Arsecast Extra Episode 691 - 20.04.2026

0:00Andrew Allen: Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing. Another checkered flag for the books. Time to celebrate with Chumba. Jump in at Chumbacasino.com. Let's Chumba. No purchase necessary. BTW Group. Void where prohibited by law. CTNC 21+. Sponsored by Chumba Casino.

0:31Hello and welcome to another Arsecast Extra as always with James from Gunnar Blog. James, morning to you. Morning, Andrew. How are you doing? I am doing like this. A little bit. A little bit, you know. Yeah. How are you doing? You're still in Manchester. So, yeah, that's not ideal. City fans everywhere, mate. Fuck.

0:56Andrew Allen: can't move them i i went for a drink with a colleague last night after the game much needed but every bar playing fucking oasis you know what i mean yeah you just can't get away from it people in the street singing they're having their title party already i suppose yeah i suppose um we just have to hope it's premature but yeah i'm okay you know it's a this was a crazy game yes like a really frantic incident packed good game like i was chatting after the match and martin lipton i overheard him saying to somebody it's very rare that the game of the season is the game of the season. So we're not sure of stuff to talk about, but of course, the result, the general picture.

1:55Andrew Allen: Sure. I've felt better about things. Me too, me too. I will say, and it may sound counterintuitive, I'm sort of vacillating between like, ooh, maybe enough, fuck. And then, ooh, you never know. Ah, bollocks. You know, I'm sort of in that realm at this moment in time. I can say as counterintuitive as it sounds that I, you know, despite the head to head nature of this and despite the momentum that City have and despite, you know, how the pendulum has swung, I was going to say back towards them, but certainly towards them with this result. I felt worse after Bournemouth you know I felt worse about the team and the way we play and what we did on the pitch and didn't do on the pitch after Bournemouth because there was the chance again this is sort of how you go from one extreme to the other there was the chance to go 12 points clear albeit temporarily and we lost that game and I don't think at this point of the season And if you're going to be titles, you can lose a game like that.

3:02But this one, we lost. But I can see, like, I'm not feeling good. I will say this, just to be clear. I'm not feeling good right now. And I'm not feeling optimistic, really. Not that hopeful. I recognize that it's not all over and there's still loads to play for and all of that kind of stuff. But in terms of just the performance, I think what we got from Arsenal yesterday was miles better than what we got against Bournemouth. So if that's like, like I'm not straining to find a positive or anything like that, but that is just how I feel about how we played.

3:40Andrew Allen: No, mate, I'm the same. I don't really have any grievances with this performance particularly. Beyond finishing, I guess. Putting the wall in the net, of course. But I think in general, it was a pretty good performance, a game of fine margins which can go against you. And I think in any season, any team is liable to go to the Etihad and be narrowly beaten. I mean, that can happen to anybody. My issues are really not with what we saw yesterday against Manchester City. My issues are still with Bournemouth, with Wolves, with Brentford, with Forest, with the poor performances that we've seen over the last few months that have kind of left us in a position where this feels as seismic as it does.

4:36Andrew Allen: Yes. You know, we, I said this in my video yesterday, but I really do feel coming out of this game that it's not over. And I think Arsenal's performance showed that it's not over, but I also can't escape the feeling that it should be over. Yes. That in this season, we have had so many opportunities to extend and build up that lead and make it realistically insurmountable. make this game not really matter. And unfortunately, the way we've played and some of the results we've picked up provided the perfect incentive to City. We made this into a bit of a final. We made this into a game where they could seize that momentum and they have now done that.

5:21Andrew Allen: So, yeah, it's a weird feeling where actually there's quite a lot in the performance against City that I was quite proud of and thought Arsenal equipped themselves really well with certain aspects of the game. But underlying that is my general sense of frustration that we've allowed it to get to this point where we needed that. Yeah, we made it matter too much. Like a game against Man City is always going to be important. It's always going to be big in your season, even if it's just for the, let's say, you know, if this was a game where I don't want to say we could lose or could afford to lose.

5:58But, you know, if we go into this game and the gap is still six points at the top of the table, it doesn't mean as much, you know. But a game against City, you know, you take confidence from going to the Etihad and winning. We haven't won there since 2015, that game with Sandy Cazorla. That's the last time we won there. We're overdue. We could do with that as a confidence boost, as a way of believing. And I think whatever doubts you might have, and people, I'm sure, to varying degrees have doubts about our ability to get it over the line, games like yesterday only sort of exacerbate that. Until such time as you prove you can get it over the line, And every single thing that doesn't go well is a thing that convinces you that we're not quite capable of doing it, you know?

6:42And that's kind of what we have to reckon with for the final five games of this season. But as you said, I think there were aspects of our performance and aspects of the team selection, I think, which were encouraging from an Arsenal perspective. So let's get into that. We had Martin Odegaard back in the team, which is good. For me, I think that can only be a positive thing to have a player like that in our midfield. Kai Havertz started up front, which I was very hopeful would be the case, and that was the case. And a bit of a surprise, I think, in that Eberachie Eze was on the left-hand side, a position where he hasn't really been selected by Mikel Arteta, maybe since that game against Aston Villa.

7:26But he got him into the team. And I think, you know, whatever regrets we have about this whole season, the fact that we haven't been able to play Odegaard and Eze together, whoever we play up front or whoever we play either side of who's up front. The fact that those two have barely shared the pitch this season at all is one of the big regrets I have about how, you know, the injuries have impacted us and team selections haven't been quite optimal. So I was really pleased with that team selection yesterday.

7:58Andrew Allen: Yeah, it was a positive selection, wasn't it? It was a selection that leaned a bit more into technical ability, ball retention in the opposition half, having Eze off the left. It almost felt like a cheat code, like, oh, well, I forgot we're allowed to do that. And I have to say, that is a bit of a frustration of mine, that we've let four months pass without really contemplating that as a serious option. I mean, is it in part because we've kind of needed him in other areas of the pitch because of Odegaard's absence? I mean, I do think that's, you know, worth pointing out. I think that's fair. I think that's fair.

8:38Andrew Allen: But it does. It was slightly odd to see it come back in such a big game at such a crucial time. But I liked it. And yeah, Havertz was a big call. I mean, I think this is probably the first big game where you would say Kai's been deemed ready to start over Victor. I mean, there have been games in the course of the season where Jesus has started or Havertz has started, but it's always felt a bit more about rotation, really. Whereas I think this was kind of an indication that Mikel thinks Kai is ready for this sort of game. I mean, I think I said this to you last week or maybe the week before. I think, you know, if everybody's fit, you know, imagine that crazy scenario where everybody is fit and healthy and ready to go.

9:30Like in any big game, I think Mikel Arteta's preference up front is Kai Havertz. For any game, we absolutely have to win and also have to exert some control in the opposition half. There's no question in my mind that it would be Kai Havertz over Victor Jokeres every single time. But fitness obviously has played a part in that. But I liked it. I liked the team selection. I liked what it said about how we were going to play. I didn't like the David Raya moment early in the game where he just took a heavy touch and got away with it just about. And I did worry about that setting the tone a little bit for the Arsenal performance.

10:07I suppose it did in one way, because the next time we got a goal kick, we just went long and went long pretty much all day. I think 23 of Raya's 30 passes were long balls, you know? so that maybe gave us a little pause for thought in terms of what we were going to do from goal kicks and restarts but it was quite open wasn't it early on there were moments I think there was an offside for Havertz there was a chance for Havertz which was blocked behind for a corner and Odegaard pass and then City scored which is kind of the way it feels it always goes against them. It's like, oh yeah, you're doing okay, and then they score an early goal.

10:52I'd have to look this up, but they seem to score early goals against us quite a lot. Like the one at home earlier in the season was very early as well, wasn't it? It was like 10 minutes in, something like that.

11:04Andrew Allen: Yeah, I mean, they hit the post, didn't they, after five minutes as well. So, Cherky and, you know, that was a rocky couple of minutes. Gabriel I think was quite adept really to kind of dip into it and if it hit him two inches lower down his arm he would have been in trouble but it was a block with his shoulder so he's okay and yeah then they score a goal which from their perspective is one of huge individual quality I'm not going to argue with that I think Czuck is really a special special player I think Mikel Arteta when he watches it back will probably have some reservations about the ease with which he kind of walks us through.

11:44Andrew Allen: Where do you sit on that? Are you sort of accepting of, well, that's a great goal or do you think there's more we could have done? I do wonder maybe if Eze could have challenged for the ball a bit more. Sort of one of those where there was like a split second where he thought, right, if I commit, maybe I'm going to get caught out of position. So I'll stand my ground and see where the ball ends up and try and win the second ball again. But I think it's one of those where I kind of need to see him at least make the challenge because it might squirt the ball in another direction. After that, I mean, I do think it is a high quality from Cherokee who is, you know, with the ball at his feet, is really an exciting player if you want to categorize it as that.

12:22He sort of danced through a little bit easy. Gabriel, positioning maybe not brilliant. He sort of sticks out a leg and Rice is there and he just sort of skips past them and finishes. I think if an Arsenal player scores that goal, we talk about what a great piece of individual quality it was more than sort of laughing at the defending. So I think you probably have to give the City man some more credit there than the defensive side of things, which, you know, maybe isn't the case for the second goal that we concede, but I guess we'll come to that.

