Arsecast Extra Episode 683 - 23.02.2026

0:28Andrew Allen: BERECHI que viene Berechi, el pase para Saka Saka, Saka, Saka, Saka le queda ese gol gol gol

0:41Andrew Allen: gol haz la cucaracha y haz lo que te dé la gana Berechi el toque de Madueke para Odegaard Odegaard que asiste a Giocheres, Giocheres que quiere el doblete Giocheres, Giocheres

0:51James McNicholas: gol, gol, gol, gol gol, gol, gol

0:56Andrew Allen: Víctor Giocheres en el Tottenham Hotspur Stadium doblete estratosférico de Víctor Gióqueres doblete estratosférico Everett y S Víctor

1:21Everett y S Víctor ¡Qué cañonazo!

1:31Andrew Allen: Me merece este Victor Que cancionazo This is Arscast Extra

1:41James McNicholas: Hello and welcome to another Arscast Extra as always with James from Gunner Blog James A very goodly morning to you

1:48Andrew Allen: Yeah, I don't know what the Portuguese is for goodly morning Muito bom dia or something like that Yeah It's the goodliest of mornings It sure is.

1:59James McNicholas: It's morning where you are, not morning where I am. We've got time zone differences going on because you are in Brazil. Yes, I am.

2:09Andrew Allen: The time difference thing is really confusing because it's only three hours, which doesn't feel enough, does it? When you've been on a plane for 12 hours and then they're like, it's only three hours difference. My head can't compute that. I can't get around that.

2:21James McNicholas: Yeah, what's the point of it? If it's only three hours, what's the point?

2:24Andrew Allen: Let's just call the whole thing off. Do you know what I mean? Let's make it a goodly morning Worldwide For one day only We abandon time zones So we can all partake In the goodly morning together

2:35James McNicholas: Yes, well listen It is a very goodly morning And I'm just wondering Has there ever been Maybe a more Marked difference Between two podcasts Than this one Because we spoke on Thursday morning After the Wolves game And now we're speaking After a Great win away from home In the North London derby A win we badly needed But the mood change, you know, is obvious. I don't need to explain it. But, you know, we've gone from, oh, my God, the sky is falling, to, hey, you know what, actually, we might be all right here. It's just the way of this season, isn't it? The way football goes and the fluctuations of form and energy throughout this campaign have been really quite something.

3:19Andrew Allen: Yeah, I mean, imagine that you're someone who started listening to the podcast this week. They tuned in for the first time on Thursday After the Wolves game And now they're listening to this one They're going to be like, are these guys okay? There's a lot going on They've got multiple personality issues Happening here Yeah I'm envisaging a different tone

3:43James McNicholas: I think you're right I think it's safe to say that this is going to be A happier episode, a more cheery episode And why wouldn't it be? Because ultimately we have He's won a game, and that's always good. And we've won a derby for the second time this season, won it 4-1. That's really good. The Spurs manager, the new guy, came in. Can I give a shout-out to... I should have this here. On Blue Sky, Bob T on Blue Sky. He's at BobTNT.bsky.social. He says, have Spurs created the new phrase, which seems like a very Spurs-y thing, the new manager trounce. y bueno que pero he came out afterwards in his press conference and was like well Arsenal are the best team in the world which I'm sure is music to the ears of the Spurs fans having just seen Thomas Frank parade around with his Arsenal merchandise everywhere I mean is that not just the most basic thing not to do in your first game as a Spurs manager is to say actually They're the best team in the world.

4:44James McNicholas: You could say they're a very good team. There's a gap in quality, whatever. I think most people could live with that. But the high praise from Igor Tudor was, I'm sure, not music to the ears of Tottenham fans.

4:56Andrew Allen: No, but what a weekend to be Thomas Frank. Not only does your replacement in your previous job lose his first game, but the club of your heart, the club of which you are a lifelong silver member. Troutes es el opción en el norte de la Norte. Igor Tudor, para mí... Bueno, creo que he ha hecho un buen start. Es una Spurs appointment, de que yo creo. I find it hard para envisage a man como Igor siendo good. Y eso es pure prejudice por mi parte. Pero it just creates images for me of Dr. Frankenstein's assistant. Y, you know, it was a monstrous performance from Tottenham. So, yeah, terrific start.

5:41James McNicholas: Yeah, it really was. Wasn't it as young Frankenstein where Igor was, Marty Feldman was the kind of comical Igor to Gene Wilder in that one. I mean, Thomas Frank was there, but in inflatable form, not actually in real life. I saw that. That was brilliant. So fair play whoever brought that in.

6:00Andrew Allen: Props, big props to that guy. By the way, I thought I should say, because obviously, We've been doing this podcast a long time and occasionally we'll get questions from audio files or sound engineers about our setup and how we're doing the podcast. So I thought you'd be interested to know, I'm in a Novotel hotel room in Sao Paulo and what I've done, I've unplugged my mini fridge and repurposed it as a kind of desk. I couldn't find a table at the right height. I tried sort of kneeling in front of a bedside table but quickly abandon that. The mini fridge had to come out and be reused. So as I speak a fridge full of goodies is sort of melting between my legs.

6:47Andrew Allen: Well listen. That's something to keep it, check back it on part two. Sure.

6:51James McNicholas: That's a bill for the New York Times or The Athletic to take care of. They can pick it up. Oh no, not my melted M &M's. We can't charge those to the expense sheet

7:05Andrew Allen: Yeah, yeah, desperately Me sort of, at the end of this podcast Opening up the M &M packet Pulling out the puddle of gluten Trying to reform it into little tiny M &M And get them back in the fridge in time Before the cleaners come in and charge me£80 Yeah, exactly

7:21James McNicholas: That's what I've got to look forward to Okay, well listen What everybody else has to look forward to Is discussion of that fine win yesterday a White Hart Lane, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Toilet Bowl, the Twat Trumpet Arena, whatever you want to call it. That's where we went and that's where we had to respond. Mikel Arteta made a couple of changes to his team. Martin Odegaard was back, but on the bench. It meant Eberachieza started in midfield. Leandro Trossard on the left-hand side. Victor Jokeres up front. And I have to say, I think what I really liked about, well, there was lots to like, Pero una de las cosas que me gustó mucho, fue el hecho de que, no sé si probablemente, no sé si lo hizo, un poco de los reporteros hablar de esto.

8:10James McNicholas: Miguel Delaney en Blue Sky dijo, que la señalamiento de la Spurs estadounidense, que siempre hay un fuego para que se lit. They're nervioso como hell. We're calm. We're ready. que de hecho me hizo pensar

8:34James McNicholas: ¿Qué es lo que hiciste? Pero yo creo que si hubiera Spurs en este juego, hubiera sido un arsul que jugaba tres veces en el espacio entre Spurs' último y este juego ¿Verdad? Hubiera sido ¿Verdad? We've got a new manager The fans You know They've turned the page from Thomas Frank no i think they're optimistic o stupid o sea, o sea stupidly optimistic que knows pero I'm sure el debate in this game o in the Tottenham dressing room in their preparation would have been listen they might be a bit rattled they might be a bit nervous they might be a bit on edge after dropping points to Wolves start fast start hard start aggressive you know really get the crowd behind you in the early stages of the game and what was really I thought great about this Arsenal performance was the fact that we didn't let them do that we just got the ball and we kept the ball and until such time as play was stopped after about 7 or 8 minutes because of the technology issue they barely had a kick I think Arsenal had 83 % possession of the ball in the opening stages of those games so if we want to talk about how you react how you respond game management things like that I think the way Arsenal started this game was es muy, muy smart.

9:55James McNicholas: No puedes siempre hacer eso. Pero creo que lo que sea que sea que sea que hubiera sido de Tottenham, la approach de la game, nos hemos conseguido completamente.

10:05Andrew Allen: ¡Soy! Y por el lado, el PGMOL podría aprender algo o algo de nuestra lucha de la lucha. ¿Dónde están mini fridges? ¡Era mi pregunta! ¡Era exactamente! ¡Es un buen start! ¡Era! ¡Era! ¡Era! ¡Era! ¡Era! ¡Era! un ralegio cry de un performance de Spurs en la última 20 minutos que pensaban que se podía tener un go y try y get the crowd onside I think they just couldn't really they just couldn't really get near us I think we played with real purpose I think Spurs made the mistake maybe in terms of their intensity trying to press us trying to play a bit higher at times and we were just zipping the ball between the lines with ease over the course of this game and I No sé si esto, creo, sobre Arsenal, pero hay muchas pases en el canal, entre los lines, desde los centros de la gente, desde los centros de Zubimendi, desde Rice.

11:00Andrew Allen: Y creo que es parte, para ser honest, que Spurs afforded a la oportunidad de hacer eso. Yo sé que esto es un podcast y no se preocupa en la opción de nuestros propuestas, pero es muy divertido a pointe de que es bastante abierto que esto fue desde el Spurs. perspectiva. Y no me gusta, ni siquiera de nada, pero yo realmente relish que yo pensé que su performance era tactically pretty inact y we took full advantage. Bueno, listen,

11:30James McNicholas: we do maybe have to acknowledge que ellos tienen a lot de players out. Yes. Pero también fuck them, you know, y esto es la approach...

11:39Andrew Allen: es bueno, es bueno, es bueno, es bueno, es bueno, es bueno, es bueno,

11:41James McNicholas: es bueno, yo quiero que quiero both sides aquí un poco, pero, you know, esto es exactamente la misma manera que Spurs approached la mesa de la derby, cuando jugó a la derecha, con una de las cinco, y Igor Tudor me gusta jugar con una de las tres o una de las cinco, y mementó que ponerle un buen como Joao Polini, que es un buen midfielder, en la derecha, en la derecha. You know, he es un experiente player. He doesn't like

12:02Andrew Allen: to play with a la derecha, I would say, based on the evidence de yesterday. No, no.

