Arsecast Extra Episode 660 - 29.09.2025

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0:58Andrew Allen: The game is coming up, more high than Nick Pope. Arsenal, to the end of the game, the final at Newcastle, by the strength of the habit,

1:08James McNicholas: by the strength of the champion. 97th minute, Arsenal 2, Newcastle 1. 2, 2, 2, Newcastle 1. 2 Arsenal

1:25Andrew Allen: 2 Arsenal 2 Arsenal 2 Arsenal 2 Arsenal 1 1 1 1 2 Arsenal 2 Arsenal 2 Arsenal

1:45James McNicholas: 2 2

1:47Andrew Allen: This is Arsecast Extra.

1:50James McNicholas: Hello and welcome to another Arsecast Extra as always with James James from Gunner Block, James, a very fucking fuck magpies forever. Goodly morning to you.

1:59Andrew Allen: Couldn't have said it better myself, Andrew.

2:01James McNicholas: Goodly morning to you as well. And the listeners, of course. And all the listeners, welcome on in to what I think is going to be a fun podcast because it really felt like yesterday was overdue by a significant distance. Not just to win away in one of the big games, But to beat Newcastle and to beat this Newcastle team and to come from behind, to win it late, to break their hearts, their black and white feathers are now covered with their own scat and whatever it is that magpies do on themselves when they're sad.

2:38Andrew Allen: So, yeah, it's always a fixture or has become one of the kind of standout fixtures on the fixture list every year. there's a lot of enmity I think between the sets of players I think between the dugouts as well to be honest with you and it's always super physical as we'll no doubt discuss, it's always super competitive and when it goes your way it is absolutely delicious and in the circumstances this was just a massive moment and a massive weekend for Arsenal, we couldn't really have dreamt of a better weekend in terms of results.

3:20James McNicholas: No, I agree with you. I agree with you. Beyond sort of a meteorite hitting White Hart Lane or something, I think it has been pretty fantastic all around. And listen, there's a lot to get into. So I don't quite know where to start because we need to touch on all the incidents in the game. And I think we do need to touch on what this game means in the wider context, not just this weekend. But I think, you know, after what happened last weekend, the discussion, the sort of heightened level of discussion around Arsenal drawing 1-1 with Manchester City and then following it up with this, I think is quite interesting, you know?

4:01James McNicholas: Absolutely. Yeah. So we'll get into all of that. We'll get into all of that. And we'll enjoy, I think, what was a really big win. And listen, any time you come back from a goal down to win 2-1, like what was it, Mikel Moreno, 85, 86 minutes when he scored and you end up winning the game. There was a little stat. Let me see if I can find it here. It comes from, I did like it or I retweeted it, I think. God, you think I'd have this shit prepared before we do a podcast like this. But anyway, I can't find it. I did retweet it, but I think it was from Harvey Downs of Opta, and it's the latest that Arsenal have ever come back from being behind in a game to go on and win it.

4:47James McNicholas: But I can't seem to find it on my timeline now. But anyway, listen, anytime you win a game like that, it's amazing. You know, Marino, Saka talking afterwards on Sky, there's no better feeling in football than coming back to win a game late. But after you've experienced some really difficult games against Newcastle, last season was not great. the two EFL Cup ties, as well as the league game at St. James' Park. And certainly there's a hangover, if you want to call it that, not just from the Disgracia game when their goal was really contentious, but also that game. Do you remember when we were going for top four for Champions League and we basically ran out of players?

5:29James McNicholas: We went to Newcastle with half a fit team. And, you know, they really, really relished stopping us getting in the top four. I think it was Spurs that finished in the top four that season. And I think it's kind of all grown from that. So when I say it's overdue, it wasn't just about last year. It wasn't just about the season before. This has been something that's brewing, bubbling, festering, whatever way you want to call it, for quite a while.

5:59Andrew Allen: Definitely. Definitely. I mean, you know, we've had some painful nights against Newcastle. And this was a great, great, great day for Arsenal. So, yeah, I don't think we can kind of overplay how big this was. I think it's something that the players needed, that the fans needed, the manager needed. It's a result and an outcome that we were all desperate for. And really does, you know, has changed the kind of complexion of the picture this morning. I think in terms of Arsenal's season and hopes and aspirations and all those things. So, yeah, just delighted. And, you know, I was one of the away fans who went up that night where we were beaten.

6:42Andrew Allen: I think it was 2-0 at St. James'. That was the Champions League gone. I'm sure a good many of those fans were back up at St. James' yesterday. And with all the travel trouble they faced on the way up, I'm so delighted for them. It must have been a hell of a day out and a hell of a night out afterwards.

6:57James McNicholas: Yeah, for sure. For sure. Okay, so look, let's get into it and let's look at the team that Mikel Arteta started. And look, Martin Odegaard was back in the squad, but not fit enough to start the game. So he went with Eberachie Eze in midfield. Leandro Trossard on the left again. He has a decision to make there between Trossard and Martinelli. otherwise I think the starting lineup is pretty much as you would expect beyond of course the inclusion of Christian Mosquera for William Saliba from the start who is still nursing a bit of an ankle injury so a show of faith in Mosquera to start him in a game like this knowing how physical Newcastle are, knowing what's at stake he had a moment in this game which proved costly will come to that.

7:50James McNicholas: But, you know, it's interesting to see Arteta choose him over Saliba. Maybe there was no other choice, really. But, you know, we've pushed Saliba out before when he hasn't been 100%.

8:02Andrew Allen: Yeah, and I think this is another indicator of Mikel Arteta sort of coming to grips with having more options at his disposal and managing a big squad. I mean, was it the Nottingham Forest game for which that was the first of three games in a week and Arsenal rested Declan Rice for that one. He started on the substitutes bench. I think they clearly adopted a similar policy here with Saliba, maybe with that bit of concern over his ankle as well. And I think it would kind of be unfair if the narrative sort of focused on Mosquera's inclusion and that being an issue in any way. I know, obviously, we'll get to the goal we conceded and he played his part in it.

8:43Andrew Allen: But I thought outside of that, he actually acquitted himself pretty well. I don't think this was a 45-minute display to kind of dispel the myth of Mascara or anything like it. No, no. I thought he was a bit unlucky to be withdrawn. I thought it was just a case of Michel Antetar needing to have his strongest team out there on the pitch in that second half.

9:04James McNicholas: No, I agree. I agree. It wasn't a massive mistake. And there were other factors in the goal that they conceded. He wasn't hauled off. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I agree. He's using the verb haul. Yes, I agree. And I should just clarify the goal that we conceded, I mean, when I was talking about that. But we will come to that. I think what's really interesting about this, James, is the sort of all the talk of last week and the way Arsenal played and the handbrake and all that kind of stuff, which, you know, to varying degrees is pretty tiresome, even if there are some elements of it rooted in fact, right?

9:41James McNicholas: I think it was overblown a little bit against Manchester City. It was brought up in the pregame press conference. You know, what we saw then from Arsenal at a ground that's been difficult, at a ground where the fans are noisy and raucous and they do create a big atmosphere, I think because of what's happened over the years, it's gone to, you know, they go above and beyond a little bit when it comes to Arsenal in terms of the atmosphere. You know, they feel that rivalry the same way we feel that rivalry. You know, so it transmits itself from the crowd to the pitch. You know, how do you deal with that?

10:18James McNicholas: How do you cope with that? Like the first 30 seconds, Joe Linton goes in and sides down Bakayo Saka. Of course, him being made a fucking Teflon. He doesn't get a yellow card. What way can Arsenal respond? What can Arsenal do to counter this whole Newcastle narrative, for want of a better word? And I think the key to that is play well. Play well and dominate the game and make chances and cause them problems. And I think what's sort of so fascinating about the first half an hour of this game, or at least up until the point that they scored, the last two visits, maybe three visits, if you include the EFL Cup semifinal, to St.

11:01James McNicholas: James' Park, we've been not good. Not good that night when they scored the Disgracia goal. Really not good last season in the league game. We didn't create anything of note in that game. Not good in the EFL Cup semifinal there where we went and basically Newcastle scored a couple of goals and we just had to play the game out because at that point it was 4-0 on aggregate, I think. So we had to sort of turn our form around as well as counter all that stuff, all the expectation, and all the pressure that comes with playing at Newcastle, we had to really dig in and actually turn up and play football.

11:42James McNicholas: And I think in the first half an hour or so of this game, it's probably the best Arsenal have played this season.

11:49Andrew Allen: Yeah, the first 10 minutes were exceptional. You know, created a few chances. Jokeres had a header at the keeper that might have been offside. Eze had that little touch and volley that produced a great save from Nick Pope. Saka had a cross held at the near post. So there was a lot of threat from us in that opening 10 minutes. You know, we didn't mention necessarily in the starting line-up, but I think it was so important that Eze started in the centre. I thought that gave us so much, particularly in that first 45 minutes, him playing closer to Jokeres. So, yeah, you know, we spoke before, I think it was last week, about when we had won at St James' previously and we kind of went there with Jorginho in the starting 11 and kept the ball on the ground largely and played the better football.

