Arsecast Extra Episode 680 - 09.02.2026

0:03La pelota le cae a Declan Reyes, pero no puede buscar el disparo, prefiere volver a abrir, hay alguien caído en el área, Viene Maduel que queriendo desbordar la cuelga Maduel que rebate, ahí sí Ahí sí, sube, sube, sube, sube Gol

0:21Del Arsenal, Zubimendi Le aguantas uno Le aguantas dos, le aguantas tres Pero al cuarto estás firmando Tu sentencia de muerte Otra vez a Barón parado, marca el Arsenal Zubimendi

0:38Sobe, sobe, sobe, sobe!

0:43Sobe, sobe, sobe, sobe!

0:48Sobe, sobe, sobe, sobe!

0:54This is Arsecast Extra. Hello and welcome to another Arsecast Extra as always with James from Gunnar Block. James, a goodly morning to you. Goodly morning, Andrew. How are you today? I'm doing fine. Listen, I just want to say first and foremost that I have reused the theme tune from last week. Zubimendi scored again, so I feel like it deserved another airing. And, you know, that Kaiser Chief Zubi Zubi Zubi thing, it might take off, you know, might take off. Maybe he needs to score a few more goals. What do you think? Wow, half a dozen already this season. Not doing too bad. Not at all. But yeah, I think it could take off and should take off.

1:30We should keep pushing it, really. Yes, yes. You start singing it next time you're there. Y me on my own You on your own Might look weird in the press box But I'm prepared to do it Well listen that's how these things get started It's just organic One guy does it then somebody else copies them And then another guy copies them And that's how these things take off It's a beautiful thing It's a big responsibility on your shoulders But you have such a beautiful singing voice I think it'll work It'll work, it'll carry So you're good Andrew I'm glad you're good I mean obviously a bit of a an interesting weekend yes in the title race let's say what with attaining that nine point lead and then seeing it slashed to six City from the way people are talking City are like eight points clear of us now with that one win over Liverpool I think they did I think that's how it works they leapfrogged us I think it was one of those you know sometimes they talk about a six pointer this was a twelve pointer yeah yeah Yeah, we really got turned over this weekend by winning and actually increasing our goal difference.

2:43Well, I know, right? Yeah. Hey, how funny would it be? I know what you're going to say, right? You're going to talk about like one goal. I mean. I know where you're coming from and it would be unbelievably funny, pero creo que yo sería solo en un lado y en un lado, y en un lado, si se hubiera que eso. No, no. No, no, no. No, no, no, no. Pero la pregunta me ha pasado. Pero la pregunta me ha pasado en algún momento durante el tiempo de stoppage. Sí, sí. Common sense should apply. Forget the rules of the game. Forget the rules. Common sense should apply cuando, no, no, suites people for it to apply.

3:26En otras cosas, no so mucho, of course. Pero, yeah. ¿Qué quieres hacer? ¿Quieres hablar de Arsenal? ¿Qué quieres hablar de Liverpool?

4:00Algo más bien, Arsenal. Y Arsenal ganando un juego y keeping a clean sheet. Y, como you say, extendiendo el lead a la top de la mesa a 9 puntos, albeit temporarily, until el Mug Smashers did lo que el Mug Smashers do. Pero este fue, creo, un interesante. Y quizás lo que nos puede empezar con, aparte de la selección, There were some changes, Calafiore back in, Jesus up front, Havertz in midfield, Trossard back in. So there were some changes there from Mikel Arteta. But I think maybe the thing to talk about is Sunderland and their approach and maybe how it was different than people were expecting.

4:43Because I think there was a sense that, as they have done in some of the big games this season, they play with a back five. Inevitable, that would lead to this game being played primarily in the Sunderland half, low block, Arsenal's kryptonite. Well, everybody's kryptonite, really. But I think it's worth maybe looking at the way that they played. They didn't come just to sit back and defend in a low block. And I think this was a game that we had to kind of come to terms with a little bit because of that. Yeah, I think it does send a bit of a disservice really to just talk about them as a low block side I think they always carry a degree of threat A lot of that comes off set pieces of course, you know, they've got that weapon of Mukiali and the long throw and we saw a bit of that, I think, at the Stadium of Light in terms of crosses into the box, how we dealt with that, but yeah, I think Brian Brobby up front for them is a real handful, I think you won't see William Saliba GC4-13, ese seriento de Tor, de esa ley no Monsieur Hión, es una gran加入 stages Two mujeres.

5:56Sí, ま輕 con voz OK. Y tengo que realmente ta dica hace que la salvación, quiere decir que eu voy a un próximo的是ennes inclusive esto en los siguientes emphasized第三 cambios eso no en menos la la competencia aquí, para ganar este game 3-0 against a team que están en la season que están en el nivel de la capacidad de competencia que han ha tenido, creo que es un realmente, realmente fantastic resultado. Sí, yo, listen, away from home, they're nowhere near as good as they are at the Stadium of Light. Their good season has been predicated primarily on their home form, but they did go to Stamford Bridge and win earlier in the season as well, so the away versus home thing can affect all kinds of teams in all kinds of ways, but you underestimate them at su perro, creo.

6:41There was a muy buen early chance for Kai Havertz, buen trabajo de Leandro Trossard, he headed wide, pero no fue el precursor para Arceloar y absolutamente dominating los opening stages. Sunderland did have possession, y en el momento, en el Auerbach, cuando David Raya came y estaba buscando ser decisivo. Creo que fue Ballard que fue a la entrada, Mikel Arteta, que pensaba que era un foul No sé si es. Es solo como un conjunto como Ballard es challenging y Brobby es ahí. No creo que es irse pero es still un momento de danger y Kai Havertz fue ahí para blockarlo. Sí, un característico error creo que David Reier.

7:27I mean, Dan Ballard gave us loads of problems didn't he en el primer game? Again, he's, you know, very powerful, very difficult to handle in the opposition penalty area. Raya es so good, so comfortable coming off his line a lot of the time I think when we've seen Kepa in recent weeks you've noticed a bit of a gap there in terms of what he can offer, but this was an uncharacteristic error, I think it was going wide, but a great chance for Sunderland obviously that would have changed the dynamic of the whole game. Yeah, for sure but look, it was one of those where I think it was a bit back and forth they had possession, we had possession, there wasn't mucho en el camino de la cantidad de chances.

8:09El uno que me can realmente remember probablemente coming closest a opening the scoring apart from that Havertz header fue el Declan Rice shot from not far outside the box where he curled it just wide. I think the keeper was absolutely beaten there all ends up. I think this is interesting only because it's a very similar move to the one Arsenal ultimately score from. Y a mí me hacía que mi Atletic colega Art de Roche En un fridayo He asked Mikel Arteta About goals from outside the box And they had a little conversation About the necessity Of taking on those moments When the opportunity presents itself When you're facing a defence You are sitting quite deep And Sunderland As much as they had spells of possession When they were defending They did collapse relatively deep Yeah, they got men behind the ball well Yeah And I think Arsenal que todos los que se han visto y están buscando crear estos pequeños y creo que es Trossard que le tocó para el rey y es un buen esfuerzo que se pasó pero es un poco de la posición que Zubimendi sends a zipped shot en el centro de la posición So, I mean, listen por el tiempo el gol had come around it was basically 50-50 en términos de possession en el game We had had more shots eight shots to there too pero en términos de posesión y donde la game era siendo played no era end to end pero era quite even y I thought it was very tough y I thought Sunderland realmente did make it difficult for us physically to try and crack them open and to find those opportunities I like the whether it's a new thing or whether it's something we'll see more of the willingness to have a go from distance that we saw, I mean Rice is so good on the ball los set pieces.

9:58Si, si hubiera sido curado inside the post would have sido a espectacular kind of goal. Pero entonces towards the end of the half things sort of opened up a little bit and the goal played a part in that. Pero before we get to that there was an incident with Brobby and Martin Zubamendi where I think there's a genuine attempt on his part to go for the ball. He sort of catches Zubamendi on the shin with his studs and it's one of those where if you look at a steal It looks quite damning. He got a yellow card. I saw a lot of people talking about this challenge. And I'm curious as to what you think about it.

