Arsecast Extra Episode 708 - 17.08.2026

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0:44hello and welcome to another arse cast extra as always with james from gunner blog james a goodly morning to you morning to you too season is underway the first goodly morning of the campaign ticked off. Yes, even if you're goodly mourning the audio of it, we didn't get the g, we just kind of, you faded in and like, oodly mourning. I don't know what happened there, but it's okay. It's okay. Oodly mourning to everybody then. Oodly mourning, yes. Yes, what a nice day out at Not Wembley. Yes, I know. A fact I forgot when I said I would cover the game and then realised, I would say too close to the Community Shield that it was in fact in Wales.

1:27You just found a parking space, you know, on the way to Wembley. This is handy. It's like, uh-oh. Yeah. Turned up there. Turns out The Weeknd was playing. So is that why the final was elsewhere? Because The Weeknd was playing? The Weeknd, yes. Yeah. I think that's why. I mean, you would have thought the Wembley people, you know, when they were making the bookings and, you know, what's his full name? I feel like when The Weeknd calls them. Yeah. What's his full name? like Johnny Weekend. Yeah. I think it's Johnny Weekend. When Johnny Weekend calls them up and says, I want to play a gig, they'd be like, you know, the Arsenal could be playing here that day.

2:07We're going to have to, can you do Monday night, for example, rather than Sunday, you know? They obviously hadn't put it in their diary. And you know that thing when someone's like, are you free on the 16th? Yeah. And you're like, it's ringing a bell. It's ringing a bell. but I've got no written evidence as to why. And then bad things happen, like everyone having to schlep to Cardiff and back. But it was a lovely day out, I must say. You know, the football helped. It made the journey worth it. That's fair then. And I guess it's quite fitting that instead of having a star boy on the pitch at Wembley in red and white the weekend, you know, did his own star boy thing.

2:49That's true. Star boy in each of these two British stadiums. Yes. Listen, it was a very nice day out, I'm sure, for the Arsenal fans. A miserable one for the Manchester City fans. But let's not beat around the bush here. The ones who turned out. Yeah. No less than they deserve, it's fair to say. So I'm delighted that they had a terrible time. And I'm delighted the Arsenal fans, you know, who were at the game and around the world had a good time watching Arsenal yesterday. I think, is it unfair to say that there was probably just a little measure of trepidation going into this one based on some of the preseason performances that we'd had and that we'd seen over the last couple of weeks?

3:32I think intellectually, everybody understands that a post-World Cup preseason is a weird one, right? Because you've got this staggered return of the players, this fitness, you're giving people half an hour, taking them off. You don't get flow and rhythm in your game when you're doing things like that. But these games are primarily a fitness exercise. But even with Manchester City's sort of apparent lack of readiness in the post-Pep era, I did get the sense people were slightly worried about what they were going to see from Arsenal yesterday. So for us to do what we did in the manner in which we did it was very, very pleasing.

4:09And I think we'll probably just soothe a little bit of the anxiety that was, you know, after the week we had last week with transfer stuff and the Miles stuff and the Martinelli, all that kind of stuff. It felt a little bit antsy, you know, around. But yesterday, I think, has been the gavis gone to our preseason indigestion. If that's the right way to put it. Wow, that's beautifully put, Andrew. Very poetic. Not a sponsored mention of Gaviscon. You use your own whatever indigestion. Other indigestion gloops are available. Yeah, Bill Rennie is sitting at home now going, why didn't he mention the Rennies?

4:49Yeah, I think it has allayed a lot of concerns or fears. I mean, you know, it's a different kettle of fish, isn't it? when you're playing a Premier League rival, a theoretical title rival, you know, a team you've got a lot of history with. And the eyes of the nation, at least, and beyond are on it. You know, there's a level of focus on this friendly that doesn't really apply in others. And I think the players approached it with a real seriousness. I mean, I called it a friendly there, but Mikel Arteta would balk at that. And he called it a final throughout. The players clearly bought into that idea.

5:28I saw Riccardo Calafuri talking about his excitement at starting his first final. Shows you they approached it with a very particular mindset, maybe a different mindset, frankly, to Manchester City. And that was immediately evident, wasn't it, in the way in which Arsenal attacked the game? Yeah, I mean, Enzo Mareska called it a final in his pre-game press conference as well. So I don't think there was any sort of difference in the way the players and the managers were approaching this game or certainly looking at this game. As fans, we have a slightly different view on it. If you win it, it's great.

6:04And if you lose it, that doesn't matter because it's just a preseason friendly. It's not really a trophy or it's not really anything to worry about. So that gives you that get out of jail free card as a fan. But you're right. Arsenal started this game really well. and early goals, you know, above and beyond how good it is to score a goal anyway. The obvious thing of scoring a goal, you know, is always a positive in a game of football. To score early, which is something we had a nice habit of doing a few seasons ago, if you remember, it just kind of settles everything down, doesn't it? It gives you like, oh, look at this.

6:39And I thought it was quite interesting that the kickoff, this is one of those things you're looking at at the start of the season. what are we going to do do we go back to the goalkeeper do we give the ball to Declan Rice so he can kick it 300 feet in the air and do an up and under like in rugby which we saw a couple of times last season right what is the what is the new kickoff routine going to be this felt like old-fashioned we kicked it off and we kept the ball and we made some passes and worked our way into the Manchester City half which seems like you know a decent way of going about things if if you ask me.

7:17Yeah, I did like that aspect of it and started with real intensity and intent. And you talk about an early goal, kind of settling people's emotions and changing the complexion of the game. I think the nature of the goal as well, the type of goal it was, the fact that it was such a beautiful goal, really. So brilliantly crafted by Myles Lewis Skelly and finished by Ricardo Calafuri. I think as well that would have given everybody a huge lift because that's what we want to see from our Arsenal teams I think you know like it's fantastic to support a winning team but those moments of incisive football that get you off your seat that's what it's all about I think you're right and I think last season it felt at times like goals were hard to come by right where we really really had to work hard It was like pushing a boulder uphill sometimes, it felt like, to score a goal.

8:16And one of the things you're looking for from Arsenal this season is more creativity, more craft, more chances, more shots on goal. You know, just more threat overall. And this was such a brilliant, brilliant goal. The pass from Myles Lewis-Gelly is excellent. Just so good. I like the way he just let the ball run across him as well, though. I mean, he had the vision for the pass and the ability to play the pass, which is brilliant. but I just like the way he let that ball run across him, which takes two Manchester City players out of the game. And where else do you expect your left back to be other than hanging on the shoulder of a centre half, like a classic number nine?

8:56I mean, we've talked often about Califiori and what he can bring to this team and how he sort of defies any kind of logical explanation at times, the way he just pops up here, there and everywhere. but to put himself in that position, you know, because he'd been involved in the play down the left-hand side from kickoff, but he just sort of wanders into the center forward position. The pass from Lewis Skelly is brilliant. The finish is, you know, as clinical as you would see from any striker. I did like the way he talked about it as well after the game, where he said, you know, it's 70 % miles and 30 % me, you know, giving credit where it was due for that pass.

9:34Like he had to, you know, His mind was made up basically by the quality of the pass from Lewis Skelly. Yeah, it's a brilliant pass. I'm with you. I really love the little sort of role in midfield just before where he kind of allows the ball to travel across him and shifts his body weight to get away from. I think it's Phil Foden. Then he does play that pass between the lines, which is something he's shown ever since he came into the team, really. He's done it in different areas of the pitch. Obviously, we saw him at left back and he would be the guy threading those passes into midfield. but here he is in an advanced position, finding Calafuri.

10:10And anyone who saw the finishing competition between the Arsenal first team that aired on social media in the week wouldn't have been surprised to see Calafuri put this away. I mean, he's just so confident in front of goal. And yeah, beautiful take and a brilliant, brilliant start for Arsenal. Yeah, and they sort of built on that, capitalised on that, you know what I mean, in terms of how we played and where we played. that it wasn't a case of scoring a goal and sitting back. It was a case of, right, we've got the advantage. We're going to press home this advantage. City had quite a bit of the ball, but didn't really do a great deal with it.

10:50And most of the danger, I think, came from Arsenal. Two players in particular, I think, stand out for me in this game. Martin Odegaard and Christos Solis, who are both obviously involved in the goals that we scored. But I just think in terms of the way they played, what they brought to the team, they were the two guys really who caught the eye. There were other players, and we'll talk about some of the other players as well. You know, a competitive debut for Solis, but also for Bruno Gimaraes. But Odegaard, what was, I suppose, most pleasing about him yesterday? was that this looked like, I don't want to say the old Martin Odegaard, but the Martin Odegaard that we haven't seen enough of in the last sort of 18 months for various reasons and the confidence with which he played.