12:41Andrew Allen: And this was another case of that where, you know, we really showed our quality and our confidence, actually, in a hostile environment. So it was a really good start. It then began to swing a little bit because Newcastle sort of got a succession of... And it felt like that was where their threat was always going to come, really. They are big. Yeah. I mean, maybe the only team that's bigger than us, I think. Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

13:10James McNicholas: Particularly with Volta Madden and Dan Byrne on the pitch.

13:14Andrew Allen: And they've added, I believe, a set-piece coach this summer. So it's like a big area of focus for them. And actually, like, you know, they were struggling to get out. Now, Newcastle historically have been like a very good counterattacking team. But I think having lost Isaac, they're not quite the same threat on the break, especially when Julian Timber has Anthony Gordon in his pocket, as he did for that first half entirely. But yes, I mean, I still thought, you know, even though, we'll speak about the goal, no doubt, but even though we went in behind at half time, I still thought it was a really good first half performance.

13:58Andrew Allen: And we were really unfortunate to find ourselves behind at halftime.

14:03James McNicholas: I agree with that. I agree with that. Although I do think after they scored, they kind of suckered us into playing in a way that they wanted us to play. The game got a bit scrappy. We got a bit riled up. You know, you could see that the focus wasn't quite there. And that suited Newcastle down to the ground. But that was only really the last 10, well, 15 minutes. There was a big chunk of added time. obviously at the end of the first half because why was that oh let me let me see um well 14 minutes in arsenal are awarded a penalty yeah and four or five minutes later that penalty decision was rescinded by jared gillett um the ball broke into the box this is i think going to be one of those where I don't know if people feel like it's contentious or not.

14:52I cannot believe

14:55James McNicholas: that that penalty was not upheld genuinely. And I know I've seen the footage. I've seen match of the day. I saw Joe Hart talking about it. I saw the, I didn't really see the pundits on Sky talking about it because I just don't want to hear anything that Les Ferdinand and or Jamie me, Redknapp, have to say about anything. So I didn't see that. But I've seen some other stuff doing the rounds this morning as well, all about how Nick Pope got the ball. So I'll tell you what I think, and then you can tell me what you think, and we can talk maybe about the decision-making process after that. I don't think Nick Pope gets the ball.

15:36James McNicholas: I think Victor Yacarez gets the ball, And in doing so, it brushes faintly off the toe of Nick Pope. Maybe we're splitting hairs. Maybe it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. I don't know. But for me, Jokeres plays the ball, gets there first, plays the ball beyond Nick Pope. The touch-off Pope, I think, is basically, it doesn't matter. For me, it doesn't matter. It's a foul on Yacharez and it should be 100 % a penalty. And for VAR to intervene and for Jared Gillett to then stand there in front of the world, wait for his microphone to come on and then say no foul. Honestly, I don't know how I didn't fucking levitate out of my chair and through the roof in a rage of just frustration and anger that this happened to Arsenal again and at St.

16:38James McNicholas: James' Park against Newcastle. Honestly, I went mad.

16:43Andrew Allen: Yeah, I was chatting to a friend this morning and she said that after the game, she felt like going and apologising to her neighbours for how much she'd sworn during the course of the 90 minutes, particularly, I think, in about the 15th minute we're discussing here. I mean, I'm kind of agnostic on the decision. I don't really know anymore, to be honest with you. Like, I can recall penalties being overturned in similar situations. You know, I was reminded of Aaron Ramsdale at Burnley in his first season with us where he stuck a toe out and got something on the ball, penalty was given, and then VAR overturned it.

17:22Andrew Allen: I don't know. If you're interested, Jamie Redknapp thought nailed on penalty. Les Ferdinand thought it wasn't. Joe Hart went on BBC Match of the Day, surprise, surprise. A goalkeeper thinks it isn't. I think any striker's going to think it is. The fact that nobody seems entirely sure, I suppose, shows you the sort of absurd place that we've got to. Where I do think I definitely concur with you is that, like, it feels like a huge degree of intervention from a video referee.

17:52James McNicholas: Yeah.

17:52Andrew Allen: Like, is it a clear and obvious error?

17:55James McNicholas: Well, I mean, what does that even mean anymore? You know, Bakayosaka said it afterwards, you know, was it clear and obvious? We keep hearing this, but it doesn't seem to mean anything. And do you remember the, I can't remember what game it was, but it was this season when Howard Webb came out afterwards and said, actually, we were wrong. You know, the intervention for overruling a referee's on-field decision should be much higher, right? so what we're seeing is confusion over what is clear and what is obvious because nobody quite understands what that is anymore I happen to think the tiniest deflection off a goalkeeper's toe when the striker has played the ball is not clear and obvious particularly when you have to slow it down and replay it back and forward 100 times in slow motion I don't think that's clear and obvious but what we're seeing are games being sort of micromanaged from the VAR truck or whatever it is, you know, shack, cottage, sin bin, whatever they live in, right?

19:03James McNicholas: And I can't quite get my head around why some incidents like this are being managed in the way that they are. And then other incidents like Jamal Asell's pulling Victor Yacarez down by his face are not being looked at because that seems more clear and obvious to me than and a tiny touch of the ball. You know what I mean? It's.

19:29Andrew Allen: Yeah, I do agree. I mean, and I think if we're going to say that, you'd have to be fair and say, Gabriel spat with Voltemada as well, wasn't really looked at in any detail. Yeah. I think with the penalty, I mean, someone said to me, oh, anywhere else on the pitch, that's a foul. 100%. And that is true, but that isn't how penalties are refereed. Like there is a higher bar and there probably has to be a higher bar because it's a goal. You're giving a goal or a 60 % chance of a goal, right? So I don't know. I do think that like historically with VAR, if a defender has been shown to get a touch on the ball, that is deemed not a foul.

20:20Andrew Allen: but i i mean i yeah i don't know like i say i still i still completely agree that it's like a pretty remarkable intervention and and the clip you sent me from uh the u.s coverage was it yeah

20:34James McNicholas: yeah just so i can explain i i might have the audio here if i have it in good enough quality i'll drop it in uh now if i don't because i can't i've only got some really bad quality audio It is the commentator saying, basically, I'm going to paraphrase here, we're listening to VAR and he's trying to explain this in real detail to Jared Gillett, who is standing at the monitor and looking at this incident over and over again. And he says VAR is basically guiding Jared Gillett towards making a decision to rescind the penalty. I found a good quality audio. Here it is.

21:13Andrew Allen: What's interesting is that we can hear the VAR talking to the referee and he's having to really explain it time and again to Jared Gillett who's still looking at the screen. You can kind of tell that the VAR is trying to guide Jared Gillett towards a position where he says, actually, no, my decision made in the best of faith in the instant is not correct.

21:36James McNicholas: So who's refereeing the game?

21:37Andrew Allen: Well, in that instance, certainly not the guy on the pitch.

21:40James McNicholas: No, exactly. And I don't know. I don't know. It's just another example of how this technology continues to baffle and confuse and frustrate football fans. But I guess it makes for great entertainment for the Premier League. Oh, good TV, I'm sure. I mean, my main feeling was one of sort of disappointment for Victor Jokeres.

22:06Andrew Allen: I think it could have been quite a big moment for him. not just for winning the penalty and showing some good anticipation to get onto that loose ball but I think there's a very good chance he would have taken it as well. I know Bukayo Saka was straight over and picked the ball up but we know that Arsenal quite enjoy the old switcheroo, don't they? Where the guy who picks the ball up and stands over it isn't necessarily the one who ends up taking it. And, you know, had he won and scored that penalty 15 minutes into a game that would have put Arsenal in a very commanding position I think it could have been a big sort of milestone for him in his adaptation.

22:44Andrew Allen: So I think actually he came through the game with considerable credit anyway. I think he did a decent job up there against two and then later three very physical centre-halves. But yeah, I did feel for him a little bit that this was talked off.

23:00James McNicholas: Yeah, I've got questions about Jacarese for later. So we can leave a discussion of him until part two. What I think is worth noting here is that Arsenal's response to that decision was not to sulk or was not to feel sorry for themselves. It was to keep playing. It was to keep playing the way that we had been playing. I think the Trussard shot off the post was a few minutes later, maybe 10 minutes later than that. There was a Calafuri header, I think. Another Eze shot, which Pope made a good save. Saka got into the box and Pope made a save. And then on 34, 35 minutes, we get the Newcastle goal.

