Arsecast Extra Episode 661 - 06.10.2025

0:11Hello and welcome to another RSCast Extra as always with James from Gunnarblog. James a goodly afternoon to you. Goodly afternoon, Andrew. The sun is shining here in North London. Yeah. I have to say the last, well, I don't know, 36 hours or whatever it's been since the game, it has felt like the sun has been out throughout. Yesterday I was walking through North London and as usual, you know, ran into a few Arsenal fans and they were all kind of lifting their metaphorical top hats to me in respect and jubilation. There was a sort of quiet satisfaction among all Arsenal fans. All feels right in the world suddenly with Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table.

0:56Top of the Premier League, but James, James, remember when we played Man City and we were, you know, it was the end. It was over. We were finished. Sure. We couldn't even beat Man City. and yet here we are top of the table what's going on listen i ours is not to reason why andrew um but yes it's almost as if maybe our season was not quite in the peril that a certain point it's almost as if shit happens in football a lot of shit happens and a lot of shit can change very fucking quickly yeah nothing will change now though. This will just be a serene procession from here on in, I suspect. Yeah, I hope so.

1:38How many games left? 31? 31 games. 31 2-0 defeats. Or 2-0 wins, rather. Defeats for the opposition, obviously. That's what I meant. But yeah, it is a... Listen, if you're going to go into an international break, go into an international break, top of the league. Yeah, I don't disagree. I don't disagree. It is a good place to be. And now I'm just sort of picturing everybody in North London wearing top hats. It was like that, honestly. I felt, you know, it was like that bit in Oliver with all the sort of street sellers, except all the town criers shouting out the points tally after seven games. Please, sir, can I have some more open play goals?

2:20I don't know. Who needs? Who needs? But, yeah, it's a beautiful day today and reflects my sunny disposition. Well, there you go. A sunny disposition after a 2-0 win over West Ham, second 2-0 win in a matter of days, having beaten Olympiacos 2-0 in the Champions League in midweek. And Mikel Arteta shuffled his pack again a little bit. And I think what I was excited about for this game was seeing Martin Odegaard and Eber Echeza on the same team sheet, in the same area of the pitch. You know, it could easily have been Eze on the left and Declan Rice as the left eight, Zubimendi deep, you know, as we've seen before.

3:09But Zubimendi played the full game in midweek. Mikel Arteta decided to give him a little bit of a rest for this one. Sat Rice in a familiar role for him. And we had Odegaard and Eze starting together for the first time in an Arsenal shirt. And I was very pleased by that team selection and excited to see what it might bring. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see it for enough time because of what happened to Odegaard. But I think in those opening minutes, you could see that Odegaard was, I think, not sure to carry on where he left off against Olympiacos, but certainly determined to do that. He played a pass, didn't he, to Jurian Timber, who had a shot on goal.

3:59And it was Odegaard who set Saka free for that pass that he pulled back across. Jokeres almost got there, came to Eze, who somehow put it over. And that was sort of all in the opening 10, 15 minutes. And then the gods are cruel this season for Martin Odegaard, aren't they? The injury gods. They're not doing him any favours. Yeah, yeah. I saw there was a slightly unwanted stat during the rounds about him, I think, being the first Premier League player to be withdrawn with injury in three consecutive appearances. Before half-time, I think, yeah. Before half-time. I mean, to be fair, two of those were the same injury, I think, in the sort of shoulder issue that he had.

4:46But that was a real shame, and I felt a bit frustrated. personally and a bit thwarted because like you I was really looking forward to seeing you know these two attack-minded creative number eights in tandem um I've got to say as disappointed as I was to sort of be robbed of that uh much beyond 20 minutes I'm still really excited and encouraged that Mikel Arteta named it yes team sheet yeah um I think that is significant and although like we didn't necessarily get to see as much of it as we would have liked yeah I think we may look back on that as another sort of um I don't want to say turning point it feels too strong but another sort of stage of evolution maybe that's a good way in his tactical ideas about how to set up this team I think we saw that a bit uh in the halftime you know against City when he brought on as in a central area he obviously then started him there away to Newcastle which I felt was a a bit of a departure in some respects.

5:50And then to name him alongside Odegaard in this midfield for a home game against West Ham, it was kind of logical, but I do think it was also novel and different. But yeah, sadly, sadly, it wasn't really to be for Martin Odegaard. And we've had more news about that since. Yeah, he's suffered an injury to his medial collateral ligament. And listen, it's one of those where I think he's been really, really unlucky this season with the injuries, a couple of iffy landings. And then on this occasion, it's sort of knee on knee contact. And listen, you've played football. Everybody who's played football knows what knee on knee is like.

6:33Typically, it's really fucking painful. But thankfully, that's usually all it is. You know, you just have a crack and it's sort of the front of the knee on the front of the knee. But watching this back, I watched it again today. Somerville's knee just clatters into the side of Odegaard's knee. And that's obviously where he picked up the ligament damage. And he tried to stay on. It looked a bit optimistic to me from the TV because he sort of hobbled back after getting up. and then the ball came to him and he just played it immediately out. And I was like, oh, that doesn't look good. But he tried to play on, couldn't really continue.

7:22But it's one of those I think people will say, given the depth that we have on the bench and the options that we had available to us on the bench, is this one of those where the decision should have been just made, not take any further risks? I mean, we don't know if him staying on has exacerbated the injury in any way. It probably hasn't done it any good, but it's a tough line to draw, isn't it? Even with all those options that the player guidance, when the physio comes on and says, how do you feel? Do you feel like, can you play on? I want to give it a go. He obviously wanted to give it a go.

7:55He didn't want to set that record of coming off three home games in a row before halftime, but it looked very much to me that from the initial contact, the initial collision with Somerville, he just wasn't right at all. he probably just should have come off straight away yeah perhaps so I mean I think he was game he wanted to carry on I do wonder as well you know in that brief conversation with the physio presumably you know the first thing he says is what happened and if Odegaard says I banged my knee into another guy's knee maybe they have a slightly different impression of the sort of injury he would have you wouldn't necessarily leap from that to a ligament injury you know you might just think it's a bang, it's a knock, it might improve, it might ease up.

8:44It was pretty evident pretty swiftly that wasn't the case. And I guess we are, you know, we're in the fortunate position and thank goodness we are because of the injuries we've sustained, but we have got a great degree of depth available. And we're able to make that change pretty swiftly. Did you have any, I sort of did half wonder in my mind, you know, would he keep it like for like effectively with Ethan Ranieri there on the bench? Did you think that was a genuine option or did you expect it to be Martin's? I thought it, you know, it was possible because when he got injured in the two previous games against, I don't want to say, how do I put it?

9:27but you know, so more mid-table opposition, right? Forrest and Leeds. And I would put West Ham in the same bracket as them. So it was certainly on my mind that he might put Ethan Wuneri on, but I also thought Zubimendi was the right call, to be honest. You know, I'm really keen to see Ethan get more minutes, and I think he's done well when he's come on for Odegaard in the previous games. But in this instance, if it were me, that's exactly the change I would have made. It's put Zubimendi on, you can put Rice into the left eight, move Eze across. And it just felt like the right thing to do, given the context of the game.

10:11You know, it was nil-nil at that point. I just think it made more sense to me than Weneri at that point of the game. Well, it was borne out as well. I mean, I happen to know that you did think that. That's not hindsight, you know, because we were messaging back and forth during the game. But, you know, I think what followed showed that it was absolutely the right change. I mean, Zubermendi had a massive impact. I suppose when you've got a midfielder of that experience and calibre on the bench, they are going to be the first man off it, right? And it was a really straightforward change to flip Eze over to the right eight and pushed Declan Rice into that slightly more advanced role where, to be honest, he's probably played his best football for Arsenal.

