Episode 840 - The final step

0:23Hello and welcome to a brand new Arseblog Arsecast right here on Arseblog.com. How are you? Hope you're well. Thank you very much indeed, as always, for being here. Well, it's that time of year again. The summer has been and gone, although it is very, very warm here in Dublin this week. So we're getting a bit of a last hurrah from the summer. But in terms of football, the summer is over and we stand on the precipice of a new season. We've done the transfers We've done the rumors We've done the discussions, the arguing, the debates The way it's all played out online And you're now at the point Where you're reminded of a quote A famous quote That encapsulates this moment That sums up exactly Where we are And where we're about to go It's hard not to think of the words Of Carl C.J.

1:20Johnson Ah shit Here we go again Here we go again indeed. There's no turning back now. We're just going to go headlong into 38 Premier League games, hopefully a load of Champions League games, a load of EFL Cup games, a load of FA Cup games. And hopefully by the time we get to May, we'll be laden down with silverware and medals and trophies and success because that ultimately is what we all want from the season ahead. It's going to be tough. It's going to be challenging. There's some very good teams that we have to compete with in the Premier League and in Europe. But on the eve of a new season, I think you've got to feel optimistic about what Arsenal are capable of after the summer we've had, after the transfers we've done, the players we've brought in.

2:05I know there's always room for a bit more. You get this done and then it's like, can we not do that? You get that done and it's like, could we not have a bit of this? But generally speaking, I think the way Arsenal have conducted their summer transfer business should give us some encouragement and should give us some hope for the new season. So we're going to talk about that in just a second. After the conversation with our guests today, I'll give you the lowdown on what you can get if you become an Arseblog member on Patreon for the duration of the 25-26 season, all the extra content and things that you can enjoy.

2:37But that will come after we talk Arsenal, talk about transfers, talk about Mikel Arteta, the pressure on him, and lots more besides. And with me to do that, I've got a couple of guests. First today, it's Andrew Allen. Hello, Andrew. Good morning. We've also got a first-time guest today on the Arsecast with a double-barreled name worthy of the Arsenal Academy. It is Laura Kirk. Francis, hi Laura. Thank you. It's a real honour to be here, so thank you so much for having me. Let me start with you as a first-time guest. We are on the cusp of a new season. Arsenal are at Old Trafford on Sunday to kick off.

3:12How are you feeling? Before we get into the nuts and bolts of what's happened this summer, you're just sort of, whether it's your heart, your stomach or anywhere else, how are you feeling going into this new season? I'm excited at the moment. It seems to change on a near hourly basis as to whether I'm excited, nervous, dreading it, confident. We seem to be going through a bit of a cycle of the emotions quite regularly. I'm just excited to have some football on. I think we have spent a lot of time dealing with the hypotheticals the what-ifs the the likely outcomes the hopes wishes dreams i'm just looking forward to actually seeing it um feel like a child who has a load of toys for christmas and wants to just get playing with their new sylvanian families if i can use that metaphor um and just you know looking forward to actually just seeing some football um we've done a lot of talking.

4:12There has been a lot of talking. So I think my party line at the moment is I'm excited and I am looking forward to having something concrete to discuss. Oh, concrete, like a Fabrizio Romano transfer rumour. Andrew, same question to you. How are you feeling after the summer we've had and looking ahead to this new campaign with all the various aspects that we'll get into now in a few minutes, but your gut feeling this morning as we're talking? Yeah, I mean, I feel refreshed. It was, you know, it felt like a proper summer. Obviously, there was the women's Euros, which I enjoyed watching. But in terms of just sort of switching off from Arsenal, it felt like a decent break.

4:55And obviously, last season was a bit of a grind on the league front anyway. Yeah, I feel, I mean, like Laura, excited, I guess. I mean, it's rare for us to have a summer where you see so many new faces kind of join the squad. And it's, you know, a couple of those guys could be absolutely fundamental to what we do this season. So I wish we didn't have such a difficult start. I'd like to kind of be eased into things a little bit, but away at Old Trafford, literally like the most hellish place we ever seem to go. I mean, our record there is just very, very bad. and there's always that sort of slight concern that with a difficult start everything could be up in flames very quickly and the mood around the club could sour and then you just end up into the same old kind of Arsenal supporter turmoil.

5:48But yeah, I mean, right now, a couple of days out, excited. Okay. I mean, are you feeling that, Laura, the sort of sense that there is an excitement but underlying that is sort of what's carried over from last season, some of the frustration and some of the disappointment, I guess, which has manifested itself in various ways to varying degrees online, depending on where you enjoy, if that's the right way of putting it, your online experience. Yeah, I share the same nerves around the start of our season, starting at Old Trafford and then we're playing Liverpool. We're off to Newcastle, I think.

6:28I do worry that a couple of games in if we haven't not only got the points that we needed but also played in the way that we kind of expect Arsenal to play things can turn very quickly you know Arsenal fans not particularly known for their patience and understanding I worry more about what that will do to how we play for the rest of the season if we are already chasing. So if we find ourselves in this kind of first run of five, maybe off the pace slightly, I do worry that that will add additional pressure on top of what we already have, and we may revert to a style of play that we perhaps wanted to leave behind.

7:18So, So, you know, we've got some super exciting talent for this season. And the way that we have played in preseason has been different to last season, which I think is what everyone wanted. I do worry that should that not kind of deliver the fruits that we need it to early on, Arteta may revert to, well, that didn't work. So let's go back to that kind of very controlled way of playing. and then we are already chasing, which I think is not where we want to be. So it could be, it does feel like we're sort of walking a bit of a tightrope. It could be very bad five weeks in, but it could also be very good.

8:00And that's the sort of side of things that I like to prioritize my thinking towards. Sure. I mean, that is the flip side, Andrew, isn't it? That like, you know, you look at those fixtures and you think, ooh, but if you come through those fixtures, well, you've given yourself like a flying start in the Premier League, which I guess is what Mikel Arteta will be targeting. It is a marathon, not a sprint, to use that particular cliche, but getting off to a good start would be very, very useful. And I think when we talk about some of the styles of play, it feels like it's not going to be like day one at Old Trafford.

8:38It's like, oh my God, what are Arsenal doing here? It is something that is going to be implemented over the course of the season. Getting used to Victor Jokeres up front, for example, Martin Zubomendi, that midfield trio who I think will be absolutely pivotal for Arsenal this season. They are going to need a little bit of time. So, you know, it's a question of managing that balance in the early weeks of the season. Yeah, for sure. And, you know, there's no doubt that all the other teams in those first few weeks are also going to be going through the same thing, right? I mean, Manchester United have signed a whole new front line.

