

really interesting promising coach, and

1:03:22

you know, indeed, he was part of our Tetta

1:03:24

staff initially. Yeah. It's odd,

1:03:26

isn't it, that he's kind of fallen off the

1:03:28

radar in that respect. Yeah, anyway, it's just a

1:03:31

little sidebar there. So yeah, I'll be

1:03:33

fascinated to see what happens with the coaching staff.

1:03:35

I mean, you know,

1:03:37

we saw Carlos Cuesta get a promotion of sorts

1:03:39

last summer. Would he sort

1:03:42

of gain another promotion to, you know,

1:03:44

I know Mikel thinks incredibly highly of

1:03:46

him and they have a very good

1:03:49

relationship. Would Mikel want someone

1:03:51

with some more experience maybe? Carlos

1:03:55

Cuesta, wasn't he linked with Norwich,

1:03:58

was it? He was, I think... That

1:04:00

was quite a spurious link. I don't think there

1:04:02

was much to that based on what

1:04:04

I've heard. But, you know, sooner

1:04:07

or later, he's going to want to be

1:04:10

the guy as well. And I think he's a very

1:04:12

ambitious person. So I don't

1:04:14

think we're talking, you know, 10 years away. I think

1:04:16

we're talking sooner than that. And that's the interesting thing,

1:04:18

isn't it, as a manager? With

1:04:22

your coaching staff, you want people

1:04:24

who are good. But part of that is

1:04:26

that other people are going to come and take

1:04:28

them. I mean, you just had to cope with that. You know,

1:04:30

he's had a number of assistants. Like who? I can't think of

1:04:32

anyone. I'll just talk to my head. I

1:04:36

actually blanked then. I was like, well,

1:04:39

Macau, obviously, Enzo Maresco was

1:04:41

a city, wasn't he? Now

1:04:44

with Leicester, I know he's had coaches

1:04:47

taken to be other places in the city group. He,

1:04:49

I think, had one go to New York. So

1:04:52

he's lost quite a number of staff over

1:04:55

the years. I'd say there's a fucking

1:04:57

shelf life of working with Pep, though,

1:04:59

as well. You're like, I can't take

1:05:01

this anymore. I need to go

1:05:03

plow my own furrow or, you know, just

1:05:06

leave the country. But I do think

1:05:08

that this breed of managers at

1:05:10

that top level, say

1:05:12

Pep or say Macau, like there

1:05:15

is such an intensity about

1:05:17

the way they work. You know,

1:05:19

I'm curious

1:05:21

to see how their careers

1:05:23

play out. Can Michael Arteta really work

1:05:27

at this level of intensity for 20 years?

1:05:30

Well, I don't think he can work any other way.

1:05:32

I think this is how Michael Arteta works. I think

1:05:34

that's how he worked as a player. I think that's

1:05:36

how his mind works. I think maybe

1:05:39

the job that he's had to do at Arsenal

1:05:41

because of where he came in was maybe

1:05:45

a little more complicated, right? You

1:05:47

know, it was a complete reset and

1:05:49

rebuild job where maybe, I mean, that

1:05:51

might be something he faces at another

1:05:53

point in his career, but I

1:05:56

don't think Arteta can do it any other way. And

1:05:59

if you felt like he was doing the job without

1:06:02

that intensity, he wouldn't feel like he was

1:06:04

doing the job right and would probably just

1:06:06

not do it. I

1:06:09

agree with you. I just wonder

1:06:11

if that might impact the

1:06:14

longevity of this generation of managers. I don't

1:06:16

know. I mean, there's

1:06:18

a lot of talk about PEP potentially calling

1:06:20

it a day. But I mean, do you

1:06:22

think the job is more complicated

1:06:26

nowadays? Like

1:06:29

are all the things

1:06:32

that people have had to grow accustomed to

1:06:34

in football, where we talk about the advent

1:06:38

of statistical analysis, player analysis,

1:06:40

micro analysis of players, the

1:06:43

tactical shifts in the

1:06:45

game, the increased spotlight

1:06:47

perhaps, where everything exists

1:06:52

for much longer than it did. Go

1:06:54

back 30 years and the

1:06:57

game was on Saturday. You talked about

1:06:59

it on Sunday and then you waited

1:07:01

until the next game.

