Episode 834 - A losing team

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1:44hello and welcome to a brand new arse blog arse cast right here on arseblog.com how are you Hope you're well. Thank you very much indeed, as always, for being here. You may have noticed a little change in the theme music. It's had a 2025 polishing upgrade, remix, whatever you want to call it. And a big thank you to Billy Lunn, who is the man who took our very old vintage. Is that a better way of putting it? But our original Arsecast theme from 2006, that's how long it has been going, and gave it a bit of a modern twist and also upgraded the quality of the audio as well, because over the years it is, I don't know, saving it as an MP3 here, MP3 there.

2:28I think it's lost, or it did lose a little bit of its sound quality. So thank you very much indeed to Billy for doing that. And before we get on with today's show, and I'm sure you've seen this across social media, an Arsecast listener, a long-time Arsecast listener, has had what you would call, I guess, a pretty good week on the work front. So congratulations to Zoran Mamdani, who is going to be the Democratic nominee to become the mayor of New York City. And we know he's an Arsecast listener because he did an interview with Vulture magazine, which you can find a link to in the show notes. And it was all about what he's listening to.

3:08And he picked the Arsecast and the Arsecast Extra as his podcast. So clearly a man of impeccable taste. Lots of people said we've got to get him on the podcast. I suspect he might be very, very busy over the coming weeks and months. But let's see. You never know. We might be able to make something happen there. And well done again to him. I love it when our listeners do well. I hope all of you are doing well. Don't I say that at the very start of every podcast? I do. And I mean it. And I especially mean it for the people who are trying to do good things in this world. This particular show is a slightly interesting one because until yesterday, there was literally nothing happening at all from a transfer perspective.

3:50But of course, we got the news about Christian Norgard about to sign from Brentford. And one of the consequences of that, or to put it slightly differently, a consequence of something else not happening means that Norgard is signing. But it looks like Thomas Partey is about to leave the club at the end of his contract on June 30th. So we will talk about that. But in the absence of all that news, I had to think of an idea that we could make a podcast out of. So today's show primarily is going to be me and my guest picking an Arsenal team to lose. Now, I know this is at odds with everything that I believe in because I always want Arsenal to win.

4:32I always want Arsenal to win every game. But I just thought it might be a bit of a fun thing to do to pick a team from the Emirates era with some certain criteria. which we'll lay out in a few moments time, that you have to lose this game. You have to pick a team full of players that you think are not going to win the game in question. Whatever the game is, Premier League game, Champions League, whatever. Just got to make sure that your team selection, your starting 11, has as little chance of winning the game as possible. So that's the outline. As I said, I will give you further criteria in a couple of moments time.

5:06after we talked about Norgaard and where it leaves us and the shape of our midfield, etc. So with me to do that and the team picking business is Lewis Ambrose. Good morning, Lewis. Good morning, Andrew. Nice to speak to you. Nice to speak to you too. It's been a while. A little post-season time off for the two of us. No preview podcast to do, but we're here. And I was envisaging a day of no news, but there is actually some news and that involves a midfield signing. Mikel Arteta does love him an experienced DM, doesn't he? Christian Norgard from Brentford is, as far as we know, on the verge of becoming an Arsenal player.

5:50And part of that appears to be the departure of Thomas Partey. But let's talk first about Norgard, 31 years of age, lots of Premier League experience, lots of international experience. coming in ostensibly to fill the Jorginho role because Martin Zubamendi has already been brought in to play Thomas Partey's role next season in the first team. So although the departure of Partey is more aligned to this one, it is more a case that he's coming in to play the Jorginho role. And I would imagine probably play a bit more than Jorginho did last season. Yeah, probably a little bit more. across all competitions especially right uh and i think joe jimio played a fair bit the season before as well but it's not like he was he was starting regularly not starting back to back games uh nine nine premier league starts 15 appearances uh i think maybe you'd see nor guard a little bit more often definitely off the bench and then yeah in the team for the games when maybe zubomendi doesn't play or if Declan Rice isn't available, if he doesn't play, maybe come in.

7:00So yeah, it's like you say, he likes an experienced midfielder. He likes a six foot plus midfielder as well. So I think we're all looking forward to Christian Norgard's emergency spell up front at some point next season. When all of the rest of the strikers that we sign and Mikel Moreno and Kaya, they're all injured. Listen, that's a bit of gallows humor, but I'm curious as to what you think about the profile of the player because he is 31 and there's an argument, maybe there's a couple of arguments, right? So let's do this first argument. If this player is going to be a backup player, maybe you go for somebody a little bit younger.

7:39So the links to Sevilla's Lucien Ajoumet, I think that's how you pronounce his name. I'm not 100 % sure, but I will be open to correction, of course, on that. Some will say, would you not be better off going with that player who, you know, if he comes in and develops, you know, you've got a player on your hands for a couple of years. or is the counter-argument of that, if you are looking for Martin Zubimendi to play a significant role in this team going forward, you want some measure of reassurance in the backup, which Norgaard provides that perhaps a young player who comes in and maybe doesn't get quite the playing time they need to find rhythm and to sort of kick on a bit, might struggle with.

8:30Yeah, that's definitely how I would see it. I think this is a position that is involved constantly in our game, right? Like if we've not got the ball and we're pressing, they are kind of the, I guess, the last line behind the press and the first line or the last line in front of the two centre-backs. if we're defending deep on our own box this is a player that can't make a mistake in the middle right stood there right in front of william saliba or gabriel and then in possession this is a player that can't make mistakes on the ball the ball comes from david riah or all the center backs into midfield and if you lose it there you're in massive trouble so i think this is a really difficult place to play and a really hard place to, like you said, not just a young player, but a young player that wouldn't have rhythm of playing every week, week in, week out.

9:24I think maybe an older head, a more experienced head makes some sense in there. I mean, if you look at the last few signings Arsenal have made, go a little bit beyond Mikel Arteta as well, in this position, and we see Thomas Partey and Jorginho, older heads, and sort of maybe more arguably Declan Rice, not old, but not young, established in the Premier League, playing every week. And the same with Zubomendi. He's been a first-team regular in Spain for years now. Marino as well, obviously, at 28. Mikel Marino, yeah. And if you go a little bit further back, you've got Matteo Ganduzzi and Albert Sambi-Laconga, who I think maybe Arsenal at times paid the price of them having development still to do and then playing in such a crucial position and the heart of the midfield.