9:12Leeds, you know, coming up. Obviously, there's going to be optimism around being a newly promoted side, but they've got new players. Liverpool, a whole new front line. So I think there's that sort of sense of everyone's optimistic at the moment and nobody has had a chance to really have a look at the other sides and where their problems and their teething problems might be. But yeah, I mean, I think it's definitely going to be a process of evolution with this many new players coming in. And really, I think we're talking, you know, two major starters probably in Jokeres and Zubimendi, but they are fundamental potentially to how we set up the team and how the rest of the players interact with them.

9:50So, yeah, I mean, absolutely no doubt that there'll be some tactical tinkering. You know, we've seen some stuff that's, you know, fledgling ideas that may come to something. Other stuff just may not work. I think enacting what we've done in pre-season is just so different to doing it when there's 70 ,000 Mancunians screaming at you. So we need to keep our heads. I think there's definitely got to be that sense of, as you say, it's a long old season. And there are simple things that we can control, like our discipline, but there are other things that we just can't control, like the bad luck and the decision-making of the officials and stuff like that.

10:32and the injuries and stuff like that. So, you know, I think for the moment, it's about just trying to keep cool heads for these opening few weeks and just trying to get some points on the board. Not getting beaten would be very, very important, I think, in this run, even if we end up drawing a couple of games. Let me just stick with you, Andrew. And part of why you might feel excited or confident about the new season is what we've done during the transfer window. So when you look at the squad, when you look at the window from an incoming basis, and we might talk about outgoings now in a few minutes, but when you look at the business we've done, the players we've brought in, can you give it a top-level rating out of 10 and what you think of how we've addressed the issues within the squad?

11:17Yeah, I mean, probably a 7.5, 8 out of 10, which I think is pretty solid. I mean, I think there was a certain level of low fuss to a couple of the signings, really practical, Kepa, Norgard, I get it. I know exactly why we've gone after those players. And also from a financial point of view, those deals made good sense, bring experience in. We've lost some experience. Zubimendi, great. There's a guy that we've been targeting for a long, long time, beating top clubs. Genuinely excited to see what a sort of two-footed anchor of the midfield can do for us, how that changes our style of play. And I think, you know, Madueke is a bit of a wild card.

12:00I just, I'm not entirely sure exactly what he's going to bring, where he's going to bring it on the pitch. But I'm, you know, certainly curious and open to supporting him about, you know, wherever he plays on the pitch. I think the good thing is, is we've added someone there who is an England international, who's got experience, who is clearly determined and wanted to come to us, which is great. Mascara I think looks really interesting and Jokeres we needed a striker I think at this you know if Arsenal had ended up with Cesc I think Arsenal fans would equally be welcoming of him in the end it's Jokeres we didn't get Izak Liverpool might get Izak and I think that's the only thing that might take the shine off our window is the idea that an opponent might get the player that we really really wanted good they're the reigning champions and the favourites so I can't complain People are looking to see if we bring in an extra body.

12:58I can understand why we might wait until the end of the window almost. Who knows what injuries might happen in the first couple of weeks if something bad happened and you've then exposed yourself and spent the money and can't find a replacement. There's one thing. You also want to see how players bed in. If Maddowicki looks excellent on the left, maybe you don't need a left wing. I don't know. We've got ourselves into a position now where we can almost afford to wait to the end of the window to make a final decision. Sure. So, yeah, seven and a half so far, potential to go up to eight and a half.

13:28All right, Laura, I'll put the same question to you. It feels to me like if there was a tick box, a list of things that Arsenal needed to absolutely do this summer, we've pretty much checked every box on that list in terms of the players we brought in. So are you pleased with what we've done? Was there anything you would have preferred? or are you sort of ready to go with these guys? Yeah, I think a 7 out of 10 or the equivalent being maybe an A-, it's very good. I think we have, as you said, we have done what was needed to do with the striker. I think Zubimendi is a brilliant, brilliant signing who perhaps hasn't got the kind of fanfare of his announcement that he deserved because it's sort of been, well, we know he's coming.

14:24I think at the beginning of the summer, I had a few discussions with, you know, fellow fans and said, right, do we spend 150 million on one player, maybe Isaac? We bring him in at the expense of actually developing a bit of squad depth. Is that the better way to go? You're bringing in a kind of guaranteed fix for an area that we need versus improvements across the board. And I'm very glad that we have gone for the latter, which is strengthened in positions where we're okay. You know, you wouldn't say we're desperate for them, but I think it speaks to a more sustainable squad building. And the clamour last season with, you know, we obviously very unlucky with injuries, but our bench looked just really, really difficult at times.

15:18We now have, I think, we're almost in a position where we will need to be dropping some key players to fit everyone in. So from that standpoint, I don't think you can argue that Arsenal could have done anything else other than bringing the striker, Tic, bringing an excellent midfielder who is going to open up different ways of playing, get the best out of players that struggled last season. so from that standpoint I don't think you can argue that Arsenal could have done anything more I do worry that in these first couple of games we will see whether particularly on the left-hand side whether Martinelli whether Madweke are what we need but as Andrew said that we still have time to bring someone else in but I think at the moment with the squad that we've got going into the first couple of games, I feel quite content.

16:11And I feel like we've got a lot of, it feels a different squad from last season. Sure. And I think that's what we needed. Yeah. I mean, I think that point about Izak, if some, you know, I've seen people talk about that as well. You know, why by Yakares and Maduweke put it all into Izak. But, you know, you do that, not everybody's going to be happy either. You're still going to want like, why don't we have a backup for Bakayo Saka? And those sort of questions don't go away. I'll stick with you, Laura. I mean, do you think at this point, do Arsenal absolutely need another signing before the end of the window?

16:44Or would another signing just be a little bit of icing on the cake, if you like, based on what we've done so far in this window? That left-hand side, Eberetje Eze is a player who's been mentioned a lot. We all obviously hope that he doesn't end up in the bad place. I don't think he deserves that. He's too good a player to endure that for the rest of his career. But, you know, that guy who people look at as just a bit of a difference maker compared to whether it's Trossard, Martinelli, or even something different in that left eight position, which we have with Declan Rice, but maybe Mikel Moreno is more of a functional player.

17:25You know, so is it a question of wanting more or needing more? I think, I mean, I say he doesn't deserve to go to the other place. he deserves to come to Arsenal. I think that these first couple of games will show us whether there is any upward headroom for how we play on the left-hand side. So whether Martinelli, whether being more direct, how, you know, potentially the link up Calafiore, I think could be really exciting, whether we actually see that with a bit of patience, with a bit of tweaking, we can kind of have that left-hand side functioning again. In my heart, though, I just feel like the, maybe we're just being a bit greedy here, but I do think the addition of someone like an Eze would do so much more to not only sort of how we play, but Arsenal's position in being able to bring in that type of player.

