Arsecast Extra Episode 671 - 15.12.2025

0:00Hello and welcome to another Arsecast Extra as always with James from Gunnerblog. James goodly morning to you. Goodly morning, Andrew. It is. How are you doing? I'm okay. I'm okay. Slightly recovered from my weekend's exploits, being in London at the game and everything else. So, yeah, a little croaky. I did quite a bit of shouting, actually, during the game, as you might imagine. Yeah. During the last five minutes or so, I imagine a fair bit of shouting. Yes. Yes. Encouragement. I was shouting encouragement at the players. Yes. Come on, chaps. You can do it. That kind of stuff, you know? Absolutely.

0:41Well, I'm glad to hear it. Your voice sounds all right. Good. I'm glad. I did a lot of talking, met a lot of people, actually, over the weekend who listened to the pod and everything else. So hello to all of you. There was a young man in front of me, actually, at the game at the final whistle. He turned around to me and went, are you Gunnar Blogg? He was only about 12 or so, I think. Yeah. And I said, that's baldest. You can't say that. So we all look the same to you. That's it, huh? Put him in his place. No, he was a very charming young man who watches your videos a lot and listens to the podcast too.

1:14So there you go. I often get, are you arse, blog? And just so you know, I just go, yeah. If you want to make a donation or anything, feel free. What's this gold watch you've got? Yeah, I'd love that. Sure. Yeah.

1:34yeah so that's good and then i just do my irish accent they're after me lucky charms you know that one yeah the classic nobody could tell yeah i also met some guys from kerry in the uh in the tollington afterwards who went for one drink in the tollington afterwards there were some guys from kerry who would not believe that i was irish strange old evening james because by that stage People had been through a bit with the game. There was the whole entire day, of course, waiting for the game, the eight o 'clock kickoff on a Saturday, which is, you know, unusually late. And it's fair to say that the combination of the wait, the late kickoff, the relief, the beers, it was a bit messy in certain quarters, I have to say.

2:19Well, I can forgive people that. There's a lot to unpack, a lot to digest. There is. I mean, it's a weird one, isn't it? Because last week when we lost to Villa to that late goal, I wrote on the blog that there is no better feeling really in football than scoring a late goal to win a game. and that's exactly what we did in this one and yet it didn't sort of provide the kind of cloud nine experience for very long that you would normally associate with scoring a late goal to win a game and there's there's a lot to unpack isn't there the comments from the manager the way certain players looked very disgruntled even at the end despite the fact that they'd won the game that you know there is a sense that Arsenal and I think this is where I stand on this even after a couple of days we kind of got away with one there you know we did not make the most of the opportunity we didn't play well we won the game and that's great but I think based on everything the manager said the way everybody I spoke to after the game was kind of felt about it the sense is that we came perilously close to dropping two points that we really should not have dropped which we didn't but you know what I mean yeah I I find myself in that camp too actually I I feel a bit Declan Rice about the whole thing yeah yeah me too I have to say for those who haven't seen uh as Arsenal celebrated what proved to be their winner the second of the two own goals.

3:58Declan Rice was quite sort of surly and grumpy about the whole thing, wasn't he? And kind of slightly admonishing his teammates for various things. I guess reminding them of the importance of maintaining that lead, having achieved it. But yeah, you could still sense that what had come before rankled with him somewhat. Oh, sure. Listen, I sort of talked about, did the instant reaction with Elliot and Clive after the game. And I sort of noted in the last 10 minutes or so that Declan Rice was increasingly agitated on the pitch. And I've gone back to look at it on TV. And you can't really see on TV the way he was acting and reacting to certain things on the pitch.

4:43Very angry about the positioning of some players. Very angry about the lack of closing down, the lack of compactness. and you could see him get increasingly wound up in those final few minutes before the Wolves goal. Then they scored. And I think his head must have been on fucking Mars, to be honest. He was really, really not happy. And I think, you know, if we try and analyze this game as fans, you know, there'll be some people who say, well, look, we won. We're top of the table. You're always going to have games where you don't play well. Maybe the important thing is when you don't play well, you win the game, et cetera, et cetera.

5:19We all know that. But my sort of feeling on it, and it's kind of what I wrote about in the blog this morning, is that if Mikel Arteta is really pissed off, and if Declan Rice is really pissed off, and if Mikel Moreno looks at Mikel Arteta when he's coming off the pitch, have you seen that clip where he sort of looks at him and goes, yeah, you know, if Mikel Moreno, you can see by his face that this was not something he enjoyed. And I think generally speaking, the reaction from the players has been, OK, relief, we won, etc., etc. But an understanding that this was not good enough in terms of a performance.

5:53I think it's OK to be really happy that you won, to celebrate a late goal and enjoy that for what it is, but also feel a little bit annoyed that we didn't play as well as we can. And to be a little bit concerned that we didn't play as well as we can. I feel like if sometimes if it gets sugarcoated too much, you don't get the benefit of the things going wrong. How do you put things right? You first have to acknowledge that things were wrong. And I think there were things that were wrong about this performance, this arsehole performance over the course of 90 minutes. And unless we're open enough to say that was not good enough, great, we won, but not good enough.

6:36How do we improve unless we acknowledge that it wasn't good enough in the first place? Yes, I totally agree. But I weirdly, as a fan, I do feel a bit sort of guilty about that. Like I feel a bit annoyed about this performance still. And there's another part of me that sort of is like, don't be stupid. You won. What are you worrying about? but yeah I can't quite dismiss some of the concerns that arose for me during the course of the 90 minutes the way I spoke about it afterwards actually in my video was that I sort of said what what worries me about this performance is that I feel like it's a performance that Pep Guardiola and Man City would watch and be quite invigorated by I know we won but I feel like there have been games this season where City have won or Liverpool have won and Villa have won and I've said, yeah, there was stuff there that makes me think there could be trouble down the line.

7:40And I think this was really the first time this season that you could look at this Arsenal team and think, ooh, you know what I mean? Like if you were in the chasing pack, you'd think, ooh, there's something to go at there. And that has unsettled me, to be honest. Sort of like all is not right. Yeah, but we may come to regard it as an anomaly in the course of this campaign. Sure. I agree with you. And it's not long ago that we won a North London derby, then beat Bayern Munich, and everyone is on top of the world. So I think we do have to acknowledge that form fluctuates and you go through little periods and blips.

8:19And if your glass is completely half full this morning, you might say, well, you know what? Last year, we don't win that game. That's not a game we win. but somehow we pulled it out of the fire. The mark of champions, actually. Yeah, exactly. To win when you're not playing well. I get it. Like, I do completely get that as well. But I also think it would be dishonest of me to sit here and just sort of be a bit Pollyanna about the fact that we won and not say that when I was watching that game and as the game went on and progressed, that I was not concerned or worried about the performance and the way that we played collectively and certain individuals perhaps didn't play as well as they could or do as much as they could have done on the day.

9:02And that's kind of why we're here, to talk it all out. And hopefully at the end of this 90 minutes or whatever it is, we're feeling okay, feeling a bit better, having got it off our chests, whether people agree with what we have to say or not. That's kind of what we have to do. Yeah, absolutely. And what a privilege to be doing that with the benefit of three points as well. Sure. It would probably be a much more painful conversation had we not got that late winner. Yes, for sure. So look, let's start with the line-up. And I was a bit surprised by the back four, I have to say. Me too. Me too. There was a question, I don't know who asked it because I wasn't there, but there was a question in Mikel's press conference on Friday where one of the journalists was asking about Miles.

9:50And he was like, obviously, he'll play tomorrow. So what more does he need to do to stay in the team? Something like that. But it was just an assumption, a given that he would start. And so I was quite surprised, not only that he didn't start, but that, and listen, easy to say with hindsight, but that Ben White was started again after so long out and having not really obtained any rhythm. I thought that was, yeah, a little bit odd. Was that your... Yeah, that was my thinking as well in that, you know, I found Arteta's post-game comments about this quite confusing as well, where he talked about, well, we had no options.

