Arsecast Extra Episode 659 - 21.09.2025

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0:47James McNicholas: Hello and welcome to another Arsecast Extra. As always, James from Gunnar Block. James, good evening to you. Good evening, man. How are you doing? I'm all right. I just sort of wolfed down a sandwich and I made a gin the size of my head. So I feel like I'm ready now. Listen, it's the classic preparation. Sandwich and a vase full of gin. Yeah, that was the thing. I had to find a really, really big container for the gin the size of my head. Just a regular glass wouldn't do. So Lana has a bucket out the back garden that she drinks water out of. I had to just empty that out. Sorry, Lana. no water for you today.

1:29James McNicholas: I need gin after that. And I feel like I need gin after that. How do you feel? Yeah, I feel, I don't know, actually. I mean, obviously I was delighted, despite the disadvantage of sort of doing a podcast so soon after the game, which is down to my filming schedule. So apologies for that. Only idiots would do that by choice, you know? I know, I know. But I, but honestly, like, well, maybe we're idiots, but I wouldn't do it by choice because it's not, I don't always know quite where I stand. And I did have a feeling coming out of the game, whether I'll still feel that way tomorrow morning by the time we normally record, I don't know.

2:21But yeah, I feel a bit sort of, I'd feel a bit frustrated, which is odd because we scored a 93rd minute equaliser against a very good team and it was a brilliant goal. And, you know, that's great. And I was delighted, don't get me wrong, when it hit the net. But I think I'd sort of spent the previous 93 minutes being a bit mardy, basically.

2:52Yeah, I really, really didn't like that starting line-up. I really didn't like it.

2:57James McNicholas: I got a message from Andrew Allen, by the way, who said, I hated the whole game. I presume he liked the bit where we scored. Yeah. But I get the sense, and I get the sense just, you know, from seeing some of the reaction. I don't mean the most extreme reaction, but the volume of conversation around this game on Arseblog, on our Splug News is significant. It's really, really high and people are feeling stuff. So whether they feel frustrated, whether they feel a weird mix of happy because we did get that goal and what a great goal it was, but the sense that maybe we left something on the table with the starting lineup, which is what you're alluding to, not alluding to, you're pretty straightforward about what you said there, I think is pretty common in a lot of the discourse that I have seen.

3:54Yeah. I also have got to say, by the way, this was the site of one of the most surreal football live experiences I've ever had, where on the screen above me in the North Bank of the Emirates Stadium for the vast majority of the first half, certainly for about 20 minutes, the first half, they were showing the BBC daytime property program Escape to the Country. Why? Do they normally show the game on that screen? They show replays and stuff. Right. It was only in the concourses as well. It was so surreal because I nipped out a couple of minutes before half time to get a pint, which is the largest drink size they do.

4:39There's no buckets, sadly. No head-sized beverages. But it was also on there. And it was surreal watching fans queue up to get a beer, trying to find out if this couple were going to go for house number one, house number two, or house number three. The reason it was on, I mean, it was very funny. A guy in my block was so annoyed by it, he climbed up on top of the seats to turn the televisions off.

5:08James McNicholas: I know why it was on, because the Arsenal women were on BBC One this afternoon. So they were showing their game, and obviously, whoever someone put the remote control down and couldn't find it basically so yes during the first half um they were showing arsenal women on the screens in the stands as far as i could see which which is a no i think quite a noble intention but actually quite when you're watching a game and you sort of want to see a replay of something um is a little bit frustrating and then when that game ended nil nil um bbc programming continued on its course and uh i'd occasionally like look up being like oh i wonder how close that chance was or it looked like a good save let's see that again well you think i'll be gonna buy this cottage in somerset basically yeah it's just two people going around bedrooms being like it's a bit small not enough storage space you know what i mean So that was so weird that it slightly spanned me out.

6:14But yeah, I don't know, man.

6:17James McNicholas: Well, come on, let's bring it back around then to the starting lineup and the team that Mikel Arteta selected for this game. Because I do think, in fact, I know for a fact that this is the root of so much of the discussion around this game today. first half versus second half, Arsenal at home. What sort of a lineup are you going to pick? We don't have Martin Odegaard. How do you replace Martin Odegaard? What are your options to replace Martin Odegaard? And I think he went with the safest possible decision that he could make, the most cautious. and listen, Mikel Moreno is probably going to come in for quite a bit of flack.

7:11James McNicholas: There was a moment, wasn't there, where he was caught on the ball just outside our box and reindeer guy, Reinders, Reinders, he got a shot off and David Ryan made the save. But what I think is quite interesting, I thought, and people might kill me for this, I thought Moreno was actually quite good in that first half but he was the wrong Is this what took AskBlog News down? I didn't say no The player ratings No, I think that's fair I don't disagree with that I think he was fine but he was the wrong player for this game You know? So Yeah, I mean listen maybe he was the wrong player maybe he wasn't I think people's everyone will have their opinion on that For me, yeah, like I said, I didn't love the line-up.

8:09I mean, the Marino one was part of it, certainly. I didn't really understand why Eze wasn't playing. I know he didn't have a great game in Bilbao, but I thought he should have been in somewhere. I was a little bit surprised about Trossard. And I'm someone who rates Trossard and thinks he gets a hard time off people. I think he's got a lot of qualities and he delivers. And again, I wouldn't say, I mean, maybe I'm Rob, but I wouldn't say he played particularly poorly or anything like it. But yeah, I thought he would probably have been the third of the three options in my mind for that left wing position.

8:49But the midfield thing, the Marino one, yeah, I'm not... It depends what your football philosophy and tastes are, I think. But I'm never going to look at Zubimendi, Rice, Marino and feel massively enthused.

9:12James McNicholas: No, me too. I'm the same. I think what's been interesting is in the games when Martin Odegaard has had to go off with injury against Leeds and against Nottingham Forest, Mikel Arteta immediately put Ethan Weneri on. Are Leeds and Nottingham Forest the sort of key part of that? Potentially, potentially. But, you know, my personal preference would be to see somebody more like Martin Odegaard in the Martin Odegaard position. And I think Mikel Moreno has got fine qualities. He's a great team player. but creativity is certainly not one of those qualities necessarily or that people would say he's not really a creative midfielder although I do think he played some very interesting passes today but ultimately is he the guy with the craft?

10:06James McNicholas: Is he the guy with the guile? No, he's not. He can do things for this team but he's not going to do what an Odegaard can do. He's not going to do what maybe Ethan Wannery can do. He's certainly not going to do whatever Acheza did when he was in that position, you know? Yeah, yeah. And I think that's sort of the thing, isn't it? I mean, I think if you had those reservations or you had those concerns, the outcome and the equaliser and how it came about are sort of going to confirm those. You know, it's a nice day to sort of have the satisfaction of nicking the point and also being able to say, aha, I told you so.

10:49And, you know, I get that that will probably annoy some people, but it's not about Mourinho being a bad player or anything like it. He's a very, very good player who's got a lot of uses and functions. And we talked about that just the other day. But it's who he's replacing and it's how far away he is stylistically. And it's not even to say he hasn't got technical ability. He can. And his close control can be really good. Like you say, he picks out some nice passes. But is his instinct, is his nature to create? And I'm talking about the sort of psychological component of it almost. Like, is that who he is fundamentally?

11:31No, it's not. And, you know, he's kind of another, he's probably closer to a Declan Rice, really, in terms of the way he sort of, you know, gets about the pitch. and it can be very physical and monster people at times. So, yeah, this is my big feeling. I feel that starting lineups, any selection, sends a message. And I told this anecdote on my YouTube video, but I will tell it again. Okay. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. Well, then you are in for a treat, mate. Okay. Let me tell you. um so at halftime you know we're all out in the concourse everyone's having a pint there's a sort of gallows humor around we've just watched 20 minutes of um escape to the country um and um uh you know people are sort of like this isn't going great you know this is quite hard work and city sitting in how did we concede that goal the usual gripes you know what subs would you make Well, I hope, you know, hope we see Jose, hope we see Saka, hope it's not too late.