23:52James McNicholas: So, listen, Christian Mosquera is trying to keep the ball alive, play it back to David Raya. He miscues it. It goes out for a corner that we did not need to concede. from there I think we have to look at Gabriel a little bit he's obviously turned out to be the hero so it's not a criticism but just analysis of how he manages that situation Newcastle take it short they play it in Valtemada, there's like a small touch Gabriel goes down and Valtemada basically has a free header and he powers it past David Raya personally I think Gabriel needs to be just stronger there just stand up make an attempt even if you're not going to get the ball you can you can put the man off and maybe make the contact on that header less um precise or or secure maybe raya collects that ball easily it's a tame header rather than a header that goes into the bottom corner

24:51Andrew Allen: yeah i agree i don't think that's a foul um it's interesting on the sky commentary they actually suggested it's like a case of Gabriel knowing he's not going to get there and maybe playing for the free kick.

25:04James McNicholas: Yeah, maybe so. Yeah.

25:05Andrew Allen: I mean, I would almost understand that better because he is so powerful and, you know, I think he probably is capable of better in that situation, but maybe he sees the writing on the wall. He sees the quality of the ball. He sees a six foot six centre forward and thinks this might be the most expedient thing to do. unfortunately didn't go our way and yeah Newcastle find themselves in front and it just felt like sod's law really didn't it having having been denied the penalty and having been on top having had such a good spell yeah to find ourselves I mean I mean Trost started hit the post I think was it like five minutes before something like that yeah a little bit yeah and to find ourselves behind and I have to be honest and say I really feared for us at that point in time because Newcastle are on those teams where you just don't want them to get in front you know you don't want the crowd to get behind them as I said earlier as well they they have posed previously real threat on the counter-attack so it's a it's a horrible position to find yourselves in um and yeah I have to be honest and say I really did fear the worst at that point

26:20James McNicholas: Well, yeah, I sort of feared because of how games like this have transpired there in the past. But at the same time, I think I said to you, I don't think we're out of this. I think there's something still in there for us. But obviously, it does change the dynamic. I mentioned the last part of the first half, and it was scrappy, and it was a bit, you know, niggly, etc, etc. The second half wasn't as good from Arsenal as the first half, but I think the obvious thing to point out is that Newcastle had something to hang on to. They had a one-goal lead, so they weren't going to be as expansive. There wasn't going to be as much room.

26:55James McNicholas: They didn't need to score. And while they haven't necessarily been scoring a lot of goals this season, they also haven't been conceding that many either. So their defensive record, I think, is pretty good. Four clean sheets from five, I believe, coming into this. So a bit like Man City last week, they didn't quite go as defensive as that as early as Man City, but you could see that that was what they were going to do. They were going to sit with men behind the ball and they were going to say, right, Arsenal, come and try and break us down and see what you can do. And there were moments again, I think there was a, I remember Eze having a shot, Trossard set him up with a volley he hooked over with his left foot.

27:38James McNicholas: There was the timber chance from close range where I don't know that he can do a great deal more than he does in that circumstance. You know, it's a lovely ball from Zubimendi over the top, a little dinky, scoopy ball that actually worked. Pope made a good save there. So there were things we were doing quite well, but we weren't quite as, how will I put it? I don't think the threat was quite as high in the second half as it was in the first.

28:10Andrew Allen: No, I think it became quite a stodgy game, which is what Newcastle would have wanted. I mean, I did have my heart in my mouth right as soon as the second half started. There was that moment Volta Mata hit the bar. He was ultimately offside. But I think if Newcastle, you know, it was quite sloppy from us in those first few moments of the half. And they timed their run a bit better. it was a real opportunity to do some real damage and that would have been, if not curtains, certainly a very long way back. But yeah, the game began to drift. I mean, it was sort of 69 minutes when obviously Saliba had come on at half time, but when Marino and Martinelli came on and I found myself wondering, is that a bit too late?

28:59Andrew Allen: Could these changes have been 10 minutes earlier?

29:02James McNicholas: What did you think of the changes, by the way? Because it was Saka and Calafuri who went off. Calafuri was on a yellow card. He picked up a yellow card. But Marino and Martinelli on. It's not that I didn't think those players were not capable of producing anything. I just didn't quite understand the strategy or what it meant for us in terms of the shape of the team.

29:23Andrew Allen: No, I mean, I tried to keep track of the formation and who was playing where. And I kind of lost track. I was slightly surprised Odegaard didn't come on sooner, but I guess maybe they just had it in mind that he had kind of 15 minutes in him and no more. And they kept it to that. Obviously, Ethan Ranaire, he wasn't available. He wasn't named on the substitutes bench. Had a couple of questions about that. So maybe we'll speak about that later. but yeah I think it would be I think I'd be lying if I told you that it was absolutely inevitable that we would turn the game around and I had full faith in everything uh that the manager decided during the course of the 90 minutes I think that would be a bit of a rewriting of my kind of

30:11James McNicholas: internal history sure I mean I'm just sort of scrolling through the game a bit to see if I can figure out what sort of formation that we're playing. And it looks like some kind of a back three where Trossard essentially is a kind of a wingback at times, but Rice is over there at times. Maybe it's just like a testament to the versatility of some of the players that we have that we can put these players on and not play in what looks like the sort of prescribed Arsenal formation.

30:45Andrew Allen: yeah I mean you obviously had Raya you had Timber Saliba Gabriel I think at times Rice was dropping in to that back four um as a left back or as a left-sided centre-half with Gabriel outside him once Odegaard came on it looked to me he came on for Zubemendi and I don't know about you but it looked to me like he was playing that position I mean he was often the deepest midfielder with Marino and Eze ahead of him. Yes.

31:11James McNicholas: Yeah.

31:12Andrew Allen: Which was really interesting. We've seen so little of that in Odegaard's time at Arsenal, but I think it was the right call on the day. And then, you know, Martinelli, Jokerez, Trossard, all kind of, you know, in that final third. There was a lot of attacking talent on the pitch. Yeah. And ultimately it paid dividends. Although, actually, our first goal is very, very similar to Newcastle's goal.

31:40James McNicholas: It is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Basically, same side, short corner, cross in from Declan Rice. I think what's worth noting is that corner comes after a really, really great pass from Martin Odegaard to Myles Lewis Skelly. Yeah, who could have done better, really, I thought. Oh, I think he's a bit unlucky. I actually think it's a great piece of defending, isn't it? Am I getting that wrong? I don't know.

32:12Andrew Allen: I think his name's Teal. I don't know how you pronounce it, the guy that built from Milan.

32:15James McNicholas: Malik Chow, I think. Chow, is it? I could be getting my – I think I'm getting my goals mixed up. Oh, that's the second goal. That's the second goal, yeah.

32:25Andrew Allen: Yeah, yeah.

32:26James McNicholas: The first goal, obviously, we have that corner. and I think it comes, let me see if I'm just going to go back here.

32:38James McNicholas: Is it Odegaard who picks the ball up deep? Yeah, there's a free kick actually and then we get it up and get that corner. But yeah, the similarity between the two goals is interesting. It's a great header from Mikel Moreno. That's really not an easy finish at all.

32:56Andrew Allen: No, brilliant. I think it's a brilliant cross and a brilliant header. I mean, he's so good in those situations, his timing, his execution. For a DM, you know. Yeah, I mean, I was in my video after the game, I think I referenced people like Tim Cahill or Gus Poirier. Like there is a rich vintage of central midfielders who could head the ball well. you know people say Fellaini and I think that's I don't think Fellaini was anything special in the air I think he was just an exceptionally big guy with a massive head I think Mourinho really does have talent for this he has that intuition for where the ball is going to be he knows how to time his jump he knows how to generate power and direction his technique heading the ball is superb I think he's one of the very, very best at it, actually

33:57James McNicholas: I agree, it's a great finish and it's 1-1 and you could see that the Arsenal players wanted more you know there was some celebration then it was like, right, let's get back to the halfway line and see if we can win this game Gary Neville, of course, demanding that we win the game on Sky because that's what champions do but anyway Yeah, of course Well, we did We did But immediately after we scored, there was that handball incident in our box with Gabriel. I was worried.

34:30Andrew Allen: Yeah, heart in mouth stuff. The position of his arm was cause for alarm. You know what I mean? Like if it's close to the body and it hits his hand, you're like, we're fine here. When it's above his head waving in the air. But I think that was the correct decision to stick with the on-field and not give a penalty. I don't think the ball essentially deflects off Gabriel onto his own arm, doesn't it? So I think it would have been incredibly harsh. But yeah, I think next time he might keep his arms a little bit closer to his body.

35:07James McNicholas: Yeah, just one of those where I think, you know, the difference between that one and the Jokeres one is that like the on-field decision was no penalty, you know? Yeah. So look, we then head into six, seven, eight minutes, I think it was, of injury time. Newcastle come forward and this is where that move happens, where Odegaard picks the ball up in basically the right back position, drives through midfield. We work it up to the edge of their box. It's a great run from Lewis Kelly. It's a brilliant, brilliant pass from Martin Odegaard. And I think it's actually a great piece of defending. I thought in real time, Louis Skelly had a shot blocked, but you could see that he's trying to pull it back because Martinelli and Jokerez are both there.

35:55James McNicholas: Martinelli probably the one who will get the tap in if the ball comes across. But I think if that's one of our defenders, you're saying that is brilliant, brilliant defending rather than the attacker didn't execute the pass well enough. For me, anyway.

