Arsecast Extra Episode 670 - 08.12.2025

0:12Hello and welcome to another Arsecast Extra as always with James from Gunnerblog James good morning to you morning andrew how are you uh i'm okay like i just said to you i pulled up the blind in my office i've been living in a cave of darkness since saturday lunchtime i can see the sun the sky is blue but it means nothing to me yeah yeah i i hear you i hear you it's a strange and unfamiliar world we're in right now. Well, you know, it is, isn't it? You know, because it's the first time in 18 games that we're having to talk about Arsenal losing. A defeat for the first time since the game against Liverpool, which was in, what, late August, early September?

1:01Yeah. So, yeah, it's not, you know, it's not the usual routine for us or for the listeners or for anybody associated with Arsenal. 31st of August, it was. Right. And if you thought an 83rd minute winner was cruel, you know, Dominic Zoberslai really had to hold Emi Buendia's beer on that one. Yeah, pretty cruel way to lose a football match. Yes. And those Arsenal players, they felt every inch of that cruelty, didn't they? They really did. piero in capier was only short of doing this as he slapped the turf they felt it yeah it was full kind of platoon scenes wasn't it david riah as well have to commend for his his pounding of the turf yeah turf something i haven't seen turf pounded like that since I watched Saltburn.

2:13Yes, extraordinary. I haven't seen that movie so I don't know the reference but it's probably for the best from what I've heard about that film. Yes, it's quite disturbing. Yeah, from what I've heard. But yeah, I think I mean they were all of us I think in many ways. I think so. I think so. It's just one of those things that when the ball hits the back of the net it feels almost surreal in a way as if it's not real you know what i mean it's like no that that i can't have just seen that it's not possible surely not you know when do i wake from this nightmare yeah exactly exactly i'm slapping myself in the face going come on i don't i don't like this dream anymore yeah it's it's really really tough you know because it's one of those it's like it's a knife edge right and it's it's awful for us and similarly because my algorithm is baiting me I get sort of posts from Aston Villa fans who set the Titanic theme music to kick in at the exact moment Buendia puts that ball in the back of the net.

3:20It's just one of those moments that's sort of like very dramatic and in our case kind of dramatically painful. I think you need to take the algorithm out the back and give it a good kicking, to be honest, if that's what's being served up to you. I know. Yeah. I mean, listen, losing is bad. Nobody enjoys that. But losing in those circumstances, you know, we've been on the other end of it plenty of times where a late goal gives you one of the best feelings that you can ever have as a football fan, which is to sort of just grab all three points or qualify for the next round or whatever it is with a goal that comes far too late for the opposition to respond.

4:01And sometimes there's a late goal and there might even be a couple of minutes left. This was like almost literally the last kick of the game. So I don't know if I remember many goals where, as far as I'm aware, we didn't see the game restart. Like, I think there were still replays of the goal when the final whistle blew. I just muted my TV straight away as soon as the goal went in. And it was hard enough listening to the commentary on TNT Sports. The last thing I needed was to hear them talk about that because I knew there was no time. There was no way we could respond. And so it was like I've got to lessen the evil that I'm experiencing by turning off the TV or certainly muting the TV because, you know, I couldn't listen to the cheers and the commentary.

4:54none of it which sort of added to the surreal nature of it because you're sort of sitting there in silence stewing over something that's pretty pretty hard to take well here we are here we are here we are a couple of days later the dust has settled a bit so i guess we can try and make sense of it the picture's not uh too ugly i don't think now the dust has settled no i wrote about that a bit on the blog today so if people want to go and have a read of that they can and i think you know there is plenty to unpack from this game i i think we might have a question maybe in part two about how people have reacted to it and try and explore that a little bit but i do think a big part of it is just how it happened if we played poorly and villa gone two one up in the last you know if they'd scored in the 60th minute and we hadn't been able to get a goal in the last half an hour, I don't think it would feel quite as bad, obviously.

5:53So it's the manner of defeat that really is playing a part in how we think about this. Because, you know, generally, generally speaking, I think it was a fairly even kind of game. I think maybe if you were going to say who had the more dangerous moments, who had the most dangerous moments it would be Villa but I think generally speaking when you look at the SofaScore do this nice little sort of graphic it's called attack momentum and you can see the way that it goes between the two teams and it's pretty even you know they had a spell we had a spell they had a spell we had a spell particularly in the first half where I thought there were periods where both teams had to sit back and defend and be really disciplined.

6:45And there were periods, you know, when we had the ball, when we were on the front foot, when Villa were on the front foot, you know, I think we came up against a very decent team in good form. You know, they're on a pretty good run, a very good run at Villa Park as well. And ultimately just kind of fell short right at the death. So, yeah, I don't know. Where do you want to start with this? On the team selection, I guess? Yeah. What did we see? I mean, I have to be honest and say, I thought William Saliba would be back for this. I was a bit surprised that he didn't make it. Not a good surprise.

7:24So Ben White played it right back during Timber at centre-half. I think that's quite interesting, that Michael Arteta clearly sees those two that way round. Yes. That wasn't a surprise to me because I saw it in pre-season last year when those two played together, it was always Timber at centre-half rather than Ben White. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, well, they've both played a lot of football at centre-back. Timber maybe more recently has done so internationally and stuff. I think as well that he seemed to want Timber to be kind of jumping out of the back line at times, which maybe he's more suited to.

8:08Odegaard continued in midfield, which meant Eze coming in on the left-hand side. And Mikel Marino continued up front after his good performance against Brentford in midweek. So they were the major decisions. I mean, I think intrigued to see as an Odegaard on the same pitch again, intrigued to see as a back on the left, how that might work. Or not. Not very well, I guess was our answer. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that's probably the takeaway from the first half is that, you know, the two players who came off at the break weren't really playing particularly well. I think Marino looked like a guy who has played a lot and run a lot in the last little while, right?

8:55And Eze looked a bit peripheral out on the left-hand side. I mean, people have spoken about moving him from the central area, which I understand because he's done well there. But also I think you have to look at the team selection and look at who he didn't have available in terms of, you know, what does the manager think about a game at Villa Park? could he keep Eze in the middle and play Martinelli on the left? He could keep Odegaard on the bench. Maybe that would be something he'd be more willing to do if he had Saliba and Gabriel available to him. I think when you've got this, how do I put it?

9:36Not makeshift because obviously they're both defenders and Timber and Incapier international defenders, but not a lot of playing time between them. So there isn't really a relationship there. So you're playing at Villa Park, which we know is going to be really intense, do you add the sort of technical security of somebody like Martin Odegaard into midfield? And to me, that made perfect sense. And you want to keep Eze in the team. So do you view Eze on the left as a player out of position or just not in his optimum position? Well, the first thing I'd say is, you know, he's been playing predominantly in that Odegaard role.

10:15I feel like we've had debates and questions and discussions around whether that's the right position for him as well. There's been a lot of talk of he's over on the right-hand side. It's an adjustment for him. He's learning a new system. And prior to, obviously, his kind of explosion in the Spurs game, I don't think his performances had been especially good. I don't think they've been bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think they've been outstanding. I found it really interesting when perhaps you saw it on the TNT coverage, but at one point, about halfway through the first half, they flashed up a kind of average touch map, I think it was, for the Arsenal 11.

