Arsecast Extra Episode 657 - 08.09.2025

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0:44hello and welcome to another rs cast extra as always with james from gunner blog james good afternoon to you good afternoon man how you doing i am all right thank you very much It's been a fairly quiet kind of an interlull so far, I think. It feels, every year feels like a betrayal, this one. Yeah. Like the season comes around, you get all excited, you get invested, you get transfer deadline day and everything that entails. And you're like, great. Mm-hmm. Here we go. And then it's like, no, full start. Yeah. We're going to go off and do some internationals now. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, there's little momentum until you get to about November, you know, when all the internationals.

1:30Well, and November always goes well for us. Yeah, yeah, it's our favourite month. Hey, weirdly, we had to, not to delve into the questions straight away, but I wasn't aware of this. Shirt Squad. Sorry, that's very loud. That's okay. It's just everyone listening now thinking, is that my phone? Is that my ping? Yeah, I know. We had this thing in England yesterday, which I'm guessing you didn't have, the phone alert thing. Oh, do you know, I heard about it. Are you aware of this for now? I heard about it because it was on the news here because they said that potentially people who live in the border counties in Ireland, counties, you know, around the north of Ireland, northern Ireland, could potentially receive this text thing that was going on.

2:18But what was it? It was just like a testing the emergency text system or something. Yeah. My phone made a noise. It has never made sort of like, I nearly fell off my fucking chair there. Yeah. And then a message comes up. That's like, this is an emergency, but it's not really an emergency. It's a pretending emergency. Right. Yeah. But some people didn't get it. And I don't know what that means. it means they've not been chosen to survive whatever crisis befalls yeah i guess so i guess it does feel like the sort of say what you're supposed to do i don't think i think it's just like just panic stations basically yeah i mean what's it for like a nuclear war has broken out it's gonna be terrible this is just to let you know you're you're all gonna die very shortly just relax.

3:13It's nice to let you know I guess. With a distressing tone accompanying it. Yeah. But anyway, we had that, so go on. You were saying. I was saying about the Interloles. Shirt squad on the Discord. He said next season, the September and October international break are merged together. Yet five weeks later, there's another international break in November. What's happening next year does that mean there's going to be a longer interlal in september where they're going to play like four games do you know about this or are they kicking it further ahead because there's a world cup that summer like are they knocking it down the line into october don't know i really don't know um how quickly could we find out international break 2026 i could have done this I could have just Googled it.

4:10I'm just tired of, like, asking Google shit and it telling me wrong stuff with its AI. I'm on Manchester World. They'll know, won't they? I mean, who could question the veracity of the information on Manchester World? They'll play, yes. Countries will play up to four games during a prolonged break from September 21st to October the 6th. Hmm. That is going to be some pretty bad podcasting. Well, September 21st to October 6th is what? It's just over two weeks. So they're going to squeeze a load of games in, but that doesn't sound great either. The managers will all be sitting at home shitting their pants about injuries and things.

5:01Have you watched any football, Andrew? I have actually watched a fair bit because my wife and child are away. Right. You have nothing else to do. And so I feel like I need to make use of that liberty. So I've watched, over the weekend, I watched Arsenal women kick off the WSL season in style. I watched some of that. I was out on Saturday and I came back in in the 81st minute and it was 2-1. I turned it on and then within a couple of minutes, it was 4-1. They'd scored a couple of extra goals. So I'm taking a little bit of the credit for that. I know Beth Me got the assists, but really it was to do with me clicking a button on my remote.

5:42Wow. Well, it's worth checking out, if you haven't seen the game, Olivia Smith's debut goal. What a goal. What a goal. I can't think of many debut goals quite like that. Reyes. Yeah, I guess so. Although that wasn't his debut, was it? I think he scored an own goal against Middlesbrough on his debut. Oh, that's right. That's right. That was his first goal rather than a goal on his debut, yeah. But it's funny. I think maybe it was Art de Roche who was saying, not only was it a sort of sensational debut goal, like it's a shot, she cuts inside and belts it into the top corner from, I don't know, 25 yards.

6:31He was kind of saying, when was the last time we saw a goal like that in open play at the Emirates Stadium? And I think that's a bloody good question. Does he have the answer or do I have to guess now? I don't think there was a definitive answer given, certainly not in the sort of interactions that I watched. A few responders shouted out candidates who they remember scoring goals of that ilk. But we all remember Declan Rice's wonder strikes as dead balls against Madrid. But someone just sort of cutting inside and smashing it into the top corner. Yeah, that's a great question. But Kaiosaka, maybe bottom corner is not top corner.

7:22The kid of Man United. Yeah. Where he skips in field and hits it in the corner. I think that is probably the last one. And before that, there were a lot of people saying it's an Alexis goal. Yeah. Those were the kind of goals he scored all right. Yeah. But this was pretty special. So I watched that. Okay. And I watched the England game. because there were four Arsenal players. That's right. That's right. I did not watch that game. No. Well, lucky you. England have been pretty terrible under Thomas Tuchel, I have to say. Agent Tuchel. Working wonders. But yeah, we did get to see the sight of four Arsenal players in the National Anthem in a row, which was quite sweet.

8:19They were all beside each other, were they? They were all beside each other. Nonimo Reke, Myles, Eze and Declan Rice. Myles played at left back and did quite a good job of it, actually. Looked, I think, pretty sharp and even did a bit of overlapping and getting forward as if to say, are you watching, Mikel? I can do this too. Declan Rice scored. I saw that. I did see the clip of the goal. I saw that. Donnie Madueke was probably England's best attacker on the day.

9:02Ezra played as a number 10, a pure number 10, like in the middle of the pitch. Not a position I see him getting the chance to play a great deal at Arsenal. We don't really have it in our system. and it was interesting Thomas Tuchel he's quite like outspoken about the players after the game like he's not shy of sort of giving a bit of carrot as well as a bit of stick in his post-match interviews right and he was quite interesting on Eze and Madueke again we had a question about Madueke about Tuchel actually from Danny Nick 8 he said what are your thoughts on Tuchel's post-match comments following the England game.

9:46I thought it was refreshing to see he was very open and clear about things players did well and need to do better. Further to that, I thought his remarks about Marweke and that he can switch off defensively were quite interesting. So... Yes. So he said... Of Eze, he said he trained brilliantly in the build-up to the game, but felt that he didn't quite execute or perform at the level that he had produced in training. And I thought that was fair, actually. He had a couple of chances off cutbacks and stuff where he didn't strike the ball particularly cleanly. I think you'd expect him to do better in those situations.

10:22And Omadueke, who bear in mind is a player, he's had a club level as well at Chelsea. He basically said, yeah, he was great, but he needs to stay concentrated. He says he can switch off sometimes, counter-pressing. And he needs to watch that. I'm sure it was sort of music to Mikel Arteta's ears, to be honest, because that's the kind of thing he'll be hot on as well. Yeah, yeah, for sure. But Tuchel clearly believes there's a lot there with Madueke. Like he's picked him pretty regularly for England on the left. He was playing on the right in this game because Bacara Saka was out. Both Tuchel and Pochettino, from what I understand, And even Maresca, actually, all had this relationship with Madueke where they were kind of, they had that slight sort of paternal thing of they clearly believed in his talent, but there was always a but.

11:24There was always a, if you could only do this, if you could only. I think it's really interesting because you've got all these, you know, well-respected, well-regarded coaches who clearly all see something in this player. I think there's a lot of talent there, but they all have kind of taken this line of, oh, you know, he just needs to focus on this or he just needs to work on that. There's always something, you know, there's a bit of a rub there. And yeah, it's interesting because he's kind of, I guess, a bit of a rough diamond in that respect. A guy with bags of potential who I think people are waiting and hoping and thinking if he puts the pieces together and he gets his mind right to match his physical and technical gifts, he could be something quite special.