12:07James McNicholas: Pero es un buen start from Arsenal en la manera, como dije, domina el posicionamiento. There was a timber cross y Jokeres had a header blocked. There was also that moment when Jokerez cut inside and fizzed a shot just wide. It was like six, seven minutes in and you're thinking, wow. I laid down a bit of a marker. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. It was great to see him that involved early on. And obviously we'll talk a bit more about him in a minute. But I mean, what did you make of this pause in the game? You know, I don't like to agree with Gary Neville at all, ever, really.

12:45James McNicholas: Pero, you know, he was saying that it was a disgrace. It's absurd that this was happening. That five minutes in, you know, we were still stopped. You know, just start a game and then all of a sudden the game stops. And, you know, if you want to talk about players getting injured in the warmups and stuff like that, maybe there's something to worry about when play just stops and players have to stand around, you know. And it really felt to me, I was going like after what had happened against Wolves, the way we'd started was so encouraging. y y yo me decía G interviews está just una de los cosas que Four finitos sizi que nunca accidente todo aternos life you get in schwerino de su situación en el asesoraine de veneno como uno en elápile de f assim ok sarrán será que estamos persamas una mina de ritudos para m ataque de señal, uno se lo Wateración fiber son una nova forma de scenarios que será unrz lines en la cámara muchas

13:37Andrew Allen: gracias noams no más se I think the further into bed we climb with technology, I suppose the more vulnerable we are to it going wrong. And this was one of those instances where it felt like surely there had to be a backup plan. I mean, you know, the use of a flag, as you point out, may have been part of it. It was weird for me watching it because I was in a pub in Sao Paulo, a place called O'Malley's, and I had Brazilian compree. So it wasn't Which is very enjoyable by the way the name pronunciations As intros to this podcast may well be Familiar with can be fantastic I particularly enjoyed Zubimengi but I Had no idea what was going on At first I thought there was like a VAR check Happening because it was like the player just stopped Didn't understand why and then yeah It became evident it was technology How long was it in the end?

14:37James McNicholas: At least five minutes Yeah yeah

14:40Andrew Allen: ¿Es una hora de 8 minutos de stoppage time o algo así?

14:43James McNicholas: Sí, una hora de 8 minutos de la final porque era un poco. Así que yo estoy viendo. Es la hora de 8 minutos cuando estaba haciendo la blog y me preguntaba, ¿qué es lo que está pasando aquí? Y luego estamos en la 13 minutos. Así que, un buen 5 minutos de la game pausa porque de un problema tecnológico. ¿Qué pasa cuando, inevitablemente, alguien velo a esto y decide que se puede hacer? estombroでした este año se vYa

15:21James McNicholas: se llama la diagonal la dama la alta la esquina caído encepeto el segundo farther muy dras Saliba, Arsenal, corner, Yucarez headed it back across. And Saliba headed just wide. Yeah, that was really close. It was one of those where I think the defender is just sort of waving a leg at it, hopefully, or hoping that it would go wide. Eventually, though, we got the breakthrough just after the half-hour mark. Bukayo Saka does not get an assist for this goal which I think is a shame really because he does all the hard work, maybe there's a touch of good fortune in the fact that the ball breaks for him but he is tenacious and he keeps going and he puts a ball towards Eberetie Aza which I think deflects off a Spurs player therefore he doesn't get the assist but I think this is a moral assist for Bukayo Saka much like the el goles against Wolves, si lo que, where I think his impact resulted in a goal even if it doesn't go down on paper so hopefully people will take that into account when they look at his numbers this season but the ball rolled up in the air off Eberachieza and then he hooked his leg over into the back of the net from close range 1-0 to Arsenal and it's like, what's going on?

16:53James McNicholas: Why Eberachieza against Spurs again? Do we just need to tell him que se juega en Spurs cada semana. ¿Es que cómo se hace que se haga?

17:00Andrew Allen: Creo que ese es el trío. Se ha hecho un trío cada semana. Es lads en Spurs. Irrespective de la opción. ¿Puedo hacer un Eze? ¿Puedo hacer un Eze? ¿Puedo hacer un Eze?

17:14James McNicholas: ¿Puedo hacer un Eze? ¿Puedo hacer un Eze? Pero el hecho de que no había mucho tiempo.

17:22James McNicholas: Yo tengo un Eze. ¿Puedo hacer un Eze? ¿Puedo hacer un Eze? lo que sucedió en la primera derby. Creo que fue parte de él, no la única razón, obviamente, porque no tenía Kai Havertz, no era en la squad, no Marino, no es no que pueda, no creo que pueda o sea, no puede jugar a la derby en el norte de la derby, pero, digamos, Norgard, Rice, y Zubimendi as su central midfield. Así que, en términos de las opciones available para él, creo que quería Saka back en la derecha, así que más o menos, no forces your hand, pero él ha hecho la decisión para él cuando se trata de Eze. Pero, ¿qué le gusta la game against Spurs?

18:03Andrew Allen: Él realmente, realmente lo hace. Y, de hecho, es true de su carrera. Él siempre ha scored goals against Spurs. Él ha sido para Crystal Palace también. Esto fue, yo pensé, ¿qué fue el Sky interview? ¿Cuándo fue el año? ¿Cuándo fue el año? ¿Cuándo fue dos simple finishes hoy? Sí. Y, ¿qué fue? ¿Cuándo fue? Sí, no sé. No, no sé si era eso. Sí. Y en este one, creo que es absolutamente correcto. I mean, el hightónico es que es, creo que es que se puede que se puede y hacer que acrobatic volley, me recuerda un poco de la cual he escoged contra Crystal Palace earlier en la temporada y también took la bola de la área y terminó expertamente.

18:41Andrew Allen: ¿Qué podemos decir? He ha tenido que knack de derby goals, much como Robert Pires antes de

18:47James McNicholas: él. He scored more goals against Spurs than any other club in his career. I'm just looking it up now in transfer marked 8 goals against Spurs in his career

18:58Andrew Allen: Don't mind it Don't mind it at all So yeah, it was great and vindication for the decision to start him and a brilliant moment for him, I think somebody told me it was his first shot on target since the previous North London derby in the Premier League

19:14James McNicholas: That's what they said on the commentary on Sky that it was his first shot on target since the last goal he scored against Spurs back in November que es remarcable, es crazy

19:22Andrew Allen: Arteta kind of intimated afterwards que ha sort of worked out lo que necesita de motivación presumably es just tell him it's Spurs I can only imagine that's what it is

19:34James McNicholas: Well look, it was a great time to go ahead as well and it came at a point in the game where I think we've been on top and had we not scored you're sort of like we're going to let this one get away from us then, then, then, then y hablamos sobre esto sobre el día sobre el hábito que Arsul han desarrollado durante el año y uno de ellos es concediendo bastante rápido después de score hay una TV footage en el video porque es en el feed de Declan Rice sort de en el head y diciendo ¡Como lads! ¡Concentrate! ¡Concentrate! ¡Como! ¡Como! ¡Como! ¡Como! Y luego y hace el último un Declan Rice chaos

20:48James McNicholas: seguridad y posesión. En tight áreas, he es muy, muy bien, porque él hace la decisión más tarde que no. Así que es muy difícil explicar lo que estaba haciendo aquí. Es un poco más difícil. Un poco más difícil,

21:04Andrew Allen: un momento que certainly sacó el corazón de la supporters que yo estaba watching porque es un poco que se hacía en todos los fears. Lo que hicimos en el mes, conceded a gol muy rápido, no tan rápido, pero rápido, y en la parte de la góringa, es el fútbol cliché de que eres más vulnerable cuando te has sido jugador, y es muy difícil de ser de character. Un extraño 60 segundos en la temporada de Declan Rice, donde él fue muy eagerly reminding sus teammates de la necesidad de ser sensible y luego se olvidó de ser himself. Es raro que se ve un aberración de esa naturaleza de él, pero lo que a tiempo para que suceda.

21:52James McNicholas: Sí, yo me lo que a algunos de los goles que concedió recientemente o lato, no necesariamente en los últimos meses, pero esos errores que se puede explicar. Como el Gabriel contra Bormouth, por ejemplo, donde se ha jugado a la cruz. Como ha hecho, ¿cómo ha hecho? Typically, él es un hombre que es muy, muy seguro en posesión pero tú simplemente hiciste una decisión.

22:17Andrew Allen: Estoy contigo que cuatro de los ocho Premier League que hemos concedido en 2026 han sido major defensive errors y tres de los otros han sido long-ranger goals. Así que hay algo curioso, ¿no? sobre la naturaleza de los goles. Sí, por supuesto.

22:36James McNicholas: Y como te decía, lo que hiciste un poco de la sting de nosotros. Pero, de repente, nos hicimos un buen chance para Bakaio Saka. es un buen pas de Piero y Capier Vicario came out to block, pero creo que si Saka finishes that y VAR goes back to look, they'll see que él fue bueno y truly onside There was another one for Trossard, wasn't there where it deflected just wide, dribbled wide of the far post So this was a game, I think, that at halftime Arsenal deserved to be leído based on how we played based on the chances that we had but the fact that we weren't was entirely our own fault

23:21Andrew Allen: Yeah, it was actually a pretty I mean as delighted as we all are this morning at half time the mood was very different, it was quite frustrating really to find ourselves at 1-0 in a game which we dominated and I made the mistake of having that classic thought of like well they, you know there's no way Spurs can be as passive y así bad en la segunda half. We ought to have taken más advantage de la dominación en la primera half. Pero, fortunately, we were en la hands de Igor Tudor. Y estos Spurs players fueron seguros.