12:38Everyone's finishing their drinks. And anyone who watches an Emirates Stadium game on telly will know or be familiar with the idea that sometimes people aren't out for the second half straight away because they've got a pint, quite an expensive pint to fill in. And by this point, you know, two minutes before the game recommenced, escape to the country, fortunately, had been turned over. and what was on Bergerac yeah yeah countdown was on and um no we had the sky coverage unfortunately without audio I gather that was another irritation for people today um you can tell me about that in a minute but obviously the camera showed uh the figures of Eze and Saka stripped off and ready to come on right in their kit i have never seen at the start of a second half an urgency for people to get back out into the stands like i saw today in that stadium people just fucking sculling their

13:45James McNicholas: pints mate leaving their pints and i'm not even kidding right like it was a cue to get out of the concourse when people saw those two players coming on and this was in i i promise you this was my experience i was in block six uh north bank lower tier people were desperate to get out there see those guys get on the pitch and and see them hopefully change the game and i do think that selections set a tone and send a message and the introduction of those players absolutely did that and credit to the manager for making those changes as early as he did and seeing that there was an issue. But for me, whenever a manager makes two changes at half time, for me, it's an admission that they got something wrong.

14:36James McNicholas: Yeah. I don't matter where Kate seemingly had an injury. He did, yeah. He said he got something early on. But, yeah, I just thought it was interesting. Like, honestly, people had been so flat and so sardonic and so, oh, here we go again. feels like last season everything's going wrong you brought those two players on and the belief that it instilled in that stadium was visible yeah I mean I I think you know when I this is kind of what my immediate post-game reaction on Blue Sky was that the the nature of the second half performance leaves me with a lot of regret like I don't think you can dominate Manchester to City like that for 90 minutes.

15:22James McNicholas: City, you know, had a goal. They had something to protect. So it's a different kind of game. But I do think what we did in the second half and the players that we had on the pitch and the way we looked to play, even if it wasn't necessarily, you know, we weren't making chance after chance after chance, but it was a lot better than the first half, for me is a sort of a big regret because I feel like at home, like I sort of get it you know if you go to Anfield I get it more or Bilbao even Bilbao to an extent yeah because there was a a level of occasion to that game and that stadium you know I spoke about this on the Arsecast on Thursday but that stadium was loud and there was a big atmosphere and those fans were you know right up for it so there was that to contend with an away game in Europe you know, you take nothing for granted.

16:19James McNicholas: But at home, I really feel like we need to be braver. And I'm sort of curious as to what you think about Arteta's mindset, you know, in as much as any of us can truly understand what goes on in that man's head, right? And I mean that, you know, respectfully, because I feel like there's a lot going on in that man's head. He thinks a lot, right? But the record against the so-called big six over the last couple of seasons where we haven't lost a game, we hadn't lost a game until we played Liverpool for so long. And much of that was predicated on being really, really hard to beat. you know is that just fundamental to Arteta's approach to what people might perceive as an inverted commas big games yeah I think it is and listen a lot of people will say he's not wrong in that like a lot of people will say he's made us solid and um difficult to be and you know a few years ago if City had got that opening goal against us they might have blown us away.

17:38James McNicholas: Yeah. They might have run away with it. And they're right. Like, you know, there is merit to a lot of what he's done and there is merit to the structure he brings.

17:53You know, I can only speak sort of as a fan saying that, like, I can't help but sort of yearn for him to, well, to coin the phrase, take the handbrake off of it.

18:05James McNicholas: Well, that's it, isn't it? You know, I think you can develop and you can become really hard to be. And I think, you know, something I wrote on the blog a couple of weeks ago was, listen, we have this amazing defensive platform. We've got brilliant defenders. We've got great defensive midfielders. And we've invested a lot in attacking players. And I think that is the prevailing sense, certainly from a lot of the discussions I've seen and from the comments I've seen and from the way people are talking is that, okay, we've done this. We've become really tough to beat. We are really hard to beat. There was like one moment, like a split-second decision in this game that sent it Manchester City's way for most of the 90 minutes, right?

18:51James McNicholas: We'll come to that in a second. But when you're sort of, when something becomes normal, It's not that you crave something different, but I think there is a sense, right, that we are inherently just a little bit too cautious as a team at times. And I think it's right to show respect to the opposition, particularly big teams, particularly a team that's won the Premier League four years in a row with maybe the best, most successful manager in football history at the helm, right? You'd be stupid to just say, right, let's go fucking hell for leather here. We'll start, you know, let's put Saka at left back, Medewa right back, get all the fours.

19:39James McNicholas: You know, nobody's asking for that, right? Nobody's asking for that. But I think there is a sense that, you know, at home against the City team that maybe aren't quite the City team of old, as you say, send a bit of a message with your team selection. So when Martin Odegaard is not injured, you don't play the safe card. You play the Joker. And that's not to be pejorative about anybody. It's like, look at what we did in the second half and look at how well Eberetje Eze played in the second half in that position. People are asking, well, can he play there? We had a discussion on the preview podcast, like, can you move Declan Rice over to the right and play Ezez, the left eight, which is kind of where he's played a lot for Crystal Palace, right?

20:24James McNicholas: But he can play there. He can play the Odegaard position. You know, if he can... Yeah, I mean, that's one of the things I think that's interesting about it because if you look back over the summer, a lot of the reporting that we did and I think others did as well was that Arsenal, you know, There was talk of like, well, they see more as a central player, really, than a winger, than a pure winger. And now I find it interesting and slightly odd that it's taken until, you know, halftime today for us to really see that. I mean, do you think it's a reactive decision? Do you think it's a reaction to the first half to play Eze there?

21:05James McNicholas: Like, obviously, his hand was forced with Madweke, who went off at halftime. So he's going to bring Saka on. I think if Matuweke hadn't had a problem, he probably would have stayed on. So maybe you wouldn't have the impact of the double change, which really sends a message. But, you know, do you think that was maybe something he was considering before the game? Like, will I play Eze there or will I play Mikel Moreno? Or will I play Eze on the left? You know. Yeah. Or do you think it was just, yeah, the context of the game forced his hand in a way. Yeah, yeah. And maybe it wasn't quite the game he anticipated.

21:43Maybe City were, you know, deeper than he expected them to be. You know, maybe they were sitting off more than he expected. And he thought we're going to have more of the ball than I anticipated. And therefore, we need to say, I mean, we were behind as well. That's the thing. I mean, Game State informed it, right? We were chasing. So, and that's the thing, like if you, if you are like me, someone who does harbour that sort of slight concern that Arteta doesn't always take the risks that you might like to see. Actually, the second half is a great example of him doing just that. it's not just the half time changes it's the changes that followed i mean there was a point during that second half where i was like this these are like arsene wenger substitutions you know bringing off timber for martinelli with 10 minutes to go um you know we kind of threw the kitchen sink at it and i couldn't tell you what the formation was what the structure was in that last bit of the game.

23:04And so maybe it will prove to be a big day of learning for the manager.

23:12James McNicholas: I was going to ask you that, you know, when we got to a certain point, but, you know, we're here now, so we might as well talk about it. I mean, I think for Arsenal, this was a very important game not to lose. Definitely. Right? because, listen, you don't want to drop three points. Getting any point is valuable against a team like Manchester City. But I think for Mikel Arteta, I'm not saying it would have been a watershed moment, but I think, you know, based on all the conversations, you know, I've seen and seen people talking, and like if he'd lost this game at home, having picked that team for the first half.

23:58James McNicholas: I do wonder what sort of damage that might have inflicted, you know, because that sense of frustration, it wasn't long to sort of manifest itself. Like, you can tell me, Gary Neville was like at peak Gary Neville today, by the way, on Sky. He could not have been any more irritating. like the only thing was missing was him just running his fingernails down a blackboard every time he spoke which is coincidental because that's what his voice actually sounds like as well but he said late in the first half like arsenal are flat it's gone flat the stadium is flat and i hated that he said that because it was exactly what i was thinking in my head at that oh nothing worse than that i was like oh you fuck fuck off but i you know did it feel like that in the ground where it just was like where is the spark where is the spark in this team in this performance and you know people ask questions and i think if you you know if you produce that in a summer where you have a so-so iffy transfer window people will say oh yeah maybe there's some mitigation but the transfer window that Arsenal have had this summer plays a part in how people expect this team and these players to perform right the consequences of having such a good transfer window um is that there's nowhere really to hide like I have called this the no excuses season and like you know i i think i think there's some truth in that i think basically at every stage previously we've been able to look at the squad and say aha well you know if we just had this or we just had that it really does feel now that the coaching staff have all the tools at their disposal um so people's expectations naturally are going to be pretty darn high.