10:13would you think maybe that Arsenal have decided, Mikhail Arteta has decided? This isn't at the very top level where we want to win Premier League, we want to win the Champions League. This isn't a squad role for a player who's still learning the job and you want maybe a safer pair of hands. And if you look at the money we've spent on Rice, the money we're going to spend on Zubimendi, this is a position where your first choice player, wait until they're ready-made and then bring them in. and don't maybe risk that development that gets done happening at our expense. Yeah, Lucas Torreira may be another example of a young central midfielder who found it difficult to reach the level, sustain the level that we had hoped he might achieve.

10:57The other argument I was going to mention was the idea that, okay, if you've brought in Zubimendi and you have Declan Rice, what you have there I think are two outstanding players who can play in that deep-lying midfield role. And Declan Rice has done that a lot in his career, maybe not so much at Arsenal as people expected. But if you have those two players, could you perhaps go and buy, I don't know, a Bereze, right? That kind of a player for the left eight. You know, there'll be people who would be more predisposed to that kind of signing because it's a bit more fun, it's a bit more exciting, it adds a bit more craft and skill to your midfield.

11:37I will hold my hands up and say, That's kind of the preference that I have, right? But looking at it, I feel like if you're signing Zubimendi, I think part of the plan for next season, when they've put that in place, and that's something that's been in place for quite a while, when they've decided that Zubimendi is that guy for six, it tells you that he wants Declan Rice further up the pitch. And a big part of the plan for next season is going to be Zubimendi allowing Rice to play further forward. I think he wants both of those players on the pitch as much as possible. So if you bring in an Eze, as much as I would like it, and you've already got Rice and you've already got Mikel Moreno and you've got Kai Havertz who can play there and you've got Ethan Winery who could possibly play there as well, that in the current construct of this squad, it's hard to fit that player in as much as I might like it and people out there might like it, based on what the manager wants and his preferences, it doesn't really fit.

12:46Yeah, I mean, you're already looking at it. And when you say Zubimendi and Rice are going to play as much as they can possibly play, and then you throw in Norgard and Marino, how many minutes are there left to go around? Are you ending up with a situation where maybe if you did sign an Eze, Marino never plays? And he's sitting there and we're paying him and he's already at the club. and then you're not going to use him at all. I think that could eventually end up happening if we'd signed an extra player to play in that role. I think it is pretty clear they've decided now that Declan Rice, that will be the position that he plays, at least over the next couple of years for Arsenal.

13:24And yeah, it's the construct of the midfield. There's just not quite enough space. There's not enough games. There's not enough minutes to add an extra body in there. And I think in Eze, let's take that example, a player who'd be joining Arsenal expecting to compete to play every game pretty much. And, well, if Rice is going to play every game and Zubemendi is going to play every game and Udegaard is going to play every game, I think Norgard at his age, and also you're not going to get an Eze for£10 million, he's going to be coming in for a price that says he's a backup player, to accept a role that says he's a backup player, and to have the opportunity in the last couple of years of his career at the top level to play and compete for trophies, which is something he's not really had the chance to do.

14:12And I think as a player like that, a player of that ilk and of that quality is more likely to want to go and stamp their authority on games week in, week out and play every game. Yeah. What about the idea that occurred to me? because we've talked about experience and I think, you know, everyone understands that experience is really useful and necessary for top teams. You can't just have a team of kids. You do need a smattering of experience. And the idea maybe that Arsenal, when they were thinking about what we assume is replacing, you know, Thomas Partey in terms of timing, right? Not necessarily like for like, as we've already discussed with the Jorginho Zubimendi stuff, right?

15:01but when coming to decide, right, will we go Norgard or will we go with the young guy from Sevilla? Okay, in this area of the pitch, experience is probably more valuable than it might be higher up the pitch, where I think if a player makes a mistake, I'm not saying it's not costly, but it's not as costly in terms of what you might concede, a young winger or a young striker missing a chance, it costs you a goal, But if you make a mistake in midfield, it could easily cost you a goal that you've got to make more chances to make up for. So does it suggest anything that maybe when it comes to our recruitment higher up the pitch, which are the positions that people are really, really invested in, that we're maybe looking to add that younger element in the attacking positions, having made a decision that, okay, we could go this way with a defensive midfielder, but no, we'll go with the experience.

16:02and then maybe you have, I don't know, a 22-year-old striker in Sesco coming in. I mean, I'm just throwing it out there. It seems to me that, I'm not saying Mikel Arteta is entirely risk-averse, but I think if he was going to take a chance, so to speak, on a younger player, it would be in a more advanced position. Yeah, I agree. And then you throw into the mix the balance of the squad, right? And you can't have a bunch of 30-year-olds, you're going to have to replace them all at once. You can't have a bunch of 21-year-olds who's leading that group, who's keeping heads on shoulders when things are going well or when things are going badly.

16:42So I think it's all about having that balance. And we do still have quite a young team, not as young as it was a couple of years ago, but we do still have a young side. I think in midfield, everybody's sort of in their prime, if you like. Mid-20s, going on to Zubomendis coming in, 26 years old. but we've lost Jorginho. If Norgard comes in, presumably it's Thomas Partey leaving. Those were the two oldest players in the outfield players, at least I think the two oldest players in the squad last season. And Norgard would come in and immediately be the oldest player in the squad. But you're bringing in, yeah, a player who's got that experience, a player who's played at the Premier League level for years, who was captaining a Premier League team the last couple of seasons at Brentford, which I think is not irrelevant if you're thinking of maybe what his personality is.

17:36I think Brentford, we've all looked at over the last few years and respected Brentford. They seem like a very well-run club, but a very professional club as well, a very professional squad. I think they've mostly overachieved in their time in the Premier League, and I don't think that comes without a good dressing room and a bunch of players who work hard and work professionally. And the captain of that group is, I think, probably likely to be a model professional. And when you lose two elder midfielders and two of the two oldest players in the squad, I think it makes sense to feel the need to replace some of that, especially, as you say, if you're going to bring in younger players in other positions just to keep that balance in the squad.

18:21Yeah, I mean, I've done a little bit of reading on Norgard and I saw an interview with former football manager Thomas Frank saying that Norgard is like a really, really strong personality. He is the captain at Brentford. He has those leadership skills. I do think there's a physical element to his game as well that Mikel Arteta will like defensively very solid. A big guy, as you say. Physical element Mikel Arteta didn't like when he went through Gabriel Martinelli last season. No, no, no. But I'm sure if Christian Norgard is allowed tackle like that in an Arsenal shirt, Miguel Arteta won't have much to say about it, you know.