12:58Andrew Allen: Yeah. I thought about Thierry Henry and his pump, the defenders that he made look very, very silly. The goal against Liverpool, for example, the one on Good Friday, where we all talk about what an amazing goal that was. He picks up the ball and runs. But if you look at it, I guess if you're a Liverpool player, you're going, why did Jamie Carragher fall over? Why did Didi Hamer just sort of do a spin? So I think you can look at it both ways. Yeah, definitely. I mean, it was indicative of the problem you face with City is that they do have these really game-changing attacking players. and that was an incredible moment from Cherokee, 15 minutes in.

13:42Andrew Allen: And you're thinking, oh dear. Yes. But not for long. Not for long, no. I mean, we hadn't really had time to sort of feel the pressure of going behind when we got level. And, you know, City play was a throw-in back to Donnarumma. Kai Havertz, you know, decided to have a go and put him under some pressure. And, you know, he's not always great with the ball at his feet. and he got caught. It was quite funny, I suppose, given that Raya was the guy who looked like he was going to make a mistake like that or could have made a mistake like that very early in the game. And then up the other end, Donnarumma does exactly that.

14:19But I think you have to give Havertz a lot of credit for the way he chased that down and put him under that pressure. It's a mistake from the goalkeeper. It's probably a mistake to take that throw back to him. But credit to Havertz for chasing it down.

14:33Andrew Allen: Yeah, I think the introduction of Havertz and Odegaard, you know, obviously it adds you some technical quality on the ball. But I think what they offer in the pressing side of the game is really important as well. And this was an instance that demonstrated that. I think it's pretty impressive from Havertz. You know, they've literally just conceded. So it would be easy to understand heads being a little bit down at that moment. but instead he's given it his absolute all to get there and make that block. And he does brilliantly, to be fair to him. And I think I found it fascinating actually watching the first half, the degree to which the momentum and the mood of the game kind of hinged on errors from goalkeepers with the ball at their feet.

15:24Andrew Allen: You know, there was that early one from Raya. There was this one from Donnarumma. It's such a fascinating aspect of the game. There's this huge emphasis on building up from the back and, you know, goalkeepers being in possession. But I feel like we're seeing in our games over the last few weeks, the degree to which it can kind of disturb or unsettle teams when it goes wrong. And, you know, fortunately for us this time, it worked in our favour. Yeah, so a very timely goal. There were moments, I think, in the first half where we were probably a bit more open than you would expect. There was, I think, a Holland chance on the edge of the box.

16:05He kind of fluffed his shot, but there was one moment where he went through and the pass he tried to play to Semenyo was really poor. I think it would have been a good chance for Semenyo. And the sort of first half, I think, played out in a relatively even way. You know, there wasn't an obvious, obvious chance for anybody really beyond, I think, an Incappier block towards the end of the first half from Semenya, where he had a chance to shoot from that sort of inside right position. Incappier made a very good block there. Saliba headed off the line from the corner, but the referee had blown for a foul on Raya.

16:47But I mean, what did you make of Arsenal's openness? And what did you make, or was there anything about the first half that sort of gave you pause for thought? Because I was a little concerned about our right-hand side.

17:01Andrew Allen: Yeah, I was surprised how open it was. It was not the game I anticipated. Mikel Arteta spoke in the week about wanting to come and win the game and to be honest with you I kind of took that as just manager rhetoric you know that's what managers say it's almost impossible to outwardly say we're coming to play for a draw but it was quite clear that Arsenal did come with that positive mindset and outlook and that did leave them a little bit more open at times and there were opportunities where City had kind of three on three or three on four when they broke away. Fortunately for us, their execution wasn't perfect.

17:40Andrew Allen: You mentioned that Haaland pass that wasn't quite right. There were one or two other moments like that as well. It was a finely balanced game and it felt, I felt like, you know, it's going to be decided by a massive moment of quality like Cherki's goal or a defensive slip or a mistake. but at half time you know I was feeling pretty good about things I mean that was kind of job half done right 1-0 was a really good result for Arsenal in context and I was pleased to see that we'd turned up like it wasn't necessarily the Arsenal I expected but the commitment levels the intent really really pleased me So we were giving them far better account of ourselves than we have for some time.

18:32Certainly better than we had played at Wembley, I think. Oh, yeah. Markedly so, I think.

18:39Andrew Allen: Lessons have been learned from that. Yeah. And you mentioned intent. And there was intent, I suppose, from the manager at the break in that he made a change. Nani Maduweke, who was not good in the first half, was taken off and Gabriel Martinelli was put on. I will say sort of for full disclosure that he, you know, before the game would have been my choice to start on the right hand side because I thought Matuweke has been kind of poor in the last few games. And it's not that Martinelli was miles better, but I just thought if he was going to play Mosquera, maybe Martinelli for, I mean, obviously this comes back to sort of bite me in the arse.

19:19I thought Martinelli defensively would be a better option there because the very least you expect from him is that willingness to run up and down the line and to chase back and to do his job diligently as a defender, a defending winger, if you like, which he does very, very well typically on the left-hand side. Didn't quite turn out that way. But he made that change.

19:41Andrew Allen: No, I mean, it's interesting, isn't it, that Mikel made that change as early as he did. I think obviously Eze going back to the left was partly about Odegaard being available again and having the capacity to do it. But I could also imagine Mikel kind of in his office in the week trying to choose between his wingers and looking at Martinelli, Madueke and Trossard and not necessarily feeling particularly enthused about any of those choices right now. I think that's fair. And Martinelli's first involvement was to give the ball away. He tried to play it backwards, played it into midfield. City went and got a corner.

20:18There was a shot from Kuzinov, I think, which was blocked. And then Holland at the outside of the post from the rebound. And it was sort of the last thing we needed because you're making a change. You want that change to have a positive impact. What it actually did was give City a bit of momentum in the opening part of that second half, where I think they were very much on top, I think, in the first 10 or 15 minutes. in the second half. There was an incident about 10 minutes in when Havertz was played through and went down. And it's one I've seen people talking about a lot. What's your view on that one where I think he, Havertz goes down and there's an argument maybe that it could have been a red card?

21:08Andrew Allen: Yeah, I mean, the short answer is my view wasn't the best. It was kind of the opposite corner to me. and I've watched the Sky highlights and the BBC highlights. You won't be surprised to hear it didn't make it into either of those. I guess it was quite an instant packed game. I must say in real time, I didn't think it was a foul. But as I say, I have not seen a single replay of it. So I will kind of have to defer to your judgment on this. Okay. I mean, my view on it is that if it was up the other end and if it was Haaland, we'd be applauding strong defending from Gabriel or Saliba if they sort of leaned into the man like that and sort of eased him out of the way without making a very explicit foul.

21:53So...

21:53Andrew Allen: I agree. That was my view too in real time. I'm looking at my notes and 52 minutes I've written, Kusinov shoulders Kai off it. Yeah, listen, I thought there were, certainly was one possible red card in the game that we'll come to, but I didn't see this as one. But I guess that moment signalled a bit of a shift in the game. I agree, the start of the second half, that did feel a bit Carabao Cup in terms of how City came out and dominated that period. But then around the hour mark, we had two chances in a minute that I've been thinking about a lot in the hours since the game. I agree. It's sort of like we burst into life.

22:39We snap back into life because I'm just looking at the live blog and 58 minutes, I'm saying we're under some pressure here. And in 60 minutes, we have that big chance for Kai Havertz, where I think Eze and Odegaard do well to sort of get themselves into that position. The more I look at it, the more I think the pass from Odegaard could be a little bit better. sort of forces Havertz a little while. It's a good turnover. Yeah, I've seen people talk about maybe Odegaard should have had a shot. I don't know what you think. I just think the pass from Odegaard could have been better, but I still think it's a good chance to score all the same.

23:23Andrew Allen: Yeah, it is. I mean, I think we've got a man advantage over them when we win the ball back on the halfway line. My feeling watching it, I have to say, is that I think every pass in the move is just half a yard off. I feel like, I think maybe it's Rice into Eze and then it kind of has to come back onto his right foot in order to receive it. And then he, Havertz makes a run, but it goes to Odegaard who again kind of has to come back towards goal to receive it. And then he slips in Havertz, but it's just a little bit wide. Just tiny bit too heavy. Yeah, it's one of those where, you know, if Odegaard had been playing week in week out I think you just have that little more touch that little more rhythm the right way on the pass now now all that said I think actually the ability of those players in each case kind of overcomes the fact that I think the pass is not quite perfect and I think they do fashion what is undeniably a very good chance for Kai Havertz I mean even if it's outside him it's outside him on his strong foot yeah you know he's able to get around it he's able to get contact and and i suppose as well we have to say that this is the trade-off city made when they signed donnarumma they knew they were signing a goalkeeper who's not good with his feet and that that would cost them at points this season but they also knew that he is a point saving game winning shot stopper yes um yeah which we know very well do well here that's yeah i'm not i'm not trying to you know absolve habits here i think it's a great chance and he'll feel he should score but it's good goalkeeping as well a minute later abaracci has a like just so well in a tight space to find room to get a shot off and actually when you see the replay i don't know if you've seen the replay from sort of uh behind him i mean it starts such a long way outside the post with his left foot to get the power and the curl.

25:33I mean, I think we're talking about like a half a rotation of the ball. One more half rotation of the ball, and that sort of clips the inside of the post and goes in rather than goes along the line and away from goal. So it's just so unlucky. You know, a fine margin, sliding doors, whatever you want to call it.

25:51Andrew Allen: Yeah. Reminded me a little bit of one of his goals in the home North London derby, the way he just kind of opened his body out and side-footed it with his left foot. He's so good in those positions at finding the space, the angle for the shot. And the way this bounces off the post and rolls across the goal is pretty cruel. I must say that definitely stayed with me because it would have been, I mentioned about feeling like the game could be won by a moment of individual quality. and this was it really. That could have been it. That could have been it. And you're sort of sitting there going, what if, what if, what if?