26:11I think when you're given a load of new toys, there is probably a bit of time to adjust and get used to them and figure them out and figure out the best combinations. And I guess my hope is that that's kind of what we're seeing a little bit, is a manager getting to grips with the various players he now has at his disposal. And also, So, you know, in the course of this game, he seemed to become more adventurous in his choices. So maybe it's part of an ongoing process. I mean, I have to say, I saw a quote from his post-match press conference where he was like, no, no one asked me about the midfield three after Bilbao.

26:58And I thought, well, he doesn't sound repentant, but it is immediately after the game. Sure. in an adversarial setting.

27:09James McNicholas: He's slightly, yeah, slightly defensive, I think. You know, the guy on Sky, his post-match interview on Sky, and the guy said, listen, you know, I'm just a humble reporter. Sure. You know, you know your players better than I do. But with hindsight, do you look at the first half versus the second half and think, oh, why didn't I start with that team in the first half? Or is that too simple? And he basically said, well, yeah, you said it right there. You know, it's too simple. But, you know, I hope, I genuinely hope that he looks at what his team produced in that second half. Because, like, again, while we weren't making loads and loads of chances, when have you seen a team do that to Manchester City?

27:53to force Pep Guardiola, the most attacking coach ever, maybe,

28:01James McNicholas: in terms of his philosophy at least, play five at the back, take off a forward and bring on another centre half and play basically 5-3-2 or 5-4-1. Well, barely a striker on the pitch. Yeah, well, I mean, he took Holland off, you know. So this, again, I think is probably what will cause people regret. It's like, okay, if we've just done that from the start, look, there's no guarantees, of course. And I think Pep, again, I think Pep might have some regret. I think that they sacrificed too much threat. I think they could have hurt us more probably on the break. But I was surprised how much they kind of retreated, you know.

28:55But then, as you say, that was something that we were doing to them as well.

28:59James McNicholas: Yeah. I mean, what I would say as well is, like, it was a tight game. It was a game without a ton of chances. And actually, historically, or certainly in recent history, that's what these Arsenal-Man City-Pec-Arteta games have been. You know, like they have had that feel of sort of someone giving you a Chinese burn for 90 minutes. And at the end, there's probably one goal in it, you know, and it kind of could go either way. So they are quite tense watches, I think, always because of the nature of the two coaches and I think the way in which they approach each other. But yeah, I do keep coming back to this idea that this city isn't a city of the quality that we've seen previously.

29:52Maybe the remainder of the season will prove me wrong in that respect. But when I looked at their lineup at kickoff, for the first time in a long time, I looked at it and thought, we should beat these. I really did think that. Maybe that was naive, but I just don't think they're what they used to be.

30:14James McNicholas: No, I agree with that. I agree with that. They're certainly in a period of transition, if that's the right way of putting it, or they're trying to play a different way. and I'm not sure it's necessarily the way Pep Guardiola ideally wants to play. So, you know, not that they're there for the taking, but there is a sort of instability that's there now that wasn't with the best City teams that we've seen over the last number of years. I mean, let's go, let's talk about the goal that we conceded. Yeah. So, I'm looking, or I've looked at this a few times again, And it's so fascinating to me in football about how like a split second, as I said earlier, like a split second decision can have such a big impact on a game of football.

31:07James McNicholas: And I think Gabriel does not need to try and win the ball there that high up the pitch. It's sort of bouncing around. It's like a gold mouth scramble, but in the middle of midfield. and the ball sort of breaks and he goes forward and he doesn't get there and City then just absolutely ruthlessly exploit that space that he has left, you know? And if Gabriel, I think, just sort of stands there, even if Haaland gets the ball or whoever it is that's going for the ball gets the ball, there's a lot to do when you've got three defenders. You'd have Saliba, Gabriel and Timber, and you'd have the numbers, even if City did get it forward, to make the right defensive actions and keep yourself in the right defensive formation.

31:56James McNicholas: But he steps up, he doesn't get there, and Holland gets in behind, and that's 1-0. I mean, it was an incredibly efficient piece of play from Man City. Yeah, beautifully done from their perspective. I think Ryan just looks like a really good player. ruthlessly efficient it's actually a one-two isn't it but he makes a 50-yard sprint and he leaves Gabriel in the dust to be frank I did watch it and think like could Saliba have engaged Rinders but then I guess if he does he's got he's got Haaland and he's got Doku the other side Doku the other side so if he goes to the ball he has to try and play the odds and hope like Rinders might misplace the pass.

32:48James McNicholas: If he commits, he can just play Doku in one side or Haaland in the other. You know, maybe you take the risk. Maybe that's what it is. But I do think that, for me, the mistake, and it's not even a big, big mistake. You know, we see players make mistakes all the time. It's just the wrong decision in a split second from Gabriel. Yeah, I think that's fair. And I think City did their part of it really, really well. in fact yeah I was chatting to a friend of the show Tots at halftime okay and he was saying he was complimenting Harland on the fact that at no point did he think he might be offside there like his timing of his runs is so immaculate for someone who gets in behind as often as he does very rarely do you see that flag go up and yeah he unfortunately played it to perfection on that one and it was an early goal, you know, eight, nine minutes.

33:47Nine minutes. So that did, you know, suck some of the fun out of things.

33:55James McNicholas: Yeah, quite early. They're damaging, aren't they, early goals? Like I think on top of maybe some of the disquiet, if that's the right way of putting it, about the lineup, about the team selection, when you concede early, it also has an impact on proceedings. It's like that midfield is about containment, right? It's about keeping the game tight. And maybe the game plan was keep it tight, get to 60 minutes. You bring on Saka, you bring on Eze, you bring on Martinelli, you bring on Wuneri, you know, whoever you want to bring on. And then you go for it. But when you concede after nine minutes, that game plan is sort of out the window.

34:35That's true. And I have to say, for me, the big concern actually was City are so good on the break, as they demonstrated in that moment. I really feared they would be able to pick us off if we had to chase it. And I know they had chances, one or two, later in the match. But I think we deserve some credit for the fact that while we did dominate sort of long stretches of the game, particularly in the second half, we also had enough protection as well to prevent them doing that. And as I say, I think as the game wore on, I think they conceded a bit too much of their attacking threat.

35:17James McNicholas: Yeah, I mean, the defensive platform we have, the defensive prowess that we have was evident more or less throughout this game because City didn't threaten a great deal. There was a little mistake from Marino, which led to a shot, as I mentioned earlier. Beyond that, I'm not really remembering too much threat from Manchester City. a couple of moments here or there, but defensively, we were really, really good apart from that moment, which obviously let them score the goal early on. You know, the other end, people will talk about the first half. I think as the first half went on, maybe the last 10 minutes of the first half, we started to see a little bit more from Arsenal.

35:57James McNicholas: Just, again, not really creating massive chances, but where we were playing. You know, that first half in particular, first half an hour anyway, it felt a lot like, oh, there's David Raya with the ball at his feet and City are like, you know, all set up for their press and they let us have the ball back there because, you know, you can't fucking score from your own goal mouth, really. Yeah. But as the game went on, Matuweke, I think, grew into it and if he had a problem from early on, then fair play to him because he was maybe the most lively attacking player from an Arsenal perspective. Yeah, I couldn't see it, that's for sure.

36:40I thought he was, you know, a bit of a bright spark for us. Forced a decent near-posed save from our old mate in goal. Yeah, that guy. That guy. It's very disappointing we're going to be seeing more of him. I thought he added something to City, although, you know.