10:38I don't know what the rationale is. Maybe the VAR guy, what's his name? He's not ESPN anymore, is he? Works for BBC now. Anyway, that guy. He works for BBC. Yeah. He'll probably come out and say that. Dale. Dale Johnson. Yes. Dale VAR man Johnson. I'm going to guess that what they will say is the rationale for that being a yellow card and nothing more is that it was a genuine attempt to go for the ball, he misses by a couple of seconds or a split second rather and it's sort of like a glancing blow so I think Brobbicht is lucky in that it just sort of catches him on the shin but sort of glances off the shin pad maybe and the contact isn't really as significant as it might be so it's lucky for Brobby, probably lucky for Martin Zubimendi as well, that the contact wasn't more sustained, if that's the right way of putting it.

11:29But I saw people talk about like, oh, look, it's like Christian Romero against Man United. I was like, not for me. It's nowhere near as forceful as that. I do wonder as well, is there a degree to which it's sort of a cumulative thing where, you know, Dominic Cavallouin had one similar, didn't he, like a week before where people felt, Oh, has he got away with one there? So I suppose there's a bit of a sort of mounting case Of what are people getting away with Against Arsenal I think in Broby's case His heel kind of plants On the ground and the contact that's made Is sort of more with his Toe end of his boot And I think that's what I don't think his weight Is kind of where the contact is If that makes any sense But I think he is a bit lucky As in, I think it very nearly could have been quite a bad outcome for Martin Zimmerman without wishing to sort of dodge the question I feel like this sort of sits in that kind of orange category where I think probably whatever on field decision was made would have been substantiated by the VAR I think the way I would look at it was if it's the other way around and an Arsenal player makes that foul I'd be a little unhappy if they got sent off for that I recognise que podría haber sido worse para Zubimendi o podría haber sido worse en términos de contact pero yo creo que cuando hay un intento de un intento para ir a la bola y tú eres just a split second too late y el contact isn't as bad as it might have been I think a yellow is probably the right decision there It's interesting isn't it that Calvert-Lewin and Brobby are both centre-forwards Centre-forwards Well there is that old cliché pero creo que en este caso, en este caso, hay un nivel de la verdad.

13:23Así, un minuto más tarde, y también estamos aheadando a Martin Zubimendi, que fue obviamente feeling no significativo de la fecha de la fecha de la challenge. Y, listen, yo pensé que Nani Matueke tenía un poco de la game, realmente no impactó la game en un significativo de la forma de la attacking. Pero, credit aquí, él ha ganado el ballo en el lado del lado del lado del lado. y desde ahí recicla la posibilidad de acción a través de la izquierda desde Zubimendi creo que Trossard es muy muy clever muy smart porque le drawes la atención de dos defenders Trossard's experiencia creo que es es muy importante aquí es patient he can recognize el espacio que puede ser para Zubimendi he draws la segunda defender en y then plays a muy bien que permite que suba mendi a ajuste de su pie y hit it first time, es un gran finito con el lado de su foot que hits el bottom de la post, they always look great cuando hit la post y go in the far side pero creo que Trossard deserves credit for this suba mendi strike es excelente y obviamente que es el más difícil parte de este pero creo que Trossard plays a key part en making that opportunity to shoot No, definitivamente, I agree Creo que le baita el defender Y luego plays it off Y I think he did this Quite well all day Trossard against A deep defence Figuring out where the space was going to be And finding those little pockets And I do think there was something Very deliberate about this move If you watch the way Trossard draws his man to him And lays it off If you watch the way that Zubimendi He looks towards the penalty area He clocks that Declan Rice has made a run forward.

15:13He kind of steps back, sits off, finds that little sort of, you know, 10-yard pocket where he's just got time to get a shot off. And the execution is, I think, outstanding, really. I mean, cut across the ball like that to put the spin on it so that it goes in off that near post as well, rather than canning back out. It's just a beautiful, beautiful hit. y yo otro demostración de lo que es un terrific all-round player que tenemos en él. Creo que es muy interesante considerar el added goal threat que él es giving en un segundo, en su primer seis meses en, que no se ni realmente se puede ver de ese position last año.

15:58Hay un couple de players que podría occasionally score a goal, pero con Zubamendi lo que estamos getting es consistent threat from a different position from a position on the pitch we didn't really have it you know last season so I think that's just an interesting aspect of his arrival and what it's meant for the team that it has sort of changed the dynamic of our midfield in a way like six and all competitions is no bad thing at all for a player you know sitting here the 9th of February when everyone thought he was going to be the guy who would sit deep and keep things going and be a bit metronomic in his passing Which he is as well But this extra bonus goal thread he has Has been very, very useful Yeah, and I think we've spoken before About how Arsenal don't necessarily have A Haaland, a 30 goal player A 40 goal player But I think that means there's a responsibility On everyone else to contribute You know, if that's the case I'm not sure you can afford to have Let's say a Jorginho figure Who's only ever a threat from the penalty spot Really Sure Everyone's got to step up And everyone's got to offer something And he is adding this dimension to his game And it's fascinating to watch actually Because it's not a reputation he necessarily had in Spain As like a true box-to-box player Or someone who made telling final third contributions But he's adding that to his game And I think he's emulating Declan Rice in that respect And sort of growing as a player at Arsenal And under Mikel Arteta So, yeah, a great moment and also a brilliant time to score, right?

17:35What was it, five minutes before the break? Something like that. Just as the sort of tension is beginning to ratchet up, he finds a way to cut through it. Yeah, yeah, just before halftime as well. And it sort of seemed to open things up. By the way, I was just looking at his goal scoring in Spain where he would score two, three goals a season. I think this must be his most prolific season in front of goal. It definitely is. I'm just going back to 2021 Here 3 So I think the most he scored was 4 in a season Before that so That's a really impressive step forward Particularly in a new league There was the Gabriel Jesus incident Of course I think this is One of those where When you look at it and I know I'm obviously looking at this From an Arsenal perspective I know the rules are the rules pero i just want to see common sense applied i feel like if your feet are in your own half you should be on side i've got tremendous sympathy with him because yeah i guess the rules are i think i think i'm right saying the wording something like any part of your body that you can legally control the ball with or score um but actually the way in which he kind of arcs his body and his run to kind of keep his feet inside the half until the ball's released when you first see it you think he should be on side there but I think he's so close to getting it right, I've got great sympathy with him he might even have been the man on that penalty who knows had it been awarded I mean that's a moment isn't it and listen we're not going to campaign for an offside rule change but I do think there's probably a way where you can say if your feet are in your own half when the ball is played regardless of whether you're leaning into the opposition half or leaning like half an inch beyond a defender you really should be onside you should be allowed to go through that.

19:37If your feet are in your own half you're not offside. Exactly you know and if we get to a point where there's a 12 foot high footballer who's leaning forward all that way you know we can cross that bridge when we come to it but his eyes light up. Yeah exactly Imagine him on set pieces But that was a moment You know it was a moment where Sunderland I think would have been Down to 10 men, I think it was a foul by Ballard on Jesus, it would have been A penalty, there was no attempt to play the ball So he wouldn't have got away with just the yellow card So that would have been them down To 10 men and Arsenal with a Penalty and then there was another moment Just before half time When David Raya Bowled the ball out quickly which quien hizo de que toqué muchos veces en esta half y fue demostable.

20:25Creo que Sunderland pallas fue one de las ocasiones donde ha gotta bloquearlo pero 오른 el trabajo con que between y no estaba algo hallg Girían así como Declan Rice los 그런citos responsibility y capisca

20:48dannいblándote ese torneo reel de Havertz. Y en Havertz, por lo que, yo creo que en ese momento que hubiera sido un penal, pero no era interesante de verlo con un paso de un paso muy número 10, como un paso real, de un paso. Creo que él juega ese rol, y en realidad, creo que el rol es shifting y evolucionando, pero en un diferente de tu clásico Mesut Ozil, o quizás Martín Odegaard. Pero ese fue el paso que se quiera ver desde Odegaard, A defensa splitting pass through the middle To release Jesus And when you look at it He threads it between a couple of defenders It's a really, really good pass It is perfectly weighted Morally onside Jesus Unfortunately not technically onside Jesus Absolutely, yeah There we go And I thought after the break I thought Sunderland had another decent spell David Raya had a little moment didn't he as well yeah there was a shot, there was the moment outside the box where the two Sunderland players appeared to be like slightly shocked by the fact that David Raya had made a mistake and were like oh fuck they didn't make the most of that and there was a shot wasn't there that he saved, got down well to save and you could see Gabriel sort of looking for the keeper to get up and claim the ball and he didn't and Y Gabriel sort of bashed it clear.