18:21I think part of the frustration over the past couple of years is that the big kind of exciting signings, it just feels like it's never us, with the exception of maybe Declan Rice um you know the links to Rodrigo players like that Eze that's the kind of on a very surface level very exciting signing that that would certainly I think if you ask people now or I'm going to win the league it would be maybe no you say okay now add in Eze for example I think you'd get more people saying yes do we need him again my heart says yes but I I can understand why Arsenal want to wait and see how, you know, let the new personnel bed in.

19:08It's not going to be perfect from the start, but certainly two, three games in, we should have a better understanding and some more data to assess actually whether, do you know what, this is the best this side can do and it's not going to be enough versus actually, this is going to be good and we just need to give it a bit more time. Yeah, I mean, Andrew, how are you on that and on the Eze thing and on, you know, another kind of player coming in the argument, let's say, that Liverpool, who have done what they've done so far in this window and could, when it comes right down to it, spend half a billion pounds.

19:40If they bring in Alexander Azak and they also bring in Mark Gahey, Liverpool could be on the cusp of spending half a billion pounds in one window. They've recouped a fair bit, fair enough. Does that demand something of Arsenal, that if your opponent keeps raising the level, you can't just sit there and think, okay, well, we're happy with what we've done. Does it require you, if you're really, really, really going to push for the Premier League title, to sort of react to a team who I think most people would have as favourites for the Premier League as it stands? And if they add Alexander Azak, it takes it into a slightly different dimension.

20:17Well, I mean, look, if Liverpool can do that and stay within the rules, then Liverpool are, you know, fair play to them. unfortunately you know we haven't given ourselves quite the same leeway because we're not capable of selling players at the same rate that they do right i mean you know we do have a bit of an issue at the moment which is we've got four or five first team squad members who don't have a place in the team and are going to have to go right we've got Heinz, Inchenko, La Conga, Vieira, Nelson if we could raise funds there that gives you the leeway we've done some good buying we We haven't done some great, really any selling this summer.

20:54And, you know, I think that's an area that we really need to improve upon. But it's all connected. I'd love for us to just, you know, keep spending money. But at the same time, like you can't just have an absolutely massive squad. I think I heard you and James discussing the other day who you'd have on the bench at Old Trafford. And you're already having to leave guys that you'd quite happily consider first team players, potentially even starters out of the squad altogether. together and you you open yourself up to all sorts of other issues if you have players regularly unable to travel with their teammates it causes rifts whether you like it or not it will i mean it's just human nature right to be frustrated we've seen a member of the first team already this week in his new chapter of his book talking about how frustrating it can become to kind of lose the trust of the manager so in theory yep great always nice to have shiny new things i'm also just really excited to see how this team does and ultimately it's a team sport you can add as many individuals into it as you like but unless they all start to blend and come together and create a team spirit not really go the distance over the course for a long season how do you view the the outgoing situation laura the the work that andrea berta has done since he's come in has you know garnered him plenty of plaudits it was fairly low fuss arsenal in summers past have not always done things in that way that efficiently.

22:21I think six players signed in one month in the month of July. Some of them were expected, some a little bit more out of the blue. But generally speaking, that's a very quick and efficient way of doing business. I think it takes a lot of the hassle and the drama of the window out of that, particularly when, for the most part, you're absolutely set for the first game of the season. I think if you're going into a big game like Old Trafford and you're still faffing around looking for a striker, you know, people will be frustrated, annoyed, whatever way you want to put it. But the outgoing part of his job, I think, is how we can not more properly judge, but more fully judge the work that he is doing as a sporting director.

23:00Because the remit isn't just to buy players. It is to do contract renewals, which we've done this summer with Wannery and Lewis Skelly and Gabrielle and credit for those as well. There's a couple that we'd all like to see, which are probably in negotiation at this moment in time. But the perception of Arsenal as a selling club or a club that doesn't necessarily sell as well as it can is certainly prevalent. And I understand that. So how do you view the final couple of weeks of this window from Andrea Berta's perspective and, you know, acknowledging that it is not necessarily easy to sell players that other clubs don't necessarily want?

23:39yeah i think um i feel a touch of sympathy for andrea burta because i think when you get to the stage with players like zinchenko viera you can look at it in isolation at the moment and take a snapshot in where we are august 2025 and go well he needs to sell them we need to find a club to sell these players for but a lot has gone on up to this point um in terms of allowing it to get to this stage that we have Zinchenko on incredibly high wages who hasn't played all season now that doesn't transpire over a couple of weeks it's happened in kind of years seasons past that we've got to the stage where we've had Vieira we've sent him out on loan he's come back so I think some of it you have to look at previous management and go you should have foreseen this there should there should have been better forward planning and a more ruthless approach to go actually a year ago, Zinchenko is not in the plans, we need a solution to this.

24:41Rather than let it get where we are now, which is we're in a desperate state. Other clubs know that we're desperate. And I think that speaks to how much they try and squeeze these prices, because they know that we've got a bloated squad with some sort of old guard players who are not in the plans for the future. But they know that now, and they've probably seen it coming for the last couple of months. it's no surprise to me that we can't find a buyer for the likes of Zinchenko, Vieira, Lekonga, I think is still with Arsenal, still on our books. So I have some sympathy with Berta because I don't think it's down to him that these players are still here, but it is up to him now.

25:24And how we will judge him is he needs to look at Liverpool and see how they are getting 15 million for a player I can't even name. how they do that. How they do that, I have no idea. But, you know, I don't think it's all on him. I think the club needs to take some responsibility over how this perception has built up over the past, like, years that we've got to this stage. Yeah, I mean, there is that, isn't there, Andrew? The perception of Arsenal is a club that doesn't necessarily sell well. There's also, you know, before we talk about Mikel Arteta more in general, like, Alexander Zinchenko was absolutely pivotal to Mikel Arteta when he first came in and was really, really good and really important in that first season when we won the title and the injury issues have been prevalent throughout his career, right?

26:12But Mikel Arteta has a way of, I don't know if casting people aside is the right way of putting it, but you can be really in with Mikel Arteta and then all of a sudden you're really out. Do you think that has an impact on how difficult it is to move on some of those players? like Vieira, for example, he was in, then he was on loan, and there's no suggestion whatsoever that he's going to be anywhere near the first team this season. His loan at Porto was okay. You know, you'd like for him to have done a bit better there, so more people might sit up and take notice. But that sort of positioning of players on the very fringes of the Arsenal squad can't be helpful if you are trying to find buyers.