37:00James McNicholas: Not on the ball, but certainly from our set pieces, he was very set pieces he definitely helped them a lot gave them presents didn't he you know he gave them presents he got to a lot of stuff I don't think we got about him on the ball enough like that was a frustration for me because he's not great and he had the odd loose touch but I don't know listen Victor Jokeres has many strengths I'm not convinced that pressing is one. And I think I wanted to see us snapping at his heels a bit more than we were. Yeah. But there you go. There you go. So look, halftime, 1-0 to Man City. And I'm thinking, like, is he going to change anything at the break?

37:55James McNicholas: Did you expect it? No, no. I was chatting with Lewis Ambrose just briefly at the break. and he said, yeah, I don't really see us making a change for another 15, 20 minutes or so. And I was like, yeah, pretty much agree with that. And then TB cut to Eze and Saka on the bench or on the sideline. So I was like, okay, all righty, let's go. I was very pleased to see that as well, you know, because sometimes, you know, a player coming off at halftime can be like a post-mortem on that particular player. Whereas I think this one or these changes, one was enforced obviously with Matueke, but the Eze one was just the most obvious thing that we needed to do.

38:42James McNicholas: When you looked at that first half, what was the problem? There was no real creativity. There was no real spark. There was no craft in our build-up play. It was all steady. It was fine. But we missed something. And the only player or one of the only players on the bench who could come on and bring that was Eze. You know, so I'm glad he did it. I'm glad he did it. You know, I think it is maybe, is it out of his comfort zone to make halftime changes? We don't see it that often. We don't see it that often. Don't see it that often. And, you know, there have been games in the past where I've certainly been of the opinion, watching the games, that, you know, this guy or that guy, I take him off now and put somebody else on, you know.

39:35James McNicholas: And it doesn't tend to happen until about 60 minutes thereabouts. No, I think that's true. And what an incredible position to be in, to have a player of that quality. Well, yeah. To the bench, to bring on. And, you know, a big theme at the start of the season has been the depth and the contributions that players have made from the subs bench. So for all the frustration that might be out there about the starting lineup, you have to kind of doff your cap to the recruitment again in terms of the, you know, the variety and the options it has brought us. So, look, I mean, immediately we were better.

40:14James McNicholas: Immediately, I think we were better. I remember Eza having a shot, which was saved by Donnarumma. It just sort of broke to him on the edge of the box, and he cracked a shot, Donnarumma saved. Saka, you know, gives you something on that right-hand side, gave City something to think about a little bit, wasn't it? You know, by virtue of his presence. And it was interesting because last week we were talking about how are Maduweke and Saka different? And this game kind of gave you a flavor of that. It did. There was maybe a question about that a bit later. There was a moment, wasn't there, when Holland had a chance and he didn't really get a shot off very well.

41:01And as a chase back to defend and cleared the ball off Declan Rice

41:07James McNicholas: and over the bar. Yes. I think nine times out of 10, that hits Declan Rice and ends up in the back of the net. Yeah. Have you seen a replay of that? I didn't tell what had gone on because I was at the other end and I saw Haaland go through and, of course, feared the worst. And I couldn't figure it out because it was obviously, you know, I couldn't tell if he'd got a rebound or a shot, you know, gone over or something. And yeah, I had to actually go online to find out what happened there. But that was a close, that's me bragging, by the way, that I managed to get online inside the stadium. But yeah, that was a real close call.

41:53James McNicholas: It really was. But, you know, we were causing them problems, but there were moments at the other end. I think Trossard had a shot. There was another, Matueke had a shot. That was the end of the first half, obviously. Yeah, so he did that. There was a moment when Trussard maybe had a shot and then in the next action just played the ball straight across the six-yard box. And I think it deflected off a City player and there was nobody there. Just kind of evaded everybody. Evaded everyone. But, you know, it was a case that we, you know, we were on top and we played the game, most of the game, in their half.

42:33James McNicholas: City went to a back five. We brought on Martinelli for Timber, as you say. We brought on Weneri for, he came on for Trossard, I think. So he got more or less as much attacking talent onto the pitch as he possibly could for the last 10, 15 minutes of the game. Again, maybe you could do it a bit sooner, but you run the risk of being completely imbalanced with quite a lot of the game to play, I guess. You know, when you've taken a right back off and everything else. But what about the goal? What about it? I mean, a special goal. Listen, Gabriel Martinelli has had some critics in the last few weeks.

43:23James McNicholas: Over this summer, I think it's fair to say. He has come in for criticism, which I think we talked about last week or the week before, both him and Trossard, which was probably a little over the top. and I'm delighted for him that this week he has, you know, gone some way to silencing some of the doubters and has done it in a way that maybe people wouldn't have expected because I think where people get critical of Martinelli are things like his touch, his first touch, you know, does he really make the most of opportunities that he gets given? The goal against Bilbao, like the first touch is okay.

44:02James McNicholas: The second touch is absolutely sensational to put him through on goal. The finish, who cares? It's in the back of the net. For this goal, the run is brilliant. The pass from Eze is absolutely superb as well to spot it. But the first touch for this goal is just impeccable. Could not be any better. Could not be any better. just gets it away from him to the point where he can then dink it over the goalkeeper. And that's not an easy thing to do at the pace he's running at, by the way. You know, he's basically at top speed trying to hold off a defender, take a first touch from a ball that's dropping from the sky, and then dink it over the goalkeeper, like a gigantic goalkeeper, by the way.

44:50James McNicholas: Not just a regular David Raya-sized goalkeeper, an enormous goalkeeper. And I think it's a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant goal. And I'm very, very happy for him because ultimately, if all of our players are producing, we have a better chance of doing what we want to do this season. And I think he needs a lot of credit. Came off the bench in midweek. Could potentially have started this game, as you said. You weren't mad for the Trossard selection. If it wasn't going to be Eze, it could easily have been Martinelli from the start. you know when he came on I was a bit like is this the game that Martinelli could blow open because where you want him is running into space and there isn't any space because City are playing with a back five basically so I think massive credit to him for that goal it's a brilliant brilliant touch and a brilliant finish and can I just like make the point there is space if you change how you build up Like if you are prepared to play in a more direct fashion, as Ezzer does in this case, literally taking the ball off, I think it might be Califuri or one of the centre-halves, almost in the number six position and then immediately looking over the top for the running behind, then there is space.

46:11And then a player like Martinelli or maybe Victor Jokerez can really profit. it but if you are going to build up in a way which is a bit more painstaking you know like you said that triangle of raya saliba gabriel attempting to draw the press then by the time you get into the final third you're going to have a gabbro martinelli receiving the ball in a position where he might be doubled up upon certainly he's probably going to be in a crowded environment He's going to have to beat a man with his dribbling 1v1, which has not been a strong suit of his game recently. But I think what Bilbao and what today show is that if you mix it up and you add that variety to your game and you are prepared to be a bit more direct, then he can be a threat.

47:07Running in behind, he is still one of the best we have. He's very quick. People do not realise how quick Gabriel Martinelli is. And his numbers on the training ground back that up. He is very, very quick. And his timing is good.

47:28But you've got to look for him. Yeah. And I'm not trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes and say, he's been brilliant for the last 12 months. You know what I mean? I totally see all the issues that he's had. And if they'd been a really good offer in the summer, I would have been very tempted to take it. But I just think there is a player there. You know, we just need to be realistic about what he is and what he isn't.

47:56James McNicholas: I agree. I agree. And I do wonder if this week has told us maybe something about where, where you get more out of Gabrielle Martinelli. and when maybe yeah maybe so i mean that that might be the trouble for him is he is he falling into the trossard trap of proving himself to be an outstanding super sub you know potentially but maybe maybe there's something to be said for like okay we've got an efl cup game on wednesday right do you start gabriel martinelli up front the real reason Marino came off is he's being rested but genuinely like is it not worth that little bit of an experiment albeit against a team who are you know a few divisions down is it not worth that experiment if you've got that that kind of direct running low touch centre forward in Jocharez is it not worth giving it a crack with Martinelli because ultimately the two goals that he has scored this week have been him running right down the fucking center of the pitch or making a run right down the center of the pitch.