22:19So there's that sort of slight air of uncertainty, which can happen when you're a goal up or only one goal up. And listen, again, fair play to Sunderland. They had a go. They were really determined to get something from this game, you know, but by virtue of the way that they were going to play and approach it. You know, we've seen teams in the last little while come to Arsenal and not show anywhere near as much ambition as Sunderland, even though they might have spent, I don't know, 20 times the money. Yeah, I mean, I wonder maybe their confidence was kind of buoyed by the reverse fixture and they felt there were areas they could hurt us because a lot of times it feels like teams, I don't want to say they're beaten before they turn up, but there is a lack of ambition in the way that they play, whereas Stunderland, I think, felt like they had the weapons to give us issues and they did.

23:10I mean, yeah, I'm characteristically shaky from David Raya in a couple of moments. I wonder if they sort of are connected. You know, he comes for that early cross in the first half and doesn't quite get there. Does that, is that just in his mind for some of these later incidents in a way that might impact your performance? I don't know. But yeah, fortunately, fortunately we managed to ride it out and get the second goal, which obviously put us in a much more comfortable position. Well, the manager decided something had to change. Yes. So that was, you know, two subs on the R-Mark, which I'm okay with.

23:46Four subs on the R-Mark, you know, we're not quite as on board with that. But two subs on the R-Mark, which I thought were good changes. Matuweke, who, you know, hadn't been as impactful as you might like. Gabriel Jesus, similarly, apart from that moment where he ran through, didn't really have the kind of impact you would have liked from him. Maybe we thought it was going to be a different game against Sunderland. You know, the idea that if they were sitting deep, we could get him on the ball in those tight areas like the way he scored against Leeds. But I think what was interesting was the fact that we were pushing Kai Havertz up front quite a lot.

24:26And Jesus was rotating out a little bit. And Trossard sometimes would come into the central area or Jesus would go out onto the left or Jesus would drop back into a more central area. No sé si eso es para dar un comentario o no, pero no sé si es necesariamente donde quiero ver Gabriel Jesús. Cuando está jugando a centro-forward, creo que es parte de su plan. Pero yo creo que es mejor cuando está jugando a la central man, rather que alguien que está siendo asked para link play en la manera que otros do better, creo. Así que Jokerez para Jesús y Martínez para Maduweke, no necesariamente sorprendente de sustitución.

25:03No, y Mikael, antes de haber dicho que cuando se llamaba el starting XI, he dijo Jokerez que iba a ser un gran parte de play en este juego. Clearly, creo que Mikael ha puesto un gran enfoque en el final, como se llamaba los, y el importante rol que se juega. Y eso fue evidenciado en este juego. I suppose Martínez y Jokerez, se trata de poner en runners también, como los que realmente quieren explotar el espacio en el behind y lo que se trata. Trossard, también, involucrado en el segundo gol. Yo pensaba que básicamente tormented ellos en el lado. Por ejemplo, su contribución en la oposición de la parte del lado fue excelente.

25:46Su diligencia en la parte del lado, defensivamente, fue muy bien. Por ejemplo, yo pensaba que era muy impresionante. El señor de la carrera, el señor de la carrera, no es el trabajo de la carrera, el chasing back, taking responsibility, getting on the ball, helping us keep possession, making a few passes. I realmente creo que él fue as good as anybody en Saturday, y hay algunas muy buenas performances y algunas muy grandes contribuciones, pero yo realmente estaba impresionando Trossard, lo que es no que no se va a ir a este juego con todo el aplaudit o el producto albeit que se va a un assist obviamente por el objetivo de la opening goal de Zubomendi pero yo solo thought he was un gran influencia y un calmo presencia en un modo porque de la experiencia que él ha Agreed, y creo que en un XI without Martín Odegaard without Eberet Chezeze por ejemplo, he was kind of the principal tormentor, the chief instigator.

26:59He's a fire starter. He was almost the kind of, you know, creative hub of the team out on that left-hand side. I think as well, he'll be really pleased to see Ricardo Calafiori back. It's easy to forget what an effective partnership those two had in the first few months of the season. y realmente operan bien en tandem en la izquierda. Y incluso en momentos como el Zubimendi-Gal o el Rice effort, hay runs de Calafiore en los dosos de los dosos de los dosos de los dosos de los dosos de los dosos que te descanos de los dosos que crean los puentes de espacio en el lado de la caja. Y no creo que ni de los dosos los dosos de los dosos con el mismo nivel de intento y el mismo nivel de threat.

27:48Así que creo que ayuda Trossard to have someone going outside him or inside him, beyond him basically that defences really have to worry about. I'll tell you what I really like about this goal as well is that the way he sort of, again, like he did with the Zubimendi goal, he sort of held on to the ball and tried to entice the defenders in and twisted and turned a little bit. And he played a pass, a risky pass, which he's one of those players who will always, not always, but he will try those risky passes. You know, he'll bridge that risk-reward gap a little bit in the way that maybe some other players don't.

28:25It didn't come off, and Sunderland didn't necessarily clear their lines as well as they should have. I think it's Declan Rice who's putting a lot of pressure on the defender. He clears it. It comes straight to Trossard. He plays the exact same pass again, you know. This time, it finds Kai Havertz, who finds Jokerez. Jokerez takes a touch, and he sort of stumbles a little bit, Pero creo que la credit es due aquí, incluso después de eso, él manages a dar, como se está cayendo, un muy fuerte, un golpe que se va en el fondo de la neta para 2-0. Esa es como un poco de meses atrás, que es el momento donde Jacarese se cae y no se hace contacto con el ballo o algo.

29:10Que hay ahora, quizás, un nivel de confianza. Su record en las últimas dos games ha sido improved. y que también estamos viendo las preguntas de la finalización en donde no es la niña, pero todavía aún se cooked. Definitivamente. ambos puntos bajos en los golpes. Lo que cuatro me ponen allí fue cuando nos hizo como離arlo y pienso en el primer. El flush ultimto.速at

29:37Valenilloacción allí. bits y referirón aquí. y en realidad, no sé cómo mucho la videos de la Arsenal que se han publicado pero son los finishos que se producen en la training pitch de London Colny y absolutamente thumping the ball beyond the goalkeeper así que creo que es realmente hereditante ver una de esos de él aquí creo que su gol en Milan es probable el mejor para Arsenal pero hay algo sobre este que me gustó que yo realmente liked como powerful lo que fue lo que certain lo que fue el convicción behind y es un almost instantáneo impact from him so like a really positive moment for him to continue his recent momentum yeah six minutes I think on the pitch or less he scores a goal I'm sort of having this ongoing back and forth with Tayo Papula about how the goalkeeper keeps getting a touch on Giacares' goals the one in Milan you mentioned it's a great finish but the goalkeeper gets a touch goalkeeper got a touch of that one goalkeeper got a touch of the one that he scored against Leeds last weekend If you remember So they sort of add to that That sense that I don't know Not that they're clean finishes I think they are I think the power You know that he showed For example at Leeds To hold off the defender To get the shot away Credit there And this time he hit the ball so hard On as he was slipping Like the Despite the fact the goalkeeper Got a touch It didn't go in So I'm hoping for You know a nice Clean one into the top corner against Brentford on Thursday.

31:12But look, a big goal for him and a big goal for us at that stage. You know, it's an hour into the game and it was quite even in that second half. Who else came on? Ebrecheza came on and I thought he was good. I enjoyed his cameo. There was a shot which was just wide with his left foot set up by Declan Rice. He's another one of those players who isn't adverse to having a shot from a little bit further out, you know, y el lado de la boca. Y creo que que se ha visto que es un gran efecto contra Spurs. Pero sí, creo que he had un livelier cameo en este momento. Sí. I thought que fue muy encouraging.

31:56Hintcapié came on as well. That's right. Naturally managing Ricardo Calafiori a little bit. Sí. Y luego obviously got the icing on the cake as well. A suplice time. Injury time, third goal, I think it's Christian Norgard who's on for Trossard who went off injured. Hopefully nothing serious there. He hooked it forward. Martinelli ran on and played it out to Jokerez. He scored. I have to say, before maybe we talk about the goal itself, we talked about the Brobby challenge in the first half. I think the challenge on Jokeres, as he's shooting, as he's putting the ball in the back of the net, is really bad.