12:15Okay. Okay. I did. I just Googled, tookled down comments and found a little story about how he's had to apologize because he called Jude Bellingham's behavior a bit repulsive on the pitch. Yes. On the pitch. And then he said, I use this word unintentionally. There was no message, no hidden agenda. I understand it's my responsibility. I created the headlines. I'm sorry for the upset. Yes, that was a misstep, shall we say. I think it was live on TalkSport as well. Yes. And usually I think he'd agreed to do like a live interview on TalkSport and accidentally called perhaps his best player Repulse.

13:00I did say he doesn't really pull his punches when discussing individuals. He spoke about Mars as well. I think this was in the build-up to the game. He said he's a bastard. yeah he said he sickens me um no he said um that he wanted to kind of show faith in him like at the moment despite the fact he wasn't playing for arsenal you know having like having sort of brought him into the spotlight by blooding him with england and and you know putting him in the team and exposing him to that i think he felt a need to kind of maintain that continuity. Sure. So I think that could be really, you know, that must've been a big boost for a player who's probably, it would be odd if he's not feeling a little bit frustrated to have, you know, not been playing the Premier League.

13:50Well, yeah. Yeah. He hasn't been in the team and Riccardo Calafiori has done really well. And since we last spoke, Arsenal have brought in another left-sided defender, somebody who can play at centre-half. Keeps happening, Andrew. Every time we turn our back. There's a new left back. Yeah. I mean, it is a very interesting situation to think about and to consider, you know, because of how good Lewis Skelly was last season and how much faith Arteta had in him. There were other options available to the manager last season. You know, even when Calafiore was absent, Tierney, we know, not necessarily his cup of teas.

14:27And Cenkow, again, not necessarily his cup of tea. But if in a big game you were looking at, do I need some experience here or do I trust in the talent of Myles Lewis Skelly? The answer was he trusted in the talent and the potential of Myles Lewis Skelly and the character of Myles Lewis Skelly. It's another test for him now, isn't it? You know, having broken through and having made his way to the England team, you know, he's now got a scrap on his hands, which is no bad thing. I don't think it's a bad thing per se, but it is an interesting one to consider. Yeah, it is. And, you know, I don't want to be a hypocrite because I do seem to recall that, you know, there have been times in the last, I don't know, six months or maybe more where I've been on this podcast saying, I don't think it'd be the worst thing for Miles' development for him to just, you know, not even be out the team, but just have a period where he's maybe not quite in the spotlight so much.

15:24And actually, you know, this may benefit him in the long term and it might be a learning moment for him. But yeah, it's going to be one to watch because we've now got three players competing for that position in the team. And it's actually really hard to call. Like a mate of mine texted me this week who's not an Arsenal fan. And he was like, I'm doing my FPL team. Who's going to play the most games for Arsenal at right back and left back? And I was like, I've got no idea. I've really got no idea. And, you know, I think I'd maybe give a bit of an edge to Jurian Timber at right back at the moment.

16:14Because he's fit. Just if I look, he's fit for a start and has been the more fit of the two players for the last 12 months. but a left back if you ask me to project forward and say who's going to play the games at left back given that one of the three has a really checkered injury record the guy's currently in possession one of them is a bit of an unknown quantity in that he's a brand new signing that we've never seen I have got no idea so yeah I wasn't very helpful on that front I said go with White because I think he's the most attacking fullback although Virian Tim scored a brace the other day so who knows oh that's true Yeah, I forgot when we actually had some football.

16:54Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The only other bits of international I saw have been like, oh, did you see any or did you hear about the England under-19s game, England versus Spain, in which Max Downman played? Yeah, I did hear about that. I read a piece actually in The Athletic this morning, and then I watched a compilation of Downman's performance in that, which seemed to me primarily to be the Spanish number 16 booting him and fouling him at every opportunity without... I was going to say, that high line reel is just a succession of fouls, presumably, from Spain. Yeah, it was quite the demonstration from 15-year-old Max Downman.

17:37If you are an athletic subscriber, that's a good piece. Guillermo Rai went out to the game and he was kind of updating us on it because I don't think it was televised. he was just sort of dropping messages in the chat. And I just remember like going in there and seeing like, Darwin's been fouled seven times or something like that after about half an hour. It was kind of crazy. I mean, it was the only way in which they could live with him. Bear in mind, he's the youngest player on the pitch as well. 15-year-old, under 19 level. I think he might have been the youngest player to represent England at that level.

18:12And isn't the left-back guy, he's actually playing for Getafe. has played for them in La Liga this season. Isn't that right? Very possibly. I'm sure that's what it said in the piece. Well, I mean, yeah, it was quite extraordinary. Played off the right. Was thoroughly impressive, I gather. Spain were prepared for him, knew what he was about. there was a lot of fouling and as seems to sort of be the case a penalty invariably and this was a 3-3 draw I think the guy who was playing at left back Da Vinci and he's playing for a Getafe and this season he has played three La Liga games started all three at left back.

19:17So that's what he's up against, even though it's under 19. He is playing against a guy who's 17 and who is playing first team football. I'm wondering... Something really interesting was chatting to Guillermo afterwards. He was just saying how, although Max is kind of four years younger than the majority of those players. Physically, he doesn't look out of place at all. You know, I know sometimes in the Premier League maybe against 30-year-olds, you know, inevitably there's going to be sort of physical challenges, but he does seem to be at under-19 level absolutely able to cut it. So, yeah, that was quite exciting.

20:10And maybe a little bit of a sign of things to come. I mean, a player who plays in the way he does is always going to invite challenges, as we've seen with Bukai Saka before. Yeah. There was a question about penalties, actually. I think it was on Blue Sky. It was about diamond and penalties. Let me see if I can find it. I probably can't. Oh, yeah, I can. Gina Lawless. at ginalawless.biscot.social. Max Damon won another penalty at the weekend, this time for England under-19s. Critics say he knows how to get tripped up to win penalties. Do you think this is true? To my eyes, he's been targeted by defenders.

20:56And I wonder if we'll ever get to see the full extent of his skills on the pitch. You know, quick feet are the most difficult things to defend against, really, aren't they? And he seems to have those in abundance. Yeah, I think so. And, I mean, if I think about the penalties he's won so far for Arsenal in friendlies and in the Premier League, I do think there's a bit of devilry in them, maybe. You know, a bit of craft, a bit of sort of consciousness of, I'm in the box now and if a guy sticks his foot out and makes contact, I'm going to go down and I'm going to win that penalty. You invite the challenge.

21:39Yeah, I think that is part of being an attacker, to be honest, at this point.

21:46I'm not going to be critical of him for that. And I think if he's going to get kicked for 90 minutes, if the little bit of revenge he exacts is to win a penalty, I think that's sort of fair enough. What are we saying? We can't possibly accuse him of being soft or anything like it because look at the treatment he's already getting at the age he's getting it. But, you know, it might be something that's in the discourse around him. I mean, but there have been plenty of other players who've been specialists at winning penalties and whose reputation seems to have survived it. I mean, Jamie Vardy is the one I always think of.

22:26Andrew Johnson. Andrew Johnson. Remember Andrew Johnson at Crystal Palace. I wouldn't want Max Downman's reputation to be, you know, aligned with Jamie Vardy, though. That's all I'm saying. I think he's on course to make his own name. He'll have his own. He'll have such luminaries as Andrew Johns. Exactly. Max Diamond will have his own range of energy drinks rather than just quaffing Red Bull like Jamie Vardy. I think that's fair, yeah. I'm sort of fascinated by the left back, whose name is Da Vinci. David Cordon Mancha is his full name commonly known as Da Vinci like how does that that reminds me of like my friend Nick Chavarella who when he was about 12 went in school and said just so you guys know everyone started calling me Viper X you know what I mean Viper X yeah don't know if you've heard but yeah people just started calling me Viper X So you might want to catch on.