36:11Andrew Allen: Yeah, fair. I'd need to see it again. But I remember in real time thinking there was maybe like a fractional millisecond hesitation. But it's good defending, no doubt about that. And they did defend well on the edge of their own box. You know, they're good at that. They're very capable. But there was to be one more chance.

36:31James McNicholas: Well, it's quite funny, isn't it? The symmetry between Arsenal conceding a goal from a corner we didn't need to concede and Newcastle conceding a goal from a corner, they really shouldn't have conceded either. Because when that initial corner comes through and Nick Pope takes it, you know, if I'm a Newcastle fan, which I'm not, obviously, I'm looking for him to just take his time. I know goalkeepers have only got eight seconds these days, but you could still just take the sting out of it a bit. Instead, he tries to play it forward, I think, to Alanga. It goes to Myles Lewis-Gelly. into Declan Rice.

37:13James McNicholas: Rice is cross-headed behind for a corner. Odegaard delivers the corner. There is no better player. I was going to say defender. But is there a better player in the opposition box from set pieces than Gabriel? Including forwards. Who has more threat from set pieces than Gabriel Maguiache.

37:41Andrew Allen: Yeah. I'm not sure anyone. I mean, obviously, we're still finding out about somebody like a Valtamada, for example. But, yeah, I think Gabriel's hard to top, isn't he? The aggression, the athleticism, the desire to get there. You know, he's competing for this aerial ball with Nick Pope with arms outstretched, Dan Burns in the melee there, gets above them all. And he's got this remarkable knack, Gabriel, of responding to adversity with huge contributions. Didn't he do it against Fulham a couple of years ago?

38:25James McNicholas: Did he score an own goal or something and then go and score a really late winner? Am I remembering that right?

38:29Andrew Allen: Yeah, no, exactly. He made mistakes, not own goals. I think it was in the same season, mistakes to gift Darwin Nunes and Alexander Mitrovic goals, but played a part turning it round. He scored the winner against Fulham. I think he had a dummy for a Saka winner against Liverpool. Yeah, he almost manages to find a way to kind of make amends. Yeah.

38:58James McNicholas: Yeah, the Brazilian ESPN commentator was very excited when the ball hit the back of the net.

39:08Magalhães!

39:11Andrew Allen: Love that. I mean, you know, you talk about being the best in the league, maybe in terms of attacking set pieces. He's got to be one of the best we've ever had, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

39:25James McNicholas: It's like, you know, that thing, like in football, sometimes you'll get this post-game comment or discussion about, well, he, you know, that player wanted it more, you know, he really wanted it more than anybody else. And sometimes I think that's just sort of, it's nonsense, really, you know. But in this case, I think it's absolutely true. The way he makes that run, the way he leaps to get the ball, he has to be strong as well to hold off the challenges of Dan Byrne and others. And I think William Saliba, by the way, deserves some credit as well because of the way he parks himself in front of Nick Pope.

40:04James McNicholas: So Pope can't actually get there. and he does it in a really clever way as well where he looks like he's trying to challenge for the ball, but he's not. He's just getting in the goalkeeper's way.

40:17Andrew Allen: I think the bravery as well. He wants it more. He's often the bravest player in those situations. If you've played football at any level, you know that going into those challenges is not for everyone. No, it's true. Not everybody relishes that. You know, I think that's true all the way through the leagues

40:40James McNicholas: that some players are like, yeah, I'd rather not have my head punched off.

40:45Andrew Allen: And Gabriel is prepared to take that risk. He's fearless. And that counts for a lot on set pieces, actually. And yeah, huge credit to him. Huge credit to him. And a massive moment. I mean, I know people object slightly to the idea of this being vital or crucial, given that it's only September. But I do think it's momentous. I think it's big. I think it's something that if the season ends, as we all hope, we will be looking back to fairly frequently.

41:27James McNicholas: Yeah, I thought, you know, afterwards, I mean, the pregame chat was about, well, Arsenal have to win this game. It's a must-win game if they want to win the title. And I didn't think that was true. But I did say in our preview podcast, you know, that maybe it's the kind of game that if you win, people start, you know, it's a marker, let's say, about your title credentials. Particularly, as I said, in the context of what happened a week ago at home. Like, I don't think a 1-1 draw with Man City is a disaster by any means in any season, even if this is a Man City that isn't quite what it was. I still don't think that is a disastrous result.

42:07James McNicholas: But it was sort of presented like that, you know, that Arsenal somehow were really, really bad last week against Man City. I think there were things we could have done better, should have done better. ultimately though we found a way to get a goal laid on get a point from that game four points from two games against man city and newcastle i think if you'd offered people that last week they would have taken it maybe the points have come the other way around or come a different way than people expected but this is big i think i don't really understand why because again, 1-1 with Man City is not a disaster.

42:50James McNicholas: Our start to the season has not been brilliant, but it hasn't been terrible either. But there's this sort of prevailing wind that Arsenal are a fucking mess, that Arsenal are a shambles of some kind. And it's sort of hard to counter that without results and big results. And I think yesterday, if people were dismayed or lost a bit of faith last week against Manchester City, which they're perfectly entitled to do, by the way, I think yesterday ought to bring them back around a little bit because this was an example of a team that really, really played very well, got just reward for the performance overall.

43:34James McNicholas: When you look at the stats, 20 shots away from home against Newcastle. Did we have 20 shots in the previous three, four games there? Probably not. you know I think you have to give credit where it's due on top of that you know let's look at the context of Liverpool losing by the way on Saturday that adds extra pressure extra narrative it's a chance to close the gap if we don't do it even if we draw there people say oh look at Arsenal bottle the chance to close the gap on Liverpool this is what they always do etc etc so I think this is a massive win not just for the team I think the team will take a lot from it I think it's the kind of performance and the kind of result that this team needed after a difficult start to the season because in part of the fixture list that we've had, which has been really challenging.

44:24James McNicholas: But I think for fans as well, I think it should really, you know, hopefully remind people that we are a very, very good team and that we are capable of better than we've seen, perhaps. but that the potential is there and the squad depth is there and this is a game like some of the others that we have won this season where the squad depth has been important players have come off the bench to contribute to score the goals marino scores the goal yesterday the second goal doesn't happen without that brilliant odegaard pass and that passage of play that leads to the second corner which odegaard takes he gets the assist for the gabrielle goal there's just so much to like about this from our perspective on top of how fucking miserable it must have made Newcastle too.

45:14Andrew Allen: Yeah, and probably Liverpool as well. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I agree. It's interesting. I'm busy at the moment. I'm filming and I'm ingesting a lot less football media than I might normally do. So I don't like it's interesting to hear what you're saying about Arsenal being presented as like a shambles and it's not something that I've particularly engaged with. So it sounds absurd, really. When you look at the results and when you look at where Arsenal are at the table and what they've produced, I think that would be a gross misrepresentation of what they've done so far.

45:52James McNicholas: Of course, maybe I'm taking an extreme view, but I just, I think I said this, maybe I didn't say it last week because we recorded right after the Man City game, didn't we? So I didn't have a chance to sort of let things happen. But the level of discussion last week after Manchester City was maybe one of the biggest I've ever seen in all my time of running Arseblog and Arseblog News in terms of the sheer number of comments. That game sparked not just people saying Arsenal are a shambles, people saying, well, look, you know, look at how we played, look at what Man City did. I'm saying there was a broad spectrum of opinion, but the sheer level of discussion was as high as I can ever remember for any game.

46:44James McNicholas: And I think it did sort of play into some fears and worries that people have about, well, are we going to get going this season? Are we going to turn up in these big games? You know, we lost to Liverpool. You know, I just think that maybe it went a little too far the other way. And some of the sort of mainstream media coverage of Arsenal last week, I think was quite unfair. You know, I think it did influence the way that people thought about that game, which for me in the cold light of day didn't stack up in quite the same way. Like we talked about team selection. There were things that we would have liked Mikel Arteta to do.

47:25James McNicholas: There were things that we would have liked the team to do, but ultimately, you know, we played a second half. We made the changes. We brought Saka Eze on, you know, we did do enough to get something from that game. So I think this game coming so soon after that, the quality of the Arsenal performance, the depth of the character and everything else, I think is really, really important. And I hope it just sort of, like I said, I hope it just reminds people that we're really good. And we've got a great chance this season. And I think while this game might not have been a must-win game because it's so early in the season, I think it is the kind of game, as you said earlier, that when you look back on a season and it ends in success, fingers crossed, you point to certain moments and you point to certain results and you say, that meant a lot.

48:19James McNicholas: And I think this is one of those games.