11:01And Zubomendi and Rice were both, in fact, all of those midfield three were involved in our opening goal. Yeah, and it was a really sort of dominant first half from Arsenal. You know, when you look at the stats, I think we had 15 shots to their two. you know this was Arsenal strangling West Ham in the way that we have done to some other teams this season you know but without maybe the end product but there were chances I mean I think Eze should have scored that chance early on certainly yeah I wouldn't believe that one yeah you could see in his face it was like how the fuck did I miss that I know it was slightly bouncing but still a player of his quality and technique will not have been happy with himself.

11:50No, he's obviously trying to lift it. I think he's just trying to lift it into the roof of the net, but certainly overdoes it. But I am encouraged by when he plays in these kind of central midfield areas, the dangerous positions he takes up and the shots that he's getting off, I feel we're already seeing the benefit of that and then product coming. I'm sure there'll be more goals to come. And it was a good run from him and good pass from Zubimendi in the build-up to Rice's goal. Yeah, I mean, the thing about Eze, we've talked a lot, haven't we, about Arsenal maybe not, how would you put it, well, being a bit shot-shy at times.

12:35Yeah. And Eze absolutely is not. He had four shots on Saturday against West Ham. and I can't remember how many he had against Newcastle. I think he was up there as well in the Newcastle game. Let me have a look. He had four shots in the Newcastle game as well. Yeah, very, very decent figures. Yeah, and Saka also had four shots, by the way. But Saka is that guy. The one guy who you know will take a lot of shots for Arsenal is Bakayo Saka. So to have that extra option in midfield, somebody who will take a shot and who will take things on um you know it does make a difference to the way that you dominate games i know there might be some frustration that we didn't score more didn't really turn the screw on west ham but it we felt more threatening than other games let's say where we've had 70 possession and haven't really caused the opposition any problems i think when you've got as a on the edge of the box or drifting into those areas where he can pull the trigger it just it almost creates more space because the opposition are pushed back definitely I think he's got he's got the goal in his mind and you know when you look at the opener he makes a really almost a striker's run really in behind little sprint off the shoulder into the space to take the shot on we don't really have central midfield players who who play like that so I I think he's definitely added another dimension to our game and a bit more of a varied threat.

14:14So, yeah, very encouraged by that so far. Yeah, I mean, the goal, there was one ruled out, wasn't there, for offside. It was a good pass from Declan Rice, but Saka had just gone a little bit early. So that one was ruled out for offside. But in this instance, it's a lovely pass from Zubimendi into that channel. It's an Eza shot. It rebounds for Declan Rice. Declan Rice makes no mistake, half-volleyed finish, gave the keeper no chance. He did that thing where he didn't celebrate against his former club, but he certainly gave them the eyes. I don't know if you caught up with this afterwards, or you would have seen it, yeah, obviously, in your work in the game, were you?

14:53Mm-hmm, yeah. I was in the press box. I mean, he'd had a, as is typical when he faces West Ham, not a particularly kind reception off those supporters I think especially when he went over to take a corner from the other side and so yeah by the way I think it's a really good finish from Rice I mean he makes that look incredibly straightforward but as Eze had shown you know in the early stages of the game it isn't always and it's a really really good contact and good finish and no celebration but certainly a few glances in their direction Sort of if looks could not kill, but slightly chastise in his eyes.

15:37Yeah, absolutely. I think he was pretty happy to make that little trot around the outside of the goal in front of the West Ham fans, having just given Arsenal to leave. I don't think he necessarily needed to take that route to the corner flag, but he chose it anyway. Who can blame him, really? I mean, it does seem an odd one. And I've got to say, like as someone who, you know, as a fan myself, I don't really know what Declan Rice has ever done wrong in the eyes of West Ham fans. He left. That's the only thing. They wanted him to go to City, didn't they? Because it wasn't a London club. Yeah. But, you know, would they give him a hard time if he went to Man City?

16:16Absolutely. The only thing he did was leave. And the only thing that West Ham did was get£105 million. Well, they did sell him half price, Andrew Yeah, well, you know, hindsight I understand some ill feeling Hindsight is 50 It's just the way of football fans, isn't it, really? What else happened in that first half? There was the Calafiore shot which cracked back off the post Before we talk about the Calafiore chance can we talk about Jury and Timber, actually? This, you know, one of the things that I I loved about Ben White or love about Ben White. My goodness. I don't want to talk past tense about Ben White, but one of the things I loved about Ben White when he was in the team was his attacking intent and the way that he would overlap and combine with Bukai Ossac and Martin Odegaard.

17:11And it was so effective for us. What I think is really interesting about Jury and Timber are the positions he takes up sort of in that, That was the channel that Eze ran into to take the shot, which led to the Declan Rice goal. Jurian Timber loves it in there. That's where his shot came from, which Areola saved in the first half. It's kind of where the penalty comes from. We'll talk about that in a sec, I guess. And then in this instance, there he is again in that sort of area in the box. I thought he'd been fouled, to be honest, but he didn't appeal for anything. and the ball came out to Calafiore, who smacked a right-footed shot off the post, hit the keeper and didn't go in, which is a bit unfortunate.

17:58But Timber sort of doing the right-back thing in a different way, providing a different kind of attacking threat from Ben White, I think is really interesting. Yeah, it is. Especially, I think even last week, we were talking about Jurian Timber and how strong he is defensively. And I thought from an attacking perspective, this might have been one of his best Arsenal performances. And it fits with the trend, I think, where he's becoming more and more of a threat in those situations and combining better. I was struck so often that he was kind of in the line of attack at times, you know, in the way that we used to sometimes see Kieran Tierney as the kind of the fifth wide attacker.

18:41Julian Timber was so often kind of on the front line of this Arsenal attack, but not necessarily out wide in that sort of slightly narrower, almost inside right position, making those really threatening diagonal runs into the box. Yeah, I thought he was really good in this game and gave West Ham a lot of issues. I actually think both our fullbacks are deserving of mention in that respect because Calafiori had another game where you found yourself asking, what are we going to call this position that this guy's playing? Because it's certainly not left back as I know it. And, you know, we say that as fans who've watched Alexander Zinchenko, who've watched Myles Lewis-Skelly.

19:22I think he seems to find a level of unpredictability that extends beyond even those two in some of the areas that he pops up. Yeah. And that is the only way to put it. He pops up all over the place. I mean, we have one here on the Discord, BigHarrow99. He says, can we please agree on Califiori's actual position? He plays the Leroy Jenkins role. And if people don't know, there's a famous video online, basically Leroy Jenkins in some World of Warcraft game, just going off and doing whatever the hell it is that he does. And he wants to credit Jason Williams, who came up with that in the match chat.

20:01But I said this on The 30, which we do over on Patreon. He reminds me, Califuri reminds me of when tennis players used to have personality. Right. You know, the sort of McEnroe, Nastassi, Jimmy Connors, these guys, these sort of maverick talents. And as tennis got more and more professional, the players got more and more, I don't want to say robotic, because that's unfair on them. but they became these like incredible machine-like tennis guys, right? But some of that personality isn't there. And it's the same with football in a way. You have these incredibly brilliant players, technically amazing, physically impressive, but there's just not quite the personality of old.

20:53And Califuri to me feels very much like a throwback to a sort of different era. You know, I'm sure you've seen the, did you see the the touch map graphic that was doing the rounds after this game um i can imagine but a jackson pollock basically yeah sort of it's it's sort of it it feels so at odds with what we expect from michael arteta like yeah this guy does not feel like he fits but he also fits really well because I think the team needs a bit of that. It needs a bit of, as Arteta said afterwards about Calafuri. What did he say? He can be a bit chaotic, I think. But he said he's got dynamism and he sort of brings a lot of that to the team.

21:44I thought Calafuri was really good again. I thought he's just, I just, I'm no longer surprised about where he pops up and what he's doing. Like right-footed shot from inside the D towards the end of the first half? Sure. Why not? Picking it up in the Martin Odegaard position and playing up? Sure. Like, I don't know if there's, I don't know, an offset to that where we're left vulnerable by where he ends up. But I just really enjoy watching him as a footballer. I enjoy what he brings to this team. And yeah, I think there's just something fundamentally charming and likable about the way he plays the game.