23:37Yeah, put that name in your phone book from now on. Yeah, it feels like Da Vinci's done exactly that. Yeah. They're calling me Da Vinci, are they? It's not really short for anything. No, no, no, trust me. Yeah, Da Vinci. I'm like a painter of the ball or something, you know. Yeah, the genius. Yeah. I'm left back. Anyway. Speaking of Spaniards, What about our friend Mikel Moreno on the hat-trick buzz? What would we call him? What would we call him? El Sombrero? No, I don't know. Absolutely incredible. I mean, it sort of reminds me of like in The Matrix, you know, when sort of Neo basically realizes that he can just control the code.

24:29Yeah. Like, you know, the goalkeeper isn't real, Mikel. Do you know what I mean? Do you want to wear the blue shirt or the red shirt? And he's just suddenly able to warp space and time to score goals. It is mad. I mean, because what strikes me about the goals he's scoring, I think I've only seen two from the other night, the first and the third. But, like, it's the ease with which he's just sort of casually stroking the ball into the top corner from 30 yards out well i mean the second goal the one that you missed is a right-footed finish it's not dissimilar from the first in terms of where he right he takes it from but it's just sort of like you know there could be like a funk soundtrack playing as the ball comes across to him and he's like there you go same with the right foot and the third one what a brilliant goal as well curled it into the top corner perhaps given a little bit too much time and space by the Turkish defence to pick his spot, but he picked his spot very, very well.

25:32And you know what's mad? It's like this is a guy who had, in his previous 30 appearances for Spain, two goals. And in his last seven games, he scored six times. And that sort of confidence he has had as a goal scorer from that period he played up front with us is clearly a part of that. Yeah. He wasn't playing up front for Spain, was he? these girls from midfield. I mean, he is only a DM though. So let's give him a little bit more respect. Yeah, I don't know really where that came from, the idea that he's a DM. I mean, he's never really been a DM. Well, the reason it became, or people talked about it, was because the Liverpool game and the way we approached the Liverpool game and to sort of hammer home a point which nobody really made particularly well.

26:26It was like, well, he played a back four in three DMs, which is nonsense. You know, it's not really. He's just not a creator, you know? No. He's a finisher, a pure finisher, Andrew. He's unbelievable. Why did we buy Jokovic? Waste of money. When we had this in the locker. All along. All along. Listen, I mean, obviously I know these were goals for midfield, but he is a really good finisher. And there was a point like towards the end of last season or across the summer when I heard quite a lot of people be like, well, as long as we don't have to see Mikel Marino up front again. I sort of heard that sentiment quite a lot.

27:08And I was always a bit like, I mean, I quite enjoyed Mikel Marino up front. I mean, it wasn't perfect, but. It wasn't terrible, but I think. I mean, he's very much the second choice striker right now in the squad. But for me, like, if anything, touch wood, or if Jokeres needs a rest, Marino's the next guy up for me. Yeah, maybe so. Maybe so. I mean, I think that sentiment is more about what it might do to our sort of all-round play. People are looking for improvements in our all-round play. And Marino, he's not the most – he's not going to run the channels like Jokeres. You know, he can get on the end of things and he can finish, but I do think it is a little bit restrictive.

27:50But put him in the box, and if the ball breaks to him, I'm very happy for him to be there because I do think he is a decent finisher. It seems off both feet and good in the air as well, you know? It's sort of why, again, it's – go on. Sorry, I was just going to say, like, because it's funny, we're having this chat, like, he's not a DM, and I agree. He's not a DM. I'm not 100 % sure what he is, if that makes any sense. Like, I feel like I've got quite a good handle on what his attributes. like you know he's good in the air he's got a decent touch arrives in the box finishes but I still slightly struggle to see like what the ideal fit for him is particularly in our system yeah I guess I guess I guess it's kind of that left eight role but it's never going to regularly be that as long as Declan Rice is at the club.

28:50Yeah, and maybe even Eberaceza as well, you know, when you're thinking about how you might line up. Maybe he's just like a sort of what's the dude in cricket? What do they call the dude in cricket who can bat and bowl? All-rounder. Maybe he's just sort of an all-rounder. Yeah, he kind of is. You know? Yeah. He's sort of a, he's really a player who like, this might sound incredibly basic but it feels much more about like the zones that he can impact than the than the point on the pitch where you'd put him in a tactical diagram you know what i mean like he's a guy who can has has areas on the pitch where he can have tremendous impact but like in general play doesn't always to my might contribute a great deal so he's a bit of a he's a bit of a puzzle but he's a very useful player to have in a squad and has shown for Spain in the past that he could be a really impactful substitute as well and I do wonder is that something we'll see at Arsenal this season well if you need a goal he's another option isn't he so yeah good a good interlouge for him is that Andrew Dorbell Dorbell I know what to do forgive me no problem

30:15Thank you.

30:44he gave up on that very quick that guy he was gone by the time i got there and that wasn't long normally what happens is you go to the door and you go hello and then you hear like and then it's like yeah yeah you could just leave it in the holder thanks yeah that's what i always say yeah 97 of all doorbell interruptions are just james telling the guy yeah you could just leave it in the front hall that's fine it's people bringing my child back just leave it in the hall yeah he'll be fine i'll attend to it later he'll be grand um no but that time silence sometimes what's happened is this is gold this is podcasting gold sometimes they've rung another flat and they've oh yeah yeah yeah i mean or like they've just rung all the buzzers until somebody answered so maybe i've been beaten to the punch by one of my own maybe so and neighbors who knows so we're talking about michael marino and then it felt like you were pivoting to something else it It did, but I can't remember what it was.

31:43That's fine. It's an interlull. No judgment. I know what it was. I know what it was. It's the story that everyone is talking about. Everyone. Go on. Martin Odegaard's new haircut. I've not seen it. You've not seen it. Okay. Well, I'm going to look it up. I'll send you a picture. Yeah, I'll send you a picture. Hang on one second. And I'll fire it through to you on WhatsApp. And it's, you know, it's been quite the story in Norway, let me tell you. Because one of their big publications, whose name I'm going to mispronounce completely, Dagbladet. Dagblad. Dagblad. Dagblad. Dogblood. dog blood, Norwegian dog blood the sports people have a whole story about how a stylist has responded to Martin Odegaard's new hairstyle and they say I think Martin Odegaard's hairdresser has been a little too eager with the scissors well listen I'll tell you, one of Norway's this is Google Translate one of Norway's leading hairstylists Cecily Krog has seen the pictures of the new Odegaard.

33:06She is shocked by what she sees before the World Cup qualifier against Moldova on Tuesday. She says, apparently, toddler life is demanding. Don't know what that's got to do with anything. Perhaps it is less time in the bathroom that has ensured Odegaard has gone for a short hairstyle that requires minimal styling and with a skin fade that was ravaged in 2023. I think that must mean something else. the result is a little hard and angular i think he suits a little more length that gave it a more or more softness in play and he looked younger and more boyish maybe that's why he's gone for a tighter look now to be a bit more menacing yeah it's a closer crop that's for sure it is i mean he's still got the beard by the way beard you know there's been a lot of queries of the beard it's not really a like what's the difference between some fluffy bits and a beard like a beard kind of has to cover your whole face doesn't it really i guess like i know you can have a goatee and what have you but yeah the difference is if it's deliberate i think you know right i think this is deliberate um i can't call it a beard though okay it's not facial hair it is some facial hair but i i don't think it qualifies under the the beard convention of an actual we'll have to ask andrew allen well i think he would definitely i think he would definitely say no i'll ask him okay uh i'll ask him now while we're talking i don't know it is a bit more kind of militaristic isn't it it's like a bit more i don't know i'll be honest and say i'm finding it a struggle because he's had, as far as I can tell, basically the same hair since he joined us.

