Arsenal Women Arsecast Episode 173: Baum Brightens Arsenal’s Day in Crawley

0:00This is Matt Rogers from Las Culture East, that's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Las Culture East, that's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. And now a break from our sponsor, Vital Proteins, the official collagen partner of the U.S. Open who is upping the excitement at this year's U.S. Open. If a main draw singles match reaches a final set tiebreak beginning in the quarterfinals, fans could win. Thousands of randomly selected entrants may receive vital proteins, collagen peptides, and two people winning grand prizes, including the ultimate 2027 U.S. Open experience. which is two finals tickets, a helicopter ride, flights, hotel, and cash, while another receives the ultimate wellness investment worth$15 ,000 for long-term support.

0:40Enter the final set tiebreak sweepstakes August 17th at vitalproteins.com slash final dash set dash tiebreak. Seaside for official rules. Thanks again to our sponsor, Vital Proteins.

1:06Hello and welcome to the Arsenal Women Arsecast on arseblog.com with me, your host, Tim Stillman. Looking back on Sunday's opening day victory away at Brighton in the WSL. Now, not to let you behind the curtain too much, I've had quite a lot of technical issues trying to get this episode going. So we're really hopeful this will see the light of day. but well we'll see about that and frankly if it doesn't you won't be listening to this but anyway but anyway here as ever to discuss the game with us is our co-host Jamie Spanger. Jamie how are you doing?

1:42Jamie: Tim I'm very good the WSL is back I'm stoked obviously three points on the weekend which we'll come on to but a bit of a draw at Stamford Bridge the men's team massive win it's been a great weekend to be. I'm also Italian. Kimi Antonelli won at Monza. So it's been a great weekend to be a sports fan. I'm up and about, Tim. I really am. Yeah, I really enjoyed Six Point Sunday, I must admit. I was a little bit bummed to be missing the men's game. My sister got my ticket, but got home for the last 20 minutes or so. Yeah, I love a good Six Point Sunday. What I don't love is the fact that both teams had to close out a narrow one goal victory um and the anxiety that that brought i i was i was pretty tired on sunday night but anyway um james and andrew have already talked about the men's game we won't talk about that we're going to talk about the one nil win at brighton arsenal opening their wsl season with a victory at a ground where victory has been pretty difficult to come by but before we talk about the game something we haven't talked about since the last time we recorded we've talked about will arsenal buy a center back probably about 155 times um and they did a day or two before the end at the exact point jamie where i gave up asking people trying to find out whether we were going to sign a center back and so i stopped asking and i stopped looking into it uh it happened so maybe there was a message there but alisa de almeida coming in from psg 28 years old, three-year contract rather.

3:18Interesting signing. What do you make of it?

3:22Jamie: Tim, can I be honest? I might be a pessimist and maybe I am. I think we've just probably signed a Laia Kadina that's four years older. I don't really see this signing as something that's going to improve the squad. Maybe it improves the floor. It definitely does. Like any depth is good depth, especially someone that's proven for the national team, has obviously played a lot of European football in the Champions League for PSG and played among some great players as well. So I understand the experience element to it. But in terms of raising the ceiling of the squad, I feel like you've let go someone like Laia Kadina, which I agreed with.

3:53Jamie: That was a signing that never worked out. And you've brought in quite a similar player profile. It's a right-footed defender, not even just an out-and-out centre-back, someone that can play right back as well. That's not really adding a lot of – it's not expanding the talent of this team, but it is adding depth. So it's an interesting signing team, but I also look at it and think if I have a fully fit Katie Reid, I really do think Renee Slagers is going to prefer her in that position anyway. And we're definitely not shy of right back. So it's not completely as confusing as everyone else I think has made it out to be in my head, but it is puzzling because I don't think it's, it's worth the time or the money.

4:30Jamie: I think it was 500 ,000 euros or, or something of that transfer fee. So to me, it's a little bit puzzling, Tim. I I'm not certain. And yeah, I didn't, I didn't love this deadline date. signing yeah same and it's not really out of like ambivalence to the player herself it just it feels like a profile we've got plenty of um as i kind of understand it basically center center center market center half market has been quite dry all summer that's the kind of message i've been getting and um ostensibly they got to the very end of the window they know that katie reed is a couple of months away and even then she's going to have to build fitness and um you know won't be at her best for a little while and they just decided we can't go into the the season with three center halves so they they kind of bit bit on this a bit but i'm kind of with you i do understand that but at the same time it's it's quite expensive it's quite a long contract um as well however like profile wise in terms of like the way she defends and apparently pretty decent in the air those things make sense but yeah i was i was kind of surprised um about this one but open-minded nonetheless um but anyway on to sunday at brighton um one thing we knew coming into the game jamie we usually start these kind of talking about the starting lineup but i almost felt like the subs bench was going to be even more a point of discussion because you can only get 20 players into your match day squad.

6:02And it was always going to be the case that two big international players were going to be omitted from the match day squad. It turned out to be two new signings in Selina Church and Geraldine Reuteler. What did you make of, like I said, two big players were going to have to miss out. But, you know, two summer signings, were you surprised it was those two?

6:25Jamie: No, I wasn't entirely, to be honest, Tim. I think that obviously these are two players that are fresh into the club. When you're teasing out these new signings in the opening stages of the season, especially at a ground and against an opponent that really has caused us nightmares. Over the last couple of years, I understand going with a comfortable squad. I think that the subs, which we'll definitely come on to, and I think I have a lot to say about them later, were definitely options for Renee Slagers that she knew were going to be able to just go out there and grind out a result. And maybe there was a bit of pre-planning to that.

6:53Jamie: So, yeah, I'm not surprised, but I'm also not worried about it. I think we've got a million games coming up. Obviously, Champions League football is actually right around the corner. So all of these players are definitely going to have a red hot go and their minutes are going to be piling. But yeah, I'm not surprised at all, to be honest, Tim. Yeah, yeah. I think I'm with you. I think the fact that their new signings probably was part of it. Probably, again, it's kind of a question of profiles as well, right? Like you've got Frieda Mornum on the bench. That probably was probably a choice between Frieda and Geraldine Reuteler.

7:23and then you've probably got a choice between Steiner and Selena Churchy. I'm with you in the respect that Crystal Palace at home is the next game. I wouldn't be surprised if those two players did come into the squad and that was seen as a bit of a chance to play them and that's probably going to be a very different game as well. I did think maybe one of the fullbacks might drop out just because particularly Taylor Hines can play on both sides. So I wondered if Smiller might come out. But no, I'm with you. I think the fact that their summer signings probably wasn't a coincidence. And like you, I'm not worried long term because it's a long season.