26:56Because you've seen it, haven't we, this week with the Zinchenko comments and people going, well, he should just leave. or we should just sell him. But like, to who? Who is knocking on our door for Alexander Zinchenko? And I think if you take him at face value and the comments that he made about how much it hurts him not to play, that means he's very open to a move, to go somewhere where he will play. So I don't think it's a case in just sort of sitting there picking up his wages because like he's happy to do that. It suggests to me that there isn't really much in the way of, dare we say it again, concrete interest in him.

27:37Yeah, I mean, it's, look, I admit it's not as easy as just saying this player's not wanted. We'll just find a buyer and house him somewhere else. I understand that. I think there's been situations as well with injuries where we've kind of wanted to maybe hold on and give players a chance and send them out on loan to regain some form or, you know, quite often we're sending players out on loan, and hoping that they'll have a stunning season and people will want to buy them. I mean, we've seen that actually with a couple of the young guys coming out of the academy. Micah Beareth did very well, ended up getting sold, had a sell-on clause.

28:11We've ended up making a bit more money there. Balogun was another one where it worked really well. And obviously, when they're coming out of the academy, it's pure profit. So you kind of give yourself a little bit of leeway. But yeah, with some of the first-team players, once they're jettisoned and they kind of go into a sort of... a slow, a slow death really, or a march towards the end of their contract. You know, we've, it's expensive also to be ruthless and just say, thanks very much, but we don't want you here. And, you know, we went through that weird process of just canceling contracts. We've obviously done it with Tomiyasu this summer and just come to an agreement where we felt that that was mutually beneficial.

28:51It's difficult. I just, I think where we get kind of frustrated is maybe just, as Laura said, How is it that other clubs somehow find a German club is going to spend 30 million euros on Jarrell Kwanza or whatever? Or there's an unknown Liverpool academy kid who's sold for 15 million in a way. So it is difficult. And I get that Berta's only just got his feet under the desk. And really, he's working with the situation that was presented to him. But I'd hope that we get maybe better at that in the coming years. I certainly hope to see some development on that. On the contract side of things, I'm absolutely fine.

29:29The club have done really, really well since Arteta came in at keeping players they want to keep and especially keeping them two years out from when their contract's about to end. And by and large, where there's been any doubts, we've kind of, you know, those guys have kind of crept towards like Tierney or Jorginho. But look, it's an area we could definitely improve on. And that's, you know, on Berta and his team from here on out, it's his opportunity to make his mark on that front. Yeah, some clubs are just really good at selling. Chelsea, because they have like loads of players. what's fascinated me about Chelsea is like they they have such a need to sell players because they have so many of them but somehow they're also selling them for top dollar nobody's saying you absolutely have to sell so we'll offer you like a bargain basement price for these guys they're getting full price for them they're just good at selling and the the player you mentioned Laura was Tyler Morton, who made two appearances for Liverpool's first team, according to Wikipedia.

30:40I know their stats are not always great, but went on loan to Blackburn and to Hull City and they sold him to Lyon for 15 million pounds. It's sort of like, how did they do this? I wish I knew and I wish I had the answer. And we all wish we had the answer because it would be useful, obviously, as you've said, if you get money in for Zinchenko or Rhys Nelson and these guys who are on the fringes, it does make spending more money on a player like Eze or somebody else more likely. You know, I don't think it's 100 % necessary that Arsenal have to sell to buy, but it does make it easier and you make up that shortfall because Arsenal have spent the guts of£200 million this summer and brought in very little Nuno Tavares and Marquinhos, somebody reminded me of yesterday.

31:27We all remember Marquinhos very well. What a guy. Let's speak about Mikel Arteta then, Andrew. There is pressure, obviously, on a manager when you don't win something for five years at a big club like Arsenal. The context of that is obviously, it's a much more nuanced discussion than, well, he hasn't won anything for five years, therefore he's in the last chance saloon. I think it is a far more nuanced discussion when you look at the consistency in terms of league position that Arsenal have produced over the last three or four years. You can't overlook that. I think if you are overlooking that, you're not being objective about where we are and what we need to do.

32:12Nevertheless, it is five years. And that is going to be, I think, one of the stories of the season. One of the external pressures, the external media narrative is going to be very, very much focused on that. particularly after a summer in which Arsenal have spent big and spent on players who it looks from the outside like they are targeting to help us win the the title now so you know what what's your view on that and how this is going to play out over the course of this season because it feels to me like this could be one of the most tedious narratives of the season in broadcast terms in broadsheet terms and tabloid terms that that spotlight that I think will be on Arsenal far more brightly than any other club in the Premier League this season yeah I mean I get why the conversation will be had and I also know that it will annoy the tits off me as it happens every time that there's a defeat or a drop point or a bump in the road or something you know it's inevitable we just have to kind of as supporters cope with that i think in many respects you know arteta i mean it's mad right he's like the third or fourth longest serving manager in english football now and it feels like yesterday that he was appointed the football managerial merry-go-round is a thing but it's not so much a thing at arsenal right we had a 22 two-year manager.

33:41Then we had the Unai Emery period blip. And now we're into quite a long relationship with Arteta. And I think, you know, just assuming that clubs will sack their manager because they haven't won something or sort of met certain standards may well apply to 99 % of clubs. But actually, weirdly, at Arsenal, we don't seem to do things that way. And that's, you know, absolutely fine. I think a lot of supporters take pride in that as well. There's a couple of things I would say to people. is, okay, then point to someone else who's going to come in and do a better job than Arteta. I mean, when you look at what he's had to do, it's frankly incredible and far surpassed, I guess, many of our expectations.

34:21I don't think in the space of two, three years, we expected to be challenging for the title, challenging for the Champions League. But that's where he got us in double quick time with a very serious plan. So point to me to someone else who could have done that. whether he can get us over the line, we'll have to see. I mean, all the players seem to back him and believe him. You know, we've got some very, very fundamental players in that squad whose contracts we're trying to tie down and have been trying to tie down the last couple of years. And they are signing on and they are happy to sign on.

34:52And the key part of that is they believe in the manager. You start upsetting that, you start bringing doubts into the squad, you have to change things. And, you know, it becomes a much bigger question about what you're trying to... You end up blowing up a lot more than just getting rid of the manager. So I'd kind of point to that and say, you know, what do you want to do? Who's the man that you think is going to do a better job? Some people might point out Carlo Ancelotti or something. Fine. But like, are these people available? Do they want the job? I'd also say that in a lot of clubs, the balance between the power and the knowledge, you know, is off, right?