1:07:03

I'm knocking stuff over in my

1:07:05

office again because I'm gesticulating wildly.

1:07:07

But yeah, I know that's a

1:07:09

simplistic way to look at it.

1:07:11

But because of the advent of

1:07:13

the internet and online hashtag

1:07:16

content, these things

1:07:19

live longer in the minds of fans. So

1:07:21

it becomes a more complicated job for a

1:07:23

manager to deal with all those things, not to

1:07:25

mention, his players are young men who

1:07:28

are existing in this world who are on social

1:07:30

media. There are all kinds of things

1:07:32

that make the job, I think, more

1:07:34

complicated today than it ever has been.

1:07:37

Therefore it demands this level of intensity.

1:07:40

Therefore maybe the burnout rate is a little bit higher.

1:07:42

I don't know. Yeah, perhaps

1:07:44

so. I think certainly the

1:07:47

scrutiny and the pressure is greater than it's ever

1:07:49

been. Yeah

1:07:52

you lose four games and there's two cons reading

1:07:54

out hashtags about how you should fuck off. We're

1:07:57

part of the problem. We are part of the problem. But

1:08:00

I think as well, you're

1:08:03

right that the sort of range of responsibilities

1:08:05

is so much broader, but there's also probably

1:08:07

more delegation than there's ever been. There's probably

1:08:09

more staff than there ever been. It's

1:08:14

an interesting one, isn't it? But personally,

1:08:17

I am hoping that Pep calls it a day. Yeah,

1:08:19

I wish you'd fuck off like

1:08:21

now. Go now. Well, ideally right

1:08:24

now before the remaining games would be good.

1:08:26

That's what I'm saying. Right now, just fuck

1:08:28

off and don't come back. I

1:08:30

think it's your question. Okay. Well,

1:08:32

we sort of talked about this a little

1:08:34

bit, but Clubby doesn't pull

1:08:36

any punches. Clubby goes straight for it.

1:08:39

Clubby says, out

1:08:41

of Man City's last three games, Fulham

1:08:43

away, Spurs away and West Ham home,

1:08:46

which team will give them the most trouble?

1:08:49

They're all teams with nothing to play for that would

1:08:51

be happy to see City win the league over Arsenal.

1:08:53

So is there any hope? I

1:08:56

mean, do Fulham really care that much one way or the

1:08:58

other? I mean

1:09:00

Spurs obviously and West Ham. Yeah,

1:09:03

I think are in the vicinity of

1:09:05

that. Also

1:09:08

because you know people can just look at a Man City title

1:09:10

win and go. Yeah. Yeah,

1:09:13

would West Ham want Declan Rice to win the title?

1:09:16

I don't think so. Probably not. We

1:09:19

looked at every Moises answer yesterday, by the way,

1:09:21

about Declan Rice. About why his team of conceded

1:09:23

so many goals. Why the catch the thing? He

1:09:26

just said Declan Rice. I sort of thought based

1:09:28

on what I've seen Declan Rice, that's probably there's

1:09:30

a lot of truth to that. I said that

1:09:32

makes a lot of sense. I

1:09:35

don't know. I've said this on the blog. I've maybe said

1:09:37

it on the podcast. I have a sneaky feeling about the

1:09:39

Fulham game. I don't know why. Don't know what it is.

1:09:42

I just have a feeling. I mean, it

1:09:44

would be the Spursiest thing of all time for

1:09:47

Spurs to be absolutely shit. Like

1:09:50

so shit for game after game after game.