19:04But those are other elements, you know. Every transfer has its ups and downs. It's good bits and bad bits. But I do think based on, you know, what we needed to do this summer, and particularly in terms of midfield, it's not hugely expensive. I don't think the wages are going to be massive. and if you have your eye on a younger guy, you know, in a couple of years' time or you want to see how he develops over the next couple of years, someone like Norgard is a bit of a safety blanket. He comes in, does the job and then you see where you are with that player. You know, he can't go on forever, obviously, but, you know, a couple of years at this level, he's more incapable of that.

19:42Yeah, exactly. So, Fred, yes, they compared it, that squad role to, you know, what Endo's done at Liverpool last season, playing some of the easier games, if you like, at home, coming in for the last 10, 15 minutes when they need to protect a one-goal lead. I think you can easily imagine that being a very common Arsenal sub next season. Yeah. We're a goal up and Zubimendi off, Norgard on for the last 10, 15 minutes. Yeah, I think it makes sense. And for that price as well, it's just one of those deals where if it doesn't go great, you've not lost 40 million on a player, right? It's 10 million, apparently 5 million in add-ons, but they'll only be achieved if it does go well.

20:26And if it does go well, no one will care that it's an extra 5 million. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Give them double that. 10 million pounds. Come on, see games out. Another big guy for Nico Hover to position at corners and get in people's way and nod the ball in. I think that's yeah like you say I think if you're looking for squad players and midfielders 10 million pounds for 31 years old experience at that level already and in the league already which we know Arsenal have prioritized over the past few years players who have played in the Premier League already yeah it looks on the face of it like the Kepa thing in goal just like it makes quite a lot of sense to to do as a inexpensive deal yeah kind of low fuss thing and and a player as well I think you know when we look ahead to next season and the need to balance the minutes and balance the playing time as much as we can to avoid injury which I'm sure is going to be part of the discussion and the way the squad is built this summer is going to be based on the issues that we've had with injury and like look some sometimes it's bad luck sometimes you just don't know but I think with some of the players there was an element where we had to play them more than we would have liked and therefore the injuries occurred and then you're sort of having to play players more often than you should because well you don't have any other options I think if you're looking at Norgard coming in as a player who can definitely play minutes and definitely play certain games and definitely start certain games maybe even in the Premier League when you start to get into the the thick of it with with Europe and Champions League games and you know travel you're going to have to rotate a little bit for for some of the games that you play in the Premier League I I think he's a very good option there.

22:09Another bit of news before we get on with this game is Myles Lewis-Galley signing a new contract. It's something we've known about for a while, but it is official now. He put pen to paper. Well, officially it was announced today. So that's great news. He made a big breakthrough last season. He's a player that everybody really likes and enjoys. and the Hayland element is fantastic. And for him to put pen to paper on a new deal is a positive move this summer as well. Yeah, absolutely. I don't think there was ever too much concern that this wouldn't happen, but it's lovely to know that it has happened.

22:52And I'm really excited to see Myles Lewis skelly next season when teams are a bit more familiar with him, with that rolling away from pressure and maybe anticipate a few more of those sorts of things. Wingers in the league are maybe a little bit more aware that he is good defensively and trying to do something maybe a bit different to overwhelm him. And yeah, he was absolutely fantastic last season after he came into the team. At that age, came in, made the left-back spot, which is on paper with the numbers there, the most competitive, the most fought for position, maybe, at Arsenal over the past couple of years.

23:34Made that spot his own, kind of made himself the first choice and undroppable over the past couple of months of the season. And can't wait to see how it goes on. It's just the very, very beginning of what is hopefully going to be a really long Arsenal career. Yeah, I mean, one of the things that's cropped up all the time when I've talked to people about Miles and people sort of in his orbit, you know there is all this talk about his personality there is all this talk about his style of play but but you know he's an intelligent young guy and that development i think is going to be really interesting to see isn't it like you said i think we saw a couple of times towards the end of last season where players began to um not figure him out but but knew a bit more about him so there were times where in those moments where he tried to to wriggle away from somebody he got a little bit caught.

24:26And look, that can happen. It's not criticism. But then it's about what else can you add to your game or what sort of variance can you bring to the way that you play in those situations where, you know, the thing about that is like you want to entice a player in and then get away from him because you leave him for dust. But can you entice him in and knock the ball off and, you know, move into space and receive a pass? This is where I'm very curious about Zubimendi's influence in this team as well, you know, that certain things we think of as distinct are actually interconnected. And the way that these players might be put together by Mikel Arteta, I think, is going to be fascinating to watch.

25:07Yeah, I think so too. It's always part of the excitement of the summer, right? And the transfer window is new players and how they fit in and how those relationships form with players that we already have. And I know everybody wants a striker and maybe a winger as well. and throw in Eberichi Eze or whoever else you want for midfield. But compared to this time 12 months ago, we've got Myles Lewis-Skelly, we've got Ethan Ranieri, we'll have Zubimendi and just seeing how those players fit together and what we're capable of with a fully fit squad as well, hopefully. Knock on wood. I think there's a lot of reasons to be excited.

25:48And I feel like a lot of that excitement right now is not there because everybody's nervously waiting for a striker to arrive. But we need to get the striker as soon as possible. But we haven't even started pre-season training yet. The striker has not, to date, missed a single training session with their new teammates. So there's plenty of time. I think we all know that Arsenal are trying very hard to make sure that happens. And in the meantime, we can enjoy talking about and thinking about Zubimendi and Luis Skelly staying. And I think Luis Skelly, hopefully, Ricardo Calafuri stays fit next season and then we'll see a bit of a fight maybe for that position.

26:30Yeah, that'd be good. You know, more competition, pushing each other, players who excel in different ways, bring different things to the team, different weapons for Mikel Arteta to use. It's going to be really interesting to see, yeah, those combinations and who maybe, who gets the nod in certain games. going forward because Lewis Skelly, like anyone else, isn't going to start every single game. But yeah, it's going to be really, really interesting to see. I think there's a lot to be excited about. Sure. I think people will feel a bit better once that striker is in situ, once we know exactly who that is.

27:05And then it's like, right, well, how does the rest of this team work with that striker and what can we get from them? I think that's the sort of the nagging doubt that people have. And I get it, I understand it, but listen, there's still plenty of time and I'm pretty sure that that decision will happen sooner rather than later. So let's see. And anyway, congratulations to Myles Lewis-Skelly. Hopefully the first of a number of contract renewals this summer because there are other players in discussions with the club about that. Well, Gabriel already as well. Yeah, of course, Gabriel's already signed on.

