0:02

Hold up. What was that? Boring.

0:04

No flavor. That was as bad

0:07

as those leftovers you ate all

0:09

week. Kiki Palmer here, and it's

0:11

time to say hello to something

0:13

fresh and guilt-free. HelloFresh. Jazz up

0:15

dinner with pecan, crusted chicken, or

0:17

garlic butter shrimp scampi. Now that's

0:19

music to my mouth. HelloFresh.

0:21

Let's get this dinner party

0:23

started. Discover all the delicious

0:26

possibilities at hellofresh.com. With

0:39

Andrew. James. Paul.

0:42

Tim. Elliot. And

0:44

Clive. And

0:58

Clive. This is Ask Us Extra. And Ask

1:00

No Vision. Live. Hello.

1:26

Everyone's in a good mood tonight it seems. I

1:28

don't know why. Ask

1:30

him again tomorrow. Thank

1:46

you. Wow. It's amazing to see you all

1:48

here. Well here for the first time but

1:50

on the

1:52

eve of the final game of the season again for

1:55

the third year running it's amazing to see you all

1:57

here and thank you so much for coming out.

2:00

I'm for being part of this and

2:02

that. It's amazing. It is and ah

2:04

I know I obviously based on the

2:06

song you Just saying if anyone needs

2:08

a toilet there is a giant one

2:10

just south the parking lot over the

2:12

hill. Art Therapy native. So

2:15

it's it's a give you the rundown of

2:18

what we're going to do in this show

2:20

or this evening we are going to talk

2:22

about tomorrow. Obviously we're going to talk about

2:24

the season. We're going to pick a player

2:26

of the season each a moment of the

2:28

season each. We also have. A giveaway in

2:30

part to we've gotta sign served by the

2:33

entire Arsenal squad so we will get a

2:35

random number generator as I'm one of you

2:37

people out there will go home tonight with

2:39

a wonderful prize and in part to have

2:42

to have all gone off to have a

2:44

drink and come back a little less. Riot

2:46

Eats will do. Will

2:48

do some questions as we normally

2:50

do in the Oscars dexter format,

2:52

so that's what lies ahead. Yeah,

2:55

I'd I'd You want to just take one second and

2:57

we're here to talk about the season that was and

2:59

what could happen tomorrow and our our best moments, right?

3:02

One of the best moments for. All. Of

3:04

us is. The. Chance raise money for

3:06

the Arsenal Foundation. I know so many

3:08

of you hear gave and gave so

3:10

generously. Can thank you enough? On.

3:17

Is it means the world to us? It was over three hundred

3:20

and twenty thousand pounds a you raised in it will help children

3:22

who need it. So thank you for lobby for that. So.

3:29

We're sitting here on a

3:31

Saturday evening. Arsenal have a

3:33

chance to win the Premier

3:35

League tomorrow. James. James,

3:39

Where did it all go wrong? Man,

3:43

I feel I have one in this

3:45

room's. come here for the same reason

3:47

And it's to hear Clive in his

3:49

soothing, relaxing voice tell us it's all

3:52

going to be fine. I'm going to

3:54

win. It's of our eyes surface. It's

4:01

very, very exciting to be here,

4:04

to be at the final day. That was

4:06

really what I was

4:08

asking for, what I wanted. Can we take it right to

4:10

the line? And we have done that,

4:12

which I think is an amazing achievement. I know people

4:14

will pick bones out of it and say, what

4:17

about Aston Villa? What about Fulham? But when you

4:19

look at the amount of games Aston have won

4:21

during this running, I think it is

4:23

extraordinary the effort that the team have put in to get

4:25

us to this point. And

4:28

yeah, that's it. Let's do this, I guess. That's the last

4:30

thing to do. I think

4:32

it's worth considering, too, some of the things that we've done this season,

4:34

but some of the things we don't have to do. In fact, how

4:37

many times this season did you root against your own

4:39

team at your home stadium? Didn't

4:42

happen. Not once, not once. So that

4:44

alone, I think, is victory and Clive

4:47

tomorrow. We have to do the job, but

4:49

what are the odds you think that the whole

4:51

miracle could happen? Because I believe in miracles.

4:53

Do you? You

4:55

say it's easy. I

5:00

think tomorrow's going to be a test

5:02

for our emotions, isn't it? We were talking earlier about

5:05

we're all pretending we're cool. It's

5:07

going to be OK. We've got a few bits

5:09

of emotions locked away. But if

5:11

the scores go in the other games, we'll

5:13

see how cool we are. Do you know

5:16

what I mean? We'll see how cool we

5:18

are as if West Ham score. And so

5:20

it's going to be exciting, hopefully, as our

5:22

manager said, a beautiful day. Yeah,

5:25

and Tim, obviously, the last two

5:27

seasons we've had celebrations on the final day, not

5:29

of the ultimate achievement for you. How much is

5:32

tomorrow about soaking up the joy of the season

5:34

that we just had? How much of it are

5:36

you going to have in your mind of what

5:38

could happen? Are you going to try to just

5:40

compartmentalize that and enjoy a chance to celebrate the

5:43

team? Well, at the moment,

5:45

my post-match pub routine has been

5:47

thrown into chaos, which

5:49

really bothers me. Actually, I think I prefer

5:51

it when there's nothing riding on the last

5:53

game because I'm not sure I'm going to

5:55

get in the bank of friendship after the

5:57

game. And for me, that's a very, very...

6:00

bad thing. But no, no, like

6:02

clearly, like just trying to,

6:04

particularly because we're not leading,

6:07

and we were talking about this earlier, right? You

6:09

know, if we were going in top, honestly

6:11

at the moment I would be a

6:14

quivering wreck on this stage

6:17

right now. So, you know, just trying to

6:19

hope that the good thing happens, but yeah,

6:21

definitely about kind of soaking up the atmosphere

6:24

and just enjoying it. All

6:26

right, Paul, we need an off-the-road map idea about

6:28

tomorrow. Maybe a running joke. I'm going to take

6:30

our mind off it. Oh,

6:33

I don't know where I might get

6:35

something off the map here. I was

6:37

listening to this podcast on the Titanic

6:39

and how the hull... I

6:46

can't work under these conditions, are you?

6:49

So the hull is containerized, right?

6:51

I'll keep it short, right? I've

6:54

been like the Titanic. I've been really

6:56

containerized. I wasn't worried about tomorrow, but

6:58

people keep ruining it for me, Andrew.

7:00

What? He read the letter out that

7:02

the council took, was sending out to

7:05

the people for the parade on the

7:07

Monday, and I'm like, it should be

7:09

caviated with, but we're probably not going

7:11

to win all the way through it.

7:14

I've been really good. That was

7:16

a moment watching Spurs and

7:20

they've got no chance. Suddenly, they

7:22

do all right for a half. I didn't

7:25

have my life flash before my eyes, but

7:27

I had the title flash. This could happen

7:29

today in the next 45 minutes. I've

7:34

had it compartmentalized. I

7:37

get it under control, but

7:41

weird things could happen tomorrow. I'm scared. I'm

7:43

starting to get scared right now. Basically, it's

7:45

calm me right down. Thanks for that. Yeah,

7:47

the whole Titanic thing, you know, that ended

7:50

well. What do you see? If

7:52

the Titanic had hit the iceberg straight on, it

7:54

would have been fine, but the captain

7:57

tried to veer it to a left and it ripped.

8:00

Ripped along that line. I hope you're lifting somebody's cup. I'm lying,

8:02

look out. The mic. That's

8:04

the thing, I keep getting sucked in because it's

8:08

sort of so perfect. That's the

8:10

thing. Like it's 20 years since the

8:12

Invincibles. It's Everton at home. So

8:14

it's like a callback to 98 and

8:16

Wenger's first double. What would

8:19

be funnier than Spurs losing to City

8:21

and us still winning the title? It's

8:25

so perfect that this part of me that's like,

8:27

well, it has to happen. But

8:30

I guess our hopes lie with West

8:32

Ham and David Moyes. Always like David Moyes, big

8:34

fan of his work at... Good

8:37

guy. I

8:40

mean, big fan of his work at Man United. Think

8:42

he was terrific. So,

8:45

yeah. I mean, come on the Hammers, I guess. I

8:47

mean, there is a

8:49

history of Arsenal players who went to play

8:52

for West Ham. I had a look at

8:54

this before. Nigel Winterburn, Ian Wright, who is

8:56

not here this evening, I'm very sorry to

8:58

say... Listen,

9:00

we thought about a guess, but how could we

9:03

do any better than that? It's

9:30

got to get us over the line, get West Ham over

9:32

the line tomorrow against Man City. There's some

9:34

quality in there. Is there any chance

9:36

we could send them some players tonight,

9:38

maybe? A

9:41

certain D Rice? Yeah. He

9:45

could do a job for them, I think. Do

9:47

we know if Rodry likes lasagna? Do

9:49

we know if anybody in the City team

9:52

likes lasagna? Can we deliver it? They're just

9:54

eating super noodles. The Man

9:56

City, they're taking the easy option. Did you

9:58

say super needles? Noodles. Oh, 115 different spices.

10:06

Pepp special blend. So

10:09

how about this, before we get into awards? I think

10:11

it is a special season and it's worth not just

10:13

looking forward but looking back. So Clive, how about you

10:16

give us a sense of how you think about

10:18

this season in the context of the journey that

10:20

we're on, regardless of what happens tomorrow. What will

10:22

be your sort of enduring memories

10:24

and thoughts about this season? Yeah,

10:26

first memory basically is almost from game one.

10:28

You can see we were more serious as

10:30

a team and we've learned from last

10:32

year and we've definitely focused a lot more on what

10:34

we did out of possession. And so we looked like

10:37

a team that thought, you know what,

10:39

we're quite good. Now we need to show we're

10:41

quite good. And I think we could all see

10:43

that we were better and more adult. But

10:45

obviously originally in the first phase of

10:47

season, we weren't scoring as much goals.

10:49

We weren't so free flowing. But

10:52

I felt all along that it was all about the

10:54

course. And in 2024, I think we got 46 points

10:56

out of 51. And

10:59

I think that tells you that they're learning about

11:01

the course and what it looks like. So my

11:04

overriding feelings are there's

11:06

not a lot more we can do, but

11:09

there's still lessons to learn, as

11:11

it always is, to get better. We're interested

11:14

to see how we renew and rebuild because

11:17

I think we're only just starting basically. I

11:19

think this is going to be a wonderful

11:22

three-year period in our life. Well

11:25

said. Well said. Tim?

11:31

Yeah, I think this season, I think

11:33

when you look at last season, you

11:35

think maybe a little bit loose off

11:37

the ball. And then you go in

11:39

by Declan Rice and you go, yeah,

11:41

that's probably going to go a

11:43

long way to solving that. That's

11:45

a good idea, actually. And

11:47

yeah, I think you can see the maturity of the team

11:49

this season as well.

11:51

And I think one of my kind of

11:54

memories of the season, I think, will just

11:56

be that period. In January, February, where we

11:58

played a load of rubbish. teams and

12:02

it was like it's not enough to

12:05

just win these games we have to

12:07

annihilate these teams and like

12:09

we go in tomorrow into tomorrow with

12:11

you know plus one goal difference on

12:13

Man City and that gives us a

12:15

chance that's a little tiny edge we

12:17

work really really hard for in destroying

12:19

some of these teams 5 and

12:22

6-0 and that gives us just a little bit

12:24

more of a chance tomorrow and I think for

12:26

me this season is about a team and

12:29

a coach that just wants to

12:31

work every single margin

12:33

possible and that's that's the thing

12:35

I think I relate to most about this group Paul

12:39

I mean if you could maybe give it

12:41

a listen the context of the Hindenburg or something well

12:45

the Hindenburg did have a great season

12:47

like we

12:51

signed two big players this summer I'm back

12:54

to Orrissnow by the way Rice

12:57

and Havarts for a lot of money a lot

12:59

of attention and it felt to me like the

13:01

first half of the season we saw Rice and

13:03

we saw what he brought the second

13:05

half of the season we saw Havarts

13:08

and what he brought to us as

13:10

a as a club

13:12

the dimension he brought and

13:16

Mikael doesn't like the word control but

13:18

it was the word we all use

13:21

he wants he wants domination that was

13:23

the words he he likes Mikael

13:27

has brought in a whole new lexicon of words

13:29

this year that I think really explains his philosophy

13:31

and that's one of them domination

13:34

he uses the term beautiful with a beautiful

13:36

moment a beautiful day beautiful game to

13:39

free up the players to perform and I

13:42

think the first half of the season was

13:44

control and the second half was

13:46

when our attacking game and we

13:48

have both now it's the yin and the yang we

13:51

didn't have that last year we didn't have that control

13:53

he didn't like the word control

13:55

but control domination attack we

13:57

have it all we have the yin and the yang we feel

13:59

more complete for sure. And

14:01

as Clive always says, you

14:04

immediately arrive and you always complete

14:06

football. So we've arrived, right? We've

14:08

completed football. I just think the

14:11

only shame of a title race, not

14:13

that there's a shame of it, but the

14:15

only shame of it is it denies you

14:17

the chance to luxuriate in the moments that

14:20

this team gave us across the season, because

14:22

you're looking for the final glory, but to

14:24

beat Liverpool and to beat City and to

14:26

beat Spurs in the toilet just down there

14:28

and to hammer Chelsea and some of the

14:31

big results we got to progress in the

14:33

Champions League and be on that big stage.