10:34You know, we don't have the option to do anything different when he was asked about Ben White's injury, which he picked up. I probably should just get the exact quote up here. So let me just go on. Let me go to the Arsenal website one second and I'll get these. He said... Is he just making up numbers again? Sort of. He said... We even had to risk Willow today. Fuck, where is it? I can't find the quote. Yeah, we were buying tickets for another injury because we don't have anyone else. And that's just not true. because he could have played Timber at right back. Timber started the game. He could have played Timber at right back.

11:22He could have played Saliba in his natural position. He could have played Incappier at left-centre half, and he could have played Myles Lewis-Gelly, who hasn't really played a lot this season but isn't sort of coming back from an injury in the same way that Ben White is. And I think as well, what confused me was the fact that if there was a risk with William Saliba to do 90 minutes, would it not be better to have Ben White on the bench so that if at 60, 70 minutes you need to change Saliba, you can either put Ben White on or you can put Jurian Timber into the centre of defence and bring Ben White on at right back.

11:59So that justification for, well, we didn't have anyone else. There was no choice. What choice did I have? There was a very obvious choice, I think, and it might be that he got that one wrong. Yeah, I mean, he could even have put Norgard in, couldn't he, at centre-half? Maybe. Yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe. I can understand the reticence to do that in a Premier League game. You know, it's relatively experimental. But yeah, I did think it was a little odd. Even the balance of sort of shifting Saliba to the left to get Timber in at centre-half and putting Incappier in at left-back where he's been having a pretty decent run at centre-half.

12:46With Arteta, often the best prediction for the starting XI is the one that involves the fewest adaptations or the fewest changes. But this felt like a completely rejigged back four just to sort of get his most experienced defenders in. And frankly, and I know it sounds silly because obviously we conceded a goal, but I don't think this is a game in which he necessarily needed Hincapié, Timber and Saliba on. Like I think if Myles is a player who comes with a little bit of risk, but maybe a bit more adventure moving forward, I do think this is a game in which we could afford that. And maybe a game in which we missed Riccardo Calafuri.

13:37actually. Maybe so. Suspended. Yeah, maybe so. Yeah, and I thought Marz's performance when he came on, you know, he was clearly a motivated player and I think, yeah, probably got that one wrong in terms of the selection of the backfield. Well, yeah, you know, you could go through the game and it could be fine and it's not wrong until something goes wrong but something obviously did go wrong for Ben White. Yeah. But we can talk about that moment in a couple of minutes. One of the frustrations, I suppose, from the first half, and certainly something Arteta talked about in his post-game press conference was not taking the opportunities, not taking the chances that we had available to us.

14:19And I think sometimes there is a, you know, when you don't play well, when you struggle to score, it feels like you're not actually creating anything. Whereas I do think in this game, in that first half, there were good chances for Arsenal to score in the first period. I think there was a header early on from Jurian Timber, which I think is a good chance. I'm not saying he must score, but I think that is a good chance. There were moments where, for example, we did get players into good positions and the final ball wasn't quite there. I remember one when Martinelli had Declan Rice going outside him and he just over hit a pass to Declan Rice, which, you know, should be a meet and drink pass for any professional player.

15:01And he was sort of forced wide. Maybe we got a corner out of it in the end, but that's a moment where I think you can create something. And I think it was a corner after that or not long after that when Martinelli had that opportunity at the back post. And, you know, Arteta, he doesn't often, I don't want to say single out, but he doesn't often specify players when they miss chances. But he kind of did with this one with Martinelli. We sort of said he has to score there. We've got to score that chance. He said it on TV and he said it in his post-game press conference. That is a bad miss, isn't it, from Gabrielle Martinelli?

15:40It is, yeah. And actually, I think TV cameras cut to Ricard Teta after it and you could see that he wasn't impressed. And actually, like, that is an important thing. I always think in these sort of very grindy, awkward games, against, you know, teams playing in a low block. It's only one goal away from being a completely different match. Do you know what I mean? Like, we have to remember that. If Arsenal take one of those first half opportunities, it's a very, very, very different complexion. 100%. I said this to people after the game, that I think if we score a goal in the first half, this becomes routine.

16:24It becomes a routine game. Whether it's the Martinelli one, whether it's the Yacarez opportunity, which we'll talk about now in a sec, whether it's that timber header. I think if you go 1-0 up in the first half against a team like Wolves, who have come and, you know, they set out their stall, and it was to get a 0-0 draw from this game. That's what they came to do, and I think that is what Mikel Arteta would have expected Wolves to do. I do not think Wolves did anything different than we expected them to do. Like, if you could have asked anybody what will be their game plan, 5-3-2, 5-4-1, sit with players behind the ball and we're tasked with breaking them down.

17:06And I've said it to you before that certainly if there is a Mikel Arteta kryptonite, it is a low block from the opposition. And it has consistently been an issue for us to break those teams down. Yeah. And to be fair to Mikel Arteta, I think it's an issue for most teams. It is very difficult to strategically break down these low blocks. I really do think it's a case of sort of trying stuff and showing imagination and hoping that you are able to provide that breakthrough because we're not alone in this. A lot of sides struggle against, a lot of very good teams struggle against teams who play this deep and this defensive as Wolves did.

17:53And although we expected it from them, I think it's only fair to say they were considerably more organised and resolute than they have been in the season thus far. And actually, I guess part of that grows over the course of the game, right? Literally every minute that goes by without them conceding, their resolve grows. And you could sort of see that. Do you think that what happened in their game against Manchester United was sort of like a double-edged sword in a way? Definitely. Because I don't know how many people I spoke to before the game who were like 4-0, 5-0, 6-0. You know, Elliot's joking about the 10-0 all the time.

18:37The first ever 10-0, you're saying, in Brussels. Yeah, you know, which, listen, I get it because Wolves were terrible and they have been defensively really bad. And I, you know, listen, I don't believe that Arsenal were complacent. I don't believe that this wasn't something Arsenal were prepared for because Mikel Arteta said it explicitly in his press conference on Friday. You know, this is going to be a difficult game. This is not a case that we have to just turn up and turn over this team. But also at the same time, Wolves were so bad against Manchester United that from their perspective, it must have been like, right, let's do this.

19:14Let's make sure that we concentrate. Let's work really hard, which they did. And I think the sort of the twin thing of them, can I say upping their game, but at least being as resolute as they possibly could to react to that Manchester United performance and an Arsenal team that were a little bit below par sort of worked in their favour. Absolutely. I mean, upping their game, yes, but also kind of reducing the ambition of their game at the same time. You know, just really focusing on their primary task, which was keeping the ball away from their goal and out of their net. And it worked for long, long periods.

19:57I mean, it was an hour, wasn't it, before we had a shot on target. So I think I watched that United game and I couldn't believe how poor they were. I was really, I haven't seen a great deal of Wolves this season. I mean, why would you go out of your way to watch this Wolves team? But I was pretty shocked by how poor they were and how good they made Manchester United look. And I thought, well, all things being even, we should take them apart. Yeah, I don't. That may have been a bit naive. Well, I don't know. You see, I don't think there's anything wrong with thinking that. And I don't think it's entitled to think that.

20:34I think you can recognize that every game in the Premier League is a difficult game and you have to respect the opposition as we discovered and learned. And I don't think it's a lesson to anybody that, you know, if you don't play as well as you can in the Premier League, you find it hard to win games. But also, when you looked at the Arsenal team, when you looked at the Arsenal bench, as you said, it's an hour plus before there's a shot on target. I think it's not unfair or unreasonable for Arsenal fans to expect more than that from the team, particularly against an opposition that have been, you know, they're propping up the Premier League table.