26:33And then a couple of minutes later, City get the goal that ultimately wins them the game. And I think it's one where, you know, in the analysis, we can have some serious regrets about how we defended. For me, the big mistake, the big mistake is Martinelli. choosing to press the foot. Is it Gehi who's on the ball? I can't remember exactly. I think it might be Gehi. I think Donnarumma has the ball in his hands. Donnarumma has the ball, yeah. And sorry, not Gehi on the ball, but Gehi is the guy on the outside that Martinelli goes to close him down. And Odegaard is actually shouting at him to track the run of Nico O 'Reilly, who's in midfield, and all of a sudden is in midfield with acres and acres of space to run into because Martinelli has made the wrong decision in that moment, you know.

27:30He's having a really annoyingly impactful season against us, isn't he, Nico O 'Reilly? Well, I think he's a very, very good player, to be honest. Yeah, he is, yeah.

27:38Andrew Allen: And his availability in this game was a big boost to City because he was in a bit of a doubt coming into it. And I must say, watching up close yesterday on that left-hand side, I was thoroughly impressed. but Odegaard knows straight away that the error has been made, doesn't he? He throws his hands up at Martinelli. And to be fair to Odegaard, does his damnedest to get back too. He's right back there in the penalty area. When City get it up the other end, Martinelli doesn't make it. And, you know, that left-hand side for City was perilous. You know, there's always so much threat. I can't quite tell how good a player Jeremy Doku is, but I know he's an absolute nightmare to play against.

28:32Yeah, I think you can talk about his end product maybe, but the relentlessness with which he tries to cause you problems, you know, it's got to be energy sapping at worst or at best rather.

28:43Andrew Allen: Yeah, and I actually thought Mascara did okay, but when you're playing against Doku, it's almost like you start on a booking because you know it's going to come. Do you know what I mean? You're going to make four fouls and there's going to be a yellow card. So, you know, I think a lot of the threat for City came down that side. They work it relatively well. There's O 'Reilly doing what he does, picks it up in the penalty area. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, because he cuts inside Mosquera, Zubomendi has to try and close him down. Yeah. And in doing so, that leaves O 'Reilly free. The ball comes through to him.

29:23It goes across. Big discussion, of course, about whether or not it's a foul on Gabrielle by Erling Haaland.

29:31Andrew Allen: I must say, Andrew, that hadn't occurred to me. Right. It hadn't occurred to me. There is a sort of clip of how just before he makes contact with the ball, he sort of gives Gabrielle a little bit of a tug. For me, this is one where I think the referee understood and rightly allowed these two to go at each other, right? That it's always going to be a huge physical battle between Gabriel and Holland, as it has been every time we've played them. And sometimes Gabriel has come out on top. Yesterday, I think Holland came out on top. It's a real case of six of one, half a dozen of the other, you know, that they're both at each other.

30:12They're both grappling. They're both pulling. I don't think there's any way if the referee is allowing those two players to be as physical as they are with each other. He can say in that moment, right, no, that foul is worse than that foul or this grab is worse than that grab. I just think Gabriel lost the battle against Haaland yesterday.

30:35Andrew Allen: Yeah. And look, there were many battles along the way that he won or that Saliba won. I've got to say it was pretty enthralling to watch Harland up against those two centre-halves and obviously I don't take any pleasure in the way it turned out and with Harland getting the upper hand with the winning goal but I did think well we're probably watching you know certainly one of the world's best number nines against two of the world's best centre-halves and made for as it always does a kind of fascinating duel

31:11Andrew Allen: and listen I sort of like the way the referee managed it and sort of said you know I'm going to let things go and I think that was kind of fair I've watched it back just now where you've been talking I don't think he can blow up there I don't think it's even necessarily clear who's initiated what and yeah there's so many incidents through the game where you'd have to stop and start it so many times for a foul. Sure. Haaland's just a bit stronger, a bit quicker, and he gets there. He wins the battle. And I think if an Arsenal goal is disallowed for that, everyone is going absolutely crazy this morning.

31:49Because you'd be saying, you know, this is two guys going at it. You know, why is that a foul now when we've put the ball in the back of the net? You know, I understand the instinct from an Arsenal perspective to say, oh, that should be a foul. but I just, you know, I think sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say we didn't do quite enough defensively. And I think that was the case throughout that goal. Gabriel did hit the post. There was a header that came off the hip, I think, of Nico O 'Reilly. And Mikel Arteta made a couple of changes then. So another incident where, you know, I think Donnarumma was kind of beaten there but the ball came back off the post and was cleared away.

32:28Mikel Arteta made a couple of changes then. And I think white for mascara made a lot of sense because, you know, he had he'd put in a big shift against Doku and it was hard going and he was on a yellow. So that made sense to me. The other change was Trossard for Eza. I'm curious what you think of that one. Maybe hindsight plays a part. but yeah I would have been inclined to leave Ezza on the pitch given he just hit the post and as you said earlier on in a game where maybe you're looking for a moment of really high quality in the final third he is a guy who can deliver that and I would have fancied our chances more had he stayed on the pitch?

33:18Yeah. I mean,

33:20Andrew Allen: my first instinct is to say, well, he's not been back that long for injury. But then you look at the fact that Mike Nodegaard stayed on the pitch for, did he do the full 90? He did, yeah. In his first game back. And you think, well, if he can, why not? Maybe the physical demands of playing on the wing are a little bit different. Maybe, you know, a type of running that he's less accustomed to. I must say, watching Eze and seeing Arteta on the touchline, while he did play him off that left flank, he clearly still has some reservations in my mind. There was a lot of coaching going on. I think so, yeah.

34:04Andrew Allen: We mentioned the opening City goal. I think when you pick Eze in that position, you have to accept that he's not a Gabriel Martinelli or someone who's ordinarily going to be very switched on defensively, that's not necessarily his game. I don't know. Maybe that was a factor in the change. I mean, to be honest, I find it hard to be too critical of the change because Trossard made our best chance. No, no, I would have had Trossard on, but I do think maybe I would have done Trossard for Zubamendi and really gone for it in those final few minutes. It's like you say, there could be a physical issue with Eze, which would explain it.

34:45And managers don't tend to explain those decisions in great detail afterwards. And hindsight is 20-20 and all that. But I just feel like, you know, he comes so close to scoring. Maximize your potential. Maximize your attacking potential. You know, maybe he's worried about losing 3-1, but I don't know. I think I would have just preferred to keep Eza on the pitch and to sort of readjust and maybe try and cause City a few more problems. Then we have the incident with… On the subject of changes, by the way, were you a little bit surprised it was 84 minutes before Vicky Ocres was introduced?

35:33not really not really i think he was always going to be a last throw of the dice kind of a guy like i think if this game is one one he doesn't get on the pitch at all like if we're drawing this game or leading this game I don't think he gets on the pitch. And he came on. And, you know, this is not necessarily a reflection of him, but he didn't touch the ball in the, what, 12, 15 minutes that he was on the pitch, not once. So I wasn't that surprised.

36:15Andrew Allen: So, yeah. I was a little surprised, I must say. I think I thought Kai did really well. I probably would have left Havertz on in some capacity but I just thought part of the advantage of having Jokeres on the bench is that level of direct running in the game's final stages when it opens up a little bit and I thought he would get on kind of closer to the time that Trossard did whether that would have made any difference I don't know I don't know either. I was just a little bit surprised, I guess as well, because Kai's, there's still that kind of fitness question over Kai and I didn't quite know how he would hold up and how he would last.

37:02I'm just trying to look and see.

37:05Andrew Allen: The Gabrielle incident with Harland, by the way, what did you, he was quite a lucky boy, do we think? I think so. I think he's really lucky. Like, you know, the two of them going head to head, yellow card each. there is that movement from gabriel whoever slice not headbutt at all but he does you know shunt his head forward a little bit towards holland i think 99.9999 percent of premier league players in that moment would go down holding their face and the referee then has no choice but to give a red card to gabriel so whatever you think of holland i'm sure people listening to this aren't necessarily predisposed to liking him or giving him any benefit of the doubt about anything at all i have to appreciate the fact that he didn't produce histrionics that would have got gabriel sent off and if if he had fallen over it would have been all on gabriel anyway it was silly for him to do what he did i understand you know the heat of the battle and those two have previous and all that kind of stuff but he was really lucky i think to get away with that he was and actually as damaging as losing this game would have been i think losing gabriel for three games may have been more damaging yeah that's the other i mean i hadn't like genuinely yeah that would have been yeah really bad it would have been huge and i I think Haaland saves Gabrielle, really, by not going down.

38:44Andrew Allen: And I quite like that. I sort of think it's almost like an honour among thieves thing. You know, there's these kind of unwritten rules of their clashes and it does almost require kind of a different style of refereeing. But I like that as physical as it is, as rough as it is, it doesn't feel like deception is a huge part of it um like if you're gonna go like if you're a big strong striker and you're up against a big strong central defender and you want to fight in a game like don't want to say it's like a fair fight but i think in in modern football other players would take that opportunity to ensure that gabrielle got sent off and 100 and i think kai havertz is on the deck guys if that happens absolutely absolutely and maybe maybe holland maybe some people will look at it and say well holland's stupid not to go to the floor yeah you know if you're a man city fan you're going well why wouldn't you go to the floor because a he gets sent off and as you say he gets banned for three games and his comments afterwards were you know i won't fall on the floor unless someone really attacks me you know i won't fall on the floor as easy as this.