49:17That's fair. Yeah. You know, you could call them, you know, you could call them Yuccares goals. I reckon if you went back and watched his sporting goals, you'd probably find one or two in there, similar.

49:28James McNicholas: Yeah. So, yeah, I would be very open to that. but yeah I mean massive credit to both players because it you know technically what they accomplished in that goal is extremely difficult I mean you can question Donnarumma's decision to come and you know he ultimately is made to look silly by the finish but I really do think what you've got there is a six foot six goalkeeper saying if you're going to beat me you're going to have to produce something extraordinary yeah and Martinelli does yeah absolutely Absolutely. Like watching it on TV, there was, I sort of knew it was going in, but it went in so slowly.

50:10James McNicholas: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was kind of thinking, is someone going to get back to it? Yeah, exactly. I was like, but it was just too beautifully done. It reminded me actually a little bit of very different finish, but Kevin De Bruyne of City lobbying Aaron Ramsdale. Do you remember when Takira Tomiyasu was dispossessed? Oh yes. Beautifully clipped it over him and just, you know, It's lovely to see an opposition goalkeeper looking quite that stranded. So, yeah, fantastic goal. And listen, he's proving... I think proving people wrong is maybe even too strong because I think a lot of the discussion about Martinelli has merit.

50:54And, you know, I don't think he's been at his best and I don't think we've been doing the best to get the best out of him. But he's showing he still has a massive role to play and value in this squad. And I'm not sure everyone necessarily believed that across the course of the summer.

51:13James McNicholas: Well, you know, when you produce things like that, isn't it funny how like the minute the goal went in, the game completely changed? The dynamic of the game completely. Just City were like, hey, we can play football too. You know? Yeah, this is what I mean. I really do think they, you know, and I suppose this shows that I'm consistent in my sort of wanting teams to be ambitious, maybe. But yeah, I feel like they did go too much into their shell. Pep was talking on TV afterwards. Why is it, by the way, by the way, you probably won't have seen this, but you will have seen it at other games. Why is it every time the camera turns to Pep Guardiola, it looks like he's spitting something out of his mouth?

52:05James McNicholas: What is that? He was at it again today. He's like, you know, it's just really, really weird. Anyway, he was complaining about or saying that the team were tired because they had a Champions League game on Thursday, which I guess is fair enough. But they played against 10 men for most of that game. So it wasn't the most exhausting game they were going to play. But the comment that I wanted to make was that in that second half, Man City played like we did last season at their place, but we had 10 men. Yeah. Now, I don't know what to read into that, to be honest. Maybe it was just Pep saying, we can defend.

52:48James McNicholas: Arsenal aren't good enough to break us down. I have confidence in my defenders, et cetera, et cetera. or was it Guardiola saying, well, actually, I'm slightly afraid of this Arsenal team. You know, look who they brought off the bench. They brought off or brought on Eze. They brought on Saka. They brought on Martinelli. You know, I don't know. I don't quite know what to read into it, but I do feel like if Arsenal had played that way, there would be quite a lot of discussion about it. Maybe winning a load of trophies gives you some grace in that sense though, you know? I think it does. I've said it many times.

53:28I think when you win, the narrative changes. But yes, a lot of people have messaged me saying they didn't understand sort of City getting a sort of free pass from TV coverage for the way they set up and played after getting that lead. I mean, you know, parallels were drawn with the criticism of us. not last season, but the season before when we drew at the Etihad, I suppose, obviously the difference this time was they had a lead to protect. Yeah. But I was still surprised by the degree to which they did that. I mean, listen, they nearly executed perfectly. If Haaland puts that second one away and, you know, there's probably no way back.

54:17No. Yeah. They're a curious team to get a handle on. And they still have great players. You know, there's no doubt that Donnarumma, Rodri, Haaland, it's some spine. And, you know, around that there's flair and ability.

54:40But yeah, they just seem to have lost half a step. And it would have been really big for them to win today. And it would have been, as you say, massive for us to lose. I think it would have made the conversations pretty dark. And I think we've got a really hard game in the league next week. I know Newcastle are another team who maybe aren't quite where they were, certainly towards the end of the last season. But that's a really hard game. And going there off the back of a defeat, yeah, I didn't like the sound of that.

55:17James McNicholas: No, me neither. But look, can we round off part one with at least, you know, God, I want to say like a semi-positive. No, because listen, a draw. You know, I think the one thing maybe we haven't said about today is that the team really kept going and showed character. And look, it's one of those things that's intangible. You know, if you don't get the goal, you don't have any character. If you score a goal, you've got bags of character and mental strength and all that kind of stuff. But, you know, I think players know, right? Players know the game they're in. I think probably the Arsenal players knew this was not a game that we were likely to win, given the situation we found ourselves in, and that even getting one goal against a team like City, playing the way they were, was going to be really, really tough.

56:22James McNicholas: Really tough. So to dig in, to find the quality that we did in the final minutes, to find the pass, to get the goal, I think they do deserve a lot of credit for that. Whatever concerns we might have about the team selection, You know, the players who played in that game, whether they played 90 minutes plus or 45 minutes or whatever it was, or 11, 12, 15 minutes, whatever Gabrielle Martinelli got, you know, they all gave it their all. It was fascinating, actually, to watch Martinelli on Sky afterwards. Maybe they got him like just the second after the players came off the pitch. I'm not 100 % sure what the process is for those post-game interviews.

57:07James McNicholas: I do think they happen pretty quickly. But I was watching the interview and he was like, it sounded like he'd played 90 minutes plus extra time, you know? And that's how much effort they put in to get something from this game. And I think they deserve the props for that, you know? Losing would have been not unthinkable, but I think it would have been really, really damaging. I think the players knew that too. And they dug deep to get something. and that's worth highlighting. Yeah, and listen, it's not a bad result, you know? Like, it's a game you want to win because it's a home game and, you know, you're aiming for the title.

57:51But when you rescue a point from the precipice of none, you've got to be happy with that. And maybe, you know, those moments can be really galvanising and positive. I mean, Liverpool have shown, haven't they, this season, that they've really got that knack of the late goal. So us kind of flexing that muscle and demonstrating a capacity to do the same thing could be really valuable. And I think maybe we'll only know its value in time. Next time we're in that position where we are chasing, we're looking, pressing for an equaliser or a winner, whatever it might be, the belief that this moment will instil in us could be really important.

58:36So, and I think tactically there are big lessons as well. And we've spoken about that already, but I think that there's a lot that Mikel Arteta and his staff will take from this game. So yeah, thank goodness that we got that goal.

58:53James McNicholas: Yeah, 100%. Okay, let's take a little break here. We will come back with your questions and more in part two right after this.

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1:00:53James McNicholas: Welcome back to the Ask Cast Extra. This is part two of the show where we answer the questions that you've sent 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. What about this for a good question to start, James? Comes from Dick Byrne. He says, so what... This is just a good Irish name. Stop it. Okay. He said, so what house did the couple choose? yeah i don't know i'll have to uh catch up with the highlights i guess um match of the property move to the country what's it called uh yeah i don't know it was very funny actually because like um when the screen eventually changed you know from um a property program to the game at hand i was in the concourse and there was a sort of you know like little cheer like that and i sort of quietly said oh i was watching that and about two strangers within earshot laughed and that was honestly the best moment of my day you know like when you make a stranger laugh in a non you know theatrical or you know stage setting sure nothing better sure i'm still You're buzzing off that.

1:02:18All right.

1:02:18James McNicholas: Okay. Well, look, no wonder you're in such good form. Yeah. Thanks, those guys. Whoever. Whoever you were. Whoever you were. You made my day. Whoever you were. Maybe they're listening. You never know. Yeah, that's true. They probably are. Yeah. I mean, maybe it was just sort of pity. Who knows? So go on. Hit me with a question. Okay. Here's a question. I know we sort of talked about this, but Thorvald on the Discord says, was this the end of the Rice, Marino and Zubimendi midfield? Well, Andrew, please tell the listeners what you said to me just before we started recording part two. I was sitting here.