21:09Can I just ask, we talked about the starting XI in terms of the back four I just wondered what you thought further ahead I mean, against a team who are likely to be so deep Were you a bit surprised that Martin Odegaard didn't play? You know, if Leandro Trossard was ready Would he have been a more sensible option than a Martinelli? I was curious about what you thought about the front six as well Yeah, I was a bit surprised I think, you know, before the game on the preview pod, we were talking about the idea of this being the perfect game to try Odegaard and Neze together in midfield. So whether it's Zubimendi or whether it's Declan Rice, and my feeling was it would have been Declan Rice in the six and then Odegaard and Neze.

21:52I think that, you know, the reality is when you are, when you're facing a team with a low block, you need as much technical ability on the pitch as possible. and I think in certain players in that front three, like I think Victor Jokeres had a poor first half. He was better in the second half, but a technical player, I don't think you can categorize him as that. Gabriel Martinelli, not the most technical, right? Whereas I think if you have people who can pass and move and shimmy away from defenders and find those spaces with and without the ball, you know I do wonder what this game would have been like with Odegaard Eze Trossard on the left Saka on the right Saka by the way who was excellent and then you do have that maybe one player in Jokeres up front who's not that technical but is he a player who could benefit more from having those players behind him the creativity and the craft that those guys can bring I really feel like that is that is a better way to go at a low block team than the team that we picked, you know.

22:57I love Zubamendi. I think he's an amazing player. I just don't know that you necessarily, that he's the ideal player. I mean, maybe he is. Like, maybe it's Zubamendi Odegaard Eze, for example. You know, it's not to dismiss him, but I don't know that Rice Zubamendi is what you need for a game like this. No. I mean, I think Trossard probably wasn't ready to start. Yeah, I was going to caveat that by saying I do feel like perhaps, you know, one or two of those selections were informed by fitness or match sharpness rather than the style of the particular players. Absolutely. But I just, yeah, I thought the, maybe the Odegaard omission, again, with hindsight, was a slightly curious one.

23:42Just because if, if we have anybody in the squad who can sort of pick those blocks, you know, you'd imagine it to be him. but you know we picked Eze's you know talented playmaker in his own right um so it wasn't as if wasn't as if we went with the sort of Marino-Rice-Zubomendy midfield sure criticized for earlier in the season yeah I mentioned that so yeah you go on the Ben White injury we should touch on that moment yeah this this sort of stems from an issue an issue or something that Arsenal are doing at this moment in time that not a lot of people are convinced by and that it's the long throw, which I don't really get it.

24:26We're not good at it. I don't know why we're persisting with it. I can't think of a long throw that has benefited us this season, but I can think of some long throws that have ended up with us chasing back, herring back towards our own defense. That's happened more than once. I think we've seen that more than we've seen any real threat from a long throw from Arsenal. So on this occasion, Wolves had everybody behind the ball. And then we ended up in a situation where we had everybody ahead of the ball. And it's Huang, isn't it, who sort of goes through. Subramendi plays a ball in the box. They get it clear and he runs straight through on goal.

25:06Ben White is chasing back, pulls up with a hamstring injury. I mean, that could happen at any time, I guess, if your hamstring is teetering on the brink, maybe. And it could happen any time you make a sprint. But that really felt like sprints that we did not need to make. Losing the ball in the opposition half and then getting exposed completely. Ryan made a save, a save you'd expect him to make. But a real chance for Wolves to score against the run of play, I guess you'd say. Yeah. And like I'm watching it back now and, you know, you've got four or five Arsenal players there making, what, 70-yard sprints.

25:47which at this time of the year, this time of the season, is really far from ideal. It's obviously cost us Ben White. I, like you, am pretty unconvinced by the long throws. I don't really see the benefit. I'm sure Arsenal have access to data and analysis that must lead them to believe that it is the right approach to take. I just think football like all things is quite subject to fashion and it just feels like this tactically is in fashion right now but I seem to remember we scored off a short throw very recently one where it looked like it was going to go in the box and we went short and crossed it in and scored so I am to be convinced on these And my other point on them that I slightly struggle with is, you know, there's a fair bit of criticism of Wolves in this game for sort of taking their time and delaying and time wasting and delaying restarts.

26:59And I think that's right. I think they absolutely did. But I think it sort of undermines us a little bit when every time we get a throw in, we have to have this protracted setup. You know what I mean? Yeah, Declan Rice has to come all the way across to throw it in, etc., etc. Yeah, I kind of feel weird. I think Premier League does have a problem with ball in playtime. I think that is a conversation that has started and is going to continue to get louder over the course of the season. And this game, particularly the first off, was a real illustration of that. But if I'm honest with you, I think we're part of the problem.

27:38Yeah, I agree with you in that. I don't think you can legitimately criticize an opposition team for taking time over goal kicks and throw-ins themselves when it takes you ages to take a corner and a throw-in every time you get one, you know? And, you know, the crowd were certainly agitated by the Wolves, if you want to call it time-wasting, right? And I get it. It is really frustrating. The referee stood there, and I was watching the referee every single time. The referee stood there sort of doing the thing where he points at his watch, you know? Yeah, of course. I mean, what he could do, obviously, is, you know, sharpen things up by making an early booking.

28:15But they never, ever really do that, you know, when it comes to time wasting. It's always like the 86th minute of the game. And I sort of felt a little bit as well, like there was an element of, remember that game years ago? Was it Chris Kirkland for Wigan, who was taking ages and ages and ages over his goal kicks? and Wigan were frustrating Arsenal. I think we scored a relatively late goal and all of a sudden he's sort of hurrying up a little bit. There was an element of that with Sam Johnston in the Wolves goal as well. Yeah, that's my mask. Tim Krul, I remember as being a particularly painful exponent of it.

28:56I'm just watching this throw in again and I can't believe that this is the correct set-up that Arteto's designed. Like, we're way too exposed on it, right? Absolutely. It was crazy. When it happened in the set, I just could not believe that we had been exposed as easily as that. Like, you can't... Superman is the last man, and he's 23 yards from goal, something like that. Yeah. Something is wrong there. I mean, Wang literally just has a completely free run. Yeah. Like, you can complain about the opposition having every man behind the ball, but you cannot... I mean, look at all the Arsenal... Look at it.

29:39So we've got... Who's chasing back there? White, Rice, Zubamendi, Timber, Incapier, Saliba is running behind as well. And then White's hamstring goes. You know? Yeah. Yeah, you're... I mean, unfortunately, that's when... That's exactly where you'd expect a hamstring injury to happen. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not good. And a real shame for Ben White because, you know, I think he's come in and shown he still has a big contribution to make. And we did kind of feel if there was a reticence around his selection, it might be to do with fitness and injury prevention. Unfortunately, yeah, look, that's where we are now.

30:23He actually carries on a bit. You can see him. He's turning to the bench. He's turned to the bench and just made the sub signal. For a man with a hamstring injury, he was actually moving pretty well. But then that's Ben White for him. That is. I remember that Rob Holding. He played at Newcastle with a grade two hamstring strain. So the only thing I would hope is that it is a relatively short-term one. Because when he was down, I was looking at him and thinking, oh, this could be bad. But he got up and walked off. You can tell when a player is really injured, when they sort of walk off very gingerly.

30:59He didn't do that. He walked off pretty normally. So my hope is that it's not a serious one for him. Not long after that was the Martinelli chance at the back post. And then there was the opportunity, I think, for Victor Jokerez. This is one where I think he's got to do better and be sharper in that situation where he doesn't quite react quickly enough and the defender is able to get there ahead of him, just block him off. I think the play between Saka and Eze is really good. The ball in from Saka, you can't really ask for much more than that. And Jokic is just a little bit on his heels and doesn't quite react.

31:44And yeah, a frustrating moment, that one, because that's the sort of moment which could give this game, as we talked about earlier on, a completely different complexion. You're 1-0 up, it's half an hour gone, whatever it is. and the game is open and actually Jokeres has scored and he's taken some of the pressure off and some of the spotlight comes off him and it gives him a bit of confidence boost, etc., etc. Not quite a sliding doors moment in a game, but certainly a moment which I think, if he is being properly analytical of his performance in his game, he will look out and think, I should have scored a goal there.