27:38And we hope, of course, that that then transmits something to William Saliba. But Kai Osaka's in the discussions as well. I don't know about Martin Odegaard. But they were all sort of in and around the same time. So I think, you know, the behind the scenes stuff that we don't get to see is probably a lot busier than people think. And hopefully we'll get quite a few more contract renewals. renewals. Right. That brings us to today's silly little game that I thought of yesterday when I texted you. So the idea is, this is a purely hypothetical situation. We have been made Arsenal managers, different universes, parallel universes, whatever way you want to put it.

28:20You're the manager of one team, I'm the manager of another team. Our task is to lose the game, Right? For the record, neither of us ever want Arsenal to lose. We want Arsenal to win all the games that they play. But this is just a stupid podcast game. And Arsenal will win this game because we're both building Arsenal teams. Fair enough. We have some criteria. So the criteria are a minimum of 20 appearances for the first team. Emirates era only. no playing players massively out of position so you can't play a goalkeeper up front or a striker in goal or anything nonsensical like that you know they've got to be there or thereabouts we're picking the same formation which is a 4-3-3 and it's a draft style thing or playground pick if you like once i pick somebody you can't pick them once you pick them i can't pick them um and i think we did say lone players are okay as long as they meet the appearance threshold so to go first i have a little heads or tails website here which i'm going to click now in a second but i will let you pick heads or tails and then i will very honestly tell you what the website says no yeah i'm happy i'm happy with my choices i've got some backups i've got some alternatives in case you pip me to the post uh with certain positions so here we go with the coin flip oh there's a little sound effect as well oh i never even asked you so no you didn't okay let me it is heads it is heads yeah so you can choose to go first or let me go first whatever so you make the decisions like picking ends do you want to pick end or kick off no no you go on you go first oh okay let's see yeah let's put you get your penalty shootout style okay um send you up first.

30:12All right. Now, goalkeeper. So we're starting at goalkeeper and we'll work our way up to striker in the usual sort of progression. So I thought about this quite hard and there have been some goalkeepers at Arsenal that I think are very, very obvious picks. But I'm going for Petr Cech. Okay. So let's clarify. Yep. As the worst. No, no, no, no, no. I never said he was the worst. What I'm saying is I am picking a team to lose a game. This is, you know, I'm playing tactical 4D chess heroes. But would that not be the worst goalkeeper? You want to lose? Correct. And you're picking Petr Cech over any other goalkeeper in the Emirates era?

30:59Correct. Correct. Do you want me to explain why? Are you going to ask him to play out from the back? 100 % I'm going to ask him to play out from the back. I say, I don't want you to kick it long. If I see you kicking it long, you're in big trouble there, Petr. I'm asking him to play it short. You've really thought about the tactical elements of this as well. So that's why I'm going for Petr Cech because I feel like, you know, based on what we saw from him trying to do that while he was an Arsenal goalkeeper, that there might be occasions where he puts his defenders in trouble. No, I completely see the vision.

31:35Okay. All right. Yeah, and my yet unpicked centre forwards are licking their lips at the prospect of Petrček. But our teams are not playing each other. They're just playing some random... Are they not? No, I think it's just... I thought they were. That's why I said an Arsenal team would still win this game. Oh, okay, okay. Well, look, maybe we could play each other. It doesn't really matter. I'm confident in my team's ability to lose against pretty much anyone. So it's going to be good. So listen, I've gone Petr Cech, a bit of a wild card. I'm sure people were thinking of other names. Yeah, I'm probably going to go with one of those other names.

32:11Yes. My pick would be, I was torn. I was torn a little bit between two. And I've gone with David Ospina over Manuel Almunia. He was my backup choice in case he went first. Almonia was very good at saving penalties, if nothing else. I don't think we need to relive or relitigate Almonia's Arsenal career. But when the opposition had a penalty, and there were a few, there was one against Tottenham, I thought, yeah, he's got a chance of saving this. And there was nothing about David Espina's game that gave me any reassurance. His inability to know where a line was was quite something. I fondly remember the amount of extra work he gave our physios in every single match.

33:10I don't think it's the most reassuring if your goalkeeper is constantly sort of, oh, my back. Oh, no, my knee, my knee. I feel like you want a strong, solid, hard-nosed goalkeeper who also, you know, sticks his arms up in the air when shots fly in from distance in a Champions League knockout match. And Davido Spina doesn't offer me any of that. Okay. That's who I've gone for in goal. All right. There were other candidates, of course. Manuel Almunia, early Lukasz Fabianski as well might have been one. Vito. Yeah, early, specifically early Lukasz Fabianski. Yeah. I don't know if Vito Manone made the criteria, did he?

33:56I'm not sure if he did. He also had a man of a match appearance in a Premier League match, which a lot of these players won't have had. Mm-hmm, that's true. He made 23 appearances for Arsenal, so he would have been eligible had we decided to go for him. Do we also, I don't know if Damian Martinez played 20 times for Arsenal, if most of those appearances were Emiliano. So I don't know how you work around that. Okay, well, I don't think he would have been there. I think Damien Martinez would have had a chance. Emiliano Martinez, probably not. No. Yes, the evil Martinez twins. All right, well, that leads us to right back.

34:35So who have you gone for at right back? Yeah, right back was, I don't know about you, I thought there were quite a few right backs. This team, there were positions that were much easier in this team to kind of come up with a few different names. And then there were some where you're thinking, oh, that player was actually quite good, but he might have to go into the team, depending on who you pick as well. Right back was not a position where I struggled for options. And my incredibly pacey back line is going to begin with Stefan Lichsteiner at right back. Yeah, you've stolen my thunder there, actually.

35:10Sorry. No, that's okay. That's okay. Yeah, just for the pace. the modern game, it's so important to be able to keep up with your man. And Stefan Lichsteiner could once, but not in an Arsenal shirt. No, that's for sure. This is where I had the incredible tactical vision of Petr Cech trying to play a pass to Stefan Lichsteiner, just hitting it towards the corner flag, and Lichsteiner getting overtaken by Pedro Neto or something like that. I don't know. So my backup right back was Justin Hoyt, who made quite a number of appearances for Arsenal and did okay, but I just feel like he never quite developed to the level that maybe Arsene Wenger had hoped or expected.

35:58And I think he was a casualty, wasn't he, when Bakary Sanya was signed because we had a Boué and Hoyt who had played quite a number of games. but I just think he is the kind of player who might get ever so slightly rattled by whoever is playing inside him in the right centre-half position. Yeah, because Justin Hoyt, very young, when he was making those Arsenal appearances. So, yeah, I can see that. So, I mean, that brings... You wouldn't pick an unreliable centre-half to play alongside him, would you? Well, listen, I've got a job to do here. I have a job to do here, and I'm sorry. I feel for the young man.