22:28And maybe that will fall by the wayside at some point. I don't know. But for now, I'm just slightly enamored by him. Yeah, I totally understand that. And a word Arteta often uses when speaking about him is charisma. And I think he means that in terms of his personality, the way he expresses himself on the pitch. I mean, there is definitely an element of chaos to it, but I think there is also a structure there underpinning it. You know, when he's going backwards, when he's defending, he's a left back in a four. But when Arsenal are in possession, he's very often the guy alongside Martin Zubemendi or Declan Rice, whoever's at the base of that midfield, a kind of secondary playmaker from deep.

23:09It's really in the final third that I think the licence to express himself is evident. He can be an overlapping left winger. He could be in that inside right channel. You know, even last season, you'll remember him a few times popping up as a centre forward. He is a pretty unique player, a bit of a unicorn. And you touch on that sort of freedom and how it's not necessarily what we associate with Mikel Arteta. I think that's going to be one of the interesting kind of themes of this season. I was really struck after the Olympiacos game. Mikael spoke about granting Odegaard freedom. I think he may have said it twice.

23:56I feel like for him to use that word is deliberate. He's probably conscious of some of the narratives that exist around his tactics. But I also think it's sort of a reality, and we mentioned this about the inclusion of Eze and Odegaard together earlier, of kind of the evolution of this team, that within the structure, within the tactical template, I think Mikel is finding or is trying to find space for freedom, especially for those players who have that creative dimension to their play. And although he is ostensibly a defender, Califiori is absolutely one of those. Yeah, I agree. I'm really curious to see what happens when Incapier is fit as well because of the way that he plays and the confidence and assurance he has in the opposition half.

24:49It does feel like getting those players into positions where they can give others license to be free or contribute themselves. I mean, another day that Calafuri shot either goes in or it hits Areola on the back of the head and goes in the back of the net like he's some kind of Emi Martinez. Unfortunately, it didn't happen for Calafuri or for us, which would have given us a nice 2-0 lead at the break. But still, 1-0. West Ham, I think, were, listen, they're obviously in a bad place. were in a bad place. Graham Potter got sacked. Nuno Espirito Santo was only there a week. So I think his game plan was just to try and hang on in there rather than go for it in any way.

25:34And I didn't feel particularly threatened by West Ham. But at 1-0, you're always a little bit, oh, we need another goal here. There were a couple of incidents worth talking about, I think. I think there's a handball really early in the first half. Yes, yes. That I think, despite the fact it didn't really get a lot of attention, is probably a penalty. Yeah. I know he's sort of running towards the ball, but his arm is out. He stops the ball with his hand. I don't really understand why that isn't a penalty. but yeah I don't know why it didn't get a lot of attention though do you mean when you said you said right at the start of the first half oh second half sorry yeah second half Mavropanos yeah I remember the one there was one in the first half a humble shout against I think his name is Magasa maybe the holding field player but the Mavropanos one I thought that had a decent chance actually I was slightly surprised when that was kind of waved through yeah there was a chance maybe for Jokeres a great ball from Trossard down the line to Rice, first time ball from Trossard which was just perfect Rice drilled it across and Jokeres was sliding in but just couldn't get a touch on it There was a few like that I felt Timber played one I think in the first half there was a couple where the ball was behind him this one it was just in front of him obviously no goal for him on the day but you know a couple of moments where if the board had been a yard in either direction I think we might have seen yeah then we get the penalty it's a foul on Jurian Timber starts outside the box continues into the box listen if there's any debate or discussion about this penalty it's Michael Oliver on VAR and I think if there was any way they could have taken that penalty away they probably would have I think it's a foul I think it's a penalty you know any disagreement on that?

27:49No, I mean, I didn't know the rule, to be honest with you. I was sort of ferociously googling, but it seems to me that if it's a continuous foul that goes into the box, that will be a penalty. Again, Jureen Timber making his presence foul. In that position, yeah. And it's a great pass from Zubimendi as well to find him. Yeah. I have to say, I was a little surprised to see that it was Bakaya Saka taking. I was not even slightly surprised to see Bakaya Saka taking. Like, genuinely, his 200th Premier League appearance, he is the number one penalty taker. Now, you can have a debate or a discussion about whether you think Yaka Rez is a better penalty taker than Bakayo Saka.

28:44That might be a very worthwhile debate if we lined up all the videos, who's the most convincing penalty taker. but for me this was Saka saying hang on a fucking minute here you might be the new guy but I'm the number one penalty taker and when it happens I'm gonna step up and I'm gonna I'm gonna take this was he captain at the time as well did he get the armband after Odegaard went off or did he go to Gabriel oh not sure yeah not sure I think Saka but I'm not sure But yeah, it was a landmark moment for him as well, wasn't it? 200 Premier League games, 100th goal contribution. 55 goals, 45 assists.

29:30Now, perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised. I just thought at the time, Jokeres was five appearances without a goal. He'd obviously scored one against Leeds, albeit when Saka, I think I'm right in saying wasn't on the pitch. He wasn't. I just wondered if they might give it to Victor, but it was a really good, emphatic penalty from Bakaya Saka. It really was. Listen, I'm really happy that Saka took it. I'm obviously happy that he scored it. But I think, you know, I saw people talking about it in the same sort of light as the Kai Havertz penalty. Was it at Bournemouth? Yeah. Like, I think they're very, very different scenarios.

30:12You know, at that point, Havertz had come in. There was a lot of discussion, a lot of scrutiny over that transfer. His role in the team wasn't really defined. His start was unconvincing. I think he was really low on confidence. And it felt like a moment where the team came together to sort of bring this guy properly into the fold, if that makes sense. And I think I could be wrong. I'll stand corrected. But I think we were 3-0 up at that point. We were coasting at that point. We were well on top of that game. This was a game where it was still in the balance. There goes my dog out for a walk. The penalty was a decisive moment.

30:57And I think Saka is the kind of personality who will say, I will take responsibility for that. I'm going to score it. I'm the number one penalty taker. You know, we know they do the old switcheroo sometimes with the penalties. But I think it's also, you know, I don't think there was anything pointed in it, but I think it's also for Jokeres. Okay, now it's five games, six games without a goal. You know, you've got to do your work here as well. You know, I think giving Jokeres the penalty to sort of break his goal over the last couple of games would have been not the wrong thing to do. But, you know, this is ruthless, top level sport.

31:36Saka wants his goal. He got his goal. and Jacarez, you know, is going to have to step up in the games when they kick off again if he wants to get back on the score sheet. So I've got no problem with it at all. No, and as you say, I think not in any sort of confrontational way, but I do think this was sort of Saka slightly asserting himself. Correct, yeah. Saying, I'm still the man here. Yeah. And a really good penalty. There were some good penalties around this weekend. I don't know if maybe you touched on it at 30. Nick Vultemar does penalty for Newcastle. It was unbelievable, wasn't it? One of the craziest penalties I've ever seen.

32:13Just absolutely roofed it. Yeah. But this was also a very good one. Yeah, I love a penalty into the roof of the net. I really do. Yeah, it was a good penalty. And look, he's got some previous against West Ham from the penalty spot as well, doesn't he? That's true, actually. So he could be exercising some little demons, you know, by making sure. And that was 2-0. and it sort of always felt like 2-0 was going to be enough. Yeah. Yeah. It was pretty comfortable from then on, really. I mean, you know, we had been very dominant throughout. But West Ham, you know, they're a side who haven't been on a great run of form.