8:01And one thing is absolutely certain, players are going to get injured. And I think that this is a pretty temporary beginning of the season type problem that we probably won't have in a month's time. I mean, this time last year, we were talking about how Kyra couldn't get on the pitch, Lotta couldn't get on the pitch. And, you know, the season happens, stuff happens, and then they can. They're all going to be useful. So there is that. But then we had the starting lineup. I felt like the only part of the starting lineup I kind of went back and forth over a little bit was that other winger spot. We've seen a lot of Lisa Baume.

8:37Well, we saw Lisa Baume in the two preseason friendlies we could see. Chloe Kelly wasn't available for those. I did wonder, Jamie, whether Chloe Kelly might start for the reasons you kind of mentioned there. This is a really tough game, a tough WSL game, but Lisa Baum got the start. I'll read what René Slager said about that afterwards, but any surprises, pleasant or otherwise, there for you?

9:04Jamie: No, I was stoked. This is a great lineup, Tim. This is a lineup that really, really excited me. The fact that Rene Slagers has seen two player profiles of young, exciting wingers. Obviously, Olivia Smith's coming into her second season with Arsenal, but this is just exactly the team that we want to see. We want to see excitement up front. We want to see challenging players taking it to opposition on match day one. So this was really, really, I think, a statement of intent. If you look at that midfield as well, that's something I think we can come on to throughout this episode and say, look, there's definitely growing pains in that area, but there was also some absolutely stellar performances within that three as well.

9:39Jamie: And then you look at the defense and you say like, this is the team that I think René Slagers is really going to push forward for. And then Misa Rodriguez, I think Tim, was probably the only one. I was like, will it be Anika Bourbon? But I think we all knew it was going to be Misa Rodriguez based on her preseason minutes. So I was stoked by this lineup. I was looking at the bench and I was thinking, this is fantastic. We've finally got some depth up front. And I was thinking as well, like usually this would be a Beth Mead and Caitlin Ford on the opening game of the season. And these are two really young players, 22 and 19 years old.

10:09Jamie: So super exciting. And obviously the performances later further solidified my excitement, Tim. Yeah, definitely. And we asked, well, I asked Renee after the game about starting Lisa Belm. Like I did wonder if it'd be Chloe Kelly. I put that in my predicted lineup, but it was Lisa. And I was happy to see that as well. And Renee said afterwards, and I asked her about it, I have to look at what qualities we need and who's been performing. and if I look at Lisa, yes, she's 19 years old, but the way she presents herself, she's so mature, so calm, so composed, such a good understanding of the game. She's worked extremely hard in training and off the pitch, she's very engaged in meetings.

10:51She's so invested and had a really good pre-season and we felt she was ready to start. Now, again, we've only seen two of the pre-season games, but certainly in the Paris FC and Charlton games, I'd certainly agree with that assessment. We know she scored against Manchester City in pre-season as well. I don't believe she scored in the Everton 6-1 game. Caitlin Ford did, though, scoring that game. So, yeah, I wasn't hugely surprised, even if I thought that Chloe Kelly might get the nod. But I'm with you as well in that I wanted to see that. I don't know if risk is the right word, but that little bit of, yeah, just that little bit of devilment in there.

11:35And actually, when you look at it, you know, because Churchy and Reuteler weren't in the squad, like Baum's the only change there, really, from last season. But Baum and Smith, I think that's such an exciting pair of wingers. And actually, we saw Lisa Baum play on the left. We might look at the good and bad of that. But I mean, the other thing I think that sticks out here as well, Jamie, is Onabarche, Misa, Georgia Stanway, Lisa Bowne. That's four players in the starting lineup making their debuts. And I do think that showed at times in this game.

12:13Jamie: Certainly. I couldn't agree. I think that I couldn't agree more. I think that there were definitely gaps and gaps that are maybe a little bit concerning. The biggest one I recognized was on the left side. I think when we had Lisa Baum in the left side, that was really positive. I think that the outlier here was Onabache, and I'll talk about that in relation to Steph Catley, which I think was a bigger concern. But in terms of Arsenal's attack, I think there was a lot of time where it was quite clogged because both Lisa Baum and Onabache wanted to go inside, and they wanted to take the space in the middle of the pitch, which forced Brighton into a really, really easy kind of press.

12:47Jamie: And I think that they really figured out that in the first 20 minutes, it's Arsenal really trying to control the ball. And I thought it was really, really exciting the way that we were controlling possession, especially with midfield triangles. But Brighton just kind of caught onto that and said, no, we can just manage our press, sit back a little bit because they're kind of stepping on each other's feet. And I think that Lisa Baum and Ana Baccia did that quite a lot. Almost every time Baccia goes to overlap, she comes in on the inside, especially in the first half and kind of clogs up that space for Lisa Baum.

13:13Jamie: And then like Alessia Russo is obviously someone that's going to drop into that 10. So it just felt very condensed. And I think that just comes with time, Tim. that comes with communication and these players playing more together. But the other thing that I thought was concerning, and we're going to come on to the play-by-play, but obviously Brighton get a really good early chance through Kiko Sekian. That's a ball over behind. Steph Catley and on about, yeah, just I don't think know where each other are and there's so much space between them. And I think that happens quite a few times. I think the goalkeeper does a really good job and also the midfielders do a good job later on in ensuring that doesn't happen as much, that kind of overlapping ball over the top that Brighton like to do so much with Kiko Seiki.

13:50Jamie: But yeah, I thought that that partnership needs a lot of work in terms of communication because like you almost instantly think in that moment, Katie McCabe kind of comes in and swoops that ball. But on a batch instead, there's a lot of space between her and Steph Catley. So yeah, that was where I saw the concern the most. I actually thought Misa Rodriguez was fantastic in this game and she definitely saved Arsenal a lot. But yeah, that left side, Tim, I definitely think needs some work. Yeah, definitely. And unfortunately, I completely forgot to press the record on my phone. But I did ask Arturo Ruiz afterwards about that, about the fact that Brighton were clearly targeting that side.

14:26And, you know, the chance you referenced, it's a great long kick from Nadozi as well, who I think might put it in with a shout as the best goalkeeper in the WSL at the moment. But it's an amazing long kick. She puts her studs on the ball. She waits for the Arsenal players to edge forwards. And then she smashes it over the top. and yeah CK is a really really good player as well it's a good save by Misa but it wasn't the only time in fact one of the easiest ways to tell what a team has been told to do is to look at their first attack when the instructions are freshest Brighton put that ball over the top straight from centre so it was very clear that was very much part of their plan when I asked Archie Ruiz about it afterwards I said like was that more about CK or was that more about Ana Barche and he kind of said both and obviously he coached in Spain and he said I know Ana very very well you know because I've coached against her a lot so yeah I think there are certainly spacing concerns I think maybe there are some concerns about having a lot of right footers in the team I still feel like that balance isn't quite there and I think that's part of why Misa is in goal so definitely some things to sort out there however Arsenal take an early lead and one of the questions I asked of Rene quite consistently in the pre-season was you know about turning some of these draws from last season into victories getting some of that you know players coming up with individual moments I mean, Lisa Baum collects it inside left.

