Arsecast Extra Episode 645 - 23.06.2025

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0:30James McNicholas: Hello and welcome to another Arsecast Extra. As always, with James from Gunnerblog, James, good morning to you. Good morning, Andrew. You're back. I am back again. I was back, then I went again, and now I'm back once more. Remarkable. Like a renegade master, one might say. At Arseblog, spotted in London to meet with officials and help complete formalities of Andrew Allen's move from Singleton FC to husband athletic. Yes, it all took place this weekend. What a beautiful day. It was amazing. Very, very warm, I will say, but that's a first world complaint. Yeah, a lovely day to see Andrew, my friend and colleague here at Arseblog, get married on Saturday.

1:17James McNicholas: So that was good fun. And spent a couple of days in London as well, which was also a lot of fun. Very, very warm in London this weekend, I can tell you. You don't need to tell me, mate. I don't need to tell you. That's true. Yeah, we're telling them. Telling them in the roundabout way. It has been bloody hot here, actually. Yeah. And we're really bad at it. We're really bad at it. We are not set up for it. That's the issue. Yeah, because the air con thing doesn't really exist because most of the time you don't need air conditioning, you know? No. Basically, you've got to go and stand in a Tesco's.

1:56if you want to be in an appropriate climate, other supermarkets are available, but you know what I mean.

2:02James McNicholas: Yeah, of course, of course. Anyway, I didn't find it too overbearing, I have to say. Did a bit of walking around, met a listener. I was walking back from Upper Street down towards King's Cross, and just before you get to Pentonville Road, I was stopped by a guy called Freddy, who's a long-time listener to the show. He said, I'm not listening to you right now. He had his headphones in. I said, that's not good enough, Freddy. he said you don't fucking tell me what so and then we had a big wrestle and a big punch up no it was nice um nice to meet people and real fans are listening to us 24 hours a day just in case they should bump it yeah exactly just listening to the same episode over and over and over again not these plastics like freddy anyway it was lovely to meet freddy and i had a lovely time I'm in London and this morning went back and I busted Lana out of dog catraz prison break.

2:56James McNicholas: Prison break. Exactly. So she's back home now and feeling a lot better about things. I think they said she was very good. She had a lovely time. She was playing with puppies. I was like, really? Because she's not great with other dogs. It feels to me like they might have taken a significant risk there. But that's what they said. Anyway, she's back and she's settling in again. And, you know, we'll have to de-tough her a little bit. You know, a bit of stress, hair loss there, as can happen with dogs. But apart from that, she's A-OK and everything's back in its normal, rightful place. It's weird.

3:33That happens with human children as well, where, like, I'll pick Rocky up from nursery and they'll be like, yeah, he ate well. Ate all his broccoli. And I'm like, what? Did he? What child is this? I think they just behave, you know, differently in other situations.

3:52James McNicholas: Environments, yeah. Maybe that's what it is. Maddening. Absolutely maddening. But anyway, glad everyone is back home safely. And congratulations to Andrew Allen. Yes. Congratulations. I bet he looked beautiful on the day. Oh, my God. Tough to be his bride, I'd say, frankly. Well, she did a sterling job, let me tell you. She did not look at it. She had a good go at it, I'm sure. but this was Andrew's day and everybody knew it. Oh my God. He is just the most impeccably stylish man. Even later in the evening in the proceedings when he had just taken his jacket off, taken his tie off, even in just the shirt, he looked like the best dressed man alive.

4:32James McNicholas: It's terrible. You know, you stand next to him and it's like, I'm like a ragamuffin, you know? Like some guy who lives under a bridge. And I thought I'd scrubbed up pretty well. and you won't move to London. You're worried about proximity to Andrew. Proximity to Andrew, yeah. People will see me alongside him and just dismiss me as some kind of vagrant. But no, he had a great day. He gave a tremendously funny and touching and emotional speech. And his brother, Nick, who was the best man, did likewise. And as did his wife, his new wife. Well, his only wife, I guess. New wife suggests there was an old wife along the way.

5:12James McNicholas: which I don't believe there was. But no, it was all just great. It was lovely. You couldn't ask for more and we caught up with some old blogging friends as well on the day. So that was good. And yeah, we had a fine time. We had a fine time and missed, I think, not very much once again. Good of Arsenal once again to wait for your return. Yeah. They are ever so thoughtful. They are. Our coverage. There was a bit of panic on Friday. Panic is the wrong word. Because when I was going to London on Friday, I was like, will I bring my microphone just in case anything happens? I was like, nah. What the hell's going to happen on July the 20th?

5:56James McNicholas: Nothing. Nothing will be happening. And then all of a sudden it was like, Zubamendi's in town. Zubamendi's doing the deal, doing all the hashtag content, et cetera, et cetera. And then I got a text to say that Zubimendi could well be announced on Friday. And I was thinking, God damn, this is not ideal at all. But then panic averted and it hasn't happened yet. No, no. And it may never happen. It may just be Schrodinger's signing. He's never actually unveiled. No. But Arsenal remain confident. Well, listen, if we as a planet get to July, I suspect it might happen then. Yes, I suspect so. I suspect so.

6:42But yeah, with the odds and ends, the hoops have been jumped through. Unusual to make a player do that in a medical, but he did it.

6:51James McNicholas: You've got to see how agile they are. This is the new way now. Hoop jumping. There is a guy on Instagram, I'm fairly sure. I think there's a guy on Instagram for pretty much everything. But I think there's a guy who jumps through hoops. That's his skill. I've seen some of his stuff and they're kind of remarkable. Is there one where there's like a bunch of guys who jump through one hoop and the hoop is like falling and they all have to jump at separate times? Maybe I'm making that up. I don't know. Could be possible. It's one of those things where you're like, either they've practiced that a million times and have perfected the art or they've had to do a million takes.

7:28James McNicholas: You know what I mean? Yeah, there's these two brothers on Instagram. Have you ever seen those guys where they try and do all kinds of trick shots where they'll like roll coins down a thing and it's got to go between a crack and then land in the top of a bottle. And they do stuff with footballs and darts and all kinds. I can't remember the name of the brothers. But I think it does take them many, many takes to get some of the shots that they're trying to pull off, you know? I should imagine so. But Zubimendi was here, I think it's probably accurate to say. And, yeah. Now he's gone again. Now he's gone.

8:10We had him right in our grasp. He slipped through our fingers. Where has he gone? Does anyone know? He's a bird about, apparently. He's camped outside. No, it's all fine. He's an Arsenal player in all but name. Just trying to think. I mean, there was also the Miles Lewis-Skelly contract news at the back end of last week.

8:32James McNicholas: Did we touch that on the last one? I can't remember. I don't think... No, you know what happened. We recorded and then... Oh, yes. It was literally hours afterwards. Charles Watts dropped his bomba. The Charles Watts bomba exploded in our face. Yeah. That's good news. That was some good news, yeah. Very good news. Great news. But, yeah, beyond that, Andrew, it remains fairly quiet. I think it's fair to say. I think it is. I think it is. I think we should go on holiday again while we've got the tough chance. Just wait for Arsenal to wait for us to come back again? Is that how it works? I don't know.

9:17But, yeah, it's, I mean, it's as you were, really.

9:22James McNicholas: Yeah. It's not unexpected, though. I wasn't really expecting a great deal to happen between last Wednesday and today. Do you think, because obviously I think there's a fair bit of disquiet out there about the lack of activity. Do you think that the announcements of, say, Zubimendi and Kepa will alleviate that at all? No. Do you think because... Right, okay. Not a bit. Not a bit. Because there's been such a drip feed of information already that it sort of feels like nothing. Yeah, the Zubimendi thing, with all due respect to him, and I like him as a player, and I think he's going to be really good for us.