36:36He came through the academy, but I'm going to fuck him up because I'm next to pick and my right sided center half. People will not be at all surprised to hear. Is a certain Shkodran Mustafi. Yeah, I thought you might go that way. Yes. I think there are in this position as well, quite a number of players that we could have picked. But if you're looking for somebody to do something quite stupid in a game that might cost you a goal, I would put some serious money on this guy. Will he go sliding in for a tackle on halfway and leave all the space in the world? Or will he keep pace with the attacking player and then simply fall over?

37:21Or who knows? Maybe he'll try and protect the ball back to his goalkeeper and then stop. and then when, I don't know, Wilfred Zaha nips in to score the goal, he'll berate the goalkeeper despite the fact it was all his fault. Isn't it nice that we can do this now? Because a few years ago when we weren't particularly good, we never could have had fun with this sort of reminiscing. Sure, sure. Time has passed, hasn't it? I will give it to Skodran Mustafi. I thought he always played well against Tottenham. I thought he always had a decent game against Harry Kane. He scored in a derby. He did, yeah.

38:00It was a good header, wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. He did, if nothing else, or if little else, he did generally save his best Arsenal games, I thought, for the derby, which is what you would want. I guess. But, you know, I'm not sort of that confident in his defensive abilities that I would say. So far, you've gone with Petr Cech in goal. You've got a World Cup winner at centre-half. I'm feeling good about this. World Cup winner.

38:34Oh, God. My first pick for the heart of the defence, then, is going to be Sebastian Scalacci. Okay. Okay, I can see where that one comes from, all right? He was someone I considered. Who had a good career, but none of it at Arsenal. Like Lichsteiner, really. had a good career, won plenty of league titles with Lyon, but was, I think, a combination when he joined Arsenal of a little bit past his best and nowhere near up to the stance of playing in England, maybe. And in his, in his defense a little bit, maybe you obviously came into an Arsenal team that wasn't known for its defending, but he only exacerbated that issue whenever he played.

39:20So yeah, Scalacci will be my first centre half. And for my partnering him at the back, like you say, there were a few names, but I've gone with Mikhail Silvestre. I knew it. I knew it. Okay. The original really, you know, like we've done it with Chelsea players over the last period of time. It's got a little bit better over time than the ones that have joined from them. but the original don't like if your rivals are willing to sell you a guy the guys they probably know the guy isn't very good anymore uh so yeah there aren't particularly fond memories of michael silvestre playing for arsenal yeah so sclatchy and silvestre speaking french with each other at the back of course of course i i think the sclatchy thing is interesting because like he had a decent career you know he was at Monaco then Lyon then Sevilla he arrived at Arsenal with plenty of experience I remember him doing an interview after he left where he basically sounded shell shocked like he had some PTSD from the way Arsenal central defenders were left exposed during Arsene Winger's time there you know there was a lot asked of our centre halves you had to be really really good tells you how good like koscioni and yeah exactly you know we were very open there's no two ways about it you'll remember i'm sure referees overtaking some of our players some of our midfielders at times just tearing straight through towards our central defenders and he genuinely sounded like he was um he'd been in the trenches he'd been in the trenches like I couldn't cope with this.

41:09It really didn't work out. I can't remember how many appearances he made for Arsenal in the end, but it was quite scant over the course of three years, a signing that didn't work out. Sylvester is the perfect pick for a left-centre half, obviously, which leaves me with a decision to make because there are others out there. But I'm going to go, and I'm sort of continuing a theme here with players who might cause you problems, potentially could play very well, but cause you problems in terms of what they do on the ball or how they get turned around or their positioning. You know, think about Petr Cech trying to play out from the back and all of a sudden there's a woolly central defender standing two feet away from him rather than giving him an option for a pass.

41:56So I'm going to go for David Luiz. Leave him alone. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, I've thought about this. I know there are worse players who've played for Arsenal. I know there are worse defenders who have played for Arsenal. But I'm looking at a backline of potentially cataclysmic instability here. And listen, I will hold my hands up. He was never my favourite player. I'll give the guy his props because in the semi-final and the final of the FA Cup in 2020, he was outstanding. He was really important in both of those games against Manchester City and Chelsea. So in that sense, I recognize his contribution to Arsenal.

42:37But in the other sense, you know, when he was getting sent off all the time and, you know, players were just sort of running away from him or, you know, all of this stuff. Mustafi and Luiz as a central defensive partnership, it's sort of Keystone Cops meets Laurel and Hardy. And the potential for lunacy is just too great for me to resist. So I'm going to go with David Luiz. Yeah, I understand the reasoning. I think you've got a centre-back pairing there that could have a really good game, but the chances that over 90 minutes one of them does something insane is high, is very high. I thought we were going to go 4-4-4.

43:22I'm obviously like you, I've got kind of backup names. Who else did you have? And I had Sylvester, Scalacci, Mustafi and Gabriel Paulista as my fourth centre-back. as a player who could, I guess similarly, in a different way, could kind of maybe just lose his head and cost you the game with a moment of madness. Obviously, your mind goes back maybe to the clash with Diego Costa and falling for the trick that everybody on the planet knew Diego Costa was going to try and pull. And thinking that's not a centre-back I need in my team. if I want someone to rely on. Yeah, yeah. I guess his name did occur to me.

44:10Yeah, I'm happy with Luis though. Left back.

44:21Harder than right back. Harder than right back, I thought. And again, I'm not necessarily picking the worst player. I'm trying to pick a team that isn't balanced. I'm trying to pick a team that doesn't work collectively and also asks more of individuals than they're necessarily happy to give. And I always remember Thomas Vermaelen hating playing at left back. Absolutely hating it. So for the sake of like a little conversation, There are other players, and I'm sure you're going to pick one of them who are worse at left back and who have been worse at left back. And there's one or two in particular who will stand out.

45:10But as a way of making my back for as unstable as possible, playing a player in a position he absolutely hates to play in seems like a good way of doing that. So I'm going to go with Thomas Vermeulen at left back. Yeah, interesting. Interesting. I don't think Thomas Van Wallen would have occurred to many people. I'm going to go more route one with this. Sure, I know. Again, a couple of names that flew around. Andre Santos doesn't get in because he can chip in with a goal. And the last thing I need my team to do is score a goal. So instead, I'm going to go with Arman Traore. Yeah, he was my backup.