1:09:52

They could lose. Did they play another game

1:09:54

before they play Man

1:09:56

City? Let's have

1:09:58

a look. Yes,

1:10:01

they host Burnley. Right,

1:10:03

so it would be quite spursy to lose

1:10:06

to Burnley and then somehow

1:10:08

beat Manchester City. That would

1:10:10

be, if you were thinking about the spursiest thing that

1:10:12

Spurs could do right now,

1:10:16

like win a game they do not

1:10:18

want to win, win a game they

1:10:20

have no right to win based on

1:10:22

their form, it would be the spursiest

1:10:24

thing of all time if it handed

1:10:26

Arsenal the title. Oh, and maybe the

1:10:28

funniest thing ever. Oh, undoubtedly, undoubtedly. But

1:10:30

like I said, I think the odds of that

1:10:33

are very, very low. My

1:10:36

hope is on the Fulham game that

1:10:38

maybe away from home, Fulham

1:10:41

put in a decent performance, which they can do

1:10:43

on their day as we have experienced. Unfortunately

1:10:46

this season, that's the one that I'm

1:10:48

looking for as the moment

1:10:51

where if they drop points, I

1:10:54

think it's going to be there. That's

1:10:56

where I have my little bit of hope. If

1:11:00

they don't do it, I pretty much have no

1:11:02

hope. Like I'll keep everything

1:11:04

cross but I wouldn't expect anything after

1:11:06

that. Yeah, well my

1:11:09

hope is with Fulham because that's the next

1:11:11

one. Yes. And

1:11:13

after that, it will transfer to Tottenham

1:11:16

and then after that to West

1:11:19

Ham. Transferable hope. Yeah, exactly,

1:11:21

I'm just pushing it on, rolling it

1:11:23

over to the next game. So that

1:11:25

Fulham game is on Saturday lunchtime. So

1:11:29

before, the day before

1:11:31

our game at Old Trafford. So we

1:11:35

will kind of know

1:11:37

what a boost it would give if Fulham

1:11:39

could get a result in that game. Saturday

1:11:42

lunchtime, I will be not in front of a

1:11:44

television. I will not be watching that game and

1:11:47

I'm expecting my phone to go... People

1:11:52

going, oh my God, Fulham. So

1:11:55

make that happen. I'm just saying it out loud

1:11:58

into the universe so it actually happens. Okay,

1:12:00

that would be lovely. What about this one? We just mentioned

1:12:02

him. Carrie

1:12:04

on the Discord says, Are

1:12:08

we reaching the point where we need to think

1:12:10

about the possibility of Declan Rice being our left

1:12:12

eight? Given how incredible he

1:12:14

can be there or does his price tag

1:12:17

necessitate him being a six long term? Also,

1:12:20

have we seen the best of him as

1:12:22

a lone six so far? I

1:12:24

think this is a really interesting question Because

1:12:28

he's Performed so well, I think

1:12:30

seven goals and eight assists now in the

1:12:32

Premier League for Declan Rice. Mm-hmm And

1:12:35

he just does have this tremendous physical

1:12:38

capacity to make runs into

1:12:41

the box He's not

1:12:43

bad finisher when he gets there. No, he's

1:12:45

got good ball striking technique so

1:12:50

He's got that aspect of his game, you know,

1:12:53

I don't think he's quite a a Steven

1:12:57

Gerrard Frank Lampard type in

1:13:00

terms of being able to contribute, you know

1:13:02

15 to 20 goals a season But

1:13:06

he's got the potential to offer something hmm I

1:13:12

think I sort of asked after about this a bit in

1:13:14

his press conference and he sort of gave Quite

1:13:17

a standard answer about well, you know, it's

1:13:19

a game-by-game thing. It depends on the opposition

1:13:21

It depends on who else is available. It

1:13:23

depends on who you're playing against. Mm-hmm. I

1:13:27

Think that there's some merit in that I

1:13:29

think that's probably true in which case I

1:13:31

think the important thing is surrounding Declan Rice

1:13:34

with other midfield players who

1:13:36

have a similar degree of Flexibility

1:13:38

so then you have true Options

1:13:41

in terms of how you deploy these guys,

1:13:43

you know, I don't think you necessarily have

1:13:45

to decide He is a number

1:13:47

six or he is a number eight, but

1:13:49

you need to make sure you've got a squad that

1:13:52

enables you Hmm to kind of use him

1:13:54

as either I think Yeah,

1:13:57

what do you think? I think

1:13:59

it's fascinating that he still,

1:14:02

when he's asked like where do you

1:14:04

think your best position is and he

1:14:07

will say number six. He says it

1:14:09

unequivocally. Yeah without question but I think

1:14:11

probably his best performances for Arsenal have

1:14:14

been when he's played a little higher up the pitch where

1:14:17

he has the space and

1:14:19

the freedom to stretch those legs

1:14:21

and like we touched on

1:14:23

in the first half you know show how

1:14:26

important that engine is and what it can

1:14:28

do to the team I

1:14:32

suppose my thing would be like is

1:14:35

you know would that question be solved if

1:14:38

we really had a number eight

1:14:40

who was

1:14:42

a more natural attacking player

1:14:44

you know if we had a guy who

1:14:48

was like a sort of over to guard type

1:14:51

in terms of productivity creativity you

1:14:54

know skill imagination in the

1:14:56

final third would

1:14:58

that end the debate because you'd

1:15:00

be like well Rice

1:15:02

is going to play behind those those two guys.