11:45I think we had a chat a couple of weeks ago on here where we talked about how the World Cup could have been or could be very, very useful for Martin Odegaard and for Arsenal. And I think on the evidence of what we've seen from him in pre-season and certainly yesterday, that's very true. Yeah, I thought he was the outstanding player on the pitch. I really did think he was magnificent. And this was Martin Odegaard close to his best, really. You know, he looked like he was having fun out there. That's the most succinct way I can say it. He looked like he was a player who was playing with freedom and joy in his game.

12:22And it hasn't always felt like that for him over the past couple of years. So I was delighted to see that. And, you know, there were some hallmarks of classic Odegaard performances. I think this kind of clipped cross to the back post, that's one he really loves to pull out, isn't it? And this was a perfect example of it, finding Solis' run, good awareness from Solis and well-executed header back across goal. And there's Kai Havertz to convert. Yeah, just sort of, I guess, bundled it home. He headed it down and went underneath the goalkeeper and in. maybe not the most convincing goalkeeping but really good play from Arsenal the run to the back post from Solis as you say the precision of the pass from Odegaard was perfect and I think Havertz's movement up front is really good as well it sort of gives our centre forward play a slightly different dimension obviously to Victor Jokerez who's a bit more a straight line runner as and when he comes onto the pitch so I thought that was an interesting part of the of the performance and obviously the team selection from Mikel Arteta.

13:27But Odegaard, you know, the nutmeg on Elliot Anderson, the way he let the ball run across him in midfield, I thought some of his defensive work was really, really good as well. There was one where maybe he lost the ball or tried to, it was a moment where he could have played a better pass, I think, to Nani Matueke out on the right-hand side. Yeah, I remember that. And we lost the ball and he was the guy who got back to sort of win it in our half. So those elements of his game, which we haven't seen altogether work as well as they have yesterday, it's very, very pleasing to see because I know that people's mileage might vary on what they think of Martin Odegaard.

14:08I've always been of the opinion that it's not a question of a lack of talent or a lack of quality. I think that's always been there, and he's demonstrated that for us over a long time. but obviously hasn't been at that level for a little while. So, you know, when we look at an Arsenal team who we want to see be more creative and have more craft and have more vision and have more goal threat and have players who can play the passes, which unpick defences, for Martin Odegaard to be in this kind of form or to demonstrate that he's still capable of this kind of performance is really promising and very encouraging for the season ahead.

14:45Yeah, absolutely. And like, I'm like everybody, I would love to see another attacking signing made, but it was so encouraging to see these performances from Odegaard, from Havertz, and sort of recognise within that, that I do think there are a lot of ways we can improve as an attacking outfit, we can improve on the eye as well with the array of players we have at our disposal. and again just because I feel like this has to be clarified I'm not saying checkbook closed we shouldn't do anything in the market I'm just saying that a fit and informed Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz can be transformational for this team in their own right in my view Yeah no I agree because we didn't have enough of them last season Not nearly No not nearly enough so yeah I would agree with that and obviously we'll talk a bit more about transfers later on I guess there'll be some questions.

15:43Odegaard got the third goal. Everyone looked at it and thought Canu versus Deportivo. Of course. Because of the way he sort of put the goalkeeper down with his eyes and then rolled the ball into the back of the net. It was not dissimilar, I suppose, to the finish from Ozil against Ludegretz. Is that the one I'm thinking of? That sort of fake finish. You only attempt when you're in that kind of flow state, isn't it? you've really got to be feeling it, I think, to pull that off. But it's the sharpness of his movement in the box as well. Like, it's a good ball across from Solis. And Odegaard is really, really sharp in the box and gets there first ahead of the defender.

16:24And then, you know, when he gives the goalkeeper the eyes and, you know, puts Donnarumma on the ground, and that's a long way down for him, you know. It's just such a brilliant goal. I was literally just laughing, sitting on the sofa, doing the live blog, laughing at the self-assuredness of that finish, you know, because I think he only got one goal last season. And we know, we know he's capable of a lot more than that. Yeah, I mean, listen, audacious really to attempt it on that stage and against the goalkeeper of Donnarumma's quality, who I must say we made look very, very ordinary on the day.

16:59He's given us problems in the past. Remember that Champions League semi-final, of course. But I thought it was on all three goals, looked very, very ordinary. And I think that is partly the quality of Arsenal's finishing. This was just great from Odegaard and like his reaction afterwards, sort of celebrating, but almost laughing to himself about having pulled it off. Yeah, listen, we had a lot of debates last season about style and fun in the football. and maybe not every team will afford us the opportunity to play in the way that we did against Man City yesterday. I did think they lacked a lot of intensity off the ball and were a long way short of the standards we expect from them.

17:45But I was really excited by some of the football that we played and the combinations that we saw. And the hope was that when we finally won something, when we won this Premier League, that the shackles might come off, that these players might play with a bit more freedom. And it's too early to make any definitive call on that, of course. But looking at this game, you have to say, well, there's a chance there might be something in that. Yes, that's true. Early days, but we'll hope to see quite a bit more of that. I did like the seriousness with which we played, the seriousness with which we talked.

18:29You know, Odegaard talked afterwards about how they want to win more. Arteta spoke about how they want to win more. You know, Califuri, as you mentioned, referring to it as a final. You know, there is a danger, I think, when you win the title that there could be a hangover, you know, particularly when you've waited as long as we did and when you've struggled as hard as we did, you know, finishing third or second three years in a row. There is that danger, but it doesn't appear to be manifesting itself yet it's still, as we said, very early. Give me some thoughts on Christos Solis on the left-hand side and what you made of his performance and his integration.

19:09I guess we talked about him when he signed as somebody who could be important in the early part of the season because he wasn't at the World Cup, because he would have a full preseason. He'd have the ability to sort of settle in, you know, and has played in most of the preseason games. This was his competitive debut for Arsenal. The Community Shield is seen as that. And a guy who got great numbers in the Belgian League, which is in part what attracted Arsenal to making him an arrival this summer, people were asking, well, can you do it when you get to a higher level, when you get to the Premier League and playing Premier League opposition?

19:50to start his Arsenal career with two assists is very, very encouraging. On top of the sort of the all-round game that he had, and I think his overall display was very promising as well. Yeah, I think it's six times he's played for Arsenal in pre-season and combined six goals and assists across those appearances. So the productivity is maintaining at this point in time. In terms of sort of translating it to English football and translating it to the Premier League, I suppose one advantage is that it's not like he is somebody who's got extraordinary physical gifts that were just allowing him to kind of run away from defenders with ease in the Belgian Football League.

20:35His game and his success has been based on intelligence and crucially composure in those situations. and I think we're seeing those qualities come through. I think that's allied with a really impressive work rate and it's interesting, I think Mikhail Teta keeps referencing that, the way the commitment he's shown, the enthusiasm, the amount of work he's putting in out there on and off the ball, which is a key part for any player who wants to play for Mikhail. So it's been a really, really strong start for him. you know there's no debate about who holds that particular position and that shirt on the eve of the competitive season and that's a credit to him and what he's produced in the pre-season period so I'm excited I'm excited to see how he gets on and and to learn more about this player but the initial signs you have to say are positive no what about you I really liked it I've liked the look of him in pre-season you know we keep talking about Trossard in comparisons with Trossard I think they're valid.

21:41The productivity, as you say, is going to be important. We need more from our attacking players. We need more goals and assists if we're going to retain the title. And he looks like a player who can produce that. I thought what was fascinating and what probably will have had Mikel Arteta very pleased with the performance of the new guy is that he made as many key passes as he did tackles. Like he made more tackles than anybody else yesterday. I think it was three tackles and three key passes. If you can think of anything that would get Mikel Arteta, you know, rubbing his trousers in excitement, it's that.

22:23Yeah, rubbing his chinos, his new chinos. Yeah, I mean, but isn't that sort of emblematic of this team? I saw Martin Odegaard completed the most passes, the most dribbles on the pitch, but also regain possession more than any other Arsenal player. And that's the leader of this team. So that's what Mikel Arteta demands. And I think Solis is giving it to him at this moment in time. If he continues like this, he'll be looked on as a bargain, I suspect. So, yeah, I saw a little reel on Instagram last night of a rival fan sort of going crazy. like, who is this guy? Where have they spawned this guy from?

23:08Where did they find him? I've never heard of him. You're telling me now this guy used to not get in the Norwich team is really good for Arsenal? So, you know, people are sitting up and taking notice. Yes. Yeah, well, listen, it's one of those signings that, you know, as we've said before, we don't tend to make enough of. So it's a really, really promising start from him. what about Bruno then he played the first half played the first 45 minutes I think you could see the intent to play forward quickly was there like you could see Havertz making runs and Bruno looking up to try and find those runs the passing range wasn't there yesterday he didn't quite have the the range that you would expect but the the intent was there and I think that is something encouraging as well because it is a bit different in terms of how we build up from deep areas in midfield.