45:59He was my backup. I mean, a young man who hated football and would occasionally display the talent that kind of, I guess, was necessary to get that far in football as a man who, not like Ben White, not like, oh, I don't watch football, but had no interest in football and just sort of became a footballer because he was good at it. But yeah, Armand Traore, not the most glamorous career, not the most glamorous time at Arsenal. He'd be my left back. A little bit of an experience in there in what is otherwise actually a really experienced back four. Yeah. Remarkably, I just looked him up here. 32 appearances for Arsenal.

46:46He played for Juventus. that has sort of completely passed me by in the 2010-11 season. Was he on loan or had he gone at that point? I can't remember. No, he must have been on loan because he played for us the season after that. Right. Because he started in that 8-2 at Old Trafford. Oh God, of course he did, yeah. Let's not go there. At least, I suppose you could say he did bring knuckle dusters to White Hart Lane. He did. And I think he was caught with knuckle dusters at White Hart Lane. So there you go. Okay, I think back fours, yeah, we've both got our issues there, I think, defensively. Yeah, I was going to say they're not bad, but they are.

47:33That's the point. Yeah, they are quite bad as a collective. But it all depends what you put ahead of them. Can you protect a bad back four with a good midfield? Let's see. I'm trying not to. I'm also trying not to. And I will say, it's your pick first, but I'm going to say I'm trying to pick the least balanced, most chaotic, ridiculous midfield that I can think of. So it's your pick first. And if you pick any of these players, I'm absolutely snookered because I'll have to think of somebody else very quickly. Yeah, I've got a little list in front of me, obviously, in case you pick some of my players.

48:15Yeah. But it's important that I pick this midfielder first and stress that he's playing as a six. This is holding midfield. You're already looking like you're worried that I'm going to pull the same name out. We agreed, right? 4-3-3. My two number eights, they are as far away from him as possible. It's the only pick I've done. Like you're sort of a Marlon. I've thought, check. I've gone a bit more tactical here. Two number eights, let's get as high as possible and give Granit Xhaka in holding midfield as much ground to cover as possible. I like Granit Xhaka. I love Granit Xhaka. And everybody, I think, can agree that his time with Mikel Arteta playing a bit further forward, he was really, really good for Arsenal in his last couple of seasons.

49:04I'm not looking for that Granit Xhaka. I'm looking for, given the job to turn on the ball when it's given to him from the back, the job to screen 60 yards of space in front of that back line run really fast and keep up with players on the break sure push those number eights forward and let's have granite jacker in the middle of the pitch flooded on the counter-attack and and asked to stop those counter-attacks by scything as many people down as possible and leaving us with 10 players on the pitch That's a great pick. It is a great pick. Astute tactical awareness there in picking Granit Xhaka. Player I like too.

49:45He did have his issues at Arsenal. But yeah, if you put him in that position, you're leaving him absolutely well and truly exposed. Yeah, let's get them attacking down the left. We've got Lich Steiner. We've got Xhaka coming across to cover the space. There's not much pace in that team. Yeah, that's true.

50:05Yeah, they're in big trouble at the back there, which is kind of why I did something similar-ish. A player who I think preferred to play higher up the pitch certainly had notions that he could play higher up the pitch. And to his credit, during his time at Arsenal, there were some passes that he made, good passes. But I think if you're looking at that same setup, which I did, I picked like a six and two eights. I am putting Alex Song at the base of my midfield and I think he's going to get ruined. Yeah. For those very reasons. The things that he was good at are not the things that you need necessarily in a number six.

50:53Not the most mobile, not the quickest, on the ball. In those positions, I think, might struggle a little bit. So another guy who maybe like, if he was much more interested in being really good, could have been really, really good there. Like the, the ability, the talent was obvious. Like you said, some of that, some of those passes, sort of 2010, 2011, 12, a couple of seasons where he started pretty much every game and, and we didn't have a bad team, but the, the ability to do something that nobody should ever be doing and cost us yes it's just go wandering and and sort of yeah leave massive gaps i get it i see the vision you see the vision okay well that brings me i think it's me next isn't it it's it's i've got the next pick again you know a player who can do things did things for arsenal potentially some good things, but who ultimately plays in a way which I don't think is conducive to, you know, a slick, coordinated, what's the word I'm looking for here, where everybody's on the same wavelength, whatever that is, a guy who's sort of got his own energy, plays his own way.

52:20And ultimately, that way is not a way that I, if I was picking a team to win, would want in my team. But if I'm picking a team to lose, I absolutely want it in my team. And that player is Matteo Guendouzi. Yeah, I think you know I would have had him as well. Yeah. You've got that combination as well, that David Luiz-Guendouzi combination in the same 11. Yeah, exactly. The sort of woolly mayhem that would exist with those two guys. Yeah, so even, you know, the game's never, you know, you go 2-0 up, you sub him off, he taunts the home crowd. Yeah, he does a rugby tackle on somebody, you know, he gets the opposition guys going.

53:09Runs around telling them how much he earns as well, allegedly. Yeah, I think. While never making a tackle. These teams are built to pick up the pettiest red cards you've ever seen. Yes, I think so. I think so. And I'm going to change that. I'm going to change it with a red card for pure brutality. Remember, I want my eights upfield. I don't want this guy really chipping in with the defensive work. I want him on the edge of the opposition box, trying to create, trying to thread those passes through for my forwards running on. I want him away from Granit Xhaka, not doing the dirty work. Creative license given to Francis Coquelin.

53:54oh great shout great shout but really no go on go on go play number 10 go and go and see what you can create up there sure it might help when we're pressing maybe maybe we can nick the ball high up but then he'll probably turn around and pass it backwards anyway so we won't create anything out of it yeah uh yeah that um obviously people a lot of people fondly remember that that cocklin and Cazorla midfield. And Coquelin could do a lot of the running and the tackling that maybe Santi Cazorla couldn't do. But I felt like he also wasn't a viable midfielder if he wasn't playing alongside somebody as technically brilliant as Santi Cazorla.

54:41Sure. Such were his limitations with the ball. So I think putting him in front of Granit Xhaka is also just a perfect recipe for a red card. Okay. Okay. Is it me next? It is me next. It's me. Oh, it's you. Wait, is it? Hang on. Yeah, it's me. Okay. No, it's you. It is me because you picked, yeah, I went Gendouzi. Yeah, I went Gendouzi and then you did Coquelin. So my next pick for central midfield, maybe cheating a little bit. And if you want to veto this, I'll allow it. but he did play in central midfield if not necessarily so much for arsenal i'm going with a man who like some of the other players he loves to make a contribution but in his own way he loves an overhead kick by his own admission and i'm not sure he gives you necessarily the kind of technical security that you would want from a guy whose job might be to give the ball to the forward players, but instead look to score himself.