1:15:04

Yeah I mean I think that is

1:15:06

a really interesting aspect of it and that's why I

1:15:08

was I was always just a

1:15:11

little bit when it

1:15:13

came to Haber it's in midfield I was hopeful

1:15:15

but I was just maybe

1:15:17

a little I wondered

1:15:21

if Arteta might go

1:15:23

for a right-footed player there because we've

1:15:26

two left-footed players in second ode

1:15:28

guard over on the other side of the

1:15:30

pitch and I know he was replacing Granite

1:15:32

Shaka but I did wonder in terms of

1:15:34

balance if a right-footed player in that left

1:15:36

eight position might be quite

1:15:38

effective because we would then have two right-footed

1:15:41

players you know whether it's Trothard or

1:15:43

Martinelli on the left-hand side and then somebody

1:15:45

else you know in

1:15:47

there which is where we've seen Declan

1:15:49

Rice and seen him play really well

1:15:51

I mean the other aspect

1:15:54

of this is you could say maybe the decision is

1:15:56

made if you bring in a

1:15:59

number six who's only number six who's really

1:16:01

good at that job. Do

1:16:03

you know what I mean? So then your decision

1:16:05

is made because well are we gonna play Rice

1:16:07

there? Well no we'll play this guy because that's

1:16:09

what he does. This is the kind of player

1:16:11

he is and you know

1:16:13

I've seen links to Bruno

1:16:15

Gimmarais and Martin Zubimendi and players

1:16:17

like that who would be perhaps

1:16:20

more much more six than eight

1:16:23

whereas Rice is six but

1:16:25

also eight. You know he's both

1:16:27

of those things and can

1:16:29

be both of those things whereas

1:16:32

if your decision is made because of

1:16:34

I don't want to say the

1:16:36

limitations of a player but the skill set of a player

1:16:39

in that sixth position it might well then make

1:16:41

your mind up about Rice. Yeah I think I

1:16:44

also Vengar used to use this terminology when

1:16:46

talking about bad players sometimes he would say

1:16:48

there is a force coming

1:16:51

out of him like when a player found a

1:16:53

groove a form or was thriving in a new

1:16:55

position he would say like this there is a

1:16:57

force coming out of him and I do feel

1:16:59

a bit like that about Declan Rice at number

1:17:01

eight that there is this kind of force

1:17:05

there that if we can find a way

1:17:07

to harness we might unlock a

1:17:10

new dimension to him like I really think

1:17:12

he has the potential to do it and

1:17:14

be very very good there has

1:17:17

been very very good there for us already. I

1:17:20

also think that maybe these decisions

1:17:24

aren't going to be made in isolation like

1:17:26

it's not just about Declan Rice it's probably

1:17:28

about the entire composition

1:17:30

of Arsenal's left-hand side and

1:17:33

when Arteta and Edu you

1:17:35

know are looking at the summer

1:17:38

and their plans it might depend on

1:17:40

the kind of left-back they want

1:17:42

in the team you know whether

1:17:45

that's a guy who's going out on the overlap

1:17:47

or stepping into midfield that will affect the sort

1:17:49

of midfield they want in advance of that it

1:17:51

might be influenced by the

1:17:53

kind of winger we have on

1:17:55

the left-hand side is it Leandro Trossard is it

1:17:57

Gabriel Martinelli is it somebody else

1:18:00

I think those decisions are

1:18:03

also going to be big factors in what we

1:18:05

decide to do with that side of the midfield.