32:19I think so, yeah. And, you know, there are elements of his game which are sort of stronger than others. Like you say, he's not a natural technician really, but he is a battering ram and he is a goal scorer. And that's exactly where you want a goal scorer to be, busting a gut to get on the end of that cross. So yeah, I definitely think he will reflect on that. And he had a really difficult first half. I think it was something like five touches, admittedly playing against three centre-halves, which is not easy for anybody. but I thought there was improvement after half time not just from him but I thought generally our performance you know in that early part of the second half did come up a level I mean he made some changes quite early on didn't he because I think he felt like he had to it was about 10 minutes in there thereabouts and he brought on Odegaard, Marino and Trossard for Eze, Martinelli and Zubimendi Zubimendi, by the way, he was on the far side of the pitch when his number went up.

33:27And he was like, fuck this. He was right in front of us. And then he had to sort of trudge all the way around. And to be fair, he got a great round of applause from everybody. And he gave a bit of a round of applause back. I'm not saying he's throwing his toys out of the pram or anything like that. But he really did not like coming off in that game. And I sort of understood it because I think we needed to change a little bit the structure. And also he had done 90 minutes in Bruges as well. So I was a touch surprised maybe that he started this one as well, particularly given the conversation we had about maybe starting Odegaard and Eze together in this game.

34:01He might have been the player to sit down, but he was taken off. He did not like it. And I don't mind that at all. I quite like to see it. He's played a lot of minutes. I think he might be second to Declan Rice in terms of outfield players' minutes at this point in the season. And yeah, he's just become absolutely pivotal in this team very, very quickly. And triple change, I guess, partly informed by the fact we'd already had to make a change in the first half. So only so many substitution windows available to us. But yeah, I mean, I think I thought they were good changes. Trossard on, Odegaard on, that made sense.

34:43Marino on. I did think in the back of my mind, I was like, is there a chance Marino comes on at nine? That's what I thought it was going to be when I was waiting for the players to come on. But I suppose in a situation where you need a goal, you don't, I don't think you want to take off your primary goal scorer or your centre forward in that situation. I also think sort of optically that would have been a really rough one for Jokka. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, not surprised that he stayed on in that situation in the end. And I suppose the game could really have turned on the hour mark, right? There was a fairly protracted check on Wang's challenge.

35:25How long did that go on for on TV? Because it seemed like in the ground, given the yellow, And then after about two or three minutes, or maybe it felt like that anyway, they sort of put up on the screen, VAR check potential violent conduct. Yeah, on TV, we were aware they were checking it very quickly. The commentator on TNT, I forget who it was. Fletch, probably. Was it Fletch? I don't know. I didn't want to. Maybe. but um he was pretty convinced he felt it should be a red actually what did you think i really think it could have been i really think it could have been i think it is right on the kind of borderline where like you know that that sort of cliche of the orange car yeah the length that they reviewed it for i thought they were going to give him a red card um what what did you think i mean i i didn't see it obviously in real time all i saw was lewis skelly do like a somersault in the air and i was like oh fuck that's not good having watched it back i think it's one of those where if the red card is issued he could have no complaints I also think that maybe the fact that Lewis Skelly was okay maybe a bit sore but okay influenced that final decision whereas I think if you know maybe he's lucky he didn't get hurt maybe he's lucky he didn't get injured I think if Lewis Skelly is hurt there and they review that challenge they give him a red card and I'm not saying that's the right way to do it but I kind of feel like that's the way it was.

37:24Like if an Arsenal player had been sent off for that, I would have a difficult time defending their challenge. That's the way I look at that. Yeah, exactly. I think it could very easily have been a red card. I'm not sure it's a particularly malicious. To me, it's like an uncontrolled tackle. It's a striker's tackle. It's a bad tackle, technically. It reminds me a bit of a couple of Thierry Henry ones from back in the day, you know, where he would sprint into situations and slide in without necessarily a great degree of control. I think what saves him probably is that his feet remain low-ish. I think if they're half a foot up Lewis Skelly's shin, there's no doubt whatsoever.

38:17but I think yeah I think it probably could and should have been a red card whether that would have made our lives any easier I don't know to be honest sometimes breaking down 10 men's just as difficult yeah as we saw against Chelsea so yeah that was what about 60 minutes 70 minutes I think it was when we scored we get a corner it's a great delivery from Bakayo Saka Bakayo Saka will not get two assists in this game but he should have two assists. Right, yeah, he should, absolutely. Yeah, you know, the first one, it's a great corner, great delivery, dangerous, back post. Keeper doesn't judge it well.

38:56It hits the post and rebounds in off him to make it 1-0. And this is where I think there's an interesting discussion to have because that should have been a moment which took a lot of pressure off Arsenal because there's still 20 minutes to go. The opposition now have to come out and play a little bit. And I think for a team with our experience, with our technical ability, with our quality, what we did after the goal is the bit, I think, that worries me more than what we did until we scored. Despite the fact I don't think it was a good performance. Maybe this is what Arteta is referring to after is when it comes to like bad defensive habits, et cetera, et cetera.

39:43that worried me you know it's not that i i i expected us to go on and score four goals after you know making it one nil but i just think yeah you have the opposition exactly where you want them then right and we sort of went into our shell a little bit yeah this was definitely the most troubling period i i can understand and have sympathy with our struggles to break down that low block, even if I do find it frustrating. But having gone ahead, really, there's sort of no excuse for the way Arsenal kind of collapsed into their own third a little bit, the sort of passivity. Everything that Declan Rice was kind of railing about in those last 10 minutes.

40:35Absolutely. I looked up the stats on this. Before the own goal, before we went 1-0, this was a game where Arsenal had 76 % possession, 77 % possession, basically. 23 % for Wolves. In the period between us going 1-0 up and the second own goal, it becomes basically a 53%, 47 % possession game. So their possession, they added 20-odd possession to their game or were allowed to add that to their game, you know? And it was a bit hairy and people were really concerned around me in the stadium. People were worried, you know, particularly when there were moments it felt a bit like, you know, that scramble that led to the Villa goal where we didn't quite clear our lines properly.

41:33That there was an element of that to the Arsenal performance, to the Arsenal game, that there was not, it felt like we hadn't learned our lesson from that, where the clearances weren't strong enough, where we weren't getting on the ball or just, you know, playing passes in our own half to take the sting out of Wolves' attempts to get themselves back into the game. And it's not like Wolves were peppering us with shots or anything like that. But the fact is that if you are 1-0 in the 87th, 88th minute, whatever it is, and you allow the opposition to have the ball and put the ball in your box time and time again without clearing your lines properly or without controlling the game yourself, you leave the door open for what happened to happen.

42:20And it felt, I'm not saying it felt inevitable, but it was, you know, it was a consequence of the way that we played that they scored that goal. Definitely, yeah. Passive is how I would describe it. And some of that's tactical, you know, Wolves adjusting what they're doing as well. But I do feel like that the primary piece of it is sort of psychological. And again, I think that's what's sort of nagging at me is that this is the first time really this season that I sort of saw the weight and the stakes of Arsenal's title challenge sort of impact their performance.

43:09So, yeah, that's the worry. And Wolves, you know, they got their bit of luck. They scored a good goal, good, decent cross header. I don't know if Incappier will be too happy with the way the guy gets across him to score. I mean, I think he probably needs to step up in Capier. If you look, he's behind the line, behind the defensive line. What I will say is that I think there probably was more we could do to stop that cross coming in. Definitely. A bit like the Villa goal for Matty Cash. Correct. You know, I think you can look at Saka and you can look at Odegaard. I think if Saka commits, they've got a pass out to the left where they can put two on one against Timber.

43:54So maybe I think it's Odegaard's responsibility to step in and stop that. I think it is a kind of, I think it's a shot more than a cross, to be honest. What I will say about the way the goal was scored and the way in Capier was maybe backing off and not quite in the defensive line is that the guy Wolves brought on, Orokodari, if that's the right way of pronouncing his name, he is fucking huge. He's a big guy. Unbelievable. I was looking at it like he was standing beside in Capio at one point and Capio is not a small guy. And this guy was like six inches taller than him. I think he is six foot six, isn't he?