40:03Andrew Allen: Which clearly he came into the game sort of, you know, they come in with that mentality, don't they, where they don't want to show weakness. And actually that's worked in Gabriel's favour in that situation. But again, I liked his post-match interview as well because he said, yeah, you know, I think I was quite surprised it was not a red card and we both got booked. But he very quickly was like, but let's be honest, like Gabriel's a great player, you know. And I think there is clearly deep respect. And it's pretty deep because on the surface, it looks like contempt. But I think, yeah, if they were being really honest, I think there is a big mutual respect between those players.

40:43For sure. And I think that's probably why he doesn't go down.

40:48Andrew Allen: Yeah. And he baited him into it a bit as well. Sure, of course. Of course. Haaland sort of starts it, you know. Of course. but like that's the game. But you can't do that. But you can't do what Gabriel does. You can't. And he's really, really lucky to stay on the pitch. And there was part of me like was just so hoping that Gabriel might get the equalising goal because I think Pep Guardiola would have exploded into tiny little bits on the sideline. I think he was booked actually. He was already quite animated. Highly strung. The thigh slapping, did you see that? Yes, I did. I did. Yeah, it was funny.

41:24but yeah I think he was booked for that and I can understand as well why he took umbrage at the decision of the referee there but like we said the upside of it is that we still have Gabriel for the games that remain then we get to the moment James I think you texted me going I think there could be a chance there still might be a chance here the cross from Leandro Trossard is unbelievably good could not be any better at a moment where you need one of your wide players to produce something whether it's a moment of skill or drive into the box or a dribble or whatever it is like the technique and the trajectory and the pace of that ball could not be any better for Kai Havertz and you know as I was struggling to get to sleep last night I was replaying that moment over and over and over and every time it went over and over and over.

42:22And it's really hard not to think that, you know, despite the fact the season is long, there's 38 games. You can, as you said earlier, point to some of the other games that didn't go well, like Brentford, like Wolves, like Bournemouth. You know, in the context of this game, in that circumstance, with the points gap the way it is, it feels like this morning, And it may turn out to be that or not that, but it feels like, do you remember the season that City won the league by a point? And was it Liverpool almost scored a goal and it was cleared off the line and there was about 3 % of the ball that didn't go over the line.

43:06And that was basically the difference between Liverpool winning the league and not winning the league. that this kind of feels like that moment or it could be that kind of moment for Arsenal.

43:17Andrew Allen: Yeah, and I think it's because of it. To be honest with you, my personal feeling is I think it's more because of the timing than the ease of the chance. Like, I want to see Havertz do better there. I want to see him hit the target for sure. But I always say headers are hard. Like, I don't think that's straightforward. For any striker, actually. But the timing of it and what it would have meant and what it would have done to us and done to City and done to the table, I think, yeah, it's a big moment. It's a big moment. There's no getting away from that. It's a brilliant cross. He gets the timing kind of right, I think.

44:05Andrew Allen: The connection is there, but just the direction is not. Oh, I just felt it in my stomach again as I was watching it here. It's just like, oh, my God. It would have been a momentous goal. Yeah, it's hard not to think what the ramifications of that goal would have been, you know, where City are on the verge of, like, really changing the momentum. And, you know, I'm not saying it sort of puts a dagger in their hearts or anything, But I think it really felt like something we could use as well, you know, that we could have said, you know, we'd have maintained our lead, obviously. And then you're thinking, right, we snatched defeat or snatched the win from Manchester City.

44:56And everyone's talking about Arsenal having, you know, the character to go there and do it and all that kind of stuff. Like the implications of that goal would have been huge. I just think he's got to get it on target, at least. And I think with Havertz, there's no question in my mind that we played better with Kai Havertz in the team yesterday. It's not just down to him, but I think he was an important factor in how well we played at times in this game. But for your centre forward, that's got to be the moment. You know, he would have dreamed of having a chance like that before the game.

45:36Andrew Allen: Yeah, and look, I think as well, when you consider the one-on-one opportunity that's saved by Donnarumma, I think between those, you've got to have the ball ending up in the back of the net. But this was a game, like I say, with a lot of these big moments where it was about the margins and who executed in the boxes. I mean, and I suppose you've got to look at Haaland, right? I mean, what was his, he had two chances in the game, basically. He hit the post with one and scored the other. There's a ruthlessness about him and about Man City that won them this game. Ultimately, we were not ruthless in the same way.

46:17Andrew Allen: We played pretty well, but we weren't able to be as clinical. And that's the difference on the day. Is that sort of the difference or what has been the difference for the last number of years? Because I don't think that's just an issue for this season. No, perhaps not. Perhaps not. And I think there'll be a lot of talk about the Havertz-Jokerez dilemma in terms of what they each offer you. But I would just say, Jokeres had two pretty good chances in the dying minutes against Bournemouth and didn't take those either. Three. So I don't think this is solely a Kai Havertz problem. He had three chances against Bournemouth.

47:03People forget the header at the back post, which he just completely missed. Which is why it's kind of funny people saying, well, if Jokeres had had that chance, he would have, you know, I don't see Jokeres scoring any headers. I don't see him as a good header of the ball. I think the one moment he did have, he was beaten to it by Bernardo Silva. So, you know, they both have their limitations for sure. But I think if we're going forward and we're thinking about how to play the best kind of football, for me, not that yesterday was a blueprint, but I think what we saw was Kai Havertz up front is a better fit for this team when we have players like Odegaard and Eze behind him, which Jacarese hasn't always had, you know, to be fair.

47:44But I think if we're going to lean into these final games and what we have to do now is crystal clear, right? I think it has to be Havertz. It has to be Havertz up front. If physically he's able to do it, he's got to be the guy who leads the line from now on. And listen, the finishing deserted him yesterday, did get the goal. I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know really what more to say about it other than this is a game that I think Arsenal will have some real regrets over, not just because of the result, but because of the opportunities we had to get something from it. I think we'd be feeling worse in a different way if we'd gone to Man City and like, you know, one city went 2-0 up, for example, in the Carabao Cup, we didn't really lay a glove on them.

48:33I think Calafuri had one shot, didn't he, that went wide or clipped the post or something like that. But that was it. But this was much better, I think, from an Arsenal perspective. So I don't know if that makes anybody feel better or worse. Is it worse to be just crap or is it worse to be quite good and crap in one aspect or, you know, not at the level in one aspect? I don't know.

48:55Andrew Allen: I mean, I said coming into this game, I could see any outcome. And actually, the game that we got, you probably could have got any outcome. When you think about the fact that I think four players hit the woodwork, Cherokee, Haaland, Eze, Gabriel, the chances that were had by both teams, the possible sending offs, you know, this could have gone any way and it went cities. And look, I'm not trying to take anything away from them. I think they were ruthless when they needed to be. and that's to their credit and that's why they are who they are. But I do think it was a much more encouraging Arsenal performance.

49:39Andrew Allen: And although Arsenal were beaten, I would say if Arsenal play like this, they have every chance of beating Newcastle, Fulham, West Ham, Burnley, Crystal Palace. And that's what they have to do now. there's no point as frustrated as we might be about what we've let pass us by and let slip and the opportunity that's gone and the lead that's cut down it's now just all about those five games maximizing our points to put to put city under as much pressure as possible i mean do you think that is something that they're they're capable of are they going to have to deal with the weight and the trauma of previous seasons and the sense that, you know, we've won one game in our last six.

50:32Now we have to go and win five in a row. And City have won their last four. They've beaten us twice. They've beaten Liverpool. They've beaten Chelsea. That there feels like momentum on the City side of things. And for us, we're going to have to drag ourselves out of this sort of funk we're in in terms of results. You know, I know what you're saying about how we feel about it as fans. And Mikel Arteta afterwards, you know, had to make that sort of public assertion, didn't he, about how, you know, I don't have to pick the players up. We've got a Champions League semifinal. We've got five games. We're still in the Premier League.

51:13It is in our hands. It's in the hands of both teams, right? But do you worry at all that defeat yesterday, despite some encouragement in the performance, might be something that too many of these players have experienced before and they feel like there's an inevitability to Manchester City? because this is what we've seen them do time after time after time. And this is what we've seen Arsenal do three years in a row and potentially four years in a row. Like, I get it. It's all still to play for and it's all still there. But I just worry a little bit about the weight of what's happened in the past.

51:57Like, how do we exercise those demons? How do we just put that to one side and go and do what we need to do? Or is that just kind of, right, this is your job as professional footballers at the business end of the season. Just fucking don't worry about that and go out and do it.

52:14Andrew Allen: Yeah, I mean, they're saying all the right things, but of course they're going to, right? What else can they do? Mikel Arteta has to come out and say, we still believe, you know, we believe more than ever. We're not conceding anything. Similarly, in the dressing room, you know, you'd like to think, and indeed we hear that that's what the prominent voices are saying. That's what the leaders are saying. You know, we've got to take encouragement from this. We've got to keep going. We've got to move forward. I think the reality is that we're now just into like a completely different scenario. Arteta called it a new league in his post-match press conference.

52:55Andrew Allen: It is almost like a totally different context and competition at this point in time where there are so many unknowns. So the one that you've just flagged, how do Arsenal psychologically respond to this defeat? How do Manchester City cope with a different sort of pressure on them now as bookies favourites, as indeed they are this morning? How do Arsenal handle the fact that they're into a Champions League semi-final and they've got to balance a huge two-legged tie against Atletico Madrid? with their Premier League title challenge. What sort of advantage does it give City that they're not in European competition?