48:22Andrew Allen: Absolutely. And like the margins are so fine. You know, this was very nearly a game that Arsenal didn't win. And Saturday was very nearly a game Liverpool got something from. And I do feel like, you know, Gary Neville saying Arsenal had to win yesterday is too much. But there were countless times. It felt like last season where Liverpool slipped up and we weren't able to capitalise. And to do so at this early stage, I think, does lay down a bit of a marker and just, as you say, sort of shifts the momentum, shifts the conversation. And it all feels like a much more realistic prospect. And actually, when you look back at these opening six league games, four wins, one draw, only one defeat at Anfield, I think it's a very, very good return.

49:16Andrew Allen: I think it's, you know, it's not perfect, but I think it doesn't stop us doing anything we want to do this season.

49:24James McNicholas: Correct. Correct. And, you know, I think everything needs to be put into context. When you go to Old Trafford, when you go to Anfield, when you go to St. James' Park, you know, three of the most challenging away games you can get. Manchester City at home, a really difficult game, whether it's home or away. We've talked about bringing in eight new players and how do you bed them into a team? Are there teething troubles, if that's the right way of putting it? We have had injuries. We haven't had Saka. We haven't had Odegaard. We haven't had Kai Havertz. We haven't had William Saliba in certain games, you know, really, really big, important players.

50:06James McNicholas: And we've coped pretty damn well with all of that. You know, to be two points behind Liverpool, look, you'd rather be two points ahead of Liverpool. But, you know, this is a weekend where potentially we could have been eight points behind Liverpool. Yeah, very, very plausibly. You know, that's not beyond the realms of possibility. and I think the team, the manager, deserve a lot of credit for the result that they pulled off yesterday. I didn't want to ask you. I remember Arteta talking last week, or last week, last season, or maybe during the summer, I can't remember, but he talked about how, while not being happy with how last season played out, his team's ability to finish second, despite all the injuries and suspensions and all that kind of stuff.

50:56James McNicholas: I'm not saying he's happy with that, but I think he talked that up quite a bit. And people might say, fuck that. Who cares? You know, you didn't do what you needed to do. Do you think there was an element of Arsenal sort of feeling like, even with a level of adversity, whether it's injuries, whether it's the atmosphere at St. James' Park, whether it's being denied a penalty in the 15th minute. And I think how often have we talked about how much the first goal influences a game? You know, and Arsenal could have had that first goal, probably should have had that first goal yesterday. You know, those aspects of what we had to contend with yesterday didn't, not that they didn't have an impact, but we didn't let it change our determination to go and win that game.

51:51Andrew Allen: Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. I think, I think in sort of, listen, no one's here to have an open top bus parade over finishing second last season. But I do think that in being sort of dogged enough to do that, Arsenal showed that there is a, there's a hard flaw on their performance level. You know, there's, there are certain standards by which they're not prepared to dip beneath. and I think they showed a real resilience at St James' Park yesterday and a similar level of resilience to the one they had to show last season. I also think that when you go through a period like that where you lose players to injury, you suffer, you don't get what you want, you know, the skill of the manager is in turning that into a kind of galvanising thing and motivating thing and those players yesterday at 1-0 down with, you know, what was it?

52:45Andrew Allen: eight minutes to play. They looked as determined, as hungry, as players to whom this is all new. And actually, when we speak about the signings and we speak about the amount of signings and the recruitment, we speak about depth and the options on the pitch. And I think that's right. But it is also an influx of players who've never fought for a title with Arsenal, who haven't suffered those multiple years of disappointment. And I think psychologically, that might be just as important to kind of flood the squad with a group of new players who aren't carrying the trauma, the disappointment, the emotional fatigue of previous seasons, who can keep things positive and looking forward and looking upwards.

53:33Andrew Allen: And that's certainly how they looked yesterday.

53:35James McNicholas: Yeah, it's a big, big moment in the season, a really big moment. And I'm not saying the fixture list from now on becomes easy or anything like that. But the fact that we're not trying to play catch up, trying to convince people, you know, that this is a team worth backing and getting behind, I think is really big to go into this run of games where you might look at them and say, they're less complicated fixtures than some of the ones that we've had to this moment in time.

54:06Andrew Allen: Yeah, I mean, the Premier League fixture list for Arsenal now is what? West Ham, Fulham, Crystal Palace, Burnley, Sunderland until the North London derby on 23rd November. Yeah. It's certainly a much more favourable run than the one we've opened the season with. So you feel, you know, it's one thing to get beat, let's say, at St James' and go, well, we've got the solace of a slightly easier fixture list coming up. Hopefully we can turn things around. Now we're going into those games full of confidence, right? Full of bravado and full of belief. So, yeah, I feel very optimistic that Arsenal can really rack up some points in the next period.

54:49Andrew Allen: And that's not taking any of those games for granted because, you know, the likes of Palace, for example, and Sunderland are doing rather well.

54:56James McNicholas: Yeah, or, you know, even Fulham, who have caused us some issues over the last couple of seasons. You know, again, I'm not saying they're easy, but I think when you do come through that initial run of games that we have faced, because listen, now that we're out the other side of it, I'm pretty sure everybody, when they looked at the fixtures in the Premier League, when they came out, we're like, oh, fucking hell. Like, seriously. Yeah. What the fuck? We could have felt out of it by now. Yeah, exactly. We might not have been, and there's still such a long way to go in the season. But if this weekend had gone the other way, and Liverpool had found a way to beat Crystal Palace, and we came off the wrong end of a 1-0 at Newcastle, and you're eight points behind, there will be people saying, that's it.

55:49James McNicholas: It's over. Title's over. You might not agree, but that's a difficult place to claw yourself back from. And I think psychologically, this was just a huge day for Arsenal, for Arteta, for Arsenal fans. You know, it was really, really important. And hopefully we'll see that borne out in the weeks ahead.

56:12Andrew Allen: And shout out Eddie Nketiah as well. Thank you very much for your contribution this weekend.

56:17James McNicholas: What a finish. What a finish that was, for sure. brilliant moment for him and for Crystal Palace who I think absolutely deserved that win against Liverpool how they weren't

56:29Andrew Allen: seemed to me they did too

56:30James McNicholas: yeah 3 or 4-0 up at half time I don't know but anyway we can talk a bit more about the Premier League a bit later on over on Patreon in an episode of The 30 myself and Phil will have that for you recapping what was a very fun weekend from an Arsenal perspective in Premier League terms of course we won but some of the other results went our way too Anything else you want to talk about from yesterday or will we take a break and take some questions?

56:55Andrew Allen: No, I think let's do the questions. All right. Well, one thing actually. Go on. I was pleased to see Arsenal, pleased to see if I don't know if that's the right word, I thought it was a nice touch that Arsenal wore black armbands yesterday for Billy Vigar, is it pronounced?

57:12James McNicholas: Figer, I think they called it on TV.

57:15Andrew Allen: Yeah, I mean, just such a terrible, sad story. And I was delighted as well that they could get the win on the day that they were sort of commemorating his losses.

57:26James McNicholas: Yeah, really, really tragic incident and the best to all of his family and friends. OK, let's take a little break and we will come back with your questions and more in part two right after this.

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59:13James McNicholas: Welcome back to the Arsecast Extra. This is part two of the show where we answer the questions that you send to us on bluesky at gunnerblog.bsky.social and at arseblog.com. Also on the Arseblog Discord chat server, which you get access to if you are an Arseblog member on Patreon. I'm going to go first here. This is a very simple one, I think. I think you'll be able to deal with it pretty easily. Dylan on the Discord says was this a fuck off win or a fuck you win? Fuck off you I guess I was going to say both but fuck off you, yeah that works for me.

59:51Andrew Allen: It was a fuck off you win yeah I think elements of both for sure and I guess it adds to kind of the increasing lore and mythology around this fixture. Yeah, it promises to be a tasty one when these two teams meet at the Emirates Stadium.

1:00:14James McNicholas: They don't tend to be as physical at the Emirates because I don't...

1:00:18Andrew Allen: Allowed to be as physical.

1:00:19James McNicholas: Well, that's what I was going to say. They're not allowed to be as physical. I mean, I've got a question about Victor Jokeres here, so let's talk about him for a second. And the question is, but I'm going to make a point before... Let's see. It is, fuck, again, I should have these set up. I do have it. It's from Coffee Vibes, you know. He said, thoughts on Jokeres today? For me, it was his best performance by far. Great link-up play, fighting for every ball and making so many runs. It makes me hopeful for his Arsenal career. The thing I was going to say just before I let you answer that, though, is I don't think I've ever seen a centre-forward manhandled in the way Jokeres was yesterday and not get a single free kick in the game.

1:01:07James McNicholas: According to the stats, there were no fouls on Jokeres yesterday, which I think is wrong and insane.

1:01:20Andrew Allen: Welcome to St. James' Park, I guess. Yeah, it was... I feel like we've said this several times this season, But then that is the nature of our fixture list today. This is one of the tougher tests for any centre forward in the league. To go to this ground against those centre halves and get a kick, frankly, when they're all over you, when the crowd are on the referee's back, it's really, really tough. And I thought he coped well. I mean, I remember Kai Havertz at this ground once or twice has really taken the fight to Newcastle, sometimes a little bit too much. And you have to. You have to be prepared to get very, very physical with them.