44:35He's six foot six. Something like that. He is, you know, he's got real presence. So I think from a defensive point of view, from a defender's point of view, when you are ceding that kind of physical advantage to an opponent, you might just get a little bit what's the word you try and play it safe is not the right word but you will try and drop off and maybe anticipate the ball into the box better and get it clear that way but yeah listen it's a decent header from him reacted well to that ball coming in it's 1-1 not a happy place I can imagine not a happy place I've seen obviously clips of people leaving the ground Yeah there were people around me Who just sort of fucked this Went off and left And what I thought was interesting From my perspective anyway Was looking up at the sideline And you could see that there were Arsenal players Who were It scratched the Villa wound a little bit And you could see that they were a little bit heads down, a couple of them, and Arteta immediately on the sideline was animated and getting people shouting and getting them to go again.

45:59He was very, very insistent about that, would be perhaps the diplomatic way of putting it, that he wanted his team to get up and get going and go again because they scored the goal and then there was an announcement of six minutes of added time. So that's, as we found out, and as we know, plenty of time to score a goal and we got that goal but I think you know the way Arteta reacted I think he was a little bit worried that a couple of those players maybe that informed the way Declan Rice was at the end as well how critical he seemed to be that you know you you can't let that happen even as demoralizing as disappointing as it is to score or to concede a goal as late as that your first instinct has to be to get up and go again you know yeah and credit to them I mean I think we did, right?

46:47Yeah. Kind of crazy that we managed to win it from that position. Because when the Wolves scored, I must admit, I really did think that was it. The way it sort of sucked the life out of the stadium, I did not anticipate another twist in the tale. Quite the twist as well, wasn't it? I mean, it felt like a kind of redemption moment, like a brilliant thing for Gabriel Jesus. And then it turns out, actually, it's an own goal. I mean, there's some good headed own goals in the Premier League this weekend. Yeah, I know. Volta Madre. Volta Madre really followed suit with that one. Yeah, I mean, listen, I thought it was Jesus.

47:30In the ground, presumably, everyone thought it was Jesus. Yeah, they thought it was Jesus. It was announced as Jesus as well. It came up on the screen that it was a Gabriel Jesus goal. I didn't know until afterwards that it was an own goal. But there is a nice little mascara narrative as well, right? Yeah, yeah. He's a guy with some previous at the Emirates Stadium. Mm-hmm. Choke slamming Kai Havertz and groping Jesus' bum, no less. Mm. So he had it coming. I mean, it's a great ball in from Mikayo Saka. It is. From the right-hand side. And again, this is why I think, you know, if there's some concerns about the way we played, I do think Saka deserves his flowers because really he should have a couple of assists to his name.

48:16He doesn't, but both the goals were heavily down to his influence and the quality of the delivery that he put in the box. If it wasn't Jesus, Mosquera headed home 2-1, and that was that. And, you know, it would be wrong to say that in that moment there wasn't a lot of joy going around because there absolutely was. There was a lot of celebration. A lot of people were obviously very, very happy with the goal, with the fact that that was going to win us the three points. But what I said earlier, I think, is the more interesting part is that it didn't last that long. You're not coming out of the game feeling, you know, elated in the same way that people did after the Bournemouth game when Rhys Nelson scored that late goal, you know.

49:01It felt markedly different from that, probably because of the context. But, you know, three points are three points. um yeah i i i think i think that this is a game which might well have you know you said earlier we might look back at wolves and think wow that was a really really vital three points in the title race my gut feeling after the game was we're going to look back at the wolves game and there will be like a something about this team going forward and we will say you know since Wolves this hasn't happened or that player hasn't played as much or you know when we face a team with a low block he's played you know in a slightly different way it felt to me like this would be or should be a kind of another learning moment for for Mikel Arteta I mean you can't you can't stop learning on the job can you um but I think his reaction afterwards his obvious displeasure with some of the things that the team did do and didn't do.

50:09Just a slight waterline for him. And I think, you know, we might look back at this Wolves game and see it as a, if not a turning point, but a point where he made decisions about his team and about individuals that will become apparent over the course of the next little while. Yeah, I think, let's hope so, that it is sort of, that we're able to kind of draw a line under it and it doesn't become part of a trend. Because as I say, like all season long, this Arsenal side have filled me with confidence and belief and certainty. And even off the back of, let's say, the defeats at Anfield or Aston Villa, that hasn't particularly wavered.

50:53But there were things in this game that really did concern me. and I guess remind me of things that have caused us issues previously. So, yeah, I hope it can be consigned to history. I think one thing that's quite an interesting theme is how much Arteta has spoken in recent press conferences about how little time he's had to work with the players. I think I have a question about that for part two. Yeah. Obviously, this week is sort of remarkably, he does have a few days. Yeah. Which could be pretty precious in such a hectic schedule. Sure. Shall we? But yeah. Yeah. Shall we take a little break then and come back and try and discuss that aspect of it?

51:43Okay, let's do that. Let's do that. We'll be back with your questions and more in part two right after this.

51:59Welcome back to the Arsecast Extra. This is part two of the show where we answer the questions that you send to us on bluesky at gunnerblog.bsky.social and at arseblog.com. Also on the Arseblog Discord chat server, which you get access to if you are an Arseblog member on Patreon. James, we did reference some comments from Mikel Arteta about how the lack of time between games, the lack of ability to train has an impact on the team. this is uh this is what he had to say well what we have to do now is reset give them two days that they can decompress a little bit and then we have a long week that we can prepare when we don't train there are things that are slowly they deteriorate and the certain habits that start to deteriorate because you don't train them and use that opportunity to to do that um give everybody a boost because we know that the christmas period is a lot of times um a season defined and we want to be on top of it.

52:51Quite interesting, I think. And sort of to kick us off into that, Niall O 'Connor on the Discord said, if you're a Mikel Arteta, what are you saying to them this week? What's the biggest thing you would be telling them after that game? Or maybe a better way of answering that is, what do you think Mikel Arteta will be working on this week now that he does have a little bit of time on the training ground to... What's the opposite of deteriorate? Undeteriorate. That's the word, isn't it? you know, the habits that his Arsenal team have fallen into. Yeah, I thought this was really interesting because it's something that is not a huge part of kind of media and fan discourse, really.

53:32But he has insisted over the past few weeks repeatedly on how little time he actually has to work with the team around these games. and that naturally that impacts performance, I guess. Like, you know, there were even specific things he picked up on, right? He spoke about bad defensive habits or when asked about Victor Jokerez, he said the ball was not arriving at him with the right degree of precision. And all these things you imagine are going on a sort of long list hopefully not too long a list of stuff that needs to be addressed the difficulty he's got is that this season there is no winter break really the World Cup in the summer means that everything is slightly compressed so if Arsenal were going to get away to Dubai it would be right now I think that's pretty much it in terms of the schedule unless they get knocked out of the FA Cup at Portsmouth which is the third round draw.

54:43So yeah, I found this really interesting and I think we even have to be realistic about what can be done before Everton because presumably the players play Saturday night. They'll have wanted to give them a day or two off, possibly two days, right? I was wondering that after the game, I was pretty sure that that would be the case and then I sort of had an idea that Arteta would be, well you're fucking not getting days off now you're back in tomorrow but i do think you know in the cold light of day it is important for them to have a little bit of downtime just to sort of like you can't rest too much in one week or even a couple of days right so it's not a physical thing as much as a i think a mental thing a sort of mental reset switch like turn a new page whatever way you want to put it i think that couple of days this week and then a week of training could be quite important.

55:38You know, again, I'm with you. I don't know how much they can actually do, but I just think from a psychological point of view, it is important that we make the most of this week. Yeah, because look what's coming. Everton on Saturday, Crystal Palace on Tuesday. So no time at all really between those games. And then, what, four days later, Brighton on Saturday. and then Villa the Tuesday following. I mean, it is absolutely relentless. I could go on, frankly. Up until the 3rd of Jan, we have, in the space of a fortnight, one, two, three, four, five games. So this is a little bit of respite. I think he will have given the players some time off.