24:06We tend to, or have tended to, recycle possession quite a lot. And he's looking to get it forward very quickly. It wasn't like a standout performance, but given it was his competitive debut, just some thoughts on Bruno? Yeah, I agree with you. I thought he was good without being spectacular. I like the aggression, which we're all too aware. the physicality he brings the personality with which he plays I like that tendency to look forward early I think with both him and Myles in that midfield we were a little bit more vertical maybe in terms of how we look to progress the ball and people who can not only pass forward but carry it forward as well so yeah I thought he did well I mean I'm fascinated to see how the chemistry develops with him and Odegaard and Miles and Declan Rice and others in that midfield.

24:59Just got a wealth of options in the middle of the park at this point in time. So, yeah, I thought he did okay. And being a new signing, there's always a lot of focus on that. But 45 minutes in the tank. You mentioned you thought he was maybe wearing an ice pack in the second half. He definitely was. When he came out, they showed it on TV. He had a big ice pack strapped to his thigh, which I hope is just sort of precautionary. You'd imagine Ice suggests impact, you know, like it might be a dead leg or something like that. Maybe so. Maybe so. It wasn't mentioned post-match, but then, of course, Mikel never the most forthcoming.

25:39No. I mean, the plan was always for Declan Rice to come on at some point in the game. So maybe 45 minutes was planned or maybe there was a little not for Bruno and they just brought that forward. Yeah, yeah. So Rice came on at halftime, making a lie of all the reports about how Arsenal were not going to play Declan Rice until after the first international break. They were going to give him that much rest. But I don't think you can. I don't think it's possible to tell Declan Rice, no, you're not going to play. Beyond his importance as a player, I mean, I just mean his own personality and his own desire to be involved.

26:16But, of course, he does need some preseason minutes. he got through that second half pretty comfortably, I thought. I'm not sure he was necessarily exerting himself, but I don't think there was any exertion placed on him by what was, for the most part, a pretty insipid Manchester City performance. Yeah, and I think the game state dictated that. But, I mean, I can't pretend I'm too surprised that Rice and Saka would both be involved so quickly. I mean, I just feel like with these players, we always say, oh yeah, they'll get a bit more rest or Michel Arteta might take his time reintroducing them.

26:54But he invariably can't help himself. And he spoke about it a bit in his press conference as well. The players want to be out there too. And you're, you know, you have to decide how much you want to hold them back when they're chomping at the bit, desperate to get out there and play. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, that was a big outtake from me yesterday, just the sheer strength in depth that Arsenal have, particularly in that midfield area. I mean, every time I try and list the central midfield players, I usually forget one or two. Yeah, no, I know what you mean. But I mean, if you're an opposition team or an opposition fan looking at Arsenal yesterday, taking Bruno Gimeraj off and putting Declan Rice on, whilst also having Martin Zubamendi and Mikel Marino on the bench, while Myles Lewis-Galley is sort of bossing the midfield and passing a 94 % success rate, you're probably thinking, fuck.

27:48you know that's uh that's a lot of quality it is a lot to contend with and i think that i mean maybe one of the little outtakes from yesterday is you know there might be games where we don't want declan rice to play or he can't play or you know a decision has to be made to leave him out and when you look at how we fared without him in that first 45 minutes you feel a lot better about things don't you so yeah um maybe michael artette will take something away from that but yeah my my my gut feeling is that you know there's every chance that Depp well certainly be involved against Coventry and it wouldn't even blow my mind if he started to be honest no me neither me neither a word for David Raya really good yeah really it's almost like they were doing the man of the match thing on TNT Sports and I think the three names they put up were Havertz Solis and Odegaard Odegaard yeah Yeah.

28:47Miles Lewis-Galley got an honorable mention and wasn't in the conversation for the man of the match for what it's worth. It makes no odds, really. But I think sometimes we not take David Raya for granted, but we've become so accustomed to how good he is and how consistent he is. It's just sort of like, oh, there's David Raya doing David Raya things, using the ball really well. I thought it was interesting the way we mixed up our goal kicks yesterday, some short, some long. Raya's passing was really good. There was one, I think, with his left foot straight into midfield, which was unbelievable.

29:27But he also made saves. There was a little period towards the end of the first half when Man City had just a little bit about them. They created a couple of chances. There was a save he made from, I can't remember who it was, maybe Doku. Ben White made a brilliant, brilliant block to deny Doku as well. It could have been maybe Haaland, I think. It doesn't matter. Yeah, a decent save from Haaland. That Ben White block was spectacular. Unbelievable. It was like the Calafuri one. Do you remember where he just sort of stuck his leg out? The heel. Yeah. Yeah, you know, it was about making himself as big as he possibly could be as a defender.

30:02And by the way, I thought Ben White was excellent yesterday. and we'll talk about the right side of defense, maybe in part two, because I think there's obviously a discussion to be had there. But in the second half, he made a really, really good save from Antoine Semenya as well, got down smartly to save with his right hand. I mean, this guy is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League, I think, if not one of the best goalkeepers in Europe. And he just showed it again yesterday and we're so used to him being that good. Everyone's talking about Solace. Everyone's talking about Odegaard. Everyone's talking about this guy, that guy.

30:42And it's not that Raya doesn't get a mention because we're obviously talking about him right now, but it is worth giving him his flowers today because he was very, very good. I agree. I thought he was excellent. And yes, there were actually a number of saves. I'm not sure any of them were the most difficult saves Daviraya's ever been asked to pull off. Semenyo one I thought was very very good but it was more the all-round aspects of his game his ability to come and claim crosses just completely negate City's threat off corners for example the left-footed pass he clipped into the centre circle to pick out his man a really strong performance from him and yeah it turns out he's quite a lot better than Kepa I think.

31:24There's your hot take. Always with the hot takes. What else? I mean, we saw Bakayo Saka, who had a chance which he dragged wide of the near post when I think he should have made a pass, to be honest. I think Solas was making a good run into the box. And then there was a really good chance to score from a low ball from Incapia, who'd come on for Riccardo Calafiori. so probably a little rustiness from Bakayo Saka in front of goal but good to see him in those positions at least Yeah and I thought his movement looked a little more liberated a little freer physically than he has done of late I thought I saw him kind of really hit his stride at a couple of moments and that's encouraging and you know he's coming off the back of a game where he scored a hat-trick for England at the World Cup.

32:22So he's probably feeling pretty good about himself. Is that right? Did he score a hat-trick? He did score a hat-trick against France in the third and fourth place game, which was a crazy game. Yeah, it was an insane game. It sort of feels surreal, doesn't it? To think about that. Yeah. But yeah, I'm hopeful that he's coming back to Sharpness soon, especially because I think on what was a really positive day for Arsenal, I didn't think Nani Maduoké had a particularly good game on the right-hand side. in fact that was maybe even a starting decision that I was a little bit surprised about with Max Dalman having played every single one of the pre-season friendly I thought he might get the nod for this game because obviously Maduweke was away with England yes I mean you could say it is about giving Maduweke minutes and about giving him some pre-season minutes perhaps but I was a bit surprised about Max as well to be honest he didn't get on at all you know his chances of getting on were slim when Maduweke started because the obvious replacement there is Saka if you want to give Saka some pre-season minutes and start building his match fitness so I thought Max was a bit unlucky to to miss out and I agree with you you know Maduweke it's hit and miss generally speaking a bit more miss than hit there was a lovely pass actually a lovely flick pass to Bruno in the first half, which I think he delayed the cross.

33:46Maybe he should have just put it in the mixer first time. But generally, I tend to agree with you that Matueke was a bit underwhelming, which is kind of what he gives you, this consistent underwhelmingness, if that's the right way. Yeah, and listen, we've just sort of sacked a bit of rust, maybe the same for Noni as well. I think we've got to be fair there. But yeah, I think my disappointment was more from the backside of things. You know, I think he's been such a big part of preparations and to not get on the pitch yesterday was interesting. But then I think back to last season and there was a similar pattern wasn't there where he was very, very involved in preseason.

34:27Then we started the Premier League campaign and wasn't even named on the bench for that one. I wonder if part of it as well is about sort of expectation management a bit of man management from Mikel but he was there he was in the squad which is more than can be said for a few others yes that's true so no Gabrielle Martinelli no Ethan Warneri no Gabrielle Jesus that's not a surprise to me to be honest the lack of Jesus I was a bit surprised about Martinelli in particular. You know, Ethan, we were chatting, weren't we, on Friday, was it, about the way Mikel Arteta spoke about him in the press conference, and he was really positive in some aspects.