33:01They've got a new manager. I'm sure they would have wanted to try and get back into it, but it didn't really feel like they had the capability. No, no. They offered very little. I know there was a header at the back post late on, I think. Yeah. But that was about it. It was a set piece. They didn't really create anything defensively. The defensive numbers from the Arsenal team were unbelievable. Timber, six tackles, two interceptions, one clearance. Gabriel, two tackles, two interceptions, eight clearances. Saliba, he didn't bother tackling. He didn't even need to. He just made seven clearances.

33:44Calafiore, three tackles, three clearances. Zubimendi, by the way, we touched on his passing ability and what he brought to the performance in terms of control in midfield, but five tackles for Zubomendi, three clearances. You know, this is a guy who, there's a sort of perception. I know we've talked about this a little bit before. There's a perception that he's small, but I don't think he is. In fact, I know he's not small by small standards. And I think that aspect of his game, the defensive aspects of his game are really, really interesting. He's a snappy little tackler, isn't he? he is and actually he's very good in the air as well I mean some clips I think it was after the Newcastle game of him rising above I forget whether it was Vultimada or perhaps even Dan Byrne but winning headers against some of the tallest players on the pitch and that's something that's been true throughout his career he's always had good spring good timing so yeah I mean he was actually, I thought, exceptional really after coming on.

34:53I thought he was brilliant and totally justified the manager's decision. The likes of Ranieri did get on and get some minutes. Who else did we see from the bench? Luis Skelly, Marino, Martinelli. Yeah, they all came on. Obviously, we'd used that sub in the first half when Odegaard went down. And yeah, defensive numbers were great. Another clean sheet. I think it's Seven from ten games across all competitions this season. Not bad. It's not bad. Not bad. And when your goalkeeper is dressed like Barney, it's even better. Exactly right. What could be more intimidating than the sight of Barney the dinosaur as you're bearing down on goal?

35:43Now, I mean, the defensive effort has been outstanding. And when you kind of ally that with an attack that's sort of richer and deeper in terms of variety and options, it's easy to see why people might be feeling optimistic. Yeah, no, for sure. And I think what's interesting to me about the defensive side of our game is so little of it is last ditch. It's all, well, not all, but there's a sort of comfort in the way that we defend. You know, the central defenders, listen, two of the best central defenders we've ever had at this football club, but they just mop things up, you know. Full Krug is a bit of a handful.

36:32He's a big guy too. I know he had a header in the opening minute, didn't he, from a corner. They got a corner straight from kickoff, but, you know, he barely got a kick, barely got a kick. Nobody gets past Uri and Timber. I don't remember West Ham really doing anything down there right-hand side. And Jared Bowen is a very, very good player, I think. But he got no purchase whatsoever out of our defenders. Zubimendi, even Rice, when he was in the sort of deeper-lying role, the way that the wide players work back as well. There's a solidity to this team and the way that we defend and the way that we are so hard to break down, generally speaking, that really augurs well.

37:22I know West Ham were no great shakes and neither were Forrest or Leeds or whatever when they came, but look at what we did in the game against Man City. And I know people have their opinions about how that game went and what the outcome was and all the rest of it, but basically we smothered Manchester City who barely got into our half. and you can only do that with the kind of defensive platform that we've built. Yeah. Even the game we lost, you know, take the Liverpool game at Anfield. We were beaten by a set piece and an extraordinary strike at that. It's not as if we gave up a ton of chances in the game against, you know, arguably the best attacking team in the division or certainly last year.

38:08So, yeah, I think we look really solid. I mean, if you think back to sort of previous eras of Arsenal and how you fondly remember defenders like Laurent Koscielny, what do you remember them for? Racing back, making last ditch sliding tackles and, you know, moments of daring. well, you know, we do occasionally get that from Saliba and Gabriel, but as you kind of suggest, by and large, they don't need to. The structure is there. They're front-footed. Rarely are we that stretched, Andrew. So it's great. It really is. You mentioned the Saka landmark. Obviously, this was a landmark for Mikel Arteta too, his 300th game in charge of Arsenal.

38:55I always get slightly nervous when these landmark fixtures come up, you know. I think I'm massively, massively scarred by Arsene Wenger's 1 ,000th game. Sure. Chelsea away, right? Yeah. What was that? 6-1 or 6-0? It was bad. It was very bad. I didn't like it. I still don't care for it, and it's left a scar on my soul. So whenever I hear these like, well, it's Mikel Arteta's 300th game in charge. I'm like, oh no, fuck. But, you know, I didn't really have a great deal to worry about. And, you know, a nice day for him. He marked that with a very Mikel Arteta 2-0 win. He did indeed. And when you look at the numbers behind those 300 games, it's pretty impressive stuff.

39:47I think he's got the best win percentage of any Arsenal manager who's managed more than 50 games. Yeah, I think 58.9 % of those 300 games, 177 of them are wins. Yeah. Did you see the stats that Orbinio put out? I haven't actually. Okay. Can you guess the three top scorers for Mikel Arteta in those 300 games?

40:22300 games. I'm going to say Bakai Saka. He's top. 71 goals. Okay. Wow, that's a lot of goals.

40:37I'll say... Aubameyang? Just outside the top three. He's number four. Gabriel Martinelli? Yes, he's second with 46. and I'm very tempted to say Gabriel frankly not quite not quite I'll go I'll go Martin Odegaard yes correct he's got 41 goals in the 300 games the top assisters Saka with 58 Odegaard 38 Martinelli 26 and the most appearances in those 300 games Bakayo Saka 251 appearances in those 300 games under Mikel Arteta. Gabriel 220 and Martinelli 217. Odegaard in fourth, just behind on 205. Wow. It feels fitting when you lay it all out like that, that Saka did score because, you know, not only was the Salaam up to him, but he has been so at the heart of Mikel Arteta's reign as Arsenal manager.

41:41For sure. I mean, it's hard to think of one without the other, isn't it, you know? Yeah, obviously he made his debut under, well, I'm going to say Unai Emery. But it may even have been Nassar Venga, I'm not sure. I think it was Unai Emery. I think it was like a European game. But it was under Arteta that he became a starter. I mean, Mikael Arteta was talking about, in his pre-match press conference, about his memories of him playing as a left-back, of course, when he first broke into the team. So it's been some ride they've been on together. Quite the evolution, quite the evolution. And obviously that win put us top of the table.

42:17It might have been temporary, but it turns out not to have been temporary after Liverpool were beaten by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. So sort of capped a pretty good weekend, even if Manchester City won. You know, Liverpool's poor week continues, two defeats in the Premier League and a defeat in Europe. so you know it does remind you that things change very very quickly in in football you know we talked about that scenario didn't we last weekend where potentially Arsenal could have been eight points behind Liverpool it's not an implausible situation or scenario to think that Newcastle could have won at home and and Liverpool could have beaten Crystal Palace you know who I know are on a good run of form but but you know I think it's within the capabilities of both of those teams, or you could say from an Arsenal perspective, it was certainly within our capability to go to St.

43:10James' Park and lose. But, you know, there's a long way to go. There's a long way to go. And I think this has been a really important week for Arsenal. I think it sort of helped calm some of the internal nerves, if that's the right way of putting it. I mean, among Arsenal fans. You know, we spoke about the significance of beating Newcastle last week, but to sort of follow that up with a good win in the Champions League and a win over West Ham to put us top of the table. It's just sort of, yeah, look at what we have here and sort of remember to appreciate it because I think this is a really, really competitive team and not everything is going to be perfect all of the time.

43:58but there's still ways and means of turning things around or things going back in your favour in a very quick way. Certainly, yeah. And I think with Liverpool, my feeling is that some of the issues they've had in their team are now catching up with them a bit. I think maybe they had some close shaves and some lucky escapes in the preceding games and that's sort of evening out. I think for Arsenal, our performances are kind of evening out, but so is our fixture list. You know, we cannot overstate really what a difficult start we had in terms of some of the games that we had to play. And having ticked those off and emerged not entirely unscathed, but I think in a really strong position.