34:56Yeah. Sort of floppy hair, right? Yeah. And now he's got quite closely cropped hair. It looks like a child cut it. Is that fair or unfair? I mean, as someone with a toddler, maybe his hair looked quite tuggable, you know? Mm. That can be a bit of a hazard. that's why I don't have a long flowing head of hair Andrew for fear my toddler should yank it that and that alone is the reason that's the reason yeah that's the reason well that I mean I can see why that would be big news in Norway it is a it's a statement it's a haircut that says there's a new me in town yeah my shoulder's feeling a bit better and I'm ready to make some goals.

35:50Do some goals. Do some assists. That's what that haircut says to me. My shoulder's feeling a bit better and I'm ready to do some goals. Yeah. We'll see when they play Moldova. We'll see even more when we start playing again. That's true. I'm excited for that. That's Odegaard. Yeah. Anything else? Anyone else been busy on international duty? I don't think so. Go on. the brazilian boys played the two gabriels magalha and martinelli played didn't know martinelli played yeah they're playing again are they playing tonight or tomorrow night are they playing in bolivia or something like that like mad altitude or peru or something i see that let me see what the game is but i remember someone told me it's like crazy altitude and poor oxygen levels or something okay uh i don't see that It must be on Wednesday.

36:48So overnight Wednesday, Bolivia versus Brazil. Yeah. Sort of one of the nightmarish away games. But also we've got to look out for the games of Ecuador now. Not just Brazil, because we've got an Ecuadorian. That is true. Yeah. Ecuador playing Argentina on the same night as Bolivia take on Brazil. Wow. So, Incappier could be up against a certain Lionel Messi. So that's late Wednesday night, is it? Or that's late Tuesday night. I have a beard update from Andrew Allen. I asked him, is Martin Odegaard's facial hair, does it qualify as a beard? And he said, if we're being generous, yes. We're very much goatee FC.

37:39Saliba, Mascara, Incappier, Gabrielle. Lewis Skelly, Odegaard, Ethan Wannery, Saka, Jesus, Martinelli, Kai Havertz. He says it's an epidemic of goateiness. So there you go. Gosh, that's true. That had never occurred to me. Goatey FC. Do you think it's like, you know, like in the old days, the captain used to decide if Arsenal wore short sleeves or long sleeves? Yeah, he decides on what everyone's facial hair is. decreed that they must all have goatees yeah yeah so there you go i think it's generous i do think andrew is being a bit generous you know yeah but look maybe that's the best beard he can grow and that's fine he's trying he's giving it his best shot and that's all you can ask yeah it's all you can he's a fair man you know um it's not always doesn't always it's not always Not everyone can be David Raya and get that sort of coverage.

38:43Yeah, that's true. That's true. Or Michel Arteta. Michel Arteta could grow a beard, couldn't he? Like a really big, proper... What was the... Who was Popeye's enemy? Bluto, was that it? Was that his name? Brutus or Bluto? Popeye's is Brutus. Bluto, Bluto. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He could grow a big fucking square Bluto beard, I think. Captain Haddock. He could be the Captain Haddock of Arsenal. And Martin Odegaard would be like the Tintin, I guess, with his little wispy beard. I can't unsee it. Now that it's been pointed out to me that the entire Arsenal squad have got goatees. Maybe that's what's holding us back.

39:33that's the final piece of the jigsaw yeah full beards full beards we did we got a lot done in the window but we were missing some some micro blading or something to fill out these beards yeah a bit of Gillette action or Wilkinson sword not that we're giving preference to one particular brand of razor, especially not the one that's sponsored by the guy at Bayern Munich. They did come along at one point and say, like, will you run ads on the podcast for this particular, you know, it's one of those send away and get the razors. And I think we did some with them before, or maybe a different one. But as soon as the Harry Kane thing came along, I was like, I can't.

40:21We can't do that. It's over. It's over. You know, you had your brand, you were building it, and then now it's just forever associated with Harry Kane. So, no, not possible. That's why people respect you, Andrew. You're a man of great principles. Exactly. Integrity all the way. What else was I going to say? I don't think there's anything else going on in the interview. No. I mean, I think we've done really well. I think so, too. We've solved the beard issue. I don't want to pat myself on the back too much, But I think we've delved into the beard issue. We've explained that Mikel Marino is scoring goals because he's figured out that the world's just a matrix and he's able to kind of get around it.

41:11So I think we're in a pretty good place. I think so. And we can do some questions and stuff, right? That's how we're going to fill out the subject. Yeah, I'll do some questions. Why not? We have questions on all kinds of things. going on actually we've got get your um spreadsheet out because we've got a an important question to start oh god i feared this one now i know but we've we've got to we've got to what else can we do we've got to own up to our our whatever uh wrong stupidly yet another year where we believed arsenal would sell a player. Absolute idiots. They had us last season and the season before and the season before.

41:54But it's like, come on, eventually we're going to do it. But seems not. So we will take a little break here and we will come back with your questions and more in part two right after this.

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44:52Welcome 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 and at arseblog.com. Also on the Arseblog Discord chat server, which you get access to if you are an Arseblog member on Patreon. James, just before I get into that first question, I got a picture of Mikel Arteta. I put it into one of those apps, you know, that gives you like long hair or short hair or beard. And here I'm going to send you the picture of Mikel Arteta with what it says is a full beard. But I would say it's probably like 50 % of where I envisaged the Arteta beard going.

45:34so there you go look oh i don't know what that noise was oh i mean it suits him it does i think i think it ages him quite a lot what do you think i think it's because there's bits of gray in the beard like if that beard was as black as satan's night ring piece you know it would be maybe a more useful looking beer but there is it's flecked with gray you know i think it's an option for him for sure he's got he's always he's always got like do you think he's that stubble that he has on a match day is that like from he shaved in the morning and it's like regrown quite quickly or do you think he's timing that you think he's going Well, the game's on Tuesday, so I'll shave on Sunday.

46:29Do you know what I mean? Yeah, do the press conference on Friday. Yeah. He feels like a man who would think about that. Yeah. I mean, I think as well because he has that very strong Mediterranean growth, doesn't he? You know? Exactly. Like he could shave in the morning. I imagine within minutes the double returns. Yeah. It's just like in Terminator 2, you know, where he gets shot apart. and then just sort of reconstitutes himself. We'll have to ask Andrew Allen. About which? We'll have to ask Andrew. About Terminator 2? Everything to do with beards. He's a beard consultant. Terminator 2, I don't know.

47:05Yeah, I don't know either. Are we going to put that picture? Yeah, we'll put it in the show notes. People can have a look at that picture in the show notes. See what they think of a bearded Nicolau Teta. He looks sort of like a religious figure. I was just going to say to you that like maybe in 10 years time, you know, after a couple of years away from football management, having won everything with Arsenal and just sort of decided to go away for a couple of years. He comes back as a kind of leader of sorts, you know. Guru. A guru, exactly. A guru. Cult leader. Yeah. Yeah. I think he could pull that off, to be honest with you.

47:47Some will say. that he already has, James. Yeah, well. Okay.

47:55Where is the question? I had it here. No, we don't need to do it, Andrew. We do. Jamie B says, it's the first pod since the transfer window closed. Who won the Arsecast summer transfer window prediction game? I don't know. Did we both lose? It's just a question of how. I don't think it would be right for there to be a winner in this. how much should i go over what we predicted yes please um it just to run down the clock if anything um so i don't know what we knew but for inns we both wrote kepper 5 million so i think we knew uh yeah i think it was probably more or less done at that point yeah um dm zubamendi 50 I had 55 yeah whatever we knew it was going to be Zubmendi right here we go so we both predicted a winger I said it would be Antoine Semenyo for 55 million was my sort of wild card okay you went for 40 million on a 5 foot 10 right footed winger Well, I got that wrong.