23:56James McNicholas: No es no way Spurs could be as pasivo y así bad.

24:04Andrew Allen: Hold my beer, say Spurs. Exacto. Y a mídia, y a mídia, y, again, Arteta spoke about this, Declan Rice Really bounced back from that era And the whole team did They kind of I think Re-seized the initiative After the break And obviously there was brilliant timing With our second goal Which was so soon after the restart

24:27James McNicholas: Yeah I mean it came after David Raya had to make a save From Xavi Simons I think True yeah yeah that's true So they started that second half And I was like oh I don't know I don't like this pero la gol we scored es muy, muy bueno. Voy a dar una gran credit a Júrián Timber aquí. He got a silly booking en la primera half. He gave away la bola cuando no le hicieron. He didn't need to give away la bola. It was a careless pass. He made a foul. He got a yellow card. Y estás pensando, ¿es esto una manifestación de la fatigue que está experiencing? Could well be. Pero el pass para este Victor Jacarez es excelente porque es un tipo de descanso entre las dos bancos de la Tottenham, el equipo de la 5, el equipo de la 4, y están en la línea, y él juega a la línea, y él juega a la línea, y juega a la línea, como es lo que es para distractir uno de los defensores, y es un buen touch y finish de Victor Jokeres de justo inside el D.

25:23James McNicholas: Yet again, el golekeeper gets el faintest touch de la bola, pero no hay nada de eso, que realmente es bueno. It reminded me de un training video de la Ríos un poco de weeks ago, no sé si vieron It was almost that exact drill Where they're being played the ball On the edge of the box Take a touch, first time shot And yeah, just a brilliant pass from Timber And a great, great finish from Jokeres

25:50Andrew Allen: I think you touched on something there That I think is really important in this goal And it's the role of Eze Who, when Timber plays that pass across He's basically right in line with Jokeres He's playing incredibly close to him Even Trossard actually is right up on that last line of defence as well. And there's no assist for Eze in this, of course. But I don't think this goal is scored without him because he kind of takes, I think it's van der Ven, away from Jokeres. And he ends up on the deck, Eze. But that nuisance factor, just giving them another player to worry about, is what helps create that space for Jokeres.

26:28Andrew Allen: And how rarely have we seen him have that kind of space? en ese tipo de posición, a deliverar esos finishes que, you're right, hemos visto en la training pitch en London Colney todo el año. Y creo que es un buen Jokeres performance, y rightly so, pero cuando vean lo que Jokeres ha hecho en este calendario, él deserves gran credito para eso. Pero creo que Mikel Arteta también tiene que reconocer cómo más se ha hecho de Jokeres cuando tiene un player apoyando him almost as a second striker

27:04James McNicholas: and that

27:06Andrew Allen: for me is why Eze was the right pick in this game because you know Odegaard would not have played in that fashion and when he's had Havertz next to him, when he's had Eze next to him, alongside him I just think it's made a world of difference to him.

27:24James McNicholas: No I agree with that, I just wonder if or I wonder why we haven't necessarily seen it you know when it has been something que ha sido identificado, creo, con Jokeres, que él ha tendido a operar mejor con más técnico de los players alrededor de él. Porque ellos... Y, bueno, y también, we'll talk about a second goal y todo el resto, pero yo creo que que hay partes de su juego que fueron muy mejor en los primeros performances. Y no es solo porque tenía técnico de los players alrededor de él, sino porque su touch fue mejor, su hold-up play fue mejor, su link play fue mejor. Y, bueno, Y tal vez que es parte de la parte de la que se ha hecho de ser un gran performance.

28:03James McNicholas: Porque se empezó el juego muy bien, se empezó a un poco de chances. Y eso le dio un boost. Pero creo que el dos goles son obviamente el principal talking point cuando se trata de Jokerez. Pero también creo que el all-round game, el all-round performance que se pute en fue como lo que hemos visto de él en un Arsenal shirt. Se ha hecho el gol muy bien. Then there was a Spurs 2-3 minutos after we'd scored They had the ball in the back of the net But it was ruled out For a push on Gabriel I'm curious as to what you think about this one

28:43Andrew Allen: I thought Well I would say The push did not To me warrant Gabriel's reaction I'd say he emphasised the contact, would be my interpretation of it. And I guess good job he did, because it led to the foul being given and being blown. I think if that goal had happened at the other end, I'd be looking at that and thinking, well, that's quite soft, to be honest.

29:12James McNicholas: No, I think it was. I think it was a bit soft, but where I think we not get away with it es el hecho de que se ve muy claramente las dos manos en el back.

29:26Andrew Allen: Hay manos, por supuesto.

29:28James McNicholas: Y si se pone dos manos en el back de cualquier player, yo me he enseñó que, como un joven player, no se pone dos manos en el back porque siempre se ve el free kick against you si se hace que. Como un defender, se ve el free kick against you. Si el refiero se ve, creo que es un poco más, pero el refiero es mirando bien atlo. I think if that ball goes in the back of the net and the referee hasn't seen properly that push because his line of sight is literally Colomuani and he sees the push and Gabriel goes down I think if he doesn't see that and the goal goes in I don't think VAR is going to say that's a sufficiently strong foul to rule that goal out you know Yeah I agree

30:12Andrew Allen: and we saw that at St. James' Park didn't we con los no no negando no puedes

30:42Andrew Allen: lo de entonces Yes. So, yeah, it's, yeah, it was a close call for us and a close shave for sure.

30:53James McNicholas: So we then, not long afterwards, make it 3-0 or 3-1 rather. Eberache Eze, I think this is a nice goal because Eze intercepts the ball very well in midfield. I think his first time pass To Saka with his left foot From that little dink or little stab Around the corner from Jokerez who does well again I think that first time pass Into the path of Saka Is excellent Saka you're thinking well he's going to Go and finish this He doesn't, Van de Van actually gets across And makes a very good tackle The ball breaks for Eberache And he swipes it into the net For 3-1 I want to play this, this comes I only saw this very, very late so I've only got one of these it comes from somebody on Reddit called Cheesy Peter Parker who sent me the clip of, you know, the guy who does the singing Bambino Pons he does the commentary for this one

31:55Andrew Allen: Anticipo de ese Buena pared ese, saca para liquidar Saca Lo trabó perfecto, gol ese Gol

32:09Andrew Allen: London calling, London calling porque el Arsenal quiere ganar necesita los tres puntos tres a uno empieza a definirlo Very nice. This is a beautiful go actually. I think the way we build up the quick passing, the really lovely touch around the corner from Jokeres is actually some of the best, some of the best sort of direct attacking football I've seen us play in recent weeks and we absolutely take Spurs apart it's just not quite happening for Saka in front of goal at the minute you know I'd say that's another opportunity where he might think perhaps he should have done better but there's Eze to finish it off and unleashing the spinaroonie in celebration which I also enjoyed

33:00James McNicholas: Somebody we had a question about that because I don't know what this is uh it comes from sila o on the discord as a wrestling fan did you enjoy ez's attempt at the spinner rooney on on the other spanish commentary he says um that's in the intro the guys on the zone in in spain say oh he's he does the cucaracha i don't quite know what that is to be honest but the spinner rooney i don't know what the uh what the it was a there was a

33:31Andrew Allen: Estaba en la 90s y en la 90s Called Booker T Y su sort de taunt Emote, as it were To use the modern parlance Was spinarooni Which is kind of what I'd say the execution maybe wasn't quite there Needs work, I would say But yeah, basically a bit of breakdancing Right There you go, another Derby Is it supposed to be intimidating

33:57James McNicholas: When a man lies on his back y se para fazerle una pinta, por eso. Porque yo diría que es una posición Aitaca a lo largo tiempo para pushar con la cellular呢. En самом tercero, es una estrategia muy nelrealidad realista.

34:09Andrew Allen: Se me as なQueen Alvarez, circuito de confiar, es una siguiente plaza del septiembre que Didgera Á mesma,

34:24Andrew Allen: como sí. There's nothing more intimidating.

34:27James McNicholas: Well, I mean, you know what it is. It gives you time to run away in fear, I guess, you know.

34:31Andrew Allen: I think that is the thinking behind it, yeah.

34:35James McNicholas: So look, Michel Arteta made some changes. Christian Mosquera come on at that point, obviously, for Jurian Timber, which I want to talk about in part two because I've got a question about that. Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard came on for...

34:51James McNicholas: It was... Christ, it was Trossart. Y Eze, sí. Interestado. Yeah, I was a bit surprised about Eze, but, you know, it worked out well. The chance of a double hat-trick was taken away from him, but I'm sure he's pretty happy with the two goals that he scored. Thank fuck for David Raya's reactions, because, listen, we've all been through quite a bit of late. I Can't explain to you How little I would have enjoyed Spending the last Whatever it might have been 10-12 minutes With a one goal lead in this game It happened a couple of seasons ago Didn't it? Where we were 3-0 up Against Spurs And they got it back to 3-2 Maybe Rice gave away a penalty Or Raya gave away a goal Do you remember with a bad pass?

35:47James McNicholas: We had to like

35:48Andrew Allen: This must have been so stressful that I've just cleaned it out. But it sounds awful.