14:35

And then some of the moments that we

14:37

got that didn't even involve us to

14:40

see and bravely put nine men on the halfway

14:42

line as Nico Jackson desperately tried to score

14:44

goals to watch Palace put four past

14:46

United. We got so many great moments

14:48

this season and it may not be tomorrow and it may

14:50

not be yet, but I think as the summer wears on and as

14:53

we look back, maybe just maybe we'll

14:55

come to appreciate how much joy the

14:57

season gave us along the way, because

15:00

it was one of the most

15:02

special seasons in recent memory based

15:04

on the special moments we had. Oh, I agree. I

15:06

think, you know, doing

15:14

what we do and talking about this football

15:16

club ad infinitum,

15:19

you know, you come to appreciate the, you

15:22

know, when it is good and

15:24

the atmosphere and the connection. And I

15:26

know the connection is

15:28

another one of his words, isn't it? You

15:31

know, that connection has been built, but I think,

15:33

you know, we've experienced that whether you're

15:36

online, whether you're at the games, the connection

15:38

within the fan base itself, I think is

15:40

really, really strong and really important. And there's

15:42

no sense of, despite

15:44

the fact there's always a few lunatics around, you

15:46

know, we're not a fan base

15:48

that is at odds with each other anymore. And

15:50

I think that's really, really special. And you know,

15:52

it helps make something like this really

15:54

beautiful as well. Like Mikael talked

15:56

about connection, the fans right from day one.

15:59

It wasn't just just a throwaway comment.

16:01

You can look back on it. You can, his,

16:04

his identity identifying

16:07

that it's a Trinity, it's the

16:09

club, the players, the manager

16:12

and the fans together. And

16:14

I think that's really paying off this season.

16:16

You're seeing that connection. You've seen it all

16:18

come together. The man has a roadmap, a

16:21

blueprint, and you just seen it play out

16:23

this year. James, I mean, would you agree

16:25

that much like Paul's mic technique, Arsenal are

16:27

improving year on year? But

16:31

never arrived. I

16:34

think in the case of Paul's mic technique, it really

16:36

is a case of marginal gains. I

16:40

think that the most commendable thing about

16:43

this season is the consistency. I think to

16:46

be able to challenge as well as

16:48

Arsenal have done over consecutive years is

16:50

not straightforward. And when you look at Jurgen

16:52

Klopp's time at Liverpool, you know, there have

16:54

been ups and there have been downs, you

16:56

know, he's pushed the team really hard, run

16:58

City really close, indeed won a league title,

17:01

but hasn't always been able to follow that

17:03

up with the second consecutive season. I think

17:05

to deliver a second season of title race,

17:07

a second season of progress, of progression in

17:09

the Champions League, is a credit to the

17:11

club and listen, a credit to Mikel as

17:13

well, because I think he made some

17:15

brave decisions in the summer, you know, some decisions

17:17

like signing Declan Rice, maybe a no brainer, right?

17:19

The best man field player in the Premier League

17:21

costs a hundred million pounds, you'd do it. I

17:24

don't think you'd say the same about some

17:26

of the other recruitment decisions, players like Kai

17:28

Havert, David Ryer, and ultimately he's been really proven

17:30

right on those. So, you know,

17:32

I think to deliver a second season like

17:34

this, it's a really fantastic time to be

17:36

an Arsenal fan. And if there is any

17:38

sort of like little bit of sadness in

17:40

me, it's that, you know, I hope,

17:42

I desperately hope, and I believe we will over

17:45

the next few years, get the trophies to kind

17:47

of crown that achievement, because it is an achievement

17:49

in itself. But the trophies are

17:51

what give you the celebrations, the parades,

17:53

the moments, the pitches that last for

17:55

a lifetime. And the team is so

17:58

close, so I want it for them so much. But

18:00

they deserve it and I think we deserve it. We

18:02

deserve it. We absolutely deserve it.

18:05

These people deserve it. Everyone

18:08

deserves it. Should we

18:10

give out some awards? Yeah, why not? Let's

18:12

start with our Player of the Season awards. By

18:14

the way, don't forget we've got

18:17

the highly contested Cunts of the Year.

18:19

Oh yeah, coming up, yeah. But

18:24

before that, some less

18:26

important. Strong field. Strong

18:28

field. Very strong field. Elia,

18:31

why don't I start with you and you can

18:34

give me your Player of the Season. I

18:36

had a tough one with this. I had two choices. I'm going to go

18:38

a little off the board. I know we discussed it ahead of time. I

18:41

have to pick Mohammed Kudus for his winner tomorrow. I

18:46

just don't see how you can look past it and what he brought

18:48

to the club. But

18:51

if it has to be an Arsenal player, I

18:53

will pick Declan Rice. Now, just to be

18:55

clear, we've all picked a different player. But

18:58

Declan Rice is certainly one who would be deserving. I

19:00

think any time you transfer to a club

19:02

with that kind of fee hanging over you,

19:05

the expectation is set not just that you

19:07

can be okay at your position to perform

19:09

ably, but you have to excel. And

19:12

he delivered some of the biggest moments of the

19:14

season right away. The winner against United was an

19:16

electrifying moment. He stepped into a leadership role. He

19:19

never shied away from what he was asked to

19:21

do. He told in an interview, I'm

19:23

a six, but I actually could be a center

19:25

back. Mikael says, go play eight. And what did

19:27

he do? He figures out how to go play

19:29

a more advanced role and does it effortlessly. It's

19:32

also so important to remember that one

19:34

of the most important abilities is availability.

19:37

And Granite Shaka left the club with our blessing

19:39

and a beautiful moment went on and

19:41

won everything that he could win. But

19:43

he was always available. And so to get a player

19:45

that could be as good as Rice was, deliver the

19:47

moments he did, like against Luton and United, and

19:50

always be available, I don't see any way

19:52

we are challenging for this title without him

19:54

doing that. And to do that without ever

19:57

buckling under the pressure and expectation of his

19:59

C. I think it's remarkable. So

20:01

for me, Declan Rice is certainly one of the good candidates. Clive,

20:10

you're up. Oh, well you know I

20:13

don't listen to the questions, so I've got two

20:15

players, right? I already took

20:17

kudos. So basically, did

20:19

one player, because I think he sort

20:21

of educated me really about the importance

20:23

of a goalkeeper, and that's David

20:25

Rea, I think... We

20:31

all watch the games now, we can see

20:33

how calm we are, and it starts a

20:35

lot from him, right? And

20:37

how the players are comforting. We have an

20:39

extra player on the pitch, it's as simple

20:41

as that. And that gives us that one-man

20:43

advantage, and I think he's really taught me

20:45

something, that there's an

20:47

improvement that maybe none of us saw, right? So

20:49

I think he deserves a shout-out. But

20:52

the player of my real choice is somebody

20:56

that I think is our best player, in

20:58

my opinion, after Kaya Saka, and the reason...

21:07

Homer, from a football point of view, every

21:09

time I sit down in my seat and

21:11

we get the game starts, and the ball

21:13

goes out to him, he does the first

21:15

thing that gets me excited. The first cross,

21:17

he beats his man, the first shot, or

21:19

gets a penalty. Whatever happens for us, offensively,

21:22

for me, he's the guy that breaks

21:24

every single game open. He's having a

21:26

bad game. He looks at his stats

21:28

afterwards, his key passes, and

21:30

for him to do that at 22, he's been doing it for

21:32

three, four years. I think

21:34

it's amazing. On the personal side, I

21:36

mean, as an individual, I mean, could he

21:39

be any better? Could he represent

21:41

us any better, you know, as a

21:43

person? And I think... There's

21:50

been times in recent history when we

21:52

support our team, but we don't

21:54

always like the people, but I look at his

21:56

team and I really like them, and he represents

21:58

that. to me more

22:00

than anybody else. And when you look

22:02

outside, you know, look at the outside perception of our

22:05

club and you look at him and

22:07

I'm very proud to go and support him every week,

22:09

I got to say.

22:12

Can I add a quick thing? We were

22:14

at the Armory recently and they have the

22:16

baby onesie football kit and I'm like, I'm

22:19

looking at him like, there's only one name

22:21

that goes on. What name are you going

22:23

to put on the back of the baby

22:25

Arsenal kit? Starboy. Sanko,

22:28

right? I do think also

22:30

to do what he's done with FIFA changing the laws

22:32

so you are allowed to kick him as much as

22:34

you want with no cards being dished out. That was.

22:37

Don't get me started, don't get me started.