35:11And then when he was asked about, you know, what he – did he want Ethan to be at Arsenal next season, he said, yes, I want him to be here. I'm paraphrasing now. But, you know, it's important that he plays, and, you know, maybe if we can't give him those minutes, the best thing is for him to get those minutes somewhere else. It's kind of what he was saying. So the lack of Ethan in the squad, if you want to bring back Mikel Moreno, if you want to bring back Martin Zubimendi, he's the guy who feels, whether you agree with it or not, but certainly if you're looking at it objectively in terms of how the manager operates, he was the one who felt a bit more expendable from those midfield options that we have.

35:56Martinelli though was a surprise to me that he wasn't in the squad at all and obviously it's come off the back of a week in which he was linked with a move to Galatasaray because basically and this is how I understand it you can correct me if I'm wrong Andrea Berta and Arsenal have been sort of in talks with Galatasaray and have come to some some sort of arrangement over a fee they're interested in the player, but the player is not interested in going there. And via your colleague, David Ornstein made that pretty clear. There was a story from David in The Athletic about how Martinelli does not want to go to Galatasaray.

36:38And do you think that maybe had some sort of influence on the team selection? Or was it just as Mikel Arteta said afterwards to your line of questioning a technical decision that there are only so many people he can pick in the squad and unfortunately some good players have to get left out well that that is a reality to like you know with the numbers that we have some good players do have to be left out um and that's without mentioning you know your fabio vieras and your reese nelson's or whoever it might be um but yeah if you're Martinelli listen as much as we rate Max and and think it's essential he's in the team he will also be looking at it from the perspective of well I'm a full Brazilian international and I'm not getting on the bench um and a 16 year old is and that that's not great for me um you know I don't think it augurs particularly well and I must say Ethan and Martinelli were there um and it was sort of it was it was quite sad actually watching like the celebrations afterwards because they were very much on the fringes of that on the sidelines and i know it's one moment where gabrielle kind of um went to go and try and get martinelli to like get him to come and have photos with the shield and with him and stuff and martinelli sort of brushed it off like He clearly felt like, I'm not really part of this, which maybe is just natural for a player who's not played.

38:10But I think with all the speculation about his future, you can't help but read more into that. Yeah. I mean, how do you think he's feeling? Because there's this whole thing about, you know, Arsenal need to sell better. And we've had that conversation on here more than once. But if you're Martinelli and you've given what you've given to Arsenal, even if you can say his end product needs to be better or we can expect more from him or maybe he's plateaued or maybe it's time to move on. What way do you think he's feeling when Arsenal, I don't want to say behind his back, right? But they sort of orchestrate a move to a club he's got no interest in going to.

38:51You know, it's got to be difficult to take that, you know, because I don't think whatever you think of Martinelli, Anyone can doubt his commitment to the team, to the club. Whenever he plays, he gives 100%. You know, he's a really, really hardworking guy. He's been at the club for years. I think he loves Arsenal in as much as, you know, players love football clubs. You know, it's different from fans, but I think, you know, the affection he has for the club and for the fans is obvious, right? And then you're sort of finding out via stories in the media that the club are trying to sell you and move you on.

39:29And listen, you accept that as a professional footballer, this is maybe part of how it goes. A club decides we think it's time, but is there an argument to be made that there is a better way of doing it? That if you, as a football club, have open lines of communication with a player and a player's camp to say, listen, this is what we're doing. This is what we think is going to be happening. it becomes easier to deal with that decision that a football club has made rather than, as I just said, sort of finding out, oh, they want to sell me to Turkey? Yeah, and I think that will be the disappointment from his side, the kind of human angle on it really of sort of, has anybody been direct enough to have a conversation, you know, to say, these are our plans, you're not in them.

40:21and you know maybe Arsenal feel like they don't want to commit to that because they don't know what's going to play out in the remainder of the window they don't know if they might pick up a couple of injuries they might be in a position where they feel they need Gabriel Martinelli so they don't want to I was going to say they don't want to run the risk of alienating him but I think his omission from the squad does yesterday may be doing that anyway but I think if you look at the recent stories we've seen about hypothetical departures. Miles would be among them, Gabriel Martinelli, you mentioned Ethan as well.

40:52I think a bit of a consistent thread between them is maybe that lack of clarity from the club about what exactly their intentions are for these players. And I think we've spoken in the past about Andre Berta spinning plates, and probably that's, again, what's happening here. Different plates are being spun, different kites are being flown to see what fees Arsenal might be able to attain for different players. But naturally, if you're a player and that story comes out by the media and you're exposed to it, it's going to be very, very unsettling, isn't it? So as I say, I don't think Martinelli's exclusion yesterday was particularly well for him.

41:31I think, you know, Arsenal evidently are trying to move him on. And yeah, I agree that it's a bit of a shame the way in which they've gone about it. I have to think there's probably a different or a better way to do it. Yeah, I mean, people will say that's football. You've got to be ruthless. Yeah, of course. It's a business, all that kind of stuff. I get that. I do completely get that. I just think that people, you're dealing with adults and grownups and difficult conversations about a player's future. Nobody wants to sit down and hear that, well, we think it's time for you to leave, particularly if you don't want to leave if you're happy at a football club and your friends are there you've been there you know i just as you said the human element of this where it's not just martinelli for example that might feel unhappy about the way this has gone down like his friends are in the squad these guys you know michael arteta has built a very very close squad right there is a togetherness and a unity that has been really really important and I think you run the risk of damaging not dressing room harmony or dynamics but like there must be some players in there thinking that's not the way you treat people that's not the way you treat Martinelli he's not a messer like we've been ruthless about players in the past about alienating certain players and freezing them out.

43:01But those situations are very distinct, I think, from Gabriel Martinelli, who has never done anything wrong, you know, in terms of his behavior, his attitude, his work rate, you know, his commitment, all of those things are completely unquestionable. So if you can rationalize, let's say, you know, Bamian situation or an Ozil situation, whatever happened with those guys, it's very obvious that there were off the pitch behaviours or situations that made Mikel Arteta deal with them in the way that he did, which I don't think are there at all. In fact, I know they're not there at all when it comes to Martinelli, you know?

43:37No, absolutely. He's a top guy, top professional, really does love Arsenal and loves life at Arsenal. And, you know, we have to consider these people have personal lives as well. You know, I think he's just got married. He's just started a sort of new chapter of his own life, thinking that it might be in London. And, you know, now it's about where he may go. And he's got feelings and preferences around that, as he's entitled to do. I mean, I have seen some Arsenal fans expressing some frustration about him not wanting to go to the Turkish League and sort of asking, you know, what is it going to take for him to move on?

44:17And that's my slight worry with this. So I really hope it doesn't become a kind of toxic situation where he ends up shouldering the blame for Arsenal not making another attacking signing, for example. I think that would be a really unfortunate way for what's been a brilliant period for him at Arsenal to end. I mean, we don't know what's going on with Gabriel Jesus. The Napoli talk appears to have died down. I have to believe that Napoli aren't going to pay 20 million for him, though, I must say. I would be staggered if that were true. Yes, me too. But there was also a report yesterday that Ethan Wannery will leave.

44:56So, you know, clearly they are trying to sell some people, to raise revenue, to generate funds, whatever it might be. And I do have questions about that in part two. So I want to sort of hold off on those because I think they're a bit interesting. is there anything else we need to talk about? Celebrations were good at the end Declan Rice got clattered in the head did you see that? Yes, hopefully no concussion for Declan he dropped a community shield on his own head basically didn't he? What happened when the trophy when Martin Odegaard lifted the trophy and all the streamers went off and all the players just jumped off the podium as quickly as they could was it like an overabundance of streamers?

45:43I don't know what it was It was quite weird. They all sort of ducked off and were like, what the fuck is going on here? I hope they were right. There's a video of the wrestler, the undertaker, making his sort of spooky entrance and pyrotechnics go off and he ends up being set on fire. I hope it's nothing like that. I don't want anyone to miss a Coventry game with, you know, third degree birds or something. But I didn't hear anything about that. There was a bit of kind of needle post-game. I don't know how picked up it was, but there were a lot of strong words between Arsenal players, City players.

46:20It won't surprise anyone to hear. Myles Lewis-Gelly was right in the middle of that. So, yeah, clearly, I mean, look, their fans may call it friendly because they lost, but they paraded those community shields when Pep said his goodbyes and they were trying to show off how many trophies he had. So if you live by that sword, you die by that sword, I'm afraid. It was quite funny in a press conference afterwards as well. we had Enzo Maresca's press conference and it was underscored by the sounds of DJ Khaled's all I do is win, which were blaring through from an adjacent room. I have to assume it was the Arsenal dressing room.

46:59Just played all through his press conference. Strange enough, it stopped when Mikel did his press conference. I don't know. It's a bit curious. Just an uncanny coincidence. Yeah, it must be. It must be. I mean, there is something quite interesting about that, though, that, you know, even after a bit of a friendly, there was some some needle. I didn't notice that, to be honest, because I was just off doing. Was it on the TV pictures or did? I don't think so. I didn't have TV pictures. I was just kind of watching from the touchline. It was nothing like, you know, no pushing, no shoving, but just words and people being ushered away, let's say.