1:18:09

It's all about the relationships, right? But

1:18:12

it is fascinating and I guess

1:18:14

it's a great sort of luxury and

1:18:16

a great debate to have to

1:18:19

have a player like Rice who really can do

1:18:22

both jobs. And it is interesting, like you say,

1:18:24

I mean, Zuba

1:18:26

Mende very much number six, you

1:18:28

know, we hear that Arsenal, that's

1:18:30

how they see Bruno as well, very much a

1:18:32

number six. So

1:18:35

one of those players was to come in, you'd have to think we'd see

1:18:37

more and more of Rice at number eight. Time

1:18:40

will tell, time will tell. He's

1:18:43

not bad in either position. No, no. Well,

1:18:46

let's have this, I like this to the optimism of

1:18:48

this question, Eddie Longbridge, who will

1:18:50

be the player who scores the winning

1:18:53

goal that clinches the title for us

1:18:55

on the last day of the season,

1:18:57

earning himself legendary status and marking himself

1:18:59

down in Premier League history with a

1:19:01

goal that lives on forever and echoes

1:19:03

through the ages. Cedric.

1:19:11

No, I like Sied actually replied,

1:19:13

Colin Sied said, it's got to

1:19:15

be former Gunnar Mavropanos for West

1:19:17

Ham. Oh, there you

1:19:19

go, actually. Yeah. Or Lukasz

1:19:21

Wabianski. Sure. Up for

1:19:24

a corner in the dying seconds of the

1:19:26

game and he's Thomsom, Thomsom a header to

1:19:28

help his former club win the title. I

1:19:30

guess the question is more about which player,

1:19:32

which Arsenal player might do it. Have

1:19:35

you got a sneaky feeling for anybody? Ooh.

1:19:40

I mean, there's so

1:19:43

many, that's the thing about this team, there's so many

1:19:45

people who can score goals and so many people who

1:19:47

do score goals. I

1:19:52

will say William Saliba with

1:19:54

a header. I

1:19:58

like that. But

1:20:01

I hope, you know, whatever happens against Everton, it's

1:20:04

not 1-0. It's

1:20:06

only a one-goal game. I

1:20:08

hope we're a little more comprehensive on

1:20:10

the final day. But... As

1:20:13

we have been over the last couple of seasons. Yeah. Jordan

1:20:17

Pickford hasn't got a golden glove to fight for anymore, do you

1:20:19

know what I mean? He's on the beach.

1:20:21

He's on the beach. I don't know

1:20:23

who it will be. You

1:20:26

know, Bakais Saka has

1:20:28

been burdened with glorious purpose and

1:20:30

has that sense of destiny about

1:20:32

him. I mean,

1:20:35

that would be amazing. Yeah. I

1:20:38

think Bilbo's statue now, if that happens.

1:20:41

But I'm going to actually say Trossard, I

1:20:44

just think... I

1:20:47

just think he keeps coming up with moments and

1:20:51

sometimes in a title win,

1:20:54

in the sort of distant memory of them

1:20:56

anyway, you get players

1:20:58

who aren't necessarily automatic

1:21:02

starters who

1:21:04

can provide these defining

1:21:07

moments, you know? And

1:21:10

it makes them a cult hero forever. And

1:21:12

I just have a sneaky feeling that he might

1:21:14

have one more in him. But let's see. I

1:21:17

hope it comes to that. Yeah, me too. We'll

1:21:20

keep fingers crossed. Desi underscore Arce on

1:21:22

the Discord says, this question is for

1:21:25

James. I want to preface this

1:21:27

by saying that this is not a dig. How

1:21:30

difficult is it to report on Arcels as an Arsenal

1:21:32

fan? The story about Gabriel J. Zouce last week was

1:21:34

in a particularly positive one for the club, especially at

1:21:36

this stage of the season. So on the one hand

1:21:38

as a fan, I imagine you don't want to see

1:21:40

that, but on the other hand, it's your job and

1:21:42

it's a big story to break. What's

1:21:45

your thought process when something like that comes up?