1:02:09I was watching it and thinking he's come a long way from the Portuguese league.

1:02:15Andrew Allen: With respect, I think he's used to being the bully, right? and he's now coming up against defenders who can bully him, especially if permitted to by a referee. But I thought given that, he acquitted himself well. I still think there are moments where the sharpness eludes him a little bit in the box. There was that one, wasn't there, where the ball, he kind of stumbled as he was hitting the shot and it came off the outside of his boot.

1:02:46James McNicholas: There was one in the first half actually where, was it Timber or Saka? I can't remember. Somebody played him in, in the sort of inside right channel. And I was looking at it going, listen, it's a relatively tight angle, but you're on your right foot. You have the chance to get a shot off here. You never know. If you hit it perfectly, it goes in the far corner or you make the goalkeeper make a good save. And what he tried to do was sort of chop the ball back inside and go on his left foot. I think in that instance, I really want him to just pull the trigger from that position, you know, because you can cause the goalkeeper a problem.

1:03:21James McNicholas: He makes a save. Maybe there's somebody following up. Well, he did it against, was it Forrest or Leeds?

1:03:26Andrew Allen: He hit the post, didn't he, from a very, very tight angle. Yeah. Out on that right next channel. I thought he did well. I mean, my main feeling is like slightly one of regret. I think this could have been a really big day for him if that penalty is given and he scores it. I think that would have really silenced some of the critics. but yeah, I think he did well. And I think we do, listen, we are suffering slightly from the fact that we don't have an obvious alternative in the squad. You know, I think it would have been exactly the sort of game where after half an hour of getting a kicking off the two centre-backs, you switch one centre-forward out for another and think that could give us a real advantage but we don't have that luxury right now.

1:04:14Andrew Allen: so yeah I think I think all things considered he carried the fight to Newcastle and he didn't get a great deal of reward for it but I think it will be a very beneficial experience in his adaptation what did you think?

1:04:28James McNicholas: I thought this was maybe the best he's played in one of the so-called big games

1:04:35Andrew Allen: yeah for sure

1:04:36James McNicholas: you know and I think what we also saw was a player who is beginning to really understand his role. And I think we saw players around him who understand the player they have in front of them as well. So I think what we saw yesterday was a sort of building or cementing of relationships on the pitch, which hasn't always been there, particularly in the games against City, against Liverpool, against Man United. You know, I think it was a, even though he didn't score, I think it was the sort of performance that you can say, okay, he's taken a little bit of a step forward here in terms of what we expect from our center forward in a big game like this.

1:05:23James McNicholas: And like I said, I think he was very unfortunate not to get a penalty. I also think it's crazy he went through that game without getting any kind of free kick. There were a couple of times where, you know, Newcastle were allowed to go through the back of him. Ordinarily, that becomes a free kick to Arsenal. It eases pressure. You win the ball in their half, et cetera, et cetera. So the fact that Newcastle are allowed play in such a physical way at St. James' Park is something he had to contend with. I think he did it very well. He didn't shirk any challenges. He didn't really complain. He just got up and got on with it and got fouled.

1:06:00James McNicholas: And the guy, LaSalle, tried to pull his face off. Do you think his physique and his size might count against him a little bit in a referee's eyes? Yeah, I think so.

1:06:14Andrew Allen: Yeah, I think they're looking at him and thinking he can take it, basically.

1:06:18James McNicholas: Yeah, yeah, maybe so. Maybe so.

1:06:21Andrew Allen: I do wonder about that. But then, you know, you look at this run of games you've got coming up and I mentioned some of the league opponents, but you've also got Olympiacos in there. You've also got Slavia Prague in that run. Not only are these games that Arsenal might look at and think, wow, we really have a good chance of winning those. They're games where you'd like to think as a centre forward, as a number nine, you're going to get chances. And I think by mid-November, by the time we face Spurs maybe towards the end of November, I think we'll know a lot more about what exactly we've got in Victor Iocovic.

1:06:56James McNicholas: Yeah, agree, agree. But I think it was a decent day for him, you know, in sort of all the respects bar scoring a goal, which is how some people will say that's how you judge a striker. But I think there was progression in terms of the on-field dynamics for me and that augurs well.

1:07:18Andrew Allen: definitely um i enjoyed this from ngw27 on blue sky it's a goodly morning gents at one down i said to my wife that playing atst james's park is about as fun as a colonoscopy however if we turned it around it would be like a colonoscopy where they find one million pounds up your ass and then he says i guess what i'm saying is at full time did you feel the same Well, I didn't find a million pounds up my arse.

1:07:49James McNicholas: No. But I did feel a sort of real mix of have that, you twats, and just sheer delight for the team because, I don't know, maybe people don't want to hear it, but I sort of feel like we were quite unlucky. And I'm not saying that as an excuse for anything. I just feel like as a team, as a club over the last little while, we have been quite unlucky at key moments in a season. And I think this was not saying we got lucky yesterday, but you know, the penalty thing and all of that. I was just, yeah, I was, I was very, very happy. It did feel like a bit of endurance though, didn't it? During the 90 minutes.

1:08:41James McNicholas: oh absolutely like there was a point there was a point just before kickoff where i sort of said why do i do this to myself yeah you know why this is so out of your hands but you know that's that's what football is you have to you have to sort of let loose and and accept that it's out of your hands and just deal with whatever it gives you and what it gave us yesterday was a million pounds up our arse, which is great for everybody. The spending power, incredible.

1:09:18Andrew Allen: What about this for a slightly more serious question? John Hussain says, Goodly morning. When have you ever seen a towel confiscated before?

1:09:27James McNicholas: That was weird. That was really weird because it came not long after the penalty thing, right? Yeah. It was only a few minutes after the penalty thing. And it was like, what's going on here?

1:09:43Andrew Allen: Well, I think he had nicked Nick Pope's towel, right?

1:09:52James McNicholas: Why do goalkeepers need towels? Dry their gloves?

1:09:57Andrew Allen: Genuinely. I'm told, by the way, on the towels, I don't know. Yeah, dry their gloves, maybe. Dry the ball before they, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, they want a dry ball, don't they? It's in their interests. So I think I'm right in saying, I'm going to check this because this is apparently in The Athletic. Do those guys know what they're talking about? We're about to find out. Yeah, here we go. So The Athletic say this, there is no rule in the Premier League handbook about towel usage. However, when asked by The Athletic, a source with knowledge of the rules, speaking on the condition of anonymity, explained that both teams have to agree on them being placed around the pitch pre-match.

1:10:41Andrew Allen: They also have to be evenly distributed at points along the edge of the playing surface. As a result, moving one from one area of the field to another for use is not allowed. It just felt very, very strange. Were they used at other points in the game?

1:10:59James McNicholas: Couldn't tell. I don't think so. I don't remember seeing a towel at another point.

1:11:02Andrew Allen: So I guess both teams did, like perhaps Newcastle, did not consent to towel usage. And Calafiori just said, there's a towel. There's a towel, I'm having it. I'll have a go of that. Yeah, it was, yeah, it was odd. But yeah, that's something to look out for, especially with long throws becoming so much more prevalent this season for everybody, seemingly. The long throw is back, as I think Thomas Tuchel said the other day.

1:11:29James McNicholas: It is. We're not great at them, though, I don't think. Calafuri's isn't bad, but it's a bit, yeah, it's okay. Declan Rice, I think, takes the ones from the other side and they're just too high and floaty, you know? The best long throws are, you know, they have a much flatter trajectory and they're much more difficult. Yeah, exactly. And I can only assume that it's actually a bit of a natural skill, right? rather than something you can teach. Because if it was something you could just teach, every team would do it like Rory DeLapp, right? Some people are just really good at throwing the ball long.

1:12:15Andrew Allen: It is, yeah. I mean, it is a useful weapon to have. Thomas Partey was our guy for them last season, wasn't he? He took quite a few.

1:12:23James McNicholas: And they were kind of crap as well. So, you know, it's one of those where I feel like if you can't do it properly, you probably shouldn't do it.

1:12:31Andrew Allen: I mean, my point would be, do we realistically believe we're scoring from them or is chucking the ball in the box and crowding it a route to a corner?

1:12:41James McNicholas: Or, you know, as we saw yesterday, I think one Calafuri long throw led to a shot for Eze. So maybe it's just that, you know, you park a guy on the edge of the box and if they clear it, it's a second ball situation that you can try and capitalize on.

1:12:59Andrew Allen: It's interesting. I mean, again, we're seeing a lot, not just from Arsenal, but from other teams, of that kickoff routine, that sort of rugby-style boot touch, where you're just basically saying, we back our press over your ability to play out.

1:13:16James McNicholas: Well, that's it. That's something that Newcastle have done quite a bit this season.

1:13:19Andrew Allen: I think they were the first in the Premier League to start doing it.