47:34Gabriel Aynes playing Peacemaker. Yeah, well, I think Gabriel was there. It's never clear, really, whether Big Gabby is being a peacemaker or an aggressor, to be honest with you. The lines are very blurred with him. But David Ryer was over there as well. So, yeah, there was something that lingered from the game, but we don't mind a bit of that. No, no, no, no, no. A bit of personality in modern football is something we can all do with a bit more of, I think. So, yeah. And a bit of rivalry as well. Of course, of course. We like that. And it was a bad day for City, by the way, because not only did they get battered, they then sold their best midfield player in the evening.

48:16That seems a bit mad to me. Like, I looked at that Man City, and listen, I don't really care about Manchester City. The post-Pep era, I think, is going to be difficult, obviously. When any manager of that stature leaves a club, it's going to be really tough, you know? The guy who follows that guy, it's a bit of a poison chalice, as we've seen. Manchester United, it happened at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger. Liverpool, it didn't really work there on the club. But it has been an issue for clubs in the past. When a manager of that sort of stature and quality leaves, the next guy is having a difficult task.

48:56But City have lost John Stones, Bernardo Silva, now Rodri. Also Calvin Phillips, of course, repeating my joke from the Patreon preview podcast. So, you know, you looked at Manchester City yesterday and you thought, if you're a City fan, we need a bit more Rodri in this team. And now it seems they have no Rodri at all, which, you know, I'm sure they will address in the transfer market above and beyond the 116 million pounds they spent on Elliot Anderson, who got the run around from a 19 year old and Martin Odegaard. but like that's a lot to deal with, isn't it? Well, yeah, and maybe I'm not fully across goings-on at City but the obvious replacement they seem to be bringing in is Ayo Boadi but he is 18 years old.

49:48So that's a very different profile to have in the squad and Rodri is a player who is a leader. you know he's a winner he's so important to the City team Ballon d 'Or Ballon d 'Or exactly so I yeah I'm taking it as a really positive sign that he's leaving the club and there's a lot of unknowns about this Premier League season and quite what our competitive landscape will look like but man I'd love to see some some some birds come home to roost for City a City downfall would be absolutely delicious Yes, Arsenal winning first and then a side helping of City downfall would be glorious. Okay, well, why don't we take a little break here?

50:35We will come back with some of your questions and more in part two right after this.

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53:24Welcome back to the ArseCast Extra. This is part two of the show where we answer the questions that you sent to us on BlueSky at gunnerblog.bsky.social and at arseblog.com. Also on the ArseBlog Discord chat server, which you get access to if you are an ArseBlog member on Patreon. If you're not and you want to be part of our fantasy football league, you've got until Friday to sign up and become one of our Patreon members. You can win the top prize of€1 ,000. Other cash prizes as well. €500 for second,€250 for third place. There's also a prize for finishing last. There's a cup competition. Fourth place gets an Arsenal shirt and an Arsenal trophy.

54:00And with the new season ready to go, we're back with preview podcasts. We're going to have the 30, which is our Premier League roundup podcast as well, and lots more besides. It helps support everything that we do on Arseblog. So if you want to join, it's just$6 a month. plus VAT or sales tax, if that's applicable in the jurisdiction in which you are, you can do it at patreon.com forward slash arseblog. A quick note, if you have the Patreon app and you can use the app, don't sign up with the app on iOS because Apple apply a surcharge, which is out of our hands. So sign up via the website and then you can just use the iOS app for your Patreon bits and bobs.

54:40So there you go, patreon.com forward slash arseblog. Will you be gunning for that bottom place finish in your FPL league again? You know what? I tried. I tried it one year and I really committed. I absolutely committed to it. And I was beaten. Beaten at my own stupid game in the end. Somebody else was more committed and did far better at it than I would, like making 20 transfers a week and all that kind of stuff to lose as many points as possible. But then I kind of got bored. And then some of the players that I had left in the team got some points and I ended up finishing second last, which was a humiliation I will not subject myself to any further.

55:22Fair. Okay. So there you go. Anyway, let's kick off this because there's quite a few questions about this. And people are, I think, maybe struggling to understand certain things about Arsenal's transfer business. So this comes from Rositski or Rosixi on the Discord. And they say, goodly morning, gents. Earlier this week, Amy Lawrence and Sammy Mockbell have reported that Arsenal feel a pressure to sell in this window. At the beginning of the summer, David Ornstein reported the exact opposite. It's also logically inconsistent with a club who signed off on signing Vinicius. And the expenditure and the firepower that we had to go out and try and make that deal happen feels a bit at odds with some of the reporting around, you know, the need to sell and balance the books.

56:14So what is actually going on here is what Rosicky asks. I agree it feels inconsistent. um i i don't remember the specific reports that are cited in the question so i can't necessarily speak to those but i can tell you what i know and the kind of questions i'm asking as i seek to understand this the first thing to say is that like the football financial regulatory environment is complicated and we are not privy to the numbers the models that enable that mean that the club are constantly assessing to ensure that they are compliant um So, yeah, it's hard to speak with authority about it. Arsenal say they don't have an issue and that they don't plan on any kind of breach.

57:22and when I have gone to them in recent months and said, you know, because I hear the same noises as these reporters here, that Arsenal do have a problem with squad cost ratio, which is part of the UEFA rules. I think it's like a 70 % of football revenue squad cost ratio, something like that. I hear that Arsenal do have a bit of an issue there, not on the Premier League terms, but on the UEFA terms and that that needs to be resolved in this transfer window. But whenever I float that with the club directly, they're very confident about it. So there's not just a contradiction in the reporting. There's not just a contradiction in what you as fans are hearing.

58:08There's contradictions in what I, as a journalist, am hearing as well. And I am trying to resolve those to build a clear picture. But I'm being totally transparent with you, Andrew, and the listeners that like, it is unclear. Now, what is clear is that the club want to sell some players. That is very, very obvious. I mean, it was obvious at the start of the summer and there was a degree of openness around that. The acknowledgement that player trading would be an important part of how they approach the window. and that was pretty widely reported. And if it wasn't obvious then, it's very obvious now, given what we're seeing in terms of market activity and what's coming out via the media.

58:55And the club clearly are sort of making moves to try and make some of these deals happen in the last fortnight or so of the window. And there is pressure there. You know, Andrea Berta as a sporting director... has kind of a threefold role when it comes to squad planning, squad building. So there's the recruitment aspect, there's the retention aspect and there's the selling aspect. And I think Arsenal, like any employer, you know, of anyone in that role is once expects them to deliver across all of those. And Arsenal are a club that has an ambition to be self-sustaining and to generate significant football revenue.

59:41And they can only really start to do that when they get better at selling players. So that has been on the agenda all summer long. Norgard has gone. Trossard has gone. Neither deal particularly lucrative for Arsenal. Norgard, in fact, sold at a considerable loss. So it hasn't been delivered yet. And I think it's correct to say that probably the sporting director and maybe the wider club as well are feeling that pressure now to deliver. Whether it's because they have to meet the regulations, whether it's because they have to meet the expectations of the owners, who knows? But Arsenal were expected to bring in significant revenue through player trading this summer and they've not yet done it.

1:00:32Can I ask a question then? Because, you know, there's some players... Does that make sense? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. I understand. Because, you know, like all of us, you're seeking clarity in something that doesn't seem very clear. It's all quite opaque, you know. But, you know, let's put aside people like Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira and Rhys Nelson, right? Who don't have a future at Arsenal. And that's obvious. So they become players that you want to sell, you want to move on. and frankly they are players who should want to move on right because they know they're not really going to play at arsenal if they're around and as a professional footballer you want to make the most of your career so you got to go somewhere so i think those situations are slightly distinct is it any coincidence that the three players over the last seven to ten days who've been linked to people's frustration in some cases with moves away are Myles Lewis-Gelley, Ethan Wannery, and Gabrielle Martinelli.

1:01:36Three players who, if they were sold, because of how these players have made it to the first team at Arsenal, would be, for want of a better term, to use that hashtag, pure profit, right? They're not dealing with any sort of amortization of a transfer fee over X amount of years, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. These guys, like Martinelli, what did he cost? Six million. I think it was probably a lot less than that, actually. Long since paid for. Yeah, 100%. And Ethan and Miles are Academy graduates. Therefore, you can book that revenue as profit, straight out. So that doesn't seem to me anyway to be coincidental.