11:01and it was so interesting seeing kind of white Odegaard and Saka almost as you would expect as like a little triangle high up on the right hand side clearly playing close to each other clearly combining and then Eze as tends to be the case with our left winger was kind of an isolated dot way over on the left yeah that's not just an Eze thing is it because that could be Martinelli it could be Trossard has been many times And I think we've spoken before about how that hasn't particularly helped Martinelli, certainly. I think Trossard, of the three of them, is the one who's kind of found a way to make it work and to be able to combine and be involved from that area.

11:47So, yeah, listen, I felt like he was peripheral in a very literal sense. sense um but i also feel like that is slightly a function of the way we play especially when we have white up in the garden sacker on the pitch you know we have tended to be very lopsided um and you know there was a moment wasn't there whereas i think did he score after sacker was offside and he kind of came in off that left hand side and i sort of think maybe that's more what we're looking for from him when we set up in this way you know we're not necessarily expecting him to be a number 10 on the ball regularly creating things from that side maybe it is more about arriving and getting on the end of stuff um but he was definitely peripheral i thought marino he may have been fatigue as you suggest i just thought his his touch his hold-up play was not secure.

12:47He wasn't really providing the focal point that he can do. As far as Eze goes, I think what he did on the ball was much less important than what he did off it. I think it might have been that that really provoked the substitution because obviously he was very, very... he was as a slot would say of of canate he was at the crime scene on on the goal villa's opening well listen you know we'll we'll come to that now in a second but just some other you know you mentioned the disallowed goal that we scored yeah uh scored but didn't score obviously um you know there was a chance early on for villa wasn't there when ollie watkins was through and i thought he was going to score to be honest but David Ryan made a good save I think it's probably a bad miss more than a good save I'm not taking anything away from Ryan but if you're a striker if my striker's in that position he doesn't score I'm looking at him before I'm giving any credit to the goalkeeper but you know there were moments I think at both ends without either side really dominating or looking like they were going to uh to to get ahead um there was pressed quite well i must say actually in that first half hour or so like there were a couple of moments where we created turnovers i think um one led to an odegaard shot from the edge of the box um there's another moment where sacker ended up getting a shot off and then maybe a header as well but i i remember feeling like we looked quite coordinated and aggressive and we were going after Villa um in that first 20-30 minutes or so um but yes you're right to say the chance of both ends and Watkins had the decent opportunity Matty Cash had one at the back post um that Declan Rice I thought blocked really really well yeah that was a great block from from Rice and it wasn't long after that that they scored Mm, so look, Ezzer clearly knew he'd made a mistake, and it's not that he wasn't there, and it's not that he wasn't tracking back, and it wasn't that he was in the wrong position.

15:04It's just literally half a second, because you can see him scan and look around and see is Matty Cash behind him, and he's there, and he knows what he has to do. It's just that he switches off. All it takes is half a second, and Cash is there. Where I might also look at this goal is the time. I think it's Pau Torres who puts the cross in under no pressure whatsoever. I think he's looking for Watkins in the middle. It flicks off timber, which is obviously beneficial for Matty Cash. He races onto it. You can see the reaction from Eza. He knows. He sort of slumps to his knees for a second. and there's a sort of reverse angle where I think you can sort of see him go, ah, fuck, as Matty Cash runs off the back of him to make it 1-0 to Villa.

15:59You can, actually. I'm just watching that now. Lip readers will have a field day with that. Yes, they will conclude that what he's saying is, ah, fuck. I thought the same, actually. Do you know what? It reminded me a little bit of the way Sunderland were allowed time on the ball before their equaliser in the 2-2. You know, there was a lot of kind of seemingly quite passive play outside the box before they actually swung one in. But in that context, it was the 94th minute or something. And we had five defenders on the pitch. And you could understand, I think I'm right saying including Sliba and Gabriel as well.

16:40You could understand us kind of saying, well, yeah, if you want to swing it into the box, that's fine. You know, we'll defend our lines. But I did think we were a bit passive here. We didn't get out to him, to Torres. He's given ages to sort of swing in across wherever he likes. And, you know, when we speak about injuries and how they impact us and affect us, I mean Timber's a fantastic defender but he is about half a foot shorter than William Saliba and that might be the difference genuinely between getting that ball away or as happens flicking it onto the back post Yeah, nothing Raya could do about it and then you sort of have that little bit of momentum or you fear that little bit of momentum is going to carry Villa all the way through to half time you're like right let's just get it in at 1-0 but there were chances for Arsenal before the break.

17:35There was one for Ben White, which I think you can see by the reaction from him as he takes the shot. You know, it's a first-time shot, but Kai Osaka pulls it back. First-time shot, and he has to hit it first time. He's got no choice. But, you know, he sort of jumps up and down a little bit as if, oh, crikey, you know, could have done a little bit better there. And then there was another one when Declan Rice, he won the ball. Did he win the ball? He intercepted, got there ahead of McGinn, left McGinn on his big arse and got to the edge of the box. And there's a pass maybe to Saka if he looks up, but the shot that he takes is quite tame.

18:16I don't know if he just ran out of steam or whatever it was, having worked hard to get the ball back. But there were a couple of moments there for Arsenal before the end of the first half where I think we maybe could have done a little bit better with. And then we get to halftime. Were you expecting a change at halftime? Do you know what? I thought it was a possibility. What about you? I did wonder about... Yeah, I wondered about Eza and I wondered about Marino. I didn't necessarily expect both to come off. I was worried for Eza. I'll say that. Yeah, especially when you've got Leandro Trossard back and available and he's been in such good form.

18:58You know what I mean? I can massively understand that temptation. I mean, just on there as a substitution, what do you think the tone of that substitution was? Do you think that was a punishment? It's hard to know, isn't it? It might be just the case that he looked at Eza and looked at Marino and said, it's not working. in this game these guys are not as active as i need them to be i've got to try and change something um it's hard to sort of escape that conclusion isn't it when a player makes a mistake that leads to a goal and then they get taken off at halftime you you put two and two together pretty easily i mean i think all players i sort of think regardless of the intention you know i'm sure if he was asked about it in public michael and cesser would just say well you've got other options at your disposal and you know one's a really informed player in Trossard and it makes sense to use them and to change it you've got to come from behind but equally I know how a footballer would take being yeah hooked at halftime yes uh whatever the intention whatever the logic which I think the logic is perfectly sound to be honest um yeah, it would definitely have been a blow to Eze.

20:23Yeah, I mean, and ultimately it was a decision which paid off because of what Trossard did in the opening minutes of the second half. So, I mean, you can look at it as a punishment for Eze, but you can also look at it as a way to get the team performing again. I think in the, what was it, seven minutes into the second half when we get the goal, is it that? Yeah. Yeah, eight minutes into the second half. Well, he had two chances. He had two chances. There was one where I think we had a corner and Emi Martinez came out and he hooked a shot on target. Martinez got back. And then there was the brilliant pass from Odegaard over the top, which he volleyed not far wide with his left foot.

21:07so immediately whether it's trossard whether it's something different in terms of the way the team are playing whether it's an instruction about you know let's get trossard into the game or not he is instantly more impactful on that left-hand side than as i was in the first half so if if the manager wants a justification for his substitution it's like i needed more from whoever is playing in that position i brought on a player who gave me more and got the team back into the game with a goal and this was our best spell i thought really of the game immediately after half time um villa sort of you know disappeared into their shells a bit and i thought we were really really good and really dangerous um trossard made a massive difference um was a real threat as you mentioned on several occasions.