53:40Andrew Allen: I feel like at this point, there's just so, so many unknowns. And it feels like we've gone from a place where like the, I'm not going to say it was a position of security really in the table, but everything felt kind of stable.

53:59Andrew Allen: And not necessarily predictable, but sort of we had that cushion and we had that degree of certainty with that. And I just feel like now we've been dragged into a dogfight, basically. Yeah, that's what it is, isn't it? It's like City landed a punch. It's not necessarily a knockout blow, but we've got to fucking, you know, stand up and start throwing some punches back ourselves, you know, in these five games and recognize that as disheartening as it is and painful as it is to lose, not just yesterday, but lose two games in a row in the Premier League at the wrong time, that we still have it in our hands.

54:39You know, we do have it in our hands. And maybe I've got some questions about how we approach that in part two. So I don't know if there's anything else you want to touch on in part one or should we take a little break?

54:49Andrew Allen: No. I mean, people will say this is copium and I totally understand that. but my view is that we can't change what's happened we can only tackle what's in front of us and so I am kind of choosing to take the positives from this performance I thought there was a real risk a real risk yesterday that we could go to the Etihad and get trounced basically I was thinking we could be looking at a 2-0 or 3-0 that looks really comfortable. Like Carabao Cup final levels of comfort. Let's not forget, that was only a few weeks ago. And I think I did see signs in this that Arsenal don't believe it's over, that they believe in spite of this result, they can rally and they can recover and they can still get over the line.

55:50Andrew Allen: And that's just where I'm at. I have to invest in that idea. I have to believe in that. Otherwise, what are we doing? Yeah. Well, I mean, that's true. That is true. And I think regardless of how I feel or how optimistic or not optimistic I might be or you might be, ultimately it is on the players and it's on the manager that they still have all of this to play for, that we still have a Premier League to play for. We still have the Champions League to play for. And, you know, this is not, I mean, this is where we wanted to be for so long, right? And again, people will say copium, whatever it is, this is where we wanted to be.

56:31You know, there was a point during halftime yesterday where I sort of was sitting there going, oh my God, I can't believe I've got another 45, 50 minutes of this to endure. But then you sort of give yourself a little bit of a slap and say, well, it matters. And the reason why it's hard is because it matters. And it does still matter. And it still matters to those players and to the manager. And, you know, regardless of how we feel as fans, it's what they do and what they produce or what they can produce in these final few games. So let's hope that in this new league, in these last five games, we can find a way to do what we need to do.

57:13But let's see. Right. I think we'll take a break. We'll come back with your questions and more in part two right after this.

57:31Fresh air, longer days, a chance to reset. This season, let therapy be part of your spring cleaning, clearing mental clutter, shaking off stuckness, and building something better.

57:43Andrew Allen: Grow Therapy helps you get there. Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 50th, Grow makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity, or availability, and get started in as little as two days. And if something comes up, you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no cost. Grow helps you find therapy on your time. Whatever challenges you're facing, Grow Therapy is here to help. Grow accepts over 100 insurance plans. Sessions average about$21 with insurance, and some pay as little as$0, depending on their plan.

58:21Andrew Allen: Visit growtherapy.com slash start now today to get started. That's growtherapy.com slash start now. growtherapy.com slash start now. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. Immersing yourself in all things soccer ahead of this summer's World Cup? I'm Alex Avnos, senior sports editor from The Guardian. Whether you're a soccer beginner or you know the game inside and out, we've got you covered. From one of the fastest-growing soccer newsrooms, The Guardian brings you in-depth World Cup coverage that gets into the winners and losers on and off the pitch. Read, watch, and listen as our journalists connect the dots between the games, the cultures, and this political moment.

59:01We'll have daily newsletters throughout the tournament, a global perspective, and a squad of Americans, including me, on the ground with the U.S. national team. Plus, if you want to test your soccer knowledge, try On the Ball. It's a game in the Guardian app and it's really, really fun. And if you're into stuff like this...

59:16Andrew Allen: Well, I think the problem is if you give footballers an inch, they will take a mile. Is it too much when it's this close? It's a bit much. It's a bit too real. Maybe you could just talk with a slight delay. Be sure to listen to our Football Weekly podcast for on-the-move expert analysis. The Guardian, bringing you the whole picture on soccer. Search Guardian Soccer for more. Running a business means juggling a lot of moving parts. And when your communication tools can't keep up, things start to slip. Missed calls, slow replies, scattered conversations. They're not just frustrating, they're lost opportunities and revenue left on the table.

59:52That's where Quo comes in, spelled Q-U-O. Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2, trusted by over 90 ,000 businesses. One shared business number for calls and texts. so every conversation stays visible, organized, and accountable. It works from an app or computer. You can keep your existing number, add teammates, and sync your CRM, letting you scale without adding complexity. And with built-in AI, Quo logs calls, summarizes conversations, and flags next steps, even after hours. Stop missing customers. Stop leaving revenue on the table. Try Quo free and get 20 % off your first six months at quo.com slash tech.

1:00:34That's q-u-o dot com slash tech. Quo. No missed calls, no missed customers.

1:01:04I'm going to give you first go at the questions today, James. I don't know if generous is the right word, but I'm going to let you pick first. Sure.

1:01:15Andrew Allen: We had a couple of questions about goal difference. So Rohan Patel said, How do, with the title potentially coming down to goal difference, do you think Mikel well and truly lets the handbrake off for the remaining five games? And if so, how does he do it? and yes Hayland Harula said morning gents the title race is so close it could well come down to goal differential do you think this is something that Arteta and the players will have in mind as they prepare for and play matches or should and will they just focus on winning games I mean listen we're one win in six as I said so maybe it is just about winning however you want to win it but listen I think a word we used in part one was intent in terms of how we approached this game and how we played and the kind of team that we picked and i think that's what we've got to see more of i think that's what we've got to lean into at the final part of this season is that like play your most technical most creative players as much as possible And for me, that's just the obvious way to do it.

1:02:30I mean, I think we actually have a problem on the right, to be honest. Yeah. In the absence of Bakayo Saka, who doesn't sound like he's going to be back anytime soon. We don't quite know.

1:02:44Andrew Allen: It sounds like a watching brief, doesn't it? It's just like when he feels able, I suppose. Mattaweke has been poor. Martinelli was no good there yesterday. and Max Downman is 16 years of age, and it's a lot to ask of him. By the way, did I say this in part one? I think I said it in the blog. I would have taken Martinelli off with 15 minutes to go and put Downman on. Really? Yeah. I think he was bad, and I think Downman in the last 15 minutes could have been, well, could have been, I don't know. I just would have done it, you know, as a way of getting goals in the same way if it was possible and it wasn't related to a physical issue, I would have left Eze on and taken Zubimendi off and put Trossard on as well.

1:03:31Like just go kind of all in. I know that's not necessarily in Mikel Arteta's nature, the hell for leather kind of approach. You know, Arsene Wenger putting on all the strikers, Theo Walcott playing at right back for the last 20 minutes of a game against Everton or something, was it? Do you remember? Years ago. But I think that's kind of what we need to do and not necessarily in the right. It's the last 15 minutes. We need a goal against whoever it is. Let's go for it. I think there is a sort of Hail Mary approach that you can take late in games. But ultimately, I think it's about, as I said, putting the most technical and the most creative players on the pitch together at any one time and letting them have the freedom to try and make things happen.

1:04:20in the opposition final third. And maybe just lean into the defensive strength that we have, you know? With Gabriel, with Saliba, I know he didn't have his best game yesterday, Gabriel, but in Capier, defensively quite solid, maybe not as good in the opposition half as you might like. Mosquera, you know, it's hard not to think this could have been a different game with a fully fit Timber and Saka in the team for Arsenal yesterday. but I think the question about how we do it, maybe you have to reconfigure a bit. Maybe it is Rice in the sixth and it's Odegaard Nezze and Trossard on the left and choose your poison on the right and Kai Havertz up front and that's it.

1:05:05That's kind of how I would like to see it, whether or not that's something Arteta leans into or not. I'm not sure.

1:05:13Andrew Allen: But you think more broadly, just win for now on the goal difference front? Yes, yes, yeah. I mean, like I said, it's one win in six. So like we need to start winning again. The points are the most important thing, but if we can, listen, you know, maybe it's too much to ask for this team to become a goal machine, but I think it has to be part of the equation, part of the conversation, doesn't it? I think so. I mean, I have to be honest with you, I don't see us outscoring City in the remainder of the campaign. I think we've got a one goal lead in the goal difference as things stand. But if they beat Burnley by a couple of goals in midweek, then that will disappear, that advantage.

1:05:58Andrew Allen: Is that another psychological aspect of what we have to deal with? Potentially. I think we've just got to try and win five games. I think we've just got to try and win five games. but I think our best chance of winning those games is to be more positive in our approach as we were at the Etihad and I think finding a room for Ezean Odegaard is part of that probably going with Havertz leading the line is part of that I agree the right side is a bit of a problem it's having both Timba and Saka out on that side is causing us issues I think you saw yesterday that defensively our full backs are adequate but we miss what both Califuri and, to a lesser extent, Timber offer us going forward.

1:06:43Andrew Allen: I have a slightly different perspective on the down thing, just as a sort of side note, which is that I feel that – I feel like the use of Max recently, for example, the Bournemouth game, the earliness of which he came on, has felt at times a little bit desperate, like a little bit, just a roll of the dice, basically, on a guy who is massively talented, but still very much learning the game at this level. And I haven't felt wholly comfortable with it at certain times. Like as good as Max has been in flashes, I think Mikel's almost, to my mind, I felt like he's gone to that option a little bit too quickly or impetuously at times.