1:21:48

Oh, that's a good question. Well,

1:21:51

in fact, someone asked me about this on the

1:21:53

Discord and I didn't reply there. So I'll probably

1:21:55

just say the same thing, which is that the

1:21:58

way it works is that... the

1:22:01

athletic we have a meeting every Monday where

1:22:04

we sort of chat about what happened over

1:22:06

the weekend and we share you

1:22:08

know information or stuff we've been working

1:22:10

on and in one of those meetings a

1:22:12

few weeks ago I happen

1:22:15

to mention that I'd

1:22:17

heard that Gabriels-Ezuse was the

1:22:20

club was were prepared to listen to offers for

1:22:22

Gabriels-Ezuse so I should get the wording of that

1:22:24

right. And

1:22:28

that was sort of seen as something oh that's quite

1:22:30

interesting and then basically in the

1:22:32

wake of the Spurs game where

1:22:35

I think he was on the bench and didn't get on

1:22:37

and Kaihaberz had another good game scored a

1:22:39

good goal this was a

1:22:42

few weeks on they were like would

1:22:44

you be happy to write it this week and

1:22:47

it's my job and I did

1:22:49

because I think Jesus

1:22:52

and his future and what's

1:22:54

gonna happen with him is a worthwhile

1:22:56

topic of discussion at

1:22:59

this point in time and yeah

1:23:01

I you know there was a bit of pushback from people who

1:23:04

said oh they didn't think that was helpful

1:23:06

but ultimately I was

1:23:08

just kind of doing my job and I

1:23:11

actually don't sort of how

1:23:13

can I put it I

1:23:15

don't value the weight of my

1:23:18

words so highly that I

1:23:20

think they could have any

1:23:22

realistic impact on Arsenal's performance

1:23:25

you know and I

1:23:27

know that Gabriels-Ezuse is an incredibly focused

1:23:30

professional person and

1:23:33

I think the only and this is a very

1:23:35

slim possibility but the only upshot that a story

1:23:37

like that would have produced from him would

1:23:40

be an upturn

1:23:42

in performances and in fact he came on at the

1:23:44

weekend and I'm

1:23:47

claiming the assist the assist for

1:23:49

the assist Gabriels-Ezuse is

1:23:52

a constant dilemma as a

1:23:54

fan you know

1:23:57

when the timing of stories

1:23:59

happens And all I can

1:24:01

say is that I try with everything I

1:24:03

do to be very transparent with the club

1:24:05

about what I'm going to write and have

1:24:07

an open dialogue with them about it. They

1:24:09

would have been totally aware what I

1:24:12

was going to write and, you know, giving a right

1:24:14

of reply and things like that. So yeah,

1:24:18

that's it. I think the

1:24:22

way things like this play out, you know, unfortunately

1:24:24

for you and for many journalists

1:24:28

and writers is that they will report

1:24:30

one thing, but it gathers

1:24:33

traction as kind of something else.

1:24:36

Well, that's, you know what I mean? I would

1:24:38

say that's happened a little bit here. Yeah, because

1:24:40

what you're reporting was at Arsenal and I

1:24:43

have to hold my hands up and say that that was

1:24:45

something I had heard as well, that

1:24:47

Arsenal, you know, had some doubts

1:24:49

over the future of Gabrielle Jesus,

1:24:51

right? And what your

1:24:53

report was, it was like Arsenal are, you

1:24:55

know, would listen to offers, maybe listen to

1:24:58

the right offer for Gabriel Jesus this summer.

1:25:00

It's not the same as Arsenal

1:25:02

are trying to sell Gabriel Jesus. Arsenal want

1:25:04

to get rid of Gabriel Jesus. Gabriel

1:25:07

Jesus is stupid and bad. We

1:25:09

don't like him anymore. But

1:25:11

when these things, you

1:25:13

know, are broken down into 140 or 280 character snippets and people

1:25:18

react to them in that way and

1:25:20

they get repurposed and rewritten,

1:25:23

you know, it comes across as

1:25:26

something that isn't what you wrote. No,

1:25:29

and that's unfortunately, I knew that was going

1:25:31

to happen, you know, because that's the nature

1:25:33

of sort of social

1:25:35

media and aggregators. But,

1:25:40

you know, it's

1:25:42

what happens. And also, you

1:25:45

know, if we take Michael Arteta at his

1:25:47

word, it's all nonsense anyway. I

1:25:50

would say, you know, that's

1:25:52

the case of a manager saying absolutely the right

1:25:54

thing. You know, he's got a player that he

1:25:56

needs to keep focused on at that

1:25:59

point in time. three remaining games. Time

1:26:03

will tell with Jesus. My personal opinion,

1:26:05

I kind of

1:26:07

like to see him stay. If we

1:26:09

can get him fitter and more available,

1:26:11

I think he's a brilliant

1:26:13

player. And I'm sure Michel Arteta thinks that

1:26:15

as well because he's spoken so many times

1:26:17

about his admiration for him. I just

1:26:20

suspect that maybe

1:26:22

within the club they look at the allocation of resource to

1:26:25

him and think, are we getting maximum value for that right

1:26:27

now? Because he's

1:26:29

not cheap, he's not on a low salary.