22:39

Well, I think that there's a serious point

22:41

there, maybe that he

22:44

doesn't necessarily get the protection. But what

22:46

I really like about Saka is the

22:48

fact that he's aware of that and

22:50

has changed his game. You know, 18 months

22:53

ago, two years ago, he was getting

22:55

booted around and it's not that they

22:57

don't try. He's just better able to deal

22:59

with it. Like sometimes they get him, but not

23:01

anywhere near the frequency. And I think he's matured

23:03

in that sense too. And you know, as he said

23:05

in an interview a couple of weeks ago, you

23:08

know, they're not going to make

23:10

him stay on the ground. He gets up because

23:13

he wants to go and hurt them with the

23:15

ball, which is just an amazing thing about his

23:17

attitude. Wasn't it great? Never

23:23

step on a man's line, right James? Wasn't

23:25

it great? Remember back in the day when

23:28

he was getting kicked and Arteta said, look,

23:31

we have a way of playing that'll take

23:34

Saka out of trouble, out of danger. And

23:36

you can see at the passes where like

23:38

he just has a system. He has

23:40

an answer. He has a solution for everything

23:42

we're going to face. He

23:44

knew how to play Saka into

23:47

danger for the opposition, out of

23:49

danger for himself. The man

23:51

has answers. All

23:53

right. We need another player this season. Tim, you want to hear

23:55

us with yours? Yeah, sure. So I think when you ask Arsenal

23:57

fans about this, we need to get a chance to like

24:00

their favorite invincible for example can I still

24:02

use that word Jens Lehmann's not gonna he's

24:05

not here is he? Hang

24:07

on I just got a text that's uh five

24:10

grand you owe Jens. Season desists are very involved right

24:12

now from what I understand. He asked me to hook

24:14

him up with a copyright guy and I helped him

24:16

out what can I say? And

24:20

you know some people who'd be like I'm

24:22

an on-re guy I'm a bird camp guy

24:24

maybe we have a Perez guy on the

24:26

stage I don't know I don't I don't

24:29

don't think he ever mentions it but

24:31

with the invincibles that's another five

24:33

grand I

24:35

was a Vieira guy because for me Vieira

24:38

yeah deserves

24:40

the crap. Easy thing to

24:42

be because he embodied everything great about the

24:44

team I think and I look at this

24:47

team and what they're doing is is

24:49

like comparable to the invincibles and I

24:51

look at Martin Erdegaard and I see

24:53

someone similar like

25:00

I look at this team and I think

25:02

like they've got threat they're creative that's Erdegaard

25:05

he's the one who does that but the

25:07

thing I love most about this team is

25:10

the way that how hard they work

25:12

and nobody works harder than Martin Erdegaard

25:14

in every minute of every game and

25:16

I do if you remember when

25:19

we beat Chelsea 5-0 and if you don't

25:21

you should remember that. And

25:24

we were kind of ironically

25:27

cheering some Chelsea passes which

25:29

was great fun and I looked down and

25:31

I saw Erdegaard and he was running around

25:33

like a maniac trying to get that ball

25:35

back because he didn't like it he didn't

25:37

even like the kind of the ironic cheers

25:40

and that's when you realize like wow this

25:42

guy's a bit of a maniac actually in

25:44

terms of work right but yeah for me

25:47

everything begins and ends I think with Erdegaard

25:50

and this team. Okay

25:57

I mean I think it is

25:59

really a testament to how you good this team

26:01

is that we were able to

26:03

come up with six different players

26:05

to pick. Who did you

26:07

pick Andrew? I

26:10

mean he is the Robert Pires of

26:12

this team I guess you would say. Ben

26:16

White is my

26:18

pick. The

26:23

tan, the tattoos, the

26:26

goalkeeper, I was fiddling with

26:28

the goalkeeper's gloves that nearly came out very

26:31

wrong. Sorry. But I

26:34

think what you said about Declan Rice

26:36

where availability is a huge

26:38

plus applies just as much to

26:41

Ben White. This is a guy who is always

26:44

there, who works so

26:46

hard, who is defensively, I don't think he gets

26:49

the credit he deserves defensively. I know he had

26:51

a little bit of a spell

26:53

but came back. He's been brilliant in the

26:55

second half of the season. He's been brilliant

26:58

from an attacking perspective in the second half of the

27:01

season as well. I love

27:03

the character, I love the mischief, I

27:05

love all of

27:07

it. And you

27:10

know this season he's had to cope with all

27:12

that England nonsense as well which was you know

27:14

he was hung out to dry by sections of

27:16

the media on that and he didn't really do

27:18

anything wrong in my opinion. So

27:20

on top of all that to be playing

27:23

at the level he's playing and just to sort

27:25

of produce week in week out with

27:27

those golden thighs

27:30

is just amazing.

27:34

I will as

27:37

a guest in this beautiful country I will refrain from

27:39

criticizing its national team manager but what I will say

27:41

is that we feel free to

27:43

be honest with

27:47

you. I think that the

27:49

way that Ben White has been covered outside of

27:51

Arsenal circles reflects a lack of curiosity and interest

27:53

about football. A lack of ability to

27:56

see the plain information in front of you because someone

27:58

heard him say I don't want watch football and

28:00

decided we're going to define him by

28:03

those traits, by his quirky personality. Instead

28:05

of seeing someone who played

28:07

in midfield at Brighton a bit and at centre

28:09

back, came to Arsenal and was a centre back, was

28:12

moved out to fullback, was told actually you're going

28:14

to do fullback differently, you're going to step inside and

28:16

invert. Now we want you to add the overlapping but

28:18

you still need to be able to cover. And when

28:20

you're injured, don't say you're injured, just go out

28:22

and play through that injury. In

28:25

such a technical and complex system,

28:28

for Ben White to have evolved every season

28:30

to become a different player and a player

28:32

who adds strings to his bow and yet

28:34

to somehow be characterised as incurious about football

28:36

or not a serious professional means

28:38

you're just not paying attention. And we've been

28:41

paying attention and he is a wonderful player. Paul?

28:49

Quick thing on the Ben White. I

28:51

love the fact that they said,

28:53

oh, he said he was homesick

28:56

but he didn't go home. He went and

28:58

joined Arsenal in Dubai. I don't think

29:00

they know what home looks like. That

29:02

is home for him. He is home.

29:06

When the sun is out, that's where home is.

29:08

We got his back. Right. So

29:10

my player of the season, fine

29:13

picks guys, but Kai

29:15

Havarts, right?

29:22

I love the dish that was served this

29:24

year. But like you eat something

29:26

and you're like, I love that. But

29:28

what's the thing that's really making

29:31

it pop? Maybe it's the cilantro. Kai

29:33

Havarts is the cilantro in

29:36

the meal this year. I don't even know

29:38

what that is. Coriander. I

29:41

just want to be clear. I watched Paul spend 45 minutes

29:43

trying to get some meat out of a langoustine last

29:46

night. So I don't know if culinary analogies are the

29:48

way to go here. Nasty.

29:50

Anyway. Well,

29:54

for the rest of them. He Made

29:57

us pop in the second half of the year. When

30:00

he started to play when he started to come

30:02

out of a shell when we put him up

30:04

front and we couldn't have put him on that

30:06

front any earlier. would have been thrown him to

30:08

the dogs that think. But we came back from

30:11

Dubai. Am. And

30:13

he just popped his running

30:15

his movement to space. Was

30:17

the our best player this

30:19

year year. Know obviously am

30:21

especially cross the whole year.

30:23

What is this? Not sure

30:25

Jose I decided to send

30:27

yes and yes in another

30:29

sense of or more correctly

30:31

he was. As

30:38

I think this is gone, okay I see. What

30:42

Will Let me? I think James about this because this this

30:44

I think is a really important part of the Chi story

30:46

is. Nice talk with him.

30:49

And. I think Miquel will need a really

30:51

big. Comment: when the when the secure a song

30:53

was broken out when the fans got behind tie

30:55

that put it on the other direction and he

30:57

he knew that was lot of pressure on him

30:59

and I think this was a great story of.

31:02

Why supporters are called supporters and not just fans?

31:04

Because I think the way. That.

31:06

He was stuck with by the supporters when the

31:08

outside noise was pretty toxic. And a gym you

31:10

have a chance to go every in every week

31:13

to the to the stadium to see the sport

31:15

their what would you think the how that helped

31:17

him evolve as a player for us Yeah I

31:19

think that was amazing actually and I think there

31:22

was. Debate. About the signing and

31:24

what was really special to see was

31:26

the way that stayed outside that stadium

31:28

and as soon as he steps on

31:30

that grass in an Arsenal shirt that

31:32

was this huge support for him. Entirely.

31:35

from the players from the staff but from

31:37

the fans as well and that must have bought

31:39

him up so much in that period where

31:41

i think looking back he was pretty unlucky you

31:43

know he he didn't get the breaks in

31:45

front of go he was still doing a lot

31:48

of good work even in midfield of that

31:50

time but it wasn't quite tricky wasn't quite

31:52

happening for him by gravity poll i think in

31:54

the second half of the season he's been

31:56

absolutely outstanding them beyond it's why we popped i

31:58

mean we started playing in it running him

32:00

behind. The guy runs 90-something

32:02

minutes a game every game. He's

32:05

one of those titanium players. Your

32:07

Ben White's, your Rice's, your Odegard's.

32:10

They give it all. So when

32:12

we played Bournemouth, what's

32:14

the guy's name? Iriola or something? Iriola.

32:18

Iriola. Close enough,

32:20

right? So I

32:22

listened to his

32:25

bid on YouTube beforehand and they

32:28

asked him about Arteta and why he's

32:30

good and blah blah blah. He says

32:32

he's a team of elite players but

32:34

they all have the work rate of

32:36

non-elite players in the complementary sense. Our

32:39

best players are the hardest

32:41

working players in every game, in every

32:43

90-something minutes. I mean, what Arteta and

32:46

those guys have cooked up? Cilantro.

32:51

Yeah. Not

32:57

the best ingredient, is it? Coriander.

33:00

Anyway, James,

33:03

who is your player of the season? What's

33:05

extraordinary is we've done five,

33:07

no six, five gets two obviously.

33:10

And there's still a few names

33:12

that I could

33:14

pick. The one

33:16

I'm going to go for, you spoke about players making

33:18

effort. This guy makes plenty of effort but he

33:22

never seems

33:25

to break

33:27

sweat and

33:29

that's William

33:31

Saliba. We're at that time

33:34

of year where everyone's doing their team of

33:36

the season, all the TV pundits, all the

33:38

TV channels, all the newspapers. I

33:40

haven't yet seen one worth its

33:42

salt that doesn't have William Saliba in

33:44

it. I think

33:47

he's been outstanding. I think he's been probably

33:49

the outstanding centre back in the Premier League this

33:52

season. I think Virgil van Dijk was also very

33:54

good up until March. There's another guy in our

33:56

own team who's not been bad either. Yeah,

34:00

it almost feels churlish to pick one, doesn't

34:02

it? Because they're such a brilliant partnership. Pick

34:05

them both. Yeah, fuck it. If

34:07

Clive can, why can't I? Yeah. Yeah.

34:11

If Clive can, why can't I? If

34:15

Clive can't, why can't I? Right, my pick

34:17

is William Saliba and Gabrielle. That's

34:21

all right. All

34:25

right, so the other thing we want to do is

34:27

pick the moment of the season. Now, I was told

34:29

very clearly it has to be an arsenal moment. So

34:31

no Shad and Freud for me this time, but. Who

34:33

told you that? I mean, it

34:35

was strongly suggested. No, I don't. Well,

34:39

what did you say to him? Something

34:41

about the Titanic, and that was the iceberg. But

34:45

so Andrew, why don't you kick us off? Oh, actually, you know

34:47

what? Why don't we work our way down? We'll work our way

34:49

down, do you? Save the best for last. OK.

34:51

OK, Tim, what's your moment of

34:53

the season? Yeah. Yeah,

34:59

my moment of the season would be the

35:02

Conti Cup final for the Arsenal women.

35:10

Not a vintage season for the women, but obviously

35:12

that was the crowning day. But not just winning

35:14

the Conti Cup for me. I was

35:16

kind of off to the side in the press box,

35:18

and the Arsenal fans were behind

35:20

this really nice kind of cop stand at

35:23

the Molyneux. And I kept looking

35:25

over. I kept looking at the Arsenal end, and

35:27

it's completely full, completely red and white.

35:29

And then I'm looking over to the Chelsea end, and

35:32

it's like, one, two,

35:36

three, four. Four of you,

35:38

well done. But

35:40

there was a lovely moment at the end where they won

35:42

it, and the players went over, and they played The Angel

35:45

by Louis Dunford over the Tanoy, which

35:48

was great, because I think whoever the

35:50

stadium DJ was hadn't listened

35:53

to the lyrics before

35:55

they hit play. So

35:58

we got the whole first verse. But

36:01

no, it was just seeing several thousand

36:04

Arsenal women fans singing the Angel with

36:06

the players as well. And I think

36:08

not just the trophy and the crowning moment,

36:11

but the fan culture. It's not just like

36:13

there's a lot of talk about the numbers

36:15

with Arsenal women, but it's the culture, the

36:17

songs and things like that and

36:19

the community that those guys have built that's

36:22

completely unique in English football. And that was

36:24

a lovely moment that summed it all up.

36:27

I think that's great. Yep. All

36:32

in all, a pretty good

36:34

spring for Arsenal versus Chelsea in that respect.

36:36

So I have been reminded that James, you

36:38

are up next. Oh, okay.

36:41

Well, moment of the season, I told

36:44

Elliott I was going to pick this and

36:46

have since been mercilessly ribbed for my hipster

36:48

choice. I had

36:50

to remind him I work for the Athletic, it's basically a

36:52

contractual obligation. And I'm

36:55

going to go for

36:57

the first game back

36:59

after Dubai, which

37:01

was Arsenal five Crystal Palace nil. And

37:05

the reason being was that we'd had those

37:07

two games just before New Year where

37:10

for whatever reason we completely lost the ability to

37:12

put the ball in the back of the net

37:15

and they managed to go away to the

37:18

Middle East and fix it. We

37:20

don't know how, but they fixed it. And

37:22

I think it was actually incredibly important. Like

37:24

I think if we'd come back to that

37:26

game and got to halftime and

37:28

we were struggling, couldn't find the

37:31

net, I think that

37:33

kind of psychosis can really

37:35

breed and continue. But

37:37

the fact that we battered them and we properly battered them, I

37:39

think we got a couple of late goals as well to really

37:41

rub salt in the wound. I think that

37:44

set us up for all those wins that Tim was

37:46

talking about earlier. They know those sort of not

37:48

flat track bully quite, but those kind of

37:50

beating them up wins, you know, five nil,

37:53

six nil. And that just gave us

37:55

such momentum going into second half of the season. I

37:57

think for me, that was kind of the turning

37:59

point. It was massive.