1:13:24James McNicholas: On the Discord, El Rayano says, any chance of doing a merchandise run of a towel with Calafiore's handsome face on it? My suspicion is he probably owns his own image rights.

1:13:37Andrew Allen: If he's smart, he does. I mean, it'd be interesting, actually, because you'd sell a hell of a lot of those. Who wouldn't want to dry themselves on Calafiore's face? And then, you know, people would bring them with them to games. we could just pass him a towel whenever it was required from the stance.

1:13:57James McNicholas: Exactly. With his own face on it, which would make his throw about 4 % longer. So, yeah, we'll take that into consideration. All right, let me ask you this one. And I remember you talking about this player in the not-too-distant past. So Troop on the Discord says, is Jurian Timber the best fullback in the league or world and also the most underrated? He said, I won't claim to have seen every fullback play extensively, but he's excellent going both ways. And I can't think of the last time a winger had a good game against him. One-on-one, I think he is the best defender in the league, but you rarely hear him raved about.

1:14:36James McNicholas: And even I'm guilty of still rating Ben White and him on the same level. Ben White is great, but I think Timber is a cut above. And I do remember you saying, predicting, in fact, that Jurian Timber would usurp Ben White as the first choice right back, which seemed kind of not optimistic at the time, but Ben White had been so good. And it was hard to sort of picture that. But here we are.

1:15:02Andrew Allen: Here we are. And I think we're probably, you know, I don't want to write Ben White off. I think Ben White's a brilliant player. You know, I think he's got so much positive in his game. I agree with what the question said. I think Jurian Timber one-on-one as a defender, I think there are a few better in this league. I do think defensively he is the best right back in the country.

1:15:30James McNicholas: He was so good yesterday, wasn't he? I mean, Gordon barely got a kick out of him. Anytime there was a dangerous situation, He just defended it in textbook fashion. And I don't mean that as being dismissive in any way, but he did everything right in every situation. And I think he is adding attacking dimensions to his game all the time.

1:15:54Andrew Allen: I don't think he quite has that sort of telepathy that, you know, White, Odegaard, Saka seem to have at times, where they would just combine in those neat triangles. I don't think he's, but then he's not really had the consistent selection ahead of him. You know, Odegaard's been in and out. Saka was obviously absent for long spells last season. But yeah, from Wendurring to him beside, I thought this guy's a first choice caliber. And he's proven that now. And I think he probably is a bit underrated because he's not English. He's not a big ostentatious character necessarily, but he's an outstanding professional, so consistent, so good.

1:16:45Andrew Allen: Yeah, I think you go a long way to find a better right back than Jurin Timber. Yeah. What do you think? I mean, if you're a winger and you're thinking about fullbacks

1:16:53James McNicholas: you don't want to play against, he would be top of the list for me because he is so strong and he is so quick. And I think actually physically he has, I don't know, he just looks bigger and stronger this season, doesn't he, as well?

1:17:09Andrew Allen: Yeah, that's a good point.

1:17:10James McNicholas: He looks like he is all muscle, basically, which maybe he is. Maybe they have had him on some kind of, or he's been on some kind of training program. But just the physicality, the speed, the technical ability in his defending is just perfect. the body shape when he goes into challenges is almost always exactly what you want it to be he's not trying to make up for anything so you know there was one yesterday where there was a ball down the line i think and it was one of those where he and gordon were were chasing and i think you know you'd back timber versus gordon in a physical battle right um gordon is very quick but I think Timber is just stronger.

1:17:57James McNicholas: But the way he judged the flight of the ball and then positioned himself with his back to Gordon to just sort of take the ball and then get it back up the pitch, it was just impeccable, impeccable. I think he's absolutely brilliant. And look, you know, and everybody listening to this knows how much I love and rate Ben White, but Timber is the man now in that position. And listen, hopefully it's something that Ben White can rise to the challenge perhaps and provide that competition and provide, you know, the sort of backup, but the depth that we need across all the games that we're going to have to play this season.

1:18:36James McNicholas: Because I do think, you know, it's a lot to ask for any player to play in every game. And I think Ben White will be a very important player for us, but probably that pecking order has changed now.

1:18:47Andrew Allen: Yeah, I think that's true. I mentioned Ethan in part one there's a question here from JMark91 who says goodly fucking morning gents does the omission of Weneri from the matchday squad simply remind people how much quality depth we now have

1:19:07James McNicholas: yeah I mean I think when everybody's fit good players are going to miss out there's no two ways about it

1:19:16Andrew Allen: more to come back to fitness as well which is It's kind of a sort of scary, crazy thing.

1:19:21James McNicholas: Well, yeah, that's it. You know, you've got Havertz still out and Capier is out. I'm sure there's somebody else I'm forgetting. Marueke. Marueke, of course, as well. Yeah. So, you know, we are going to have big players and, you know, important players who are going to miss out. I did find it a little strange, I have to say, that if it was a selection decision with Odegaard not really capable of doing much more than he did yesterday, obviously, because I think there was probably a case that you could have got Odegaard on earlier than that. But I'm guessing his fitness was an issue. I did find it a bit strange that Mikel Arteta chose down and ahead of Wuneri if that's what it was.

1:20:06James McNicholas: I mean, I'm not saying, I can't say for sure, but as somebody who can also play in that, like a scenario where Eze has to go off early on, who are you putting on? Can you put on Odegaard that early in the game? It seems probably not, given the way that he was used. So it seemed odd to me that when Airy wasn't in the squad, particularly as he can play from the right-hand side as well, which is where I assume Dauman would have been seen as a potential substitute, not anywhere else, right? Because I don't think he can bring on Max Dauman and play him in midfield at St. James' Park at 15 years of age.

1:20:44James McNicholas: Just don't think he can do that. No, I mean, yeah, I agree. It's a little bit odd in that, I mean, Ethan was with the squad.

1:20:54Andrew Allen: He travelled, I believe, as the kind of extra man. I think Tommy Setford was there as well.

1:21:04Andrew Allen: I guess Mikel's thinking, I've got Odegaard and Marino on the bench as my eights and I need someone for the wide areas. There's no Madueke. I've got Martinelli, but I want another forward, and I see Dowman more as a forward. I have to be honest and say I find it hard to envisage many scenarios where you're using Max Dowman at St. James' Park.

1:21:33James McNicholas: But the one where you're like 3 or 4-0 up with 10 minutes to go, that's where you use him. Yeah, I mean. Even then I'd be cautious. I look forward to that one. Yeah, but even then you'd be cautious because it'd be one of those where the Newcastle players are frustrated.

1:21:47Andrew Allen: Yeah, I mean, he played against them in pre-season, of course. He did, yeah. He made a good impression. He did. Won a penalty. And, you know, I think that at the moment, I feel like is that a lot of the time why he is there? Like, is it that penalty-winning superpower? You know, he is a real threat in those tight spaces and difficult to stop, and teams often resort to fouling him. But, yeah, I do think it was a little bit odd to have him ahead of Ethan.

1:22:17James McNicholas: Johnny Upton asked, Downman over Weneri is intriguing because it signals, Arteta believes Max Downman is a better right winger than Ethan Weneri, yet the latter played there most of last season. I think it does signal that. Do you think that's what it is? Yeah, he thinks Downman is a better option on the right wing than Ethan Weneri, despite the fact that Weneri scored quite a lot of goals last season from that position.

1:22:43Andrew Allen: Listen, I've said it on here before, I think, but everything I heard towards the back end of last season suggested that Arsenal felt that Ethan hit a bit of a wall in terms of his wide development and performance. And they felt like defenders were sort of wise to what he was trying to do in that position and that he would be better served by being in central areas. And actually, when you look at the way the squad's been assembled, the players we've signed, the selection decisions Arteta has made, everything tallies with that idea that they want and see Ethan as a central player.

1:23:28Andrew Allen: Personally, I don't necessarily share that conviction. I thought Ethan was great on the right. But what do I know? I mean, maybe as well, that distinction of you're a central player and Max, you're a winger, maybe that is a distinction that is made partly to accommodate their development at the same time in parallel. But it is a slightly curious one and it's one to keep an eye on, I think. You know, Ethan, yeah, it's kind of been, it's felt at times like one step forward, two steps back for him this season. And maybe that's the nature of being 18 years old. You know, there have been moments in games where he's been really trusted and Odegaard's come off and he's come straight on or come into the team.

1:24:17Andrew Allen: And you're like, OK, he's really earned the manager's trust here. And then there'll be other matches, big games, Anfield or St. James' where he's struggling for minutes and the manager clearly has reservations or concerns and yeah it's not a it's not a linear progression but maybe that is natural and normal and what we should be analyzing is thinking well why is that why is it that Mikel trusts him against certain opposition because it does feel like that it feels like it's a certain caliber of opposition where Mikel is comfortable to use him and there are other games other occasions other stadiums where he still has some reservations.