44:51Yeah, it's exciting to think where we might go from here. Yes. For now, though, we just sit top of the table for the next couple of weeks. Fine by me. Yeah, fine by me as well. You know, listen, I'm not a big fan of interlulls, but where my preference lies is an interlull where you're not having to sort of navel gaze or deal with a lot of introspection or sort of finger pointing and like, oh, how do we fix this? What's going wrong? I think it's nice to go into this one and feel relatively calm about where we are and what we've been doing. Yeah, totally. Couldn't agree more. All right. Well, look, will we take a little break?

45:33Yes, let's do that. Let's take a break. And we will be back with your questions and more in part two right after this.

45:49Welcome back to the Arsecast Xer. This is part two of the show where we answer the questions that you send to us on Blue Sky at gunnerblog.bsky.social, also at arseblog.com and also on the Arseblog Discord chat server, which you get access to if you are an Arseblog member on Patreon. James, I'll give you the honor today. You can have first question. Very generous of me. Thanks, man. um well i just sort of wanted to raise this topic for discussion simply because i've seen a lot of conversation online about the atmosphere at the emirate stadium ah yeah i had some questions on that yeah yeah like i i saw this one from oliver adams who said goodly afternoon gents i was struck by a sense of frustration and dare i say boredom amongst the fan base in the clock end do you think this is justified based on previous scars from dropped points or was it just a routine win with no need to kick on um yeah and wise mark class said what do you think has contributed to the noticeably noticeably quieter noise levels in the emirates reminds me of the highbury library at times i have to say um what was your impression albeit through the screen of the atmosphere on Saturday?

47:10Ebbed and flowed, I think I would say. I think there's something, you know, about games like that following on a game like the one in midweek against Olympiacos when Arsenal... I feel like if Arsenal needed to go up a gear or two in both of those games, we could have, but didn't need to. And when you say Arsenal, do you mean the players or the fans? The team. I feel like if the team needed to go up a gear, I don't mean the fans. But let me draw this as an analogy.

47:53If Arsenal is a car and the fans are a dog with its head out the window of a car while the car is going. It's always great to see the dog with its head out of the window and the wind is going by. But if the car is only going in second gear, his ears, they don't do much. But if the car is zooming at top speed, you know, his ears are flapping and he's really happy and he's doing that thing with his mouth where he's sort of trying to eat the wind as it's going by because it's more exciting. and I just sort of feel like that might be how things are when you're a team that is as precise controlled however however you want to call it as as we are you know I think as well if it had been two or three by half time it probably would have been a lot more upbeat but because it was only 1-0 until whatever time Saka got the penalty, about 65 minutes, 66 minutes or thereabouts, right?

49:03There is that sort of, okay, this is good, but I'm, you know, just slight anxiety because you haven't got the second goal or maybe even the third goal. So I felt like there was comfort, but at the heart of it, a little bit of worry in the crowd. Now, you were there. You can tell me if that's right, wrong or crazy. But I just feel like in games like this where it remains slightly in the balance, you're going to get that worry and anxiety manifest itself as kind of not silence, but maybe, you know, people aren't on their feet as much or they're sort of looking for a bit more. And that transmits itself to people around them.

49:55Yeah, to be honest with you, Andrew, I don't think I'm the best judge on this because for both Olympiacos and West Ham, I was in the press box. And A, there's not really, it's not really the best way to gauge atmosphere to be surrounded by journalists. And B, I was kind of working during the game. So my focus was kind of elsewhere. And I was a little bit surprised when I came out of the game and saw a lot of kind of commentary around the atmosphere, the noise levels. And I've read a lot of people suggesting plausible reasons. I mean, I would venture the fact that with the exception of Man City, our big games this season have predominantly been away from home.

50:43You know, even in the Champions League, the kind of glamour tie that we've had so far would be Athletic Bilbao. And that one was very much away. St. James's, Old Trafford, Anfield. The City game was obviously a really big one, but it was a particular type of game and a particular circumstance we faced. Did you, I mean, you were in the crowd for the City game. Yeah. Did you notice any lack of atmosphere or, you know, how? I mean, listen, it can be a different thing. When you're 1-0 down, you're desperate for a goal. Atmosphere is slightly the wrong way of putting it. But my recollection anyway, from TV at least, is that the crowd were well and truly up for this one and were doing their best to respond to what the team was trying to do on the pitch.

51:32Especially, and you may recall my anecdote from the day, but once that double change was made at halftime, right, there was a real appetite and hunger among the supporters um and they took the tv show off you know yes exactly well once escape to the countryside was over yeah we were all in yeah um it was good by the way uh to see that our conversation about that made uh headlines across the nation's media that was crazy that was crazy someone made that into a new story for people who don't know it was arsenal podcasters shocked at emirates tv or whatever it was just yeah yeah yeah good stuff good stuff top journalists but um i've seen other people venture other theories i mean obviously you know some of them will be familiar people are talking about the reduced allocation for the ashburton army i've seen people lamenting the ballot system and ticketing system and sort of suggesting that, you know, are we getting the right people in the ground?

52:41Strangely enough, it's always the people who don't win the ballot who seem to feel that way. But there you go. It's not something that I have sort of observed as a problem yet this season. And maybe I'm just not in the right place to judge or not paying close enough attention. I do wonder as well, is it just about increased expectations? One of the consequences of this amazing summer that we've had is that, and the progress we've made in recent years under Miklán Teta, is that people expect a lot now. And this was a game that fans turned up to expecting to see Arsenal win. And what they got was a very routine victory.

53:26And maybe that's not necessarily going to get people off their seats. But it's something, having seen this discussion and having listened to this debate, I'll be paying closer attention to moving forward. I've got to say there were a couple of moments like in the second half where maybe when Saka scored his penalty or when the penalty was ordered, where like I was struck in the press box by a real loud noise and thinking like these fans are still very much on board. So I don't know. I don't know. I'll be looking out for it. But I do think that expectation thing may be a big part of it. Yeah, I mean, people have sort of said, why isn't it like it was a couple of years ago?

54:15But I think there was something in, and we've talked about this before, I think, but the fact that the team exceeded expectations in that first title challenge season, you know, played a part because it was just so, not unexpected, but like, it just felt very organic, didn't it? Like, we're going, oh, wow, look, look at this team. We thought we were going to make progress, but we didn't quite know it was going to be as good as this, you know. And I think that's really, really hard to recapture. That if that's what you're looking for, you're probably going to be disappointed because, you know, how can it be the same as that?

54:57because we now know this team and we know this is a very, very solid team with the ability to win every game, potentially, more or less every game we play. You know, there are games where, you know, I can remember times where I've looked at the fixture list and gone like, don't fancy us winning there and I'm not sure we can win there. There aren't too many games now where I think this Arsenal team on their best day is incapable of winning. And I think that just becomes part of how people view games, whether that's their expectation or not, you know? So I don't know. I don't know. Ask me on, you know, 23rd November, I think we've got Spurs at home.

55:45Right. I guess that would be a real litmus test. I can't imagine anything but a really electric atmosphere for that one. Yeah, of course. And then bear in mind as well, some of the teams that we've played at home, as you said, the big games have been away. Forest were crap. Leeds, we turned over 5-0. Don't remember anyone really complaining about the atmosphere on a day where we scored five goals. West Ham were crap. You know, it was a very one-sided game.

56:18People, fans are just human, you know. They can only react to what they see. and what's delivered. So. Yeah, a couple of people said to me they found the game a bit. Boring. Yeah. But it kind of was because there was only ever really one outcome. You know, it was boring in a way that as an Arsenal fan, I find perfectly palatable. Is it going to have me, you know, standing on my seat, screaming at the top of my lungs? Perhaps not. Yeah. Certainly not in the press box. No, no, you're not allowed to do that. I'll be frowned upon. Here's another question. David Baratunk on the Discord says, is choking dominance the way forward for us?