38:01

I think without that game, I don't know

38:03

quite where we'd be. Elliot, give

38:05

us your moment of the season. Yeah, absolutely. By

38:07

the way, those big wins, they

38:10

could be the reason that tomorrow could happen. So I

38:12

mean, they were not just for fun, and

38:14

just to think that we spent months singing stadiums are

38:16

empty everywhere we go. I mean, that was a

38:18

hell of a time to be an Arsenal fan. I'm going

38:20

to pick the penalty shootout

38:22

against Porto for

38:25

so many reasons. I

38:28

do think that we are able to feel really good

38:30

about this season. And whatever happens tomorrow, I think most

38:32

of the people in this room will feel good about

38:34

this season. But I think had we not progressed, had

38:36

we not taken that step to the quarterfinals of the

38:38

Champions League, I do think that would have felt a

38:41

little bit like falling short of where this team needed

38:43

to go in its journey, in its progress. So I

38:45

thought that was really important. It was

38:47

a chance, I think, also for David Riott,

38:49

to really maybe finally be held into the

38:51

arms of the club and really feel like

38:53

he's part of this special group that's going

38:55

to achieve something important, and to show that

38:57

they had the medal. And I think getting

38:59

through that, when you're facing

39:01

that run where everyone thought maybe it would fall apart

39:03

because we had Chelsea, because we had Spurs, because we

39:05

had United, they got through a difficult

39:07

moment together. And while it didn't go all the way

39:09

to where we wanted it to in the Champions League,

39:11

it's part of the important progress we had to take.

39:13

So I think that moment, for a variety of reasons,

39:16

is my moment of the season. OK.

39:27

OK. Climb.

39:35

Was that it? Is that your moment of the season? No,

39:37

no, no, no, no. I think why

39:39

do we all go to football? We all

39:41

go for the joy, right? And so the

39:44

most joyous moment I could think of

39:46

was the two late goals against

39:49

Manchester United at home. I just thought,

39:52

I thought,

39:55

I went, Declan Rice's first goal

39:57

was joyous enough. There's nothing

39:59

beat. getting two goals close together, right? And

40:01

when that happens, the second goal, you still

40:03

not sat down yet, and then the second

40:05

goal goes in, and it's just like, and

40:08

the way Jeju sat down Dallow and Dallow just

40:10

shot off into the, I

40:12

don't know, he went down the tunnel. I think he's

40:14

still going, isn't he? He's still going. Those sort of

40:17

moments never leave you, right? And the way he sat

40:19

him down, and in the age of VAR, you

40:21

knew that was a goal, and you could like let

40:24

go, and I thought, you know, just

40:26

keep it simple, that, for me, was a real

40:28

moment. I don't know if he 10-hock took you

40:30

really, really well. Oh,

40:33

we'll come to that, don't worry. He took you

40:35

well, took you well. All

40:37

I can say about the VAR on that one

40:39

is, well done, boys, good process. Paul. Okay,

40:45

I'm going to go with a moment from Kai

40:47

Havarts. See

40:49

if I can make the case here. It's

40:51

the Chelsea game, 5-0. Third

40:55

goal, Gabrielle tackles

40:57

some dude kind of

40:59

in our third. Was it a foul?

41:01

Was it not? No. I

41:03

don't care. Gets

41:05

it to Odegard. Odegard spins this

41:07

ball. Havarts doing that thing

41:09

he does. It's going to

41:12

be hard, the microphone and the... I

41:15

think I got it. Havarts runs

41:17

in behind the defender. I'm

41:19

getting better. Onto

41:22

it, beats the keeper. Does

41:24

the celebration. That's

41:27

the kind of celebration. Like if you brought your

41:30

niece to a game and she's like eight, that's

41:32

the celebration where you can like, oh

41:34

yeah, that's nice. Yeah, yeah. That's

41:37

what I'll... I love

41:40

Kai Havarts, I don't know if I... It's

41:42

becoming evident. I'm

41:44

getting Kai on my own supply. Very

41:52

punny. That

41:54

was in the notebook, right? No. Yeah,

41:57

it was in my notebook. We'll

42:02

come to that later. So I think

42:04

it was a very significant moment for

42:06

the fact that that's how we started

42:09

to pop and play. Clive

42:12

says you don't arrive. I felt

42:14

we arrived Clive. It

42:16

sounds like you arrived. Touche.

42:25

And I think you counterpoint that to, Harvard's

42:27

been given a penalty at the start

42:29

of the season to score, to get

42:32

going and that progression and I

42:34

think that's why

42:36

he's player

42:38

of the season for me. Why

42:40

that was the moment of the season. Like

42:43

we were in the middle of this really tough

42:45

run of games that everybody said, maybe

42:48

even some of ourselves, we're not gonna win all these. Chelsea

42:51

5-0, Spurs, Man United.

42:54

They're not gonna win all of those

42:56

and the run we've been on, I

42:58

think that really set us up and

43:01

we just, we're living the Kai-Havarts

43:03

thing basically through to the end

43:05

of the season. Yep.

43:08

Ender. Much

43:13

like Clive, I picked two moments

43:15

of the season. They came quite

43:18

close together and we have

43:20

a little bit of an audio clip which

43:22

will illustrate these two moments. So if we

43:25

could fire that now, that'd be great. Foul

43:28

on Holland in the penalty area. Then

43:31

disallowed Goh from Ghan-Natshu. I

43:34

don't know if that came across but it was... If

43:38

you didn't hear it that time, tune into

43:40

Ten-Hag's next press conference. You're gonna hear it

43:42

again, I promise you that. I

43:47

like it when someone can't let something go but

43:49

that guy lost his mind over that stuff which

43:52

was very very

43:54

entertaining throughout this season. You know, when they're

43:56

making YouTube compilations of you saying the same

43:58

thing over and over again. Something's

44:01

not quite right. Is it possible to have

44:03

a restraining order against an incident? Yeah,

44:08

the block list for words that a manager is

44:10

allowed say out loud. We're

44:12

just about to head into the

44:14

interval but just to let you

44:16

know that if you

44:18

want to submit a question for

44:20

part two, we have a Twitter

44:23

account it is at arsevisionlive.com and

44:26

I cannot emphasize this enough. Don't

44:28

Google that. Clear your

44:30

cookies, your browser history. Only

44:33

go to that handle. That's exactly what everyone's

44:35

gonna do right now for sure. So send

44:37

your questions into that and we will take

44:39

them in part two. But before we go

44:41

into that, you guys who are leaving right

44:43

now to go get a quick

44:46

drink, we still have one more

44:48

award to give away which is our

44:50

Cunt of the Season. In order

44:52

to present that award, we do

44:54

have a very very special guest

44:57

this evening from the

44:59

distant future. Please welcome Christopher

45:02

Sutton Jr. Jr. Jr. The

45:22

President of the

45:25

64. Exciting news, the Premier League are soon hoping to

45:27

punish Man City. Now

45:30

I'm very honored to be here to present the award for Cunt

45:33

of the Year. Open

45:36

field, who's the enemy?

45:40

And the winner is... Thank

46:00

you. Thank you folks. You can go

46:02

get a drink now. We'll be back with your questions and more in part

46:04

two in about 20 minutes, 25 minutes. Go

46:07

get a drink and we'll see you in a bit. Everyone

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49:48

kept us backstage to make sure I wouldn't sing. James,

49:52

you're the actor guy. What's that called?

49:54

Missing your cue? I think so. I

49:56

think we missed our cue. We

50:00

got a very lavish backstage area. We

50:02

were all reclined. Clyde was on a

50:05

chaise long, eating grapes. Why

50:07

don't they take you to piss out of me

50:09

today? So

50:14

this is the part of the show where we're

50:16

going to do the questions that you guys hopefully

50:18

have sent in. Elliot has collated some of those.

50:20

But as I said, in part

50:23

one, we have a very special prize

50:25

to give away to one lucky person.

50:28

It is a signed shirt,

50:30

signed by all this current

50:33

Arsenal team, a potential

50:35

Premier League winning Arsenal team.

50:37

So we just

50:40

need all those, the

50:43

ghosts of the former Arsenal or West Ham

50:45

players to do their job tomorrow. And

50:48

yeah, it'll be easy.

50:50

Don't worry about it. Anyway, we have a little

50:52

random number generator thing here and it's going to

50:54

pick out a seat number and

50:57

then I'll announce it and we can get you your prize.

50:59

So let's give this a whirl. And

51:04

we have someone

51:07

in the stalls. It

51:11

is P19. P19. Where

51:13

are you?

51:27

All right. You want

51:29

to come and get him? Come

51:32

on down. Come on down and get

51:34

your shirt. All

51:44

right.

51:46

Congratulations.

52:11

The question was, who are you? That's

52:14

Dan. So well done to Dan. And

52:23

hopefully that is a

52:25

very, very valuable memento that he

52:27

can keep in, I don't know,

52:29

auction at some point. You

52:33

cynic. You unbelievable cynic. First

52:36

question from Jeter is for Paul. Do

52:38

you think the Titanic was an insurance cover-up? The

52:44

Titanic isn't a funny topic. My

52:47

bad. You're right. Too soon. Too

52:50

soon? Too soon. The

52:53

serious question should have been, Elliot, the

52:55

serious question should have been player

52:58

of the season on the Titanic. And

53:01

the violinist? Yeah, yeah, no, Andrew

53:03

and I were discussing this. Like the band

53:06

playing as this, you know,

53:08

yeah. What a half time speaking.

53:10

There's a trumpet joke we could put in here based

53:12

on the guys who are on the top of the

53:14

toilet duck there last week. All

53:17

right, we'll actually do some serious questions. Next

53:20

one for you, Clive, from Highbury

53:22

Librarian. If this season's big improvement

53:24

related to control, what do you predict will

53:26

be the big improvement from this team

53:28

for next season to take a step up? Oh,

53:31

interesting. So I

53:33

like these talk questions. So basically, if

53:36

you look at our team now from looking down on

53:38

us, what do we have? We

53:42

have defensive aura. We

53:44

have a level of physicality. We

53:46

have a lot of technical ability. But

53:49

maybe we don't have offensive aura,

53:51

you know, not yet, you know.

53:53

And I think if you're looking at

53:55

us, you're thinking, OK, when we turn up at people's grounds,

53:58

we've got to have a couple of players. that scare

54:00

people potentially in the front end of the pitch. Just

54:04

a couple more that give us a new energy. If

54:06

you think about players who are going to be maybe sold

54:09

this year, they've

54:11

been around a long time. So in any

54:13

sort of like high performance team

54:15

model where you're trying to build

54:17

something sustainable, there's a period when

54:19

you have to renew. And maybe

54:21

without us realising it, we're going to be

54:24

renewing some people in this club many, many

54:26

years, including people at Hailand. And

54:28

so basically they're going to bring a new energy in. So

54:30

people are going to leave, and people that come in are

54:32

going to bring in a new energy. And

54:34

that new energy is going to be part of our

54:37

new identity. So right now we're sitting there thinking about

54:39

the league tomorrow, but I think we're going

54:41

to see a fresh team next season.

54:44

We're maybe a little bit more energy in

54:46

central areas and a bit more offensive

54:48

threat. That's what I'm thinking about. How

54:51

do you view... I mean, where do you see that threat? Where

54:55

do you see that threat coming from? Like,

54:57

are you talking about pace? Are you talking

54:59

about size? Are you talking about a kind

55:02

of chaos in a way, a bit of

55:05

unpredictability in the final third? I don't

55:07

want to get Elliott started on Darwin

55:09

Nunez or anything here. But, you

55:12

know, when you talk

55:14

about those different aspects

55:17

to our attack, is there one in particular

55:19

that you think is maybe

55:21

lacking, or is a priority perhaps is a better way

55:24

to put it? I think for me, in

55:26

the five-sub era, I think we need to

55:28

make sure that when teams play us, if

55:31

the first time you play us, we don't

55:33

score any goals, you've got to beat us

55:35

twice from the bench, we can bring on

55:37

some real different profiles. I did

55:39

hear something on TV yesterday saying that we've got

55:42

about seven or eight players that have less than

55:44

1,000 minutes, which means we've

55:46

got inefficiency in our squad, right? So

55:48

we need to bring in people that are going

55:50

to play, maybe even reduce the

55:52

squad size, but make sure the minutes

55:54

are more shared equally. And

55:56

so I think having that energy and

55:58

having that different profile... after bench that's

56:00

really going to shake teams. Do they have to

56:03

adjust? I think that's our

56:05

next trick. Because think back to the

56:07

games like Villa, think back to Bayern.