1:02:20I agree. and that's what makes me believe that this does have a relationship to the regulatory environment. Just throw another spanner in the works. We've got a guy at The Athletic called Chris Weatherspoon and he's a former accountant and he has his own models for assessing compliance within the Premier League and UEFA rules. And when he runs everything he knows about Arsenal through that test, he sees that they have wiggle room. So that's just another layer of contradiction. But I concur that the fact that those players are the ones in the frame, if we believe reports, well, I do believe reports because I've been involved in them being offered around, suggests that Arsenal are attracted to the idea that they could generate pure profit, as you call it.

1:03:21And in fact, like, you know, there are players I would sell before Ethan and Miles. There's quite a lot of players I would sell before Ethan and Miles. And yes, there isn't an emotional component in that for me. But, you know, I would probably sell Martin Zubomendi before I would sell Miles, okay? Mm-hmm. But his book value and what we would actually sort of, put down on the accounts in terms of turning a profit there would be minimal compared to what what selling miles would do for sure yeah no i get it yeah which is like the unfortunate the awkward reality is that it's actually we're sort of incentivized by the regulatory environment to sell are Academy stars, which I think is really unfortunate.

1:04:14And let me be clear, like, I don't want it to happen. But, like, we saw the reaction to the Miles one in particular. You know, I think, listen, I love the talent and the potential of Ethan Wannery, and I don't want to repeat myself, but, like, my preference would be for him to go on loan this summer, and then we can make a decision down the line on him. But you saw the reaction to the stories, which were credible, about miles being offered to Chelsea and to Manchester United, which began before the story, by the way, that came out last week in Football London with Tom Canton about the Chelsea one.

1:04:53It was Miguel Delaney and the Independent reporting Manchester United interest in Miles Lewis-Gelly the week before. So this has been rumbling for a little while. But we saw the reaction. And listen, you know, fans don't always get what they want. But there was sort of a general, no, you can't do this. This is absolutely fucking terrible. This would be a really bad idea to sell Myles Lewis Kelly. Then Myles Lewis Kelly plays like he does yesterday in the community shield. Beyond the brilliant assist, I thought he was just so good in midfield yesterday. And I know it's not the strongest midfield we've ever seen from Manchester City.

1:05:29And give it that context if you like. But a performance like that, you know, to then turn around and sell that guy, like, how can you justify that to fans? Even if you can say, well, you know, we bought Bruno Gimeraj, well, our books are a bit more balanced. That's not going to wash. That's not going to go down with fans. No, I mean, I do think as fans, we have some... We have to accept that the club can't just spend 250 million quid every summer and not recoup money. You know, like that's not viable. But I think Myles has made it virtually impossible to sell him. Like that's not information. That's my opinion.

1:06:26I think it would be a football disaster and a public relations nightmare, to be honest with you. No, I agree. The optics of it would be so bad. Miles, to give him enormous credit, since those stories like caught fire, has made it incredibly difficult for Arsenal. You know, not only did he sort of make it known that he wanted to stay, the next day he played in a friendly, scored, celebrated with the heart symbol. You know, then he's gone to the community shield, started, had that brilliant assist, bossed it against Man City. This coming off the back of starting a Champions League final, you know, it's very difficult to find a football justification for selling Myles Lewis Skelly, in my view.

1:07:15That's, yeah, that's sort of the point I forgot to finish with regards to Ethan, right, who I really like. But I think many people have sort of come to a kind of peace with that as a possibility. Like, not to say they liked it or you want it to happen, but there was sort of an acceptance that, well, maybe like if we have to, and we do have, you know, the Max Dowman coming through, like, and I think we've said before that maybe Ethan's world is a different world if there is no Max Dowman in it, you know, that his future is probably more secure at Arsenal. if we don't have a 16-year-old who they might think we've got to fast-track him.

1:07:57And basically, they're players of not the same kind, but Ethan might be an impediment to Miles because of his seniority and et cetera, et cetera, right? But the Miles thing, you know, after what you've said, Champions League final, scoring in the friendly, doing what he did yesterday. And I think as well, the understanding that, similar to the Martinelli situation, this was something that maybe could have been handled better. You know, that it wasn't necessarily the right way to treat a young guy who's come through Arsenal. And listen, you know, the same is true of Martinelli, that the way you go about doing things is really important.

1:08:43And it felt like Arsenal went about this or have been going about this in a kind of tack-handed way. Yeah, and I think probably that speaks to a little bit of, well, we spoke about pressure, but a little bit of anxiety. As the end of the window approaches and these deals don't happen, Arsenal are probably having to be more and more front-footed and aggressive in how they try and obtain these sales. The Ethan Miles thing is really interesting because there's a lot of people in football who think that Ethan's ceiling might ultimately be higher than Miles'. You know, if Ethan really develops, then he can be at least as good as Miles, potentially even more of a sort of unique talent.

1:09:35But at this moment right now, Myles is the one contributing to the first team. And I do think that makes selling him much more difficult to sell to a supporter, frankly. And I wonder with Ethan as well, can Arsenal mitigate against his development in a deal? So can they, you know, we saw Arsenal link with Jarrell Kwanzaa this week, week player who Liverpool sold for I forget 30 or 40 million euros but put in a 70 million euro buyback clause can Arsenal put something in like that to a deal which a affords the protect them a bit of protection if Ethan becomes the player some feel he could but also makes the deal a little bit more publicly palatable to a supporter because they feel like well that door's not closed you know yeah i know what you mean i do know what you mean i just sort of feel like you know for someone like ethan if you were to go now i'm not saying arsenal have burned their bridges but it it's very rare for that player to come back 100 you know i spoke to someone about this i was like buybacks why why are they not in every deal like why does the wider clubs not always insert them and they said the basic reason is because all parties have to be happy for them to be in there and that means the exit needs to have been incredibly cordial and football being what it is it often isn't um so i think it might be fanciful i don't know i i if if that happened i wouldn't really have much realistic expectation that ethan would come back but i just wonder if it's something that sort of almost optically might look better.

1:11:31I mean, I agree with you. I'd love to loan Ethan for a year and see how he does in a better loan spell than the one he had at Marseille. But that's no revenue in this window. No. So that requires what? Yeah. I mean, I've seen, we had a question like, or a couple of questions. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I can't find them. Let me have a look here. yeah so for example 14 best number dot b sky dot social says am i crazy thinking that when airy has had a better career on the right wing for us than madueke and we're looking to sell the wrong player and there was another one it was on the discord and i can't find apologies um but it was along similar lines they they sort of laid out the stats and the minutes and the goals scored, et cetera, et cetera.

1:12:28And, you know, that's probably a really solid argument. But does it come back to that question of, as you say, if you sell Zubimendi or if you sell Matueke, and are you going to sell either of them for like a profit? Zubimendi, maybe Matueke, I don't think so. So you're actually bringing in money, but it's sort of you're selling at a loss. Whereas with Wuneri, with Martinelli, with Lewis Skelly, that's not a consideration or that's certainly a consideration that's driving quite a bit of what Arsenal are trying to do. Yeah. And I don't know the payment terms on those deals, but we might still owe 20, 30 million on those players.

1:13:13For sure, yeah. I do think I do wonder how that will age that decision to kind of bring Nonny in and take Ethan away from that right hand side you know I know that was the view that that's not his position that he needs to develop centrally but he did pretty well out there you know yeah it's not something that we as fans were particularly worried about and yeah Yeah, I do wonder about how that will, how we'll look back on that in a few years' time. But selling nonny, I don't think, does a great deal for us at this point. And again, that's why my sort of instinct is… Financially. Yeah. Yeah. Like from a regulatory perspective.

1:14:01Sure. Yeah. And that's why my instinct is that despite the mixed messages, and it's difficult to be clear about the degree of sort of seriousness or severity, there is at least an awareness or a consciousness of a need to attend to those regulations because yeah, because we keep coming back to the same players being the ones that it makes sense to sell. And yeah, it's, it's, it's going to be really, really interesting. I, as I just said, I personally think Miles has made that sort of untenable that idea. I just think, yeah, I think the fans would be up in arms about it. For sure. Just before we move on and do a couple of other questions, what about this as a sort of counterpoint or a talking point anyway?

1:14:51Rob Gibson on Blue Sky, who's at robgibson14.bsky.social, he says, do we need the sale of Wernary to be our Cole Palmer? We need the sale of a good young player who goes to another club and plays brilliantly. since City sold Palmer or since City sold Palmer multiple young players have gone for significant fees would this change our current and future sales? So as a way of maybe changing the perception of Arsenal as a selling club is there a potential benefit to selling Wernheri for you know 50 million 55 million whatever it might be? Maybe. Pure cold-hearted business strategy. Maybe. But how do City fans feel about selling Cold Palmer?