35:54James McNicholas: Yeah, it was terrible. It was terrible. And we avoided that exact scenario by the turn of a ball, basically. Rice read the flight of the ball well, but left it behind, made a bit of a mistake. They put a low cross in. I think it was Jed Spence. Deflected off somebody. Pero, puede que Raya es mirốn el otro� La estrella se Entonces le siente que la huella

36:30James McNicholas: También swipía el marí La estrella siguiente Unavalida física de la goalkeeping Unaval rico Absolutamente alongside UnosPI

36:40Andrew Allen: Sí, there is un juego En la rara de Raya Inse Down Gracias a mí

36:44James McNicholas: He could take the ball with him or he could just put his foot through it and clear it whatever it might be But yeah, another one where you'd be thinking oh Christ, you're a day-to-day deck

36:53Andrew Allen: Yeah, I like him And I mean, just a stunning save from Raya When Richarlidson came on I can tell you he's, despite being a Brazilian not a popular man among the Arsenal fans in São Paulo That seems to be a global enmity the fan base feel for him But he does have a sort of an annoying habit de occasionally doing quite handy things en derbies y obviamente scored the consolation con una brillante goal en la reverse fixture un brillante fluke he must have thought he must have thought he had scored here past the goalkeeper the way he reaches back and claws it off the line I suppose the celebrations of his teammates and their reaction to it can tell their own story.

37:43A really, really excellent piece of goalkeeping.

37:46Andrew Allen: Yeah, it really was.

37:47James McNicholas: Really was.

37:47Andrew Allen: For a player who, to my mind at least, looked like he'd grown a substantial amount of hair in between Wednesday and Sunday. I have some questions about that.

37:57James McNicholas: Okay. We might do that in part too. We'll come back to that. It's quite important, I think. So look, that kept it at 3-1 and there was icing on the cake, wasn't there, in the final few minutes cuando Martínez le played it into Madueke, Madueke to Odegaard to Jokeres I really liked the first Jokeres goal because it's a you know, it's an emphatic finish from outside the box and you have to hit it with pace and power and precision to score from there against a Premier League goalkeeper so I think it's a really good goal I prefer this one I prefer this goal because I think what it showed ¿Cómo veces hemos visto en similar positions no quite get the ball out from under his feet or not hold the defender off or not get the shot away?

38:47James McNicholas: I think this was a really impressive and clinical piece of centre-forward play. I know he's not up against the most natural defender in the world. I think Archie Gray is a midfielder being pressed into action there by Spurs because they don't have anybody else and their captain's a fucking dimwit y que no se han ganado por el segundo red card de la temporada. Así que, si yo me voy a dar un objetivo de la mejora de Jokeres más confianza y confianza en su poder de ir a hacer y hacer y hacer y hacer y hacer y hacer y hacer, este es el punto que me voy a dar. Porque el touch es seguro, el run es bueno, el strength es bueno, el fin es bueno.

39:28James McNicholas: Yo me voy a dar un mejor que el primero.

39:31Andrew Allen: Sí, me también. porque es un Jocares porque es el sort de gol que ha sido so many times para el sporting este es su canal que inside left channel I know at Arsenal we speak about that as a Thierry Henry position but certainly in Portugal that is where Jocares really really flourished I just like everything about it I think it's right foot left foot right foot in terms of the way he opens his body out the way he strikes the ball with friction el modo que no se rompió el balón y celebrar, como si se conoce desde el momento que recibió que era en la parte de la neta. Creo que eso speaks a un player cuyo confianza es realmente creyente y creo que es muy importante también que es que es aún ahí en el campo en el 94 minuto.

40:21Andrew Allen: Miquel Arteta tenía la oportunidad de sustituirlo, de bringe en Gabriol Jesús, de cambiar y se stuck con Jokeres. y creo que es parte porque de cómo era el jugador, pero también un marco de approval, creo que en la misma manera que algunos fans wanted a ver Ezele, creo que leaving Joachim Reza era un gran reto y un reconocimiento de lo que él era bringing a la team en el día. Así que, lo que ha hecho, fue el seal en un muy, muy buen día para él. Creo que es el mejor en el escenario de la escena por algún distancia. Sí, agree. y, ya, loved this goal, really, really loved it.

41:02James McNicholas: Yeah, great goal and it just sort of makes everything feel even better when you sort of stick a dagger into the side of the opponent. You know, at a point when the game is basically won you've just sort of put the icing on the cake and they don't get any cake. Well, not that they were there, most of them had gone home at that point, I think and I did enjoy Go on. What's better than 1-4-1 win? 2-4-1 win. 2-4-1 yeah I like the symmetry of that. For sure. I like the Arsenal fan singing You're Getting Sacked in the Morning to Igor Tudor. That was good. But, you know, it was an important response from Arsenal, this, wasn't it?

41:41James McNicholas: Mikel Arteta was quite bullish afterwards saying, I knew we would react. You know, he said, I looked at the players and the way they reacted and how much they wanted it. I feel very privileged to work with them every day. I knew we were going to react. Today, the attitude, we showed the desire, the dominance. It was really impressive, so I'm very happy. You can understand that. And it wasn't like plain sailing, completely plain sailing, as we've touched on some of the incidents that might have gone, you know, a different way or made the game have a slightly different context. But once it's over and it's 4-1 and you've responded to Manchester City winning the day before and you've gone away from home in the derby with all the other stuff we talked about, like, you know, they had fresh legs.

42:24James McNicholas: que no han jugado tres 90 minutos, como los 90 minutos, como hemos tenido desde nuestro último performance, para ir a ir a ir a ir a 4-1, no sé cuántas veces hemos dicho que es lo que la doctora ordenó este año, pero que fue muy muy bien, creo que es una manera de responder a la real desayuncia y anger, que creo que hemos expuesto en el día, creo que, en algunos casos, es que se va un poco más. Y creo que hay un lenguaje y un idioma que se usan en el mundo que no entiendo con. Creo que es tan simple para usar esos tipos de frases. A defeat de la... There we go again. I was doing this on Thursday.

43:10James McNicholas: A defeat de la Wolves, right? A draw at Wolves que se sienta como un golpe y es absolutamente worthy de análisis y criticism y que se expresa con preocupación y preocupación pero Pero, creo que usted dijo esto maybe a couple de semanas a veces ago. Cuando Arsenal han tenido un setback, han tendido a responder pretty well a eso pretty quickly. Y creo que este fue uno donde, incluso si se conoce que Spurs son un absoluto mess y un bag de shit en este momento en el tiempo, se veía un derbyo como un potencial banana skin porque el todo form goes out the window en el derbyo, quality goes out the window en el derbyo.

43:49James McNicholas: You could see the potential for this to go the other way. So for Arsenal to go into this game, respond, react, win, perform, score the goals we scored, you know, open play goals, good goals as well, you know. If we talked about goals feeling hard to come by against Wolves, they weren't yesterday. They didn't feel hard to come by, which is to take nothing away from the goals that we scored. But I think everything you would have wanted from a performance in a game like this, we got from Arsenal yesterday.

44:20Andrew Allen: Sí, ocho open play goals I believe against Spurs Across the two games as well This was the perfect antidote Really wasn't it To the move that was Threatening to swallow us all On Thursday And the bounce back ability If you will Of this team Is something interesting I remember Mikhail Teta Arsenal teams A couple of years ago If they lost one game It felt like there might be dos o tres fixtures afterwards que hubiera que jeopardy where it would take us time to right ourselves but now we seem to have learned how to turn that disappointment and frustration into a positive to use it as motivation and actually as bad as Wolves was who knows maybe in the fullness of time we'll look back and think that was actually a game where without losing and while still picking up a point, we received the necessary reminder, the necessary sort of message that you know, of what is required, the standards that require, the level of focus that's required because I think that's absolutely what we brought on Sunday in the derby and yeah, brilliant response y nos vemos en ese momento.

45:51James McNicholas: Entonces, después de la final de la whistle, todo el mundo está en gran forma en Sao Paulo. La caipirinhas son fluida. Sí, lo que está. Estamos en diferentes lugares en el mundo. Y el nivel de apoyo y el passion por el club, como dicen, es increíble. Si te encuentras de donde estás, si te encuentras los fans y te experience a game con ellos, Es realmente es Esceptional, ¿no? Es que hay que tener experiencia con esos fans Así que creo que la mood La mood fue muy, muy bien

46:26Andrew Allen: Helped en no small part Por el hecho de que durante la segunda half As los fans En Nomales Estaban celebrating El gore Que pusimos 2-1 Ahead Suddenly Came this booming sound From outside the bar In the street Through the windows y básicamente un carnival float came past the bar during the second half so there was a party in the pub and a party out in the streets as well which felt beautifully Brazilian but yeah it was great to spend time with these guys and I was made so welcome there obviously I don't speak very much Portuguese at all but we'll share this common language which is Arsenal and there's a guy called Gileston who runs the kind of supporters club here in Sao Paulo and I was asking him about like the importance of this venue to them you know these gatherings they have to watch games and he said this is our stadium you know many of us will never go to North London will never go to the Emirates but for us this is our stadium wow it's just like that's Es un increíble, especial para escuchar y ser parte de.

47:43Andrew Allen: Y ellos también entienden a derby en este ciudad porque tienen tres o cuatro grandes equipos.

47:49James McNicholas: Sí, no te digo.

47:50Andrew Allen: Es un gran rival. Me, Corinthians Palmeiras, por ejemplo, es un gran gran. Y así, ellos absolutely get the significance. Y es un surreal. I remember cuando en Asia pre-season, y escuchando fans en Singapur y Hong Kong cantando North London Forever. Cuando se este local y local rivalries playing out globally, hearing Brazilian Arsenal fans singing en Portuguese about the fact Tottenham are going to get relegated, it's pretty amazing. It was a wonderful day. It was not the only reason I've been out here, but it was something I wanted to make sure I did while I was here. A piece about it has just gone up on The Athletic if you're a subscriber.

48:42Andrew Allen: And yeah, we've got some nice video clips that I'm going to put out later today as well. But yeah, thank you to all the guys in Sao Paulo for being so welcoming. It was brilliant to be part of it.