56:10

We sort of knew we were tiring, and we

56:12

couldn't change it. And so those games

56:14

are the ones that should stay in your memory for

56:16

next season where we need to improve. I

56:19

love it. I'm going to go to you,

56:21

Andrew, with two questions. OK?

56:25

Question one is just very simple. Do

56:28

we owe this season to salt meat wanker

56:30

guy? Yes, sprinkly salt meat wanker clearly

56:33

has sprinkled not just

56:35

salt, but some kind of beautiful

56:37

amphetamines all over the meat. It's

56:40

just got this team going. Why

56:42

did we start scoring goals again?

56:44

Magic dust on the

56:46

meat. And football works. Yes. OK, so

56:49

we got a lot of questions about

56:51

transfers, obviously. And one comes

56:53

from Craig Marks. So we're a couple like this. So apologies if

56:55

I don't read them all out. Andrew,

56:57

because I think I know the answer.

56:59

Who is your dream Declan Rice-esque no-brainer

57:02

signing for this summer? Oh.

57:06

Why do you think you know the answer? Well,

57:08

we've been discussing the player

57:10

that you'd like. And presuming that you weren't just feeding

57:12

me a line of bullshit, I

57:15

assume that's the guy. Now I remember who you

57:17

were talking to. I

57:19

completely forgotten. What's in that Pellegrino? Just

57:22

Pellegrino. I think, anyway, unless

57:25

the sprinkly salt meat wanker's going to run.

57:28

I would really love Arsenal to

57:30

go for Michael Olise.

57:35

I know my friend Dan

57:37

at HLTCO won't thank me for it. But

57:39

I just think he's

57:42

an amazingly talented player who could bring

57:44

something to not just one

57:46

area of the pitch. I think there's a versatility. And

57:49

I think there are goals in

57:51

him. There's creativity in him. There are

57:53

post-game interviews, which would be amazing. Now

57:57

after the game, we've got Ben White and Michael Olise.

58:00

I'm gonna take a little lisé.

58:02

Have a fucking go at that. So

58:06

beyond that though, I just think he's a remarkably

58:09

talented player and you

58:12

know, maybe Palace will do a lot to hang on

58:14

to him and Eze this summer. But

58:17

he's kind of top of my pops, if you like.

58:19

Yeah, you know what, since there's so many questions about

58:21

it, why don't we just go down the table one

58:23

sentence or two at the most, just a player that

58:25

comes to mind, Paul, someone you'd go for that you

58:27

think could make the difference taking us up that

58:30

next gear, that next level so we can get to the 96, 97

58:33

points and lose the title by a point to City. You

58:41

know I'm really big on players

58:43

and transfers. Vladimir

58:46

Bogolovsky from

58:49

the Eastern European League, he can do it

58:51

all. They've got an

58:53

Eastern European League now. Not

58:56

1984 anymore, those are all different countries now

58:59

buddy. They're all different. But

59:01

a good pick nonetheless. James,

59:04

do you have a player you'd pick?

59:08

Actually I want to hear more about Paul's pick. He

59:12

can do it all. That's all I need to know. Why

59:16

wouldn't you want that? Who's his agent? Get

59:18

him on the phone. Well

59:20

I like Andrew's pick. I'll

59:24

go for... No

59:27

we want to win stuff. Was

59:35

that a set up? Because that's

59:37

too fucking good. I

59:40

think I'll go... Do you know what? The

59:43

Declan Rice signing and a lot of Arsenal signings to

59:46

me illustrate that there's real quality in

59:48

the Premier League and I think there's

59:50

a benefit in buying players from the

59:52

Premier League. So I'm going to pick

59:54

another Palace player. I'm going to pick Eze. I think he's

59:56

absolutely quality. I think he could play a number of positions

59:58

in this team. Yeah,

1:00:01

as I for me. Yep, that's

1:00:03

a good pick Clive. I know it's

1:00:06

going to be hard for you to pick just one. Yeah, I've

1:00:08

got three. Can you pick just one? I've

1:00:11

got, can I do, can I, oh,

1:00:13

I've now got three. Yeah,

1:00:16

obviously he's actually easier to

1:00:18

pick, right? Isn't he?

1:00:20

He's easier to pick. I

1:00:23

know it's a risk and people are

1:00:25

probably going to boon, but I

1:00:27

really like Pedro and Neto at Wolves and I

1:00:29

think from a, from

1:00:32

how we play, everything we do is about

1:00:34

getting into

1:00:36

those areas, in the wide areas,

1:00:39

in isolation. So I like him. But

1:00:42

the player that I really think we should go

1:00:44

for that could change us and

1:00:46

we have time to make him work is

1:00:48

Benjamin Sesko. I really

1:00:51

like, we've

1:00:54

now discovered Kai as a centre forward

1:00:56

so we have no rush. We

1:00:58

can afford to get somebody that comes in

1:01:00

that brings something else. And my earlier line,

1:01:02

you have to beat us twice. If

1:01:04

Kai doesn't do it, then he can do it. And that's where we want to

1:01:07

get to. We could

1:01:09

do Pedro Neto. One of

1:01:11

you will have to donate your hamstring so

1:01:13

that we can sign Pedro Neto. Tim,

1:01:16

who's your pick? Yeah, I'd probably go

1:01:18

Farley Watkins, Villa.

1:01:22

And I hear he supports the club,

1:01:24

local to here as well. Just

1:01:26

building on what Clive said earlier as well,

1:01:28

like that real offensive threat. And probably,

1:01:31

I mean, Kai Havoc's doing really well up

1:01:33

front. Gabriel Jesus has done really

1:01:35

well up front. But I think, you

1:01:37

know, in an ideal world would

1:01:39

have absolute killer number nine.

1:01:41

And I think he's a really intelligent player

1:01:44

as well. I could see him fitting in

1:01:46

very nicely. So Olly Watkins for me, get

1:01:48

that one sorted, please Arsenal. So

1:01:53

I mean, I'm not wrong in saying that you asked

1:01:55

us to pick one each so you could do your

1:01:58

Darwin bit, no? I'm

1:02:00

gonna say Anthony. No, I'm kidding. Can

1:02:03

you imagine? No,

1:02:06

I mean look, since you mentioned it, I

1:02:08

will say I think Darwin Nunez is the kind of

1:02:10

player that can add the devastation on the left that

1:02:12

we're looking for, his pace, his power. We all have

1:02:14

some pace and power. Who doesn't love pace and power?

1:02:17

I mean the finishing is a little erratic, but

1:02:19

that makes it exciting. You know? Do you want

1:02:21

to know what's gonna happen? No, you don't want to know

1:02:23

what's gonna happen. It's exciting until you have to do a

1:02:25

podcast about it every week. It

1:02:28

keeps you guessing. Life is about the journey.

1:02:30

No, I think Isaac

1:02:32

would be a choice, certainly. I'm

1:02:34

not good at the naming players thing, so

1:02:36

I'll go with Bogdan Bogdanovich, or you know,

1:02:38

the Eastern European guy. Okay,

1:02:41

so James, I'll give you this one, and

1:02:43

I think this is, it's in the land of hypotheticals,

1:02:46

but we're all kind of thinking it, I would say.

1:02:48

This one's from Bones. If

1:02:50

we could loan any of our squad to West

1:02:53

Ham for the final fixture against Manchester City, who

1:02:55

would you send? But of course, then we can't

1:02:57

have them for the game against Everton. Saliba,

1:03:02

some people say, I guess it's got to be a

1:03:05

defensive player, right? I think that's the

1:03:07

bigger thing. I think Saliba, I

1:03:09

don't want to break up our central

1:03:11

defensive partnership, so I'm gonna

1:03:13

give him a player who knows that

1:03:15

team pretty well. I'm

1:03:18

gonna give him Declan Rice back for one day. For

1:03:21

one day, because I think, you know, he's do a

1:03:23

lot of good work at the FC Hadan, and

1:03:26

I think we could just about match, we've got

1:03:28

other options in that position. So yeah, if I

1:03:30

could loan him Declan Rice for one day only,

1:03:33

I would do it. All right. Since

1:03:36

they've been so magnanimous about him coming to us

1:03:38

and how they've reacted to that. You know, they

1:03:40

loved it, they were fine with it. Yeah. Tim,

1:03:44

you're sort of the resident historian,

1:03:46

and Andrew Turner asked this question in a

1:03:48

quite optimistic way. When we win the league

1:03:50

tomorrow, will this match Anfield 89? I

1:03:55

mean, no, it can't,

1:03:57

can it? Sorry, that's the really anticlimactic

1:03:59

answer. answer but I mean to

1:04:02

match you can literally only match that

1:04:05

you can't supersede that. I think sense

1:04:07

of where the historical rank I mean

1:04:10

it would be like other than 89 I

1:04:13

think it would be very very much there

1:04:15

up there like with our modern

1:04:17

League history wins and I could

1:04:20

tell you about how we won

1:04:22

the league in 1953 for example

1:04:24

get the PowerPoint please. See all

1:04:26

the exit. When we

1:04:31

won it on goal average I don't think that's

1:04:33

gonna happen tomorrow but yeah I think other

1:04:35

like I think it's like is it the best

1:04:37

league win other than 89 I think

1:04:40

89 will always stand on its own. Fair enough by

1:04:43

the way Alex Mason I'm sorry for not reading out

1:04:45

your name for the salt meat wanker question which of

1:04:47

course shows the the depth of sophistication the way we

1:04:49

think about the game. So

1:04:51

Claire asks you

1:04:54

can only and Clive why don't you

1:04:56

go for this one you can only

1:04:58

keep one of Smith row Eddie Vieira

1:05:00

or Nelson for next season only one

1:05:03

who are you choosing and

1:05:05

why? Trying to get me beat

1:05:07

up. I

1:05:11

will go for Vieira and

1:05:16

well tough crowd and

1:05:20

and the reason why I don't

1:05:23

think we've seen his story yet that's

1:05:25

the only reason where I think I've seen

1:05:27

the others and I just think we haven't

1:05:29

seen him so I'd want to

1:05:32

see him develop into something before we let

1:05:34

him go that's my choice he's

1:05:36

more the unknown rather than what they've done.

1:05:38

Paul who would you like

1:05:48

it's interesting we kind of seen the Smith

1:05:50

row story but we haven't really I think

1:05:53

there's so much more to come for from

1:05:56

him somewhere. Yeah,

1:06:01

maybe. It's Sunday. It's

1:06:06

obviously not going to happen. There's obviously

1:06:08

something where he's not an

1:06:10

artetic guy. Just the

1:06:13

psychology of it is just awful. It's

1:06:16

if it hasn't happened by now, it'll never happen.

1:06:18

But out of those four players,

1:06:20

that's the guy I think he could really do

1:06:23

something at the club. If he were an artetic

1:06:25

guy, he's not. I

1:06:27

mean, the challenge with all those players is,

1:06:29

let's face it, right? Well, maybe, Eddie aside,

1:06:32

why haven't they kicked on? They haven't been

1:06:34

able to be consistently available. And

1:06:37

that leaves you hoping that there's more there. But

1:06:39

as we've seen the season Clive, it's the players that

1:06:42

you can rely on, that you can put on that

1:06:44

team sheet every single game that can elevate where you

1:06:46

go. And when you don't know if a player is

1:06:48

going to be available, how do you plan around? It's

1:06:51

not just availability. It's more. We've

1:06:54

changed, right? Last two years, we've changed. Look

1:06:56

at our points total over the last half

1:06:58

decade. It's just gone up significantly. So what's

1:07:01

changed? The levels changed. And

1:07:03

that's it. You know, there's a saying in

1:07:05

football, you don't fail in football, you just

1:07:07

find your level. And our level's

1:07:09

gone up. And where we used

1:07:11

to, what we used to think about has

1:07:13

just changed. And so we need to adjust

1:07:15

to that and ask ourselves real hard questions.