56:27And I think that's the right call. But then maybe there are just a couple of days to review certain things. maybe from Aston Villa, maybe from that first half in Bruges, certainly from the Wolves game, and try and find some solutions because that Everton game feels like a big one now. Yeah, another 8pm kickoff on a Saturday as well, which is, you know, it's not out of the ordinary in terms of a kickoff time, but it's much more a midweek kickoff time than a weekend kickoff time. And I do wonder if there is something, I don't know, it's hard really, isn't it? You know, I'm not trying to make any excuse or anything like that, but I do wonder if there is something about waiting all day on a Saturday or a Sunday, well, Saturday, that just gives you too much time to think, perhaps?

57:22I don't know. It's just a different schedule as well, isn't it? It's a different routine and preparation to what players are typically accustomed to in terms of when you travel, when you eat. None of this is to make excuses. It's obviously the same for both teams. But I think particularly when you're going away from home, that is probably an adjustment. I mean, in terms of training, in terms of what they might look at this week, what would be number one on your agenda? Hmm. I think it would be...

57:57I think it would be about trying to find some more attacking rhythm in the team. to try and find combinations that are effective because I'm not sure we had that on Saturday, you know? No. But again, you know, the thing we talked about where the period between Arsenal scoring a goal or Wolves scoring the first own goal and Wolves actually scoring a goal of their own where we were too passive, where we didn't control the game well enough. That seems like an obvious one. But again, I don't think that's an instruction or anything from Mikel Arteta. I think it's just, it's such a combination of like scoring late, them being afraid of conceding a goal even to a team like Wolves, the stakes being as high as they are and everybody realizing those stakes, you know.

58:58And sometimes the easy thing to do is to settle into a defensive shape and back off and not commit and not try and win tackles that get you the ball. I mean, this was a game where I think one of the lessons Mikel Arteta should take from playing opposition like this and low blocks like this is that when they do have the ball in our half, like we tend to win it back pretty well in our own half around the halfway line if they come forward a little bit we're good at regaining possession what we're not great at is regaining possession high up the pitch and causing turnovers high up the pitch which if you look at football in general how many goals come from winning the ball in the opposition half or in the opposition final third And we don't really do that enough.

59:52And I don't think we try and do that enough. So that might be an area where Mikel Arteta thinks, okay, maybe we have to balance that risk reward thing by being a bit more aggressive in the press and with our structures in the opposition half when they have the ball. That would be something that I would like to see over the course of this week. That would be interesting. I think, you know, Declan Rice, when he's given licence to or when he's instructed to, he is really capable of making that jump up and pressuring, you know, a number six when he receives the ball. I think in the forward line, what's tricky is I think our best pressing forwards are probably Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, one who's not available, one who's working his way back towards availability.

1:00:47I don't think either Marino or Jokeres are naturally good pressers. So that might be something that Mikel looks at. I don't know. I would love to see us find a bit more fluency in that front six, even if it means reverting to some stuff that we've done before. I mean there was quite a few questions about Eze's performance that I saw I had one here

1:01:22yes Henry Moulin said considering the way that Wolves set up in the first half I think we can explain Big Vic's lack of threat but with this in mind I'm more concerned about Eze the North London hat trick does feel like an outlier and too often we're not seeing him impact games outside of moments do you share this concern um i thought in that first half that there were people talk a lot about yaka as not getting the ball yeah i thought that there were moments when eza didn't get the ball when he should have got the ball when we were breaking forward i thought as and saka's combinations were quite lively down the right hand side i sort of get it wasn't a great performance overall from him and it wasn't a great performance overall from, you know, let's say Martinelli, Jacarese, Eze didn't really perform to the level that you would want.

1:02:18So that's three of your front four, basically, right? Yeah. That's hard to deal with. I wouldn't say Eze was like terrible or that we didn't play because of him. I really would have liked to have seen Eze and Odegaard on the pitch together. I was a bit surprised by that substitution. I think if you're taking Zubimendi off, why not give Eze and Odegaard the ability to play together a little bit?

1:02:49But yeah, I can understand why people are looking for more from him as well as looking for more from other players. And in games like this where you fly by the seat of your pants and you get a win very, very late, there's always going to be, well, could this guy have done more? Or could that guy have done more? I think that's true of quite a number of players who played on Saturday. And as well, where was Eze playing? Was he playing as a 10? Was he playing in the Odegaard position? He was more in the Odegaard position than a 10, I think. I'd have to look at the heat map. But I think he was more to the right-hand side.

1:03:24Yeah, yeah. Typically, if someone was to say, what is Eberachie Eze's best position? It's sort of like an advanced left eight, isn't it, really? that's where he does a lot of his best work or has done a lot of his best work for Crystal Palace. We don't really play him there a great deal. So I feel a little bit like there was an opportunity missed to sort of slot him in there, drop Bryce back, play him and Odegaard together and see what happens. Yeah, I think he would have benefited from that probably. I think of him, I must say, a bit more of a sort of forward than a midfield player. Like even when he starts in midfield, I think about him more in terms of sort of being able to impact in and around the penalty area.

1:04:11Whereas Odegaard is much more of a sort of controlling midfielder, someone who can set and dictate tempo. I'm not sure Ezra's ever going to be that. And that's fine. You know, he's a different type. but yeah I obviously he played on the left didn't he against Aston Villa and that was kind of curtailed after 45 minutes yeah I'm curious to see if and when we might see that again I wonder I wonder what sort of degree of patience or investment has in that idea still here's an interesting question on the discord from Ian Wright 8 right without a W so he's Mr. Correct Okay. And he says, does Arteta know his best front three?

1:04:59And if not, is that a problem? Does he know his best front three? I think he does. I think he probably does too. I think he probably does too. I think it's obviously got Bukai Saka in it. I would venture it probably has to have Leandro Trossard in it. and then I would say in an ideal world it probably has Kai Havertz that's it that's what I think if everyone's fit that's the front three kind of thing I think that's what he's picking if everyone's available you know and that's partly informed by form you know I think Trossard has sort of played himself into that position I thought he was very good again coming off the bench agree in Juan made a big difference.

1:05:53So, yeah, I think that is his first choice. But obviously, it's not all available to him. I don't think Trossard was ready to start this one. And also, we're always asking him to rotate, right? So, he's too critical when he gives other players opportunities. But he's not had Havertz. he's kind of managing without that yeah I think those probably are the three we had a load of questions about Gabriel Martinelli can I sort of run through a few of them because there's quite a few

1:06:36Andy216 says should we make it a rule that Martinelli and Jokerez don't play together Jokerez looks much better with Trossard or Madueke on his side David Baratunk on the Discord is Martinelli's biggest weakness the only player he's created a meaningful partnership with is Gabriel Jesus even though he's had multitudes to play with, will that be the reason we move on from him where is the other ones here, Joe on Blue Sky at JHS 1991 do you think we've reached a point where Martinelli shouldn't be starting against teams we know will play a low Robloch and NishantGunner10.bsky.social says Martinelli in the Champions League, 294 minutes, five goals, one assist.

1:07:21Martinelli in the Premier League, 395 minutes, one goal, no assists. Can you explain why his numbers fluctuate between the two competitions? He was asked about this before the Bruges game, actually. And he did actually say that he thinks there's a bit more space in Champions League games, that teams come out and play a bit more. And I think Arsenal have generally found that over the last couple of years. I think teams who win or come close to winning their domestic leagues have a very different ideology to those, let's say, in the bottom half of the Premier League. Even though they may have less resources, they tend to have more of an idea about how they want to play and an ambition in that, which actually can often work to our advantage.