22:01And we got the goal. Credit to Declan Rice, who won the ball back brilliantly. Odegaard and Saka, who were kind of really at it, I think, in this game. They seemed to really enjoy having each other available. And there's Trossard doing Trossard things, getting on the end of it. Victor Jokic is pretty close to it, but Emi Masters palms it away. And of course, it's Leandro Trossard. Well, yeah, I mean, you mentioned that's a right-hand side and maybe we're a bit lopsided, but the right-hand side created a goal for the left-hand side player. So that's part of that logic. And you're right, I think this was our best spell in the game.

22:41I thought we were going to come back and win it, I'll be honest. You did say that to me, yeah. I was like, I think Villa are decent, but I think if we can really play to our level in the second half, I think it's very much still there for us. And when we equalised at 52 minutes, I thought, I am Nostradamus. I am the great and mighty predictor of football outcomes. That lasted, you know, some minutes. Some glorious minutes. Yeah, glorious, glorious minutes. I mean, I think, again, it's fair to say that after the goal, not that we sat back deliberately, but Villa actually responded quite well. the game got a bit more open got a bit stretched I think at times and there was a there was something I noticed that I don't see happening at all when we have William Saliba and Gabriel in the team is that Villa were looking for passes between the fullback and the centre half and getting some joy from that which I thought was maybe something that either Unai Emery or Aston Villa had identified as a as a possible way of getting at Arsenal.

23:55There was, I think we made a move, was it Calafiore played a bad pass and then himself and Incappier got back and they sort of squeezed out the danger. There was a chance for Ollie Watkins again when Ryan made a good save. So I think what you're saying about Arsenal going on to win the game if we could play at our level, I don't think we did though. I don't think we did play at our level. I mean, there were moments Martin Odegaard threatened and Martin Odegaard looked good in the second half in particular shooting. One shot in particular was very good. Another one maybe a bit tame, a bit straight at the goalkeeper, but he looked lively.

24:36I thought Saka actually looked pretty lively too, but he came off with a yellow card. But it was, you know, the longer it went on, there was a Saka shot as well, wasn't there, that was going, I think, in? and it was blocked by Conce. One of the defenders got it away. I don't think Emil Martinez was going to get there. He sort of side-footed it towards the far post and it was a good clearance. But, you know, the longer it went on, the more I was thinking, I'll take a draw here. I'd like to win it, but I will absolutely take a draw. Like I said, I thought we had a very good kind of 10, 15 minutes after the break.

25:17But I thought Villa sort of settled back into things after that. And they do have a way of hurting us. You know, there are certain teams in this league. We're very, very good. I think we're probably the best team in the Premier League right now. But there are a few teams who can give us problems. You know, Newcastle historically have been one. And I would say that Villa are absolutely one as well. there is something kind of quite annoying annoying yeah that's one word I mean they attack in a very dynamic way basically that is difficult for anybody to live with especially a team of their two first choice central defenders and players like Morgan Rodgers you know we have struggled to shackle him before I think he gives us issues.

26:19Yeah, I mean, maybe Martinez makes a really good save from that Martin Odegaard shot. But otherwise, I think the better chances were going Villa's way. For sure. There was one for Marlon, wasn't there? Daniel Marlon dragged wide. And then there's the timber. He sort of gets a toe on it as Raya's about to come out and collect it. And it just squirms beyond the far post. almost an own goal. And those were the kinds of things that were making me think, just fucking get out of dodge with a point, reset, and just sort of, okay, fine, draw away from home against a team in good form. You know, they've got the wind at their backs in terms of their form and the fans and the crowd and the energy.

27:02Just like, get out of here, take the point, get out of here. Nevertheless, I think there was a half-decent chance for Arsenal to score a winning goal. What, the Matueke moment? The Matueke moment and the Yacarez non-moment, I would classify it as, because I think, you know, he didn't really have much of an impact when he came off the bench. And I think, to be fair, he's only just back from injury, so we can put his performance in that context. But what I think, you know, frustrated me a little bit was when discussions around Jokeres happen, people will say, well, look, he's not going to be the striker who picks up the ball from deep and makes things happen for himself.

27:52He needs service. And I absolutely accept that. Where I was frustrated with Jokeres and latterly Madueke was the fact that this was brilliant service from Declan Rice. This was a fantastic ball in from the left-hand side. Jokeres is nowhere near it. He's not reading that situation well enough. He's not on his toes well enough. He does not attack that ball in the way that I want my striker to attack that ball. And I think when it gets to Matueke at the back post, I think he's just got to go back across the goal. I know it's his wrong foot. I know it's not always easy. But I think in that moment, in that moment, you've got to put the ball back across towards the far post.

28:45If the keeper makes a save, maybe Jokerez is there. And to be fair, he is there in a central position, you know, to tap home a rebound or to sort of slide in the way he did on Sanchez last week, you know, to really attack it. So I think that's where I have a sense of regret above and beyond what happened immediately afterwards. I think that that was a pretty decent opportunity for Arsenal to win that because I know the ball in from Rice is quite early, as it should be, because that's how you make it dangerous. But yeah, I just don't know that our forward players did enough. Well, yeah, I mean, it's almost like they didn't anticipate it, I think.

29:27and in some respects I can understand it because who thinks, well I imagine Declan Arce will pull this out of the sky with his right foot and then lay a left foot across perfectly into the six yard box you know it's not a completely irrational position to take but yeah it doesn't look great say for your centre forward I'm a bit more sympathetic to Madueke in terms of like how tight the angle is by that point I think there's a degree to which this moment is probably being over-indexed, over-scrutinised because of its proximity to... Possibly. Possibly. Yeah. Well, obviously then what followed is Villa take a goal kick and the ball goes up the other end and I think there's like a missed kick from somebody.

30:17Incappier reads it quite well and just sort of overruns it out for a throw-in. So I've seen him get quite a lot of... So that's another left-footed player on their right foot, basically. I've seen him get, yeah. I'm a left-footed player myself. I know how badly that can go. Yeah, I've seen him get quite a lot of criticism for that. And listen, I think you have to... If Villa get a throw-in and they launch it into the box, like Brentford or something, and then they score a goal, I think you can apply a bit more scrutiny to a moment of slight carelessness or miscontrol from a defender. who actually carried out the defensive duties pretty well up until the point where he put it out for a throw.

31:02But, you know, it came in. We got it clear. You know, I think it's Timber who boots it clear. Maybe not quite that far. And then, of course, the ball comes back in. And after that, it's just...

31:23Oh, you know what? I'm just watching it again not that this will make anybody feel good is that like a handball from Telemans oh god don't tell me that I'm looking at it again and I saw it the other day and I was going I must make a note of that to ask James as Telemans controls it looks like it bounces up and hits his hand I could be wrong because I'm sure VAR will have looked at that wouldn't they they would I'm watching it now so basically The ball comes back. They get it into the box. Marlon lays it out. I guess that's Matty Cash who swings it across the box. It's actually a very good header back across goal by Jadon Sancho, I think, into a really dangerous area.

32:06David Raya makes the save. Is that from Telemans? No, Buendia. Oh, it is Telemans, yeah. Yeah. Is that where the handball is? No, the handball is in the build-up just after Timber. oh i see right back then clears it um maybe maybe it was far enough back that they didn't even look at it i don't know yeah might have been i'm just looking at it again maybe i'm just going to drive myself mad if i look at this i think i think for your own sanity yeah to uh maybe not but listen but i i'm watching it back now the part of the reason i'm watching it back is because I totally understand the criticism of like, Arsenal have got to clear their lines.