32:46Really bad. This is like the way Alexander Izak had his leg broken at Tottenham. You know, where there is no attempt to go for the ball. You can dress it up as an attempt to try and block the shot, but he's nowhere near. y launches himself off the ground knee-height into Jocarez who thankfully is made of fairly robust stuff everyone's talking about that Brobby challenge for me this is a red card challenge if that ball doesn't hit the back of the net it's got to be a penalty and a red card and I don't hang on are you saying we should disallow the goal go back for the red card no is that what we're saying I think regardless of the fact that this ball went to the back of the net que sí lo ganzen que cada jug大概 dry deboat pero seviet paraف auch enfields thunder una buena una diur all y estamos que se bu round es casi каждый para el de sort de land on top of Iacarez you get a tangle of legs and you know a knee ligament goes twang or whatever something worse you know I really think it was a dangerous dangerous challenge like the Brobby one I can look at and say he's going for the ball Zubermendi's going for the ball Zubermendi gets there just a fraction before he does and it looks bad for Brobby in that instance but I recognise that there was no real malicious intent or he wasn't going out studs up on the knee to do a player he was actually going for the ball Whereas in this instance, this guy knows.

34:17It's Ranildo. He knows. He can't get anywhere near the ball. So he just launches himself at Jokeres. I think it's really, really dangerous. Really dangerous. I think he's a bit lucky there, Jokeres, for sure. Yeah, because, I mean, he gets up like it's nothing, you know. But then I guess when you've just scored a goal, that'll do wonders for you and for your adrenaline and your pain tolerance. By the way, Gabriel Martinelli on this goal. I mean, the way he breaks away from the Sunderland defence just carries the ball half the length of the pitch. We've seen him do it so many times. I mean, obviously you think of Stamford Bridge as one example, but there are countless others.

34:57I do sometimes think that we, I think we sometimes underestimate quite how quick Gabriel Martinelli can be. It's always striking to me, you know, when they do those interviews with squad members and they say, you know, who's the best in training, ¿Who's the most skillful? Whenever they say who's the quickest, it's always a very immediate answer and it's always Gabriel Martinelli. But for some reason, I don't think he's often talked about as one of the most devastatingly fast players in this league. Possibly because we don't play or our opponents don't let us play in a way that's conducive to exhibit that.

35:36But stoppage time of a game where the opponent has to chase and has to try and score is maybe the perfect moment. Yeah, maybe so. ¿Es there el super-quick player en la Premier League en el momento? Como el Theo Walcott. No se puede ver el Theo Walcott. ¿Vale? No hay un general igualación de top speed o cada team tiene un player que es muy quick, pero no es ese super, super, super fast guy. ¿Vale? Y creo que defensa es más quicker también, ¿no? Así que, como te say, creo que es un cancelling out. Obviamente, Mo Salah era ese player, pero no es probable que no era ese player. anymore it's just interesting isn't it I think speed 10 15 years ago was such a valuable asset so much of tactics seem to be based around that I think in a sort of in a low block league it probably has less value but yeah I just think it's a really sort of interesting aspects of Martinelli's game that I think often gets overlooked I think maybe because we spend a lot of time seeing him face quite deep defences.

36:40People have made me frustrated at other facets of his game that aren't quite as strong. But yeah, I think 10 years ago, I think he would have been absolutely devastating in this league. And I love, by the way, the celebration after this goal. You know, Martinelli sort of goes and sort of echoes Jokeres' trademark. Yeah, it's just a weird one because he does his own weird little version of it by putting his hands over his eyes. Hands over his eyes, which is what Gabriel did when he scored against Sporting which I thought was sort of at the time a dis effectively of Jokeres saying I can't see you or where are you maybe what I liked is just Jokeres' manner I think I spoke, was it after Leeds when I said watch him after the goal he just swears for about 60 seconds and he was angry almost when he put it in the net y creo que este es maybe oh sorry can you just say that again just go from this is maybe the first time ok yeah I think this is maybe the first time in a long time maybe even since the Emirates Cup where he's put the ball in the net and I think just seemed genuinely relaxed and content and where the celebration has seemed fun rather than perfunctory I do think that he looks a bit transformed emocionado, creo, por este recientirán.

38:08Seguro en ocho appearances ahora, y un par de asistos en ese run también. Así que, yo me felt great about esto, y creo, y espero que he se ha convertido un cornero ahí, maybe. There was maybe a chance for Jacarese a haber hat-trick as well. There was a brilliant, brilliant touch from Martinelli. There was a high ball. He took a touch and just took it beyond the defender and had a shot, which, keeper saved. no hay issue con Martínez tener un gozo pero Jocheres era un poco como he did el arm de la mano de la mano como he could have squared that me he could have had a hat trick pero no begrudió Martínez el shot at gol from there given he'd also laid one on for Jocheres as we just said and his first touch I think would have made it a very spectacular goal I think he's given him one hasn't he so I think that's fair enough I mean, it would have been pretty cool for Jokeres to come and score a hat-trick off the bench but yeah, big impact from him and a great win like I said at the top, I really do think 3-0 against the Sunderland side who posed us different problems in the course of the game and I think in every instance we kind of adapted to those and overcame them so I Just thought it was a really, really positive day all around.

39:35No, I agree. I agree. I think what we are seeing from this Arsenal team is an ability to recognise and deal with very differing game states. You know, the game against Chelsea was different. The game against Leeds was different. You know, the game against Sunderland was maybe not what we expected, but was different. And we came to terms with that. y creo que hay un tipo de inteligencia en la forma que play, que creo que... Maybe voy a un poco sobre el topo aquí, pero creo que la Zubimendi-Rice partnership es absolutamente key para eso. La manera que Declan Rice le veía el juego es como bueno como cualquier midfielder que he visto en un Arsenal y es un parte de su que es mejor un momento early en la primera half cuando Sunderland had possession y se ve el Sunderland que se ve un hombre en un posición donde puede play a dangerous ball en el midfield Before he's even started to make that pass, Declan Rice has seen that this guy has seen that and moves over to intercept it and takes the ball down the left-hand side.

41:06I don't know that anything really came of it, but it was such a demonstration of his footballing intelligence and the way that he recognizes his role within this midfield. I think what's also interesting is that the longer games go on, the more he kind of comes out to the left-hand side. Maybe it's something to do with Calafiore going off, I'm not sure. But I really do think these two are absolutely fundamental to Arsenal when we're, I don't want to say that that was Arsenal at our best. But I thought it was a very, very good version of Arsenal dealing with a particular opposition and coming out on top.

41:46El opositorio tenía muy pocas, el XG no era mucho, y creo que un gran parte de eso es cómo podemos ajustar tacticamente y positionalmente en la games. Y creo que Rice y Zubimendi te dar la plataforma para hacer eso. Sí, no creo que es un exageración que si Arsenal van a lograr lo que esperan que llegue este año, entonces creo que se va a ser hablado y held en similar regard a los dos mejores midfield partnerships que hemos tenido en este club. Yo creo que realmente creo que en ese bracket, en ese calibre donde si continúe como este, se va a ser discutido alongside Villar y Petit, Villar y Gilberto y otros.

42:31being back. It's a great point about Declan Rice. I think because he's so powerful and because he's so physically dominant, I think sometimes people maybe make the mistake of assuming that's what enables him to mop the ball up and be in the right place at the right time, that he's just outrunning people. But I think you make a great point to say that a lot of it's in his head. You know, the first few yards en su anticipación, su reading de la game. Creo que puedes ver que es un midfielder que ha jugado o empezado a su carrera como el centro de la mitad porque su nose por danger es tan bueno. Es capaz de snuflo de la mitad muy rápido.

43:18Es un poco... Yo mencioné Fierro Gilberto y Gilberto era absolutamente el hombre que había que la habilidad de read la game y anticipación de la problemas were going to be. But what's interesting about Rice is that he has all these other flourishes to his game as well. He's so good on the ball, that he's got the set-piece delivery, the technique, nearly scores a 30-yard screamer in this game. I mean, Gilberto was kind of the invisible wall and Deck is sort of the unmissable wall. You know, he's got every facet of his game and his partnership with Zubimendi is blossoming right now and I think it's still growing and evolving and adapting.