48:51James McNicholas: Amazing. All right, well, look, we will take a little bit of a break here. We're going to come back with your questions and more in part two right after this. Spurs fans, sometimes there's a fire to the legs.

49:06Andrew Allen: ¡No, no, no, no, no! ¡Vamos! ¡Vamos! ¡Vamos! ¡Vamos! ¡Vamos!

49:56¡Suscríbete al canal!

50:09¡Gracias!

50:36Andrew Allen: Puddle forming on the floor beneath me

50:38James McNicholas: But what about the M &M's Speaking of M &M's by the way Did you see Gabrielle's Instagram Yes That was very very funny Where he's sitting on the bus And he's got a Big pack of chocolate M &M's In front of him, he's holding some cards Got the four of hearts Displayed towards the camera And he has tagged Richarlison en el picture, que es, you know, el tipo de pettiness que podemos all get behind, as the wise man said.

51:12Andrew Allen: Yeah, it's a very cool picture, actually. It's a great image. Nice piece of sort of Arsenal iconography that will live on, I suspect.

51:22James McNicholas: What do we think is the vibe between those two? Because, you know, they've gone back and forth a bit. Richarlison has had a bit of a go at Gabriel in the past, and Gabriel has had a bit of a go. But what happens when they meet up for the para el nacional es un solo dos mates taking the piss out of each other o do you think they just don't talk to each other on the training camps or anything like that you know what

51:45Andrew Allen: I think Gabriel strikes me as the kind of guy who is sort of what happens on the pitch he takes it in the right light you know what I mean I think what happens on the pitch

51:59James McNicholas: stays on the pitch kind of

52:01Andrew Allen: well it doesn't it doesn't say I was about to say that and then I thought it doesn't stay on the pitch because it goes and posts on Instagram immediately afterwards. So it's not quite that. But I think it is all slightly tongue in cheek. I mean, an interesting case study is Jokeres, isn't it? In that they had a bit of beef around the sporting game last season. And didn't Gabby do a celebration that was sort of mimicking Jokeres? y también he escuchado que hay muy fuerte palabras entre ellos en la pitch durante ese partido y luego como puede suceder en el fútbol Jokeres turns a Arsenal y se mueve a partir de él y yo creo que es probable la misma con Richarlison donde todo es fair en love y war y cuando se han reunido con el equipo de Brasil para el World Cup y en el futuro se puede ir en la dirección y creo que Gabriel es probablemente de forces que R Birdaran creció sobre mi draftijo de violación del magician ¿Vale yo creo que?

53:05James McNicholas: ¿Este no? ¡Coi no tengo ya! La Guardia te tuite Biko Biko kurtarte� Whether quienифo , el ref لvman a saber hay un árbol de dirganAI

53:17Andrew Allen: AI

53:26Andrew Allen: No, I agree with that.

53:29James McNicholas: The Real Arsenal deal, by the way, I like this. He said,

53:36James McNicholas: Yeah,

53:47Andrew Allen: yeah. I like that too. That's one of the things I love about goals at that end in the North London derby, that you get those moments with the travelling supporters. Y esto ha sido un marido especial para aquellos que flatulmos. Y buen solo ríachen porque muchos de ellos se han ido para el golfe en la semana. Y eso es un windsor más Makλέje de la superadsp�itación. Y me ha sido muy contentz gjendeu el viaje para Eins��adeur para Maldonado

54:10James McNicholas: Yawać, me voy a comenzar con esta pregunta. From David Barrateng. B Serrano, la pregunta es como, ¿Texto está compartido? ¿Aucht sino que se tenía que ver? No es que estaba compartido. David Barratengueje...

54:22Andrew Allen: Quieroikan hacer que sneak busqu Aufraendarrado. Si que es el offerario.

54:24James McNicholas: Pues, esta fue lo que quedó.

54:36James McNicholas: ¿ The obvious answer is Take the trophies We want the trophies I'm not sacrificing a trophy for For them, for anything But generally, do you want Them relegated? Because it's quite interesting I've seen people en la comments en orse blog y en social media etc. saying, you know, I don't want to miss the North London Derby. I want these wins in this game. So, where do you stand on it?

55:09Andrew Allen: Do I want Spurs relegated? With all my heart Andrew.

55:14James McNicholas: Thank you. Yes. With all my heart. Me too. I want them relegated and for them to never come back. I get it, the local derby but you know things move on stuff can become history there was a time when Arsenal played a very important game every season, twice every season but after Spurs were relegated it just never happened again it was played in an enormous toilet bowl really daddy?

55:43Andrew Allen: yes, you wouldn't believe it and there was a wanker with a giant cockerel a trumpet man stood atop ¿Qué? ¿The toilet bowl? ¿Was this in the medieval times, Daddy?

55:58Yeah. Listen, I'm sure

56:02Andrew Allen: a club of that supposed size would in time bounce back. But the hilarity of them going down, I think, would be unsurpassed. I mean, honestly, like the feasting on all that content and Y ya, obviamente mi focus es Arsenal. Of course. I want to see Arsenal win things. Pero Spurs going down es como el que sueños son, en mi view.

56:37James McNicholas: I agree con usted. I want Arsenal a succeed más que me gusta Spurs a fail. Of course.

56:42Andrew Allen: I want Spurs a go down. I want Man Utd a go down. I want City a go down. I want everyone to go down. I fucking hate them all. Listen Kick them out of the league Make it a 10 team league for all I care One team league We can have like I don't know Brighton Fulham they can stay

57:05James McNicholas: Brighton can fuck off They're owned by like a gambling dude Aren't they

57:10Andrew Allen: Okay so it's just us and Fulham In the league

57:15James McNicholas: 19 games Switching between Craven Cottage And North London y el lads en el barco, se les va a ir 19 veces a la semana. Exactamente, cada vez más de la semana. Es un día de la semana.

57:27Andrew Allen: Bring your fishing rods.

57:32Andrew Allen: Spurs have got to go, en mi vida. Y, genuinely, es bueno si hop over a, por ejemplo, We Are Tottenham TV. Si eres tan inclined, hay un gran stuff para el momento. ¿Es eso el dos hermanos? Es el dos hermanos. Es bueno, Patrick. Es la volitud realiza O sea.

57:58James McNicholas: Los niños en dos. Los niñosettoveuroso. Es facility, no les Phillips. ¿M Lust, se lo dijo,

58:05James McNicholas: en Arrested Development? Es una Lucia de Arrester Development donde Job se escucha a terrible por la tarde y rufies himself he calls them forget me nuts or something like that those two boys must go home at the end of every spurs game and just take a fucking forget me not because every game they go into they're like we're gonna win this one um i know have you not that is the narrative structure of their vlogs

58:31Andrew Allen: hope followed by despair and you know we saw on thursday how a fear can kind of spread through a fan base how quickly it can grip supporters and spurs fans are in the grip of it right now like they are because because realistically i don't think they're going down i think are three even worse teams in this league but many of them are convinced that they're doomed and i'm just enjoying this bit even if we don't get the relegation the flirtation with it is

59:03James McNicholas: titillating enough for me yeah well come on west ham isn't isn't that what we we just need west ¡Westham! ¡Wow! ¡Fuckin! Imagine West Ham with a former Spurs manager in charge overtaking Spurs in the final weeks of the season and they're the ones that go down. I know. Oh my God.

59:22Andrew Allen: They hate Nuno as well.

59:23James McNicholas: Can I ask you... Yeah, sorry, go on.

59:24Andrew Allen: I was just looking at Spurs' games, actually. So their next game is at Fulham. Our friends Fulham. Emile Smith-Rowe, Hattrick. Come on. Come on.

59:37James McNicholas: I want to ask you this one porque se trata de la tema de ellos. Y yo creo que es un interesante cosa que considera. Arturo B. en el Discord dice, un punto que puede ser worth some discussion es que he oído que algunos dicen que el resultado contra Spurs es no gran problema porque ellos son peor que Wolves ahora. Pero en ese caso, los que necesitan considerar que City se fue en el, se fue en un 2-goal lead y fue held a un draw. ¿Qué es peor? ¿A draw contra Wolves o draw against the spuds and just to sort of broaden it out a little bit Arsenal have taken six points from Spurs this season. Spurs have taken five points off Man City.

1:00:23James McNicholas: If we win the league, if we win the league and they get relegated, the fact that they have enabled both things to happen will just be glorious. I'm not counting any chickens.

1:00:40Andrew Allen: Thomas Frank, we salute you. the two games in which he managed to get a tune out of that Spurs team just so happened to be against Arsenal's title rivals, Manchester City. Yes, that's a brilliant, brilliant aspect of it that I'd not considered, that those results could, could contribute heavily to Arsenal winning a Premier League. Fingers crossed, fingers crossed. Wow, that would be really quite something. Yeah. I need to sit down I am already sitting down I need to lie down

1:01:17James McNicholas: Can you pull out the wardrobe or something to re reconfigure your workspace

1:01:25Andrew Allen: What to say we didn't actually talk about this in the first half but Avid on Blue Sky says Do you think Eze meant that little flick up before he scored his first I Arsenal fan do but mates who are not gooners don't think so.

1:01:42James McNicholas: Tell them to fuck off then. That's what I say. Who cares? I actually think it's a reaction, a really quick reaction to the slight deflection the ball takes from Saka. I don't think he means necessarily to do exactly that, but what I think is he's reacting in split second to control the ball and he also reacts very, very quickly when he sees what the ball is doing to get his foot over it and high and into the back of the net. So I think this is kind of what we talk about maybe with footballers, top-level footballers, is the ability to improvise in split seconds, right? When they see something happening in the box or a ball coming towards them, they just have this instinct which helps them, or whether they see it in their mind exactly that way, I don't know.