1:15:32I don't know. I don't know, actually, yeah. I don't know the answer to that question. I don't know any of them. I suspect they're a bit aggrieved. I don't know, but... They're always fucking aggrieved about something, though. The most miserable pack of cunts win the title. With the Cadbury players, it's hard. I mean, when Danny Welbeck signed for Chelsea, the comments were full of United fans, devastated that he hadn't gone back to Old Trafford. The bond you have with these players is different. And it endures. And so, yeah, I think there's a good point there from a sort of business logic perspective.

1:16:12And it's probably the jobs of Andrea Berta and the Arsenal hierarchy to think more in those terms. I mean, something that I would say is that Arsenal haven't done business very frequently to appease supporters, you know? They've shown a willingness to take decisions that have been unpopular. Raya for Ramsdale being a great example or bringing in Kai Havertz from Chelsea. There's four or five where fans were really not sure and ultimately club kind of came through. Maybe they'll just see this as another case where strategically they have to set aside the emotion and the fan sentiment. but if that happens it's going to be a very rocky ride.

1:17:04Yeah, that's true. They're going to have to bunker down a little bit but Mikel Arteta of course, you know, is, you know, who's not distinct by the way from the decisions that the club makes about futures of players, right? How those things happen is sort of out of his hands but we can't not say that he, you know, has no part in some of the decisions that are made but of course he's front and centre and we'll have to answer the questions. You know, so. And as brilliantly as Myles is doing, you know, we mustn't forget. He spent most of last season on the bench and sort of struggling to get a first team play.

1:17:45So the manager certainly had some reservations at a point in time, maybe still does. and I think invariably with Mikael I always think he always values experience over youth nine times out of ten nine times out of ten like look at the signings he's making this summer Bruno coming in 28 he's looking at Esri Konza 28 I think in his mind he's very about the here and now the problem that Myles is providing is that he is doing a lot in the here and now yeah yeah yeah but it's interesting it's all very interesting what else have we got um i mean let's just do this one as like a button on that conversation tim first said in a world where arsenal have to sell one of miles or ethan who would you sell

1:18:44you know i we we were talking about this a bit last week and i'm slightly torn because i kind of feel like not that we have a lot of what miles gives us but you know you've got bruno you've got declan rice you've got um michael marino you've got martin zubamendi ethan's skill set is is a little different isn't it from miles i think there's something really exciting about the way that he can finish when he gets into areas around the box, which I feel like maybe Arsenal could use a bit more of at times. I mean, for all the reasons that we have just laid out and the way it would play out, I think if you had to, it has to be Ethan.

1:19:32Yeah. But,

1:19:36you know I just like this player and I could be wrong we could be sitting here in two three years time and and you know with all due respect he could be like on a an Emile Smith Road trajectory right where he hasn't quite realized that potential but when I try and think about how I like to see Arsenal play and the kinds of players that I like to see playing football it's not to disrespect Miles in any way because I think he's brilliant and uh you know he's done such a fantastic job but there's sort of part of me that goes, I could like a little bit more when Aerie and the team. But, you know, I think it is that, you know, the way it has all played out and the way it has sort of unfolded, there's only one option.

1:20:15If you have to sell one, it has to be Ethan. I think I agree. But, yeah, I'm not happy about it. No, I know. Yeah, me neither. Me neither, to be honest. What about, what other questions do we have? Here's one from A Nightmare on Elneny Street, who says, putting to one side injuries and looking at the players on paper, do you believe that we go into this season with a stronger front line than at the start of last season?

1:20:50Did it say putting aside injuries? Mm-hmm. I mean, without wishing to sort of not answer the question, I think that's so difficult to do. because for me like our front line was really ravaged by injury last season you know people like Havertz Saka Odegaard Marino missing enormous amounts of football like I think if we keep that group together if they if they largely stay fit our attack will be substantially better now I understand that's not the question You're asking me purely about the talent and the squad.

1:21:34I think we're about where we were. Yeah, exactly. It's the same players. Same players. You know, apart from Solis and Trossard. And that is, to some extent, a bit like for like, right? Not the same players and they have their own skill sets. But yeah, it's sort of the same. It's the same two on the right with a slightly older Max Damman, who's still only 16. Same two strikers. You know, we went into last season with this exact lineup and Kai Havertz got injured on the first day of the season and missed six months or whatever it was. Yeah. I was going to say, my answer would almost be different before and after that Manchester United game where we lost Havertz.

1:22:23I mean again if you're talking about the start of the season we didn't have Eze at the start of the season he was playing for Crystal Palace so true but I'm sure they mean you know the complete squad at the end of the window but I mean this is kind of an adjacent question from Arsenal on Blue Sky and they say has Solis proven himself enough to negate a new left wing signing personally I'd be happy with Solis Eze and maybe Martinelli if not so. Yeah, we had a similar question on Blue Sky as well from Clarence, who's at varsityathlete.bsky.social, who said, if we can find a buyer who presents an acceptable situation to Martinelli, would you consider selling using Solace and Ezez left wing for the next four months and maybe waiting until January to replace?

1:23:11You know, a replacement's own situation may evolve by then. So he was talking about Aubameyang, but I think you're looking maybe, you know, City buying Semenyo last January. He wasn't really available last summer, but he was in January. And people are talking about Kruppi, let's say, who's going to recover from that injury at Bournemouth. Does he become a January option? Is he somebody who can kick the can down the line? That's interesting. You know, I mean, if you sell Martinelli and you don't buy another attacker, it is going to feel like a weaker attack in terms of depth, in terms of options.

1:23:54Something myself and Lewis talked about on the preview podcast was Martinelli is maybe our quickest player. We're not a particularly quick team. And pace is important in football these days, really, really important. And to lose that as a bit of a skill set or to lose that as a, you know, a string to our attacking bow, I feel like you'd have to replace. I think if you sell Martinelli, even if you get 50 million or 55 million or 60 million or whatever it might be, and you don't bring in another attacking player, it's going to feel like a poor window from an attacking perspective. So I can see the logic, you know, if you've got Ezza and Solas and Ezza can play out there.

1:24:43It's not something Mikel Arteta tends to do a great deal of, although he did start in there against Manchester City, didn't he, in the business end of last season. So, listen, it's not that those two would be bad options or anything like it. It just feels like we would not have made the most of a transfer window if we end it without making an attacking signing. And it seems pretty clear that Mikel Arteta, at least, wants Arsenal to do that. So, yeah. Have I answered the question? I was watching Eze on the bench yesterday and thinking, is he going to bring him on on the left? You know, I was really intrigued by that because I have to be honest.

1:25:24Look, Eze, I love Eze. He won't get many people who sort of advocate to come to Arsenal more than me. But when I find myself rattling off those midfielders, I'm ashamed to say he's one, when I'm talking about central midfield players, that I often remember quite late. That comes to me towards the end of that list. Yeah, I know what you mean. And so I am sort of querying, I mean, what exactly his role will be. And I do, I would like to see the thing of him on the left experimented with a bit more. He's not an electric, pacey winger. That's for sure. If he doesn't bring that to the team, but there are other qualities he can bring from that area of the pitch.

1:26:09I mean, again, when you talk about Nonny and his signing and that impacting Ethan, you have to also talk about Eze. There was a very, very direct relationship between those two deals. You'll remember last summer, Arsenal were linked very heavily with Eze and there was talk at that time that Eze might go, interest from Chelsea, among others. His contract was unclear at that time whether he would re-sign. He did re-sign. The Eze thing went very quiet and it was only revived when Kai Havertz picked up that significant injury at Old Trafford. So it's not just the Nani deal that's impacted Ethan. It's the Eze deal as well.

1:26:47Yeah, that is true. I've won here. Yeah, Tola on the Discord. How much do you think Odegaard and Saka not being considered slash spoken about as really integral to our title win last season will increase their determination to spearhead Arsenal to the title and more this season? I can see them both feeling like they have a point to prove this season. And I think that could have a big positive impact on our chances of retaining the title. Yeah, I think that's right. I think Mark Nodegaard spoke in the mix zone last night after the game. I think that will be live at about midday UK today. And he spoke about knowing he needs to improve this year.

1:27:34So I'm sure he's aware. I'm sure Bakaya is aware. You know, you think back to the trophy lift and people were saying, will Martin do it on his own or will he do it with Declan or something like that? Do you know what I mean? There was kind of speculation around like, because he's not played the biggest role in it necessarily. And I think that will sting a bit for a player who is club captain and who prides himself on being a leader and leading by example. Saka's very much the same in terms of characteristics. So, yeah, I think they'll be doubly determined to make an impact and deliver more success, success that feels more their own and that they can really partake in.

1:28:19Listen, I was so excited about what Odegaard produced yesterday. I mean, and I hold my hands up like there have been times in the past six months where I've wondered whether it was time to move on from him, you know, where it felt like his Arsenal career might be stalling slightly. but I fully accept that a Martin Odegaard at that level that he demonstrated against City is an incredibly important player and one who's extremely difficult to replace. And yeah, I really hope we see more of it in the season ahead. Yeah, me too. Me too. I think, you know, particularly, you know, Odegaard gets a lot of stick and I think, you know, some of it is quite a lot of it is completely unfair or unwarranted.