43:58Creo que Rice es rol en el midfield ha cambiado un poco desde Kai Havertz stepped into el equipo. Están realmente y truly playing as a proper pair ahora. Hay siempre un awareness de donde el otro es. Uno goes, uno stays. Creo que es es difícil para leer. Es difícil para los defensores de saber lo que lo que para hacer con lo que y they just play minute after minute after minute. They're Arsenal's marathon men at this point in time. y yo creo que hemos de esperar que que esté ese camino. Absolutely, maybe no mencionó Zubimendi's little tribute to Mikel Moreno doing the corner flag celebration which was a nice moment as well.

44:40Moreno, we believe, undergoing surgery today on his foot which will probably keep him out for most of the rest of the season but hopefully he can return quickly and play a part between now and the end of May when hopefully things are still bubbling away for Arsenal. Beyond that, though... He's got a World Cup as well to think about, potentially. So no shortage of motivation there. No, not at all. And beyond that, yeah. I mean, like I say, Saturday night, nine points clear. I think everyone was feeling very, very good about things. Absolutely. Listen, I think it's one of those where, you know, you put it down to the professionalism of the team, Es un control de performance, un clean sheet.

45:28We've come through a period of like in different form and we look to be beyond the far side of that now. And hopefully we can continue on this vein because there's a big game obviously coming up on Thursday in a midweek run of games. But I do have questions about that stuff and more in part two. So unless there's anything else, we'll take a little break, will we? Yes, let's do that. All right. Bueno, vamos a ver con tu preguntas y más en parte 2, después de esto.

46:04Bienvenidos a la Arsecast Extra. Este es parte 2 de la show, donde nos responde a la pregunta que te sentes a nos. A la BluSky, a gunnarblog.bsky.social, y a Arseblog.com, también en el Arseblog Discord chat server, que te obtener acceso a si eres un Arseblog membro. On Patreon. And from there, we're going to have the first question. We touched on it, obviously, in the first half. The other big game of the weekend. James Reif on the Discord says, Am I alone in being happy that City won? Because if we are to do this thing, I want us to truly win it as part of a proper title race rather than other teams lose it.

46:48Which I thought was an interesting angle on this. Porque yo no puedo disagreear más. Pero, bueno. He's not alone. Listen, I get that. I get that. I feel like it sort of annoys me, this narrative of like, well, Arsenal might win the league, but it's because nobody else turned up. You know what I mean? Is that not true of every season when somebody wins the league? Somebody else didn't turn up. Well, I guess so. Pero, you know, I think when one team is sort of, when it's more of a procession, I think that narrative does the rounds. I sort of feel like I have built up quite a significant enmity for Manchester City over the years.

47:38And I, look, I'd love it to be easy, but winning Premier League titles rarely is. y si hay una ríos de que hay un ríos creo que yo me voy a tomar enorme satisfacción de beating y infligar eso en ellos pero no quiero que quede en nosotros pero no quiero que quede quede en ellos 15 puntos pero no no quede que quede que quede en el equipo que ha dado por por march por máximo emotional impacto es como Leandro Trossard Trossard teasing that defender out towards him before cutting him in half with that through ball. Yeah, I kind of feel like narratively, let's put it like that. I mean, I suppose we have to consider in this, I am a professional football writer and someone who's obsessed with story generally.

48:39So like the story of us finally overcoming Manchester City y a cabo de skillet, a mi nombre, pero no mont hacemos los más de exports. ¿Qué ganas? Vale seršosísimos, ¿Por qué no se assó que leta? Claro. I can't be happy that they won. See, where I would stand on this, and I see people talk about this all the time, is like, well, you know, if Arsenal win the Premier League, they'll be the worst team ever to win the Premier League. Who gives a fuck what you think? Because I certainly don't. Like, if Arsenal bore their way to the Premier League, to the most boring Premier League, I could not give a single fuck, no a fish's tit about whatever anybody else thinks about this once we get it done, you know so I get it and the whole the whole idea that it could go to the wire and Arsenal come out on top you know, I get it it's great storytelling and it's great for the fucking highlight reels and the Premier League DVD of this season but like personally, you know if that's the way it has to be and we get it done, okay pero yo preferí a bit more routine pero I also accept that no title race is routine really and nobody wins it that easily or you certainly don't win it against a team with the record of Manchester City easily but I will not be happy when they do what they did yesterday for the sake of the external perception of Arsenal's potential title win that can you know get in the fucking bin as far as I'm concerned, you know.

50:36And I think we also have to contend with the way that yesterday is spun, right? Or the way it's like, now the title race is back on. But it was always on, you fucking dickheads. Like, even if we had an eight-point lead or a nine-point lead, there's still 13 games to go. That's a lot of fucking points, you know. It's not over. It was never over. pero, you know, Arsenal winning against Sunderland y everyone's like, well, it's all over now Arsenal are going to be champions and then Man City drag it out at the death because Alisson made a fucking huge mistake and gave them a penalty and all of a sudden, oh, it's back on now watch out Arsenal like a hammer blow it's a hammer blow to Arsenal because Man City lost yesterday Yeah, that's nonsense I mean, it is nonsense Y yo creo que si te quedan un poco despondent hoy Lo que yo diría es que se han ganado un juego eventualmente Ellos han ganado en muchas veces Man City van a ganar sooner o later Y sí, es muy grande porque es Liverpool Y porque de la manera que suceda Pero yo honestly lo que a esa game y piensa ¿Cuándo son momentos, minutos de perder?

51:58y no hay chances para el Liverpool en el juego, hay un potencial red card, creo que hay un salón de la save de Donnarumma a 1-1 que keeps City en el y luego, como you say, un poco de recklessness de Alisson para el pérdido de la pena y no es un salón de un salón de que me convence que este City side are, you know, about to sort of metamorphosize into something else. Like it's a big win, an important win, but not necessarily a convincing win. I think if, you know, tables are turned, people would be maybe talking about, well, how Arsenal just about got it over the line. The thing about City is the sort of air of inevitability that they have based on what they've done previously, right?

52:49I think I said to you a couple of weeks ago, you know, I don't rule out this Man City side going on a very good run because they've got a very expensively, highly talented, assembled squad who are capable of producing that, even if they haven't done it consistently so far this season, you know? I don't rule it out, but I don't I'm in touch wood, but I don't necessarily see it as hugely likely at this particular moment in time. I have to be honest about that. And I think, I suppose We've spoken about narratives and storytelling, and one of the core football narratives is the idea that one big result can have this galvanizing effect where it transforms or solidifies a team in some way.

53:35And it's the start of something. And maybe that will be the case. But I think part of the reason that I'm sort of of the mindset to say, bring it on, is because I still think we're the better team. I mean, that's fair. That's fair. I mean, I think as well, when you talk about those moments and like it's a big game and then, you know, this is the shot in the arm that Man City need and you feel like, you know, as a fan, you feel like, oh, this is it. You know, this is a sign that we're going to go win the league. Maybe this is their Rhys Nelson against Bournemouth moment. Exactly. Where we all felt, oh my God, like it could not be more scripted for us to go and win the league.

54:20Things like this don't happen, in a season where you're not going to win the league and ultimately it turned out to be an amazing moment and a brilliant thing to experience but in the end it wasn't enough or the overall season wasn't enough despite that sense that we've done something here that's kind of remarkable which makes people think this is your year the fates are lined up for you to go and do it so it could just as easily be that for Manchester City as anything more significant. Yeah, absolutely. And I think yeah, time will tell, won't it? Time will tell. But it wouldn't surprise me if this was kind of a false dawn for City.

55:06As regards to the title race, like, you know, I know people are saying it's back on and you're sort of saying it was never off. And I don't disagree with that. But I kind of feel like perhaps this is the starting pistol, to be honest. You know, I kind of feel like it's not that it's all irrelevant, every point matters but like it's March, April, May really that will tell us and maybe, maybe you know in the future we'll look back at this moment and say okay well that's where it really sort of became this kind of two horse race because obviously we haven't mentioned it but Aston Villa dropped points this weekend I think that kind of maybe cements a lot of people's idea that They won't last the pace.

55:52But it is coming to an interesting head. I mean, there's the possibility, isn't there, that Arsenal could play Manchester City five times in the space of a month later this season. Five or four, is it? Well, they could draw them in the Carabao. Sorry, in the FA Cup, rather. Oh, fuck yeah. There's the Champions League potential. Depending on how that draw is structured. There's obviously the Carabao Cup. There is the Premier League showdown at the Etihad, which I think looms ever larger. I had a question that I've been asked for the last few weeks, but it feels like the right time to maybe ask it.