1:02:35James McNicholas: But yeah, I think he probably would say, ideally, he'd keep that on the ground and finish that way. But, you know, that's not the way the ball was rolling. And he had to deal with the ball the way it was rolling.

1:02:47Andrew Allen: So, yeah, I think the speed at which these things happen, the idea of any kind of premeditation is maybe a bit of a reach. You know, I think it's just sort of happening and they're reacting in the moment. I'm going to deploy my Nikos Dabizas anecdote, which I have done before. Apologies if you remember it. But someone I know spoke to Nikos Dabizas about Dennis Bergkamp's brilliant goal. At Newcastle's Park. Yeah. And they asked him, do you think he meant the first touch? and Dabizas said to me it doesn't really matter because the flow and the speed and the ease with which he responded to it and transitioned and turned it into something exquisite is kind of the real skill and I think from a footballer's perspective I think that's quite interesting

1:03:46James McNicholas: Another question I've got one here about Eza as well Queen Gouler Let's do that then at sofire.bsky.social says, do we stick with starting Eze for Chelsea? Or know that Odegaard is fit? Does he start? Personally, I give Eze another go. I thought he linked up really well with Saka.

1:04:04Andrew Allen: Yeah. Well, and Nicola Tessa will doubtless tell us that Kai Havertz is going to play as well.

1:04:10James McNicholas: There was another question, by the way, on Eze on the Discord from JoeH91, who says, is it time to exercise the ghost of Matty Cash and try Eze on the left wing again? And Trossard was quite poor yesterday. Martinelli hasn't been any better. This would allow us to reintegrate Odegaard also. So, you know, if we talk about not surrounding Jokeres or technical players, but, you know, there is a technical level to that midfield. It's taking nothing away from Trossard either. But as on the left, you've got Rice, you've got Odegaard, you've got Saka on the other side of Jokeres. That feels like the kind of combination that could really aid and abet the striker in his goal-scoring exploits.

1:04:53Andrew Allen: That is true. And Nodegaard obviously comes on and gets himself an assist in this game. My personal inclination, I think, would be to stick with Eze where he is. I just think it worked so brilliantly against Spurs, him playing close to Jokeres. And as Dan from HLTCO foretold, as the weather starts to clear up and change, this is the part of the season where Eze tends to come into his best form. I, yeah, I think it's a time to kind of stick with what's working and it just works so well that I wouldn't necessarily deviate from that at this point in time. I wouldn't rule out him playing on the left.

1:05:42Andrew Allen: And I think it's a bit of a shame that we seem to have sort of discarded that as an option for quite some time. But I'm really hopeful that this is a bit of a turning point for Ebsen, that we're going to see more of him now during the run-in. Because I think he just, as he showed yesterday, he brings something really different to the team. And he's a goal scorer. He's a goal scorer. So that's where I'm at with it. What do you think?

1:06:12James McNicholas: I would be inclined to agree with you in that I keep as in the team where he is if he's you know coming in to a game against Chelsea on the back of two goals against Tottenham I mean Chelsea are essentially you know it's like if you if you took a cutting off something and it grew into something else you know there is a direct line between the evil of Tottenham and the evil of Chelsea right So he could do a job there for sure. I wouldn't rule out playing him on the left again. Definitely not. But I would be, I think there's a man management issue at play here because Arteta said, didn't he, after the game, he was upset because I didn't play him the other day from the beginning and some of the decisions that I made.

1:07:05James McNicholas: And I start to understand how we're going to get the best out of him now. maybe maybe it's like don't play him in a game he thinks he should play in and then he's got a point to prove in the next one i mean i think we have to acknowledge that he hasn't been as consistently good as we would have liked but now is the time for him to to really step up and i think if it if i'm the manager and i'm picking my team for the next game and listen i think uh arteta's relationship with martin odegaard is very very strong he is the captain of the team but I'm thinking of like how do I maximise the impact of Eberachie as two goals against Spurs it's not to drop him for the next game you know

1:07:47Andrew Allen: that's what I was just about to say I mean one interpretation yes is that sort of leaving him out against who was it who played midweek Wolves or dragging him off at half time against Brentford has lit a fire under him and created that motivation but I don't know. Sometimes I think the opposite is true. Sometimes I think when you have a really gifted playmaker in this mould, sometimes what they require is to feel important, to feel like they're the guy, you know. He wanted that number 10 shirt because he wants to have that significance to the team. He wants to be the sort of primary instigator and creator And I think, yeah, the sort of the arm around the shoulder as well might be a different route to take with this player that I think might suit him more.

1:08:46Andrew Allen: And to be honest, that's what he's had at Palace for the majority of his career. And that's worked rather well. I know Arsenal was a different environment and a different manager. but yeah I it's interesting watching Mikael Arteta sort of come to terms with how to manage a player like this and how how maybe sometimes you've it's about carrot and sometimes it's about stick and when you do have these very gifted free spirit creators there is a certain extent to which you have to indulge that um and i think for michael that's maybe a newer space to

1:09:29James McNicholas: to get into as a manager do you think he's maybe been burned a little bit by you know some of those players who might be described as mercurial you know who are hugely hugely talented but who i don't want to say flit through games but who maybe don't have let's say the the outward an obvious sort of determination or or whatever it might be that he puts a lot of stock in you know the the body language stuff etc etc yeah i think i think that's absolutely right i think i think he's you know he's had some bad experiences there and

1:10:10Andrew Allen: I don't think it's necessarily his nature as a manager to be like, I'm going to give this player license and freedom. I think that's what Eze needs. And we've said all season long, it's about those two manager and player finding a compromise and finding a common ground. And I'm really hopeful that yes, there was a big step towards that. Fingers crossed. By the way, and again, this reflects the change in mood. and not to count our chickens or anything like it. But Michael Benla on Blue Sky said, Eze has the opportunity to win the league for Arsenal and lift that league title at Crystal Palace on the final day.

1:10:52Andrew Allen: If that happens, would that be one of the best stories of the Premier League era? I mean, I won't go too far into it, but there is something about Eze's season with Arsenal that feels predestined in some fashion. You know, the goals he's scored against Palace and twice against Spurs. I certainly wouldn't rule out him getting the fairytale ending of lifting a Premier League title at Sellers Park and if that happened I actually think quite a few home fans would probably stick around to see it

1:11:20James McNicholas: Yeah, yeah, there was a little comment to me earlier on Blue Sky from Prashant who's that? Prashant.bsky.social Do you remember during his first interview for Arsenal, Ian Wright told Eze something like, just score in the Derby and they will love you I think maybe he says I think writing needs to tell Azad just feel free to score in all the other games as well so we'll leave that one for Ian to sort out

1:11:43Andrew Allen: let's get Ian on that we had quite a few questions about this player this was an interesting framing Nauzenstein on Blue Sky said has Hink-Pier been better at left back this season than Myles Lewis Skelly was last season?

1:12:06James McNicholas: I'm sort of reluctant to to sort of go down the road of playing one player off the other because I think it happens with a bit too much frequency that I saw, you know, with Timber and Muscara and I've got a question about Muscara I think now in a minute but you know it's that kind of thing it's like oh well Muscara came in and did well, you know, should we be starting him ahead of Timber etc etc What I would say is I think Incapier is a more natural defender than Miles. Physically, he's a bigger guy. I think over the last couple of weeks, he really looks to have settled in very well in the Premier League.

1:12:51James McNicholas: He looks like he understands the football. He looks like he's connected with his teammates. He scored against Wolves. He did make that chance for Saka in this game. So I think, you know, we're starting to see him not make that position his own.

1:13:04Andrew Allen: Sister Brentford as well.

1:13:05James McNicholas: Yeah, yeah, true. So, you know, there's a guy who's in good form. And we should enjoy the fact that he's in good form without necessarily having to put him up against somebody else. You know, I think Miles was good at left back last season. And Nkappie is good at left back now. Doesn't need to be, you know, micro-analyzed. That would be my thing. I'm just happy Nkappie is looking good. We've got Calafiore back on the bench as well. Miles is there. We've got the options. To me, it doesn't matter if he's better than Miles was last season. It's about what he's doing now. And what he's doing now is, I think, very, very solid.

1:13:51James McNicholas: And, yeah, that can only be a good thing. Yeah, they're so different, aren't they?

1:13:56Andrew Allen: Like stylistically, the way they play the position. I think Nkappé is having a better season than Myles this season, but I don't think we should forget what Myles did last year. Some of his performances in the Champions League, you know, at the Bernabeu, the things he did on the ball were absolutely outstanding. So I'm not, personally, I'm not quite sure when Nkappé's hit those heights this season, but I think he's found a really good, solid level of performance. And I think he's definitely been one of our better players over the last fortnight or so. I mean, do you think, this is another sort of classic question that we get, but we had it here from Danny on the Discord.

1:14:42Andrew Allen: Do you think he is the first choice left back right now in the squad?

1:14:47James McNicholas: Right now, yeah. Yeah, I think he is. I think he is because he's been available and I think Arteta places quite a bit of stock in that. I think he loves Califiori. He obviously loves Califiori. And I think as well, in the first four months of the season, Califiori was unquestionably, without a doubt, the first choice left back. Because he was playing so well and he was playing so consistently, but he was consistently available. it doesn't mean that that is going to be the case you know forever things can change very quickly in football it could be an incapier injury and calafuri comes back in and in you know two months time we're talking about calafuri being the first choice because he's been playing so well so it just it just happens like that i think you know it maybe goes back to the ezra thing you have to recognize when a player is in good form and in a good moment and lean into that you know because it's a way of of getting even more out of them or or getting that level of performance out of them on a consistent basis you know you don't make change for change's sake you know he could potentially have put califuri on at some point yesterday couldn't he but you know he left in capier on maybe in the same way that he left yokoraz on so um i had a question here about Timber and Mosquera, Kelv94.bsky.social said, I felt as if Timber for 60 minutes actually had a good game apart from a poor misplaced pass which we talked about in part one.