16:07She moved in very central quite a lot. Didn't see a lot of support when she looked up. And so she decided, OK, if there's nothing doing, I'll do it myself. And, you know, I feel like this is the sort of moment we just didn't quite see enough of last season. And what a way for this player to announce herself.

16:30Jamie: I couldn't agree more. My excitement levels when this ball hits the back of the net is much the same of when Olivia Smith scored on debut against London City last season, this time last season in the opening weekend. Like, oh, okay, we've got ourselves a little bit of a player here. And absolute, like, that's just an individual goal of brilliance, Tim. And that's like, like you just said, it's exactly what Arsenal are crying out for, especially in these closer games. Like you just have a player, they break the line, they go themselves and they put it top corner. It's an absolutely stellar goal.

16:59Jamie: and a goal that's dripping in confidence for a player that's so young. It's her first game in a really big league. And I just think this goes to show that there's a big prospect here for Lisa Baum, and I really, really admire that. And I think there's a couple of times where she loses out these duels, but it doesn't deter her confidence, and that's another sign of a player that really – like she has X factor, but she also really is persistent, and I think that's important. So, yeah, it's a fantastic goal, but I think the biggest thing I recognize from Lisa Baum in this game team is she's really, really good at picking her moments.

17:29Jamie: Like she knows when this is appropriate. She gets another chance in the second half, but also she knows when it's appropriate to take it to the line and cut it back and find someone in the box. And I think that comes with time as well. I think those connections are still building. And sometimes their decision-making is still like, she's a little bit immature. She's 19, but there's signs of a player here that knows when she should be doing the right things. And yeah, this is just an unbelievable goal. And yeah, it reminded me of Lauren James on Saturday at Stanford bridge. It's just, here's your player.

17:56Jamie: Here's your star. And this is the player that's going to break the game open. And so, yeah, fantastic. I celebrated that one extremely hard, I must say. Yeah. And I think we said this on the last pod, like physically she's there. I think there's no, you know, she may well physically develop yet because she's only 19. But even if she didn't, she's, you know, she's quite big. She's quite built. So there's no kind of concerns there. Whereas I guess when we had someone like Rosa Kofadji, you know, that's more of a question. and obviously where she plays out wide, I do think it's better for young players in those positions.

18:35But yeah, this was just a really nice example of someone having a good pre-season, the manager going, cool, you've had a great pre-season, you've earned your spot, and that player just like taking it into the actual season. And you know, at that point, we've had negative results really at Brighton the last two seasons. And in both those occasions, we've got a goal down. Was it 4-2 or 5-2? I think it was 4-2, wasn't it? Two seasons ago, drew 1-1 last season, having gone behind. So to get ahead in this game felt very, very important for me. And then, really, Arsenal should score a second. There's an Olivia Smith pullback for Russo, and she skies it.

19:20There's one which is much more down to very good goalkeeping, where Georgia Stanway puts Russo in behind and Ndosey. The speed with which Nidozi gets off her line is incredible. And she's literally outside the area, but she manages to save it with her legs. So two really good chances there. And I feel like, Jamie, if those chances had dropped to Russo in May, they probably would have gone in. What do you reckon?

19:49Jamie: Oh, my God. September last year, Russo gives me nightmares. I hate it so much. I can't watch her in September. But to be honest, I think last season we played West Ham in September and I think she bagged a brace away or something. In the last minute, yeah, she got two in stoppage time, yeah. See, that doesn't even count. That's not even September, Alessia. She freaks me out at the start of every WSL season. The first season with Jonas was like, oh, no, that wasn't too bad, the Villa goal. But then the second season with Jonas was horrendous. There's something about Alessia Russo kind of growing into the season that we love her for because she's always there when it matters.

20:26Jamie: Like, don't get me wrong. She's always there when it matters. But at the start of the season, there's always a little bit of a shake. And, like, this is a forgivable miss in the context of the 1-0 win, but I think we'd be probably saying other things had Brighton equalized later on in the game. But, yeah, I think this is just the killer instinct we're crying out for because this is a world-class player that is so, so talented and such a team player. Her work rate is incredible. The way she moves the ball is incredible. Her hold-up play is amazing. but it's just this kind of killer instinct when you see Bunny Shaw scoring two goals on match day one and Lauren James scoring from from just making a goal for herself you're like this is the player we need Russo to be but I do think the player is there and I think she will appear but it's September so let's wait a couple weeks because it won't happen anytime soon but yeah there's a couple there's a couple instances in this game team where in the first half I was actually really excited like just after the Lisa Baum goal goes in I'm watching these players move the ball and I'm like, oh, this is good.

21:20Jamie: This is Spanish. I like this. And then, and then we kind of sit off and we miss those chances. And that's the arsenal that I think we will see because the chances are there, which is what matters. It's just about finishing them. So yeah, frustrating, but I'm still positive. Yeah. I think Russo is just one of those players. She really needs a rhythm. She's, she's one of those players that like just needs, I think she needs to play every game basically. Like she's just one of those, she's in that rhythm of playing twice three times a week has been for a few years and then you give her a few months off and you probably do like some cobwebs accumulate um you know i remember kim going on loan one summer once um you know to to rain because she was a bit like i can't be doing four months off like it it doesn't suit me type thing and yeah but i think you're right like she's someone who builds into a season.

22:15But you referenced it there, Jamie. After that, in the second half, it was a much cagey game. Not a huge amount of chances on either side. I think Arsenal stem the flow of that long ball in behind Bacchier. But I think there was still quite a lot of times she was isolated against CK. There's one shot that deflects wide, just wide, probably one of their better chances as a pullback to Brighton's number 33, whose name has escaped me for a second, that kind of goes over the bar. I mean, the second half, I think it was quite clear quite early that, okay, we're grinding this out now. This isn't going to be 2-0 or 3-0.

23:03We're going to try and win this 1-0. How did you see the second half? And I guess where do you sit on the spectrum of, oh, that's a bit concerning, we stopped flowing or, you know, are you more on the kind of side of, well, it's the first game of the season. There's lots of new players. We showed we could grind it out. Like how did you feel about that second half?

23:27Jamie: Yeah, I'm not concerned, to be honest, Tim. I'm really not. I think when you look at this, let's compare it to last season or the end of the Champions League winning season, which is what we're calling it now. We don't go by calendar years. I think when Arsenal kind of went one or two nil up, you really saw against these teams and you saw it against Brighton at the Emirates. Like you, they, we dug our heels in, we absolutely drew blood and we like, we, we made sure that everyone knew that we could score goals. But I think that stemmed from our defense was the best part of our team. Like it was the most solid part of our team.