1:07:18

And it's not easy to see players that

1:07:20

you love, what I spoke about

1:07:22

earlier about new energy in the club is coming.

1:07:25

These people have been here a long time and they've

1:07:27

got careers to have. And we've got to be fair

1:07:29

to them. They haven't failed. This is our level. It

1:07:31

has changed. Dangerous business disagreeing with

1:07:33

you. But

1:07:36

I'm going to. You

1:07:38

do fail at football if you're Tottenham Hotspur.

1:07:40

You fail all the time constantly and without

1:07:42

end, you fail at football. Okay. Andrew,

1:07:47

this one comes from Graham

1:07:49

Allen. And I think this

1:07:51

is fascinating. It's a wasp. It's

1:07:54

a good omen. I think it will. Yeah. Yeah.

1:08:00

He's gone. He's gone into the crowd. So

1:08:02

watch out out there. Okay. The Wasp had

1:08:04

better mic technique than you. You

1:08:08

guys see me floundering with the mic, but

1:08:10

you don't understand the obstacles these guys behind

1:08:13

me. Just to... Okay. You need

1:08:15

to give him the confidence. From Graham Allen, Andrew,

1:08:17

do you think next season will be a two

1:08:19

horse race with Clop moving on, or do you reckon

1:08:21

there's another club? And Graham names some

1:08:23

of them. I certainly don't need to read out

1:08:26

the names of these particular clubs, but do you

1:08:28

think there's another club poised to sort their shit

1:08:30

out and challenge Austin City? Ooh,

1:08:33

that's a really good question. I would

1:08:35

say probably not. I think Liverpool

1:08:37

are going to struggle

1:08:40

a little bit, you know, after Clop when

1:08:42

a big manager leaves a club. We've

1:08:45

seen that happen elsewhere, seen it happen

1:08:47

here. And they've got a squad

1:08:49

that needs looking after in a fairly big way. I

1:08:54

just don't really see anybody else who's going

1:08:56

to get to where City

1:08:59

and Arsenal are right now. There are

1:09:01

teams that have made progress. But

1:09:04

I think it could well be another

1:09:06

two horse race next time around. I mean, I think

1:09:08

what's been interesting about this season is the fact that

1:09:10

it was three horses

1:09:12

for a while, and now it's a two horse race.

1:09:15

And, you know, Liverpool's horse

1:09:17

was... Well, it didn't...

1:09:19

More than don't. Yeah. Yeah.

1:09:24

It ended up that way. But when you look

1:09:27

at the other teams, like, can

1:09:29

Villa make more progress? Maybe,

1:09:32

depends what they do with Champions League money, perhaps.

1:09:35

Manchester United could be ten

1:09:38

hag, a new contract there. That

1:09:40

could really cement them in ninth

1:09:43

place next season. You

1:09:45

know, maybe Chelsea, because they've just bought

1:09:47

a lot. Oh, absolutely, fuck Chelsea. But,

1:09:49

you know, forever.

1:09:53

But they have bought a lot of good players. So maybe if

1:09:55

they can get their shit together, they might be able to get

1:09:57

a bit closer. But I think it

1:09:59

will be that. And then I hope Pep

1:10:01

fucks off as well forever So

1:10:05

I'm gonna modify this question slightly

1:10:07

for you James But a couple

1:10:10

of people asked about Mikel and

1:10:12

his contract and future planning and

1:10:14

I'm not gonna ask it the way it was asked necessarily because I think

1:10:16

it's too panic inducing, but we

1:10:19

sort of just Acclimated to the idea that manager can be

1:10:21

at the club for 20 plus years and I think

1:10:24

that's Less likely to be the

1:10:26

case with Mikel as driven as he is the project

1:10:28

to want to build and then maybe start fresh you

1:10:30

have sort of a thought on Can

1:10:33

Mikel become like an arson banger and

1:10:35

be a multi-decade manager? Should we

1:10:37

be thinking about this as a

1:10:39

beautiful? But hot romance

1:10:42

that burns out quickly much like maybe

1:10:44

clock did at Dortmund or is doing

1:10:46

at Liverpool Where do you see this

1:10:48

going in terms of his tenure at

1:10:50

Arsenal? Honestly? I'm not sure that that

1:10:52

kind of longevity is Realistic,

1:10:56

I just think in the modern game with the demands being what

1:10:58

they are the pressure being what it is I think

1:11:00

what Alex Ferguson and Austin

1:11:02

banger did at their respective clubs was

1:11:04

exceptional An

1:11:07

exceptional for a reason. I don't know if we'll

1:11:09

see their kind again but

1:11:12

I think I Still think

1:11:14

Michael can have a good solid

1:11:16

stint at Arsenal and what I think you know people

1:11:18

might look at his contracts and say Oh, he's got

1:11:20

you know year left and need to have talks. What's

1:11:22

he gonna do? Is he gonna sign I

1:11:25

can feel you all getting frightened as I speak but I? But

1:11:28

what I would say is like Honestly,

1:11:30

where would you go? Where would

1:11:32

you go because I think when you look at the

1:11:35

Arsenal squad you look at the age profile of those

1:11:37

players I don't think there's

1:11:39

a more exciting group of players in

1:11:41

world football than that Arsenal squad right

1:11:43

now And

1:11:47

I think I think

1:11:51

Michal and not just Michal, but you know

1:11:53

I do others the hierarchy in general are

1:11:55

very Committed to this

1:11:57

project, and I think that's why There's

1:12:00

the wasp. He's right on you.

1:12:03

Hang on. There he's

1:12:05

gone. Yeah, flick him onto me. Yeah, great. He's

1:12:08

gone that way. Well,

1:12:10

I just think, you know, the contract

1:12:12

will get done when it needs to get done. But

1:12:15

I think you only need to look at the way

1:12:17

Macau carries himself, the way he's led this team, to

1:12:19

see how committed he is. Yeah.

1:12:22

Any thoughts on that, Ian? Well, just from the point

1:12:24

of view that, like, he has

1:12:26

spent a lot of time and effort and,

1:12:28

you know, transfer money to build this squad

1:12:30

to where it is, like

1:12:32

it's taken a lot of work to get

1:12:34

to this point. And like

1:12:37

you say, there isn't really the obvious place for

1:12:39

him to go at this point. So I think

1:12:41

he will consider, I really do think he will

1:12:43

consider his work at

1:12:46

Arsenal undone until he wins

1:12:49

the Premier League and maybe even the Champions League. So

1:12:52

I think that will tie him to this club for,

1:12:54

for, for quite a while. Yeah. Because I

1:12:57

think his ambitions aren't just to

1:13:00

be very, very good and be

1:13:02

loved, but to literally win trophies

1:13:04

because that's, that's how

1:13:06

you get yourself into the pantheon of

1:13:08

managers like Guardiola, like Klopp, like Wenger,

1:13:11

like Ferguson. That's

1:13:13

what he will want to do. Yeah.

1:13:15

Just quickly. Obviously, Michael doesn't work on his

1:13:18

own, right? He's got a number of really

1:13:20

high class coaches around him. And if you

1:13:22

can't get the big guy, you try to

1:13:24

destabilize him by taking away his key people.

1:13:27

So if I was the club, I'll be doing

1:13:29

some serious succession planning and I'll be

1:13:31

pinning down his main people around him

1:13:33

to make sure that we're

1:13:36

stable and we can sell a stable project to

1:13:38

the young players that are going to

1:13:40

want to come to the club. So make

1:13:42

sure we pin down not just him, but the people around him

1:13:44

in my opinion. Yeah, I think

1:13:46

it's interesting. And Paul, I want to get your take on this. But

1:13:48

I think one of the things that's really hard, right? We all

1:13:51

understood this was a project. We were in a

1:13:53

very low place and Michael had to come

1:13:55

in and clear house and create a new culture and bring

1:13:57

in new players. And I think there was definitely a grace

1:13:59

period. period, and kind of hilariously that

1:14:01

grace period is now why other clubs think it's smart to

1:14:04

stick with crap managers. So even funnier, right? Oh, they're all

1:14:06

just going to turn into McKell if you stick with them

1:14:08

long enough. Well, that's not the case. But

1:14:10

there is that point at which it stops being a

1:14:12

project, and now it has to start to deliver what

1:14:15

it promised. And you get into that range, and hopefully

1:14:17

that range is a few seasons. And I think we

1:14:19

are ready to crest maybe tomorrow, but

1:14:21

if not into that period, Paul, where

1:14:23

it's the winning time, right? And

1:14:26

the project, so to speak, has to come to

1:14:28

fruition. So what do you think about the immediate

1:14:31

and then longer-term future with McKell? Yeah,

1:14:33

look, he's not going anywhere. He's never

1:14:35

going to have a project that's more

1:14:37

his project than this. It's

1:14:40

ripe. It's right on the point of

1:14:42

getting to those levels. There's

1:14:45

no reason we can't win the Premier

1:14:47

League. There's no reason we can't

1:14:49

put ourselves in the position to win

1:14:52

the Champions League. Like all the

1:14:54

talk about other clubs, why would you do it? Go

1:14:57

to Barcelona and that clown show. What's

1:15:00

the scenario? City? That's

1:15:03

like climbing into somebody else's

1:15:05

warm bed, right? I

1:15:09

normally say... Tell us more about that, because we did

1:15:11

get a question about whether you're single. I'm

1:15:14

going to demonstrate for once that I can

1:15:16

just leave an analogy where you should laugh.

1:15:18

I love you. He's not going to do

1:15:20

it. He can. If

1:15:23

you can't be with the one you love, love the one

1:15:25

you're with. Yeah. But we are with

1:15:28

the one we love and we love the one we're

1:15:30

with. Do you want to jump in? Yeah, I've got

1:15:32

a question for Tim about the women's

1:15:34

team and what lies ahead for next

1:15:36

season. I know this one has just finished

1:15:38

and you're exhausted and thank you for all the work that you've done for

1:15:41

RS Blog in covering it so well this

1:15:43

season. But

1:15:52

obviously there's a change at Chelsea

1:15:54

and Emma Hayes has been extremely

1:15:56

successful there. I don't know if it's a

1:15:58

case that like in the middle of the season. ends game when

1:16:01

a very prominent figure leaves the

1:16:03

club, there might be a period

1:16:05

of instability. Is that

1:16:07

something Arsenal could and should be looking to

1:16:09

take advantage of next season? Yeah, absolutely. Because

1:16:12

it's quite unique. It doesn't happen that often

1:16:14

that something like Emma Hayes and Chelsea, and

1:16:16

it's not just Emma Hayes going, they've got

1:16:19

some experienced players going. So if you're looking

1:16:21

at, you know, unfortunately, they've won the league

1:16:23

five times in a row. And

1:16:26

that really sticks in the core to say that,

1:16:28

particularly with Arsenal standing in the women's game, and

1:16:30

Arsenal haven't competed for the league for

1:16:32

two years. And that's

1:16:34

not really acceptable for Arsenal

1:16:37

standards. And everyone at Arsenal knows that, unified about

1:16:39

knows that, etc, etc. So

1:16:41

yes, in short, they absolutely have

1:16:43

to do that. I'm

1:16:46

reasonably optimistic that they will. They've

1:16:48

done a lot of transfer business, brought a lot

1:16:50

of players in, I think it's taken a little

1:16:53

bit of time to settle down. They've had injuries,

1:16:55

they've had return from injury, but I

1:16:57

kind of look at Arsenal at the moment and you know,

1:16:59

the announcement that was made this week about

1:17:01

more games at the Emirates Stadium, and

1:17:04

all of that just really,

1:17:07

really. Well,

1:17:11

again, what does

1:17:13

they say it's an ex wasp? Yeah.