57:03This sounds dumb, but I feel like we might become so good at what we do that we won't play enjoyable or exciting games. Not that I'm complaining, but is this the result of modern football or our identity? You know, there might be something to that. Yeah, I mean, we do play quite a sort of, sorry to use more kind of violent imagery but it's quite a suffocating style of football that we play we're at our very best I think what was really missing on the day was a couple of extra goals. That's it, that's exactly what I was just going to say, like if we win that game 4-0, I don't think anybody complains about the atmosphere but if we win that game 4-0 as I alluded to, I don't think that sort of anxiety is there at all, you know, if you're 2-3 then you can enjoy yourself at halftime.

57:54Enjoy the second half, you know? And I think people want to see goals. It's incredibly simplistic, but, you know, if Eze puts that very straightforward chance in instead of skies it early in the first half, if one of those crosses or pullbacks towards Jocarez is right into his path rather than in front of him or behind him, then, you know, I think people go home even happier than they did. But it was fine margins that prevented it being that. Yeah. I guess these are first world problems that we're suffering with. I think so. I think so. Comfortable 2-0 win for the second time in a week. You know, you could have more excitement, but that comes with more jeopardy perhaps.

58:45So I don't know. I don't know. Exactly. I'll take a couple of extra goals though. I do absolutely see that. I think, you know, maybe if you talk about steps of evolution or development for the team, maybe the next step is to, you know, it sounds maybe a bit greedy or something, but to score an extra goal or two in games like this against opposition like West Ham who are not in good shape, you know, really turn the screw. Really be up on these things. Yeah, exactly. Just be completely ruthless, you know. But equally, for balance, I would just say it's only Man City who've scored more goals than us in the Premier League this season.

59:25And when you consider our fixture list, that's pretty good going. Yes, it is. What about this one on Martin Odegaard? It's from JMO on Blue Sky, Dr. Jimmy P. And they say, often with random occurrences for good and bad, we just call them luck and either dismiss them as such or get superstitious about the cause. But is there a rational explanation for Martin Odegaard's misfortune, e.g. is his timing off as he's trying too hard?

1:00:01I mean, if you're going to be maybe hypercritical, and I think it is hypercritical, is the tackle he goes into on Saturday isn't ideal. You know, he sort of hangs out a leg as Somerville knocks the ball beyond him. But I just think he's been really, really unlucky. I really do. Like when you think about the injury he had last season, where it was a bad tackle that sort of saw his ankle go underneath him. Bad pitch, bad tackle, and he turns his ankle. Not much he can do about that. the shoulder injuries like just landed awkwardly. that can happen landed awkwardly again that's kind of bad luck I think but you're probably a bit more susceptible to re-injuring if it's not 100 % fixed and he went out and played and then landed awkwardly again you know yourself if you've hurt yourself you know chances are you'll go out I've done that once or twice exactly yeah you know we've all been there where you know you're just about recovered from whatever thing it is you want to get back and you want to play football again whether it's an ankle sprain or a hamstring or a calf or whatever it is, and then, you know, next game it goes again or you hurt yourself again.

1:01:29That's normal. I think this one, as I said, if you're being hypercritical, the way he makes the tackle is not great, but I think the damage done to him because of that is not really connected. you know it's not such a bad tackle that he deserves to be out for six weeks eight weeks whatever it might be hopefully shorter than that you know I think another day he just gets a bang on the side of the knee it's really sore and you know bruises up and he put some ice on it he maybe sits out the international break and it's all good so I really just think he's been terribly terribly unfortunate I don't think there's any more to it than that you know a collision in a game can happen A bad landing can happen.

1:02:15A clash of knees can happen. And unfortunately for Martin Odegaard, it feels like he's going through a period in his career where every time something happens to him, it's not serious, but like it's impacting his availability in a way that it really didn't for most of his Arsenal career. because I think for the most part, he's been particularly injury-free and available. But in the last 12 months has had some issues. So I don't know. Do you think there's anything more to it? Do you think there's anything he can do to become more robust? Could be the curse of his beard, of course. You know, if we want to go the scientific route.

1:03:04I think there may be something in the fact that Martin Odegaard we think of as a creator, right? We think of as almost a number 10 in terms of the way he plays the game, approaches the game. I think as is sort of necessary in this system and maybe even in the modern game, for a player who's thought of as a creator, as kind of a flair player at times, he plays in a very high contact way. Like I think 20 years ago, Martin Odegaard is playing as a number 10. He's operating between, I don't know, a four in a midfield and a lone striker. And he's got a lot of freedom and license and probably not that much defensive duty.

1:03:58and I suspect he's actually probably ending up in these midfield collisions a lot less frequently. I think there's something, I think we ask a lot of him and he asks a lot of himself in terms of the way that he plays and whether he's, I don't know, whether he's sort of, I've got to be careful phrasing this I suppose because I think he's brilliant and I think that's a great part of his game that he sort of allies creativity with work ethic and but I do think that it's quite a high impact role I would say and maybe that takes a bit of a toll on him you know we're continually talking about Premier League footballers, Premier League teams, how athletic they're becoming, how big they're becoming.

1:05:02Look at the guys we're surrounding him with in midfield, people like Rice and Marino and these kinds of characters. And he's coming up against them in opposition too. And I feel that it might just be sort of the wear and tear, the grind of the modern Premier League on a guy who's not six foot three. You know, but many playmaker-style midfielders have thrived in this league before and coped and handled it. And he has previously handled it. So I'm hoping that this run of bad luck or, you know, whatever it is, ends pretty sharply. Yeah, I mean, I think the thing to say as well is that the game, while more physically intense, may not be quite as physical.

1:05:56Yeah. If I can make that distinction between, let's say, what you're expected to do in terms of running and sprints and those kinds of things versus the kind of physical treatment players like Odegaard and players of his ilk used to get, you know? That's certainly true. In terms of tackles. We all remember going Neville on Jose Reyes and things like that. And that was not an isolated incident. So I don't know. He must be, if it is luck, he must be cursing it and he must be, you know, regretting whatever mirror he smashed and the black cat he ran over because it is pretty unfortunate. I mean, as pointed out in part one, the shoulder stuff was kind of all one issue as far as I could see.

1:06:50He clearly had an injury there. He tried to carry on through it, presumably playing with painkiller injections and the like. and sort of sustained a recurrence in that area. That took him out for a while. This MCL issue is something entirely different. But yeah, I really hope he can stay fit. You know, it's sort of become a truism that I've always sort of found it hard to see Arsenal having a great season without Martin Odegaard's form really recovering. Yeah. I mean, we do have options and we do have players who can fill in, stand in, you know, do what he does to some extent. But, you know, we really need everybody as fit as possible for as much as possible of this season to give ourselves the best chance of winning.

1:07:44So we'll just have to wait and see what the prognosis is. I presume there's going to be some, whether there'll be an update or not over the course of the international break. about the seriousness or whatever grade of MCL it is. Maybe Arsenal will keep that in-house. What's the range of outcomes here? Like what do you – it could be anything from – Four weeks to surgery. Yeah, exactly. So we don't know. I mean, my feeling is – my optimistic hope is that the fact that he tried to carry on suggests that the damage wasn't so bad that it's, you know, the worst possible outcome. It's just whether or not he's done himself any more damage by trying to carry on, you know.

1:08:34He didn't go in for any 50-50s, it's fair to say. And he didn't really move around the pitch with any great ease or comfort. So I hope it's one of those where the fact that he was allowed carry on or was saying he could carry on before he came off means it's hopefully not as serious as it could be. But we'll wait and see. You know Arcelor, you know yourself, Arcelor, quite tight-lipped when it comes to the specifics of injuries. So I guess we'll just wait and see. Maybe we'll find out something or maybe we have to wait for Mikel Arteta's next press conference where he says we have to assess him in the morning and we'll see how it is.