10:05James McNicholas: but as a transfer thing, it's sort of up there with watching paint dry. Right. You know, because it's been in the post for such a long time that everyone has known about it for such a long time. Even the sort of brief Real Madrid thing didn't really register. Just to create a bit of excitement. Yeah. It was just like, ah, fuck it. That's not really real. We know that's not really real, you know? so it's one of those that you're just watching it as a thing crawl ever so slowly across the line it's like instead of the tortoise and the hare it's the tortoise and the sloth or the tortoise and the other tortoise and then it's like hurry up tortoise will you you know what about a backup goalkeeper arriving is that going to get you off your seat kepper you know doing the tour of london colney high-fiving frimi nondescript members of staff yeah for me frimi will be there for a high five no doubt is that is that going to get you going uh is that going to get a state to you andrew listen i'm happy with that deal i've said it before i said it to you i think it's a good deal I think it's a really good way of, you know, providing decent quality experience backup for David Raya.

11:30James McNicholas: It's a good transfer, like five million quid, whatever it is. And then, you know, pretty reasonable wages. Job well done. Hats off. It's not 25, 30 million on another goalkeeper to create another goalkeeping situation. I like it. but you know I'm not I'm not getting you know too messant about it that's all I would say that's fair that is fair yeah nothing nobody's going to be excited nobody is going to be excited until we do the striker and even then some people are not going to be excited or happy at all are they you know no the team Sesco guys will be like why did you buy Jocares The team Yuccares guys will be, why did you buy Sesco?

12:17James McNicholas: And if it's anyone else, particularly a slightly older player from Aston Villa, I think things will be said online. People will be, you know, recording videos of themselves in their cars. the car parks of north london will be full of lads filming themselves in their cars to let the world know how they do not like whatever it is that we have done whatever it is that we have done and how we've done you know whichever way it goes i remember that survey we did uh in the athletic which was a pretty even split between jokeres and sesco so this is i mean it's brexit all over again Sure, in the next few weeks, Andrea Berta's going to be parading around London in a bus with Victor Jokeres' goal statistics along the side of it.

13:06James McNicholas: We're saving£350 ,000 a week by not paying Sesco the wages that he wants. What do we make of all this then? You know, Arsenal's, because the reporting, listen, the reporting around this, Arsenal have interest in both the players. We know this. But, you know, we've heard this season, personal terms with Sesco have been agreed. It's just a matter of agreeing a fee with RB Leipzig. And then they've agreed a fee with RB Leipzig. It's all good. Personal terms, not a problem, et cetera, et cetera. And now all of a sudden personal terms are a problem. Is it possible that some of the information that has been put out into the public domain is not 100 % accurate.

13:51James McNicholas: Could that be possible? It's certainly possible, but I wouldn't want to, you know, I wouldn't want to be critical of another journalist's work necessarily. Oh, no, I'm not saying you've got to go in two-footed and, you know, name names and all of that kind of stuff. But, you know, in a serious way, is this sort of online currency of being a transfer guy, very specific transfer guy. And I don't want to say one guy or the other guy or the other guy. There's quite a few of them out there. You know, it's a crowded market now. There's one guy who's ahead of the rest, of course, we know. But there are others, you know, following in his footsteps, or maybe you've been there a bit ahead of him.

14:36James McNicholas: But that sort of need to be visible in the transfer online thing means that you've always got to be posting something. And we've talked about maybe the sort of non-update updates, right? The same thing being rehashed and repackaged, et cetera, et cetera. But you can't do the same thing over and over and over again. You've got to modify it very slightly. So there's got to be things that you can put out there that are vague enough to sound reasonable and credible, but which aren't necessarily specific. And you can sort of give yourself a little bit of an out, if that makes sense. Yeah, I think that's possible.

15:17I think maybe a more, what's the word, more generous interpretation would be to say that these things are kind of based on nuggets of truth. But, you know, they sort of end up being massaged into such a way to create a story where there isn't really necessarily one that's particularly exciting. I mean, I'm sure there's a conversation every week, at least, between Arsenal and, I don't know, Benjamin Sesko's representative. And sometimes those talks will go well, sometimes they'll go less well. And I suppose you could spin that into a news line if you so wanted. You know, at The Athletic, we've been pretty, what's that word that means sort of careful?

16:06But I feel like it ends in ickous, but it's not perspicuous.

16:10James McNicholas: Conspicuous? No. Circumspect, we'll go for. That's a decent word. That is a good word. We've been pretty circumspect in what we have published around the strikers because, to be honest with you, my assessment is that this is a situation with a lot of smoke and mirrors and spin and different agendas from people on different sides. And it's very hard when there is that information about, and as you suggest, you don't entirely know the agenda behind it or the reason you're being told it, to be definitive. And I think in this situation, if you can't be definitive, you are just kind of adding to the noise and the confusion.

16:53Yeah, I think there's something to be gleaned from what may be the more credible sources, if you like.

17:03James McNicholas: And again, this isn't to say that some of these guys don't have good information. And as you say, you know, a bit of info could come from a side with a particular point of view, right? Right. You know, the source of that information can often be the thing that is at odds with maybe stuff that's been out there before. Right. But the people who are genuinely, genuinely, really credible, if they're not saying anything, that's something to take note of. Right. It's not an absence. It's not a vacuum. but it just suggests really doesn't it that there is not quite a definitive thing out there nobody really really really knows what arsel are going to do in this situation no and i suppose if you've nailed your colors to a mast you know if you've said oh it's sesco and it's definitely sesco and that's how it's going to go um i'm not saying anyone has necessarily said that but if you've kind of lent more in that direction then there is maybe a need to kind of um continue that story playing out with more updates even though materially nothing's really happened um and and personally my view is it is still in the balance you know that there are talks happening with both sides and uh it's you know fine details and and the numbers are going to be critical to any of this, what else Arsenal want to do in the market is going to be critical.

18:38So it could go either way. And I'm just loathe to sort of anoint one of them when I don't believe that's taken place.

18:51James McNicholas: Yeah, that's entirely fair. I mean, that's the right way to do it from a reporting perspective. If you don't know something. But it is funny because, like, you know, obviously it would be more exciting to, you know, be a bit more free and easy with it. Of course. Yeah. It's just not – well, it's not how we've chosen to approach it in this instance. Yeah. But I think, yeah, I mean, the upshot of it is, though, that I think fans are probably getting quite bored of it already. you know we spoke about the zubamendi thing and it being like sort of unwrapping a christmas present but you you know you were very specific in your list in terms of what you asked for um and it's it's a football shaped object in wrapping paper lo and behold it is a football um i i slightly feel like with a nine um we might end up in the same place where people are just like oh yeah there he is great we've been talking about this for six months what now sort of thing which I get unless it's a completely wild card option.

20:01James McNicholas: Sure. Which it might be, who knows? Yeah, I get it because it has been playing and it's been playing out all summer. And I think the sort of the constant drip, drip, drip or regurgitation of information regarding both of these guys, you know, one day it's a little more Yacharez one day. It's a little more Sesco and nothing really. has changed since the season ended, you know? Is Berta more into Jokeres than Arteta? Does Arteta want Cesc? You know, we don't know. And of course, after a while, you sort of become inured to it, don't you? It's just like, well, another non-update update becomes a bit tedious.

20:45And again, if Arsenal are doing their job properly, both players and both camps will feel and believe they are the first choice. because, you know, you wouldn't approach a player and say, to be honest, we like the other guy, but we want to keep our options open. So what are your plans?

21:04James McNicholas: Yeah. You know, Arsenal will be, as we said last week, they'll be kind of leveraging their interest in both players sort of against each other, hoping to try the best deal. Okay, well, let's see if anything develops over the course of this week. Beyond that, I don't know what we can say about strikers. What did you think of or see with regards to Gabriel Martinelli and some reported interest in him from Bayern Munich, which I thought was quite funny in a way, because the same reporter who was reporting the interest in Gabriel Martinelli from Bayern Munich, you know, his Twitter feed had stories about their interest in Luis Diaz, all around the same time, by the way.