1:26:33

So yeah, it's

1:26:36

an interesting one. And if

1:26:38

I'm completely honest with you, I'm a little

1:26:40

bit dubious as to who would buy Jesus

1:26:42

right now with some of the concerns over

1:26:44

his knee. But

1:26:48

you never know. You never know. And

1:26:50

I think if an offer did arrive,

1:26:53

the club would certainly listen

1:26:55

to it. Maybe he'll be the one

1:26:57

to get the goal that wins us the title. Maybe

1:27:01

so. Who would put it past him? I really

1:27:04

think a fit and firing Gabriel Jesus

1:27:06

is very

1:27:08

possibly in our best 11 footballers.

1:27:12

It's just something we've not seen

1:27:15

as much as we would have liked of this season.

1:27:18

And like you wrote in your blog the other day, I have

1:27:22

the sense, have the feeling that availability

1:27:25

is something that

1:27:27

Michael Arteta really prizes. And

1:27:30

I think there's a bit of frustration when players

1:27:33

aren't able to contribute as regularly as he would

1:27:35

like. What

1:27:39

else have we got here? A

1:27:44

few questions about Thomas Partey. Johnny Bowe said,

1:27:46

good morning, gents. The last three games we've seen

1:27:48

Partey back in the side and getting back

1:27:50

to his best, with Eugenio

1:27:52

seemingly staying, do you feel

1:27:54

Michael will look to keep both players? There's noise, it's

1:27:56

one or the other. But would Arteta

1:27:58

play him in such a... vital end

1:28:00

sprint if he didn't see

1:28:02

a long-term place for him?

1:28:06

I think there is, in football

1:28:09

terms, a pragmatism, a short-termism

1:28:11

when it comes to what

1:28:13

you do, which

1:28:16

doesn't always mean that

1:28:18

there are any long-term implications

1:28:22

you can take from it. If

1:28:24

Thomas Partey is the best player to get us over

1:28:27

the line in a title race, he will

1:28:30

use Thomas Partey. I

1:28:33

think there's an element as well, this

1:28:35

isn't to diminish Thomas Partey's performances

1:28:37

in recent weeks, but I

1:28:40

think there is an element right now of

1:28:42

Michal just sticking with a winning formula as

1:28:44

well. Yes. You know, when you're

1:28:46

in the very

1:28:48

heat of a run-in, something

1:28:51

Alex Ferguson did and Arst Vengard used to

1:28:53

do it as well. You've got a team

1:28:55

that's winning, you've got momentum, I

1:28:57

think he sees a value in just like let's keep

1:28:59

doing that. Yes. But

1:29:03

it's an interesting one, Partey, because, you

1:29:05

know, I thought he

1:29:07

was a pretty unequivocal bachelor genio in his press

1:29:09

conference, wasn't he? They want him to stay, they're

1:29:11

doing what they can to get him to stay. I mean, Partey

1:29:13

does have a contract for another year. But

1:29:17

if you buy, if you go

1:29:20

out and get that six. Yes. If

1:29:22

you spend 100 million on Bruno, for example.

1:29:25

Should we do that? I

1:29:28

don't know, that would certainly test Arsenal's fans'