32:51But if I'm honest, when I watch it, I don't really see where that moment is. There's not a chance where ball's there and a player whiffs at it or scuffs it. Now, what I would say to contradict myself is maybe it's a little bit panicked from Arsenal. Like maybe it's almost, like it's almost impressive the degree to which Arsenal players are kind of throwing themselves in the way of it. But is there a bit of a desperation in it that may let us down? I don't know. I mean, I don't know what you can do in that situation as a defender or when you're defending and the ball is like, nobody quite knows where the ball is.

33:35Yeah. And, oh, fuck, I'm having to watch Villa Celebrations here. I'm turning that video off again. My gut feeling after the game, and I think it's still the same today, is that if the bounce of the ball is slightly different, we are sort of heralding that as... Heroic defending, yeah, exactly. Brave, heroic last-ditch defending. Yeah, exactly. I think, listen, I think Villa got a little bit of a break. They just got the run of the ball at a key moment. I don't know that we did too much wrong in that scenario. or maybe Timber could clear it a bit further earlier on. I think that is the chance, really.

34:12That is the one where, yeah, exactly. Because then you can push out. We speak about brave defending. It's brave attacking too. That's the thing. I mean, they went for it. Like they knew this is it. This is our chance. Close the gap to three points. They've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven men. like is that right one two three six men in the box no seven men in the box right do you know what I mean in the 94th minute like if they get caught they're in big big trouble so it was one of those moments where everybody kind of went all in and the cards fell in their favour

35:00to be fair to Buendia you know he executes the finish well and cue Sammy Kufour-esque ground thumping. Yeah. I mean, it's just so hard to take, isn't it? You know, it really makes you feel like throwing up a little bit, you know? It does. But, you know, I think, I mean, you know, it's a couple of days on now for a start. so I do think this was a very close game like a lot of Villa games and a lot of Emery games that we will all remember it was quite end-to-end at times as in there were chances certainly at both ends there was an element of chaos to it and Villa rolled the dice so basically they came out in their favour But I don't think there's any great, I don't think this was a particularly bad performance.

36:08And I think that, funnily enough, I think Gary Neville said it quite well. You'd sort of expect him to be the first to jump on Arsenal at this opportunity. But he sort of, I'm paraphrasing, but he basically said, when you play good teams, sometimes you'll lose. and it doesn't need to be a cause for panic. No. And I agree with that, really. I mean, I think this is a league where, apart from one or two teams, pretty obvious teams, it's a league where, and I think this could be to our benefit, and I've said this, that if it's a closely contested title race, I think we've got a better chance of winning it.

36:51But this is a league where anybody can take points off anybody. Right. Sunderland going to Stamford Bridge and winning and, you know, Leeds taking points off Liverpool hilariously and all the fallout from that, you know. So I think sometimes you can analyze a game and say, did we play as well as we could? No. Are there reasons for that? Probably, you know, the game against Chelsea. I think we win if we have Saliba and Gabriel. This game, we certainly don't lose if we have Saliba and Gabriel. Those are reasons and not excuses. But we also have been playing a lot of very intense games.

37:37We have injury issues. Maybe there are questions, and we can deal with those in part two, about rotation and whether there's more the manager could do to keep people fresh. But, you know, there was a question. No, God exists. Does he indeed? Yeah, those kinds of things. But, you know, I'd be more upset if we go to Villa Park and get beaten. And I'm thinking, well, these guys didn't try. There was a lack of effort or lack of commitment or something like that. Sometimes you lose games of football. And yesterday or on Saturday, we lost it in a very heartbreaking and cruel way. I think maybe the schedule caught up with us a little bit.

38:20Maybe we couldn't manage those final few minutes because of fatigue or whatever it was. And it's really annoying and really frustrating and nobody likes losing. But I also think it needs to be looked at in the bigger picture. You know, being the first defeat in 18 games is a really, really long and really impressive run. And I think as well, this is probably a scenario that, you know, they're not ever going to plan for defeat, are they? But they will have talked about what happens when we lose a game. You know, how do we react? How do we display our resolve? How do we display our character? You know, I think what sort of feeds into this is a lot of external influence on how Arsenal are discussed, to be honest.

39:12Because a couple of weeks ago, well, the league is, you know, not saying it's everybody. The league is Arsenal's. The pundits are saying it's Arsenal's to lose. We could be this many points clear. It's still December, by the way. I thought Arteta was quite good afterwards saying, if anyone thinks we're going to be 10 points clear in December, you're living in a different world, which I think is absolutely right, you know. But all of those sort of factors feed into how people react afterwards and how people feel about it. And, you know, the reality is when anybody at Arsenal is talking about the title, whether it's the manager or whether it's any of the players in the interviews that they do on Sky Sports and TNT and all of that kind of stuff.

39:56they've all been very much on message that there's a long way to go. We're in the title race, but we're not taking anything for granted. But I think there is this external idea that Arsenal fans and the club and the players and the manager are sort of, you know, yeah, we're going to coast to this title and it's going to be a cakewalk and all that kind of stuff. And that's just not true. It couldn't be further from the truth. It was always going to be really difficult. There were always going to be days where it doesn't work, where you don't play, where you get sucker punch like this, where you stumble a little bit, and where I'm much more interested in seeing how we respond now rather than sort of overanalyzing a game that you could say Villa deserved to win maybe based on some of the chances.

40:45But, you know, it happens. It happens. You can't be fucking brilliant all the time and you can't win every game. So where I'm more interested in sort of casting my own mind is to see what's the response now from Arsenal? What way do they react to this? You know, how do they, I think Arteta said it was emotional, didn't he? He said it was touching emotionally, I think is what he said about the result. But again, it's that message of, okay, that hurt. Let's take that and start winning again. You know, he says it will make us a better team. And that's what we need to see, right? It is, yeah. It is.

41:26And I think actually the reaction to, well, the players' reactions at full-time kind of sum up some of that discourse in that I saw, again, thank you, Algorithm, fans of other clubs and certain pundits kind of seeing the anguish in those Arsenal players as evidence of Arsenal cracking up, right? Feeling the pressure, feeling the strain. Whereas actually, I think as Arsenal fans, we should be quite encouraged by that. I think it would have been much more concerning if that ball hits the net and shoulders just slump and heads go down and nobody says anything. I think the passion that you see and the pain that you see can both be really positive motivating factors.

42:20And I think they are indicative of a team, I was talking with Amy Lawrence about this before we came on air this morning, indicative of a team who are really sort of laser focused on their goal and recognise the stakes in every single moment of every single game. And that tallies with what we've seen until this point. So, in a way, nothing changes. I mean, realistically, to win the league, I'm not a statistician, but we can probably lose, what, somewhere between four and six games? Yeah, they used to say six was the most, I think. Right. Maybe that's different, yeah. So, two down, basically. We've lost two of our lives, as it were.

43:12But still very much top of the league, still in a very strong position, still got potentially the most favourable fixture list of any of the realistic contenders because of the tough away games. We've already ticked off the list and this is another one. So disappointed, yes, but not too disheartened. And I think as well, you've got to look at when we have had setbacks this season. so Anfield have responded to that an 18 game unbeaten run yeah Sunderland came back from the break in winning form this team have shown already in this season and that's without mentioning the countless responses to injuries that we've suffered they have shown a resilience already and to be honest I expect them to continue to do that and in terms of the Premier League you mentioned and it's a competitive league with the exception of a couple of teams, we couldn't really wish for a more favourable fixture next weekend.