35:26You get a lot of clubs where the power lies with like a Daniel Levy or an owner, and they're really invested and want to have a say on the day to day of what's going on in the club. I think with Arsenal, a lot of the power and the knowledge lies with Arteta because he's been the fundamental to the entire building of this project. And I'm not sure that there are people in the club capable of sacking him, but I'm not sure they necessarily would want to open themselves up to what comes afterwards because that's a big decision. And I don't know that they necessarily have the knowledge internally themselves to fill the gap before finding someone else.

36:00so that's kind of where i stand on it having to deal with the conversation it was just it's just going to be the way it is right i mean it's it's it's going to be social media clips of gary neville and jamie carriga sticking the knife in when we lose and um and every every other talk sport radio station and and the you know elk doing the same thing just to fill the airwaves with something sure arsenal big big you know big draws for that type of thing it is laura though a consequence isn't it, of being where we have been over the last couple of seasons, that this spotlight, this pressure exists because Arsenal have come so close.

36:37And I don't think you can separate it from Mikel Arteta. The job he has done, we had a title challenge which fell away and then we almost got there in that season when Man City won it by a point. And last season was not what we expected, but a step backwards, a small step backwards. We still finished second, but in terms of goals and points, it was not as good as we had hoped. although you know we took a step forward in Europe and into the into the semi-finals of the Champions League which we shouldn't overlook because that made us all feel pretty good but it is a consequence isn't it of having those having set those standards if you fall even slightly below you're immediately under scrutiny not just from the media but from your own fans it feels to me like that is something that Mikel Arteta will will relish and we'll see as a challenge.

37:26I think he's experienced and I don't want to say overcome, but he certainly experienced plenty of challenges in his time as Arsenal manager. The one thing I don't think anyone can argue against is that this is a guy who is absolutely driven by ambition and the desire to succeed for this football club, obviously for himself as a consequence of that, but for the football club and he wants arsenal to win things and win the big things yeah i think as you've just said he is very openly ambitious and he is very animated and people don't like that for whatever reason they take real exception to anything that arteta does um god forbid he steps outside his technical area god forbid he asks for the tunnel cover to be removed anything that he does brings in scrutiny that just would not apply to another manager and I think the reason for that is you've touched on it already it's an oversimplification of an issue that's actually quite complex so as you said we've had three title challenges but with all different flavors of failure but that's far too much for the likes of TalkSport or anyone else to cover in one tweet or one simple Arsenal failing because of Arteta that's not the reason we actually need to go into a bit more but we don't have time for that in the media we have time for Arsenal are not going to get to where they need to because of Arteta I think when it comes to the pressure that he's under for this season, I see it more as this is the season where he can demonstrate the next chapter of being a manager, which is fixing the problems for previous seasons and significantly adapting a style of play in a way that he perhaps hasn't had to do before.

39:29Particularly as a reflection of last season, we were very unlucky with injuries, but I think 12 draws and a lot of quite boring build-up play speaks to we need to change this up and I think that is what he should be assessed under that's the criteria with which we should evaluate him this coming season as to right you've brought in these new players we now have a squad with appropriate depth we now want to see a manager who is confident enough to rotate to use them differently and to behave differently not constantly obsessive of whether he's going to deliver silverware and i understand that that's that's where the narrative will be it's been five seasons we've not won the league for 20 years but that's a very i think very oversimplification of the issue at hand the issue at hand is that we probably have all the potential in the world this season to go the whole way it's up to our now to get the best out of out of this this group of players in a way that he hasn't done before and you know as has been mentioned you don't secure the likes of gabrielle noaneri hopefully saka and saliba to come unless they also see the vision so i have no doubt that the furore over the michael arteta is the most quote unquote linkedin manager there ever was will continue but that's unfortunately it's a very easy way to get clicks um but i think anyone with the brain knows that it's much more nuanced than that.

41:01Yeah, 100%. I mean, I think, you know, there's a, and I understand why this is sort of said about Arteta, that he's slightly intractable, that there's a predictability or he's wedded to these particular structures. There's a piece in The Athletic this morning. I don't know if you've had a chance to read it yet or not. Amy Lawrence has written a piece. She had a bit of time with Mikel Arteta when he was unveiled as the ambassador for a sportswear brand who we're not giving free advertising to, so fuck off. Anyway, there's a quote where he says, there is much more to come because the manager the boys needed three years ago is a different manager than they need today.

41:41The team has grown so much in every sense of that word that they need somebody else. And that somebody else has to adapt and identify what is really important, what's really going to get the fire in the belly to get the best out of them. That's the evolution of the manager. so it speaks to a willingness on his part to change to do things differently and I listen I saw a lot of conversation about our football last season it was not enjoyable really for the most part and I don't know anybody who would say that it was was that because that's what Mikel Arteta wants or was it also because or was it instead rather because that's what we could produce when And you don't have Kai Havertz or Gabriel Jesus or Bakayo Saka and Martin Odegaard who's below his best.

42:30And you've no Ben White. And Jurian Timbers playing the whole season through an injury. And there are reasons as to why your football is not as dynamic and effective as it could be. You've got Mikel Moreno. God bless him. Did a great job up front. But he's not a natural striker. That has knock-on impacts throughout the team. So, you know, for me, I look at someone like Madweke, who, you know, I raised eyebrows when we were linked with him, but I can see in terms of his skill sets and his qualities, he brings things to this squad that we don't necessarily have in terms of dribbling, his take-ons.

43:05Victor Jokere is a striker who is going to demand that Arsenal play in a slightly different way so you know between what he said there Laura and what he's what we've done in the transfer market it's it's not a case that Arteta is going well we just need to be like last season but more efficient it does feel like there is a desire and a need and an acknowledgement that we have had to change and will have to change in order to go up a level again yeah and i think for lots of teams coming into a new season you either put them in a box of tweaking or rebuilding we're kind of neither in a in of those we we've got some tweaks um but i think they are bigger changes than just a little bit of adjustment here and there because i don't think you can look at last season as you've just said and go well we were nearly there and I think we always underestimate how big that extra one percent is to you know win the title I think when it comes to change as well you can see Arsenal particularly in pre-season doing things differently and it's always amusing to me that the back end of last season the narratives that we do the same thing the set pieces are the same everyone's worked us out so we see a brand new set piece um corner in pre-season where the players are all lined up on the edge of the box and they're running in and then suddenly we've all got what on earth are they doing that looks very different what's what's the approach here so can't really win um but i think it's really interesting to hear arteta speak like that because that's not how i think that the narrative is that awesome are just plugging away at the same approach and expecting things to fall into place this speaks to a much more proactive way of going although we want the same outcome as maybe two seasons ago where we were brilliant the way that we're actually going to get there is going to be different um and that gives me a huge amount of hope for the season ahead and the approach of the manager that he will be more flexible and we will have plan A, plan B, plan C, which I think is what we need.