1:16:18James McNicholas: It was a poor pass and he made a foul, he got a yellow card. He then looked shattered around 60 minutes as he has done since the turn of the year. The Mosquera sub should be praised and what a gem he is. And obviously there was no Ben White on the bench yesterday which was a shame. I'm not quite sure what the injury for Ben White is. I think there might have been a good case if he had been fully fit. Like he was one of those where I was, before the game, I was thinking, God, I'd love a fully fit Ben White. I'd love a fully fit Kai Havertz. You know, and then Jokeres turns up and does what he does yesterday in a very impressive way.

1:16:52James McNicholas: But I think the Muscara, just to sort of compare and contrast, I know we're talking about two different players and we just said we don't want to compare them. But I think what's interesting about those two is, I think Mosquera was excellent when he came on really really good tenacious in the tackle I think only Incappier made more tackles than him Incappier made seven tackles yesterday which was the most of any Arsenal player Mosquera having come on around the hour mark I think he had four successful tackles in that time so I think what he did on the ball and what he did defensively and actually at least one of those tackles was high up the pitch and it resulted in a good Arsenal chance I think.

1:17:36James McNicholas: They're different, though, in the way that they play that position, because I think Mosquera is more naturally a center half than Timber, right? But it was an interesting change, wasn't it? Because he has been relied on very heavily. And at that point, I think it was 2-1, was it? It was 2-1. And he's taken, you know, a really, really key player off and put Mosquera on. And that's a show of faith, isn't it, in the young man who signed in the summer?

1:18:06Andrew Allen: Yeah, particularly in a position that's not really his primary role. I don't mind saying I was kind of advocating for Ben White to start this game before he was injured because I was quite perturbed by Duran Timber's performance in midweek. I thought he looked a bit ragged at times and very fatigued. So while I understood the temptation to sort of pick him again, I think just getting through this game and then he's got a week off before Chelsea. I sort of thought if you've got Ben White there, I've said all season long, you know, have there been opportunities to use Ben White that we haven't taken?

1:18:41Andrew Allen: I thought this might be one. And then he picks up an injury, which might give you some insight, I suppose, as to why he hasn't been used more. I do think there are some physical issues underlying there. And Timber was much better. and Mosquera I think has just been an absolute revelation really in terms of the consistency of performance level he's provided he's up there with our very best signings from the summer I agree you know up there with Martins of Amende you'd have to say so yeah he's been fantastic and I I thought it was the right change at the right time and helped us see things through um done in cap oh this was Matt Matt Factor on discord says Gutenly Morgan gents given how vocal Rice has been lately do you think that perhaps being the person that makes the big fuck up may actually be helpful it felt to me this week like maybe he'd crossed a line between holding teammates to account and moaning about them so could this incident potentially help him grow as a leader

1:19:57Andrew Allen: i understand why he's asked that it's not necessarily something i agree with but decks like on pitch demeanor has to me looked a bit agitated i agree i agree with that i've seen

1:20:14James McNicholas: people say and again i'm not sure i 100 agree with it but that it has been a bit to their mind performative yeah you know but but what i think is you know you you you sort of straddle that line right of of whether it is performative or not but you want people to stand up and you know you want people to show leadership and you want people to hold others to account but it's been going on i think since the first time i noticed it was the wolves game at home because i was there for that game and you see obviously a lot of stuff that's not caught on camera and he was he was not at all happy with some of the stuff that was going on around him for very understandable reasons because it wasn't good enough that day and we just about scraped to win so i understand it and i can understand if you are driven and ambitious and you want to raise the level that you are going to

1:21:09James McNicholas: cajole people on the pitch for want of a better word he spoke to sky sports didn't he beforehand before the game and after the Wolves game, and he talked about how they went in the dressing room, and there were some things said. And then he said, we're men, you know, and we shook hands afterwards, and everything was all right again. So, you know, there is a need for that, right? There is a need in any football team. It doesn't matter what level you're playing at. If you feel like somebody's not doing their job, you've got to be able to say it to them. When it's happening on live television with 60 ,000 people in a stadium and broadcasting millions across the world, you know, that's getting picked up, right?

1:21:49James McNicholas: Did you talk about that? Or was somebody else, I can't remember, talking about it? Maybe it was Lewis. I can't remember. But somebody was saying, you know, about the corner that he took against Wolves laid on where it looked like he's lost his temper with people and stuff like that. But I also think then if you are the guy who's telling everybody to concentrate and be sensible and, you know, keep it calm and keep it cool and collected, and then you make what is essentially a really silly unforced error, you probably have to just step back and think about it a bit, no?

1:22:24Andrew Allen: Yeah, I think so. I mean, for me, like I really started to, this idea started to pick up traction when he was caught. Was it after the Forest game? He was caught on camera saying that every fucking time or something at full time. And, you know, I didn't necessarily really great deal into that because I'm sure there were five or six players saying similar things, but Dex happened to be the guy who was on camera at that particular moment. But I have noticed a change in his demeanour, in his body language. On the performative thing, what I would say is I think leadership is partly performative. Like you have to outwardly emote, you know, or do things that transmit.

1:23:13Andrew Allen: And also that transmit on a big football pitch surrounded by 60 ,000 people. So it's not necessarily a time for subtle communication. I do wonder how much of this has got to do with the fact that it's been a season a season and a period where the club captain Martin Odegaard has been kind of in and out of the team. And Rice maybe, as a consequence, although he doesn't have the armband normally, feels a need or responsibility to step up, to be more vocal. I also think he's been here longer. So are we just seeing, is this just West Ham, Declan Rice? You know what I mean? Is this a bit more who he is?

1:23:57But it took him a little time to settle into it.

1:24:01Andrew Allen: And then the other factor, I think, is just how much he wants it, really. And that's the bit that needs management, I suppose, because that's the bit that can bubble over. But I think he came to Arsenal to win things and he hasn't yet. And he's desperate to get there. And I think from a sort of selfish perspective, he also probably thinks, look at the age I am, look at the year I've got, a World Cup on the horizon. I'm at the peak of my powers. This is my year and I can't, I can't let this slip away. and I think that's why we're seeing a kind of elevated degree of emotion from him. But definitely I think this game and that mistake will be something that he reflects on.

1:24:57James McNicholas: I think you could see by the way he celebrated that second goal in particular with Joachares that he was aware, he can't not have been aware because the first thing I thought of when he made that mistake was like, this has the potential. I don't know if I sent it to you at halftime or to somebody else but I said this has the potential to go down as his Stephen Gerrard we do not let this slip moment, you know. Well, when I said he can't let it slip then, I mean that was the image in my mind. Well, I mean, yeah, that's exactly what I thought at halftime that, you know, if this game didn't turn out the way it turned out for Arsenal that is a clip that would do the rounds ad infinitum, you know.

1:25:35James McNicholas: for it it'd haunt him that clip particularly if arssel don't win anything right um so i think it was really really important that um we responded as a team and maybe that's the most important thing that the team stepped up and made that that little moment moot so to speak you know but i think there probably will be a little bit of self-reflection in that that like will it stop him telling people to concentrate and to focus next time we score don't think so absolutely not but what it will probably do is the next time we do score and he does that if he's in a position like he's in in that game he doesn't make that mistake he puts his foot through the ball you stick it out for a throw you play it back to david raya let david raya thump it downfield and regroup and reset.

1:26:30James McNicholas: You just don't take the risk again. And maybe that's the learning moment more than anything else, you know?

1:26:37Andrew Allen: Yeah. He can't put all his energy on others, you know? I think it's just a reminder that it's all very well to have a way with your teammates, but you need to have a moment with yourself as well and a reminder to yourself. And that's all it is. and the player that he is, the person that he is, I think he will take that on board and I think he will use it moving forward.

1:27:04James McNicholas: Let's do just a couple of quick ones before we go because there are a lot of Jacarez questions. He's now on 15 goals and there were people saying, well, we talked about Jacarez getting 15 goals this season. Does that constitute a good season?

1:27:16Andrew Allen: He's a flat-track bully though, Andrew. They all come against teams facing relegation. There was a lot of that, yeah.

1:27:20James McNicholas: only scoring goals against championship sides, etc. But I thought this was maybe a more interesting discussion point because let's get to the end of the season and see how many goals he's got and then we can properly assess his contribution. It could well be telling. It could well be the difference between Arsenal winning the league and not. So let's wait until we get there. But Schwa on the Discord said, I've noticed Jacarez continually gets fouled without getting calls. What does this man have to do to get some respect from the refs? and Reubes on the Discord. He said, I thought Yoko Reyes was excellent, but curious as to what it will take for him to get a foul in the Premier League.

1:27:56James McNicholas: Bleeding maybe, a bone sticking out perhaps. I don't understand why he can't get a foul.

1:28:03Andrew Allen: Speaking of fouls, by the way, I was very worried for Kiyosaka at one point in this game. And we didn't mention that.

1:28:10James McNicholas: Oh, the one laid on where he sort of tangled legs with Simmons. Yeah, yeah.