1:29:05Like I think, what he's done since he joined this football club has been fantastic. You know, as a player, as somebody who raised the level, as a leader. And it's, you know, every time you hear an Arsenal player talk about Martin Odegaard as captain, they could not be more fulsome in their praise, right? And you can say, well, what else are they going to say in public? They don't have to say anything. But very often this is information that they volunteer, that the influence he has in the dressing room is tremendous, really positive. And you're talking about Bukayo Saka talking about him and Declan Rice talking about him and, you know, big experienced players talking about the influence of Martin Odegaard.

1:29:47As captain of the club, to go through the injury issues he's had and to not play at your best and to know, like footballers know when they're not playing at their best, right? They know when they're not delivering. They know when they're not delivering goals and they're not delivering assists in the frequency with which they know they're capable of. You know, they're not stupid. Some footballers are, but I don't think Martin Odegaard is one of those. I think he will have been frustrated by last season because it was punctuated by injury. And, you know, Arsenal won the title and that was amazing.

1:30:20But also you get to a Champions League final and you're not at 100%. Like that's a game few players get to play in. Martin Odegaard played in a Champions League final he was not 100 % no two ways about it but Kai Osaka played in a Champions League final he was not 100 % do Arsenal have a better chance of winning that game if they've got those two players at like full fitness, full form, full rhythm of course so it's a regret to us as fans it's got to be a regret to them as well you know to play a game like that on the biggest stage and know you're not really at your best or not capable of playing your best football and contributing to your team in the way that you know you can.

1:31:02I think it's got to be a source of huge frustration. So I think those two in particular, you know, as players who've been cornerstones of the progress that we've made under Mikel Arteta and the consistency that we've produced under Mikel Arteta, for those two last season, you know, they've been not where they know they can be. And I think that will be a real driver for them going into the new season. I agree. I quite agree. um well we had an ambitious request from uh who was it from let's have a look uh i had it and i lost it so adam sisson okay said rather ambitiously please do a mareska out bit and no sensible football supporter surely would call for their managers to be fired after one game at the Community Shield.

1:31:59However. But, yeah. There are a few. Go on. So Ahmed, these guys are all on X. I won't surprise you to hear. The bad place. I won't tweet about City again until Maresca is sacked. He said that 19 hours ago. He has tweeted about City several times since. Of course he has. Frisky, who's verified, so they must know what they're talking about, says, we will get Mareska out soon. He's a confused coach. What even is this?

1:32:42Vendel, we saw the preseason, how you played Semenyo at the left and how it worked out. Why change now to accommodate Doku? Fuck you, Mareska. hashtag Maresca out and then finally we'll finish on Musashi who says what the fuck it's insane to know that we have that horseshit type of gameplay this isn't the city we know hashtag Maresca out at Man City oh he added Man City he added them shots fired blimey okay well listen this could be something that runs throughout the season, to be honest. Could be, you know. Let's hope it's a regular segment on the show. Yeah, yeah. I mean, City, of course, are letting go a lot of their best players, but I, you know, with no personal, real personal animus towards Enzo Maresca, you know, he seems a fairly bland kind of guy.

1:33:44You know? But I hope he has a fucking miserable time. I really do. You know, It's not that I want more suffering and pain in this world, but as we said earlier, the side helping of Man City downfall can only happen if he has a bad time. So I don't think it'll be all his fault, but he will be the guy who's first and foremost in the spotlight. Before we go, can I just ask you something? We didn't really discuss it with relation, with regard to rather the game yesterday and the bench and the players that were missing and the players that were left out. And obviously, Juri and Timber and William Saliba are injured, but there was only one defender on the bench.

1:34:29Yeah. And that is a worry, right? And listen, I said, I thought Ben White was excellent. I thought Christian Mascara was good as well. can we please not do what we always do with our right backs ben white now looking fit and sharp and like his old self and the picture of him doing the rounds i think he's standing over guardiol who tried to buy a penalty by pretending he got hit in the face by ben white when ben white just shouldered him in the back in in classic style it's one of the great pictures of the season already i'm sure people have seen it but can we not do the thing where we don't have somebody to share some of the minutes with Ben White and Ben White gets injured again.

1:35:09And we all go, why can't they just get somebody in? So to your understanding, is anything close? Is anything happening? Mikel Arteta said in his press conference, we're aware where we're weak and we want, you know, we have the will to do the deal, but they're after Konza, they're after Kwanzaa. There'll be some guy called Bonza next. I don't know what's going on. You know, can, are they going to get a defender and when are they going to get a defender and can they get the defender now, please? Well, I think they are working on it. They are working on it. And I think Esri Konza is still the top target there.

1:35:47I think he's due back at training with Villa maybe today. And things do tend to accelerate a little bit when players come back to training. He's come back very late. Villa gave Oli Watkins and Konza a bit longer off of their time with England. So, yeah, I think that actually this is a piece of speculation. I don't aggregate this, but I wonder if internally at Arsenal, they would see the defensive signing as more urgent in some respects than attacking at this point in time. Because I think, I do think there's sort of an interesting kind of philosophical question, that sounds very fancy, attached to it, which is that like, I think inevitably we've kind of spent some of the summer sort of wondering if Arsenal can become a different team, you know.

1:36:44And now that we've had the satisfaction of winning, it's like, well, how do we become entertaining? You know, how do we become, play great football? And I think there is this idea that the signing of Vinicius, for example, would have delivered that. They could have this kind of transformational impact on the team almost single-handedly. I think what's interesting watching the game yesterday is it's a real reminder of who we are and the strengths that we do have. And listen, we played some really good football yesterday as well. But this is a super robust, super competitive squad. And Mick Arteta has the dual task of kind of adding layers on top of that, but also retaining everything that's brought us to this point.

1:37:33And in a funny way, I feel like the Konza signing or the centre-back signing may be necessary to kind of allow us to kind of keep doing the stuff we did last season, you know, to keep doing the things that we associate with this Arsenal team. the solidity, the clean sheets, the set piece threat. I think this is a signing that helps us out in those regards. And actually, as much as I want us to become this free-flowing attacking outfit, I think if we manage to be the team we were last season, that will take us a long way in itself. And I think preserving that is also important. and maybe that defensive signing is something that helps do that.

1:38:22Listen, I hope we get both. No, I do too. I do too. I just think, you know, right now you could play Solis on the left. You could play Eze on the left. You could play Martinelli on the left because you have those players. We don't have the numbers at the back. And what I will say about this particular signing is that it's going to be boring, maybe uninspiring. It's going to make people go, meh, him. But basically what you're looking for is a player who can play some minutes at right back, some minutes at centre half to take the burden off Ben White, Jurian Timber, William Saliba and Christian Mascara.

1:39:02By its very nature, that kind of player, by their very nature rather, that kind of player is going to be a bit uninspiring. But it's still necessary for me. I think it's important that we get that deal done as quickly as we can. And listen, if it is, I mean, I like the idea of Kwanzaa as well. I think a younger player that has a certain appeal and might, you know, I spoke about bloody financial regulations, maybe in the longer term that's helps you out. But Kwanzaa is not an exciting signing. There's not going to be queues. He's not going to be breaking any shirt sales records if Arsenal end up signing him.

1:39:41Respectfully, right? And he knows that. Everyone knows that. but I would say speak to an Aston Villa fan about him and you'll get a different perspective on the player like he is really important to them and a bit like Bruno in Newcastle he's kind of the one they didn't want to lose this summer so if they do and he comes to Arsenal I think we're getting a very very solid reliable Premier League defender who I think will play a lot Yeah, he's a solid, reliable, ultimately backup. You know, that's what it is. When Saliba's back, when Timber is fit, how much is he playing? You know, in the big games, not much, you know?

1:40:27And that's who he is. He's sort of like the second car, the Ford Escort. Does that make sense? I think so. Okay. Gets you from A to B, not too flashy, does the job. Yeah. And actually like to be slightly contrary, I think he'll, I don't think he'll be a backup in the sense of sort of a Norgaard backup, you know, like I think he'll play games. Yeah, no, no, no, for sure. Yeah, that's what, but I did say big games. Yeah. You know, as and when everybody is fit, you know, when that miracle happens, you know, we can cross that particular bridge when we come to it, I guess. alright well we'll see what they do we better leave it there get this pod out to everybody as ever thank you so much for being with us thanks for listening we will have something for you later in the week of course we're going to look ahead to a brand new Premier League season on the Arsecast and there will be a new season of preview podcasts over on Patreon for now though thanks for being with us hope you enjoyed the show and we will catch you on the next one bye bye

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