49:14I got that wrong. Well, how tall is Eze? Oh, I don't know. How tall is he? He's about 6 foot, isn't he? 5 '10", 5 '11". 1.78 metres. Neither of us called Madueke or Eze in here. Eze is 5 '8.39895, apparently. Okay. you did say a utility defender who will be six foot three for 40 million i don't know why you applied heights to everything i don't know either what was going on that day a 40 million six foot three defender i mean i guess that's hincapia isn't it or mascara it's a bit of it's sort of a fusion of the two it is it is when we got what we're learning is there were a lot more signings than we predicted basically for every signing we predicted there were two i went for a dm who costs 15 million that's not bad that's nor god yeah yeah that's nurgle and you went for a young utility midfielder at 20 million didn't say how tall that person was though so he's never know i think i said he was eight foot five that's why the deal fell through they couldn't find him okay they like on football manager like put in all the criteria height eight foot five no result no players found no deal um i went for jokeres as the nine um okay 60 million that's about right itk i guess you actually went for Watkins right at 36.5 okay anyway so our totals I think I'm right in saying were almost identical so yours was about 190 million 191.5 okay I think mine was about 190 million okay so we were about what at least 70 million odd out on the spend yep but actually that's the bit where we did better

51:31so on the sales we both had Tavares for 10 I think that was an obligation I think I think transfer marked listed that as five five million euros yeah that feels more reasonable doesn't it realistic We both had Marquinhos 3. Maybe that had been done. I think so. I think so. We both had Zinchenko, 10 million. Okay, so we were 10 million out there. We must have been 10 million beers down at this point. Kirill, 30 million you had. Oh, that's close. So you predicted Kirill to go. I don't think it will get up to that figure. No, but it's... You're not miles out. Yeah. I thought that we would get£20 million for Rhys Nelson.

52:25Define optimism.

52:30I mean, that really is. I seem to remember, even at the time, feeling like that was... You were taken aback. I was. I mean, you went for£15 million yourself. I'm a fucking idiot. Jesus.

52:49okay to give us our flowers we both said carl hayne loan we both said fabio vieira loan okay we knew ain't nobody buying fabio vieira right you can talk about stuttgart as much as you like ain't happening they had loads of money unfortunately yeah we also said samby would be sold which he was What did we say figures-wise? You went for 5 million. Okay. And I went for 8. And transfer marks. Now, it's my understanding that the reports in Germany are accurate that he has gone for an initial fee of 300 ,000 euros. I think that can bump up a fair bit. Like if he wins the Ballon d 'Or or something. 100%.

53:47We could get 100 % more if he achieves everything. So a whole 600 grand. If Hamburg win the Universal Championships, the Space World Cup. Now, I think if he does well, there's stuff in the deal where it might be worth, I don't know, a couple of million euros or something. Speaking of Fabio Vieira. I genuinely don't know the figure. Speaking of Fabio Vieira, he's another one who had a goatee and left.

54:25But yeah, on the initial sales for Zambi, we were again a tad optimistic. So you predicted us to bring in 73 million via sales in the transfer market. Okay. And I predicted 50 million. Okay. 51 million, I think it was. So you were a bit less wrong than I was. Only a bit, yeah. So, yeah, we both had the net spend pretty similar, sort of hovering around the 120 million mark. Yeah. So basically Arsenal went a lot bigger than either of us anticipated. Sure. And a lot lower than we anticipated as well on the sales front. It was ever thus on the sales front. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I think that sort of tells the story of the window in a way.

55:23Yeah. You know, the club were really aggressive in the recruitment. I think surpassed most people's expectations.

55:33But on the selling, not great. I was sort of thinking at the end of the Arsecast on Friday, you know, though it is often a bit after the music, which, you know, sometimes you get a little flash of inspiration. Sometimes a really stupid idea occurs to you And the idea that just popped into my head was Andrea Berta singing a song to the tune of Bella Chow. But he was singing how much money he brought in for Arsenal by selling players. And it was 20 pound, 20 pound, 20 pound, pound, pound. I didn't get far with it. I think you've got to do it now. Now that you've teased it. I didn't get far with it though.

56:22That's a shame. Yeah. That is a shame. The time has been I would have taken that ball and run with it. Yeah. Be up on YouTube by the morning. Those days are gone. Those days are over. I have to look too many people in the eye. But, yeah, I think it is a bit disappointing about the sales. I'm sure you've done this on the pod to death, but particularly after we sort of took a step forward with it, didn't we, last year? The idea that it's been terrible every year, it's not quite true. Last year, we virtually broke even in the market and sold a number of players for decent money. And I think a year on, some of those deals, for example, the Smith-Rowe deal or the Eddie and Ketit deal, they look pretty decent.

57:15I think we did pretty well out of them. but yeah a big backward step yeah i mean listen what what i'd said about it was i recognize the the fact you're not dealing in top quality merchandise you know necessarily but i still felt like some of those players should have had we should have been able to extract a bit more value from from some of those players um yeah well what did you such a big problem so many of those players are so unreliable physically. Like Rhys Nelson. Yeah. Can you buy Rhys Nelson for 15 million, for 20 million when you're not sure if he's going to be fit? Zinchenko, do you think he's going to be fit?

58:04Vieira's had injury problems. Sambi's had a ton of injury problems. I think that would have been a massive factor in the type of deal Hamburg have ended up being able to do. I think reliability and fitness will have been a big, big factor. Because Arsenal always crow about that. You know, when they sign a player, they really recruit for availability, for players who are durable, who can play a lot of games.

58:33And that's not true with these guys. No. And everyone else is looking at it and thinking the same. Yeah. But there we go. So we don't know what Arsenal are going to do in the market, I guess, is the moral of that story. No. But then years of being completely wrong with this stuff should have given us a clue. That's all I'm saying. Oh, we know. I'm just telling the listener. Okay. They know too, I think. I think they know. They know by now. After years of us getting it wrong, I think they know. Okay. Let's do some other questions, will we? 20 pound, 20 pound, 20 pound, pound, pound. You're going to be sitting there.

59:18Your wife and child are away. You're going to turn on the telly. Oh, God. Turn on the telly a bit later on and you'll be like just watching something and it fades into the background and all you can hear is 20 pound, 20 pound, 20 pound, pound, pound. Out with the GarageBand. It'll be a fucking hit on Spotify in the morning.

59:40Well, I've got a question. Okay. It's from Leo. And I don't know how to pronounce his second name. Henges? Henges? I don't know Leo, but I know Leo. Why did the club not move for Isaac before Jocherez? Did he have a preference for Liverpool? Did we not believe Newcastle would lower the fee? Did we make the assessment that£125 million is too big a risk for his injury record? i don't fucking know he's got no idea i mean do you find it odd andrew this is me now this is not leo this is me okay that like all the reporting of which i was part in which i i you know you perpetuated this ability this stuff yeah this idea that the club, particularly that Mikel, kind of loved Izak above all others.

1:00:41Do you find it weird that as far as we are aware, Arsenal never really aggressively pursued that in a summer where the player ultimately did move? Do I find it weird? No. I mean, we don't know whether arsenal made any kind of approach to isac via um his representatives or even to newcastle to get the lay of the land maybe newcastle said there's no way then perhaps there was an indication that that isac might be open to a move because it does seem as if you know that guy um spent all summer getting roasted who works for the telegraph um i think he had reported that luke edwards yeah luke Edwards.

1:01:28He had reported, you know, that as far back as April, there were concerns about Isaac and, you know, was he? Isaac's claimed as much, hasn't he, that he spoke to Newcastle about his desire to move on. But maybe the fact that it had to play out the way it played out meant that Arsenal said, no, we can't get involved in a saga. and maybe the fact that it played out the way it played out suggests that Izek was focused on one club himself, right? Does it suggest that to you? Do you think that's the case? He didn't go on strike just because he said, I'm going to go on strike and somebody, some good club will come in here and rescue me.