23:56Jamie: Last season, it was, we weren't conceding any goals to like bottom of the half, bottom of the table teams. We were really like bashing out these wins against your Aston Villas and teams like that. And I think that came from the fact that we were so solid at the back and our defensive record was so good. And every week we kind of said like another clean sheet for Arsenal, another clean sheet for Arsenal. And I think this season there's been a lot of change and you take someone like Katie McCabe out of the team. And I know I've said her name twice this podcast and I do feel dispensary with myself, but that's a big part of the defense.

24:24Jamie: And I also think Leah Williamson, Steph Catley, despite the fact that they're our starting center backs, they're not playing a lot together because of injury. And this is a team that I think defensively, you've got a new goalkeeper. Misa Rodriguez plays a very different brand of football than someone like Daphna Van Domslaas, same with Zannika Bourba. So I do view it as a Rene Slager's like maybe a halftime chat between all the coaches looking at this and saying, look, there's a threat at the back and it's a real threat because it's not just Brighton are going to try to exploit Arsenal's weaknesses.

24:50Jamie: Brighton have a lot of firepower and attack. Like they can hurt Arsenal, irregardless of Arsenal's setup because they are a very good team and they will be. So I do think it's probably one of those situations that's like, we're just going to have to change the way we're playing this second half and kind of adapt to that. And I don't think this is the way Arsenal are going to play football all season. But I just think, yeah, this is just growing pains. And it's probably just been a decision to play, not a defensive brand, but just a more reserved brand of football, less movement up the pitch. And I think that's totally okay.

25:18Jamie: I think that these are the games we need to grind out. You mentioned it was 4-2 at Crawley. Then it was a draw last season. You look at Chelsea on the weekend. And to be honest, the games look quite similar to me, like one exciting player scores a goal and then they kind of take their foot off the gas and then the opposition gets back in. And I thought we're kind of destined for that same outcome. But the difference between this and most seasons is where the team that usually drops points on opening weekend and Chelsea are the team that kind of grind out the hard result when they don't really look their best.

25:46Jamie: So yeah, I'm not concerned, Tim. I'm not concerned. I think it's really important in these away days, just get the three points and run and build on the performance. Yeah, definitely. And I think that goes into, we'll discuss some of the subs next, because I kind of know what my take is on the subs. So the two wide players, Lisa Bam and Olivia Smith, come off in about 62 minutes. Caitlin Ford and Chloe Kelly come on. You get Steiner for Mariana and Russo goes into the 10 after that. I have a view on the subs that I don't think is that widely shared. What was your view on the kind of substitutions and the impact that they had on the game?

26:27Jamie: I thought the substitutions were very pre-planned. I think this is something we've seen of Rene Slagers for a while now and something that we probably criticise her on a little bit. I'm not necessarily saying that that is a bad thing because I think I would have done the same thing in this game. You bring on players that kind of just tighten the pitch a bit. The pitch was so wide before that. I think Arsenal were just playing like a really, really expansive brand of football. You bring on Caitlin Ford and Chloe Kelly and they both know how to hold their position. I think the pitch suddenly becomes a lot smaller and that is what Arsenal want to do to Brighton.

26:58Jamie: They kind of want to suffocate them, make it a cagey game and close out the 90 minutes. And I think that works because as much as Arsenal don't look great, Brighton don't look great in the second half either. They have a handful of chances, but so do we and none of them really look completely killer. So, yeah, I think that this is – it worked. It definitely made Arsenal look less exciting and I think that's fair enough from a criticism point. But I do think like bringing the freedom on and bringing the Chloe Kelly, bringing the Caitlin Ford, like the Stena Black-Stanis, dropping Alessia Russo into the 10, And like you're going to for a game that's going to, a team that's going to control the game.

27:30Jamie: And Russo dropping into the 10 made sense because I think Arsenal kind of lost that midfield flow a little bit. So yeah, I think it was reserved. I think they were planned. They weren't particularly exciting, but I think I, if I'm a manager and I'm not for a reason, but if I was, I probably would have done the same thing. Yeah, no, I'm with you. Yeah. I thought they were quite good containment subs. I think Caitlin, I think we're going to see Caitlin do this a lot this season. um come off the bench to help close games out i think she's better when games are a bit more stretched and obviously we know she does her work going in both directions um but i felt that the sub that made probably the biggest difference was steena because what she does at the exact point that brighton really want to step out and go for the equalizer she makes you step back basically so in one respect it's kind of a containment sub because you're you're pushing you're trying to push it you're either saying to a team back off a bit otherwise steen is getting in behind you yeah but she like she has a good chance as well when she's kind of put through on goal albeit the ball kind of gets it gets bogged down a little bit in the turf and she She didn't really get it out of her feet, but she also has that threat.

28:49But I love the job Caitlin did. Chloe Kelly, very unfancy, six, seven out of 10. But yeah, absolutely just made that pitch a little bit smaller. I think Brighton barely had a shot really after those subs came on. I thought they did a really good job of closing the game out. Just in closing, I think the midfield is a really, really interesting part of this. and the direction that the Arsenal midfield is going to go in. And obviously, Georgia Stamway is a massive, you know, that's obviously a massive player to bring in. But what she does is so different. And I think, you know, at least nominally at first, we're going to see that kind of Stamway, little Mariana with a lot of swapping between the three.

29:35It almost feels like three number eights in midfield. And that might take some time to work out. But I asked Renee about Stanway afterwards, who completed the most passes, the most forward passes, the most passes into the final third, the most cross field passes. Like, I think she had over 100 passes overall in the game, highly involved. And when I asked Renee about her, about George Stanway, she said she brings something different to our team, which we wanted. we pride ourselves on progressing the ball through the lines with short pass combinations but we also need something different so we become more unpredictable and I think you've seen today that Georgia has the quality of playing bigger and looks bigger so that brings a different dynamic to our midfield it also inspires other mid players to look for similar things I think just the next step is for us to balance that really well because today we wanted to go in behind Brighton when they had a high line and we had a lot of speed up top we just have to balance when we do what that's exactly the impression I had Jamie I think George is such a great addition for all those reasons that she's got a longer range of pass but I think you could see some of the details in in all three of the midfielders about when to go for that big pass when to go for the first time ball when to hold it and wait for the moment.

31:04You know, you can tell that it's quite a new look midfield and maybe we're asking Kim and Mariana to do different things and maybe reducing our reliance on them a little bit. In a slightly nerdy, not entertaining way, I felt like the midfield was one of the most interesting parts of the game for Arsenal.