56:38Let me just find it now. Yes, Jack Rice said, James has liked this question a couple of times and not asked it. So this is your moment, Jack. Con esto potentially siendo Pep's last season ¿Es importante para Arteta para que uno para que uno para que uno para que uno para que uno leaves? No creo que es realmente para que uno para uno para Pep I think es One to one con Michael Arteta en su most private candid moment ¿No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

57:16para su propio estilo de la mano, que ha hecho todo, ha sido todo, ha sido todo, ha sido el más successful y potente el más innovador de este generación. They have their relationship. Creo que hay algo ahí, para Mikel Arteta, pero no creo que es más importante que para Mikel Arteta. Si, si, si, si, Arsenal vs Liverpool en un dos-horser race para el título. No, no creo que él veía que se veía ni diferente. El desafío para él es para que este equipo sobre la línea y para ganar el título después de terminar third tres años en un rato. Es mucho menos sobre quiénes beat a la title than actually winning la title, para mí.

58:05Y creo que maybe que le añadir el icing en la cake o lo que sea. He must be aware que hay esta narrativa y hay que dinamica entre los dos de ellos. Ellos han trabajado juntos. Pepa ha hecho un poco de título, a lo mejor uno, y un poco de dos de la primera temporada. Pero hay otras cosas en play. Así que no me disputa la facta que es importante para Arteta, pero no creo que es el primer driver para él. Creo que el drive, o el motivo, es solo a terminar top de esta tabla, regardless de quién es competiendo. against. I think that's a secondary thing. I agree with that. His professional obligation is obviously just to win it for its own sake.

58:50But I do think maybe he's a better man than me. But I think on a personal level, it must hold some weight with him. Much like Andrew, if I ever went out and did my own Arsenal podcast, what it would mean to beat you at the FSAs. Do you know what I mean? El apprentice becomes the master. Sure, sure. Okay, I see where we're going with this. Just hang on, I'm making some notes here. Write this down. The day it all changed. I do think, well, knowing Mikkel, I don't know Mikkel, but knowing him in the same way any of us do following his career, maybe it shouldn't matter, but I'd be staggered if it didn't matter.

59:38No, I do think it matters. I just don't think it's the most important thing for him. No, I think that's totally right. I think that's totally right. And on the other side of the coin, I think, I suppose I think losing to Pep or coming second to Pep in his final season and missing that opportunity to ever have the kind of completion of that cycle, you know what I mean? And ever have that moment of kind of one-up and ship y, creo, arriving at managerial maturity. Creo que he considera que un oportunidad lost. Surprise, surprise, creo que Mikel Arteta will want to win the league this year. Incredible analysis from both of you.

1:00:23Pero I do understand where that question was coming from. Pero I just think it's really about what it means for Arsenal Football Club and what it means for him more than y no hay personal rivales o algo así y lo que es ¿Qué es esto? ¿Qué es lo que quería preguntar? Y creo que es un interesante Dekmurf AFC dice ¿Qué es lo que necesitan Martínez como un buen equipo que hace un gran impacto en grandes momentos en los momentos que no han llegado a los niveles y esperamos, y creo que es un fascinante en la cuestión de lo que estamos hablando en la primera half sobre Leandro Trossard como el producto de la finalidad que Gabriel Martinelli ha sido produciendo este año cuando se ve en el momento de la semana y algunas de las conversaciones que se han sobre los que se han tenido sobre los Martinelli y Trossard y Arsenal's need, en inverted commas, de moverme de estos días Gracias.

1:01:35Yeah, I think Martinelli is making a big contribution this year. It might not be in the way that he envisaged or hoped for, but you cannot doubt what he's offering across all competitions. I think it's 10 goals in all comes for Arsenal this season. 10 goals and 3 assists, so 13 goal contributions so far. Yeah. I mean, granted, the vast majority of those have come in the Champions League, which, you know, only three players have scored more goals than Gabriel Martinelli in the Champions League. They are Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe. Flat track bullies, basically. Yeah. Yeah, exactly right.

1:02:21I think it's interesting. I think Leandro Trossard has kind of had his flowers a bit this year because he had that outstanding run, I think, in the first half of the season. And he's kind of become the starter in that left-hand role. But I think, I hope Martinelli gets his at some point too. Because I think his attitude actually is second to none. Yeah, 100%. I think his mentality is superb. His commitment, his determination to be impactful in every opportunity that he's given, the way in which he prepares, approaches games. I mean, Arteta has spoken about this recently as well. It's exemplary.

1:03:09And for a player who sort of has been a starter, who's maybe lost that kind of automatic de facto position in the team, it'd be very easy to let your head go down. And he hasn't done that. And he's pushing so hard across every competition to help Arsenal in any way he can. And, yeah, I really hope he gets some credit too because I think he's a fantastic asset to the squad, actually. Yeah, I mean, you could see why Mikel Arteta would just absolutely love having this player at his disposal. Because, like you say, the attitude, if he's not starting, he doesn't kick up, he works hard, he'll come on on the left, he'll come on on the right, he'll do a job for you.

1:04:00He does not shirk any of the work that he's asked to do on the pitch, whether it's in the attacking half or the defensive half. He's got 10 goals this season. He got 10 goals in the entirety of last season. So beyond some kind of horrible drought, which I hope doesn't happen to him, he's going to really improve. I think between now and the end of the season, he will get more goals. and I wonder, I wonder, does it make Arsenal think about what, what happens with him? Because I think his contract runs until next summer, but there's an option for another year, but we're probably at a point where from his perspective and from the club's perspective, they need to think, right, what, what do we do next?

1:04:48Is this a guy we want to keep around? We have a question, Andrew. Yeah. From Lara. Lara? I hope I'm pronouncing that right. There's a lot of accents involved. And they say, goodly morning. If Trossard and Martinelli are good now, then who are we selling in the summer?

1:05:07Like one of them. I mean, listen.

1:05:15Well, are we selling either of them? I mean, that's the thing, are we? I mean, the one you look at because he's older is Trossard, right? he's 31, he'll be 32 next summer. That's where you're really starting to think about, okay, we've got a future proof here. Martinelli's only 24. And I think maybe there are limitations to his game, but if you're going to keep one, a guy who's got the versatility that he has, who's also got the pace that we talked about as well, because it's not something we have a huge amount of in this team. We've got some quick players, but we don't have that lightning guy.

1:05:52Martinelli is the closest guy we've got to that. And that can be a very important weapon, as we saw on Saturday against Sunderland. And he's starting to make significant contributions for the right-hand side as well, I think. Looking pretty dangerous there. I mean, you mentioned his contract, 2027 expiry with an optional year for Arsenal on the end of that. There hasn't been any sort of talk until now of a potential extension, you know, the likes of Gabriel, Saliba, Saka. Yeah. They've all got done. Now, granted, Arsenal didn't have that comfort of an additional year, potentially. But I do wonder how significant that may be, that there hasn't necessarily been great progress on a new deal for him.

1:06:39I think the reality is that it might be determined by the market. I mean, it's all very well Arsenal saying, we choose to sell Leandro Trossard. There's got to be a buyer and there's got to be a buyer at the right price. And if Martinelli's form this season generate a market and it's a market which for a 24-year-old you would imagine would carry a bigger fee, then maybe Arsenal will kind of lean into that. Equally, it may depend who else they can sell. I personally believe that Arsenal will have to make one or two significant sales this summer. For what? Because the squad is too big or because there is a financial imperative?

1:07:33Yeah, I think it's a combination of factors, really. I think the squad is a little bit too big. But I think as well, just to sort of grant them flexibility around the financial regulations. There's been big expenditure that hasn't been massively offset. I'm not saying Arsenal are broke or anything like it, or that they're hard up particularly. And the prize money they win this season could be pretty significant. But I just think in terms of sort of balancing the squad cost, I think one or two will have to go. But let's say, you know, those sales come from areas where, from other areas, you know, a defender goes or someone comes in and takes over Gabriel Jesus' salary, then maybe Arsenal don't need to lose one of Martinelli or Trostoli.

1:08:24It depends who they want to bring in as well. Of course, who's available, yeah. You know, if there's not a left winger out there who's better than those two, then stick with it. But it's an interesting situation because, you know, in the summer last year, I don't think anyone was particularly excited about the prospect of watching a lot of Leandro Trossard or Gabriel Martinelli next season. And I think the way that they've improved since then has been quite dramatic, actually. so yeah really really happy for both of them and particularly for Martinelli who's such a good guy and has always been so emphatic and wholeheartened in his love of Arsenal yeah yeah I watched his post-game interview and he was you know just talking about how all he wants is to win titles with this football club so yeah we will I think you know with some footballers I think that's sort of a bit of a platitude yeah yeah so they trot out And I really think in his case, he absolutely means it.