1:08:09I saw a lot of criticism for Martinelli it's not a chance we talked about but that moment where he kind of went through on the left and fired the ball across goal and some saying he should have looked for Jokeres I think to be honest he'd probably seen Leandro Trossard getting ready and that was his kind of final desperate attempt to make an impact should he have passed there perhaps but he does think a bit more, again, like a forward. And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I mean, in terms of combinations of players, yes, Gabriel Jesus, he's always had good chemistry with him. But I seem to recall he's had some pretty decent games with Leandro Trossard playing through the middle as well.

1:08:54So if there's a pattern there, it's that he does seem to benefit from a centre forward who combines and who is comfortable drifting and flitting out onto the wing and rotating positions. That seems to be what suits Martinelli and brings the best out of him. I think when he struggles is when he's just sort of shunted out to the left and trying to break down that deep block. Yeah, I'm looking at that chance again. It's a really good play for Martinelli in that moment, the way he drives beyond the fullback. I mean, that's what you want to see more from him because you know he's actually capable of doing that.

1:09:35But often, you know, it doesn't happen or he makes a poor pass or, you know, gets tackled. I think, you know, if you're there, if you're a forward, if you've made that run, I kind of want to see him shoot, you know? I want to see him shoot and curl that in. He gets the shot wrong. I don't think it's the wrong decision. I just think he gets the execution of it wrong. yeah I think I agree with that um but you know this was more of a trossard game and I think trossard demonstrated that when he came on and frankly um you know we've just had a conversation about the first choice front three and we've both put trossard in it so I think I think there's a degree to which the kind of hierarchy of that position despite Martinelli's heroics in the Champions League I think is relatively clear actually at this point yeah I agree with that I agree with that and I think you know if it trossard gets in the team ahead of Martinelli for pretty much every game whether it's a low block or not you know yeah I think at the moment and that is probably true.

1:10:48I mean, obviously, there's been a lot of Jokeres debate. Did you have any specific Jokeres questions? I didn't because I feel like every week we have a Jokeres question or it's the same question or there's another debate about him. And listen, my opinion hasn't really changed in that I'm yet to be convinced. I thought this week against Club Bruges and against Wolves was a pretty important week for him as a goal scorer. And there's two sides to this, obviously. You can say he's not getting the volume of chances, maybe, that a centre forward would like. But I also don't think, as we talked about in that first half moment where he's not quite on his toes for that Bakayo Saka ball in, he's not making the most of the few opportunities that he gets as well.

1:11:41I did think he was better in the second half. There was a header, wasn't there, from, was it a Saka cross? And he flicked a header not too far wide. Flicked one on, just goes past the post. There was a pass in from Trossard, who looked more willing to play with Jokeres than Martinelli did. There was a turn and shot, and it just sort of squeezed beyond the back post, and Saka was almost there. That could have been an assist for him. But I also looked at him, you know, I watched him. This is, you know, apart from Athletic Club, this is the first time that I've been able to sort of watch him in person.

1:12:18And I felt like his movement was not quite where it should be. And look, it could be injury coming back from injury. He's not quite as sharp as he needs to be. But I also thought there was, it was just a bit basic. It was a bit too straight line. There wasn't enough twisting the defender one way or the other way. There were moments where the ball came down to him and it didn't stick in the way that you would like, because he's a big guy, you know, At the very least, you expect that to happen for him. And there's goodwill for him. People want him to do well, and I want him to do well, but it's not happening at this moment in time.

1:12:52And I did think it was interesting in your video, which I watched in the airport yesterday, where you'd sort of posited the idea of maybe Gabriel Jesus starting the game at Goodison Park, which I don't think would surprise me at this point. Yeah, I mean, who knows? Even as I said it in the video, I was like, I don't know if I actually see Mikel doing this. I've got a question actually along those lines, which I'll come back to. On Jokovic, the only thing I had to add really is I was sort of thinking about strikers and form. And yes, there are sort of technical and often physical aspects to that.

1:13:36But I also think there's a psychological one. You know, I think a confident striker is a better striker. Of course, yeah. I saw a clip of Mikel being interviewed, I think it was by Men in Blazers, actually, about signing Jocarez. and there's sort of a passage where he's asked you know what were the reasons that convinced you to bring him in and he says well when I spoke to him I said you know I alluded to the pressure he'll feel I said like how will you feel when you walk into a dressing room and all the other players are looking to you and Jocares apparently said that's my dream and Mikel was very persuaded by that and found it a very compelling answer.

1:14:28And I sort of think if that is Jokeres' dream and he's coming from a world, a league, a club where he absolutely was that person where he was the standard bearer and the symbol of sport. I imagine it's probably hurting him or he's finding it difficult that he isn't that man at Arsenal right now. And I think he's accustomed to being that man. And I think that's probably, you know, I'm projecting here, but I could imagine that would be something that he might struggle with. Having been the main man for Carpentry, for Sporting, for Sweden, and coming into Arsenal and not necessarily kind of exploding on a rival and making the instantaneous impact he would have hoped for.

1:15:23That's a place he's not been in probably since he was at Brighton. Do you know what I mean? And I think, I just wonder if you can see that in him a little bit and if that's something he has to overcome here, where for the first time in a long time, he isn't the hero every week. And that's what a lot of strikers thrive on that. And they derive a lot of confidence and belief from that status. And he's had a few months now where that's not been the case. And he's got to try and recapture that feeling. I think that's interesting because you could say, and I think there's merit to the argument that when he came in, he didn't really have a proper pre-season, all of those things.

1:16:13He is adapting, et cetera, et cetera. But what he also had was a huge opportunity, you know? Yeah, true. Havertz was out. Jesus was out. He had the opportunity to make himself the main man. Yeah, I mean, by all rights, he could have been way out in the distance as the de facto nine by this point. And I think there are reasons why it hasn't happened. You know, some of them are down to him. Exactly. You know, so it's not just a referendum on him. I think there are other factors and you have to be objective and say that that is the case. But also, I wonder, does he think now that that is an opportunity missed for him?

1:16:56That, you know, Havertz is going to be back soon, hopefully. Jesus is back already and replacing him when we need a goal in a game. and that also adds to the pressure and if it's a confidence thing, does that undermine what little confidence or the lack of confidence you have or do you back yourself? Do you really respond and rise to that challenge? And again, that's sort of why I found that sort of first half moment where I think he just needs to be that split second, half a second sharper to anticipate the ball in from Bakayo Saka. He gets a goal and like that game cracks wide open and everyone's talking about him in a different way.

1:17:35Yeah. And I think if he's on a run of five, if he does score a couple in Bruges, I genuinely believe that that half yard of anticipation or something would be there. I've just seen it so many times in my life with strikers where goals change everything for them and they exude a totally different sort of aura. But anyway, we have this question from Havertz Hired Carr. on Blue Sky. And they'd done a bit of digging. And they said, good morning. The players showing decent end product in the league are Marino, Eze and Trossard. And they've evidenced this by the goals plus assists per 90 stat, which has Trossard leading Arsenal on 0.79.

1:18:22Marino on 0.71. And then Eze on 0.59. And they say, should we go back to the Marino false nine, Eze 10, Trossard left, Saka right with the Reis-Zubamendi double pivot. This is the most balanced side we've seen this season. Thoughts?

1:18:45I say no. It's not that I'm against it per se, but I think, listen, I think Mikel Moreno is a great pro, really, really great pro, who has done amazing in a role which he was not accustomed to. And he produced, I think, a lot more than anyone expected, probably even Mikel Arteta, even himself, right? But I think if you are looking to create a team that can be properly devastating in attack, you can't do it with a central midfielder who is a, I don't want to say makeshift center forward because I think he's better than that. but I think a player who's attacking instincts aren't naturally as high as somebody who's played up front their whole life.

1:19:36One second, Andrew. I've got to get the doorbell. Doorbell? Is that okay? Yeah, of course. Hit it.