1:17:17

But that, that like having the stadium

1:17:19

full like that, that's a massive recruiting

1:17:21

tool. So when they bought Emily Fox

1:17:24

in January, they took

1:17:26

her to the Chelsea game in December and

1:17:28

Arsenal smashed Chelsea 4-1, which was

1:17:30

great, in front of a sold out

1:17:32

Emirates Stadium. And that's, that's how you

1:17:34

get big players as well. So yeah,

1:17:36

the setup is there. The

1:17:38

players, I think are there. But

1:17:41

now they've really got to bring it together. And I

1:17:43

think they're going to be under pressure to do that

1:17:45

next season. Well said. Okay,

1:17:48

so this is one that I think we can each have a whack at

1:17:50

just really quickly. So start all the

1:17:52

way down with you, Andrew, Matt man, not

1:17:54

to be confused with Batman, says what

1:17:56

opinion or prediction did you have at the start of

1:17:59

the season? that has turned out differently

1:18:01

by the end. Jesus,

1:18:06

I'm not good at this one. Uh, Paul,

1:18:08

do you know one? One of your

1:18:10

opinions? No, no, one of his own. And I'll have to think

1:18:12

about mine. No,

1:18:15

I don't think I've got anything wrong. Is the

1:18:17

pro that's what I'm struggling with here. Okay. Clive

1:18:19

is brave enough. This should be

1:18:21

what opinion did you have that I remember that

1:18:24

you got wrong? Maybe.

1:18:26

I, and this could be a common one, I guess is

1:18:28

maybe that, that the riot signing

1:18:31

wasn't one we really needed to

1:18:33

make like, but

1:18:35

actually, um, it probably

1:18:37

has been more effective than, than

1:18:39

I had thought at the time, you know, in

1:18:42

those early periods, I was like, bit

1:18:44

on the fence, but I hated

1:18:46

that decision and I hate it now, but

1:18:49

I thought like, I think if you're going to

1:18:51

trust a manager with a vision like he has,

1:18:53

I just expect there's going

1:18:55

to be a decision that I like hate,

1:18:57

but you give it to him. And like

1:19:00

it played out kind of again,

1:19:02

I was right. Right. I thought I

1:19:04

hate this decision, but

1:19:06

I know why he's doing it and you let him do

1:19:08

it. Yeah. And I actually think

1:19:11

that those are the decisions that really can take

1:19:13

a club forward. It's the same when it comes

1:19:15

to selling players. You know, I think

1:19:17

we hold onto players too long. You need to be

1:19:20

selling players at point when it is a bit divisive,

1:19:22

when it does feel a bit jarring, because that's when

1:19:24

they have value. And I

1:19:26

expect Mikal and Edou and the club

1:19:28

to make more decisions that surprise us.

1:19:31

Cause I think that's part of their job. Yeah.

1:19:34

What about you, Clive? You've got one, or did you want to go

1:19:36

to the same one that we're all talking about? Yeah. I

1:19:39

think, I think the goalkeeping

1:19:41

one is the main one. The reason why the

1:19:43

way he was introduced to us, we

1:19:45

were sort of thinking, well, maybe they're going to share the

1:19:47

role, but it became really,

1:19:50

really clear that one

1:19:52

player makes us play completely different to the

1:19:54

other. And I feel it's

1:19:56

a real shame and it's a bit ruthless, but it

1:19:58

is what it is. I

1:20:01

think, as I said earlier, I

1:20:03

think the goalkeeping situation and goalkeepers'

1:20:05

full stop, I think they're

1:20:07

way more important than we realise. And I

1:20:09

think that's really became clear this year. What

1:20:12

about you, Tim? Yeah, I think we do

1:20:14

a like a pre-season pod and we're, you

1:20:17

force us to guess certain things. It's

1:20:20

written down, you can check them. Yeah,

1:20:22

I think I had Gabrielle Jesus' top

1:20:24

scorer this season. Yep. I

1:20:27

think I might have used the phrase that

1:20:29

Gabrielle Jesus will explode. And unfortunately, it was

1:20:31

just his knee that

1:20:35

exploded. But like, now

1:20:37

we're having conversations about moving beyond him

1:20:39

potentially about the club. Some

1:20:42

mischievous reporter put something out about

1:20:44

the club potentially being

1:20:47

open to sales on that. I

1:20:52

don't know who that guy is. But I'd really, really

1:20:54

like to see him right now. But

1:20:57

yeah, like I wouldn't have predicted that

1:20:59

Gabrielle Jesus would not be like we'd

1:21:01

be on, you know, competing for the

1:21:03

title on the final day and Gabrielle

1:21:05

Jesus would be a kind of

1:21:07

peripheral character to that. Yeah, I definitely

1:21:09

have the same prediction there. It's funny, because I

1:21:11

got a lot of the team predictions right into

1:21:13

how we perform as a team. But on the

1:21:15

individual level, it hasn't played out the way I

1:21:17

expected. You know, Kai making centre forward his role,

1:21:20

Deandro Chassard, we haven't mentioned him tonight at all.

1:21:22

Isn't that interesting? And it

1:21:26

really, oh, yeah.

1:21:30

It's just interesting how these players pop up and

1:21:32

play such an important role. And we all picked

1:21:34

a player this season. And the guy who's just

1:21:36

scored every important goal in the run in wasn't

1:21:38

picked. So it just shows you how much of a team

1:21:41

thing it was. I think the thing I most got wrong

1:21:43

is just when they got

1:21:45

the last minute winner against Sheffield United, I bought

1:21:47

into the idea that Spurs were winning the title

1:21:49

then just like the media. And I don't know

1:21:52

how I got you know, they celebrated they ran

1:21:54

to the crowd, they had just beaten Sheffield United

1:21:56

and weirdly, they fell away and did not win

1:21:58

the title. which is the

1:22:00

city inexplicable just a huge surprise a huge

1:22:02

surprise and and harry kate by finishing third

1:22:05

will not even be in the super cup

1:22:07

on x_-two so it does he does get

1:22:09

a big fuck off canada yes

1:22:14

also all that ends well i guess yeah

1:22:17

quite let me ask you what attack one

1:22:19

uh... quickly from nathan philip who

1:22:21

the mythical left eight b and in answering

1:22:23

that is that the position that you feel

1:22:25

you look at on the pitch right now

1:22:27

and feel we're still trying to solve kai

1:22:29

becoming center forward we

1:22:32

think that that left eight role with the one that

1:22:34

was earmarked for him if that's not where we're going

1:22:37

is that the next position who might it be uh...

1:22:39

is that person in the squad we

1:22:42

know i don't look at the left a lot

1:22:44

you look at it and so uh... for me

1:22:46

uh... i don't think i've done that that uh...

1:22:49

uh... i don't and i look at it as like you have

1:22:51

to play as top of the box and

1:22:53

he's very good at top of the box so uh... i

1:22:56

think the of the real question is how we are

1:22:58

working for the base i think the

1:23:00

real person who i'm not this team maybe the

1:23:02

one that had to crucial and then and that's

1:23:05

uh... timber i think if he comes in he

1:23:09

will unlocks before the areas of the

1:23:11

allow us to play you know

1:23:13

take them out of the back line who can really

1:23:15

cover his side so i don't

1:23:18

think that have a be filled

1:23:20

thing is done i think he's i

1:23:22

think you do very well there before

1:23:24

player that can run and see space you

1:23:27

don't always need to be facing a goal to see that

1:23:29

he's been facing their goal i think and

1:23:31

i think it tonight just a

1:23:33

week for second could you mention them is

1:23:37

there a chance that fabulous era could could

1:23:40

make that role is in the we need that

1:23:42

role to be more of a creator more

1:23:44

of a an attacking threat or do

1:23:46

you like right today do you like the idea of that guy

1:23:48

who can just be a counter

1:23:50

pressing monster like he is uh... i don't

1:23:52

worry so much i think uh... well i

1:23:54

do yet they're not aware why my friends

1:23:57

call me with the area well the the

1:23:59

honestly the The most important thing is we're all

1:24:01

nerds in this room, that's why you're here listening to

1:24:03

us. So the

1:24:06

most important thing is to have variation

1:24:08

of options. So if you want to

1:24:10

say the area of play is there, yeah, I'm all for it,

1:24:12

do well son. But then you come

1:24:14

out and someone else comes in there. You know, the key

1:24:16

is not to fix net 11 and have those variations. That's

1:24:19

why I don't think Havertsy's done. But we've

1:24:21

got to get a center forward that gives us a

1:24:23

lot of what he gives us. Hence my pick for

1:24:25

my sort of player we should buy, right? So I

1:24:28

just think evolution, continual evolution

1:24:30

because everybody is an

1:24:32

analyst. And they'll rumble us

1:24:35

if you don't do our work. James,

1:24:38

this is a question specific to you.

1:24:41

And it gets at the heart of what we're

1:24:43

willing to do to be supporters. And Galbar asks,

1:24:45

what sort of suffering are you willing to endure for the team

1:24:48

to win the title tomorrow? Pretty

1:24:53

much anything. I mean, if

1:24:55

you like, at the end of the show, I could just sit on

1:24:57

the end of the stage. And you could

1:24:59

all just one by one run up and keep me in the balls. If

1:25:03

that gets us over the line, it's

1:25:06

a small sacrifice to make. The

1:25:10

bar is open till 11.30. So

1:25:12

maybe we'll just do that in the bar so we

1:25:14

don't crowd the stage area. Well, you don't want to,

1:25:16

you need to give them a little break between ball

1:25:18

kicking. So they

1:25:21

can descend again. I mean, there's no way

1:25:23

we can be sure it guarantees us the

1:25:25

results tomorrow. But it's worth a try, right?

1:25:28

It'll be a bit of fun. So

1:25:32

I'm going to ask myself a question. And

1:25:35

honestly, this one may be a little bit

1:25:38

meta, but I think it's an interesting thing

1:25:40

to discuss all of us out in the

1:25:42

open here together. And this one comes from

1:25:44

Lydia. And she says, or

1:25:46

yeah, I think she says, Lydia Blagden, do

1:25:48

you feel a pressure to champion any particular

1:25:50

narratives to keep fans motivated, to keep up

1:25:52

a positive attitude, a siege mentality so

1:25:55

that we can all play our part as fans? And the reason I want to

1:25:57

bring this up is like, fundamentally.

1:26:00

We're all just fans talking about the club we love. And

1:26:03

people will say to me, like, you used to be angrier.

1:26:05

You used to get upset about stuff. And I'm like, have

1:26:07

you seen us lately? And

1:26:09

I think what's really interesting to

1:26:11

me is I really try

1:26:13

to keep in mind where we were and

1:26:16

where we've traveled to. And there's

1:26:18

something about the benefit of the doubt, right? If you've been

1:26:20

a parent, if you have a good kid

1:26:22

who follows rules and tells the truth and does the

1:26:24

things they're supposed to do, they get the benefit of the doubt, right?

1:26:27

You earn the benefit of the doubt. And I think what's changed for me

1:26:29

the most is I trust Arsenal again.

1:26:32

I trust the leadership at Arsenal again. I trust the

1:26:34

manager at Arsenal. I trust these players to come through.

1:26:36

And so when things don't go exactly

1:26:38

right, I don't think it's for failure of

1:26:41

the right process. I don't think it's for failure of

1:26:43

competency. I just think it's because football is a weird

1:26:45

game. And sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way.

1:26:47

And so, Andrew, I kind of wanted to ask you, when

1:26:50

you look at how you talk about

1:26:52

Arsenal now versus maybe how you talked about it eight

1:26:54

years ago, 15 years ago, is there

1:26:56

an evolution for you in terms of

1:26:58

where you've gone with this club, but also the way

1:27:01

you think about the team that

1:27:03

we have today? Probably a bit less sweary

1:27:05

than I used to be. Fair enough. I

1:27:10

don't know. I think it's all just based

1:27:12

around being honest, being

1:27:15

honest about what you see and being honest

1:27:17

about how you talk about what you see.

1:27:19

Because otherwise, you can't do

1:27:21

what we do. And people don't come and see you.

1:27:23

And they don't read what you write or listen to

1:27:25

your podcast. I think that is

1:27:27

always at the heart of how you talk about

1:27:29

it. But underpinning that,

1:27:31

of course, is like an

1:27:34

affection for an institution,

1:27:37

an organization, a football club.