44:18Yeah, and that's true. I mean, there's a midweek one, and we might talk a little bit about that. But I do think some people will put it down as like football support or cope, but it's one of those where if someone offers you a scenario, you know those ones. If someone said this, if someone offered you that. But, you know, if you're in early December, you've been to Anfield, Villa Park, Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford and St. James's Park, and you're top of the table by two points. You take that? Yeah, I think so. I absolutely would. You know? But equally, I do – listen, people may tell me – people may disagree, but I am sort of slightly finding it odd to look at that table and see the likes of City and Villa so close.

45:06when I think about the way we've played, how formidable we've looked at times this season, the results we've achieved, and I think about the lack of consistency that's kind of underscored those two teams this season. Is there any part of you that looks at it like, wow. No, not really. After all that, it's only two points. Well, what it might make me think is that you know, a defeat as painful as it is, you know, as a demonstration that it's not the end of the world because Villa have lost games and Man City lost games. And to be fair, both of them had really indifferent starts to the season, Villa in particular.

45:51They've been on a brilliant run so far, but I think what we know about Unai Emery's teams is that those runs, you know, they'll hit the bricks at some point, you know. But it should be an indication to us, maybe as a way of dealing with the disappointment of losing a game is that you're particularly at this point of the season where there is time to react and there is time to go again and time to make up those points that you know we lost a game and it's fucking crap to lose a game but we can see just basically means that you can lose games and it's not fatal to your title chances because Villa have lost and look where they are and City have lost and look where they are and we've lost the game and we're still where we are and it makes everything tighter and a bit more nerve-wracking and all the rest but you know um we have to be able to deal with defeat and nobody was expecting another invincible season so it's happened react move on and and uh take it from there that's that's where i am with it yeah and i think realistically after 15 games you're only going to get so much variance in terms of points tallies right so yeah 23 games still to go most a big chunk of the season the majority of the season still ahead.

47:04Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, and the setbacks are inevitable. It is all about the response for it. So let's see what this week holds for us. All right. Well, look, why don't we take a little break here and we will come back with your questions and more in part two right after this.

47:30welcome back to the arse cast extra this is part two of the show where we answer the questions that you send to us on blue sky 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 um Do you want to go first or will I go first?

47:53What about this? I saw Cal get asked this by Simon Collins the other day. I thought I'd put it to you. It's from Gabby, Gabby, Gabby Goal. And they ask, morning, gents. Do you think the club's terrible run of injuries will influence any January transfer business? I wasn't expecting any incomings due to the extensive summer transfers, but now I'm not so sure.

48:23I don't think so. Unless there's like a real crisis and I'm touching wood and keeping fingers crossed that that's not the case. I mean, we know Muscara is going to be out for a while, right? Weeks. Weeks. Not days, but weeks. 52 weeks in a year. um yeah gabrielle a matter of weeks arteta said saliva should be back soon enough we have in capier we have califiori we have lewis skelly we have white we have timber i just can't really see it unless there's an absolute emergency in which case i think they'd be looking at like a loan signing and then you're questioning right who's available on loan that's any good in a title race so I'd be I'd be really surprised if Arsenal did any January business you um I mean I have very much been of the mind that you know the work was done in the summer um and also that the money was spent in the summer I can't imagine you know I know that for example when they were looking we've read reports right when they were looking at the Eze deal, when they're looking at the Incappier deal, transfers more toward the end of the window.

49:45I think a fair amount of sort of quite careful accounting to go into making those deals viable.

49:58So I think that presents challenges. um i wouldn't surprise me if mikhail sort of asked the question of of the owners or or pushes for something because he always does i mean invariably he he sees every window as a chance to get better and you know i think he i don't think he'll be shy about doing that again so I think it comes down to whether there's the capacity really financially and I don't know is my honest answer but it wouldn't surprise me if it was if it would prove pretty challenging to do and stay compliant with financial fair play and all those other factors so you know we might see one or two things I mean we saw obviously the the Quintero twins signed the other day.

50:55I think the work that is going on in sort of recruiting younger players, developing players will continue sort of semi-aggressively. It wouldn't blow my mind if there was another one of those, for example. But in terms of like a first team addition, I would be a little bit surprised. Okay, what about this? given that we play Club Bruges in the Champions League on Wednesday night. And maybe these questions are related. There's a more specific or general one here from gunner63.bsky.social. What are your ideas for rotation options this week in Europe? He also says and the league, but I'm more interested in the European game.

51:44And then we have some questions about somebody you mentioned in the first half. Rowan Patel says, good morning, chaps. Christian Norgard, talk to me. And Haider Javed, who's hj14.bsky.social, says, should we be questioning the Norgard signing and Arteta's reluctance to use him? I feel we could have used his energy and defensive nous to protect the lead at Sunderland and the pointed Villa. What is his role in the squad if we're overlooking his attributes when perhaps we need them most? Yeah, it's a really interesting one, I think. Do you remember we got a question a few weeks ago about how many games he'd start or something between now and Christmas?

52:28And you and I had a heated debate about whether it would be one or two.

52:35So I think the first thing I would say is the logic of the signing to me. As I kind of justified it to myself in the moment was, well, Martin Zubermendi is coming in. and obviously there might be some adaptation there. We don't know how he'll fare in his first few months in English football. And actually, I think Zubamendi's excellence has been sort of, has slightly rendered Christian Norgard a little bit pointless, I would say, in that Zubamendi's played all the games and played them very, very well and has needed almost no time to get up to speed or be bedded in. Norgod also obviously had an injury at the start of the season, missed the first few weeks, which I think slowed his adaptation and his involvement.

53:33I think he has spoken as well. I might be wrong about this, but I think he has spoken about the change in coming from Brentford and needing to kind of come up to the level, even for an experienced pro like him maybe even more so for an experienced pro like him adapting to a maybe more demanding environment maybe more tactically demanding maybe more physically demanding i think has been a process for him so i think there's all kinds of explanations for like why we haven't necessarily seen a great deal of him and i think the main one is that zubamendi's been so good and so instrumental equally i i do kind of find myself thinking like looking at it now was that a good use of a spot in the squad like from a from a football business perspective like could we have spent that money you know i see we're being linked with some younger midfielders um ahead of january as as arsenal look to kind of you know evolve that that group moving forward would we have been as good or better off even spending 10 15 million on a 21 year old who probably would have played same amount of minutes but would have more potential moving forward more market value moving forward i think that's sort of an interesting kind of strategic discussion but then my sort of conclusion with it is that that's not what michael arteta and andrew burta wanted to do in this window.

55:08No. They didn't buy a 21-year-old centre-forward. They bought a 27-year-old one. Predominantly, Moscaira is kind of the outlier. Predominantly, they went for players who are oven-ready, experienced, ready to step in and play their part immediately. And I guess that's why they opted for Norgard. Yeah, I guess, because, you know, you're sort of talking about a player of the profile of Albert Sambi-Lokonga, for example. You know, so we did try that. Exactly, I could have done that with Konga. Here's the debate, I think. Yeah, I mean, I think what you have to remember as well is that I think you're right about Zubimendi.