21:52James McNicholas: Louis Diaz, Nico Williams, Cody Gakpo was another one, and maybe somebody else. I can't remember who it was. Jamie Gittins from Borussia Dortmund. So, you know, Bayern Munich interested in Martinelli is a story which might resonate with Arsenal fans, but Bayern Munich interested in Louis Diaz, Nico Williams, Cody Gakpo, Jamie Gittins, and Gabriel Martinelli suggests they're just looking around. Yeah, I mean, I don't doubt Gerard Martinelli could well be on a list for Bayern Munich. I did make a few checks around this yesterday and I don't think it's anything that's progressed at all at this point.

22:35And I wrote a few weeks ago that Martinelli had been told, Arsenal hope to keep our best players and we don't see you going. Of course, it's football and things could change If a Bayern Munich came in and it meant Arsenal could go out on a limb and bring in a really top-class elite wide player, then it could happen. But I don't think we're close to anything like that. I think Martinelli, he's got two years remaining on his contract plus an additional year beyond that. I think there's a very decent chance he'll be here at the start of next season. But yeah, I mean, look, Bayern would be an interesting move and club from him.

23:23And you've got players who've gone from the Premier League and had a massive impact there. Obviously, Harry Kane, but the lad from Palace as well. The lad from Palace. The lad, the boy.

23:36James McNicholas: The boy from Palace. Elisa, is that his name? Michael Elisa, yeah, yeah. He's such a good player. A really good player who, you know, You and I probably would both have taken Arsenal anyway in the last few years. But, yeah, it's an interesting one, Martinelli. I mean, what's your – we had a few questions about it. What's your reaction to that news? Like, if it were to materialise, how would you feel about that? Well, it would entirely depend for me on the money that was on offer. Like, if it was an offer that's too good to refuse for Gabriel Martinelli, then you might consider it. At the moment, though, I would be more inclined to keep Martinelli because I think we need to add to the forward line rather than take away from it.

24:27Somebody made the point to me as well that Martinelli, is he at high point in his value at this point in time? He's not necessarily had his best campaign. I do wonder if in a year's time, might you be able to achieve more in the market?

24:45James McNicholas: Yeah, but if you can achieve more for him in the market next season, it suggests that he's had a good season. At which point you're going, well, why are we going to sell this guy? I mean, listen, I had a little bit of pushback on my suggestion or my observation about Rodrigo last week. Oh, yes. Where I said for the price that is being quoted for him, I don't think he's a massive upgrade on Gabrielle Martinelli. So what did Rodrigo email you? He emailed me and said, listen, you cunt. Yeah. I'm fucking way better than Martinelli. No, a little bit of reaction to it. But I was thinking about it, right?

25:27James McNicholas: And there has been a bit of talk about Rodrigo. And I think you mentioned last week that he is a player, certainly that Arsenal are interested in. Yeah. Right? So I was thinking about it. What if Rodrigo isn't necessarily a replacement for Gabriel Martinelli, like like for like replacement? Because for that money, I think you're looking for a player who can deliver a bit more than Rodrigo can for me for that kind of price. but what if Rodrigo becomes not just an option for the left-hand side but also the right-hand side where he has played a lot for Real Madrid do you think that might be part of the plan if it is the plan that any kind of substantial outlay for Rodrigo isn't simply to play him on the left-hand side albeit that might be his preference but to have a kind of um sort of greater depth in those two areas because we've talked a lot about the the Bakaio Saka cover depth replacement competition however you want to put it right whether it's one area or whether it's Martinelli but does that make a a deal for Rodrigo make more sense if you're not just pigeonholing him as a guy who's going to play on the left hand side yeah quite possibly I mean what I would also say is I think Martinelli did all right on the right-hand side at times last season.

27:02And I think with these wide players, they'll probably be thought of as a group, right? And it's important that they're versatile within that. I'm not convinced that Arsenal will buy two wide forwards in this window. No. I know that a lot of fans would like that. And I think Arsenal, if finances were unlimited, might like that. I just think it will be difficult within budget to get two players of that ilk in. So I think you are probably looking at someone coming in who can be a bit flexible in terms of where they play. What we hear is that Rodrigo sees himself as a left winger. He's never really been able to hold down that position at Madrid because of Vinicius.

27:41He's played predominantly on the right. He wants to go over to the left and figure more there. But, you know, I think I'm right in saying that in Brazil's last game, Gabriel Martinelli played off the left-hand side and did rather well in the front three there. So, you know, whatever pushback you may have had, I still think the point you were making was fair. I think that those players are probably closer in ability than the perception, the wider perception is currently. And I'm not in a hurry to get rid of Martinelli. I really think that he still has a lot to offer. Maybe not as an automatic pick every single week, but, you know, we need depth.

28:30We need variety. We need goals. And an informed Martinelli can bring that.

28:36James McNicholas: Yeah, yeah. I mean, the names that keep doing the rounds, you know, about the left-wing position are the usual suspects. I think we can call them at this stage, doesn't it? It looks stiff. Nico Williams is off the table now. Yeah, it does. And then you've got your Anthony Gordon at Newcastle, who would be extraordinarily expensive, I think, which makes it slightly unrealistic. We don't like the shape of his head. No, we don't like his face. But that's fine. You can do a lot, you know, with some fillers and Botox and things like that. That's true. So Arsenal's medical team have the technology and the capacity to really.

29:16James McNicholas: Or maybe you could wear like a luchador mask, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe one of Oba's old one, Black Panther masks. Yeah. Might have down the back of a sofa somewhere at London Coney. Yeah, yeah. Something like that. But, you know, is there, I mean, we're not wedded to those guys. They're not the only guys in the world. And we had a question actually, which might bring us. Yeah, this could be it. Let me see if I can find. And yeah, it comes from Apostle Nono of Sbarro Dreams on the Discord. And he said, after big layoffs in our scouting department, I believe it was said we were shifting more to a data-based approach in recruitment.

29:55James McNicholas: I don't remember hearing much about that since. Do either of you have a good understanding to the background structures we have around scouting and recruiting? Anyway, scouting. And that part of the transfer world at Arsenal. And is, you know, since he's come in, Andrea Berta, you know, widening the horizons, if you like, or maybe looking in different directions than Edu and Jason Ato and that particular group? Well, you know, he's not from a scouting background, Andrea Berta. He's from a business background. And I think that probably informs the way he approaches the market. You know, he's probably more led by connections and contacts than, you know, having a diamond eye, as it were.

30:47He's probably, you know, and I don't mean this in a pejorative sense. He's probably more of a Sanehi than a mislintat, if we're to use that old Arsenal dichotomy.

30:54James McNicholas: Sure. The process in terms of talent ID, as far as I understand it, has been. Obviously, it may be evolving because we're seeing changes in personnel. We're seeing someone new at the top in Berta, but has been that scouting or recruitment would present a list of names for a position. And that would be a list that's sort of determined by data. Yes, but also in-person scouting. Arsenal have quite a good kind of intersection between those departments, which wasn't always the case. That list is then passed to Mikel Arteta and coaching. and typically he will actually share that with his own staff and seek feedback from them.

31:35So the likes of Albert Steubenberg, for example, or Karls Cuesta, who's recently since left.

31:41James McNicholas: Not anymore. Exactly. They would have a role as well in terms of sort of watching those tapes, looking at those players, assessing their fit into the team. And then I guess Arteta makes a kind of recommendation, you know, based on the names that are there. and Arsenal pursue it. So you're right. Those wingers who are being frequently mentioned are not the only wingers in the world. I doubt very much they're the only wingers on the list that recruitment put together. I think the reason that they are getting reported on, certainly the reason that we've reported on them, is that because their names which meet kind of, if not universal approval, the relatively widespread approval.