1:02:55James McNicholas: I was waiting for you to come back. Yeah. And I was going, oh, yeah, Port Vale. And then, oh, Newcastle away. I was like, ah. Feels kind of like a Rice-Zubamendi. Rice-Zubamendi-Marino midfield against Newcastle away would not surprise me one bit. Like I hope, I hope obviously that it's Martin Odegaard in there so we don't have to have any kind of discussion about it. But if it's not, it wouldn't surprise me at all away from home against a team like Newcastle. I don't know. What do you think? I think Port Vale seemed like a physical opponent. We need Bryce, Marino and Zimmerman D on Wednesday night as well.

1:03:46No, I think, yeah, Newcastle, as soon as you said it, I thought of Bruno and Jalinton and thought, oh Christ, yeah, it'd probably be the same. But as we said in part one, it is easier to get your head around in an away game, I think. Particularly that away game. But also, also,

1:04:11James McNicholas: like, do you remember a couple of years ago when we went to Newcastle? I think we won 2-0. And Mikel Arteta was asked about, you know, the sort of physical intensity of Newcastle, the way they play, the way they sort of sucker you in and then get you with an elbow to the back of the head, you know, some kind of wrestling move like Joe Linton, a suplex or something like that, right? All the things that they're allowed to do that nobody else is allowed to do. And he said, you know what? Sometimes you just have to accept that you cannot match them, you know, beat for beat or physically, right? So you've got to do things a little bit differently.

1:04:56James McNicholas: And he played Jorginho in that game. Jorginho, yeah, we won 2-0. We won 2-0, right? So, you know, this is still something that is within his wheelhouse, you know, or should be anyway, going to Newcastle. So I don't know. Yeah, it's interesting that. Because I did find myself thinking of City, like, you know, There's a lot of talk of like they've gone very physical, like Arsenal, you know, Donnarumma, Haaland, Rodri, the centre-halves. They're all big units, but they also pack a lot of technical ability into that team. I was struck by the contrast in the midfield threes, you know, City having Bernardo and Rinders in there.

1:05:47with Foden coming off the flank too. Yeah. There's a balance to be struck for sure. And I'll be very intrigued to see. Hopefully Odegaard's back. And that I do think just kind of takes that issue out of the equation a little bit. But we shall see. Yeah.

1:06:06James McNicholas: I hope for home games, unless we're absolutely, you know, unable to field any midfield that's different, that he does recognize that there are, I don't know, more exciting, more effective. I don't know if that's the right way of putting it. I mean, he, you know, when he thinks about his players and he thinks about his team, he picked a team today that he thought obviously could win the game. Oh, yeah, he likes winning. You know, it's not a case that... Definitely the aim. Do you think he hates losing more than he likes winning, particularly against Pep Guardiola?

1:06:56Good question. I think maybe yes. I think he hates losing to Pep.

1:07:05James McNicholas: I really do. And I think he's had some chastening experiences against Man City. So anyway, I'm not excusing it or anything like that, but, you know, I do try just to try and understand the mindset. Yes, of course. Anytime.

1:07:27We are made up of those who love to win and those who hate to lose. There is a dominance in all of us. those that hate to lose are more defenders those that love to win tend to be creative that's a great quote he's talking about players and like their ultimate position on the pitch

1:07:52um yes those who hate to lose are more defenders those that love to win tend to be creative on that, through that prism.

1:08:03James McNicholas: It's sort of relevant to your job though, isn't it? As a defender, it's about right. You know, you're like, you're basically football Gandalf. You know, you shall not pass. Exactly. And then you need some fucking hobbits up the other end to score some goals. Whereas as a striker, you're sort of, I'm going to leave the, I'm going to set the Lord of the Rings thing to one side. Thanks. But you're sort of playing. I don't know if there's more ego in it, but you're playing for those moments, aren't you? You really are.

1:08:43Well, here's a question that I feel like is relevant. I just thought was really interesting. A nice observation. Shatner's Bassoon on the Discord. Evening, lads. I personally don't buy the idea that Arteta sets his teams up in a cautious or negative way. However, I do think that managers, especially when they've been in charge for a long time, sometimes make decisions to prove they are right as much as to win games. And he says, I'm sure this is unconscious. I think we've seen it with Wenger and Pep more recently. Does the midfield selection today suggest Mikel is falling into that pattern too?

1:09:25James McNicholas: But what is he right about that a midfield like today's is good enough to win a game against Man City? I don't know that he necessarily thinks that way. No, I don't think. I mean, as I say, his answer in the press conference sort of, you know, I don't want to put too much stock in that. But that kind of suggests that there may be an element of that. But I don't think he's kind of entrenched in this. You know, this isn't even his first choice midfield, you know? Like with everything at his disposal, you know, I don't think he's picking Martin Odegaard, isn't he? So I don't think this has gone on long enough for us to be able to say he's fighting a crusade on this.

1:10:22you know? I agree. He's going to die on this hill. But I do think there's certainly something to that observation that managers, they do sometimes, without knowing it, it seems, pick some odd hills to die on.

1:10:43James McNicholas: It's about adaptability and variability, variance maybe, or how open you are to doing things in a different way. Well, I think as well, the job requires a certain amount of ego, but there's also, you have to be self-aware enough to say, you know what, guys, players, staff, I was wrong. And that's difficult. It's difficult for any human being, but it's very difficult in a position where you're being paid millions of pounds to be right and you have to retain everyone's respect. Yeah, I mean, I think the sort of difficult aspect of that is if he turns around and says, I got that wrong today, he's essentially, you know, saying about Mikel Moreno, he can't do this.

1:11:32You know what I mean? So he has to protect his players.

1:11:35James McNicholas: So I think, you know, trying to get to the bottom of his decision making, what a manager says publicly, you know, isn't always the best bellwether of what they're actually thinking. As you said in part one, maybe the halftime change or halftime changes were the evidence we need that he said, okay, that didn't work. That wasn't good enough. We need something different. Let's do it. And we've got the ability to do that now with these players on the bench. Yeah. Okay. We had some questions about Big Vic. Every week. Every week. Mike Queen Gooner on Blue Sky at sofire.bsky.social says, I know it's early and maybe it's because I'm annoyed with the draw.

1:12:27James McNicholas: But do we need to talk about Victor? He had some really bad touches in the box in front of us. I know you can't compare him to Holland, but the difference in quality was stark. And we had one on the Discord as well. Let me have a look. Boston folks say Saka. he said gentlemen Yacharez not getting himself in good positions or not getting good service discuss

1:12:57this feels like a trap feels like I might have an opinion pick right or else yeah so first thing I'd say is these are hard games for strikers like we are judging Jocheres at this early stage, you know, partly on games against Liverpool, Old Trafford, against Man City. We have seen games between Arsenal and Man City in the last two or three years in which Erling Haaland has not had a kick, you know? So these are highly tactical, strategic affairs, relatively few chances, relatively little space. And so I think that's really important context to consider when analyzing, certainly as performance today.

1:13:56So now I've made that good point. I'll knock the ball back over the net to you. Okay.

1:14:07James McNicholas: All right. So you're leaving me with the good positions or not getting good service. Yeah, I guess so. Right. Here's what I think. It's probably both. I think he is a very willing runner. Is that fair to say? like there's no lack of effort on his trying his best I think was Mikel Arteta's I thought absolutely damning quote in his post-match press conference that's like what they would say about me if I played he's trying his best his mind was elsewhere he was thinking about this couple who were buying a cottage in Somerset I've not seen the video I just saw a tweet that said that I'll read you the full quote Go on.

1:14:56Mikhail Teta, on your performance, there were, well, there were a lot of very good balls in the box, especially I remember three of them that he was very, very close to doing against City. I imagine he means to getting on the end of. To have very big open chances is extremely difficult. I agree with you, Mikhail. But he's certainly trying his best and trying to do that, and we have to provide more for him. That's it. There were a lot of situations where the chances were there and then the final pass was missing today. in many moments it was very very open so that's interesting that seems like a bit of a contradiction

1:15:27James McNicholas: in some respects yeah i mean it wasn't at all open i don't think um and and that that quote you read out with more context does not sound like ah he's trying his best poor lad poor fella he's i'm sure someone has clipped that up or you know extracted that particular quote quite deliberately i certainly worked on me i think we we we're still getting used to him a bit i don't think he got any service really today there were a couple of moments maybe where i felt like he could have done a little bit more there was a pass in the first half where i think it was michael marino actually played him in on the right corner of their box.