55:51Would there be an adaptation period? I wasn't too concerned that there would be, given his experience and his quality, and I think he's got up to speed very quickly. I think, you know, what they looked at was losing a lot of experience from midfield last summer. Two veteran midfielders left. So they wanted to replace some of that. And I think, you know, we might get to the end of the season and say, actually, you know, turns out this was a really good deal. You know, he's come in, played a part, been important. So far, that hasn't been the case. He hasn't really played a great deal. I would expect and actually hope to see him in midweek against Club Bruges.

56:37Not taking anything for granted, but I do think there is an opportunity to provide some of the players who have played a lot this season a little bit of a rest. You know, and I'm looking at Rice. I'm looking at Zubimendi. I'm looking at, well, where else are you looking? I think they're the main ones. They're the two in particular where I think you can play Norgard, Weneri, Norgard, Eze in midfield. I wouldn't have a problem with Odegaard starting this game. He's missed a lot of football, so we need to get him back and playing regularly and get him up to his rhythm. There are ways that he can rotate the squad and rotate the team for Tuesday, but I think it's important that Rice, You know, Rice, I'm not saying, remember when Kai Havertz, was it the game against Wolves where he just sort of fell over at the end?

57:35He was so tired. Rice has sort of looked a little bit like that in the last couple of weeks because these stats are not publicly available, but I can't imagine there are too many players who since the last interlal have run further than him and run harder than him. So I'm looking at this game in particular as a way of resting Rice. Give him a week off, basically. And then you've got a decision to make. Do you need him against Wolves? Do you want him against Wolves? Those might be two very different things. But then I think there's a week, isn't there, between the Wolves game and the Everton game.

58:12Very precious. Yeah, you know. So there is scope, I think, for some rotation in this game, particularly in midfield. Maybe not so much in defensive areas because we're short. but you know I mean are you looking at Jokeres starting this game against Club Bruges yeah yeah yeah I'll get on to him actually because I had a question about him but just finishing up on Norgard I think I think what we've done is sort of explain the rationale of the signing but I'm not sure it explains necessarily his absence from the selection do you think game states have played apart I think the only game that I there are a couple of games I looked at recently where I thought, you know what?

58:57Bayern Munich and the North London Derby, when you're 3-1 up and 4-1 up with 15 minutes to go, is that not a moment where you can say we can take 15 minutes off Declan Rice here and 20 minutes off him there? Those are the only games. There are other games where I think, you know, this game in particular, people are saying, well, why didn't you put Norgard on? And we'd made two changes at halftime. we put Trossard on then had to take him back off right because of the the fitness issue I think that's what Arteta alluded to afterwards wasn't it that basically they put him on for as long as they could and then they took him off again because they didn't want to do him any more damage I mean my feeling is like because he play he came on at half time and he went off on 86 minutes like I find it hard to believe that he was okay to play 40, but couldn't have played 45.

59:52But I'm not a doctor. I think that was covering for the fact that he thinks Martinelli's a better defender, to be honest with you. Yeah, maybe so. So then he made a decision. He put Martinelli on and he put Lewis Skelly on for Calafuri. Calafuri picked up a yellow card. So I think, you know, that was maybe common sense. So now there's no room for Norgard in this game. That's true. I mean, I think some people thought maybe Zemendy was tiring. I think that's the thing, isn't it? We're talking about Zemendy being integral from the start, but you don't want him to become a victim of his own success where he's having to play every minute and he gets exhausted.

1:00:27I think another interesting thing on Norgard is just that we've spoken about the squad building and how deep the squad is and how in so many positions it feels like a toss-up, right? like Calafuri versus Louis Skelly versus Incappier or Odegaard versus Eze or Trosser, Martinelli, even Sacca Madueche or Havertz, Jokeres, however you want to look at it. I do feel without real respect for Norgard because I know he's a great pro and international player, there is a bigger gap in my mind between a Martin Zubemendi or a Declan Rice and a Christian Norgard. And the price tags alone kind of tell that story.

1:01:10Yeah, I don't disagree with that. And I think maybe that's where we see that gap, I think, explains Mikhail Teta's seeming reticence as well. I think he just thinks he's better served by having those first-choice players on the pitch. But I agree that this week should be an exception in that. I mean, in fact, we had a question from ATX, Burkamp Lover, who said, how many teenagers should start on Wednesday? Two, maybe. It would be Ethan Rennery. Maybe Rennery could start and maybe Louis Skelly can start. I mean, should it be big rotation, like wholesale rotation? I don't think it will be wholesale rotation, but I think there's a sort of an idea, as you say, there's a lot of equilibrium, talent equilibrium, if that's what you want to call it, within the squad.

1:02:09So if it's Trossard or Martinelli, listen, Trossard's in better form, but you know, we're talking about players in the same ballpark. I think Saka Madueke is a more, that's a bit more the other way for me. A bit more Norgaard-Zubamendi with Saka Madueke so far with him. But, you know, if you want to... Yeah, I was quite generous to Nani, I think. But there you go. If you want to take minutes out of the legs of Saka and rest him up for, you know, a home game against Wolves where you want him to really, really imprint himself on the game, that's a way of doing it. You know, Marino's there. Odegaard is there.

1:02:44You know, I think we'll see. I wonder about Left Back, actually, because Calafuri suspended, isn't he, for the Wolves game after picking up that yellow. People asked, we had a question about whether it was deliberate. Did we think it was a deliberate yellow card? I can't find who it was. It didn't occur to me at the time, but it's not a crazy conspiracy theory. I can't remember what he got it for. He was high in the Villa half, and they were about to take it down the right wing, and he just pulled the guy back. It was very cynical. But I think it was more just about preventing the attack than him going, aha, here is my chance to pick up the yellow card that will rule me out of the Wolves game.

1:03:27He likes the booking, to be honest. He does. I'd be inclined to think it's just like the others. I mean, actually, I would still play Miles Wednesday because I think Miles… Give him some rhythm. yeah he looks to me like a player lacking a bit of rhythm and i think let's get embedded in you know playing alongside somebody else obviously it won't be gabrielle centrally will it so i think i would give him that game ben white started two games in three days so do you want to play ben white again i don't know do you have any choice well unless he gets to leave about yeah but even with Talibra if there's any doubt you're probably thinking save him aren't you yeah save him for the for the league so so it could be similar back four yeah I'd like to see change in midfield change the left side you would imagine left winger and then yeah Yacarez did I say I had a question you did I did say that I think he'll start by the way did I have one though I didn't I don't know if I did actually I saw one I've got one, which I thought was quite interesting, rather than being completely focused on Jokeres, because I saw quite a lot of discussion after the game about him and about the fact he didn't really have a big impact in the second half when he came on.

1:04:55And Trossard came on, had a big impact, Jokeres not so much. And I think some people are a little concerned about that, but there was a question here, so maybe it's a wider discussion, from Noling on the Discord. He says, Yocarez and all the strikers that we were linked with slash interested in, Sesco, Izak, Watkins, and he said, maybe with the exception of Eketike, who I'm not sure we were that interested in. He said, they're all struggling to varying degrees. Why do you think that is? Marino is having the best season of them all. So it's just as a wider discussion about the strikers that are finding it tough going in the Premier League this season?

1:05:38Yeah, I mean, I think Izak and to a lesser extent Eketike are sort of caught in the maelstrom that is Liverpool. You know, I kind of feel like that is a bit of a mess, isn't it? I have thought about this quite a lot because obviously none of them have particularly... set the world light. Even the one who looked like the sure thing in Izak.