31:23Jamie: This is so true and so exciting of Georgia Stanway because can I be honest, Tim, like this is a player I've always seen as like a very progressive player. She's aggressive in the way she likes to get the ball up the pitch, whether that's by foot or she's very good at taking the space as well. I think that we see a lot of that for England because she's forced to play a more attacking role because they have Kira Walsh in the six. So this is a player I really thought was kind of going to add like a lot of like flair and kind of like oomph is the only way I can describe it to this Arsenal midfield.

31:54Jamie: But what I saw against Brighton was a player that will control the ball and pull the strings. And And I've never really viewed Georgia Stanway as that kind of central midfielder that's going to slow down time and pick out the pass. And I think that she can do both. There's a couple of times where she likes to slam the ball over the top. She'll really hit a hard tackle. But this is a player that I didn't realize was maybe as technical as I have ever given her credit for, which is an exciting thing for Arsenal. And something I wanted to touch on, which is something you kind of finished with just there, was I think it allows our other midfielders to not be that.

32:25Jamie: and allows our other midfielders to be a more creative player or you can be a more defensive player in transition. And I think that we have Kim Little for the last so many years doing that kind of role of slowing down play, taking the ball and kind of being that maestro. And then our other midfielders have kind of had to be the ones that are going and pushing up the pitch. But now suddenly you've got another player that can do that alongside Kim Little. It opens up Kim to be able to do other things. And look, I think we saw the negative side of that a little bit on the weekend. I think that there was a couple moments where I think Kim and Mariano were maybe a little bit lost in that midfield because Georgia came in and she said, no, this is kind of my midfield.

33:01Jamie: And like, it's almost a little bit like you're the new signing, but you've kind of overran and you're the star of the show now. And I think it caused the other two to look a little lost, which is an insane thing to say. But I think we're going to have a situation here where we have three players that are similar in position, completely different in style. And that's something that we can really balance against other opponents. but also I think they need to balance within each other. And that I just think simply comes with time. Like that comes with time playing together because you have to know each other's movements and behaviors.

33:31Jamie: And I also think it's going to, it's going to force out like a lot of traits in those other two players. And Georgia is going to have to also be a different player depending on, on, on how, how Kim and Marion or what role they're playing and how they're performing. But yeah, I want to say I've never seen Georgia as a kind of like midfield maestro. I've always looked at Kira Walsh as the kind of like nice and calm midfielder, but I thought Georgia just, yeah, she ran the show and it was so, so exciting. Yeah, definitely. And I think it maybe also reduces some of the dependence on Leah Williamson to hit some of those.

34:04It feels like there are two players kind of at the base of the team that can do that now. So 1-0 to the Arsenal. We'll perhaps tease this out in some of the questions, but I think it's always this way on the first day of the season. and it's a small sample size one game and you never quite know how to feel. Like, was this a really good 1-0 at a place where we've struggled and we won it with a bit of inspiration? Or could this, as you said, Jamie, could this easily have been like the Aston Villa game for Chelsea? Was it the same old, same old, but the variants went our way this time? I think a lot of that is TBC in the coming weeks and Arsenal got a lot of difficult fixtures.

34:50So I just think it was so important to get this three points on the board because we're going to have to, I think, understand and appreciate that we might drop some points in the next couple of weeks. So getting this on the board was hugely important. Should we take a break there? Let's do it. We'll take a break and we'll come back in part two with your questions submitted on Blue Sky right after this.

35:19Hi, Podfans. Max here. Barry's here too. Hello. And now the Premier League is back, Barry, meaning we'll be providing incredibly astute analysis three times a week wherever you get your podcasts. Barry, with the remaining 10 seconds of this advert, can you provide some astute analysis? I think Arsenal are going to win the Premier League. And there you are. For more hot takes like that, watch or listen to Football Weekly wherever you get your podcasts. This ad is sponsored by ZocDoc. Hi, it's Danny Pellegrino from Everything Iconic. Have you been putting off that annual doctor's appointment because you don't want to make the call?

35:47Or maybe you've been meaning to find a new dentist, but you have no idea where to start. I find that's especially true when you move. It's hard to find your people. I've been there, which is why I use ZocDoc. Now, as a busy podcaster, parent, and someone who's always juggling a million things, I love anything that makes life easier. And ZocDoc lets you search and compare local in-network doctors with over 250 ,000 providers across more than 200 specialties. You can read reviews from real patients, find a provider who feels like the right fit, see actual appointment openings and book instantly.

36:18I recently had a last-minute health issue pop up and needed to see someone fast. Instead of calling around or sitting on hold, I found a doctor on ZocDoc and booked an appointment in just a few minutes. It made the whole process so much less stressful. Now, taking care of your health just got easier. Download the ZocDoc app today. That's ZocDoc, Z-O-C-D-O-C, and book that appointment on your to-do list. Waiting for your sign? Here it is. Shop Labor Day appliance deals at Lowe's before they're gone. Get up to 45 % off select major appliances. Plus, get free delivery, haul-away, installation and parts, and a two-year Lowe's protection plan on purchases of$999 or more.

37:02Labor Day deals are on now at Lowe's. In-store and online. Valid through 916, while supplies last. Selection varies by location. See Lowe's.com for more details.

37:16Hello and welcome back to the Arsenal Women Ask Cast on askblog.com with Tim Stillman and Jamie Spanger looking over Arsenal's opening day victory in Crawley, 1-0 at Brighton. The sun was out in Crawley. I've been there a lot of times. I don't think I've ever seen the sun. Any of the times I've been there. The last time I was, well, not quite the last time because I went to the rearranged match, but I watched the pitch inspection first time around, which was a first for me, a very exciting one. So as ever, for those of you who are new to the format, that basically Jamie and I will talk over the game.

37:51In the first half of the podcast, second half of the podcast, we go for listener questions submitted on Blue Sky. And a lot of the questions deal with a lot of the things we've kind of talked about in the first half, which kind of says that there are some quite clear themes from this game, even if it wasn't an absolute classic. What about, I'm going to start with this one from Matt Swift. Given it was the first match and maybe you can't draw too much into it, it did seem far too easy for Brighton to break our back line. We had two yellow cards for professional fouls, which shows this. We could easily have done a Chelsea.

38:34What do you think can be done to fix this? Is it just a matter of time, Jamie, or were there things that were more concerning for you there?

38:43Jamie: No, this is a fabulous question. I think that this has a couple of things to it. Obviously, we spoke a lot about the Batye and Catley partnership. I think that needs bucket loads of work on it. The other thing is I think two seasons ago, Arsenal had a real issue in transition when other teams would kind of counterattack. And that was one of the big issues against Brighton in that game. And we just looked a bit slow at the back. and I remember talking about it in the preseason a year ago and thinking like this is going to be an issue and it wasn't. Arsenal did a really good job at managing that actually and I don't know if it was kind of like opponents struggle to pick it out, but I also think that's probably a problem that we have to revisit, especially because you're looking at a midfield now where we do lack a CDM and I think that's not a squad planning issue, that's not a recruitment issue, that's purely what the manager wants to play with.