1:16:16James McNicholas: And he ended up sort of going backwards. And again, again, this was a really horrible moment for me because Gary Neville spoke out loud what I was thinking. Honestly. It's the worst. It's the worst. Like I, as people will know, I've performed live comedy and there was one reviewer who like, I hated their reviews, you know, Like I, like I think they gave me a bad review one time. So I just sort of irrationally hated them. Yeah. And then I remember a little while later I went to see a show and I was like, yeah, it's not great show that. And I read their review of the show and I agreed with every word.

1:16:59And it was a hard sickening, horrible feeling. I was like, my nemesis and I are aligned. There's nothing worse than that.

1:17:07James McNicholas: What's that, you know, the, the meme, the worst person in the world, you know has made a really good point. You know that one. Yeah. It's just like, okay, anyway, the point. Anyway, so he said. He said something about like, I think I would have liked to have seen Yacarez. Just try something there. Just sort of take the defender on a little bit or whatever it was. And I was like, yeah, yeah, that's kind of what I would have liked as well. Just try it. You're a striker. You're not going to get the ball in the box that often. So when it does come to you, you know, maybe I was being harsh in the moment because I needed us to score a goal because we were, I think we were behind at that point.

1:17:48James McNicholas: I was like, maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but I did feel like in that moment, he could potentially have done something a little bit more. There was the other one that stood out to me was when Jurian Timber, again, it was the first half. It was the first half. Got down the right. It might have been late-ish in the first half, you know, when we were actually beginning to play a little bit. He put in this really, really good first-time cross from the right-hand side and it sort of whizzed through the, what do they call it? The corridor of uncertainty. And Jokeres was there, but sort of not there, not on his heels, not gambling that that ball was going to come in.

1:18:37James McNicholas: So I do think there is an issue. He didn't get a lot of service. It is a very tough game. He's playing against good defenders. Gavardial and Ruben Diaz are both very, very good central defenders as well. So we have to take that into account. But I think it is just a little bit of both. But on a day like today, when it is as difficult as it is against a team like that, I wouldn't be overly critical of Jokeres. He's not a guy who's going to make something happen out of nothing himself. he's the kind of guy who needs some kind of service right which is why that moment i just talked about there was a little bit frustrating because it was a little bit of service not like a a great chance but it was something that i think he could do a little bit better with if he was that uninvolved or didn't get on the end of things or didn't get if he didn't get service against teams that we're supposed to beat then i'd be a bit more worried i here are my two yukres thoughts okay that i'm gonna share publicly on a podcast that you do every week yeah well one is more a question actually but the fact i'm asking the question is kind of loaded and people will know what i think do you think when he is fit kai havers will get back into this team.

1:19:58James McNicholas: Yeah, I think if Kai Havertz is fit, he starts this game. That's what I think. I do too. Based on what I've seen so far, I don't think Kai's too worried right now. That's my view. I think he'll get back in, maybe especially for these big, big games. That's what I also think. But I also don't think that's a bad thing. No. You know, it's not a bad thing at all. I'm not a criticism of Jokeres. And my other Jokeres thought, which again, it's not really a criticism of Jokeres, but like all summer, and you know, whether this was just the reporting or whether this was the reality, it was like Jokeres Sesco, Jokeres Sesco, Jokeres Sesco.

1:20:48And on that basis, right, there's no contest currently. Like, Sesko, bless him, looks miles off it.

1:20:59James McNicholas: He's trying his best. He's trying his best. He took the 50th penalty in a shootout from Manchester United against Grimsby Town. Like, you know, I mean, on the basis of that being the bait, in terms of this season, Arsenal absolutely got it right. the one that like I keep coming back to and being like I'm sort of like was was was like a TK in that conversation like in terms of like a style and a fit I'm sort of watching him at Liverpool and I'm thinking like if the question was Sesco against Jokeres were we asking the right question? I don't know you're the you're the transfer guy I'm the reporter yeah I've got to say like I don't know anything about Arsenal ever being seriously in for Ekotiko and I'm not I mean maybe it's just he's in a good run of form and he's actually going to get the place and we'll never hear from him again I don't know but like watching him again the other night the other day was it scored for Liverpool again didn't it I just sort of thought like he feels like more of a fit in some ways but listen Jokreza's got three goals for all this I think he's the second top goal scorer in the league what is he let's have a look yeah he's joint second premierleague.com stats granted Harland's got double but he's got double of everyone he's got double of everyone he's on flames but yeah there's a few on three Eketike, Semenyo, Richarlison, Isidore.

1:22:50James McNicholas: Jadon Anthony of Burnley. Jadon Anthony. I forgot Jadon Anthony. Yeah. And Jokeres. So, you know, it's not like he's not produced. Esteemed company. This is esteemed company. And he will score goals. Like, he is going to get goals. Mm. But, yeah. Yeah. Don't know. Just a thought I've been having. Listen. There's no thought police here. You're allowed to think whatever you want. What about this question? I'm sure people won't come back to me about it if I turn out to be wrong. What about this one? We touched on it a little bit earlier. Simon, who's at hansravens.bsky.social, Yuckerez to smash Port Vale this week or rest him?

1:23:35James McNicholas: Rest him, please. I understand a couple of people asked this, and there was sort of this idea of like, well, if he scores 17 against Port Vale, You know what I mean? Like, he'll carry that form back into the Premier League. But he's playing a lot of minutes. And you can see Arteta's been protecting him, right? He took him off after, you know, an hour, 70 minutes in each of the last two games. With this City game in mind, there's a big burden on him. I would definitely, definitely, definitely rest him. What about you? I would rest him too, yeah. There's a big game against Newcastle. I think we need to see, you know, on Wednesday, Kepa, Mosquera, and Capier if he's fit.

1:24:19James McNicholas: Ben White get back in the team. Christian Norgard, Myles Lewis-Gelly, Ethan Warneri. I think Gabriel Martinelli should be starting. I think Max Dowman might start a game, which would be very interesting. I think Trossard could start. So, you know, there's ways that Mikel Arteta needs to shuffle his pack. We've got a very difficult game against Newcastle coming up at the weekend. So rest as much as possible. I wonder if you, because Max wasn't involved today, obviously, and played for the 21s yesterday, scored a brilliant goal as well. His under-21 debut, I think, because first season he's eligible to play for them, becomes the youngest under-21 goal scorer for Arsenal as well.

1:25:04But I do wonder if, yeah, maybe that decision was made of like, look go and get yourself an hour yeah some minutes you might yeah you might well be in with a chance

1:25:15James McNicholas: to play on wednesday yeah what about this question here's a question it comes from master johnbury he says it's a slightly morbid question okay but tim lewis stepping down yes or being replaced i I don't know what the right terminology is exactly. Hello, Tim. It got me thinking about Arsenal's succession planning at its highest levels. This is the morbid part of the question. He said, Stan Kroenke is 78 years old and won't be around forever. What will happen to the club when he inevitably passes on? Will UK estate tax law require him to sell the club rather than pass it to Josh? I know you're not a tax or estate lawyer.

1:25:59James McNicholas: You don't deal with probate or anything like that. Certainly not. So let's circle it back around to Tim Lewis stepping down and the changes being made at board level and your sort of broad thoughts on what's happened. I find it interesting because I'm sort of super engaged, I guess, right? I find the kind of like politics around the club fascinating. but your average fan i don't know how much what sort of traffic did it do on ask blog news andrew as compared to like us being spuriously linked with like a 17 year old romanian or something or a shirt number post they're always they're always the ones that get the most numbers like a player has has changed shirt i don't know i'd have to i'll look it up while you're talking Okay.