1:02:15He went on strike because he, A, knew Liverpool would do the deal and wanted him and had done all the background work and were prepared to let it go all the way until deadline day. And maybe if Arsenal knew even some of this, they said, listen, we can't fucking get involved in this. We had a conversation on this podcast about how we had to get the squad ready for the start of the season because of the fixture list and all that kind of stuff. And I think the distraction of the Ezek situation going all the way to deadline day, I've heard people talk about, I've heard people say, oh, maybe we should have stayed in for him, blah, blah, blah.

1:02:55But imagine if we'd been like on deadline day and we don't know if it's going to happen or not. People would say this club is a shambles. They can't get their business done efficiently, et cetera, et cetera. So maybe Arsenal were slightly aware of that, made a conscious decision that, hey, we can go and get Jokeres. Even that was not without its own hassle, right? Because of the situation with sporting and really should have been a fairly easy deal to do, all things considered. but was still a big hassle, still took a bit of time. And they said, you know what? If we buy Jocharez and there's an opportunity to do something else, we have the budget to do that rather than spending it all on Izak and waiting until deadline day to get it all done.

1:03:38And as it turns out, we have Jocharez and we have Eze. And I think as much as I really like Alexander Izak, I think for Arsenal that's probably better.

1:03:54yeah I think all that's fair and I think probably a lot of it's true I mean I think Arsenal would definitely have made inquiries after Isaac doorbell again double doorbell I'm almost inclined to not you know if a neighbour's going to get it they're going to get it I'm going maybe we won't do doorbell music here just live commentary hello

1:04:21Hello? Nobody. Okay, that's fine. It's someone. Yeah, just leave it downstairs. He's two now. He'll be fine.

1:04:35Hello? Yeah, I didn't put any doorbell music in for this one, you know. We've got the live doorbell experience right there, so it's fine. Great, great, great. He'll be fine. There's plug sockets he can play with down there. It's good. but listen I what we're talking about IZAC IZAC yeah yeah I'm sure there was dialogue between Arsenal and I don't know IZAC's representatives certainly maybe with Newcastle I mean the missing piece that I don't know and the one that you alluded to is was it always Liverpool for IZAC you know is that the move he wanted feels like it and was it would we have been wasting our time.

1:05:17I don't know. Possibly. Newcastle probably would have preferred for Arsenal and Liverpool to at least have a battle, but this was only a one-way street kind of thing, you know? Yeah, and I do think Arsenal anticipated the fee ending up a little bit higher than it was. I think they were probably envisaging that it might get closer to the 150 mark. Newcastle buckled. And yeah, like it's obviously an extortionate amount of money, a huge amount of money. But I actually think Liverpool will look at 125 as the final figure that they paid and think we did all right there. I think Arsenal as well. There are probably two other things about against Alexander Izak.

1:06:05One is, as you mentioned, wanting strength in other areas of the squad. You know, you could look at it and say, well, we got Eze and Jokerez, for example. I mean, if you look at the signing of Madueke as well, we strengthened all three attacking positions and maybe we wouldn't have been able to do that. It's not just the fee for Izak, it's the salary as well. Oh, yeah.

1:06:28And maybe like that degree of expenditure on one player. We just spoke about fitness and durability and all that sort of stuff. I think Arsenal might have had some hesitation putting all their eggs in a... Slightly fragile Isaac basket? Yeah, fragile basket. Did you see the picture of him in the gym? No. Liverpool posted a picture of Alexander Izak in the gym. And I looked at it and said, who is this stick man? He is like Mr. Ozempic. Yeah, he's a slender man. He's very, very slender. Very, very slender. In direct contrast to our beefy, muscular Swedish centre forward. but you know a good example that we all come in all shapes and sizes you know he needs to get on the kai havertz diet which appears to be just uh putting his picture into chat gpt but anyway um yeah i mean i mean it's going to be fascinating particularly bloody hell in sweden this must be some story.

1:07:44You've got the two Swedish star centre forwards at the two top contenders for the Premier League title playing out in direct competition and stylistically quite opposed as well. So, yeah, we shall see. But, yeah, I understand why people will ask the question, you know, in a summer in which he moved, should Arsenal have been the conversation? ask us in May I guess or don't or don't you know we're bound to have got it wrong whatever happens what about this one from Galec Shrug who says do you think the new Puma ball is affecting the overall quality of the football we've seen in the Premier League this season apart from the complaints from goalkeepers about its unpredictability I feel like I'm seeing a lot of overhit passes and long balls flying overheads out of play?

1:08:40Or is this just confirmation bias? And in fact, there's no significant difference. Yeah, I remember chatting to someone last season about this ball. Because I think it was used... In the League Cup. In the League Cup, yeah.

1:09:00I mean, as people associated with Arsenal, we always need to be careful talking about the ball. We never know when it's going to be kind of lifted out of context and, you know, framed as excuse making. But I remember speaking to someone midway through last season and they were saying the ball is mad. Like it moves all over the place. It dips in an unexpected fashion. And actually they said to me, this was a player who trained with it and played with it. They were like, I think we'll see some more long range goals next season because of the way this ball flies and moves. and they were like that could be really exciting you know it could be a great thing for the league because some people feel the Premier League's become maybe a bit staid or a bit more tactical and you know we obviously saw Zobber's lives go the other day but yeah maybe there is another aside to it as well of players getting used to it and being a little bit It was interesting in the in pre-season that we played the the emirates cup game and the other game with the champions league ball and not the puma ball who would have thought if they were going to get used to it you know getting used to the the new ball for the premier league season you you would use that so i don't know if that's just a preference because it's a better ball i think it probably is um i mean i would imagine they're training with it sure of course london corner i remember um adidas years ago sent me one of the like the official Champions League balls, the proper match ball, you know, and a proper match ball is like miles different from the replicas that you get in, you know, JD sports or whatever.

1:10:46Like these are incredible. The footballs are actually unbelievably good. You can feel the difference. They're so good. They make you feel like you're better at football just by using one, you know? Oh, really? Yeah. And we were playing Tuesday night Astro football as we do, 11 a side, back in the day, playing 11-a-side Astro. Pitch was behind a school not far from here. I said, you know what? We should play with this ball. It's fucking brilliant. Will we ever get the chance to play with a ball this good again? Two minutes in, one of the fucking defenders on the other team just lumps the ball over the cage, out of the cage, and onto the fucking roof of the school.

1:11:31Bastard. I've never forgiven him. I don't know who he is to this day. It's unforgivable. Yeah. Did he climb up and retrieve it? No, it was like a two-story fucking building. There was no getting up there. And it was in the evening. There was no janitor around to let us onto the roof. So it was just lost forever because of some fucking – These pro footballers, they don't know how lucky they are. Industrial centre half. They beat it into Rosette. Yeah, exactly. They just get chucked another one. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, what I would say about a ball is it's the same for everybody. It's just a fucking ball.

1:12:06It's just a fucking ball. No. It's keepers, I think, who complain most about these things. David Riot spoke about it when asked. He didn't volunteer it. It was put to him and he was naive enough to answer the question at face value. Oh, yes, he did. I didn't see that. I think it was Sky, maybe after Liverpool. They stitched him up. He said it's different to the Nike ball, so we just have to adapt to it. The grip is different. The kick is different. But it's the same for everybody, even though this ball is a piece of absolute shit and whoever designed it will burn in hell for the rest of eternity.

1:12:55I hate it. I hate Puma. Puma, I even hate big cats now because they remind me of Puma. Fuck Puma. What a bunch of wankers. But we always have to learn. As I say, he was maybe a bit naive in that interview. He walked into that one. But, yeah, I'm fine with the book. Listen, I genuinely am like, if it's going to mean a few more unexpected, exciting goals. Are they playing with it in the WSL as well? I don't know. I don't know. Because obviously I spoke about that brilliant girl in our opening game. WSL Ball 2025.