1:07:38Andrew Allen: I know others disagree and people want to see him play more minutes. But I think in a game of this size, at this ground, I think going with seniority was probably the right corner. No, I agreed with that. And I did say that, I think, in either the preview pod or the blog before the game, where I saw a lot of people talking about starting down and I didn't think that was the right thing to do. You know, I think it's too much to ask a 16-year-old to do the job, you know, that a senior pro needs to do in this game. The fact is, though, neither Matueke or Martinelli did that job well enough, either going forward or defensively, right?

1:08:20So I understand where you're coming from completely. I just think that in the last 10, 15 minutes, as ruthless as that would have been. I think it would have been ruthless rather than desperate to take Martinelli off. Halftime sub being taken off in the second half is a hard one. But I think I would have done it. I do think it's an interesting discussion point though because you remember Liverpool earlier in the season when Damwon was only 15 and he brought him on at Anfield at 15 years of age ahead of Trossard and ahead of Ethan Warneri, who was on the bench that day as well. Ethan Warneri, who almost got into double figures in goals from the right-hand side for Arsenal the previous season, and he brought Max Downman on.

1:09:11I mean, does that... Is that just another example of Arteta being desperate, or is it Arteta sort of seeing something in Downman that he thinks could be really useful in certain games. Like if he's prepared to do it at that age, if he's prepared to do it when he's 15 early in the season, I sort of don't understand why he was reluctant yesterday, but there you go.

1:09:39Andrew Allen: I mean, I remember about Anfield, my feeling at the time was Darwin had had that run of winning penalties. You know, he won like, I feel like he won a couple in preseason. He won against Leeds very early on in the Premier League season. And I think maybe he was just sort of hoping that if he gets into the box a bit trickery, he can buy a foul. But he has all the evidence. He works with him every day. He's seeing him in training as compared to Madueke and Trossard and Martinelli and others. So who am I to question his judgment? I suppose I've just felt a little uneasy at a time when the team has been struggling and we're looking to senior players to sort of steady the ship and pick us up and carry on.

1:10:28Andrew Allen: The regularity with which Mikel has felt compelled to turn to Max Dowman. I mean, maybe that's an indictment of his teammates as much as anything, But I don't think that's a good sign, to be honest with you. I don't think, when you think about what we've spent in attacking areas and the number of options at our disposal, yeah, I don't know, to be honest. I'm not quite sure what I think. I just know that he's been used more than I anticipated and I haven't always. And particularly against Bournemouth, I was like, I don't think this is the right change. And, yeah. Yeah, I mean, the one against Bournemouth felt like a sort of like, oh, I'm making a double change.

1:11:15He was going to make two, and then he sort of quickly added down into the mix.

1:11:20Andrew Allen: I felt a bit like it was done for the crowd, to be honest with you. I felt like it was done for a lift. That was my honest feeling. I mean, is there anything wrong with that? You know, I mean, sometimes you have to try and, I don't want to say play the crowd, but you know what I mean? That if you are trying to lift something, then how do you do it? How do you inject that bit of, you know, friscian into the crowd where it sort of gives everybody a boost and you sort of activate the crowd and that energy, as he often talks about, transmits itself to the pitch, et cetera, et cetera. Like it might have been snap or it might have been the wrong decision, but maybe there was some method in the madness, if you like.

1:11:56I'm just trying to understand it. I'm not – don't argue with that.

1:12:00Andrew Allen: I think you might be right there. It's about dynamics sometimes and making the change that can lift the team or lift the atmosphere. Yeah, I think I'm not necessarily articulating this particularly well, but I just, the sort of degree, reliance would be too strong. But sort of, I feel like if you've got a good squad that are going to win the Premier League, I'm not sure any 16-year-old should be getting as many minutes as he's been getting. That's honestly what I think. Okay. I think it is a lot to ask, you know, of a 16-year-old that he becomes the sort of the great hope of rescuing a season when, as you say, there are more senior players out there who should be capable of contributing more.

1:12:48I think it's my question. We had a couple like this. Breinar Emil on Blue Sky. Why do Arsenal players always seem to run out of steam physically and mentally in April, while Man City's team seems to get stronger at the same time? And on the Discord non-flying Dutchman, similar question. Why do you think we falter around this time each season? Is it injuries caused by Arteta's lack of rotation? Or is it about the players being nearly men rather than winners? Do we have the leaders?

1:13:19Andrew Allen: it does seem to be a common theme it does yeah I think we're up against a manager and a staff who are kind of expert in this and time after time after time they deliver a squad that peaks at the right point like that City XI that we faced yesterday I think I'm right in saying is the same with the exception of the goalkeeper the same XI we faced in the Carabao Cup final and the same 11 that demolished Chelsea. I mean, they were into the running and they've got a consistent team. Now, I think we're all hoping that changes in midweek because hopefully Rodri's out for a period. He went off yesterday with what looked like a groin issue.

1:14:06Andrew Allen: But yeah, they nailed that year in, year out and we don't. And I think it's fair to ask questions of the training methods, the sports science to ask why is it that we get into April with players who look tired or players who are unavailable and our rivals don't. What do you think? I mean, I think you're right. You know, there is a level of expertise at Manchester City where their players do look fitter and stronger and faster and quicker and more able at this point of the season than ours.

1:14:53Maybe they just, you know, eat all the right vegetables. I'm not sure.

1:14:58Andrew Allen: Well, yeah, what I'm saying is I don't believe it can be coincidence anymore. No, no, no, no, no. Too many years. You know what I mean? But, you know, for me, I think the obvious one from our perspective is squad building. that this year we've built a big squad to give ourselves the best chance of going the distance. But some of those players haven't really been involved. I mean, we talked Norgard last week, right? Rice and Zubomendi have had to play almost every minute of every game in the Premier League because Norgard, in the manager's opinion, whatever anyone else thinks, me, you, or anyone listening, whatever we think, in the manager's opinion is not good enough for Premier League minutes because he's only played 56 minutes in the Premier League all season.

1:15:47Yeah. So the knock-on effect of that obviously is fatigue. I mean, we talk about Ryzen, I mean, touch wood, you know, they're not injured. But I think the style of play, the relatively small squad, the fact that we have some injury-prone players, or players who've been badly affected by injury. Like Martin Odegaard was not injury prone until he got that big injury last season. And then this season he's been, I don't know if you can even say injury prone because he had two like freaky injuries, right? Where he fell on his shoulder and obviously hurt himself in that sense. And another one where it's just a clash of knees where, oh God, that could be a bit sore.

1:16:34I'll run that off, but it kept him out for ages. And then another sort of hyper extension of the knee. Just, I don't know. Saka not being available as much as you wanted this season. And Saka may be looking perhaps as much as anybody like the player who has suffered most from the amount of minutes that he's had to play over the last number of seasons, right? Havertz out for a long time. Jesus out for a long time. Timber's been out. White's been out, Calafiore's in and out. We just have too many injuries or too many players who suffer from injuries, and that might be down to the manager, the way he uses them, what he asks of them, how he trains them.

1:17:18But I think as well, if we have more cover or more quality cover in certain positions, then we're probably better able to cope. But as much as Man City peaking at this time of the year is not a coincidence, Arsenal struggling at this time of the year is also not a coincidence as well. And that ultimately has to be a question for Mikel Arteta.

1:17:40Andrew Allen: Yeah, I think so. I think so. And the medical department, the performance department. You know, I think it's absolutely fair to ask that question. On the kind of depth question or squad building question, I must admit my sympathy for Mikel Arteta is in relatively short supply on this only because I know players have been out. But I do feel and he mentioned his press conference, you know, it was like the talent they have available, the talent we don't have available in certain areas. And fallback's part of that as well. It's important to remember. But I just feel like if you've had a summer where you've spent 65 million on Jokeres, 65 million-ish on Eze, 50 million on Madueke, like the best part of 200 million quid on attacking talent who are available.

1:18:41Andrew Allen: I sort of feel like as a manager, you can't complain too much, to be honest. That's massive expenditure. It is. you know is it is it good expenditure no okay i was going to say we can debate that but the debate's over i think the debate is over i mean i think you know we we we spent the money i just don't think we spent the money particularly well i think we also like if we're going to be critical of that and i think it's fine to be critical of that because you know we're nearly at the end of the season so we're not sort of you know the idea when you sign a player and everyone goes oh not that guy like we saw with the matter way case stuff for example i think that's unfair like you can have reservations about the player and i think those reservations have proved valid you know particularly for the the price of that player but i think when you're pre-judging a transfer i don't think that's fair i think when you get to this point of the season and you've watched those guys play for your team week in week out then i think you're in a better position to judge the the efficacy of the the spending it's also worth pointing out that the striker market wasn't replete with you know brilliant options this summer but i don't think you can convincingly tell me that the money we spent on those three players as you say up to 200 million there thereabouts was the best way we could have spent it and i think eza has been the best of the three in terms of what i think he can bring to the team.

1:20:36The other two just leave me so cold, like so unbelievably cold. And I recognize they've made contributions. I just don't think they are of the quality. And listen, I could be wrong. If I'm sitting here in a few weeks time, eating the biggest humble pie possible, when Nani Madueke and Victor Yacores score the goals that get us the win and take us over the line to in the Premier League, I'll eat the humblest of humble pies. But based on what I've seen so far, I don't think either of those players were worth the money that we spent and the money could have been spent better.

1:21:13Andrew Allen: I've got a Maduweke question, which I'm scared to ask you now. But there were a lot of questions of like, oh, was that a good piece of business? But I just thought this was interesting, different perspective from Castle on our Discord. And Castle says, Morning, gents. At what point do we put Madueke's stagnation down to the manager? He's the exact same player he was at Chelsea when the logic was that we spent what we did on the potential we could get out of him if he developed with us.