1:26:53Yeah, I think it's surprising to many because Tim Lewis has been a really integral figure at Arsenal right up until the moment he left the club. Like, he was heavily involved in the summer transfer window. So he's worked very closely with Mikar Teta, with Andrea Berta. He was a key part of the recruitment process for Andrea Berta. Big ally to those guys, big advocate for them, support for them. He's worked with Stan Kroenke for two decades, advising him on his purchase of Arsenal. So I think it would be fair to describe it as a bit of a shock to many. You know, he was the executive vice chair and a lot of people perceived him as the guy who ran the club.

1:27:52He was kind of the Kroenke's proxy in some respects. And so, yeah, I think it's a big surprise. I think I welcome the boardroom changes. I think that's a good development and an exciting development. I think, you know, there could, you know, I'm a little bit surprised there's not a role for Tim on that board. You know, who knows really what has gone on there. But I think, you know, Arsenal for a long time now have had a board which has been, I'm trying to think of a polite way to say it. Well, at the older age of the spectrum, I mean, Tim was certainly one of the younger board members at 62, right?

1:28:43You've got Josh, but Stan is in his 70s. You've got... Lord Harris. Lord Harris. I was thinking, who's the carpet man? Lord Harris? Come on down to Lord Harris's carpet emporium. And listen, Stan and Lord Harris are across everything and they've certainly been a positive influence. But, you know, this is a club that is moving into a new era, a new business landscape, a new financial landscape, a new media landscape. And I think it's good to have some fresh blood in the boardroom. People who are well-versed in facing those sorts of challenges. And by the way, to have a woman back on the board, I think is really important.

1:29:34And so I'm really curious to see how it plays out. As for why Tim is no longer there, I can only assume that Arsenal wanted to make this change, the owners wanted to make this change and felt it was the right time to refresh the boardroom. and maybe they see his time at the club as kind of his chapter at the club as being closed. Maybe they think a job well done, but, you know, we're moving on. Because there's no doubt that Tim did a lot of good during his time at Arsenal. And, you know, he came onto the board in the midst of the pandemic and helped steer the club through a very difficult and precarious time.

1:30:22You know, was involved in... The kind of redundancy process and financial review, the removal of Raul Sanyei. Stadium. Refinancing, yeah, the stadium debt, which I don't think you can underestimate the impact that's had on Arsenal's capacity to spend money and not have to hold cash reserves. and you know the club as a business and as a football team have become more competitive and performed better during those five years so I think he deserves his flowers and he deserves credit but equally I think it's I think it's exciting to see some change and I think that this does feel to me like you know while Stan is still very much involved I do feel like this board feels a little bit reshaped maybe around Josh Cronky yeah I think that I think

1:31:32James McNicholas: that's probably right. Josh phoned Stan and said, he's trying his best. Well, listen. No, no, no. I'm kidding. Tim's a very, you know, trusted age. Of course. I know that. I know that. I just couldn't resist the gag. Couldn't resist. I know, I know. I'm sure it would have been a difficult decision to make these changes. But, you know, whether they were of Tim's own volition or not. But I think as the question poses, the reality is that Stan is 78 years old. He's doing less international travel. As informed and authoritative and across things as he may continue to be, the future owner of Arsenal is Josh Cronk.

1:32:26James McNicholas: Is this where I drop in the succession theme tune now? Is that it? I mean, I do think there's something quite interesting about the profile of some of the people that are involved in the new board, the new shakeup. You know, there's a guy who's very, very big on property development and real estate. And there are continued rumors about Arsenal and a stadium expansion. He was very involved in SoFi as well, to what I understand, the building. Yeah. So that's interesting. Yeah, the Arsenal statement said, you know, the group will bring diverse experience and knowledge from finance, sport, retail, property development, media, and entertainment to support the club going forward.

1:33:10James McNicholas: And there's a sort of non-executive appointment as well, Ben Winston, who is a TV film producer. And I think that one is really interesting because I wonder what clubs are thinking about how the media landscape is going to shift over the next five, 10 years, right? Where now it's you need a Sky subscription or a TNT sports subscription or whatever. And I think we've already seen, you know, people like Amazon dip their toes into the Premier League rights market. And I wonder if in, you know, years down the line, a few years down the line, the whole media landscape will be changed and shifted and there might be a bit more onus on clubs themselves to produce not the coverage, but the content around games and things like that.

1:34:02James McNicholas: So bringing somebody like Ben Winston on board, who's got all that experience of production and who understands the industry and the broadcasting TV industry, that kind of stuff. I thought that was the one that sort of stood out to me a little bit more. Yeah, me too. I mean, I guess we're quite media-minded, aren't we? I mean, I know of Ben Winston as well. I know of Falwell, his production company. He is actually a legitimate match-going Arsenal fan. Yeah, a long-time season ticket holder. So this is not, yeah, he's not some just random dude. No, so that's always good. You know, we want that representation on the board.

1:34:38I don't know how familiar, you know, some of the kind of KSE team are with the club and its culture. But, yeah, I mean, look, I think that one's fascinating. I totally agree. Arsenal have got, what, nearly 5 million YouTube subscribers to sort of put, you know, give you some sense of the reach of the club. I mean, I do think you look at the success of sort of the all or nothing thing that Arsenal did and so much of sport now is about the content creation outside of the game and the match rights too. And how you control that. Yeah, and steer that and own it, right? And Arsenal have massive potential in that respect.

1:35:25as we know, because we are producing our store-related content. Sure. So we know the reach and we know the power of the club. So, yeah, I'm genuinely sort of like intrigued to see the changes this will bring. And obviously it's going to be long-term.

1:35:47James McNicholas: Yeah. I'm not anticipating anything imminent or immediate. Well, I mean, there was a great question in the press conference the other day. I think it was Tom Canton from Football London asked Nicola Teta, you know, in the time you've been here, there have been quite a lot of executive changes. And he rattled through a list of names. At one point, I thought he was never going to stop. There were that many. He's still there. He's still there. To this day, he's doing his best. Yeah. But, you know, there have been quite a lot of boardroom changes and executive changes. So, you know, maybe we'll see more.

1:36:27James McNicholas: Yeah, I guess. And I think, yeah, we welcome our new American overlords, I guess. They're not that new, are they? No. Well, this is it. And it's KSC's club, right? They are the owners. And I feel like some of these moves are about connecting up that KSC, what they call the KSC family. Yeah. Well, look, you know, one of the big criticisms and complaints over the years was that there wasn't visibility. There wasn't presence. You remember Stan Kroenke turning up to an AGM and just sitting there and not saying anything or, you know, whatever he did say was cursory. and I think you have to say that Josh is far more involved and far more present and far more visible.

1:37:20James McNicholas: Is that the Women's Champions League final? I believe he was there again today. Yeah. I think I'm right in saying he's only missed one of Arsenal's Premier League games so far this season. Now, I'm not saying I expect that to continue. Sure. But he has been on the ground. He has been in London, in Europe, a lot in this early period of the season and I think that can only be a good thing. Correct. You know, there will be a point where he's got to, like, look after the Kalamazoo whirly gigs or whatever.

1:38:01James McNicholas: Another beloved part of the KSE family. The KSE family. We're all connected. Unless you have something else, I think we should get this. No, I'm just looking forward to sort of Mikel Arteta, like posing for photos with the head coach of the Kalamazoo Whirly Gigs. Them leading a seminar together. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's all there. It'll be part of the YouTube content that we offer. Yeah, that's true. Ben Winston's eyes light up. Hey, we want associate producer roles on that, Ben Winston. Thank you very much. That's what comes up. We want our 5%. Created by. Yeah, exactly.

1:38:39Exactly. Based on an idea in a podcast. Bye.

1:38:44James McNicholas: All right. Listen, we'll leave it there. We'll get this podcast out to everybody. You can join us a bit later in the week. Obviously, we'll talk about the EFL Cup game in an Arsecast later in the week. Tomorrow, we'll have an episode of The 30. Looking back at all the other Premier League football this weekend, myself and Phil will bring that to you tomorrow afternoon over on Patreon, patreon.com forward slash Arseblog. For now, though, take it easy, folks, and we will catch you on the next one. Bye-bye.

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