55:52And that player is Julio Batista. In one of the eight roles. I know he played as a forward. I know he scored four goals at Anfield, but he did play quite a bit in central midfield for, where did we get him from? Sevilla, was it? Well, we got him from Real Madrid. It was Sevilla before. Yeah, and that's kind of where he broke through, you know, in central midfield. And I just think that combination of Song, Gendouzi, Baptista gives you almost no defensive platform for your back four. None whatsoever. There will be gaping holes in midfield, wide open spaces for the opposition to try and find their way through as Gendouzi is doing one thing, Song's doing something else.

56:36And Baptista is looking for somebody to put a ball at head height so he can overhead kick it in from 30 yards. So there's my thinking on that midfield. There's a man who grew up on a Brazilian beach, right? I just love over-head kicks, really. Yeah, exactly. So that's my midfield trio, which I think is more than capable of causing my own team problems. No, for sure. I think there are more strikers. I feel like 4-4-2, and I feel like maybe you picking Baptista kind of shows that as well. 4-4-2 maybe would have been easier. So I think we're getting to the point where with five midfielders down, it's not so easy to pick a bad one.

57:22I would say it's my team, I think, in midfield right now with Xhaka and Coquelin. There is at least a decent pinch of physicality there. Sure. So I'm going to throw Fabio Vieira in just to counterbalance that physicality. Let's take a little bit off. I don't want teams scared of playing against my midfield. I don't want them thinking they might get intimidated. So if we throw Fabio Vieira in there, it takes a little bit of that intimidation, that physicality away from having Xhaka and having Coquelin. I do have the risk, obviously, that he could create something. But it's a risk I'm going to have to take and hope that my front three just don't take the chances.

58:06Yeah, well, that's it. I think that's a good one to sort of counterbalance, Like you say, that physicality, the sort of the complete opposite of that from Fabio Vieira. Yeah, I think those are decently bad midfields that we have picked together. Not balanced, no real connection between any of those players in terms of how they play or what they might bring to the team. Or sort of scant level of creativity as well, albeit you run a greater risk, I think, than I do with picking Fabio Vieira, who is capable of producing a pass or two along the way. That brings us to our forward line. And you get to go first.

58:48And we'll start with the right wing, please.

58:55Tricky. I'm going to be tactical here. And I'm going to pick a right winger. I'm going to play a guy who often played on the left, but I'm going to put him on the right so that you can't pick him for the left wing either. So, William, right? Oh! I was thinking you were going to take, if I pick someone else for the right and then we go to the left wing and you've got first pick, you're going to have Willian. So I'm going to pick him and I'm going to put him on the right and ask him to do exactly what he did in an Arsenal shirt. Other than that one free kick against West Brom. Other than that one free kick.

59:31Okay. That does leave me with a bit of a decision to make here in terms of what I do on the right wing. I know Arsene Wenger is a man who has played players out of position on the right-hand side. And I was thinking about that rather than maybe one of the usual suspects. And again, this is a player who I kind of like in the grand scheme of things. Was he the greatest striker that ever lived? No. Could he score goals in the center forward position? Yes. Were there days where it didn't work? Were there chances that he missed? Absolutely. Was he suited to the right wing position? Not a fucking chance.

1:00:18And yet Arsene Wenger played in there quite a few times. Quite often, yeah. Quite often. So to counterbalance your willy-an, I'm going with Nikolaus Bentner on the right-hand side. I know it's not necessarily a right winger per se, but I have to put him there simply because he does not suit the role, similarly to the way that Thomas Vermeulen does not suit the role of left-back or certainly didn't like playing at left-back. Yeah, and then you've got Bentner throwing crosses in the box instead of being in the box to attack the crosses, right? Yeah, like you, a player I like, by the way. I really, really like, but I can understand the pick to have him out wide.

1:01:02I'm not going to ask you who your other choices were in that sense, because I think that might leave us a little bit short for some of the other positions. So who just went first? Oh, you went first, didn't you, on? Yeah, it's your left winger now. Right. That means that you get first go at striker. All right. Left wing for me. Listen, give the man an open goal. Chances are the ball is going out for a throw. particularly if you're playing in the League Cup at Bradford. So my pick for the left-hand side, for a guy that I don't want to rely on to score a goal, he could on his day. But generally speaking, would I have a great deal of faith in Gervinho to score a goal from the left-hand side?

1:01:51No. So my pick on the left is Gervinho. Yeah, I mean, no notes. No notes? No notes. Yeah, you know. I thought about him for the right as well because he did play there a bit on the right. But, you know, this is a bit tactical now because, you know, there aren't too many picks for the remaining positions. So I'm trying to snooker you very slightly. I presume he was one of the names that you had down for the wide positions. Yeah, I had him down for the left wing as well. I've got a couple of names. There's one that I'm toying with up front. I'm going to put him on the left. I'm going to complete my double of Chelsea wingers and stick Raheem Sterling on the left wing Did he?

1:02:39Oh, he must have met the criteria 17 Premier League appearances for Arsenal last season So he must have played more than three times in other competitions and cracked the 20 appearances Let me just check this on the transfer marked Yep, well above the quota with 28 appearances for Arsenal it says here he has five assists is that right? I think there were there were two or three at least for Ethan Nunez there was you know Nunez's first goal in the cup and Nunez's first Premier League goal as well okay so yeah the ability maybe to to grab an assist but yeah Willian on one wing Reem Sterling on the other the fullbacks are not getting beaten no that's true I do not have to worry about the opposition left-back or right-back being skinned on the outside.

1:03:31No, no, no. With Willian and Sterling on the wings. They're going to lose the ball and be left on the ground looking for a free kick while the opposition left-back or right-back tears towards your back four. See, you at least, Jovino, you might want to throw or something when he goes out there. But Willian and Sterling, yeah, possession's going to be overturned. Okay, okay. I think you're ahead of the game here on the front three. I feel far less confident in your front three or your front two so far than my front two. I mean, you've picked Nicholas Benner, who we both say we like. Yeah, yeah, but he's in the wrong position.

1:04:09He's in the wrong position, yeah. Maybe he'll just take his matters into his own hands, you know? Just stick himself up front. Exactly. Pull the team up by the socks and say, fuck this, I'll get us a goal, which I don't think either of those other two could possibly do. But that leaves us with the striker. I think, do you go the route that you sort of went with Bentner and pick a guy who maybe was a little bit better than some of the other options, but not when playing through the middle? I'm really tempted because of the lack of service to go that way. I think there are a couple of other strikers who you might pick who don't have as impressive goal records, maybe.