32:22James McNicholas: You know, their names that the club like, but also Mikel likes. and the weight of McHale's opinion, as we've discovered over previous windows, it tends to be significant. But it's interesting because that list that might have been presented in April, May imagine, let's say, of wide players, as the window goes on, that does diminish, right? That does reduce. I mean, Jamie Gittins, for example, you know, would have been on there but might feel beyond now because he's going to Chelsea Nico Williams um a long-term target but headed for Barcelona seemingly um and that's that is the sort of thing that I think will be I think aggravating Mikhail Arteta would probably be I don't know that definitively but you know I'm sure that in his conversation with the club he's looking at the lay of the land and thinking the longer everything takes the more our options reduce I mean is it not like the airport train security where as one tray goes off, another one comes along and is replaced.

33:29James McNicholas: Like, I know there's a limited number of targets that you can have, but surely then you're looking at, I don't want to call it your B list, you know, but players that might have been, okay, we'll leave them there for the moment. And then if this happens, that happens, then we're going to have to consider some other options. Yeah, very possibly. I mean, also when a player moves, there's sometimes a domino effect, isn't there? Where, I don't know, if Real Madrid sign her forward, then it means they need to get rid of one or whatever it might be. Yeah. It's a kind of odd sort of speed dating game this summer.

34:03And it seems that some of the targets that Arsenal would like in that area are going to be matched elsewhere. The Rodrigo one is still there. And my suspicion is it's one that Arsenal will be prepared to wait for to see how it shakes out. I've got to say, like, you know, we have correspondents in Madrid and I'm reading the Spanish press as well. At the present point in time, there doesn't really seem to be any indication that Rodrigo's itching to get out of Madrid.

34:32James McNicholas: Well, you must have seen the, you know, he didn't play. He didn't play. He didn't play, so everyone's like, ah, that's it now. He's not playing him because, you know, a move is on the cards, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah. We are maybe guilty of putting two and two together and getting five. I mean, maybe. If as the Club World Cup goes on, he's not substantially involved, then that could change things. But it's only my sense of it, but I don't get the sense of this is a player who's desperate to get out of Madrid and is looking for somewhere to go. I think this is more of maybe a Meso Ozil situation where he may find himself the odd man out at Madrid and sort of be shown the door.

35:20And clearly Arsenal are positioning themselves to be there to pick up the pieces, as it were, if that happens. But, yeah, my gut says that that could rumble on, you know, that a bit like, you know, as with Martin Odegaard leaving Madrid, you know, the picture didn't really become clear until, do you remember that the La Liga season started? And I think he was left out of a squad or two. And suddenly it was like, right.

35:48James McNicholas: yeah because that summer was just full of stories about how i think it was it was ancelotti wasn't it was in charge at the time i think it was like oh the coach really loves him whether i don't know if it was ancelotti or zidane or whoever it was and i think he wanted to make it work yeah yeah yeah um and who can blame him right i mean he went there as a teenager and he didn't want it to be a failure effectively and it's real madrid right you know you can't there's a reason he chose them over us when he was 14, 15, whatever it was. But, you know, circumstances were what they were and he had to reconsider.

36:27And I think the Rodrigo one would be a sort of similar case, albeit, I suspect, a much more expensive one.

36:36James McNicholas: We had a question about a defender whose name has been linked. I did see it pop up over the weekend a little bit, Jarrell Hato. so Delassi Fumi who's at delassi.bsky.social there's been some pretty strong links to Hato in the last week what do you reckon that means for Myles Lewis Skelly in particular could that mean more minutes in midfield and do we know you know he's a player I think who we know Arsenal were certainly interested in before he signed a new deal at Ajax but whether or not that interest is oh god I hate to use the word fucking concrete but you know what I mean they're making words they're making you not want to say certain words it's weird because concrete is such an exciting word normally but yes I think well look clearly a player that Arsenal really like, have liked for a long time can play left back, can play left sided centre half I have to be honest to say I don't quite see it this summer you know Miles Lewis-Gelly about to sign a new contract Gabriel has signed a new contract you've got Ricardo Calafiori there as well I can only really see it happening if maybe a Calafiori was to go and I've not had any indication that that's on the card so yeah I'd love to be proved wrong because he's a really good player and I think you know he's going to get a big move at some point in time.

38:12Yeah, I just don't quite see where he fits in at Arsenal. I mean... Do you? Am I wrong?

38:20James McNicholas: It is difficult because, you know, at the moment we do have Kivior, we do have Califuri, we do have Lewis Skelly, we do have Gabriel. For me, I think the sort of place where we're just a little bit light defensively is on the right-hand side. I'd be inclined to agree with that. You know, who is the, look, we saw that even with Ben White and Jury and Timber last season, they both had fitness issues, which meant, you know, Timber had to pick up a lot of the slack, didn't he? when Ben White was out injured and it took Ben White a bit of a while to get back. And we relied very heavily on William Saliba.

39:03James McNicholas: We didn't really have the ability beyond playing somebody out of position at right back to give William Saliba any kind of a break at all. So I do feel like if there is a defender to arrive this summer, I think somebody who can play on the right is more beneficial to us than somebody who's predominantly left-sided. I think I agree with that. And by the way, I meant to get to this question in each of the last few weeks. Okay. And I didn't get to it. So I'm going to raise it now. Just because it's interesting, it's quite a counterpoint to a lot of the discourse around Lewis Skelly. So Mole Cheese on Blue Sky said, am I the only one who isn't interested in seeing Myles Lewis Skelly play in midfield?

39:50I feel we've stumbled across a probably world-class left-back for the next 10 years. Why are some people so keen to move him? And I have to say that really strikes a chord with me. I mean, I am always fascinated by our sort of, it does feel like there's a, there is a certain argument of like, I feel like a lot of sports really want to see Myles in midfield. And I find myself slightly confused at that because on the one hand, he's doing an exceptional job at left-back. And on the other hand, I feel like he is in midfield anyway. I don't know why you think it's going to look so different. It'll be more of the same, to be honest with you.

40:29Sure. So, yeah, we get questions every week about, is Myles going to play in midfield more next season? And if he doesn't, I'm sort of fine with that.

40:41James McNicholas: Yeah, I don't necessarily see it. I mean, I think you can look at Myles Lewis-Gelley and say, could he play as a six? Probably. Could he play as a left eight? I think absolutely he could. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know. What I'd say is, does he play there for 60 % of the game? Well, sometimes he does. Yeah, sometimes he does. You get him higher up the pitch and you can see what an impact he makes. And that's why people are thinking. I think people think, right, well, left back, it's a slightly more prosaic role, generally speaking, right? Left fullback. But we know that left back for Mikel Arteta needs to have some basically big Superman in many ways.

41:20James McNicholas: Because you've got to play in midfield. You've got to play high up. You've also got to defend, you know. I think you can make the case it's the primary playmaking role in our team. Potentially one of them. I mean, I think, you know, Martin Odegaard and that side of it. It's that sort of diagonal between Lewis Skelly and Odegaard that I think it is just a straight diagonal line. Maybe it needs to become a triangle with another player in the left eight position, which maybe we'll see a bit more this season with Declan Rice. It might be Declan Rice. You know, is he going to be a little more advanced with Zubimendi anchoring the midfield?

42:02James McNicholas: then does that Lewis Skelly, Odegaard, Rice thing become more of a triumvirate than what it is at this moment in time. But listen, when Ashley Cole broke through at left back, there was a bit of talk, wasn't there? Well, he started as a striker and maybe he could play here, there, but he came into the team and became basically the best left back in the world. maybe there's an element of people looking at what happened to Bakayo Saka where he broke into the team sort of a left back didn't he left back left wing back and then changed and became brilliant on the right hand side so I don't know yeah but I'm not in a big hurry to to see it if it happens it happens if it's a natural development for Lewis Kelly I'm okay with it.