1:13:39I don't know, you know. I don't know what ball they're using.

1:13:45Mainly Nike balls are coming up, but I think they're old ones. Yeah. Anyway. I'll have a look while you think of a question. Okay. Do you know what? I'm going to do better than think of one. Okay. I'm going to read one out that's been put forward by one of our listeners. Okay. This is a real step forward. Yeah. Okay. We had some questions I really enjoyed. Poorly drawn Arsenal said, why didn't Marino score three at Anfield? Does he hate us? I don't know. Tekakila said, do you think Arsenal will consider selling one of their 100 million plus players come the end of the season? And if they do, will Marino choose Barcelona or Madrid?

1:14:32I like this one as well from Libor. Hey, guys, I looked in the mirror and suddenly realized that I look like Eric Ten Hag. What should I do? Probably apply for some football manager jobs because he keeps being given them, despite all the evidence. Okay, I like this one. Master Johnbury. why are we so obsessed with winning this season specifically i agree we need to win soon but we still have a pretty young squad with trossard norgaard and kepper the only players over 30 and marino the only 29 year old well none of these guys are first choice so the squad should remain strong for years to come so why are we so worried about this season being the one we get over the line?

1:15:20Because we've come so close, three seasons. Well, not last season we didn't come close, but we finished second. Because we haven't won anything for five years. Because I think there's only so long you can go without winning something significant before questions get asked and maybe people lose faith with a manager or a coach and that might include some of the players. So I think, you know, I agree with that contention, by the way, generally speaking, this is a squad that's been built, you know, with one or two exceptions to go for the next two, three, four years. But I think what it's been built for is to win as much as possible in those two, three, four years, you know, and the sooner we start doing that, the more likely we are to win other stuff as well.

1:16:12So that's, that's where I am with it. I get it. And it's, you know, as we said, I think maybe a few weeks ago, it really is all about the context of how this season plays out. Because you can be very good and do really, really well and still not win anything, you know, on the last day of the season or you lose in a final, you know, and that doesn't undo everything that came before that doesn't mean you just ignore everything that came before that. But it is all about context. And I also think that, you know, there is a media narrative as well, I think, that defines how quite a lot of people think, you know, maybe not Arsenal fans, but external to that.

1:16:55and if Sky keeps saying it's now or never, it's win or bust, Arteta has to win this season or that's it. If they keep saying that, it just becomes accepted or the point of view that lots of people will have. You know, they just sort of - Well, they are saying it is the thing, isn't it? Well, that's why it's like, you know, who said somebody wrote, I don't know who it was, whether it was one of the Guardian writers or whether it was somebody else. I can't quite remember at this point, but about Arteta's approach at Anfield and was he a bit cautious? I don't want to open that whole debate up again, but it was like, well, he played a back four in three DMs.

1:17:38And the amount of times I saw that parroted as part of the discussion of our performance at Anfield was crazy. And it's not the case that we played with three DMs. We played with the back four, of course. But, you know, it's not like he played fucking, I don't know, Zubamendi, Zubamendi one and Zubamendi two, you know, or three. It's not that. That's not what we did. Was it to everyone's preference? No. But the fact that, you know, it was said and then repeated and repeated and repeated, it just becomes fact in the minds of a lot of people, even if objectively it's not true. so that's another thing that we're that we're sort of countering or trying to counter this season when it comes to to actually winning something which is you know some people just being quiet for a while yeah I think that's a big part of it the other thing I would say is like and I'm happy to be sort of proven wrong on this but like where are the stories in football of a team that nearly made it, nearly made it, nearly made it, and then eventually won together, having stuck together for like eight years.

1:18:55Do you know what I mean? Like, when does that happen? I feel like it doesn't happen because there are other forces at play. As you suggested, players lose faith, fans lose faith, players get older, decline, players move on, choose to go to other clubs. I think it would be almost unprecedented to not win this year and then do it in the next three years with the same group. That, to me, would be a really surprising outcome just because I don't think I've ever really seen it happen in football. When we think about football cycles, we tend to think in terms of about five years for a team, for the lifespan of a team.

1:19:46And I know this team has been through dramatic evolution in a short space of time.

1:19:55But yeah, I think that's probably the reason. it kind of feels like it's not true to say it's now or never but it feels like it has been building to this point and beyond this as well I suppose the other I talked about players moving on, players leaving fans losing faith in the manager as a risk but like the kind of mental fatigue of successive disappointments personally I just fear will eventually could eventually tell, you know? Mm-hmm. I agree. I agree. There is pressure. There is pressure. Why don't we do a couple of fun ones to finish off? I thought this was quite a good one. Juron on the Discord says, the quality and depth of the squad has been the best it's been in a long time, to the point where there have been mock-ups online of two starting XIs.

1:20:52Can you each build a team, starting 11, of current Arsenal players to play against each other and decide in the end which team will win? No duplicates, playground-style picking. Oh, I love it. Right? So maybe you want to get the Arsenal squad list up, you know, just to remind you of all of the players that we have. We're going to assume everybody is 100 % fit, right? Yeah. And then we'll pitch our teams against each other. And as I am a magnanimous person of integrity, as we said earlier, I will allow you to have the first pick. Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Okay. So you can have first pick. The first pick.

1:21:45Gosh. That's really hard, you know. They're all lined up in front of you. We're on the playground. I don't want to disappoint anyone. They're all staring at you right now. Yeah. Going, who's he going to pick? Who's his first pick?

1:22:07It's Bakaya Saka. Okay. You've picked Saka. It wasn't, you know. It wasn't for a long time. It was somebody else and I changed late. Right at the death. Okay. So you've got Saka. Okay. I'm going to pick Saliba. Okay. Big Willie over here. He was in my head. I'm going to pick Declan Rice. Okay. I nearly picked Declan Rice first, to be honest. Right. I just thought, I think Saka is the best attacker in that squad. I don't think there's another attacker with his output. Okay. Not trying to psych you out or anything. I know. I'm going to pick... Jesus. It's a tough one, isn't it? I'm going to pick Ezra.

1:23:00Okay.

1:23:05I'm going to pick Gabriel. Okay. So at this stage, we'll wait for you till you've done your pick and then we'll explain where we're at. Pick number three for you. The Arsenal draft. Zubamendi.

1:23:22okay so you've gone Saliba Eze and Zubimendi I've gone Saka Rice Gabriel I'm pretty happy with where I'm at currently right

1:23:45I'm going David Raya okay

1:23:51just to explain my thinking I've gone an attacker a midfielder a defender and a goalkeeper now yeah I'm gonna go

1:24:03Jokeras okay decent um

1:24:21well I have to go Havertz because I I can't I mean obviously Marino's still up for grabs but yeah I can't risk you getting Jokerez and Havertz so I'm gonna go Havertz okay um Odegaard for me. Even with the new haircut? Yeah. And the sort of dubious beard. Yeah, okay. You're his manager now. You can demand he shaves the beard. Uh-huh. That's true. That's what managers can do.

1:24:59I think I need more in midfield. I really need more in midfield, actually. Because you've now got Eze, Odegaard, Anza Bumendi.

1:25:14And I've just got Declan Rice, which can be good. He might need a little help. He might need a bit of help. I'm going to go for Ethan Ranieri, actually. Okay. I need some creativity in there. All right. My next pick is Califuri. Nice pick.

1:25:53You've gone Califuri. I will go with... I'm going to go Jureen Timber. Okay. Is it a right back or a centre half? Don't know yet. Okay. Depends what's available. But he's in the squad. All right, then... We'll speak about positions afterwards. Right, then I'm going Ben White. Okay.

1:26:27So, yeah, that's, you know, tit for tat, isn't it? Mm. I don't know how good Incappier is, to be honest. He must be pretty good. I think he is good. I've got Havertz and Saka. I need someone off the left. Am I getting a tune out on Martinelli? On your matter of way. You have a toss-up, isn't it? Mm-hmm.