1:20:10Sorted. You're back. I'm back. You're back. Yeah, I'll continue my thought. My thought is that if you have Gabriel Jesus available to you or even Victor Yarkarez or Kai Havertz as sort of more natural center forwards, I think you should go with those options because I think as well, there's a knock-on effect to other players around. Like does Saka or Odegaard or Eze or who at Rossard become even more productive with a player whose movement in the box and whose sharpness in the box brings goals, you know? So it's not to undermine anything Mikel Moreno has done. And I just think it would be not a backward step, but I just don't think it would be the right thing to do when you have those players available to you.

1:21:02I hear that. There's kind of a time and a place for everything. And I totally understand the temptation. You know, I was at that Spurs game. I was at that Bayern Munich game and I saw how effective that system and that setup was. I really don't know what Mikel Arteta will do at Goodison Park, how he'll approach it. I also wonder if there's a degree to which I speak about the psychological aspect. Is this the time that Victor Jokeres really needs the support of his manager and the fans as well? And I sensed a bit of that. I mean, you'll know better than me, you're in the ground, but I sense that there was a real desire in that stadium for him to do well.

1:21:56And like, you know, his touches, like little layoffs and bits of hold up play were really warmly received. Because I think people get, I think people are aware, A, that there's a narrative and a discourse going on and B, they know how important he could be if it does click. So, you know, Jesus will be in contention. Marino, I think, should be in the discussion. But I do wonder if this is the time where Arteta has to stick with Jocarez. Because if you take him out, if we're talking about a player whose confidence probably isn't the best right now, that's not going to help him. Yeah, I can see that argument.

1:22:38I also think that there is perhaps, as I alluded to earlier on, there might be a slightly ruthless reaction from Arteta to some of this. I agree. Something's likely to change. Yeah. I'm just not quite sure what. Yeah. It's a balance, isn't it? Listen, we've brought you in. We believe in you. We want you to do well. We want you to be confident. But also, you're not doing it quite well enough right now. And we have somebody else. and next week or the week after we might have another person as well and your job is to rise to that challenge is to respond to the competition within the squad and when you do get your chances you play yourself into the first team by scoring goals you know so there's that other side of it as well it's like it's not that you want to indulge a player but i think you have to in a in a title race, make difficult decisions and see what the character of a player is and how do they respond and how do they react to being left out of the team.

1:23:41You know, because you can't, the one thing you can't really say is that Jacarez hasn't had enough playing time. I think he has. And, you know, you could, you could say that that's actually contributed a little bit because he was pushed a bit too far physically and missed a bit with injury and he's still coming back from injury. And I think, by the way, that's also true of Martin Odegaard to an extent. He's only, what, started three games or two games since he's come back. So there is an element of that too, that there are players who might just need a bit of leeway to get themselves 100 % fully fit, match fit.

1:24:16And, you know, I think you can caveat this, right, by saying Burnley away is maybe not the most difficult game in the world right now in the Premier League. They're not a great team. And Jacarese's best performance came against Burnley away in that first half before he came off. But, you know, that was a 45 minutes where he kind of looked like you would hope he looked as an Arsenal player in an Arsenal shirt, the way that he played. There was a sort of energy and a bit of pace and a bit of confidence to his game that he hasn't been able to get back since coming back from that injury. So I don't quite know what the right thing to do is.

1:24:59Is it to sort of arm around the shoulder and say, come on, we'll give you the chances, score the goals, and you can kick on from there? or is it like, well, this is top-level football. You know, we can't sit around and wait for you to do it. So I think... Publicly, Mikel, I think he's protected him quite a lot, isn't he? He's putting the onus on others primarily. But privately, he'll have to make the right decision for the team. Exactly. And this goes away. If Jacarez starts scoring on a consistent basis, we're not having these discussions week in, week out. But as with every player at this level in a team where you're fighting to win the Premier League title, looking to really achieve success, if somebody isn't quite doing what they are expected to do, and we've had questions in this very podcast about Ezza and Martinelli.

1:25:52Yeah, absolutely. No one's safe. Nobody is safe from that level of scrutiny. And strikers, you know, what does it boil down to? Goals. That's it. That's it. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, just in a broader context, Zach Tays on Discord said, goodly morning, gents. Do you feel the team is under immense pressure to get a result away at Everton next week? If we go four away games without a win, do you seriously question our title credentials? Well, you would seriously question our, you know, our points total away from home. Yeah, I mean, there is huge pressure. There's huge pressure to respond to this poor performance.

1:26:37There's a huge pressure to respond from or to the Villa game where we lost. There's a huge pressure in every game for Arsenal this season because, you know, that's just how it works. So I don't think there's any, I don't think it's a particularly special pressure, but I think we're going to have to deal with, you know, an atmosphere at the new Everton Stadium. What's it called? The Hinklage Dinklage Arena. Yeah, I don't know. I keep calling it Goodson Park, so I don't know. The Peter Dinklage Arena, we'll call it that. You know, it's going to be eight o 'clock. It's Christmas week. Everybody's going to be out having a few pints, and it's going to be loud.

1:27:15And we know what Everton away is like anyway. The David Moyes thing, the Arteta thing. You know, this is a big, big game. And there are some elements to it which we're going to have to contend with. But I just think if you're a title contender, every game comes with a level of pressure that you have to deal with and contend with. Yeah, exactly that. Exactly that. I mean, I sort of, I slightly hesitate to call it, you know, huge or massive because if we do that, we're going to have to do that every single week until the end of the season, most likely. But I think it's a tough game. I do think that.

1:27:52I mean, Everton are no joke. They are having a pretty decent season. yeah they've won seven of their 16 games we know what David Moyes teams are like they are competitive they are physical as you say it'll be a cracking atmosphere up there and I think it's I think it's it is an important one in the context of the title race I have to say I was impressed by Manchester City's result yesterday that's a really good result 3-0 way to I didn't see I haven't had a chance to watch a match of the day or watch the highlights yet. Was it as convincing as it looked, or was it a closer game? Good question.

1:28:36I only watched bits and pieces of it. There were three games on simultaneously, so I was kind of flitting about. Let me have a look at the stats. 60 % possession. Palace. The XG was in Palace's favour. Wow. 16 shots to seven. What the fuck? So you know what that is, though? That's an illustration of perhaps, I don't know, I'll have to see it, but being clinical with your chances. Yeah, well, they've got Erling Haaland. They do, yeah. Yeah, I think Palace did have chances early on and didn't take them, essentially, and City then got themselves in front. Even so, I think, yeah, it's an excellent result.

1:29:21Villa won came from behind twice I think I'm right in saying I mean they continue to look like a sort of chaotic juggernaut don't they they're not ever wholly convincing and yet they just managed to keep winning keep scoring goals and in Morgan Rogers they've got a player who's absolutely flying again a team outshot .67, scoring three goals from.67 XG, which, you know, the people who often point out that Unai Emery's team can't really be measured correctly by their XG will be having a field day with that one, I guess. Yes. I mean, yeah, we know ourselves that we had to run a bit like that under him and it came back to bias in the end um yeah the underlying metrics community uh you know don't care for una but they're winning and they're they've got the points on the board and that's really all that matters yeah that's it that's it um and so yeah four wins on the spin for city i I think it's six for Villa.

1:30:37So certainly, you know, there's the momentum is in flux, I think, at this point in time. Sure. And I think Arsenal need to go and seize control of it again.

1:30:54Well, I don't know what else to say about any of it other than I feel like I need a couple of days of decompression. Two days off. Two days off. then I need to then balance the training yeah exactly you know the habits are deteriorating a little bit here so yeah when you're podcasting every three days exactly there's no time for training that's the problem it's hard to maintain the consistency alright well look I think we will leave it there for those of you expecting an episode of the 30 you're going to have to wait until tomorrow we're going to take in Monday Night Football tonight which of course is involving Manchester United the most Monday Night football team of this particular season So we will have the 30 for you on Patreon tomorrow.

1:31:37That's patreon.com forward slash arseblog if you'd like to get involved with that. For now, though, folks, thanks very much indeed for being with us. Hope you enjoyed the show. And we will catch you on the next one. Until then. Bye-bye.