42:54James McNicholas: And I think he's got the ability to do it, but it's about, you know, what he did last season, broke through, got nominated for young player of the year by virtue of his performances at left back. Got in the England team. Got in the England team. I think I've heard him say, and I'm sure he would say, oh, I see myself as a midfielder, but you know, if I was talking to him, I would say, well, don't be in a hurry to change anything. No. You know, what you're doing right now is really, really working. And I think sometimes we're guilty of sort of looking past that. But, you know, it's fantastic the job he's doing at left back.

43:30And slightly differently to Saka. Oh, what was that? Oh, you've broken everything. Shall we find out? Yeah, the excitement. Some jewellery. Some of Camille's jewellery. Okay. Hopped it off the desk. There you go. Slightly differently to Saka. Saka was kind of an attacking player who was pressed into action as a left back in an emergency Rocky is protesting outside the door at that argument but I stand by it

43:59James McNicholas: ow yeah you hurt his heart with that argument there yeah I think uh Miles is a slightly different case where when he was breaking through at sort of 17 16 17 there was quite a deliberate move within the coaching structure, within the academy to say, you know, this guy may be better served by playing regularly as a fullback. And he was playing as a fullback in the academy sides before he made his breakthrough at the first team level. It was a shift that was made quite deliberately and one that he must have bought into, frankly. So yeah, I do think it's a really interesting one I do think we're sometimes in a bit of a hurry to move him on when he's doing a really really terrific job and for that reason I find the Hato interest a little hard to see come into fruition right so just before we go into the break then I did want to ask you uh maybe you don't have the answer because I don't really know but you know we have this idea of how the left back plays under Mikel Arteta and we've seen it for the last two three years now right Sinchenko and then Zinchenko came out of the team, etc.

45:11James McNicholas: But that role has been quite similar for three years, more or less. Does it need to change? Is it something that needs to be slightly tweaked or modified to make Arsenal a bit more unpredictable? Or is that just the way left-backs are going to be asked to play under Mikel Arteta?

45:37I don't think he's particularly intent on changing it because he had Kieran Tierney available for six months last season and didn't really want to do it, did he? Didn't really want to use him, didn't really, you know, used him as a sub or where necessary, but he never really kind of thought I'll completely shift the way the fullback plays. I don't think he's going to. I think Miles, as brilliant as he's doing as a fullback, he can probably only play fullback in that way because he is a midfield player by upbringing. So, yeah, I think it will probably stay the same. there have been times where he has approached it a bit differently Arteta you know where he's gone with more of that kind of four centre half shape sometimes by necessity we've seen Kivio play there Calafuri can play a bit more like that as well if you want that option Timber can do that to an extent so I think there'll be a bit of flexibility there but I think yeah I still think we'll continue the same the same approach broadly with it Why?

46:50Is it something you'd like to see change?

46:53James McNicholas: Not necessarily. If it works, it works. If it's effective, it's effective. I just wonder, you know, after a while, do you need to do things slightly differently tactically with your team? You know, because part of why Zinchenko was so effective in there, and it's to take nothing away from what he's able to do in that position, which I think, you know, was markedly different from, let's say, Kieran Tierney, who is a more traditional kind of left back, you know, Zinchenko's technical quality and him doing that was something of a surprise, particularly in that first season, right? It helped Arsenal be really, really effective in games where people are going, what the hell is Zinchenko doing over, you know, on the right hand side?

47:38James McNicholas: He's playing next to Martin Odegaard there and everyone's going like, whoa, what the fuck is this? And it took teams a while to work it out. And I think it's part of why Arsenal that season were, for want of a better term, slightly a surprise package in terms of being title contenders. So I do wonder if you're a manager and you're thinking about ways of like, I don't think we can be a surprise package anymore, but can we do things that surprise the opposition? That's just what I'm wondering. Do you think we can do that with the players we currently have? No. Right. That's why I think the, well, do we count Zubomendi as a player we currently have?

48:22James McNicholas: Because I think he will be a way of doing things differently in midfield. So we're assuming that that's going to get done. But I do wonder again about what we do with the left-hand side and also the striker. and what that striker will mean for the way we play and the way we build up and the way we get the ball into the final third and ultimately the way we get the ball into the box and feed that guy, you know, those things may well have a significant impact on how we play. Yeah, I think you can make the case that the left-hand side hasn't quite found an appropriate balance and structure since the days of, well, I guess Zinchenko, Xhaka and Martinelli.

49:08We've seen Kai Havertz bought to play left-eight. That hasn't necessarily worked out. We've seen Mikel Marino bought to play left-eight. That hasn't necessarily worked out. We saw Kai Fiori bought to play left-back. Then we've seen the emergence of Myles Lewis-Skelly. He has been an area of significant turnover, and we're talking about more potentially this year in maybe the arrival of a new left-winger. So if you're looking at areas of the team where we can improve, I do think, you know, that left-hand side could be one. But just for me, Myles Lewis-Skelly has done enough at this point in time that he is the first sort of building block of that, really.

49:46I mean, he's a guarantee for me. I think he deserves his starting place at the beginning of next season.

49:51James McNicholas: Absolutely. Wouldn't argue with that one bit. All right. Well, look, we'll take a little bit of a break here and we'll be back with your questions and more in part two right after this.

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52:47James McNicholas: Welcome back to the Arsecast Extra. This is part two of the show where we answer the questions that you send to us on bluesky at gunnerblog.bsky.social, also at arseblog.com, and also on the Arseblog Discord chat server, which you get access to if you are an Arseblog member on Patreon. James, I'm going to go first because there was, you know, a slightly Arsenal-adjacent good news, you know, heartwarming football story this weekend. Yes, yes. And Wasted Youth AFC, he says, not Arsenal related, but who gives a fuck? It is slightly Arsenal related. But he says, how incredible was that Santi Cazorla goal?

53:24James McNicholas: And how can anyone not be romantic about football? Amazing stuff. And for those that don't know, if you've been living under a rock, I suppose, digitally, perhaps. Real Oviedo, Santi Cazorla's boyhood club, promoted back to the top flight in Spain after 25 years. Santi Cazorla, 40 years of age, scoring a penalty in the second leg. And after everything that he has been through from an injury perspective, playing for minimum wage there, it's just the best. And he is the best, isn't he? He's just a wonderful character, an amazing footballer. and you'd have to have a heart made of stone not to feel really, really happy for him and for that football club.

54:13Absolutely. It's a fantastic story. And I mean, the fact that he's playing at all, given what he went through, those injuries. I mean, you know, the brilliant Silo interview with him from a few years ago where he went into detail what was actually happening to his Achilles and his ankle. And it's extraordinary that he's back running, let alone playing at a decent level. The fact he's dropped down to play with Oviedo and secure their promotion, superb. I'm so chuffed for him, as I'm sure every Arsenal fan is. And yeah, I hope that he'll make the decision to stay on and play for them in La Liga next season, I don't doubt.

55:07James McNicholas: That would be amazing. I mean, how could he not? Obviously, if there's a physical issue or if the body isn't quite there, he might feel, listen, I've done what I needed to do and everything else, but it would be like the icing on the cake, wouldn't it? The cherry on top of the icing on the cake for him to play maybe one final season in La Liga for Ray Loviedo. So, you know, how much he might play, we don't know. But, like, just what a great story. I remember Arsene Wenger saying that the Cazorla injury was the worst injury he'd ever seen. That's a manager, by the way, who lived through and dealt with the Abu Dhabi, the Eduardo, the Aaron Ramsey, and lots of other significant injuries during his time at Arsenal.