1:27:39

Because that's why you do it. And

1:27:42

that's what gives you your passion. That's what gives

1:27:44

you. There are

1:27:47

some mornings where maybe you don't want to get

1:27:49

up and write a blog first thing. But you

1:27:51

do, because that's what I'm very lucky and privileged

1:27:53

to be able to do every single day. But

1:27:57

For me, it's always just been about expressing what you want

1:27:59

to do. Really think in

1:28:01

an honest way and am.

1:28:05

Honestly, I think we're fucking good and I hope

1:28:07

we win the league tomorrow. And

1:28:11

if we do there might not see a

1:28:14

blog on Monday morning I saw I'm saying

1:28:16

and I hope you'll forgive me for them

1:28:18

guy but sounds like you want to jump

1:28:20

in the now this is ranger and I

1:28:22

will will What's out there the weekends view

1:28:24

of the mob for the Spurs game. will

1:28:26

like nervous and is it did he may

1:28:29

be always been like this and I saw

1:28:31

was a nice change Me is chains this

1:28:33

sodium or eyes So much more information. We

1:28:35

we to so well informed now reaping

1:28:37

all those things in and we see

1:28:40

ourselves liabilities. The guys are being com

1:28:42

which is so laser focus on every

1:28:44

single action emphysema communication a comes out

1:28:46

a club or thing I think we've

1:28:49

changed his as suppose why as far

1:28:51

as i think we really have thing

1:28:53

that for every time we saw me

1:28:55

people industry as you know area people

1:28:58

come up with say no thanks for

1:29:00

doing what you do except for but

1:29:02

thanks for added to our experience and

1:29:04

offing. Just movie on find

1:29:07

out the with incredibly lucky to

1:29:09

have to support the we have

1:29:11

and we can add your experience

1:29:13

and people to listen Now Yeah.

1:29:17

I think we can start so rap five

1:29:19

five yes a want one of the things

1:29:21

that are united just to sort of I

1:29:23

know the seasons not quite over and it's

1:29:25

could look really silly depending what happens tomorrow

1:29:27

but only be just out of ten. What

1:29:30

you rate the season and a quick sort

1:29:32

of explanation for how you landed on that.

1:29:34

So I'm Tim What you have added: ten

1:29:36

for the season and one. Yeah.

1:29:39

I mean, I keep the season probably

1:29:41

and nine at the moment I think.

1:29:43

I mean, you know, obviously for it

1:29:45

to be a ten. With.

1:29:47

perhaps after and some financial

1:29:49

rules us i buy any

1:29:51

idea how many a hundred

1:29:53

and fourteen and one more

1:29:55

than as well one more

1:29:57

of a and you know

1:30:00

like the domestic cups, we didn't really

1:30:02

perform in those and in

1:30:04

the FA Cup, but I think it was

1:30:06

really important to go to the quarter final

1:30:08

of the Champions League and obviously it kind

1:30:10

of, it sucked not to get any further

1:30:12

than that, but you know, to your point

1:30:14

about Porto, like I felt it was so

1:30:17

important to get over that hill and into

1:30:19

the quarter final and playing a team like

1:30:21

Bayern Munich and competing with them again. But

1:30:24

in terms of the league, like I

1:30:26

look at what we've done in the league this

1:30:29

year and again, for all of the kind

1:30:31

of tactical input and everything, all I can

1:30:33

say is I think in this

1:30:35

league season, in every single minute of

1:30:37

every single game, I haven't looked at

1:30:39

a single player and thought you're not

1:30:42

trying. In every single minute of every

1:30:44

single game, whether we have the ball or whether we

1:30:46

don't, and I think as a fan, you can't ask

1:30:48

more than that. Well

1:30:50

said. Five? I

1:30:54

suppose it's maybe the question you asked a little while ago, I

1:30:56

just thought of an answer. This

1:30:59

feels all too familiar to me. You

1:31:02

know, when we started the season, I didn't really

1:31:04

understand the impact of the Champions League and what

1:31:06

it would have on us. I

1:31:09

didn't, you know, I just forgot. I

1:31:11

forgot how emotional those days are and we went

1:31:13

to Porto, it was like a different sport, wasn't

1:31:15

it? It wasn't even the football I

1:31:17

knew. And so that was the thing that maybe

1:31:19

caught me out, maybe

1:31:21

caught the team out because I truly believe the

1:31:24

Bayern Villa, Bayern Week was the one that

1:31:26

we struggled on. And I

1:31:28

think that might be the chief learning. So I think Champions

1:31:31

League football, how we attack that this

1:31:34

year, how we allow it to drain

1:31:36

us or not drain us, I think

1:31:38

it's going to be a big part.

1:31:41

Champions League, we're not just trying to win the league, we're trying

1:31:43

to win the league and the Champions League. I think people have

1:31:45

got to realise that. So I always sort of not

1:31:47

too worried about the other cups. I know the people don't

1:31:49

agree with me, but I do care about those big two.

1:31:52

And if we sit and look at

1:31:54

ourselves honestly, we want one or the big

1:31:57

two. That's going to change our lives. So

1:31:59

that's my focus. Put you down for nine

1:32:01

then. Well

1:32:05

James and let me ask you a question just about what

1:32:07

Clive said because I do agree that

1:32:09

that the addition of Champions League

1:32:11

changes the dynamic of a season massively is

1:32:13

if we're gonna go from nine to a ten is the Next

1:32:16

step maybe a different approach to

1:32:18

rotation would that be an area that if Mikkel

1:32:20

was here and he said I really want your

1:32:22

Opinion of me and how I can improve as

1:32:24

a manager a conversation we could all visualize happening

1:32:27

Would you would you reference rotation or is it or do you think that's

1:32:29

overblown? No, I think it's a thing.

1:32:31

I think I Think if

1:32:33

you look at the use of players There's a core

1:32:35

group that the manager really trusts and

1:32:38

there's a few players on the fringes of that and

1:32:40

you'd like to see that Core group expanded. I think

1:32:42

even as Clive said even if it means you're carrying

1:32:44

less numbers But you've got 18 19

1:32:47

players who you really believe in you really feel

1:32:49

you can swap in and out without weakening the

1:32:51

team I think that'd be a big a

1:32:54

big step. I think managing a Champions League campaign

1:32:56

alongside a Premier League campaign is incredibly difficult I

1:32:58

actually think one of the most important

1:33:00

moments in the title race potentially

1:33:03

is actually city going out of the Champions

1:33:05

League I think that hurt our Premier League

1:33:07

chances a little bit. Obviously we can still

1:33:09

do it So it could

1:33:11

be a ten it could be a ten and I desperately

1:33:14

hope it is tomorrow I don't know man. Don't know it

1:33:16

feels like it feels like it Like

1:33:18

I said, there's a lot going for it as a

1:33:20

narrative. I like it. I definitely like

1:33:22

the narrative Paul How about you? I'm

1:33:25

gonna assume. Sorry about this that we're

1:33:27

not gonna win the title tomorrow in

1:33:29

my It's

1:33:32

the Titanic it's got compartments

1:33:35

Yes, you brought this on yourself.

1:33:37

Yeah, I'm gonna give us a 10 out of

1:33:39

10. Hmm Because

1:33:41

I don't think regardless of tomorrow.

1:33:43

I don't think you can reasonably

1:33:45

expect a better Showing

1:33:49

of this team this season. It did

1:33:51

everything I want hoped expected. We're heading

1:33:53

for 89 points tomorrow 90-something

1:33:58

goals. I mean for fuck's sake Right?

1:34:01

And there'll be people who think you can't give

1:34:03

a 10 out of 10 without a title, but

1:34:05

that is outcome-based. And we don't do that kind

1:34:07

of analysis on our podcast, Elliot. That's

1:34:11

news to me. There may be many of those

1:34:13

people here, and you know what I say to

1:34:15

those people, Elliot, don't you? But we're

1:34:17

not gonna say it. Fuck

1:34:19

them. Yeah, what about you,

1:34:21

Andrew? I mean, I

1:34:24

think to be 10 out of 10, you've got to

1:34:26

win it. So it could still be 10 out of

1:34:28

10, but I think a very solid... Say it to his

1:34:30

face, Paul. Say it to his face. Hey,

1:34:32

Paul. I

1:34:36

think a 9 out of 10, certainly Premier

1:34:39

League, the

1:34:41

effort, the consistency has been amazing.

1:34:44

Champions League got to the quarterfinal. I think that was kind

1:34:46

of a line in the sand, not a line in the

1:34:48

sand, but where you would have liked us to be. And

1:34:50

I think those

1:34:52

two Champions League ties, I think, are gonna

1:34:54

be quite instructive for Michael Artero going forward.

1:34:56

I think you will have learned a lot

1:34:58

from those. So how that factors into summer

1:35:00

planning and what we do in the transfer

1:35:02

market, we'll have to wait and see. I

1:35:04

think they weren't brilliant games.

1:35:08

It was brilliant in the first leg against Bayern for

1:35:10

a while. But I

1:35:12

think you can learn a lot from those

1:35:14

experiences and how Porto played and what

1:35:16

they did to us in a way. How

1:35:19

do you counteract that? So

1:35:22

let's hope it is a 10. We got

1:35:24

that extra one tomorrow, but I think 9

1:35:26

out of 10 is a solid mark. Yeah.

1:35:30

Yep. Well, like Europe's the one place where my

1:35:32

10 out of 10 doesn't hold up for me. So

1:35:35

I think that's fair. And ultimately, it's sort of

1:35:37

interesting if you think about it, right? Last year

1:35:39

was a shock. I don't think

1:35:41

we expected to do what we did

1:35:43

last year, but because we did it this year,

1:35:45

we expected it. If last year had been like

1:35:47

we finished third, we were cut adrift from the

1:35:49

title, but we made that next step. This season

1:35:51

would feel even more impressive incrementally.

1:35:53

But what we've done is consolidated.

1:35:56

I think that's so important. You can't

1:35:58

have it be a... Moment and

1:36:00

then you slide back and suddenly you're battling for fourth

1:36:02

again And I think we've shown that we're ready to

1:36:04

consolidate our position and that this is something that we

1:36:06

can now At least expect a challenge for

1:36:08

moving forward So I have it as as a

1:36:11

nine out of ten as well And I think do

1:36:13

you want to start to wrap so we can get

1:36:15

some drinks together? Yeah, I think that's what we're gonna

1:36:17

have to do because there's a time limit. I Don't

1:36:22

quite know how to wrap this up well

1:36:25

really I just what

1:36:27

I would like to say obviously is Thank

1:36:30

you to all of you And I

1:36:32

hope for each and every one of you

1:36:34

that what we're hoping for tomorrow what we're

1:36:36

looking for tomorrow Whether it's a scabby goal

1:36:38

that goes in off Roger Ezzar's in

1:36:40

the 93rd minute or somehow Michael

1:36:44

Antonio falls in love with football again by

1:36:46

scoring a hat trick against Manchester City And

1:36:49

we do what we need to do against Everton and

1:36:51

we all have an amazing day whether we're gonna be

1:36:53

at the game or elsewhere I Can't

1:36:57

explain how much I want that for everybody

1:36:59

and So

1:37:01

yeah, there you go. I don't know. Yeah, I I

1:37:04

think just as a final word for me The the

1:37:06

word that comes to mind is always gratitude. I sit

1:37:08

here and I think how can this even be? How

1:37:10

can we all be here like this together? It

1:37:13

is a community is a group of people that I

1:37:15

love with all my heart and soul I can't be

1:37:17

more thankful to have you in my life to have

1:37:19

all of you in my life And I think what

1:37:21

we share together in the way we come together about

1:37:23

Arsenal makes it bigger for me and hopefully bigger for

1:37:25

all Of us than it would be without one another.

1:37:27

So I want to say thank you The

1:37:36

fire is open until The

1:37:38

fire is open until half 11 We'll

1:37:41

be going off stage and we'll go back in

1:37:43

there and we'll hang out and have a beer

1:37:45

or two just once again Thank

1:37:47

you so much for being here. We love you all

1:37:49

and we'll see you next year. We'll talk to you

1:37:52

after our still Dan ever to know you

1:38:11

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