1:04:59Because I think he played okay for Arsenal, or he sometimes played okay for Arsenal, but always in a different position. And when he played up front, it was never good. I'm going to stick with no service. And that's the key with him, Lukasz Podolski up front. Oh, wow. That's sort of left field there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If he's got players creating, like his movement wasn't good. His movement wasn't great from the left flank. It was better there, but it wasn't great from the left flank. Obviously out there, you've at least just got a bit more space where the ball might come to you and you can set yourself and get a shot off.

1:05:37And we know that if he does get a shot off, he's probably going to score. He could hit a ball. But especially when he played up front for Arsenal, he couldn't really hold the ball up. His movement in behind wasn't very good. His movement in the box wasn't fantastic. You just kind of needed the ball to fall to him in exactly the right spot without him being marked. And then he'd thunder it into the top corner. But I'm going to gamble on the idea that Willian and Sterling and Francis Coquelin aren't going to be able to feed Lukas Podolsky. And that means he's not going to score a goal. All right.

1:06:10Well, you see, I have a vision in my head right now of Willian, Raheem Sterling and Francis Coquelin all challenging for the same ball. And they collide in a kind of meld of awfulness. And the ball just goes up into the air. And in the last minute of the game, Lukasz Podolski from 35 yards out just catches it on the volley with his left foot, thunders it into the top corner, bursts the net, and your team has scored a goal to win the game. That's just what I'm seeing. He definitely could. He definitely could. but with my back line he's gonna have to do that four times in a game well yes i think my front line is gonna have to score at least uh three or four to to to win this game which is why you know continuing a theme i've sort of embraced the chaos gone with the kind of whoa what the fuck is this guy doing i don't know if he knows what he's doing and that of course is oh god I have to check this I didn't check this no I'm sure I'm sure he made it I'm sure he made it I'm just double checking if it's who I think it is I think it is who you think I think I did check and I think he was above the threshold like only just right I think no bang on 20 appearances 20 appearances for Arsenal for one goal the one the only Yaya Sanogo a man who if we're giving credit for helping FA Cups be achieved, did do something in that 2014 FA Cup final.

1:07:50To this day, I don't quite know what it was or how he did it, but he came on, he made an impact, and everything got a bit mad, and we ended up winning that game, and it was amazing to win that FA Cup final. But with Baptista and Genduzzi and Song and Bentner on the right and Gervinho on the left. Cohesion isn't a word that exists in that universe. And I don't think Yaya Sanogo was sufficiently talented to make his own chances. So I'm going to go with him. And that's my must-lose 11. We've been through it a little bit, haven't we? We have. We've probably scratched at some old wounds that might give us nightmares later tonight or over the course of the weekend, but still a bit of fun.

1:08:42I'm curious, you know, if our two teams had to play each other, who do you genuinely think would lose? I'm biased. I'm biased. Yeah, I mean, me too. I like Bentner. I don't trust my, well, I mean, I don't trust yours either. That's the problem. I don't trust my team to do anything. I think you, you know, you've gone for that. I went a little bit tactical in the end there as well. You've gone with that. Oh, if they press us. And then I've picked, you know, the Czech pick. And then I've picked Willian Podolsky and Raheem Sterling as my front three. I don't think you have to worry about that anymore.

1:09:25Well, that's true. I think I've taken away some of your attempts at self-sabotage. Well, look, I tell you what, it's not for us to decide. And I'm not even going to give you my team talk before the game because my team talk would be so demotivating that these players would play even worse than they possibly could. I've got a Stuartman following in there saying I fucking hate you. I fucking hate this football club. I fucking hate all of you. You're all useless. That would be my X factor in all of this. But look, it's not for us to decide. It's maybe for the listeners. So they can give us a bit of feedback on Blue Sky or in the comments on YouTube or in the comments on Patreon.

1:10:03and you tell us whose team you think would lose in those selections, with those selections, rather, I should say, and those two teams playing against each other. I'm confident. Lewis is confident. But maybe we'll add up the votes and see who wins at some point. Right. That's been a bit of fun. Enjoy that, Lewis. Thank you very much indeed. We'll leave it there. Nice way to start the weekend. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. While we wait for, you know, a striker and all of that kind of stuff. If we leave it there, Lewis as ever. Thank you very much. Thanks, Adger.

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1:13:07Thank you very much indeed to Lewis. You can find him on Blue Sky. He is at lgambrose.bsky.social, at lgambrose.bsky.social. And do tell us which team you think would lose, whether it's against each other or playing, I don't know, the Bridlington under-17s. Whatever team you think we might be playing, is that team good enough to win a game? As I said to Lewis, I have full faith in my ability to send that team out to get a good walloping. That's all I can say. They might well prove me wrong, but if we get to like the 87th minute, and it looks like we're going to win, I'm just going to leg it. I'm just going to escape the stadium and go into hiding.

1:13:48so there'll be no comeback on me. Right, I'm going to leave it there. I'm going to get this podcast out to you guys. I do hope you enjoyed it. Something different, a little bit of fun and hopefully over the course of the weekend we'll get some more news. James and I will discuss that news for you in an Arsecast Extra. For now though, take it easy and we will catch you on the next one.

1:14:27Thank you.

1:15:10Hey folks, welcome to a brand new feature throughout the summer. We're going to do a transfer daily for you. That's right, all the possible transfer news that's out there. And there's going to be so much involving Arsel this summer. I can tell you, it's going to be such a busy summer. We'll cover it all every single day, seven days a week, right throughout the summer. What more could you want? A few months later. Hey, folks. Welcome. Welcome back to another transfer day. Asandra here, that's my beard. My long beard that I'm scratching as I ponder. The meaning of existence itself. Why? Why? Why am I here?

1:15:59What have I done? I only had good intentions, but where once there was light, Now there is only a void, a chasm of unimaginable darkness. Sure, we signed Super Mendy. We signed Sesko and Yokeres. How can we ever forget that double announcement out of the blue? Not even a here-we-go or an Ornbaum. But to what end? It's 72 days since I saw daylight. I'm trapped in a fever dream of tittle-tattle, rumors, and scuttlebutt. And there's no way out. What does it mean? I did my best to bring you the news.

1:16:54Wait. Breaking news? We're not signing Rodrigo.

1:17:08Damn it! Damn it! Right, well that's enough of that. Time to go for a pint.

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