45:20Andrew, you know, we obviously spend quite a lot of time reading and listening to what Mikel Arteta says. And I think if you read what he says from the moment he arrived at the club, you know, there's a big disparity between what he actually says and what is represented of him in sections of the media, which become the wider narrative about Arteta. You know, that quote that I just read out there to Laura, I think is really, really interesting, where he's talking about, maybe it's very LinkedIn, but talking about, you know, changing himself and looking deep within himself to come up with the solutions, et cetera, et cetera.

46:00But it's kind of what you want to hear from a manager, isn't it? You don't want him to say, well, I'm just going to keep doing the same thing over and over and over again until it works, because most of the time that's not going to happen. And do you see, you know, within the business that we've done this summer, with the players that we've brought in, a desire and ability to change the way that we play as well? I mean, first on Arteta changing. I mean, yeah, this is his first managerial job, right? I mean, he's been learning on the job since he was in his mid to late 30s. He's only 43 or something now.

46:36He's still one of the youngest managers in European football. I mean, it completely makes sense that, you know, having effectively been growing up alongside some of these players that he recognises there's a need to talk to them differently. They're all maturing in their own way. I certainly think that the club have identified issues this summer when it comes to playing style and tried to fix those problems. I mean, we spoke right at the top about having a tick list and trying to tick those off when it came to the personnel side of things. it's absolutely incumbent on the manager now to get them playing in a way that ensures that we are competitive and consistently competitive for as long as possible in the season and just kind of going back to like what we were talking about before in terms of like from the outside people putting pressure on about us having to win a trophy as a supporter your enjoyment of a season is driven by hope which is why right now everyone's hopeful and optimistic and all the rest of it ensuring that hope continues through october november december january into the domestic cups into the champions league is staying competitive and you could go through periods of bad football so long as you were winning so long as you still feel like there's a chance that when it gets to may things matter and if it if you if you start to drop out too early that's when it all falls apart what i would say with arteta is that in pretty much all of the last few seasons you have seen us competing for something within our aims like right until the very end right whether it was top four a few years ago or champ you know going for the championship going for the championship going for the championship and the and the champions league like he is keeping us hopeful until the end and there's a supporter if 90 of the year is good i'm in a better mood than if you know we fall off the off a cliff very early and then decide okay where we're seven months of shit and then we're going to go back again.

48:34So, look, I feel much happier with him, you know, in charge. But that isn't to sort of excuse him from the fact that we could be better. And he recognises that. He knows that. Last year, I think a lot of other people realised that as well, but also recognised there were external factors. Those external factors ground us down really badly. I mean, if you look at last season and the Champions League semifinals, And I think, you know, we were beaten, but we acquitted ourselves pretty well over the course of those two games. And you look at what the difference is. It's a bench. It's options off the bench.

49:10And we didn't have those for the last two, three months of last season. And hopefully, with the way we've built the squad this season, that's something that we can lean into as and when we need to when we play those big games, hopefully in the final stages of the Premier League campaign and also the Champions League. Andrew, I'll ask you this one first. There's obviously a lot of talent in this Arsenal squad, some really great players, but just pick one that you're looking forward to watching this season. Our new saviour, Max Dalman. Yeah, sure. Why not? No, I mean, look, it's ridiculous to put pressure on the 15-year-old kids.

49:49I'm not actually going to say that. I want to see Saka. I want to see Saka go a full season playing the way he was at the beginning of last season. If he can avoid injuries and with the new guys around him, there's the potential for Saka to go stratospheric, like real next level. And he's genuine. He's got the talent. He just needs the setup and he needs the hamstrings to do it, basically. You know, he was 11 assists in 12 at the beginning of last season. We thought he was Ray Gersell's sort of assist record. He ended up with a whole load of goals, even though he missed three months of the season.

50:34I want to see Bakayo firing all cylinders this year. So he's my go-to guy. Okay. It was Henri's assist record, wasn't it, by the way? Not Ozil. Yeah, Ozil didn't get there. I think everyone points at Olivier Giroud, I think, for him not making, for missing chances. Yeah, it was funny. I was on the Latte Firm stream last night. I was asked to pick a player who I thought was going to be the guy for Arsenal this season. I just picked Saka as well, simply because I think the desire and the motivation that he will have to come back from that injury, I'm pretty sure he hated missing those games. But this is a guy who's produced such end product goals and assists from a really early age.

51:16And I think now we're heading into a point in his career where there's a level to go up again. and that's kind of scary for the opposition. I really hope he can be that guy. He's not the one I'm going to pick. I'll give Laura her chance for the player she's looking out for this season first, though. So my pick, and I'm sure the jokes can write themselves about this, but it's going to be Calafiore. Okay, you've just stolen mine. That's fine. I'm sorry. That's all. Nothing to do with the fact that he is a beautiful Italian stallion. I just think the impact he has when he plays makes us a different team he brings the sort of marauding forward movement can't think of a better word but there is just something about him which I think we haven't seen a type of player like this at Arsenal for a long time if he can stay fit I do think he will be such an asset in games where we just need to be super direct.

52:21And I think looking ahead to Old Trafford, I would like to see him start in that position. I think it's a riskier pick than Myles Lewis Skelly. But I think generally speaking, I would like to see Arsenal be a bit more risky this season. I think the way he played, certainly my sort of North Star, to be really linked in about it, was the Newcastle game last year when he came on at halftime. You know, it was just a little glimpse of what he looks like going forward. He sort of comes into that left eight position. I think he is not shot shy in a way that a lot of our players seem to be. So if he can stay fit, I think he could be really, really crucial to Arsenal.

53:06Yeah, I completely agree. I think he's a lot of fun and I think there's the fitness issues is the big question mark, but to my mind, there's no question. There's like a really, really entertaining, fun and exciting player in there. I mean, there's a couple that spring to mind for me. Obviously, Jokeres is someone we all want to see do well, and I think he will bring qualities to this team. But I suppose from a sort of objective standpoint, I'm really curious to see what happens with Ethan this summer or this season rather. You know, he signed a new deal. He's 18 years of age. Maybe the spotlight's been taken off him a bit by our new saviour, Max Damon, as Andrew said.