1:21:46Andrew Allen: Yeah, really good question. I think. Yeah, I mean, you have to. You can talk about the system, right? You can talk about the tactics. You can talk about all of those things, about how a player is used. I mean, to me, it sort of just goes back to, which isn't to excuse Mikel Arteta, by the way. I think he does have a responsibility to make players better. That is part of the job of a manager, right? Is to improve the players and to get the maximum out of those players. but I don't know how much a manager is responsible for a player miscontrolling the ball in simple circumstances on the sideline.

1:22:37I don't know how many times Matuweke has made the wrong decision in terms of dribbling when he should pass or dribbling when he should cross or crossing when there's a chance to take a player on or running the ball out of play. like I don't know how much a manager is responsible for that above and beyond the decision to bring that player in in the first place like if as he says he did that shit at Chelsea surely they've talked to him about that surely they've worked on things or tried to anyway to work on things in that regard. So maybe the bigger failure is the failure of recruitment in the first place.

1:23:24Like if you haven't identified those issues as a problem, or maybe you think you can fix them. I don't know.

1:23:31Andrew Allen: I mean, I think it's that. I think it's like the kind of rom-com belief, you know, that managers kind of get these thoughts about Madueke where they're like, I can change him. I can see the raw ingredients, yeah. I can fix him and I'm not sure how possible that is I sort of watch him now and I'm like I think that's just who Nani Maderiki is and to be fair I think Arsenal probably could and should have reached that conclusion in the summer and if we are talking about signings it's not fair I think to put them wholly on Mikel Arteta you know I don't doubt that he's got massive authority over it but you know he's working with Andre Oberta on that too Mm-hmm.

1:24:15Yeah, that was sort of the little elephant in the room that I was going to mention that, you know, there is another aspect to the transfers and that is the talent identification, whether it comes from the recruitment team or the sporting director himself. And I think we know Arteta is involved in the signings, but, you know, what was that the, I mean, I can remember you talking about it at the time that it was one of those deals that was sort of, am I right to say it was sort of presented to Arsenal rather than Arsenal really pursuing the player, if that makes sense? Like if you're going to, how do I explain it?

1:24:55Like Martin Zubimendi is a player that we went after because we absolutely identified him, for better or worse, as a player that we wanted to bring in to midfield. So we did the groundwork. We got it in place. Whereas the Maduweke one was, if not opportunistic, it was a bit more about, right, this is available to you. Do you want to do it? And we decided yes.

1:25:21Andrew Allen: I think that's right. Yeah, you'll have to forgive me because it's quite a long time ago now. But I believe it was one that was a bit more opportunistic, you know, where this deal was available to be done. And looking at the winger market, I think Arsenal felt like it was a good option within those that were kind of laid out. I'm not convinced that Arsenal pursued Nani Maduweke over like a three, four year period as they did with Martin Zubemendi and it was kind of a long-term interest in that fashion I mean, I just think when you buy Nani Maduweke I just think you should know what you're getting and maybe Mikel did believe as I think many coaches have fallen into this before of sort of thinking wow, if you could unlock what he produces when he produces flashes yeah what a player you would have it is the same is the same true of Jokeres in terms of recognising what he's good at and what he's not good at and whether or not that was translatable and I have a little bit more what's the word sympathy might be the right word in that you know the ideal striker was not really available right the one that everyone said Arsene wanted was Alexander Azak.

1:26:40And that was a deal that didn't really seem realistic because of how it transpired that summer, because of where he wanted to go and how he made that happen. But should there have been more due diligence on how he would fit into this team? Because, you know, here we are in April and the discussions around him are ongoing. and a bit like Matueke, he is what he is, but is what he is a poor fit for this Arsenal team in terms of how we want to play the game ideally?

1:27:14Andrew Allen: Well, I think he's even more what he is. I think he's three or four years older than Nani Matueke. So I think even less likely to kind of develop and evolve. And that presumably was part of the thinking that you're buying a finished product. buying someone who is ostensibly ready-made. I think what the City game showed us, and it's sort of something that I think most of us have suspected all season long, is that a Mikel Arteta team is better with a striker who has more of an all-round game. That improves us as a team. And I think we probably knew that going into last summer. What we were looking for was a striker who has, you know, the pressing ability, the link play, the work rate of a Havertz, but who's absolutely deadly on top of that.

1:28:10And unfortunately, there aren't very many of those around. Yeah.

1:28:15Andrew Allen: Man City have got one, annoyingly. not that Haaland's necessarily the cleanest player in the world but his impact in almost every phase of the game has grown and grown I think since he arrived at the club like you know we talked about the physical impact he had in the game yesterday with Gabriel that battle that he had with him and it's two big strong guys going at each other you know we don't have that we don't and And I'm not sure it was out there to be done, really. You know, when I look at the options, Izak may have been out of reach. Cesco could be that player, but would he have been that player for us when we needed him, when we needed someone to start games in September, October, November?

1:29:09Andrew Allen: I'm not sure. So look, it was an imperfect, situation in perfect scenario. But yeah, it is intriguing to sort of think. The approach Arsenal took was kind of a breadth approach, really, in terms of adding numbers and depth and layers to the squad.

1:29:40Andrew Allen: And it may work. like we're five games out we'll know in five games whether that was a success or not but I have started to see a lot of fans saying would we have been better served by going after one or two marquee talents I'm not so sure to be honest given some of the fitness issues some of the injuries that we've had I think when you look at the goals we've had off the bench this season I think the depth largely has served us well but I do understand the focus and the debate on some of those individual signings because, you know, they probably haven't quite made the impact that people anticipated.

1:30:18Andrew Allen: Sure.

1:30:23Yeah.

1:30:24Andrew Allen: I think it might be your question actually, mate. Is it? If not. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:30:32Let's see. There's a lot of questions about what next, but I can't, again, and I can't do the what next questions until there's clarity, you know.

1:30:43Andrew Allen: What about this one? I've got one. Is that right? Okay. Yeah, sure. Mazzaruni says, are we reaching Zinchenko status with Califiori? Good player, never fit.

1:30:58Andrew Allen: Potentially, yeah. Potentially. Yeah, I mean, Feylander, Zinchenko, Tierney, Partey. There have been others, right? Yeah, Jesus, I guess. Jesus, yeah.

1:31:18Yeah, as you say, you know, I think the two fullbacks we had yesterday defensively were all right, you know. But there were a couple of moments in the second half. Like there was a moment. I'm only just remembering it now. There was a moment in the second half. And again, I think it was about, I can't remember when it was. but in capier got down the left and Martinelli was free over on the right hand side. And it was one of those where if we play a first time ball across, Martinelli is probably through on goal. And in capier cut back and I don't know if he kept the ball or gave the ball away or whatever.

1:31:55I remember like looking at my TV thinking, Oh, just a bit more vision in that area of the pitch. I'm not saying Martinelli would have gone on to score a goal or anything, but it would have been a, it would have been a decent chance. But I think we did miss the offensive capabilities of our fullbacks yesterday. Califuri in particular is somebody who makes a big difference in the opposition half. I think as well, you know, for the frustration that we've had at times of seeing Jurian Timber in the line of attack, right, on the edge of the box. He has got quite a few goals this season.

1:32:29Andrew Allen: Yeah, he certainly gets forward and threatens in a way. Mosquera isn't going to. He had one decent overlap, didn't he, Mosquera, I think. and got a crossing that was cleared by Kusinov. Yeah, I, what was the question? It was about Califiori, yeah. I mean, we've seen Mikhail Seta lose patience, I think, with players before who suffer injury problems. And I almost think, I almost think he's been willing to make Califiori a bit of an exception because he is an exceptional player. Even when we signed him, you know, there were definitely people within the club who were warning about his injury record and that potentially being an issue.

1:33:13Andrew Allen: But I think Mikel overrode that because he was such a believer in the talent. But I do think we are approaching a bit of a crunch point with it. And he had so much to our game from an attacking perspective when he's absent. I think you do really feel it. I mean, one need only look at the two left backs in the game yesterday, you know, the diversity of threat that O 'Reilly adds. And it's not like he's not, it's not like he can't defend as well. And he's six foot three and very physical. And Capier has won me round to an extent. Like I, when he came in, I was a bit underwhelmed and he made a brilliant block yesterday.

1:33:55Andrew Allen: I can see that he's a fantastic character and a really solid defender. Yeah, he is. But at the same time, I feel like, God, you don't get much for 50 million quid these days, do you? Like, he's not, in my mind, he's not a special fullback. I have to be honest about that. I think he's done well. But he's not adding a sort of, you know, the way the game's gone, where a lot of the time you're looking at your fullbacks to add another dimension to your game. I don't think he's ever going to give you that. I think what he is is a fantastic defender. I think his defensive instincts are excellent. Apart from the block he made on Semenyo in the first half, there was another one in the second half where he came across almost to the right back position, to the back post, where he read the game and he read the danger and he got across and he snuffed it out.

1:34:52I think defensively, he's really, really good. I think if that game is 2-1 on 60 minutes, you sort of take Califuri off if he's playing and you put in capier on to give yourself greater defensive solidity, right? If you're winning. If you're winning, yeah, yeah, sorry. But I agree that in the opposition half, he doesn't really have the ability to cause problems to those around him. And then there's a bigger question, a bigger debate about like, well, is that what you should expect from a fullback? But to some extent, as you said, it's what made City effective in the Carabao Cup final with Nico O 'Reilly and in this game yesterday where he was involved in that second goal.