1:28:15Andrew Allen: I thought that put a little bit of pressure on that shin of his and my heart was in my mouth slightly. I think with Jokeres, I don't know. I wonder if his aesthetics don't help him. The fact that he looks like such a bruiser, I do wonder if referees interpret him going down as a bit soft at times. I also think I don't mind saying this I think he can be he can use his size and his strength even more effectively I think he's starting to do that and I think there certainly were occasions in this game where he really did do that but I think yeah I wonder as he grows and becomes more confident will he is that an aspect of his game that is kind of still developing too and that decision making about when to go down, when to feel the hand in the back and think, I'm going to get a free kick here, or when to say, I'm actually going to lean into this guy and hold my ground because this is not a foul in the Premier League, whereas it might be in the Portuguese Liga.

1:29:31Andrew Allen: Yeah. My sense on this is that in the way he competes in the 50-50s

1:29:39James McNicholas: is a weakness in his game. Like, I don't think he competes properly for the ball. And I thought he was excellent yesterday. I agree with you. It was his best game by some distance. I also think there's room for improvement in that aspect of his game, where he pays a bit too much attention to the man rather than the ball. Yes. And I will say, you know, until, you know, he obviously scored that great goal in the second half. It was a point of frustration for me in terms of his performance because I recognized that there was a lot that was good about it. But those moments where the ball is dropping from high, he doesn't really position himself between the ball and the defender.

1:30:20James McNicholas: Like as a central defender, if you've got a guy the size of Jokeres who reads the flight of that ball and then sort of pins you and backs into you, it's really hard to defend without giving a foul away. but he doesn't really engage the right way with the defenders. And I think it makes it look like he's not really competing for the ball. So when the defender chucks him around or throws him on the ground or he falls on the ground, the referee is saying, well, he wasn't really going for the ball anyway.

1:30:51Andrew Allen: It's kind of 6-1, half a dozen.

1:30:53James McNicholas: Yeah, I'm going to let the defender do what he wants there. And I agree, he is fouled a lot. And I can remember, was it Newcastle away? Yes. There was one where somebody just grabbed him by the face and threw him on the ground. And it's like, you can't do that. But I also think there is a way for him to be more competitive in those 50-50s. And I think if he can find that a little bit, it'll make him more effective as a player. So fingers crossed he can do that.

1:31:18Andrew Allen: Yeah, and also he doesn't always have to be in contact. That's the thing. Just get away from your man. Drop off two yards. You know what I mean? I think you're right. he likes the tussle but I don't think that's always the most helpful

1:31:34James McNicholas: we had a question about David Raya which I want to just do because it's nonsense and we're just getting out of here but to be fair NKD1414 on Blue Sky said can we talk about Raya big mistake at Wolves but bounce back here no sign of fear some great saves I actually thought Raya was excellent the way he commanded his area the way he took those highballs. The save obviously, you know, is the big talking point from his performance, but I thought generally he had a really, really good and composed performance. But I liked this one because I don't quite understand it. Jenny Heinenen, who's at something that I can't pronounce, dot BSky dot social.

1:32:16James McNicholas: It'd take too long for me to work it out, so I'm not going to. He said, what the hell is Raya doing with his hair? I haven't seen growth like that since my Jack Russell stopped eating the furniture. and I don't quite understand what happened there. Was the furniture eating stunting the growth of his Jack Russell's hair? I don't know. And on the Discord, Ian Wright says, Ian Wright 8 says, the question we'd all like to know the answer to, who between Declan Rice and David Ryle will win hair wars? They're letting it grow out, aren't they? They're going, you know, the full, I don't know, like they're going to be in an 80s rocker tribute band or something.

1:32:56Andrew Allen: Yeah, they're mocking us, Andrew. Yeah, that's what it is. I, yes, well, I saw a thing on social media in the week about how Declan Rice's rise as a player has correlated pretty much with the volume of his hair. It was sort of tracking the rice glow up. And when I saw David Raya, I thought, A, where's all that hair come from? And B, oh, he's gone for a Declan Rice look. So, yeah, I guess that must be the fashion. As I say, we wouldn't know. But whatever hair products David applied between Wednesday and Sunday, it certainly added a lot of volume and body. Maybe he's just making a play for a shampoo commercial or something.

1:33:42James McNicholas: Yeah, the new David Ginola. If you take two bottles into the shower, et cetera, et cetera.

1:33:47Andrew Allen: Is rice on the shampoo commercial? Am I right about that? Declan Rice shampoo commercial. Was it like L 'Oreal or something? yeah he's the 2026 L 'Oreal campaign so that's what it is he's been in that dressing room he's told them what he's getting from L 'Oreal and they're all having a crack at it

1:34:09James McNicholas: why is it big hair are at it again

1:34:16James McNicholas: yeah well it's big hair

1:34:17Andrew Allen: all round

1:34:19James McNicholas: again we wouldn't know about that but I guess we'll just have to learn to live with it

1:34:24Andrew Allen: it right exactly i should add by the way andrew a lot of people messaged me about um my old nemesis

1:34:33James McNicholas: chris sutton oh i saw i saw his comments and the first thing i thought was oh no

1:34:40Andrew Allen: oh no yeah well it's it's it's tricky obviously because like you know long-term listeners will remember a couple of years ago i did have a bit of a bit of a rant about sutton um which is awkward because i you know i work in football media and obviously like there's people at the athletic seeing that and we could run into each other have you like and even well uh we've been in the same ground but he's not been over to introduce himself yet um but obviously like in the two intervening year time since that first run like obviously the new york times have bought the athletics and that comes with all these like you know editorial standards and practices so like we you know the upshot of that is that we can only like write or indeed say something if it's like unequivocally demonstrably undeniably true um so he is a fucking miserable cunt isn't he

1:35:40James McNicholas: yes he really is if people didn't see it it was like oh arsehole you know they're celebrating or they should wait till they've wait till they've won the title to celebrate etc etc

1:35:50Andrew Allen: it's mad imagine being on the radio or the television like the entertainment industry and thinking i know what my persona will be i'm going to be the world's most miserable cunt it's like roll up roll up the greatest show on earth the world's most miserable wanker yeah with his with his boring opinion again um yeah i i i don't know what to say it's

1:36:19James McNicholas: just so stupid some people are just predisposed to suck the life and fun out of everything you

1:36:25Andrew Allen: know yeah but why make that choice it's mental it's like what are people tuning in for is it the brilliant goals or the you know the end-to-end action or the roar of the crowd like do they delude themselves that the reason people want to turn on their television is to listen to some miserable old cunt whining in the studio is that what people but you know what these people think but it's been part of football coverage for for so long like i remember listening to mark lawrenson back in the day as well i remember thinking like you hate football it's an archetype it's a

1:36:58James McNicholas: television archetype you absolutely maybe you don't hate football but you sound like you hate football you sound like you don't understand what it is to be a fan and maybe that's maybe that's something that's not necessarily unique but maybe it's a perspective that comes from ex-players and I'm not saying that they don't support clubs but you know they'll go from Norwich to Blackburn to Chelsea and wherever right so they have an association but but do they feel and experience the passion some of them do but obviously uh certain certain pundits don't and and the fact that they even with all the like the stuff about celebration police and having the piss taken out of them for just being miserable cunts like you say the fact that they still do it it's like oh god find a new shtick here find something yeah but that's why like i'll never i don't think i'll

1:37:59Andrew Allen: ever have a popper Mika Richards I'm not going to sit here and say to you oh he's the world's most insightful analyst but I think bringing energy and enthusiasm and Ian Wright is the same actually like bringing a fundamental enthusiasm for the subject you were covering for me should be a minimum requirement it should be a minimum requirement if you're going to be broadcasting on it and by the way i should add obviously since that first chris sun run a few people have come to me and said you know chris is actually like a really good guy um what it is it's just his tv persona and i say oh that that's good actually because i'm actually a really nice tolerant person as well in real life i love chris sutton i think he's brilliant but the thing is my media persona thinks he's a fucking miserable cunt and so well listen you've got your role to play and you're playing that's very well what can I say it's just my persona guys behind the scenes love him I think he's brilliant

1:39:06James McNicholas: yeah you should see the sort of dressing room wall when we do a live show it's all just pictures of Chris Sutton James in his Chris Sutton pyjamas turning up late we're all just playing our part in the big pan That's it. That is exactly it. Well, listen, the pantomime was good on Sunday. Spurs thought they might win it. Oh, no, they didn't. And Arsene are five points clear again at the top of the Premier League table. We have the luxury now, James, of like a week off. This is like, what is happening here? We don't know. We won't know what to do with ourselves. I don't know if Arsenal are planning anything.

1:39:41James McNicholas: There was maybe some chat about them going for, I don't know, a bit of warm weather. But it seems like a lot to get through. And maybe they could just give the players a bit of a day off or a couple of days off.

1:39:53Andrew Allen: Yeah, I think they've got some stuff planned. But I think it's all closer to home than that.

1:39:57James McNicholas: Paintballing. That's what they're going to go paintballing as a bonding exercise. And on Friday… There's nothing dangerous. That's all I can say. Mikel Arteta will be like, well, Davin Raya, friend, he's got his eye taken out, you know, paintball. No, I'm sure they'll get up to some good stuff and hopefully recharge the batteries then a bit ahead of what is a big game next Sunday against Chelsea. Right, we better leave it there. Let you get on with your day in Brazil. I'm not sure what you're up to or what your plans are. I'm mainly going to be trying to reconstitute the contents of this fridge.

1:40:29James McNicholas: So that'll be fun. Okay. A challenge. Everyone loves a challenge. Okay, to you guys, thank you so much indeed for being with us and for listening as always. We'll have an episode of The 30 for you tomorrow over on Patreon. Because it's a quiet week, we'll spread it all out. And there is a game tonight, Monday Night Football, Everton against Manchester United. So we'll see what happens there. Thanks for listening as always, and we will catch you on the next one. Bye-bye.