55:59James McNicholas: So it's a real credit to Santi and to the work that he obviously had to put in to revive his career and get back playing again. But that joy that he brings to the game, it's hard, isn't it, in this day and age where everything is so heightened and everyone is so invested in success and achievement. and I'm not saying that's wrong because, you know, we all want Arsenal to win and everything else, but just the love of the game and the romanticism that football can still generate, we don't get enough of that. And this was definitely one of those stories. 100%. And actually, the only thing I would say, although I've sort of urged him to play on and because selfishly I want to see it, I want to see him play in La Liga, it's something he should think quite carefully about because we always talk about footballers in terms of can they stay fit?

56:59Can they keep playing? But, you know, Santi's 40 now and he has to think about the rest of his life as well. He has to think about if what he's doing physically is going to be something that impacts him in his retirement, in his later years. You know, he needs to make sure he makes the right decision that means he can be a dad and a husband and all those things. So, you know, and be able to run around with his kids, things like that. So I hope he does whatever's right for him. He's already achieved something superb for Oviedo. And it's interesting, actually. I mean, Arsenal have signed a couple of players from Spain who've had these deep connections to clubs.

57:34You know, you think of Lucas Perez, obviously not the same connection at Arsenal, but he went back to Deportivo when they were in the third tier. I think I'm right in saying that. Yeah, I think so.

57:45James McNicholas: Yeah. Yeah, paid about half a million euros to get himself out of his contract with Cadiz, I believe it was. And went down to play with Depor and did pretty well for them over there. So, yeah, you've got to love a football fairy tale. Yes, for sure. For sure. Yeah. Do you know what? I had a question here. We did an episode over the weekend of Handbrake Off. I don't know if you've heard of it. It's another podcast I do. Okay. And are you okay? I'm fine. Don't worry. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. Just coming to terms with it, you know. We had a little sort of knockout tournament over the most underrated Arsenal players.

58:32James McNicholas: Okay. And actually, ever this is. And actually, Santi was put forward as a potential candidate, which is saying something because I think he's pretty highly rated. Yeah, I was going to say, who underrated Santi Gazzorla? I think the argument was maybe kind of in the wider football context, Is he held in the same esteem as your David Silvers or your Kevin De Bruyne's in terms of talent? I think for us, we know that he is as gifted as anyone who's pulled on an Arsenal shirt. Anyway, we had a question from Will Colgate, the toothpaste manufacturer, saying, who is the most underrated player in the current Arsenal team?

59:18James McNicholas: that is a great question i think

59:25i think it's takahiro tamayasu for me oh that's a good answer and maybe it's slightly

59:32James McNicholas: aligns with why santi cazorla came up in your discussion because we missed didn't we the last 18 months of his career at Arsenal. He got that injury in the Champions League game. Was it against Ludogratz or somebody like that? And he got that initial injury. And then it was so bad that we, you know, we did the right thing and extended his contract. And he stayed for another year. And look, it took him a while to get back. But we, when a player is out injured, they're slightly forgotten, you know? And there's also that sense of like, oh, that guy's always injured. What's the point of him? But I think you have in or we have in Takahiro Tomiyasu, a player who can play right back really well, left back really well, both central defensive positions really well.

1:00:26James McNicholas: And I don't think people necessarily understand how difficult that is. You know, to ask William Saliba or Gabriel, two amazing players, to play, like put Gabriel at right back and put Saliba at left back. They'll do fine. They'll do fine. But A, they won't like it. And B, I think they would find it just a bit challenging, right? Because it's not their natural position. Whereas Tommy Asu, if we were going into a big game tomorrow with a 100 % fit squad, every single player 100 % fit, and it was a big game against big opposition. And if Mikel Arteta picked Tommy Asu in any one of the positions, I wouldn't have a real issue with it because I think he's that good.

1:01:19James McNicholas: But the injuries obviously have not coloured people's opinion of him, but people get frustrated with injured players and they don't necessarily then think about the quality of that player as much as they should. So for me, it's Tom Yasu. So who would you go for? I think that was a really good answer. The guy I would mention actually, again, it's not to say he's not rated, but I think maybe outside of Arsenal, I think David Raya may be a bit underrated. I think that because he exists in the same timeline as Alisson, who is kind of the undisputed king of Premier League goalkeepers, I think maybe what he's doing currently in this Arsenal team is not getting enough recognition.

1:02:19Okay. You know, back-to-back golden gloves. I think his ability coming to get crosses, his ability on the ball. I know there were some errors towards the back end of last season. I think he is one of, right now, I'd say he's one of the best goalkeepers in the world. And I'm not sure everyone shares that view. So I think he's a bit underrated.

1:02:44James McNicholas: Okay. I'm okay with that. That's a good answer as well. That's a good answer as well. I might also, I would just maybe throw Kai Havertz's name in the mix there a little bit as well. Yeah, I think that would be, I considered that too. I considered that too. I think that he carries a lot of baggage, I think, which sort of dampens enthusiasm for him. It's weird because it's not, I mean, he's a perfect pro. It's not the baggage that players sometimes carry of sort of being a difficult character or anything like that. I mean, he's the ultimate professional, trains brilliantly, does everything the manager wants.

1:03:22I think maybe the price tags and the expectations are something that he has suffered against at times, but he's still a very, very good footballer and someone who's been particularly productive, I think, since coming into Arsenal.

1:03:37James McNicholas: I think there's something Giroud-esque about him in that he is what he is and what he is is good, but people are always looking for something a bit more and a bit better, whether that's at striker or left eight or whatever it might be, you know? So I think he sort of disappoints people in a weird way. Does that make sense? Yeah, I think maybe because he doesn't fit the kind of ideal of what those positions should look like. Yeah, yeah. He's unconventional, I suppose, in some ways. And yeah, I think that can lend to players being a bit underrated. But yeah, it's an interesting discussion. We also talked briefly about players who might be sort of overrated, which is much harder because it feels much more cruel.

1:04:25James McNicholas: Yes, it is a bit. But yeah, I think Tommy Astor is a really good shout. I think people do underestimate the difficulty of like, today I'm a left back, tomorrow I'm a right back. Yeah, exactly. All right, what about this one from jmart91 on the Discord? It says, morning gents. What did you make of Timber's recent comments about his injury issues? Yes, I saw these briefly. Do you have them to have? I have them. For people who haven't seen them. Yeah, he said he was away with international duty. He struggled with a bone in his ankle that got hurt. The conclusion was when he was away on international duty, he had to have surgery at the end of the season.

1:05:07James McNicholas: He said, but I wanted to continue playing at Arsenal, played with painkillers. by the time he got to the PSG games. He said, I have no idea how to play this out. It was halftime in the first semifinal. He said, I couldn't even run. But in the second half, I got adrenaline again. And then he was taken off. He said he didn't train all that week before the second PSG game. He says, make sure you're ready, but make sure the manager doesn't see how much pain I'm in. He said even walking was hard. Even walking was hard. Ouch. I mean, I think footballers generally are probably in more pain than people imagine.

1:05:55Yes, I think that's true. And that's partly where I was coming from with the stuff about Santi and thinking about his retirement. You know, playing elite sport has big physical consequences for the rest of your life. and I think Jurien Timber's spoken about this before you know in terms of the demands of the amount of games and how many fixtures players are required to play I've got a feeling that maybe in a Champions League press conference or something like it he he was relatively outspoken about it in a different setting unfortunately it is the reality at this point in time and and I don't necessarily foresee it changing.

1:06:41I think the likeliest thing, as Arteta himself has said, is that we get bigger squads to kind of accommodate these extra games and increase demands. But it certainly makes you appreciate your in-timber and what he put himself through. It's kind of unfortunate, isn't it, in that right-back position. Ben White had a very similar experience the year before and that led to him undergoing surgery this year and sort of being out of contention for a long time. And then Julian Timber, who'd been on the touchline for, sorry, in the treatment room for a year with an ACL, suddenly he finds himself playing through pain.