1:09:29Okay, what about this? The duality of man, James. Okay. Wcampo33 on the Discord says, Has Saliba looked a little shaky recently? I hate when he gets too tight, then gets turned and pulls back the attacker. Big Gabby, on the other hand, has mastered the art of containing his attacker. Maybe I'm being unfair by holding him to such a high standard, but I just feel a little less confident in him than I used to while on Blue Sky, Scott Drayton says, bit of an observation, but I found myself marvelling at how unworried I was about Saliba, even though he got an early yellow card in that game. I feel like it's happened quite a few times, but I'm always impressed by how our defenders manage themselves on a yellow.

1:10:13Hmm, that is interesting. I mean, I think Saliba had a tough task against Brian probably, as we discussed. did you see his uh instagram picture no actually no so it's a series of photos maybe four photos and there's like three of them are saliva and brobby pulling each other all over the page like saliva shirt has been pulled one way brobby shirt has been pulled the other way it was quite funny because it does look maybe like it's just the attacker doing it but like that guy he's like just all muscle, isn't he? And he's so strong and so mobile that it's a real challenge for any central defender.

1:10:58But, you know, when it comes down to it, it wasn't a foul on Brobby, by the way, that he got the yellow card for. It was a foul on, I think, Diara that he got the yellow for. But, you know, Sunderland, Brobby didn't really have a great deal of penalty box chances or space or any kind of opportunity to score a goal. I think in large part that was because of how well Saliba and the rest, of course, defended. So I didn't get that sense that Saliba was shaky. Maybe he could have dealt with that yellow card incident a little better, but beyond that, I thought he was nigh on impeccable, really. Yeah, and as the second question said, I think he managed it well once he went onto that yellow card.

1:11:43I'm definitely more in that camp where I'm kind of more impressed than worried about Saliba at this point in time yeah I think I just think he's he's he's a top quality defender and what he has that really helps him is that when he is a fraction off he does actually have speed and recovery pace to clear things up I mean there have been a couple of moments in recent games where he's made quite important sort of last-ditch tackles or interceptions. And they've kind of passed us by because, you know, when the ball doesn't end up in the back of the net, sometimes the analysis isn't as acute. But, yeah, I think he's made some pretty significant interventions in recent weeks that have helped keep us in winning positions.

1:12:26Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not too worried about him, let's say that. Me neither. Me neither. Okay. what about this yes Bunge 1976 said thoughts on Jokeres's good form Havertz has helped but are we seeing more confidence more adaptation to the league or adaptation between player and team or is he simply now getting the rub of the green what a nice cocktail of all of the above maybe I think it could be I think it could be all of those things I'm very happy to see it I know we've been critical of him this season, and I think there have been periods of this season where what you expect from a player in his position we haven't necessarily got, but, you know, now we're getting it.

1:13:17Credit where it's due, and I hope he does feel confident. I think the one thing we always said was that strikers thrive off confidence. When they're not confident, you can see it in their game, you know? I think there are probably connections that have developed a little bit as well. Maybe he's coming to terms with the league a little more. Maybe you just need one or two goals to go in to sort of light the fire under you as a forward. And I'm very pleased that he is scoring. I think it's six goals in his last eight, and maybe he's got a couple of assists in those eight games as well. So eight goal contributions in the last eight games.

1:13:59It would be very churlish for anyone to complain about that. You know, if what you want from your centre forward is the ability to score goals, whether they're tap-ins or 30-yard hits or, you know, the one he scored, the first one he scored against Sunderland at the weekend, where despite the fact maybe it didn't go in that moment exactly how he wanted it to go, he was still able to improvise a finish. that's great news for him it's great news for us so i'm i'm really pleased to see him scoring you know um i'm happy to eat fucking humble pie if there's a guy banging in the goals for our soul in a season where we hopefully go on and win the league i'll i'll eat it all up no problem absolutely i i think as well um i think he has benefited from featuring in the latter stages of games there was a spell when he first came into the team in kind of August September obviously he was the only sent forward available Havertz was out Jezus was out and he was playing 90 minutes after 90 minutes after 90 minutes and I wonder as well like how wearing on him that must have been particularly without a proper pre-season or like a spell of pre-season where the training despite whatever he did on his own would not have been optimal No.

1:15:22And also, I think, adapting to a new league and almost certainly a new role in this Arsenal team than what he had at Sporting. Then obviously he had a little injury, but since he's come back into the team in November, he has been used a little more sparingly. But that meant that a lot of the time in games he was coming off around the hour mark. And I think it's interesting when you look at those six goals in the last eight games, four of them have come in that last 30 minutes basically some from the bench or some where he started and then the game's opened up at a bit and there's a little bit more space there and yeah I think Mick Lartette was right to say to him before the game you're going to have a big impact off the bench here because he probably knew Sunderland decent chance Sunderland would be in a position where they were chasing and there'd be space to exploit and actually I think it helps Jokeres enormously to be on the pitch in those minutes.

1:16:21I mean, strikers are always gutted when they come off, but I think they're particularly gutted because they know games open up in the latter stages and that's when a lot of them get their goals. So yeah, look, I'm not advocating to always start him on the bench. I think his form warrants starts if the opponent suits, but I think clearly he's showing that he's someone who can be decisive and impactful when the play is a bit more broken and the game a bit more open. And I think it's really interesting for Mikl Arteta to think about how best to deploy that. Sure. I mean, the other thing you could say as well is that he's benefiting, not only because the burden isn't as great as it was earlier in the season, he's benefiting from the presence of Gabriel Jesus and to a lesser extent Kai Havertz.

1:17:15You know, the competition is there. You know, that's not something he had, and I'm not saying he wasn't trying his best or anything like that. But I think when you do know that there are other players who are ready to start in your position, it can be a little bit of extra motivation or it can inspire you. You know, competition for places as well as the fact, obviously, that, you know, he's not having to play every minute of every game. And Jesus can start here or there, or Jesus can come off the bench. and Havertz, who we've seen more often maybe in midfield than up front of late, which leads me to a question, by the way.

1:17:49Oh, go on. Simon King says, are we finding out this entire team was built around Kai Havertz? I don't think it's any coincidence how many players look better when he's involved in any capacity. And the sort of, the other question which I saw, but I can't find an example of it is, is like, well, Havertz is back now And Saka and Odegaard are gone and we're playing a lot better. What does that mean for Saka and Odegaard? I do think maybe there is a tendency sometimes to look at things in a way that's just a little too binary, that X means Y or whatever it is. I think we went through a difficult spell of form and Saka and Odegaard were involved in that, but it's not as if we've never played well with those two in the team.

1:18:34So I don't think it's quite as simplistic as that. But what have you made of the return of Havertz and the way that it has slightly impacted the way that we play. Yeah. Yeah. Your point on sort of Odegaard and Saka is that thing of, does the correlation necessarily equate the causation? I've been surprised in some ways how Havertz has been used. I expected him to come in as the centre forward. I think a lot of people did, to be honest. I thought that's where we'd see the majority of his minutes. And indeed, I think it's where some of his early appearances came. He played at Portsmouth. He came on in that position, didn't he?

1:19:14Although he did come on against Chelsea as a midfielder. When we talk about playing as a midfielder, I think it's important to make a distinction as well. This is not the midfield role he was put in when he first signed from Chelsea. That was very much the kind of Granit Xhaka left eight. Maybe a little bit more advanced, but, you know, really a kind of box-to-box role arriving from deep. To me now, you could almost call him a kind of supporting striker, really, the way that he's playing. It's almost a free role in some ways, like a classic number 10 role where he's kind of dropping into, popping up in spaces wherever it hurts the opposition.

1:20:02I think it's working. I think it's certainly working for Victor Jokeres. I think it's helping him enormously. I think Havertz, his primary skill, and it's something Arteta has talked about, is that he makes those around him look better. And it's a hard thing to quantify or analyse, but it does appear to be true. So, like, you know, his ability to combine, to find space, to link the play, raises the game of all those around him. And to be honest, I think we'll raise the game of Saka and Odegaard in time as well. You know, I do foresee a setup where we do have Odegaard back in that right eight. we do have Saka on the right wing and Havertz is playing more as a kind of conventional nine perhaps.