1:25:02James McNicholas: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think Newcastle might be one of those stadiums as well because he played there last season. Come on for Odegaard or was it when Odegaard was injured early on? I can't remember, but I think he, you know, not that he was ineffective, but he found it hard to impact the game, you know. But yeah, I have to say I did find it a little bit strange, but at the end of the day, Mikel Arteta is seeing these guys in training and, you know, he might have envisaged a situation where we needed something late in a game, needed a goal. And, well, I mean, we did. And he didn't use Max Dowman, but yeah.

1:25:40Andrew Allen: Yeah, that's the slightly odd thing. You know, you say three or four nil up. I think while Mikel Oteta plans for every scenario, I'm not sure that's a scenario you ever really planned for at St. James'. No. So, you know, if Max wasn't used yesterday, what is the circumstance in which he would have been used? I don't know. But, yeah. But listen, does it matter? They've got nine subs to select from. It's a great experience for him to be with the group. He was very much part of the celebrations, wasn't he?

1:26:14James McNicholas: He ran down the sideline, all right, and got involved.

1:26:17Andrew Allen: So if that helps him and helps his acclimatisation to a first-team environment, to senior football, then I guess what's the harm?

1:26:28James McNicholas: And Ethan... I guess where I'd be concerned is maybe what it feels like for Winery.

1:26:35Andrew Allen: I think that will sting. There's no doubt. Surely, you know, that's going to sting. He'll have wanted to be part of it. But I guess we've got games coming up who are against the kind of opposition, the kind of teams where Arteta has appeared to be more comfortable using Ethan. But equally, Martin Odegaard fit again. Eza now shining in the centre. I think that was a massive part of yesterday. Yeah, one to watch maybe.

1:27:03James McNicholas: Yeah. Okay, I have a couple of questions about Eza actually and Odegaard. Okay. So let's give you these. Hovismeister on the Discord says, a very goodly morning, gents. What do you make of Odegaard and Eze being on the pitch at the same time as two creative eights? It looks like something we could go to more often than not to break down low blocks. And there was also a question on Blue Sky. It comes from James, who's at james24.bsky.social. He says, Jokerez and Eze looked good together yesterday, especially in the first half. Do you think it suits Victor Jacarez more having someone closer to him in a more traditional 10 than Odegaard who drops deeper to collect the ball at times?

1:27:44James McNicholas: I know those are slightly different questions, but we're in the same ballpark.

1:27:48Andrew Allen: Yeah, well, I'll start with the last point there. I found that fascinating. You know, I don't know how Mikel Arteta lays his team out on a whiteboard and what position he thinks Ebeze is playing. but Ebeze is a number 10 so he plays you know whether he was picked as the right eight or whatever he was he plays it differently to Martin Odegaard you know we know out of possession the team drop into a 4-4-2 and he was the guy up next to Jochores in that 4-4-2 but in possession he was much much closer to the centre forward I think than we accustomed to seeing Odegaard be for sure actually there was a point in the game where sky flagged up some numbers about declan rice final third touches it might have been yeah like he needs to get off the leash he needs to do more he needs to get more involved and i actually think maybe he was playing a bit more restrained because this was a bit closer to a 4-2-3-1 you know with rice closer to zubamendi and as a closer to jokeres I just thought he, you know, against City, I was really clear that I felt he should have started.

1:29:06Andrew Allen: And I was really happy to see him start, particularly in central midfield in this game. I thought he had a huge impact, especially in the first half. I think he adds fluidity, flow, invention to our game, all things that we've been sorely missing.

1:29:29Andrew Allen: what that means moving forward I don't know because I take the point about seeing Odegaard and Eze in the same midfield and I'm intrigued by that I was equally sort of interested in the fact that Odegaard was playing in deeper areas you know and we had a question I think it was James Finnamore who said there's been tons of Odegaard discourse of late but I'm wondering if I'm crazy for massively preferring when he can drop deeper and float around the pitch as opposed to being chained to that right attacking half space.

1:30:01James McNicholas: Yeah, I mean, it's fascinating, isn't it? Because, you know, when you take Zubomendi on, you put Odegaard or take Zubomendi off, you put Odegaard on, you expect Declan Rice to sit deep and get Odegaard, maybe playing, you know, closer to Eze, higher up the pitch. But I think what we saw was a kind of slightly quarterback role for Odegaard. but maybe that was informed by the way Newcastle were going to play out those final minutes of the game. They were going to sit deep, so getting him on the ball and getting his vision and creativity and his ability to move the ball quickly, I think that's something that we miss a little bit with Martin Odegaard when he's not there, that the ball can travel across the pitch a bit too slowly, whereas I think Odegaard does try and get the ball to wide areas more quickly as he did on a few occasions yesterday.

1:30:53James McNicholas: And I think it helped not open Newcastle up, but open up space for us to get forward and to start applying pressure through corners and set pieces. So, yeah, I don't know what the answer is. I mean, the idea of Odegaard and Eze on the pitch together at the same time is quite tantalizing, you know, to have those creative players and that creative ability. But it's about the balance, I think, for Mikel Arteta. I'm not sure how often we'll see it from the start of games, but I do think there will be game states where that is sort of the go-to, if you like, as we try and find a breakthrough.

1:31:31Andrew Allen: Yeah. And actually, you know, we've spoken a few times about this run of games we've got coming up, but they are the sort of fixtures where if you were inclined to give it a try, I think it's a little bit likelier, maybe.

1:31:44James McNicholas: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Right. Very quick one to finish this off. Ian Wright 8. Not that one. Says, as a Jordy Arsenal fan, what would you say is an appropriate amount of time to keep doing the Gabrielle celebration dance in front of my Newcastle supporting friends and family members for? I think at least 96 months to coincide with the number of minutes on the clock at the time of the goal. That said, I would appreciate your input.

1:32:11Andrew Allen: I was going to say about 12 months, but he's blowing me out of the water. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's really committing to the bit there, I think. I think certainly up until the next time we play at St. James' Park, I think it's fair game. And maybe even beyond. It was a pretty special moment. And yeah, I think probably the high point of the season so far. Is that fair to say?

1:32:37James McNicholas: I think so. I think so. Yeah. You know, we all felt that win in a really big way. you know not just from an Arsenal perspective but the sort of as we touched on in the first half the fact that this rivalry is developed with Newcastle with Newcastle fans with their manager certainly their assistant manager told you I saw him in Singapore oh man he looked like a twat then as well but he had two sort of beefy guys with him so you know you pick your moments sure pick your moments

1:33:11Andrew Allen: that's all the Newcastle team are that's why they all say they're all just chasing Tindall's um cybersecurity alright

1:33:20James McNicholas: I think we should leave it there get this podcast out to everybody thank you so much as always for being here we're glad to be here on a morning when Arsenal have had a great weekend a very very enjoyable win as I said earlier you can join us for analysis discussion and a good bit of laughing at all the rest of the Premier League action this weekend over on Patreon later on. Patreon.com forward slash Arseblogger. We'll have an episode of The 30 for you later this afternoon. For now, though, take it easy, folks, and we will catch you on the next one. And fuck magpies forever.

1:33:53Andrew Allen: Forever and ever. Bye-bye. I want to thank Johnny, who's at Fruit All Sorts on Twitter, who wrote these lyrics and sent them in. And I want to thank a YouTube channel called Cartoguitar, from which I stole the backing track. As I walk these streets alone, through this borough I call home. Down my spine I feel a shiver, there should be more hens on the river. Through the turnstiles of the angel, I think I'm safe at last. But I hear the wings are beating, and they're beating fucking fast. Seek refuge in all the buildings, and the offee on the corner. My knowledge is theological, and the prefix is awning.

1:34:31Andrew Allen: A wren, a hawk, a blue tip, are watching from the side, Seeking solace from their sorrows, sheltering in a bird hide Through the madness in the market, people looking to the skies Watch what you are doing, cos they'll peck out your eyes Little Rosie approaches one, she doesn't have a clue That his heart is as black as his feathers and his shoes Down towards the Emirates, I'll spot a ticket out Try giving him a warning, by shouting, mate, watch out From the Thornhill to the Hemi, I know what the people lack Everyone will be running scared unless they've got some magpie facts Fuck magpies forever Their black and white feathers Are much prefer crows And my heart will love magpies never Their peaks will forever Make me feel cold

1:35:46Andrew Allen: Oh, fuck.

1:35:48James McNicholas: Fucking hell.

1:35:52Andrew Allen: He makes that look easy, Louis Dumford. God, fuck my boys. Stop that.

1:36:27James McNicholas: everything.

1:36:28Andrew Allen: I think that it is quite dangerous to talk about this, but microplastics are one of the biggest silent pollutions of all time. And they are getting everywhere in the sea, in the soil,

1:36:37James McNicholas: in the air, and already inside our bodies. That was scientist and self-described bacteria trainer Patricia Aima Maldonado. Here a special interview for our fellow Friday series with her to find out the fascinating scientific and technological solutions she's working on to combat the invasive problem of microplastics. Listen only on TED Talks Daily.

1:37:04Andrew Allen: Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.