1:35:34And it's probably why, to some extent, the breakthrough of Myles Lewis-Gelly last season felt so, beyond him being a hell-end guy, you know, it felt like this is the kind of player you need to be able to do things in the opposition half or in the opposition final third, even if there were, and I think are, some questions about Myles defensively, right? So it's about the balance, I think, of that position and the profile of player that you have there. So I don't know what we do with Califiori. And Califiori is that guy. Yeah, he is that guy. He absolutely is that guy. And I think when we talk about him, we talk about the offensive part of his game.

1:36:19But I think in the first part of this season, he had found the sort of sweet spot between defensive solidity and attacking threat. I think he was really, really good until he got injured. And I know people's sympathy is in short supply with players who get injured or a reliance on players who get injured. But I do think he was an important part of a first half of the season where Arsenal played really well, were very, very hard to beat, and were more effective from an attacking perspective than we have been in the sort of last two or three months as well. I agree. Let's do this one to get us out of here because I know you've got to check out of your hotel.

1:37:08A couple sort of on the same lines. Daniel Constable, badly morning, gents. Your thoughts on Rice saying to Odegaard, it's not over yet and looking really fucked off. Was it just for the cameras, you think? and lowey133 says, guys, perspective. I think we started to play well again and if we beat 14th, 19th, 17th, 12th and 13th, we win the league. What chance do you give us?

1:37:43Andrew Allen: I think he's right. I think he's right. I think if we win our five games, I think that would be enough. I really do. Can we? I don't know. Andrew, I don't think we could ask for five kind of fixtures, to be honest with you. I think we have the easier running of the two teams. Let's just go through it. Let's go through it. Have you got it there? Clarity. So, yeah, we start with Newcastle at home next weekend. Then we have Fulham at home, which is admittedly sandwiched between the two Madrid games. I think it's a factor to consider. West Ham away.

1:38:34Andrew Allen: Burnley at home. Palace away. I think West Ham, they're in a relegation scrap, aren't they? Yeah. So that adds, when you get to this point in the season, so much is about who's got something to play for in those final few weeks.

1:38:55Andrew Allen: They almost certainly will be fighting for their lives. Palace is an interesting one because ostensibly they could be on the beach by then, but the table is so compressed right now that they could also be playing for Europe. Might they also have a European final to prioritize? That is true. And they were also out celebrating that, weren't they, on Thursday night, celebrating their progression to the next round. It's on the 27th of May is the Conference League final. So the game against Palace. So that will be a few days after our game. Yeah, so it's Sunday 24th is the final game away at Selhurst Park.

1:39:33And then they could potentially, I hope, I really hope they have a European final on the Wednesday because Mr. Glasner, you've got to prioritise there, right? Play the kids. Play all the children. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, how do you feel about that fix? I think that's, as I say, pretty favourable for us. I mean, it could be a lot more difficult. It could be a lot more difficult. No two ways about it. I don't think at this moment in time, given the way we've responded or not quite responded to the pressure, I don't think any of those games you would say, you know, is a dead cert for Arsenal. Not the way we've been playing of late and not what's at stake.

1:40:20And we still have to sort of prove that we can show some bollocks, really, and go and win those games, you know. but we could be playing a Liverpool, a Manchester United, you know, a North London derby away, something like that. You know, I think they could be more difficult fixtures. What about Manchester City then? What have they got left?

1:40:45Andrew Allen: So they've got Burnley away in the week. 7-0. Yeah, I don't hold out a great degree of hope for that one. Burnley were battered this weekend, weren't they? By Nottingham Forest. so I'm not feeling great about that. They then have, let's have a look. FA Cup semi-final against Southampton at home on the Saturday and then on Monday night they've got to go to Everton to the Hickinson-Dickinson Stadium. Yeah, but they've got a nice big rest there. They've got basically 10 days off between those games. Oh, right, sorry, yeah. Yeah, they don't play that weekend. So we've got this, you know, they may jump ahead of us if they beat Burnley midweek, but then we play two home league games before their next league game.

1:41:35Andrew Allen: So we have an opportunity to get ourselves out in front and reassert ourselves a bit. So then they go to Everton. That's a hard game, in my view. Could be. That is a tough fixture. they host Brentford they go to Bournemouth which again I think is tricky they host Crystal Palace and they finish the season at home to Aston Villa who to be honest may well be nailed on for the Champions League by then so might be less Ain't no way Unai Emery is doing us any favours on the final day just not But, I mean, as funny as that would be, I don't see it. So, but yeah, I look at the Everton game and the Bournemouth game and I think I'm not convinced that they'll take 100 % of those points.

1:42:33But then it's down to us, really, as to whether or not we can take 100 % of the points and win five games and score goals that might make goal difference, you know, less of an issue or whatever it is, you know?

1:42:46Andrew Allen: I mean, we're one in six, as you've said more than once, Andrew. So it seems absurd for me to say, yeah, I think we can win five in a row. Like, that does seem ambitious. But we're sort of at the point where we may have to. No, we definitely have to. I think we do have to win all five games. I don't think there's any way we win this league unless we win all five of those games. And we've got to win the next one. I mean, the Newcastle one is absolutely huge. If off the back of two consecutive Premier League defeats, we play Newcastle and don't win, if the players haven't already cracked, I think that would push them over the edge.

1:43:29I just think that would be such a tremendous blow.

1:43:34Andrew Allen: I don't think we would recover from that. I agree. I agree. There's clarity anyway, isn't there? About what's required. and maybe I don't know if you again if I'm just trying to convince myself or stay the right side of of things like I worry I'm concerned I think I said to you last week if we lose at Man City I think their momentum will be too much for us but maybe you can turn a page after the Man City game maybe that's why Arteta said this is like a new league maybe that Man City game was looming on the horizon for so long and now it's sort of like right fresh start and go for these five games and see what we can produce but the reality is we're going to have to play a lot better maybe the other thing is that you know this as a run of form for this team this season is is kind of the worst run of form at the worst possible time but also not necessarily representative of what we've done for most of the season so there is hopefully the ability to sort of lean into what we've done much better and produce those results but like right now i don't know it's all up in the air they're they're they're putting us through it james i think is the only thing i can say at this point they are it doesn't have to be terminal i think if we don't do it it may be for many of us no no yeah i'll come back to where i started like my frustration isn't with yesterday that was a decent performance a decent showing it's perfectly understandable that that game can go against you um the manner in which we've kind of blown the lead that we had built up or that we had the opportunity to build up is maddening and i have huge sympathy with people today who are like i'm not ready for the positives you know who are just like no i grieving the the opportunity that's passed us by that's kind of you know where i am with it but i also can recognize that football is a weird strange game that can twist and turn you know in the space of seconds let alone five games so i you know i do think there is a scenario where we have to sit down and have a very serious conversation about what next but until such time as that's clear and we still have this to play for Like, I'm not telling anyone else how to feel, but I have to sort of recognize or try and lean into the idea that at the end of the season, we talk about this as a hell journey that ended, you know, really well for all of us, and we feel fantastic about that, but we never want to go on that kind of journey ever again.

1:46:24You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. You know, it's like walking on glass.

1:46:31Andrew Allen: I've been talking about this with a few people, but the strangest outcome would be if we failed to win the league, but then somehow won the Champions League. I think that would kind of be, I don't know. I don't know how to do that podcast. Do you know what I mean? I don't know how to analyze that. I will do that podcast with a fucking bottle of champagne in front of me and take it from there. Like I'm with you because I don't know how to like rationally explain it or listen, here's the thing. You don't know how to feel until such time as you have to feel it. You know, we can speculate and we can say, well, if we do this, then that.

1:47:17And if this happens, then that. But until such time as whatever happens, happens, you can't really know how you're going to feel. And I think, you know, not winning the league would be profoundly disappointing to me. Really would. But I think it would be eased considerably by winning the Champions League. But again, it's how you parse that in the moment and in the days that follow. Like, if you win the Champions League, what an amazing thing that would be. But losing the league would still be disappointing. I don't know. yeah well listen listen bridge andrew let's cross that bridge and hope the bridge is not on fire when we're trying to cross it um okay we'll leave it there uh let you get back to london safe travels to you thank you to everybody for listening thank you for all your questions as always sorry we can't get to more of them hopefully we've covered pretty much everything that there is to cover in this particular podcast we appreciate you being here as always thank you for downloading listening and all the rest.

1:48:23For now, take it easy folks, and we will catch you on the next one. Bye-bye.

1:48:38Immersing yourself in all things soccer ahead of this summer's World Cup? I'm Alex Abnos, Senior Sports Editor from The Guardian. Whether you're a soccer beginner or you know the game inside and out, we've got you covered. From one of the fastest growing soccer newsrooms, The Guardian brings you in-depth World Cup coverage that gets into the winners and losers on and off the pitch. Read, watch and listen as our journalists connect the dots between the games, the cultures and this political moment. We'll have daily newsletters throughout the tournament, a global perspective and a squad of Americans, including me, on the ground with the U.S.

1:49:09national team. Plus, if you want to test your soccer knowledge, try On The Ball. It's a game in the Guardian app and it's really, really fun. And if you're into stuff like this...

1:49:17Andrew Allen: Well, I think the problem is if you give footballers an inch, they will take a mile. Is it too much when it's this close? It's a bit much. It's a bit too real. Maybe you could just talk with a slight delay. Be sure to listen to our Football Weekly podcast for on-the-move expert analysis. The Guardian, bringing you the whole picture on soccer. Search Guardian Soccer for more.