1:20:57Because that triangle has been pretty productive for us in the past. But right now with the Ocarres up top and Havertz floating. Yeah, I think, I think it's working really, really well. And it's kind of pushed Zubmendi and Rice together into this more conventional pair. So I like it. Do I see us using it in the very biggest games, you know, like Champions League or way legs and the like? I'm not so sure. I wonder if Arteta might revert to sort of more of a conventional midfield profile in those games. But I think in games where we face deep blocks, you know, the mass defences, having Havertz up there, occupying central defenders, making runs, definitely makes us stronger.

1:21:55I think what's really interesting about this is that, you know, he is clearly having an impact. He had an assist for the Yaccaraz goal the other day, but he completed seven of 14 passes in the 60-odd minutes that he was on the pitch, you know. 50 % pass accuracy. I think it's the sort of statistical performance that if another player put in, you'd be looking at it going, well, what the, you know, that's not good enough. We need more from that player in midfield. But as we said last week, I think there's something about his presence and his movement and where he is and how he drags defenders or midfielders out of position.

1:22:36that is really, really interesting and impactful. Because on the ball, you know, it's not like he's in there pulling the strings, you know. But there's no question he's having an impact and has had a positive impact. But I think what's unfortunate a little bit, I mean, listen, I think Bakayo Saka and Martin Odegaard are two players who can play better than we have seen of them in recent weeks, for sure. but I think this idea that Havertz coming in, we have to sort of clash one off the other. You know, Havertz is really showing Saka Nodegaard how to do it. You know, it's just not the right way of looking at it from my perspective.

1:23:20I think we can expect more from those players but I think those players clearly still have a very, very big role to play in our season between now and the end of May. Yeah, and I keep thinking about the game at Ellum Road, actually, and how Arsenal started with Havertz playing off Jocheres and a very kind of almost old-fashioned 4-4-2 in some ways, very physical profile. And then in the second half, you saw the likes of Odegaard, Jesus coming on and Eze coming on. And it almost looked like a different team and a different style of play. And I think the reality is we'll probably need both. We'll need everybody in this run-in.

1:24:11but right now when some I think as well what you find in the second half of the season is sometimes you just stumble upon a formula that nobody quite expects or sees coming and I think when it happens managers tend to lean into that they tend to go with it and sort of ride the momentum and I think that kind of haverts Jocheres' partnership and then Reiss and Zermendi behind it that feels like the most fruitful thing for Arsenal at this point yeah Yeah. I mean, if you look at Havertz heat map, he's sort of floating around all over the pitch. You know, you look at the heat maps and there's like usually one bit where it's sort of yellow or red, which is where that player spends most of the time.

1:24:51Havertz is just these little pockets of blue all over, you know, across the front line, on the left wing, on the right wing, in like what you might consider the DM position, sort of an auxiliary right back in certain times. So he's obviously been given some kind of license to roam around the pitch and, you know, not act as a decoy or a distraction, but it must be disconcerting for defenders or the structure of the opposition team when they don't quite know where a guy is going to be and who's supposed to go with him or who's supposed to mark him or who's supposed to take care of him, you know?

1:25:22And just brilliant, by the way, that Havertz is managing to play consecutive games, you know, coming through them strong. You know, I think some of the, I think it's fair to say that there were some anxieties around his return and what the repercussions of that would be for his body, the sort of pain management and how his knee would respond to the intensity of Premier League football. And again, touch wood. It seems to be going really well for him. And yeah, I'm delighted for him. All right, let's do this one to finish us off. It comes from Beck John on the Discord. he says I mentioned Saliba and Brian Brobby he said to me it seems like defenders do a lot more grabbing and pulling than they used to a season or two ago they often get away with it but gave away several seemingly unnecessary free kicks on Saturday do you think this is the influence of Gabriel Ainza or a more general trend across the league I think it's a general trend to be honest with you you don't think it's Ainza?

1:26:32what that he you know on a Wednesday he does shirt pulling. Yeah. Like, isn't that his, you know, his famous, his famous motto. If the attacker is fab, then you must grab. I think they've actually got that painted on the walls. In one of those beautiful Arsenal fonts. Yeah. I think it is just sort of endemic shirt grabbing at this point in time. It's almost unrefereable, I think, because it's so commonplace. I had a really interesting conversation with a former referee last week about corners. And they were saying, not specifically about Arsenal or anyone else, they were kind of saying it is almost unrefereable, essentially.

1:27:20You know, there's so much going on. The idea that a referee can have eyes on everything that's happening in a penalty or on a corner, especially when there's like oftentimes an arsenal corner like 20 people in the box is ridiculous and yes there's a certain amount of re-refereeing that go with var but they're sort of reluctant to do that and he was like arguing that his solution was to sort of make corners a bit like hockey corners where there are limitations on the amount of people you could have in the penalty area so it's like i can't remember exactly what his proposal was but it was like four attackers, four defenders.

1:28:00And it's much more of a sort of set piece in that respect with that actual space to operate. Look, it's never going to happen. Does he think that's going to stop those four defenders and four attackers from pulling the shirts off each other? I think the idea is that it's sort of more policeable, if you see what I mean, than just a melee, which is what it is now with people around the keeper and people blocking and all those things. I do wonder, I mean, listen, Arsenal have, Ask them other master exponents and they have kind of exploited a gray area, I think absolutely to the maximum. I do wonder what sort of repercussions that will have.

1:28:41You know, we know that people don't really like it. It's very clear that people don't really like it. I wonder if like set pieces grabbing, you know how every season there's a kind of new edict from PGMOL. Like it wouldn't surprise me if we're sat here in August watching a, you know, a string of disallowed goals at set pieces because the referees are desperately trying to get it. Somebody tried to do something. I mean, again, this is another one of those things I like because Arsenal are good at corners. The rules need to change because we can't have Arsenal being good at corners. Have Man United scored more goals from corners than us?

1:29:18Maybe they have. Nobody talks about Manchester United's prowess from corners. It's probably to do with the sort of the discipline and the organization of ours. I mean, it is one of those where it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. The Saliba Instagram post is a great example of that. Saliba is holding on to Brobby. Brobby's holding on to Saliba. Who grabbed who first? Which came first, chicken or the egg? You know? Is it new? Is it that new? I don't think it's that new, but what I think is... VAR puts a different focus on it, maybe? Potentially, but maybe as well because of how physical and how physically powerful forwards and defenders are now, that there is just this ongoing scrap for the tiniest bit of daylight between you and the defender and the baller.

1:30:08You know, these guys are just big and strong and looking to get one over on each other. I mean, there was one, I think Sunderland got a corner in the second half where Brobby just sort of bashed Saliba. Like he bashed into the back of Saliba and the ball bounced off Saliba and went out for a corner to Sunderland. I think it's one of those where if Brobby bashes, let's say, Myles Lewis Skelly, that probably gets given as a free kick. but because it's Saliba that the referees are okay well it's two big guys going at it and he was just a bit stronger than him in this instance and actually Saliba's reaction is not to claim for anything not to say oh that's a foul he pushed me in the back or he bashed me in the back it was like okay I'll get up and we've got a job to do here and defend this corner I just think it's the physical element of the game and shirt pulling has always been a feature maybe now because we see it because there's so much so many more cameras and photographers and we can see it much more easily than we use so i don't know i do wonder if that's part of it i think as well you make an interesting point we spoke about the kind of equalization of athleticism across the league maybe and when that is the case where you know everyone's a brilliant athlete they're going to look for those sort of marginal advantages in every possible way um yeah yeah it's it's everywhere i think um and you know i think it predates yeah even gabriel ain't so gabriel ain't so when when it gets down to real business if the attacker is fab then you must stab but that might be something for the run-in we'll wait and see what happens there right yeah i think we better get this podcast out to everybody because we have been a bit later on the recording than usual.

1:32:06So apologies for that, but it is out now, or it is out obviously because you're listening to it. We will be talking more about the Premier League action this weekend in an episode of The 30 over on Patreon later on. Myself and Phil Costa will review obviously Manchester or Man City, Liverpool and all the other games from the Premier League. Patreon.com forward slash arseblog if you fancy getting involved in all of that. For now though, take it easy. Thanks as ever for listening and we will catch you on the next one. Bye-bye. You