53:45You know, 15-year-old comes along and steals the limelight. That's fine. But maybe it might suit him to operate in the shadows a little bit. It feels like, you know, with Madweke coming in and Saka on the right-hand side, that's where Weneri played last season, that the role they're envisaging for him is more central, whether it's a backup to Odegaard, alternative to Odegaard. Are there times when he can play alongside him? I don't know, but I think there's a really exciting player there, and I'm very curious to see, you know, how that plays out over the course of the season. A bit of quick rival chat.

54:24Andrew, who do you see? I think Liverpool, I guess. Do you see Liverpool as the favourites? Do you see much in the way of variation? A lot of people are predicting a top four. I'm not going to do it in order, obviously, but they're predicting Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea. Which of those worries you most? And do you see anybody on the outside of that who could threaten the status quo, if that's the right way to put it?

54:50Yeah, I mean, it's hard to kind of, it's hard to look past Liverpool, isn't it, really? I mean, they just, when you spend that money on those players and they just look on paper very, very good. And obviously they have the confidence that comes with being reigning champions. They will have, you know, people will be looking to track them down. Obviously, it's very difficult to retain a title. We know that. Arsenal have literally never done it in the Premier League era. So, yeah, I mean, they look good. I think Chelsea are going to be interesting. They just have so many players, and I think they've got a couple of wild cards in there.

55:30Some new guys, this Esteval fellow could be interesting. And again, they've got the kind of confidence that comes with having won a couple of trophies now, even if they were a bit timpot and basically just trophies handed out like the Emirates Cup. yeah I mean look in a weird way I wouldn't write off Newcastle if they retain Isaac if they manage to keep hold of him he's such a good player that I do think that Newcastle will challenge again for the top four Manchester United got no idea you assume that they're going to score goals now but you don't know that they'd be able to keep them out so they could be a fun team to watch I think because anything could happen in those games.

56:15It's just going to be very, very competitive. I think all over the place, teams can take points of other teams. Really curious to see how Spurs do. I think it's one thing going from really attacking to being very solid, but they need to kind of find a balance. And I guess having lost Son and Madison, they need to spend money on something that gives them a bit of creativity because otherwise you're kind of tying Thomas Frank's hands behind his back. Yeah, there's some interesting stuff going on. And when you just look at all the other sides, teams are buying smarter. They look, you know, Forrest have built a squad that did very well last year and will be looking to go better.

56:59Villa, again, Unai's got this knack of getting teams up there and keeping them up there. So, yeah, I don't know. I'm really curious and I'm not scared of it being more competitive. I think it's a good thing. I don't think you want to go head-to-head with just one other side because then it just becomes that classic case of if you lose one game, you feel like the world's going to cave in. I think we need it to be more competitive across the board. I was going to ask you that, Laura. I mean, Andrew's basically mentioned every team there, so I don't know what's left for you. Pick the bones out of whatever's left.

57:35talk to us about Burnley Laura please but do you think and feel free to chime in with some thoughts on those rivals for top four for the title if you like but I agree with Andrew there that I think a more competitive Premier League could be an advantage for Arsenal I think it gives us a better opportunity to win the Premier League rather than one of those head to heads Yeah 100 % I'm not going to talk about Burnley just hope they come up go straight back no love for that club at all nothing about Scott Parker's cardigans no he no he speaks well that's all I'm going to give you I think City I don't know if you mentioned City are in an interesting phase they seem to sort of get away with well you know they're rebuilding we can't expect much from them while they're going through this transitional period, forgetting obviously that they've got still the likes of Haaland, they've spent all, you know, still spent considerable amounts of money.

58:41I think they will be still a force to be reckoned with, but I think in a slightly different way. They've still got quite a lot of the old guard hanging around. And I think that'll be interesting to how they sort of push on but retain the identity that, you know, Pep has built. I do worry with the league becoming more competitive. We've obviously been brilliant against the top six, top five, and Spurs for the past three seasons. I do wonder whether that with Chelsea strengthening, I think they will be a bit of a dark horse this year, we might see a flip towards that's potentially where we will drop points rather than at the likes of Bournemouth, Forest, et cetera.

59:30but ultimately I think with teams like Villa like Newcastle if they can hang on to Isak it will make that title a lot more competitive I think Liverpool again will still be the ones to watch the ones to beat but for all the firepower they have up front I have some questions in their sort of defensive back line so it does feel like you know the mid-table teams could get at them but then you have to apply the same logic to us. So I do wonder whether our record against the bigger sides will be tougher to maintain this year. And unfortunately, I do have to include the other North London team in that.

1:00:11I don't think that's going to be as easy as the six points as it has been for the previous seasons. They will be less of a joke than previous seasons. And I think we need to be prepared for that. But I think it will make the title race much more interesting, much more competitive rather than where it was last year, where it just kind of simmered to an end, which is good for all involved. Yeah, I mean, I really hope that Newcastle hold on to Alexander Rezac because A, it means Liverpool don't get him and B, I think it means Newcastle have got a miserable player and hopefully a tremendously toxic environment at their football club for the duration of the season.

1:00:51So fingers crossed that they can dig their heels in in that regard. Final thing before we go today, Andrew, there were some comments. They've been doing the rounds, and we're sure that Mikel Arteta is going to be asked about this at his press conference tomorrow about Martin Odegaard, Tony Adams, at an event in Dublin last week. It was sort of a talk at a venue in Dublin, but the clip, funnily enough, only emerged yesterday talking about Martin Odegaard. He says, you can't, you're not going to win the league with Martin Odegaard as captain. And he says Mikel Arteta should take the captaincy away from Odegaard and give it to Declan Rice.

1:01:27Tony says, I think Declan is my kind of captain. And what it might do is free up Odegaard to play with a bit more freedom. He's a proper player and a proper captain. Your reaction? I mean, look, I mean, we've seen Arteta take the captaincy away from one player. I mean, so he's not immune to it, but I'm not sure that, you know, Odegaard's done anything wrong to deserve a demotion suddenly. I don't know. It's just Tony's very old school, isn't he? He sort of feels that captains come in one mould and one mould only, and that's in his own image, which is fine. I mean, Tony's done a lot in his career to be able to command a lot of respect, but ultimately there's a reason why his managerial career fell off a cliff, and it's because he probably made stupid decisions like this.

1:02:19I don't think changing the captaincy on the eve of the season and handing it from one very good player to another very good player is going to make any difference other than destroy the confidence of someone in your team who you've trusted and respect. So I don't think it's a very good idea, Tony. And I don't think it's very helpful bringing it up, even if he thought it was in a sort of closed-off environment. I mean, in this day and age, everything ends up on the internet. And it just really annoyed me when I saw it. I was like, you're a great person. you know you're a great ambassador for for being sober and you've been a fantastic footballer but you also have a responsibility to to shut up sometimes and um you know he's literally sat in the same room and interviewed erdegaard before and being very pally with him and all the rest of it i just i sort of do wonder like he has a relationship with the club he's going to come across these people again like does he not kind of feel like he should pay them some respect i I mean, these are people that he effectively has a working relationship with.