39:26Jamie: So it's now going to be about like how do we fix that. I also think you look at this and think if Daphna Van Domslaar as the goalkeeper in this team. She plays a lot higher. She's a sweeping goalkeeper and that's another like big fix. But I also think it's important that we are an Arsenal women podcast, but there is like, we're playing against a team every week and I think Brighton have their own tactics. And this is one of their tactics every week, not just against Arsenal. It's not just about pointing out a weakness in Arsenal. And that's definitely something, there's a vulnerability, but this is how they like to play a lot of their football because of who they have and their player profiles up front, especially with Kiko Seiki down the right.

40:00Jamie: And she was playing as a nine last season and almost always they were putting that ball over the top. So I think that you need to recognize as well that there's an opposition at play here, but I completely empathize with what Matt's saying. I think there's vulnerabilities. I do think there's a time thing. I am still a little bit worried about our pace at the back and how the recovery speed is going to be with Steph Catley in left-centre-back if on a bat, yeah, kind of plays that wide role. So there is definitely concerns. I think Daphna van Dompla is a massive band-aid to that, and I do expect her to probably be the number one once she's finally fit.

40:31Jamie: But yeah, I also think, yeah, like recognizing that that's the way Brighton play and they're good at it. But Arsenal didn't concede, which is an important part of that as well. Yeah, I think on us, something we'll come back to, particularly in other questions. Do you have a question for me? I do. This one's maybe more of a positive one. I mean, you can spin it if you want to, Tim. I don't know. This is from atlexiem1987. Bauman Russo look to be a formidable force once they really connect. What other partnerships do you think will form that will be game changers for us? Yeah, I think one of the ones that actually Rene alluded to in preseason, we played Mariana off the left in that Charlton game, which I think was mainly because Chloe Kelly wasn't available.

41:16However, I do think it was interesting we did that over and above Caitlin Ford, who I think will be kind of much more of a, We'll have a slightly reduced off-the-bench kind of role this season. But I'm looking forward to Lisa Baum and Russo in particular, or even Steiner when she plays up front. Because Lisa Baum, she came inside a lot in this game, and she did that off the right during pre-season a lot as well. And there were times in possession where it just looked like two centre forwards, basically and Lisa Baum she looks like a centre forward as well she has the physical profile for one and so I think once some of those players start to understand one another's movements I think you'll have something very very exciting as well and I kind of think not a partnership in a sense because they'll be on other sides of the pitch but I just I can already see Lisa Baum and Olivia Smith just being the wingers for quite a long time in this team, which I think is hugely exciting.

42:28Clearly, the Onabarche-Catley one needs some work as well. But I also think Stanway, and this is going to sound weird, Stanway and Olivia Smith, Georgia Stanway's got such a great diagonal pass. and actually whoever's on the right basically I think we're going to see so much more of that pass of Georgia Stanway picking the ball up between the centre backs and smashing a big diagonal out over to the right hand side I think we saw that quite a bit in the Paris and Charlton games we saw it here as well you know just that ability to go a little bit longer from the base of the team rather than, you know, if you remember like last October, we were having this conversation after playing Brighton about how the build-up just felt so laboured and it felt a bit like we were asking Mariana and Kim Little to push a boulder up a hill just to get the ball into the final third.

43:31And I think being able to access particularly those wingers much more quickly is going to be such a huge thing for us. I also think Misa will be important as a left footer at the base of the team. I think that was part of the calculus of her signing, particularly because we're going to have a right footed left back, whoever plays there. And I wouldn't mind betting that we do see Emily Fox at left back quite a bit this season and maybe her and Honour swapping a little bit. So I do think there are some really exciting partnerships And I do think that kind of Stanway Mariana little trio, I think there's a lot of potential in that.

44:18I looked at that and thought, yeah, I see the potential here. I looked at some of the stuff with Honor and Steph Catley, and I thought it needs work. I'm confident that work can be done. But at the same time, I've perhaps got slightly more concerns about that. But we'll see about that. How about this one, Jamie, from Andrew Gambrell? We talked about the substitutes. were the substitutions of Mariana, who came off with about 20 minutes to go, which we don't usually see, and Alessia, partly statements of intent and an acknowledgement of our over-reliance on them last season. So these were not players that were getting substituted very much at all, Jamie, especially not when we were 1-0 up in difficult games away from home.

45:01Jamie: Yeah, fabulous. I don't know if statement of intent is what Renee's doing, but I think she's also saying to her squad, like everyone has a role now. And I think that's great. Like from an Arsenal fans perspective, I want to see our best players getting subbed off and still winning the game and not conceding because it means that our squad depth is there. I think what's interesting and what I'm excited to see the evolution of Tim is that it's kind of the same players we already know coming on. And obviously Georgia Stanway starting, so that's a bit different, but you still got your freedom on them's coming on.

45:29Jamie: Chloe Kelly, Caitlin Ford, but suddenly the players around them can kind of fill in those gaps if you're taking off the two stars because like Mariona and Alessio have been our stars for the last two years. They've carried us almost always. So I think that's interesting as well as it's not like necessarily we're bringing on Roy Tiller and Cersei for Mariona and De Russo. It's you're bringing on the similar faces and the players around them are being forced to adapt. So I think it just says it's a testament to the squad depth. I think it's a testament to maybe as well like the opposition. I don't think this was a game for Mariona because of the way Brighton were playing and I think that Rene can recognise that.

46:03Jamie: So it's not just here's our squad depth. It's also just this is a personnel issue and we're going to bring on a player. Like Freedom Ornham is a very physical player in that midfield and I think that that brings Arsenal a lot. And if you drop Russo into the 10, it's almost the exact same thing, but probably to an enhanced level, to be honest. So, yeah, I think there's a bit of personnel. This isn't the game for our stars, but also at the same time, like it's a testament to the squad depth and you've still got more players coming into that as well in Geraldine, Roy Taylor and Selena Cersei. So, yeah, I think that's a good thing.

46:33Jamie: It does show over-reliance, but we can still grind out results, which is, yeah, thank God. I'm taking a big, deep exhale for anyone that can't hear it. It's about time. Yeah, it does feel like we've got, and again, the season overall will be the test of it. It feels like we've got fewer redundant players to me, if that makes sense. I don't feel like Rene particularly wanted to use Laia Kadina last season, but there were occasions where she kind of felt she had to. I kind of feel like it got that way with Victoria Pilova as well. Like you go from this is a player I want to use to this is a warm body.