1:07:17And that's probably why when we talk about an extra defender or a utility defender coming in, maybe we are towards that right-hand side rather than the left.

1:07:26James McNicholas: Yeah, I think one of the best things that could happen to Arsenal this summer is that both Timber and Ben White get a good rest and come back in preseason. We don't quite know what the recovery time for Timber's ankle is going to be, but that both of them are sort of fit and ready and ready to share that sort of burden on the right-hand side over the course of the season. Because, yeah, I think you could easily say, you know, draw a through line between Timber's injury at the start of last season to Ben White's injury and operation, the season just gone by, and subsequently then Timber having to play through the pain the way that he did, you know.

1:08:09James McNicholas: I know it's something that Mikel Arteta prides himself, not prides himself, that's the wrong way of putting it, but I think he does like players who will push themselves to the edge physically for the team if they are feeling something. And every footballer, I think, is feeling something to one extent or the other. but I think he sees that as an admirable characteristic in players. I think he does. And I think players, most players want to play. But I think sometimes they need to be protected from themselves. Yes, yes. And when you look at Arsenal's injury problems last season and where they occurred and when they occurred, And, you know, I would wager that in several of those, you know, there were players who were already feeling something, already a bit at risk, but they insisted they could play and the manager wanted them to play.

1:09:07I think it's really important that the medical staff, people like the club doctor, people like the head of performance, have a big weight in those conversations too. Sure. Because, you know, if we're all agreed that injuries were part of our undoing, this season just gone, I think there needs to be big sort of open conversation happening at London Colney about how to avoid that this time around.

1:09:33James McNicholas: Or how to improve. How to improve, exactly. Speaking of potential improvements, this question comes from Wished on Blue Sky. Wished. Wished. And Wished says, Hi guys, just wondering your thoughts. If, he's put an asterisk against the if, but we'll take that as a premise. If we believe Arteta is more comfortable coaching or managing from a defensive standpoint, does Cuesta's replacement need to be more forward-minded? Thanks. That is interesting. Do you accept that premise? More or less. I think the foundation of Mikel Arteta is the second title challenging team. Despite the fact we scored a load of goals that season, I think it was built on a defensive platform.

1:10:32James McNicholas: Because the previous title challenge fell apart because we didn't have enough defensive depth at the end of the season. And when Saliba got injured and when Tommy Asu got injured that time, and we had Rob Holding at centre-half, then Kivior came in at centre-half, and we missed those two players in a big, big way. You know, it's a big what-if for me. Like, they both got injured in the same game as well, didn't they? It was crazy. Yeah, mad. So I think that was something that made him go, oh, fuck, I really, really need to have the defensive platform sorted. And it nearly worked out. I don't think he is primarily or just exclusively a defensive coach.

1:11:09James McNicholas: I think he looks at the defensive platform as the thing that he can use to help his team go forward. Whether we've been effective enough in doing that at times, I think that's a fair conversation. But it would be very interesting if whoever came in to replace Carlos Cuesta was a little more attack-minded. but then I don't know unless it is, you know,

1:11:39James McNicholas: very obvious from that coach's previous that he is an attacking coach. Most coaches have a quite a broad responsibility, don't they? You don't tend to have like, you know, this is the, this is the shooting coach. You know, maybe you do have guys who specialize a little bit, You know, we did an April Fool's on our spot news a few years ago, and I saw people taking it a bit too seriously where I said we were getting a specialised kicking coach, you know, to help the players kick the ball better. His name was Carlos Zapata, which is, you know, Spanish for shoe. But is that so crazy, Andrew? I mean, that's very sort of NFL, isn't it?

1:12:23To have those sort of deep specifications of coaches. It feels like we are headed in that direction. I mean, at one point in time, set-piece coaches were sort of joked about, and they still are to an extent, but actually it feels like a perfectly natural development.

1:12:38James McNicholas: Maybe that's where we go next. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we've spoken before about how Arsenal have this attacking phase coach in Issa Hussain. You know, Manchester United brought in Benny McCarthy, didn't they, to work with their strikers? I think presumably that was more on sort of the finishing side, that sort of final third. worked really well with uh hoyland and oh it's an absolute treat um so yeah i i think it's an interesting idea um my concern on on the new appointment would maybe be a bit more on the personality front i think what we know of carlos cuesta even just from those glimpses of him in the documentary, is that he is someone who had a really good sort of personal connection with players.

1:13:31And, you know, I think it helped probably that he was sort of in the same age bracket and was able to kind of bomb with them quite easily. And he had really good relationships with a number of different players in the squad. I think when I think of him going and maybe Edu going as well in November, Jason Ato going. I think Arsenal have lost a few people who have quite good people skills, who have quite good soft skills, interpersonal skills. Steve Round, of course, left the club and that was sort of an area where he really specialised, you know, sort of, he worked a lot on the culture and again was sort of all about relationships.

1:14:15You know, I do think we've got some incredibly capable, but quite intense individuals left on the staff. And I think it might benefit the club to bring in someone who has that slightly softer, good cop face. Sure. Who that would be? I do not know.

1:14:35James McNicholas: We'll have to wait and see, yeah. Yeah, that would be a consideration for me in any appointment. I did like this from Sean D. Gooner on BSky.social. He says, why, when I hear the name of Carlos Cuesta, do I immediately think of George Michael's song, Careless Whisper? A chant that never was. No, never can be now, unless he comes back one day as the manager. I think we should, yeah, pass that on to the Palmer fans. It's theirs now. Yeah, they can have it. They can have it. But I did laugh at that one. Palmer, not Udinese, as I claimed on the last podcast. No, definitely not. Definitely not Udinese.

1:15:12James McNicholas: Udinese. Where was the question that I had next?

1:15:21James McNicholas: I can't find it. I did have one right in front of me.

1:15:28James McNicholas: Oh, yeah, here it is. From Johnny Comer, who's at Connie Jomer on bsky.social. He says, The cap on two Premier League loan signings, Sterling and Netto, really hampered us in January when we could have improved the squad with, say, a Rashford-type loan deal. Do either of you envisage a loan signing or keeping a slot available for January if necessary? God, that's a really good question. Yeah. I mean, because those loan deals both happened in the last 24 hours of the summer window and were slightly desperate measures, I think it's fair to say. Yes. certainly the keeper one was a desperate measure where we were trying to get ourselves out of a bit of a mess.

1:16:11Sterling, I guess, was seen as a bit of a bonus buy, although, you know, I don't think you can argue it turned out to be one.

1:16:18James McNicholas: Not a buy at all. Not a buy at all. Yeah. And certainly not a bonus. But yeah, I, I would definitely say it would be a smart thing to do to keep one of those slots free for January because you never know what you might need. And I think it gives you a lot more flexibility. And I think it did hamper us. I think it did hamper us when you look at some of the players who moved on low, you know, if Arsenal had had a loan slot available in January, would we have had a look at Marcus Rashford? I don't know, but it would have at least been a conversation, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It was one of those, it's one of those where in January you would be like, come on, don't do that.

1:17:08James McNicholas: You know, you've got the whole month of January to get something done. But in hindsight, you know, sitting here in July or June, it's not July yet because Zubimendi is not officially an Arsenal player. It's one of those where you look back at it and go, actually, it would have been pretty useful. Yeah. Just as another option. I mean, look, I don't get the sense that he's Mikel Arteta's dream player in terms of attitude and style and all these things. I think there are question marks over Ashford and the trajectory of his career, rightly so. But you don't have to marry the guy. Do you know what I mean?