1:03:23He is part of the Arsenal family and an ambassador on time to time for the club. I don't know. It just annoyed me. It's a sidebar, Laura, a bit of a distraction. We don't necessarily need going into the new season. I don't think Mikel Arteta will be too worried about it because he will say, when he's asked about it in his press conference, he will say, Martin is a great captain. He's well-respected in the dressing room. and I think that's absolutely true, but he will also say that within his team and within his squad, there is room for leadership all over the pitch and that can be Declan Rice, who you could make a sort of parallel between Declan and Tony in terms of the sort of character they are.

1:04:07You know, England internationals, for the most part anyway. You know, London boys, they're vocal. You know, they've got that kind of presence on the pitch, But you've also got leaders in the shape of Bukayo Saka. You've also got Gabriel at the back, William Saliba at the back, a kind of quiet leadership that comes through with performance and consistency of performance. And I think that will be the way Mikel Arteta deals with this question. Yeah, it's the type of comment that speaks to a very singular view of the role of a captain. And I think it speaks to, regardless of how close he is with the club still, you have no idea, and we have no idea as fans, what Odegaard does in the background not on the pitch not even on a match day it's the you know it's the conversations with players who are struggling it's the meetings he has by himself with the captain it's how he speaks to the support players everyone at London Colney that's what we're after from a captain and that may not be what Tony Adams's view of a captain is what it was back in the day but it's what Arsenal need now um and to be honest it it's the type of thing that you would see in a soap opera it might be a you know storyline on dream team 20 years ago where the captain was stripped of his captaincy ahead of the new season because an old player came out and said something um but i think it it's not the right thing to do at all it would be hugely um damaging and completely pointless um to do so and it just i think i'm sure we'll see artessa being very um media trained and i would say he has full faith in odegaard he understands the comments but but that's the end of it it's just sometimes things belong in a private whatsapp group between you and old players, I think that might have been something that maybe didn't need to be in the public eye unless, of course, you are looking for your next big media gig, in which case that might have been true.

1:06:16But certain things just don't need to be said. And that was one of them. Yeah. I mean, just very finally, my thought is that if you're a captain like Tony Adams and you want to see another captain like Tony Adams at Arsenal Football Club, I understand that completely and what a brilliant captain he was and what a successful player he was for arsenal over you know over the course of three separate decades right but people and players like tony adams are really really rare they don't come along that often you know not just at arsenal but any other football club those guys are so rare you know so i i get it it's sort of like craving for something that um you know is fundamental to you and your football experience but which doesn't necessarily exist in the game 30 odd years later.

1:06:58So look, I don't see that Mikel Arteta is going to make any change. And I think Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard will be very important in terms of the leadership of this team going into the new season and hopefully a new successful season. Right, better leave it there. Laura, thank you very much indeed for being with us. Really appreciate your time. Thank you very much for having me. I'm looking forward to the season now. I'm feeling more positive than I was an hour ago. That's brilliant. And Andrew, thank you so much and we'll chat again soon. I'm sure we will. Thank you very much indeed to Laura and to Andrew.

1:07:30You can find them on Blue Sky. Laura is at laurakirkfrancis.bsky.social and Andrew is at aalansport.arsblog.com. Obviously, we looked ahead to the new season there, but we didn't focus much on the game at Old Trafford on Sunday. And part of the reason for that is because over on Patreon, we do a preview podcast for every Premier League game and most of our European games as well. And that is one of the benefits that you can get if you want to be an ArseBlog member on Patreon. As well as that, of course, there's The 30, which is our Premier League review podcast. There's a weekly newsletter from Andrew Allen, which gives you the best Arsenal content, some of the best football content from around the web and some cool random Arsenal bits and pieces involved in that.

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1:09:17On top of that, it goes a long way to supporting everything that we do on Arseblog that is free. So the blog is always free. News is always free. Arsenal Women Arsecast, the Arsecast, Arsecast Extra, it's all free. Our award-winning coverage of Arsenal Women, which has grown over the years because of your incredible support on Patreon, all free. Everything that we've always had for free is on there. And remember, we do not have advertising on our site at all. One of the benefits to you as a reader of Arseblog, whether you're on the website, whether you're on the Android app, the iOS app, there are no ads.

1:09:55We've done away with them completely over the last number of years, but it is dependent on your support. So if you feel like all of that stuff is worth$6 a month to you plus VAT, where applicable, you can sign up at patreon.com forward slash arseblog. And we will be very happy to have you and welcome you into that community. If you still want to just do the free stuff, that's cool as well. We love having you around and thank you so much for being here and for listening and for being part of it in that sense too. So as I mentioned, if you want to hear more about the game against Manchester United on Sunday, after Mikel Arteta's press conference tomorrow, which takes place around 1.30, we will have that preview podcast for you over on Patreon.

1:10:37Myself and Lewis Hambrose, we'll look at Arsenal, we'll look at Manchester United, we'll preview all the other weekend Premier League action as well as the new season starts and we get ready to go again. And fingers crossed we can get ourselves off to a good start on Sunday at Old Trafford. So there you go. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening to this particular episode. Hope you enjoyed it. Please join myself and James on Monday for an Arsecast Extra, hopefully for the very first of many goodly mornings in the new season. For now, though, take it easy, folks, and we will catch you on the next one.

1:12:05The Clubs The Clubs The Clubs The Clubs The Clubs Today, Arsenal are proud to announce KoalaCoin as the club's new cryptocurrency partner. Koala. You can get incredible benefits such as Fuck all. And... Losing your life savings and having your house repossessed because you put all your money into something that doesn't actually exist. and meeting Arsenal legends. Oh, I can assure you that meeting with Mikko Silvestro is more than made up for the fact I've lost my ass and the wife won't let me see the kids. So get on board today with Koala Coin. Koalas might not be bears, but then this isn't money either.

1:12:52Koala. Don't tell the financial regulator.

1:12:59Evening. Buyer's remorse. Buy a new car? I'll be moving in. Let's get started. Sorry, I think there's been a mistake. I bought it from Carvana. You what? Yeah, great price. I even have seven days to love it or return it. So there's no... No, no buyer's remorse. More like buyer's rejoice. I guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it. Buyer's rejoice. Buy your car today on Carvana. Limitations and exclusions may apply. See our seven-day return policy at Carvana.com.