1:09:19yeah I mean I guess the level of detail that we have at this stage is probably for suck for kind of Norway's benefit as much as ours really I mean that's sort of what's forced them to make a statement on it it's quite unusual you know Arsenal wouldn't typically do that I don't think about an injury like this so um yeah we wait and see all right um we had a couple of questions about our center forward um stan 10 on the discord says why do you think there are such conflicting opinions on whether big yuck is playing well or not i watch gunner blogs on the whistle who seemed to suggest that he doesn't think he is don't really remember you saying that um primarily due to lack of goals in the last few games however others such as clive from arsenal vision seem to think he's making a real difference tactically creating space for others etc so yeah he was a point of discussion after the game as well I think he's always going to be isn't he because he's a new signing he's a big name I think because there's a lot of expectation and because he's gone a few games without a goal I would push back slightly on that assertion that I said he didn't play well I don't think I did say that I actually think maybe less so against West Ham but I think against Newcastle and Olympiacos he probably had his best games for the club in some respects I don't know about that but certainly games that suggested some real progress and were really sort of impressive efforts for the team and Mikel Arteta went above and beyond I think to praise him for those and he did the same against West Ham on Saturday saying, you know, he went and gave him a hug and thanked him for his, I guess his quite selfless efforts in some respect.

1:11:18Something I didn't mention in my video that I meant to was that point that it sounds like Clive made, where I do wonder to what extent Jokeres' presence is kind of attracting attention from defenders that might be granting others space and time and opportunities. You know, he might not be scoring, but those around him certainly are. So I think that may... I think that Jocarez is a bit of a menace for a centre-half. You know, you've played a centre-half yourself. A guy who's constantly looking to run in behind you. is quite an exhausting opponent. Yeah. Mentally and physically. Sure, sure. I mean, there was another moment in the West Ham game where I think he was grabbed by the face.

1:12:13I just wondered, are those angles, do they make his face really easy to grab? I don't know what it is. I mean, I see that completely. And actually, if you look at the Eze chance, it's Jokeres who's occupying or trying to get there at the near post. the ball is just behind him. He tries to sort of do a little drag back thing and it comes to Ezza and he puts it over. And again, I think in the second goal, he's sort of there or thereabouts, isn't he? Or the first goal, rather, Declan Rice goal, he's there or thereabouts. Again, with defenders around him because, you know, they need to be. You know, we've often talked about how we don't attack the six-yard box well enough.

1:12:59He certainly tries to do that. There is a small part of me just wonders, and I agree with you, by the way, that I think the previous two games were really promising in terms of the relationships. And I thought, and maybe we said it here, that it demonstrated the connections between him and his teammates in a way that maybe we hadn't seen properly. And again, it's still really early days, of course. I just wonder sometimes if we think about, if we're trying to talk about a striker and say, well, it's good that he's occupying defenders so other players can score. Is it too much giving him the benefit of the doubt when he's gone six games without a goal?

1:13:43You know, strikers are judged on goals and I'm not saying that's completely correct. You know, you've got to look at every aspect of a player's performance when you're analyzing them, I think. You know, it's too reductive to say, well, because he hasn't scored a goal, he hasn't contributed. I don't think that's the case. You know, he has contributed and he has, you know, his presence up front does give defenders something to think about. And there could be, and probably are examples of how that's been beneficial for Arsenal in those games. But ultimately people will say a striker that's gone six games without a goal, you know, can we ask questions?

1:14:21Should he do better, for example, with that chance that Declan Rice puts across the goal? I know it's like he's probably margins away from it, like millimeters away from it, split second. Is that the difference between, you know, a guy who's going to get you all the goals you want and a guy who comes close to maybe getting you goals that you want? I don't know. It's early days still, but I do understand why, you know, people who are a little bit concerned about the lack of output are concerned about that, but I do also see positive aspects to his game. And let's remember that he, over the last nine games, because Kai Havertz got injured in the first game, he's had to, he's maybe the only player that we don't have a direct replacement for in terms of rotation.

1:15:11Sure. So he's been asked to do a lot. And I think that's worth bearing in mind as well. Yeah. Yeah, and coming off a pre-season where, well, he didn't really have one, right? He joined us on tour straight from jet lag, straight onto the pitch, basically. But, you know, it's hard because I do think he... I think new signings tend to get the benefit of the doubt in the way supporters analyse them. And I do think there's an element of slightly damning him with faint praise, maybe, by saying, oh, he's distracting people, effectively. I mean, I think if in July or if when he signed, I told people he's going to play in the first 10 games starting nine and he's only going to score in two of them.

1:15:56I think people would be a bit underwhelmed by that, to be honest with you. And I think they'd be right to be. So because I looked at the two games this week, Olympiacos and West Ham, and thought, I'll get three goals across those games. and I think he'll be really really really frustrated that he hasn't scored in those because they are the sort of games I expect to be his bread and butter and listen I think he's a bit unlucky in both and you know how it can be with strikers sometimes they go on a little run like this and then they they you know one goes in off his arse to use the old adage and then they're scoring game after game after game.

1:16:42So we will see. I think the jury's out, and I think that's fair. I think that's the only place they can be right now. Sure, sure. That's why I sort of liked the sack of penalty thing as well. you know it's sort of like

1:17:07not putting it up to him but you know he and I'm sure he's well aware of this and probably doesn't even need to be told this at all but like you know it's going to be hard it's going to be hard to score goals in a lot of games and I don't think for one second you can criticize him for any lack of effort or, you know, an unwillingness to do a lot of really dirty work for this team. Like I think at Newcastle, you know, he just got sort of pulled around the place and that was, you know, what you would expect there. But I think as well, a game like Saturday, where I think his past completion was 45 % pass completion, 11 passes.

1:17:55Like even if he only gets 11 passes, I'm sort of expecting him to do better than that with those passes, you know, to try and make 11 passes. We want him on the end of things. We're not asking him to be a creator, but I just think there's a sort of maybe a little untidiness to certain aspects of his game that I hope will, you know, develop over the coming weeks. Yeah. I mean, my overriding feeling is that I just think I can't wait for him to be one of two. I really can't. I think what a position to be in to have Victor Jokeres and Kai Havertz available. And, you know, to play one for 70 minutes and not have them tiring and fading in the last 20, but replacing them with another player of the similar calibre.

1:18:44albeit a slightly different profile. And I think there'll be games that suit Kai and games that suit Victor. And I think they'll both benefit from the rest, the rotation, the ability to come on fresh against tired defenders. I actually think Jokeres maybe will benefit most of all from that. Like the idea of Jokeres chasing him behind against an already sort of bruised, fatigued back line. I think it could be easy pickings for him and he could pick up quite a lot of goals that way. So I think he'll be really cross. I think he'll be annoyed that he's not scored this week and let's hope, a bit like not taking that penalty, it can be a motivating factor for him after the incessional break.

1:19:30Yep, fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. What have we got here? Done the crowd. So, Tanner Osman says,

1:19:53That's absurd, 15. Yeah, I think that's just basically ridiculous. 2004, 2005, they did it. Yeah. I would be very surprised. And we talked already about how good our defense is. And I think our defense is incredible, really, really strong. I just think that across the Premier League, there's so much talent these days, so much goal threat. You know, even as you go down the table, teams have really, really good players, good attacking players. And I think, listen, if we concede 15 goals, I think we win the league by some distance. But I just think there's too much out there in the Premier League to get close to that, you know?

1:20:46Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. A lot of these numbers are quite a long time ago. Chelsea 15 was 2005. Arsenal 17 was 1999. 1999. 1990. United, 22, 2008. Liverpool, 22, 2019. That's probably the most recent. Chelsea did 22 in 2006. The majority of these are 20 years ago. Yeah. When was the Arsenal one? Was that not 19? These would be just Premier League. According to this, 98-99. But we did not win the league that way. We did not win. No, that's true. I've just looked it up. I can see the difference. I've just looked it up here. We finished behind United by a single point. We conceded 17 goals.