1:17:44James McNicholas: Yeah. That's the whole point. I mean, it doesn't seem to be staying at Aston Villa as far as I can tell currently. so yeah I think it would have been I mean Evan Ferguson moved on loan again didn't pull up any trees but would it have given us an option is it something we would have looked at I think so so yeah I would hope I mean to be honest I don't foresee us I can't see where those loan signings from within the Premier League would come currently can you? No not really but you know you can get to January and then And all of a sudden there's a situation like the Rashford situation at Man United where a manager comes in and he's deemed him like unusable, which, you know, nobody expected.

1:18:29James McNicholas: You wouldn't have predicted that. So you never know where you might be in January. And I think it would be wise for Arsenal. I mean, I think if we build the squad properly this summer, we're not really looking at doing anything in the January window. No, you might have three injuries in one position. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. You just don't know. So keeping that as an option seems entirely sensible to me. And again, I think that's another appeal of the Kepa deal, that it's not alone, that we're able to get him out at relatively low fee and keep those slots free. I think that's definitely a benefit.

1:19:02James McNicholas: All right, over to you. We've had a game from Critical T. Should we do it? Yes. I don't know what that noise was. It's... Yeah. Let's do it. Good morning, gents. It's time for the player ratings game season review part two. So these ratings are from the second half of the season. Okay. I.e. from the games following our famous 3-1 away win over Brentford. Oh, that famous 3-1. So famous. Yes. I've got a tattoo from that game. Okay. Rating one, 8.5 out of 10. Another impressive near faultless performance. he has a swagger that errs on the right side of the confidence versus arrogance borderline he's announcing himself one game at a time i think i know who that i think that must be miles lewis kelly i agree i couldn't tell you what game am i allowed to look at the fixtures is that cheating or am i allowed to look at the fixtures from the second half of last season i'll let you look you let me look okay because i see these questions and i don't look at the um the things because they're in spoiler on discord but i never look at them because i quite enjoy the game so i'm gonna say the win over man city you're gonna say the win over man city and the answer is home draw against aston villa 2-2 right i was at that game so i didn't do that rating oh this old issue this old thing again but I didn't do that well to get the name at any rate yeah that's fair enough okay rating number two almost scored twice played the pass to Zinke for his goal and provided a real assist for Rice his best game for us even in this context but some of his ball watching in the second half was hilarious only because we had such a big lead I think I would have a good guess at that I'm trying to remember when Zinchenko scored

1:21:17James McNicholas: I've got no idea on this one Who could have had their best game for us? Is it Raheem Sterling? Yeah, I think it must be It is Raheem Sterling Right and so in the even in this context it's because we had a 7-1 lead going into the second leg against PSV and Zinchenko scored against PSV and didn't celebrate his goal you've got it you've got it okay rating 3 I think you'll get this one 10 out of 10 I wish I could give him 11 because he deserves the extra point this evening there is one more sentence do you think you can get it from that though before i give you the final sentence those are two of the greatest free kicks you will ever see at this level that just occurred to me there yeah well it's nicola pepe against dundalk

1:22:16James McNicholas: um it is of course declan rice against real madrid island's own um okay player four eight out of ten really solid tonight was perceived as the weak weak link before these two games but acquitted himself very well in both legs i think yakub kivior against royal madrid yeah in the burn about yeah um okay we finished with this one rating five na out of 10 not on long enough to rate but made his debut and i was willing the ball to go out so he'd get a bit longer it is our friend nathan nathan butler or you doji yeah do you remember the game in which he made his debut i don't think he actually touched the ball i don't think so um i can't remember the game it was at home to dino mozagra right there we go an auspicious day i found that a lot easier you know turns out the games that are more recent we actually can remember yeah we can remember it's the old ones where you're going what the fuck no idea yeah what about this one to sort of finish us off because you know we're stretching this out a little bit but i liked the question it comes from otruko 1717 or otruko 717 i'm not sure he said my friends and i noticed the Arsenal team has a distinct vampire-esque look to them.

1:23:49James McNicholas: For example, Kai Havertz, William Saliba, Declan Rice, Mikel Arteta, Jurian Timber, and Calafuri all look like they could be vampires from their respective countries. Interesting. I can see where they're coming from with this. Like you put, you know, do go back interview with the vampire, you know, that kind of vibe. Cheekbones. They've all got high cheekbones. They've got the cheekbones, yeah. put Calafuri in the frilly neck thing and you know, you can see where he's coming from. But he said, given this, which of the linked strikers most fits our profile? Great question. By the way, the Halloween merch drop is going to be really something.

1:24:33The new pumpkin orange fourth kit. um i think that jockerez is more vampy than sesco do you yeah i'm looking at a picture of but it's good we can we can argue the case i'm looking at a picture of victor jockerez where

1:24:55James McNicholas: i sort of think perhaps he is a vampire right i'll send you the picture now yeah please he's He's biting something. Now, it is a winner's medal for the Portuguese Cup or something. Okay. Where have you sent me this? I think it's on WhatsApp. Okie dokie. I will open up my WhatsApp. Listen, I'm no orthodontist, and my teeth aren't the best, but his incisors do have a bit of point to them. They do. I can see where you're coming from there. I would just say sesco is maybe a bit more you know a bit more pointy faced and stuff what if I was to send you a picture of sesco with some fangs hang on yeah that would help so let me just muck this one up I'm doing it in photoshop as we speak they're not the most so what can we say what would what would it mean if we sign a vampire I can only play night games yeah no garlic in the um in the pasta dishes at the training ground.

1:25:56Yeah.

1:25:59James McNicholas: He could, if things don't go well at Arsenal, take up another career, change his name, and become, what's his name? Regular human bartender. Oh, Jackie Daytona. Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah. Was Luis Suarez the first vampire striker? For sure. He was certainly the biteiest. He is the most bloodthirsty. Yeah. So what if I send you this? And does this convince you of Sesco being the more vampiric of the two? Okay. And will we share these? Yeah, we can share these. I'm not discreet. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. See where I'm coming from. Listen, if it's vampiric qualities we're looking for, I've got some bad news for those who want to sign Ollie Watkins.

1:26:46James McNicholas: He's the least vampire of all of them. He's definitely the least like a vampire. If that's the criteria that they're debating. I think we can rule Watkins out. Yeah. He doesn't have any vampire chops. I'm sorry, Ollie. I think either of the other two. Yeah. Would make a lovely vampire. Yeah. There's a load of pictures of, of Yocca Rez with his shirt off and he's very muscular and stuff like that. Yeah. And there's loads of pictures and clips of like Sesco turning into a bat. Oh. Like flying away into the night and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then sort of drinking people's blood. Yeah, yeah. Like if you watch his YouTube compilations, once you get past the goals, a lot of it is him like attacking beautiful women and drinking their blood and stuff.

1:27:33James McNicholas: Yeah. He does jump very high. Suggest some sort of bat-like power. I don't know if vampires are renowned for their jumping. No. You don't really see the sort of vampire kangaroo hybrid. jump scares maybe jump scares but that's just when you close the mirror and he's right behind you yeah it's in the changing room yeah um well we'll see we'll see what happens when the vampire council convenes at london colony to make their decision about which striker arsel are going to buy then they bite them i guess they bite them transform them Yeah, you know, that old coffin dungeon lair they have under the Emirates as well.

1:28:23James McNicholas: All make sense now. Of course. Just waiting. We're waiting for the decision from the vampire. Can you hear this? Hang on.

1:28:34Yeah. Yeah, that's Lana getting excited to go out for her first walk since she has returned home.

1:28:42James McNicholas: Huge. Preseason starts now. Big news for Lana. she's going to go up to the park. So we better leave it there, I think. Let's do it. Let's do it. Who knows what might happen before the next podcast or by the time we speak again next week. But for now, thank you very much indeed, as always, for being with us. Really appreciate you listening, even when there's very little going on. For now, take it easy, and we will catch you on the next one. Bye-bye.

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