47:15And it feels like we have fewer at the moment, you know, warm bodies as it were. Do you have a question for me?

47:23Jamie: I do. This one, we kind of spoke about this a little bit earlier, but I'm interested to see what you made of Honours' performance. and this one is from Dunk Nap. There seem to be numerous opportunities for either Baum or Batier to overlap and link up down the left wing during the game, but Honor seem to prefer coming back inside. Is this just something that's a work in progress, similar to Stefan Honor spacing on the left side at the back? So I guess what you made of Honor and her profile and where you think the positives and negatives are. Yeah, I still think there are maybe some curiosity tears or question marks about honour at left back.

48:01I think most of us recognise her much more as a right back. She has played at left back very effectively and she's played entire seasons at left back before. So it's not totally foreign to her, but it's still at the same time, you'd say right back is her best position. And I've always been curious about that and taking another left footer out of the team. um it's one of those things with lisa bound playing on the left wing because i you know i get my two questions and um i usually get first dibs and sometimes you kind of have to try and anticipate is someone else going to ask this and so i didn't ask about why lisa played on the left and uh i thought someone else might ask it um but they didn't um which not criticism people asked very good questions, but I was just a bit like, oh, I think someone might ask that.

48:58So I'm going to go for, because we did see Lisa on the right in both those pre-season games. We didn't see her on the left at all. So clearly there was a reason for that. And I'd say it probably hadn't been workshopped that much. I think also with Honor and Steph Catley, they had overlapping injuries in pre-season. So steps started a bit late and then Anna got a concussion and missed a couple of games. And so they haven't had a load of games together. But I am interested because I think with Anna as well, she's got, of all the new signings, she's got the most thankless task in a way because she's replacing a player who's been there for like 10 years, basically, who's been the left back certainly eight years, I'd say, really.

49:49And, you know, and played nearly every single game there. So you're like Arsenal playing without Katie McKay, but left back is weird still. And it's going to be weird for a while because she was there for so long and she missed so few games. And then to go for, you know, I'm not sure if there are other like Katie McKay profiles out there really, but then to go for Onabache, who's right footed. I think it's quite a big change. And then on top of that, you know, you've got quite a new young winger in front of her who is also clearly being asked to go inside quite a lot, which probably exposed us a little bit.

50:31So I think in short, it probably wasn't the debut we all envisaged for Anna. At the same time, I think she was burdened much more than probably any other player on the pitch. She was given a very, very difficult task there. I think the fact she was given that shows that the manager has a lot of trust in her. That's not a normal thing to do to a debutante to say, right. Usually you overload players like Kim Little or Mariana. Do you know what I mean? You go, right, you're big players. You're in your 30s. You can handle this. So clearly Rene has a very high opinion of Onabache, which I think is right.

51:15I think most people do, but I think on the day, maybe she was just given a little bit too much to do in a position that's going to take a little bit of time. So I'm not going to lie and say I thought she was great. I didn't. But at the same time, I do think that there's a pretty significant context there. However, the question is, if and when does that context go away? and I can't be absolutely firm that it will be like, oh yeah, next game will be absolutely fine. Like it might take a while. It might. It might not, but it might. I think it's the biggest change in the team, Jamie. What do you reckon?

51:59Jamie: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think that this is one that you just have to kind of see as it goes on. I think that there's a lot of variables in terms of a performance because we're used to a player that is kind of, misses consistent and has played a role for a long time. And I think when you insert someone who's like, all in all, like she's not a left back, like it's very hard for us to like put her in that position against a counterattacking team and say like, let's judge your, your, your performance based on this. Because I think that there's naturally like going to be growing pains when she's playing as, as a left, but a right footed left back.

52:31Jamie: And I know she played there a lot for Barcelona, but this is a different league. This it's a lot more physical. And like, I think that you've got a lot more pace involved as well. So I'm like hesitant to judge on Abacier based on this sample size, because I think that there is a lot of positives to her game as well. And like I said earlier, I think when you're going up the pitch, like this is, it's so hard. Like it's so hard to compare her to what we've been used to, because I just think like, it's not even a case of you don't know what you have until it's gone. Because like, I'm, I'm happy with the players we have in this squad, but Katie McCabe is one of the most intelligent players that I think the WSL has seen in the way that she knew when to come inside and pick up pockets of space.

53:09Jamie: and go down the wing is something that I don't think is a normal attribute. And I think we took it for granted a lot. And then suddenly you have a player entering a new team in a new league. Obviously, she's played in the WSL before, but that was under different circumstances, very different playing style in Manchester United. So I think that there's obviously going to be concerns and there's going to be concerns from players around her on the pitch as well because someone like Steph Catley is probably like she's at the latter end of her career. She's not as quick in transition. She's probably used to relying on the goalkeeper and the left back to kind of bandaid that a little bit.

53:42Jamie: So, yeah, I'm not concerned. I think that like you can't judge a performance based on the sample size because I think there's a lot of positive attributes with this player. I worry a little bit about her height, but that's something that I think that you also look at and you say, look, we've got a taller winger now as well. So it almost feels like you've kind of won one, you've lost one. So it'll be interesting to see. I think the biggest thing I'm interested in, Tim, is Onabache's connection with Lisa Baum. And how they kind of tease that out. Because I do think that was like an area where there was so much potential, but they kept stepping on each other's feet.

54:14Jamie: And when you have a striker like Alessia Risa, who's not an in-the-box striker, she's a get-involved striker, that's time. So, yeah, I'm interested to see where this goes. I just think, yeah, there's going to be a lot of growing pains on that left side because there's a big hole that needs to be filled. And I think it will, but I don't think we can make judgments on that quite yet. yeah and it would just be interesting to see if we see lisa baum on the left again because we didn't really like not clear on whether she played there in some of the behind closed doors games she didn't play there paris and charlton so um was that just about brighton um and a specific weakness they saw there which to be fair how do we win the game where does the goal come from so ultimately ultimately the idea certainly worked but yeah i'll be interested to see whether we see her there again again for a game.

55:03And again, that's just something we don't know yet. Should we do one more each and get out of here?

55:10Jamie: Let's do it. Okay. We both had a bite on that one. I tell you what, why didn't you ask one? And then I think the one I've got is potentially quite a good conclusion-y type question. Okay. This one's a little bit more about the midfielders, I guess, Tim. I'm excited to hear what you have to say. but this one's from Annie25. Do you think the three midfielders need more time together? Mariona dropping deep and wanted to have the game in front of her, left Russo off and alone with two centre-backs. It also made Lisa move into the middle a few times and Honour became vulnerable. Stina coming on and Alessia dropping into the 10 helped a lot, I think.