1:06:14I think my overriding feeling is that apart from Izak, it wasn't a particularly strong field. I'm not convinced. Arsenal had a problem going into the summer where they had to buy a striker. And I think they'd sort of given themselves that problem, really, by failing to do it in each of the previous two windows. But it sort of reached a point of critical mass where they had to buy a centre-forward. And that meant they had to make a choice from a relatively small pool of guys who looked like they might be a contender.

1:06:58And, you know, we debated Sesco versus Yoko Reza a lot. but there weren't i don't i don't think too many people were like either of them are certainty either of them are a sure thing you know i think i think there were i think there were debates to be had people were sort of in not one camp or the other but there were certainly sesco advocates and yucca as advocates and people in the middle there were lots of people who were sort of agnostic as well and like well we don't really know um which i think to be honest is the only sensible position to ever really take. Why have they all struggled? I think it's probably coincidence, but I do think that, you know, it maybe wasn't necessarily like a particularly golden generation of strikers to be plucking from.

1:07:49I still think he's actually the best of the bunch and I still think he will come good in some way, shape or form.

1:08:00although they're certainly having to wait for it. They are. But maybe the bigger question is, from our perspective, is whether or not you think Jokeres will come good is not maybe the right turn of phrase. But his start to the season, I think we talked about this a bit, where he was thrust in and played a lot, and he's having to get used to a new team. And I think, you know, when you talk about Christian Norgard and his reference to having to go up a different level, I mean, that must apply just as much, if not more, to Victor Jokeres in the sense that the Premier League and the defenders you face and the game, the way it's played tactically and the pace and physicality of the game is a real difference to the Portuguese league, right?

1:08:52so he's having to deal with that and he's having to deal with an injury and you know i i think with all due respect to him i don't think he's the tidiest footballer you're ever going to see the most technically brilliant footballer you're ever going to see but that must be something arsel were well aware of when they made that decision when they made the big decision on who to sign and then the question becomes like what is their plan to uh to get the best out of Villarcares with all that information that they had when they decided they were going to sign him. Yeah. And by the way, on that list of strikers and who aren't really performing as expected, you can add Ali Watkins, who was another, I think he said, didn't move.

1:09:37Yeah. He did say Watkins, I think in the question. He's had a really tough season as well. I think playing up front in the modern game is actually very difficult. I think that's one thing. on Jokeres in his defence he's coming back from injury I always remember that Sol Campbell quote from Arsene Wenger about how he was a big machine and it used to take him longer than certain other players to kind of get fluidity to get rhythm I think the same having watched the start of Jokeres' season and then seeing him improve somewhat may be true for him he was a bit unfortunate to get injured at Burnley in the midst of what was actually maybe his best performance one of his best performances certainly and so perhaps there's an element of sort of trying to rediscover that rhythm I think this week will help wouldn't surprise me if he started both games I certainly think he'll start in Bruges I think he's got a good chance for the weekend against Wolves as well those are games where I think he would be optimistic of getting himself a couple of goals and that can do wonders for a player's confidence and subsequently performance levels but I would also be lying if I didn't say I had some concerns and some reservations I do think that he is a very he looks quite a sort of blunt force instrument at this point in time um and there'll be times where there's a need for that but is that what arsenal needs game in game out i'm not so sure well look it's a big week a big week for him i think you know if he does start bruges and he does start wolves these are the games where you know there was talk about him you know and not something i subscribe to necessarily but the talk about him being a bit of a flat-track bully and how that was actually something Arsenal needed, right?

1:11:45Exactly. Pitches could look very different. Exactly, you know, but it is one of those weeks where I think there is a bit of spotlight on him. So hopefully he can come through and grab a couple of goals over the course of this week and not win over the hearts and minds, but certainly convince people that, you know, there's a job that he can do in this team. Can I just ask one more while we're sort of talking about strikers? I thought this was quite interesting. Finn P Madden on the Discord. He said, Morning, gents. How realistic is it to expect Gabriel Jesus to get some meaningful minutes this season with Havertz out for another few weeks, Yacarez not exactly pulling up trees and Marino needing some rest at some stage.

1:12:25Is there any chance Jesus could be leading the line for us in this busy, festive period? Yeah. I think I sent you a text. Was it like half past 12 on Saturday night? Yes. After the Villa game. I woke up and saw it on Sunday morning. I was going... Had a few drinks and I'd text you at like 1am being like, I wonder what Gabriel Jesus is looking like. Yeah. Which probably tells you where I'm at with the Ocarus, to be honest. But I kind of feel like it's such a... Gabriel Jesus is such a delicious idea, right? Because he's so talented and was so good when he first came in. And again, I hesitate to repeat this because I don't want to build an unfair degree of expectation.

1:13:14But like I have heard, he's looking very sharp in training. You know, all the same things we've heard before. And I would really dearly love for him to come back and have a sort of sustained impact on this team. But I just have to offer all the usual caveats around physicality, injury. And remember as well that prior to his injury and prior to his kind of briefly bursting into life in two games against Crystal Palace, he had had quite a protracted period, if I recall correctly, where he had looked way, way, way off it. So the mind and the memory plays tricks. I remember the hat trick against Crystal Palace, but I don't remember the anonymous substitute appearances, the countless anonymous substitute appearances and times where we were like, my God, is this guy done, basically.

1:14:13So, yeah, I think like all Arsenal fans, I am susceptible to the charms of Gabriel Jesus and I hold out hope that he can be a contributor, but I just have, you know, partly to protect myself emotionally, I have to add all the usual caveats. What about you? It'd be a lovely thing to have him available, I have to say. You know, even for 15, 20 minutes here or there, I think there's a range of abilities when you look at our forward options. If you're looking at our centre forward options, and it's Kai Havertz and it's Victor Jokerez and Mikel Moreno, So I think Gabriel Jesus, I think Jesus has something that none of the others have.

1:14:55That is definitely true. You know, so as an option, it would be great to have him. I can't say, you know, who knows? He's been out for nearly a year now because it was January of this year when he got that injury. And he's been out for a long time. On the one hand, you would say that could be very detrimental. On the other, he could be a guy who's absolutely out to make up for lost time and to make up for the pain and the frustration of being out injured for that long. You know, for a footballer, it's really tough, isn't it? You know, they all want to play all the time and to miss out on the match day dressing room and getting ready and, you know, all of those things which, you know, are just sort of meat and drink for a footballer.

1:15:42I think there might be something there that comes out in the performances as and when or if we see him back on the pitch. So I will keep fingers crossed that that's the case. He played behind closed doors, didn't he? I think. Against Man United, yeah. Against Man United alongside Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Why is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain? I mean, why is he going to follow in the footsteps of Sol Campbell and match of Flamini in earning a contract. That's the January signing, Andrew. Would you be taking Gabriel Jesus to Bruges? I think surely this is a great opportunity to take him. Absolutely. I mean, you get the 12-man bench, don't you, in Europe?