1:29:30

forgiveness, wouldn't it? Yes, a little

1:29:33

bit. I mean, I think that's... It might test your

1:29:35

genios, to be honest. Yes, it's too much money. I

1:29:38

know that's the release clause, I think he's a good player,

1:29:41

we've got our issues with him, but, you know... That

1:29:44

is a lot of money. I think, you know, Declan Rice

1:29:46

money, there were sort of reasons

1:29:48

around Declan Rice, I think his nationality, I

1:29:50

think, you know, in fact,

1:29:53

he didn't have any sort of clause, I think

1:29:55

city's interest, those things all pushed

1:29:57

the price to that height. I

1:30:01

would be cautious about paying that

1:30:03

much for Bruno, although it does feel

1:30:05

like Chelsea have unfortunately distorted the market

1:30:07

to the extent that a top Premier

1:30:10

League central midfield player probably now costs

1:30:12

£100m. Yeah,

1:30:16

I guess if they buy a six, maybe

1:30:20

party moves on. I mean, I spoke about resource

1:30:23

again, parties not a low earner, is he? No,

1:30:25

not at all. Not at all. If you get

1:30:27

some millions and £200m

1:30:29

a week off the wage bill, that

1:30:32

might be the pragmatic thing to do

1:30:34

in the summer. If the pragmatic thing

1:30:36

right now is to play him. I

1:30:39

have to say, there is

1:30:42

a lot to his game on his

1:30:44

day that's good. I just worry

1:30:46

a little bit about how... I

1:30:49

could be completely wrong here. I think you've got

1:30:51

two London Darbys, you've also got a home game

1:30:54

against Bournemouth where we dominated the first half, we

1:30:56

played really well against Chelsea in the second half.

1:30:59

I'm just a little cautious about

1:31:01

the dynamic that he brings to

1:31:03

the team at times and I'm not

1:31:05

saying it's entirely him, it could be external factors as

1:31:08

well. I do wonder

1:31:10

if, as Arteta moves towards a system

1:31:13

or a team that is ever

1:31:16

more control focused, the

1:31:20

slightly chaotic elements that

1:31:23

the party can be involved in at times might be

1:31:25

something he'd be willing to part ways with if he

1:31:27

can get a more secure

1:31:30

six in

1:31:32

the future. I'm

1:31:35

fascinated by the Bruno thing because again,

1:31:38

for me, he's a player who has

1:31:40

a kind of combustibility about him, partly

1:31:42

in terms of temperament as we've seen.

1:31:48

I find that a slightly surprising selection

1:31:52

if that's ultimately what the club do. But

1:31:55

they have earned our trust by this point, they

1:31:57

really have with the signings they've made. made and

1:32:00

how they've played out for the most part. Do

1:32:02

you think, I mean, do you think when you talk about

1:32:05

that player or the players that are coming in,

1:32:09

that they probably do need to be

1:32:11

around that age bracket? Yeah,

1:32:14

I mean, how old is Bruno? Yeah.

1:32:19

Probably, probably, I

1:32:21

wouldn't surprise me if we got some younger players

1:32:23

for kind of the second layer of the squad

1:32:25

or maybe even older players for the second

1:32:27

layer of the squad. I think we might

1:32:30

need a bit more, you know, if we sell people like Nelson,

1:32:33

Smith-Rowe, Eddie, we

1:32:36

might need players who provide depth

1:32:38

in some way. But

1:32:40

if we're expecting players to come into this

1:32:43

team now and make a difference in August,

1:32:46

they probably need to be pretty close to their peak, I think.

1:32:53

The party thing is really interesting, yeah.

1:32:56

Listen, whenever Thomas Partey is fit,

1:33:00

there's a temptation to think he

1:33:03

could be the guy and then

1:33:05

you remember that

1:33:07

he misses half your matches. And

1:33:13

I think if we can get someone who's going

1:33:15

to take that chunk of salary and be more

1:33:17

available, I think that's probably the right call at

1:33:19

this point in time. Is

1:33:23

it my question or your question? It's

1:33:26

yours, actually. It's mine. How

1:33:28

far in are we, actually? Oh, God, we're a long way

1:33:30

in. We're a long way in. We're a

1:33:32

long way in. I think we

1:33:34

should leave it there. Yeah, because I've got

1:33:36

other questions, but they're all about, like, contextualizing the

1:33:38

season and what if we don't win. And I

1:33:40

think you're right. Let's part that for today. Yeah.

1:33:44

Okay, look, we better leave it there. Get this

1:33:46

podcast out to everybody. Let them relax into the

1:33:48

week and hope that all the good things happen

1:33:50

from an Arsenal perspective, all the bad things happen

1:33:52

to Manchester City as ever. Thank you so much

1:33:55

for being with us. Thank you for downloading and

1:33:57

listening, and we will catch you on

1:33:59

the next one. Bye-bye. I'm

1:34:30

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