1:21:39We had a goal difference of plus 42. United's goal difference was plus 43. But we scored just 59 goals. United scored 80. Wow. So... I don't think we conceded too many in 97-98, to be honest with you. But anyway, I'm taking this article from the beautiful website, onefootball.com, to be very authoritative. 33 goals conceded in 97-98. Wow, nearly double. Yeah, United only conceded 26 that season. And they outscored us as well, 73-26. we scored 68 goals led in 33 and won the league Wow well I just did quick maths on kind of extrapolating our current goals conceded ratio for a full season and I think if we continue to concede goals as we currently are we will ship 16 in the course of the campaign so So even if we maintain our, frankly, exceptional defensive record, we are not beating that 15.

1:22:57No, I don't think it will happen for much the same reasons as you. I just think the level of attacking quality throughout the league renders that, I'm going to say, impossible. Yeah. I cannot see that happening. There's too many good players. Too many good players, exactly. Too many good teams. You know, a lot of these seasons we're referencing, I think there were kind of two or three teams beating up on everyone else in the Premier League. I don't think that's really the way it goes anymore. And, you know, we're going to draw a game 2-2 or something at some point. Yes. And do that a couple of times and suddenly the chance of that record is gone.

1:23:44But I think we have the capability to put up some pretty impressive defensive numbers and to continue that. And David Raya would be my firm favourite for a hat-trick of Golden Gloves this season. He must be up there already. He's one behind Nick Pope. Yeah, Nick Pope, I think he's had five, is that right? Yeah. Five and Raya has four. So, yeah, but we've obviously had the tougher games probably in that period. So, yeah, but 15, it's a bit like Thierry Henry's assist record, you know. I'm just not sure I see it being beaten. Yeah, we talked about it last season when Bakayo Saka was definitely on track for it, but unfortunately got injured.

1:24:35So I don't want to jinx anybody. What about this one just to finish us off then, and get this podcast out to everybody because it's already late because we're a different recording time. But Pythonista on the Discord says, I know it's best to ignore the outside noise, but sometimes it's hard to. How are both of you dealing with the bipolar nature of Arsenal coverage in the media? In the space of a week, we've gone from perennial chokers to nailed on favourites and it's only the first week of October. Personally, I'm finding the coverage of us completely and utterly confusing and sometimes a little overwhelming.

1:25:07It would be good to get your thoughts.

1:25:13Well, I'm quite blessed in that I'm not watching a lot of this coverage. I've got to say, like, either I'm at games or I'm working around games and I'm not ingesting very much Gary Neville in my life. Yeah, I don't think it's just Gary Neville. I do think it is sort of the wider... I think there is a quite unique sort of narrative that exists around Arsenal at this moment in time because of the high expectations, as we talked about, because of three second-place finishes, because of the length of Arteta's tenure and the money we've spent this summer, that there is, on the one hand, this idea that Arsenal should win the title and absolutely need to win the title.

1:25:58I get that. I do understand it. But at the same time, that when anything doesn't quite go according to plan, were painted as like, well, you know, like I referenced at the start of the pod, you know, after the Man City game, it was like all doom and gloom about Arsenal because, you know, we didn't beat one of the best teams in the Premier League. You know, there is this weird thing where we're not really given credit for what we do well, but when we don't do well, the knives are stuck in well and truly. but at the same time is sort of like a, like two face, you know, they're sticking the knife in and saying Arsenal are not good enough, but at the same time, Arsenal are good enough and have to be good enough.

1:26:48Somehow we're letting ourselves down. It's quite, I do agree. It's quite weird. Like you, I'm not watching a lot of it. I don't listen to any sort of general football podcasts anymore because I, I just can't really stand it. But I understand where this is, where this Pythonista is coming from. And I think a lot of fans are feeling that. Yeah, I understand. And I've said before that until Arsenal win one of the major trophies, they're always going to encounter this.

1:27:21That is the fundamental issue. I think people sort of resent the idea that Arsenal are kind of nearly men who haven't got over the line, but it is also sort of a fact. you know like it's it's it's a generalization and it you know i think people miss the nuance of it in the way that they use it and analyze but it's all it is also sort of irrefutable you know until this point so i think that is the fundamental issue i think what i think once arsenal win and I do think they will and I think it will be this year I really do feel like that I think it looks really positive right now and touch wood, fingers crossed it stays that way I think that will change the conversation but I also think it's kind of about I feel like it's probably less about Arsenal and more about how the media works now that's my honest feeling To us, it seems like it's about Arsenal because we're Arsenal fans and we're in that echo chamber and we see everything through that red and white prism.

1:28:35But I think really, this is just much more about how social media and partisan coverage and amplification of extremist viewpoints, extreme viewpoints, not extremist viewpoints. I think it's just how the media landscape has shifted. I think fans of every football club feel like their team is getting a rough ride. Maybe so. Maybe so. I guess the solution then is to stick with coverage that you feel gives you balance and nuance and context for what you're seeing. Yeah. You don't have to read the newspapers. You don't have to watch the halftime analysis or the post-game analysis. And I do think that's a good point about the way opinions are presented, not just on social media, but the way social media influences the way even mainstream opinion is presented to us.

1:29:43you know yeah mate i mean like i can think of examples from my own life where we'll do a podcast where we have a 90 minute in-depth conversation about a variety of topics and then i go on social media and that's been distilled into a two-line quote completely devoid of context that is being extracted and posted in order to generate um i don't know attention right and that's what every that's what the media is doing across the board just trying to distill things into the most inflammatory versions and it's it's it's annoying it's annoying for everybody i get that totally um i don't really know like you say i think that the answer is sort of to vote with your feet or vote with your mouse or whatever yeah yeah yeah vote with your remote because and also just feel also that we haven't got it that bad in that as annoying as some of the coverage is never in the history of football have we as fans had the range of choice that we do now you know and the way in which we can tailor our own and curate our own experience of following our team is way more complex and nuanced and interesting than it has ever been.

1:31:21So my advice is take advantage of that. Like life's too short. Don't, if stuff's driving you mad or if someone sort of, you know, is getting on your nerves, do your best to avoid it. Now I appreciate the one area where that isn't true is that football has rights holders. And if you're consuming that media legally, you're going to encounter the same personalities and some of the same narratives. So with that, you know, everybody has my sympathy. Yeah, of course. You know, the one time you can't avoid it is the 90 minutes that the game is on. Like you can't, you can avoid the buildup, which I always do.

1:32:03You can avoid halftime, which I always do, unless there's something I'm sort of curious about how they're going to view a particular incident, if it's controversial or, you know, something like the penalty incident last week at Newcastle, you know. I'm just sort of a bit more curious about that and see what people think. Same, yeah. You know, but, you know, for the most part, you can, on a day-to-day basis, as I said, choose what it is you read or listen to or watch because there's a lot out there. You know, there's something for everyone, you know? I think so, yeah. I think so. And, yeah, and I encourage people to sort of, in as far as they have time, it's possible, kind of seek out the stuff that they find rewarding or gratifying or interesting.

1:32:55I thought you were going to say seek out the people who annoy you and exact your terrible revenge on them. but yeah, that's your, your idea is probably much better. Try to do that with Roy Keane at the Everett stadium, not too long ago and didn't end well. Oh yeah, that's right. Okay. Well, all right. Well, look, as we said, you can, um, hopefully stick with us for the kind of, uh, content and coverage. We didn't say it explicitly, but that was the absolute subtext. Uh, well, we should just say thank you then to everybody for being here. If you've got this far, thank you for being with us as always.

1:33:32Hope you enjoyed the show. It is an interlull, but we'll do our best to keep you entertained here and on Patreon as well. If you want to jump on board our Patreon, it is patreon.com forward slash arseblog. For now, though, take it easy, folks, and we will catch you on the next one. Bye-bye.