1:26:57I think I'm going to go... Yeah, I'm going to go in hincapia. Okay.

1:27:08Um...

1:27:12Right. Let me pick...

1:27:18Who am I going to pick? I'm going to pick Madweke. okay

1:27:28right I need a midfielder a defender and a striker I've gone for 4-3-3 you've got a striker you have Havertz already remember I'm sorry I mean an attacker I'm going to go Marino who's still up for grabs so that completes my midfield three Declan Rice is going to be the holding midfielder with Marino and Maneri. I've got Zubimendi as my holding midfielder with Eze and Odegaard. Yeah, that's good. I'd say that's good. That's probably better than mine. My next pick, I'm going to go with I think I'll have to go with

1:28:14like everybody's fit, right? Everybody's 100 % fit.

1:28:20he's not going to bring Gabriel Jesus back from the day I was just going to say could I resurrect Jesus Gabriel Jesus on the left for me wow I mean I guess I did you a favor in a way by picking David Ryan because you never have to pick Kepa like I'm not going to pick him do you know what I mean you're not going to be like scrabbling around for time that would really fuck with If I'm like, on the left wing, I pick Kepa. Yeah, that would actually. What a day for Tommy Setford.

1:28:52Okay. So you've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. I'm missing two. You're missing two. I've got nine players. I am going to pick.

1:29:13Hmm. I'm going to pick Mascara. Okay. And I'm going to complete my back four. That's Timber, Mascara and Gabrielle, and then Capier at left back. Right. I'll pick Louis Skelly as completes my back four, which is White, Calafuri, Saliba, and Louis Skelly.

1:29:37Okay. So you've got one more. I've got one pick left. I mean, nobody's picked Max Dallman, which is obviously tempting. But I'm going to go with seniority. Okay. I am going to pick a left winger. It's between Trossard and Martinelli, isn't it? You've picked Maduweke. Looking at the other qualities in the squad that I've got, I'm going to pick Martinelli. Okay. And you're going to pick Kepa, I guess. I'm going to pick Kepa, yeah. So I'll read you my team front to back, right? Okay. So I've got David Ryer in goal. Back four of Timber, Mosquera, Gabriel, Incapier. That's a very strong defensive unit, I think.

1:30:30As discussed, my midfield, Rice holding, Ranieri and Marino in front. You can't have Rob holding as well. I'm sorry.

1:30:41up front Saka Havertz Martinelli right okay it's a good team back to the old school it's a good team let's hear yours so mine is Kepa in goal back four of White Calafiore Saliba and Lewis Skelly then in midfield Zubamendi Zubamendi Eze and Odegaard and a front three of Jesus Madweke and Jokeres so yeah I think you've got the best midfield, I think. I think so. I think so. I personally, I know everyone is not too keen on Gary Martinelli at the moment. I feel like my front three is more of a banker than your front three. I would say that's true. Yeah. Yeah. But I think the defences are pretty even.

1:31:29A toss-up. I think that's reflective. I think that is probably the part of the squad where I feel we have the most reliable depth, I think. I think so too. I think so too. But, you know, this could change. At the end of this season, by the way, no place for Christian Norgard. No place for Leandro Trossard. Well, we could have a sub each, I guess. It's quite interesting. No place for Max down. It's quite interesting to see which players don't get picked. I was thinking about Trossard for the left, but I just thought that maybe Jesus with a bit of trickery and a fully fit Gabriel Jesus, you know, that's reinforced that.

1:32:13Yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do like that idea. It's a wild card. It's a wild card pick. Yeah. I'm going in on the attacking side of things, you know, with my midfield. I think it's... That's a fun game. Guys, try it yourself. With your friends and family. yeah yeah it's good alright shall we do the player ratings game and then get out yeah let's do that let's do that it's come via Critical Tea thank you Critical Tea this time we're looking at this season and last season okay this is only three games oh so player one seven out of ten nice to see him make his debut at last won some duels hmm so who did we have that didn't make their debut for ages you know what I think that is a good clue but the jewels is the bigger clue for me and it's interesting because I think it touches on how perception of this player has maybe changed a bit Marino I guess yeah Yeah.

1:33:28Because do you remember when he arrived? A, he got that shoulder injury. Yep. But B, he was the dual monster. That was what all the analytics guys were telling us and all the focus was on winning dual. It was before he was a lethal goal scorer. Yes, before his transformation. So that was, yeah, the home game against PSG. Okay, there you go. 2-0. In the autumn, whatever it was. Okay, player two, seven out of 10. Came on for X teammate. X the letter X, not a former teammate. Came on for teammate, did really well, wasn't flustered at all by opposition or opposition's ground. Promising. So it's got to be an intimidating place to go.

1:34:17There aren't that many of those in the... Newcastle maybe, but then we didn't do that well at Newcastle last season.

1:34:27it's it's Max Downman is it it's Max Downman at Anfield this year or Old Trafford at Old Trafford that's my guess I think that's Max Downman he didn't come on it wasn't on the bench well then it's Liverpool I think it's going to be Miles last season against somebody I don't know who we're both wrong Everyone's screaming the answer at home. It's Christian Mascara. Oh, okay. Okay. Shows how good my memory is that I can't remember a player rating from like eight days ago. Player three, 6.5 out of 10. This player did this player things. So, you know, for example, Saka did Saka things. Ethan won air.

1:35:19Moved the ball around, kept things ticking, but you can see he's got nothing running back towards goal. Took a whack from opposition player and came off late on. Oh. Nothing running back towards goal. Hmm. Moved the ball around, kept things ticking.

1:35:42Oh, I know who I think that is. Hmm.

1:35:51nothing nothing nothing running back towards goal what was that no idea what's your guess I I wonder if it might be our former number five Thomas Parton but I'm wrong it's your genius another departed yes yes Yes. At home to Brentford in a one-all. Okay. That really could have been either for me. Mm-hmm. I think so. Kept things ticking is a very Giorginio-coded. That is true. That's true. I should have got that. Should have got that. Player four, 8.5 out of 10. Mm-hmm. Kept opposition player very humble. Enjoyed the bit when he refused to hand up, then told him to go get his boot. Ha-ha. it's uh it's either gabrielle or or william saliva isn't it with holland yeah it's gabrielle yeah five one yeah that was funny with the boot that was i remember that yeah uh last one player five nine point five out of ten wow eight and it says eight and then in capital letters.

1:37:07Eight key passes tonight. Glided around the pitch like he owned it, which he kind of does. Hates, insert opposition here. I feel like the past tense of glide should be glowed. He glowed around the pitch. Who's a glider? Who glides? I feel like Odegaard's a glider. When he's on it, yeah, he glides. He's a bit of a glider. He ate key passes. Glided around like he owned it. I feel like there's only so many players in the squad that could be. I think it has to be Odegaard, but I can't remember what game that is. Hates them. It was Martin Odegaard. Who does he hate? And it was, he hates Chelsea. Right.

1:37:59Arsenal 5, Chelsea 0 Was that the season before? Yeah, it was when Havertz scored twice, right? So, yeah I think technically we were told this season and last season The whole thing is null and void now Well done, it's been spoiled by technicality Oh well That was the last ever player racing show Thanks for nothing, Crisco T. Yeah, man. You betrayed us at the last. All right, listen, I think we should get this out to everybody because it's time. I know it's an interlull, but it's probably a bit overdue. We will talk a bit later in the week as we get closer to the resumption of football at the weekend against Nottingham Forest.

1:38:49We'll have an Arsecast. We'll have a preview podcast. And then we're looking ahead to Champions League action, of course next week in Bilbao, which will be a lot of fun, I think. So for now, thank you as always for listening. Really appreciate it as ever. Take it easy and we will catch you on the next one. Bye-bye.

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