55:47Jamie: I guess what you made of the midfield performance as a whole, not just Georgia Stanley. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I think what Annie says at the end of that question, there's kind of what I talked about with the subs having a bit of a stabilising effect. partly because of the types of player they are, but also, yes, because they're just familiar. So I do think there are some of those things there. Mariana has basically only really played in central midfield for us for the last little while, and maybe getting into that 10 role is going to take a game or two for her to get her eye back in there.

56:26at the same time it feels to me it doesn't feel like they're doing like a double pivot and a 10 or a six and an eight and a 10 it feels much more like a a carousel to me like when stanway picks the ball up between the center backs and distributes she then moves up a line she doesn't stay there and so i do think it's going to take time and i think one of like one of the issues Kyra had for example I think trying to break in is that like what Mariana and Kim are asked to do is highly complex but they're both world-class players you know Mariana we signed her at what 28 she's 30 now you know 28 29 30 Kim Little in her mid-30s these are two world-class players who've got lots and lots of experience and won you know pretty much every domestic honor several times so it's it's it's quite a big ask i think um so like in terms of your football intelligence to be in a renee slagas midfield and it looks like we're adding another wheel to that basically so so i do think like renee's uh midfield is is is very fluid and it probably will take a little bit of time.

57:44And I think you can see there's no kids there, right? Like Kim, Mariana, Georgia Stanway, Geraldine Reuteler, even Kyra now. They're all quite experienced players. And I think that kind of says something and they're all hybrid players. They're just going to have to kind of work out. I do think Stanway, Mariana and Little will be the midfield as it were for a little while and we'll see Geraldine Reuteler come into that. I think we'll see Kyra come in in certain game states and stuff. But I do think those will be the three for now and then we'll see how things go. But I'm excited by it though because I just think we've been too dependent on Mariana and Kim Little for too long and it couldn't go on like that, basically.

58:37Even the Champions League season, as you say, we kind of gave up on the league yeah you know like we haven't really had the ability to go in multiple competitions and I think the midfield setup being like this makes that more achievable rather than just saying hey Kim Mario uh four competitions um hope you guys uh can play 50 games you know it's that's just not going to work and I think Georgia I think also just Georgia having that long ball it almost kind of reduces the amount of work you do to get the ball up the pitch where you've got someone who can go do you know what i can do this in one pass um so yeah i'm i'm really excited about that bit of the team there are other bits i'm curious about there are bits i'm worried about but i'm not worried about this part i'm just i i do i see great things from it.

59:37How about we finish on this one? Because I think this kind of speaks to how you feel about the whole game. I think there's many ways you can take this game as to whether, you know, your glass is half empty or half full. And it's from at AKT11. I hope that username isn't based on the other KT11. I mean, look, maybe it isn't. And maybe you're fine with that. And I would be fine with that too I still have a lot of time for Katie McCabe but anyway as good as the win a previously difficult ground is it felt like what happened to Chelsea on Saturday could have happened to Arsenal a stardust player Balm LJ scores early and the team fails to convert further chances we spoke about that a bit but I mean the other question here is how do we stay on the right side of those margins this season I mean I think what that comes down to Jamie is how did you honestly feel after this?

1:00:33Did you honestly feel like that felt a bit like Arsenal Brighton has been the last few times, but the margin kind of went for us this time? Or did you feel like, no, I feel like there's a bit of a new Arsenal there and I'm confident those margins can come out for us on a regular basis?

1:00:53Jamie: I felt like I have watched too many games over the last few seasons where Chelsea and then Manchester City were grinding out results and three points that they probably didn't deserve, but they still won the league. And that is how I felt at the end of this Brighton game is this is an opponent and a ground that really bother us and opening day fixtures of the first three, four games of the season really do haunt us and derail our season. So I think I'm so traumatized by the arsenal of past that I thought, Hallelujah, this is all I ever wanted was three points against Brighton in Crawley because at the end of the day, it's three points in Brighton.

1:01:32In Brighton, where am I talking, Tim?

1:01:36Jamie: I've lost a spot. They're about 30 miles apart actually. In Crawley against Brighton is what I'm trying to say. I've been to Broadfield Stadium. It's horrible. So I'm glad we don't have to go back unless an FA Cup fixture arises. So no, to be completely honest, Tim, like it's, yeah, it's three points against a team that are a good team and I expect them to be a good team this season. But I can also completely understand what the question is saying if I'm being in all seriousness and I can say like, I think that this was a grinding out a result game, but I also think we were the better team. Like we were the better team.

1:02:07Jamie: I think we're the team that deserved the three points. I think there's plenty of positive signs. I know I am probably the radical optimist of this podcast and like sometimes it's a little bit delusional, but no, I think we're the team deserving of the three points. And at the end of the day, if we're grinding out that victory in the early stages of the season, when probably one of our title rivals are dropping points at Stamford Bridge, like that's really, really positive. So I'm looking at this with a positive lens. However, in five weeks, I guess if the same kind of issues are still having growing pains, I'll be putting my head through a wall.

1:02:35Jamie: But you can hear from me in October about that, guys. So yeah, no, I was positive, Tim. But maybe, maybe that's, maybe that's a me thing. I don't know. That's how I did. That's, that's my copium. Yeah, the XG had this as an Arsenal win. I think it was like 1.6 to 0.7 or something. So 1-0 was about right. Could have been 2-1. 2-0 could have been 2-1. The data had this as an Arsenal win and I think that was about right. I think it's just that like the big chances all came quite close together and then kind of dried up a little bit. Ultimately, I just don't, we're not going to know the answer to that for a few weeks.

1:03:14I think football is like that sometimes. You don't quite get the answer in one game and you kind of have to go, let's revisit this in three weeks. And maybe in three weeks time we're saying, you know what, that Brighton game, I could see it. I could see the problems. Or if things go well, we'll probably just never talk about it again because it will just be like, yep, that was the beginning of a great run. It's just one of those things we won't know for a little while. But I think the key thing for us is we've got to score more goals this season and killing games like this off is going to be a big part of that.

1:03:51But anyway, will that do for this one? that will do

1:03:55Jamie: three points Tim on to the next yeah absolutely so Arsenal play Crystal Palace at home on Sunday I'm doing a wonderful double whammy of Sunderland away at 8pm on Saturday night getting a lift home probably home about 3 3.30 in the morning then up and to the Emirates on Sunday so hopefully another six point weekend I'd be worried if Arsenal women didn't hold up their part of that bargain but we will come back with another podcast after that Crystal Palace game. Thank you for bearing with us through this. We had some technical issues. This was difficult to get going. And now I'm nervous about whether this is going to download and see the light of day.

1:04:40But if you're listening to this, it made it. And we're very, very happy. And we're very, very happy to have you again for another season. And we will speak to you next week after the Crystal Palace game.

1:05:00We'll see you next time.

1:05:24podcasts.