1:16:29I wouldn't start him, but I'd have him involved. Oh, absolutely. If there were minutes to be played, and if this is part of the plan, playing him in the behind-closed-doors game to see, A, how he reacts, and B, to get some minutes into his legs so he can actually step up and play again, then, yeah, bring him. Bring him. And if we're in a position where this game is safe with 20 minutes to go, bring him on and let him get back and enjoy himself. And who knows if it's a case where this is a game where we need a goal in the last 20 minutes. He's got the record. You know, he's got a track record of scoring goals, probably not as many as you would have liked but when you look at the bench and you look at who we might bring off the bench and who's capable of making an impact he would certainly be high up there wouldn't he I think it's your question It's my question

1:17:25Oh, this is a non-football but I thought I would ask it Bergkamp's Pixel said Can you ask blogs to explain why his voice is ubiquitous across Ireland during December? because it is for a good cause. The reason my voice is ubiquitous across Ireland and across the whole world at christmasfm.com is because I do all the voiceover stuff for Christmas FM, which is a Christmas music radio station, which is operated out of Dublin. A friend of mine, Dara, is the guy in charge there. So I've done the voiceovers for them every year, free of charge because it's a sort of voluntary thing and they raise a hell of a lot of money every year for great charities, you know, for homeless charities.

1:18:13I think this year, maybe the last year as well, it's a range of children's charities. I think maybe last year they raised 450 ,000 euros. So it's a lot of money. And if you're into Christmas music, which I am not, you know, that's what you want. Dara's always saying to me, do you want to do a show? come out and do a show on Christmas FM. I was going, I'd rather fucking nail my feet to the floor and watch Maroon 5 than play Christmas music. I just can't do it. But I'm very happy to contribute the voiceovers to Christmas FM. Okay, great. I quite like Christmas music. At least I like it sort of like, I like the mood that it puts me in.

1:18:53So maybe I will tune in and donate. Okay. You had a question about like fans or? Yeah, there was a lot of reaction. And I feel like I don't ever want to tell anybody how they should feel or how they should think. Right. There is a range of reaction to a game like the one we played against Aston Villa. And people are entitled to react and behave however they want. So that's that. I didn't want to make it like a referendum on fandom or anything like that. But the question came from The Robinator. He said, morning, Chance. I've since calmed down after the final whistle, but I spent most of the weekend frustrated, irritated and annoyed.

1:19:43My wife asked, why is this one bothering you so much? I didn't have an answer. I know expectations are incredibly high, but I couldn't come up with a logical answer as to why I was so irritated and why I couldn't put my finger on what was the make or break factor in the loss. Maybe you guys can assist. Is it simple fatigue? Is it Emi Martinez's stupid face? Please help me make some sense of this. And there was a sort of question which probably goes along with this one comes from Flanny Balls on Blue Sky, who simply says, did God put Unai Emery on this earth specifically to inflict cruelty on Arsenal fans?

1:20:19I mean I do think that probably adds something to it doesn't it? It's an extra twist of the knife, the involvement of Unai and and Emi I detect huge bad blood from the Arsenal fans collectively towards Unai but you never want your former manager to get one over you do No Emi is a different case but I think yeah it's just a really painful painful way to lose a game and I think the reason that it stings so much and the reason we've seen such an outpouring of reaction is because there's real stakes involved you know there is a lot of expectation and consequently a lot of pressure I keep thinking about when we were 1-0 up against Brentford in the week and the stoppage time board went up.

1:21:25It said six minutes. And I heard the crowd at Emirates Stadium do something I've never heard before where they all in unison went, six, like that. And I keep thinking about that and being like, wow, People are really invested, but really on edge. And although until perhaps this weekend, the progress of the team has really been relatively serene, I think it is kind of underscored by this quite deep-seated tension. That's a really tricky balance for a football club, I think, to stay focused on the here and now, to keep just trying to win football matches one at a time, while there is this sort of snowballing sense of expectation and pressure that you've got to deliver.

1:22:27And I think that's a really tricky balancing act for Mikel Arteta to kind of keep all that, because it will be the same in the dressing room. And I think we see that full time or when Buendia scores, you know, we see some of that pressure, that tension coming out of people. I think it's really hard to manage that, you know, and it's not just the running, the running's maybe when it's most intense and most difficult, but it goes on for months and you've got to kind of keep it on the boil without it bubbling over. It's tough. I mean I just think it's a just a collection of factors and the sort of platform for it is finishing second three years in a row and coming close and that desperation to go one better this time around right that's the sort of underpinning of everything this season where as a fan base you know we are desperate to win the league because we know we know we probably should if that's the right way of putting it you know that which isn't to sort of sound entitled or anything but we've developed the team we've built the team we've come really close we've demonstrated the quality and the capacity to be in a title race and now is the time after more investment in the summer that we should go on and win the league, right?

1:23:55So that's what underpins everything. And then I think in particular, the manner of defeat to Villa, the fact that Villa and Unai Emery seem to have a, not a hoodoo over us, but, you know, have had a good record against us and have inflicted some pain on us in recent seasons. The former player thing is there. The fact that you're looking at Man City closing the gap. And I think what it is is a response to, like, imagine a crazy situation, right, where Arsenal right now are sitting 12 points clear of everybody in the Premier League. Do you think that there would be serenity and calm and, you know, people just saying, this is it.

1:24:49Yeah, don't worry about a thing. I think it will be like this all season. and look some of the responses as ever go too far right that's just the normal way of online reaction particularly if you're you know on twitter and that kind of stuff where i think you know you don't get the best of people uh or the best out of people you know when when they react to things like this and as i said everybody's entitled to react the way they want and behave the way they want um but i think even with the context of this being only our second defeat in the league this season at the end of an 18 game unbeaten run it just makes people afraid i think that's what it is it's like a fear response in some ways and that then fear leads to the dark side doesn't it you know fear leads to anger leads to the dark side you know that's it you know so i think it's just this this cocktail which will be part of what we have to deal with all season long everything thing that doesn't go 100 % perfectly is going to be scrutinized and analyzed and debated and discussed.

1:25:57And there's just sort of no real escape unless you actually escape, you know, turn the thing, turn things off and don't read things and don't let yourself get annoyed by this pundit or that pundit or those reactions, which is, you know, within our capabilities of doing as well in as much as we can, given that we have to sort of do what we do. Is it, oh, Andrew? Is it? Well, listen, I didn't read it. It's hard. It is hard. But, you know, I didn't watch any post-match reaction. I didn't read any interviews. I didn't read any match reports. I didn't go and see what people were chatting about too much online.

1:26:35Obviously, I have to write about it. I have to, what's the word, chat with people, you know, on the arses, on arseblog.com and on Blue Sky and those kinds of things. And for the most part, I think, you know, those discussions, while rooted in the kind of fear that I've been talking about, have been pretty reasonable. So it's the sort of external, the really, really external voices or noise that I can block out pretty well, which I'm thankful for. Thank goodness for that. Thank goodness. Yeah, I agree with all of the above.

1:27:10Right. Shall we leave it there? move on i think so i think so move on react start winning games of football again get ourselves 12 points clear at the top of the table then shit ourselves at every available moment just because that is what happens when you're in a title race like if this was like you said it though like stakes are high stakes stakes is high um you're so right though like what's more frightening than having a six-point lead overturned. Having a 12-point lead. Yeah, exactly. They couldn't, could they? Watch. Watch. Yeah, exactly. We have a limit there. Well, look, it hasn't been a great week in the Premier League this weekend.

1:27:58Most of the results were not favourable, but there's still plenty going on. So you can join us over on Patreon a bit later on. For the 30, myself and Phil will be discussing all the weekend's Premier League action. Quite a bit going on at Liverpool. James it seems quite a bit quite a bit so that could be fun to to get into you can join us at patreon.com forward slash arseblog for that for now though take it easy and we will catch you on the next one bye bye