Episode 852 - The corner flag dancer

0:23Hello and welcome to a brand new Arseblog Arsecast right here on Arseblog.com. How are you? I hope you're well. Thank you very much indeed, as always, for being here wherever you are in the world. I hope you're doing OK, doing well. Boyed by the fact that Arsenal won another game last night, four out of four in the Champions League, a 3-0 win over Slavia Prague. And that, of course, will be the focus of this particular podcast. Plenty to get into. Two goals for Mikel Moreno. Yet another clean sheet for Arsenal, despite the trauma, the tragedy of allowing a shot on target. A debut for Max Dowman in Europe, becoming the youngest ever player to play in the Champions League, as well as a European debut for 17-year-old Andre Harriman-Anouss, and an Arsenal team that went away from home in Europe without a clutch of players, It was like really important, really good attacking players.

1:21And we still won the game in what I think, maybe Mikel Arteta didn't quite agree, was a fairly comfortable way. So we're going to get into all of that. Can I just say, though, there was a real missed opportunity last night on TV. I was watching on TNT Sports. And with no disrespect to Martin Keown, who was the co-commentator, they had a problem on the mics about 10 minutes into the game. all of a sudden it started echoing like this so they were talking and you could hear them echoing which can be really disconcerting if the commentators and the martin keon were hearing that it's really disconcerting if you can hear yourself back in your ear like a half a second after your it's so difficult to deal with so what they did was they cut the commentary all together and for like six minutes.

2:16There was just this wonderful noise of football, the ball being kicked, the whistle being blown, the fans singing and reacting to what was happening on the pitch. It was great. It was great. And that's not to do any commentator a disservice at all. But sometimes, you know, it's refreshing just to have the sound of the game. And then TNT Sports decided, we must fill this silence with inane chatter so they cut to the studio and the presenter and the the two pundits were there just waffling away over the game just talking non-stop incessant talking sort of about the game but not really about the game and it was so unnecessary don't be afraid of silence.

3:03It's all right. People can cope without somebody talking all the time. I understand there's probably a need to let people know what's going on. For example, people who might be visually impaired who are using the commentary to follow the game, but you could just make the odd announcement or just give really basic commentary. Just tell people what's going on from time to time without it sounding like people sitting around a canteen table at work, just talking about football. Anyway, missed opportunity, but maybe two, maybe two. If that's the thing that we're complaining about, it's a pretty first world problem in the grand scheme of things.

3:42The most important thing is that Arsenal won the game and made it four wins from four in the Champions League. So with me to talk about the game and to talk about all the bits and bobs that went on in our 3-0 win over Slavia Prague last night is Phil Koster. Good morning, Phil. Morning, Andrew. How are we doing? I'm doing okay. I'm still reeling, recovering from the fact that the opposition had a shot on target. I mean, it was the easiest shot we could ever have faced, I guess. You could have saved it. I could have saved it. Pretty much everybody listening to this could have saved it. But just a bit shocking, isn't it?

4:13The standards are slipping that way. Yeah, my world has been rocked, to be honest. I woke up this morning, my routine was out of whack, didn't get up for my usual coffee. Sometimes things happen in life that really make you re-evaluate where you are. And it just shows that we can't take anything for granted. So go and hug your loved ones, tell the people that you love, that you love them. Yeah, it's just... Just never know, do you? Mikel out. Yeah. Mikel out is what I have to say about that. Get him up in front of the judge. You know, you stand accused of the most egregious of crimes, allowing a team to have a shot on target against Arsenal.

4:56How do you plead? Poor Mikel and the doctor are guilty, I guess, you know? Off with his head. Yeah. Anyway, we'll come to that extraordinary moment late in the game. when Slavia Prague... Oh my God. I literally just spoke it into existence. Right, I'm going to jump for one second. Okay, we have some Phil Doorbell music here.

5:47We're back. Okay, good. Just so people know, because I often get comments about this, it's like, that's not the doorbell music, but that's Phil's doorbell music. It's my doorbell music. Every regular guest on the pod, in particular our Patreon contributors, yourself, James, even Lewis has doorbell music, but Lewis's doorbell never goes. I think in like four years, Lewis' doorbell has gone once. So he's either, you know, just way better at preparing for podcasts than you or James, or, you know, he just tells people, I'm busy here. Respect my podcasting hour. I don't know. I don't know. Anyway, you're good.

6:27You're back. And we are going to talk about the 3-0 win over Slavia Prague. So let's get on and do that after all that nonsense and waffle. Team selection. I was expecting changes. I thought Norgard would start. I thought Wernary would start. I did wonder if we might see a bit more rotation in the back four, maybe someone like Ben White coming in. But as it was, there was only one change in the back four, a start for Piero and Capier. And, of course, Mikel Moreno up front in the absence of, well, anyone, because of all the injuries that we have there. The Spaniard was pushed back into action as our centre forward.

7:02That's not unexpected. Anything stand out for you in terms of the team? Were you expecting a bit more rotation or was that fair enough, given it was an away game at this sort of relatively early stage of the Champions League league stage? Which is a stupid thing to have to say, but that's what it is. Yeah, it's a mouthful, isn't it? Yeah, maybe the only change I would have thought about was Ben White coming in for Yuri and Timber. But otherwise, I thought most of the other changes were fine and good. I was glad that Ethan Nguyeneri got a chance in midfield. I think obviously Mikel Moreno up front was justified considering the lack of options, as you said, but also it gives us an opportunity to potentially look at things ahead of Saturday's game against Sunderland because even though we do have basically every centre forward out, I think there is a case that Leandro Trossard could potentially play up front, but he went with Moreno, so we got to see him again.

7:57Yeah, I thought it was fine. We needed to use Norgaard, so good minutes for him as well. And I know that people might have been more open to more rotation, but this game reminded me a little bit of the Athletic Club game in that on paper, this is a team you would expect Arsenal to beat. And that's absolutely fine. But when you're away from home in a pumped up stadium, those players are ready to give everything. And it's essentially a free hit because nobody expects them to do anything against us. So it's no big deal if they lose. But just imagine what would happen if they win. you know, it's all there for them to make history in this club's, you know, standing.

8:39It's not amazing in Europe. So this would have been a real chance for them to establish themselves as a real sort of benchmark in the club's history. So obviously you do want to make changes and get people on the pitch who haven't played so much, but also you need to keep some kind of continuity going. And I think you could see that within the team, Raya was there, Saliba and Gabriel were there, Rice was there, Saka was there. So your key guys, the guys that you really want in these occasions, they're starting. So, yeah, not a huge, huge amount of, or not a huge amount to talk about really with the lineup.

9:13But yeah, some good changes where I thought we could have made changes, basically. Yeah. So look, the game started, there was an early shot from Gabriel. He put it over the bar, not too far over the bar either. And Slavia Prague went up the other end and pulled a shot wide of David Rye's post. I think it's, you know, when you do make changes, there is a little bit of a trade-off. And I don't know if it's applicable all the time, but certainly you can see quite often that when a team makes a number of changes, it takes them a while maybe to get into the game. As we saw in the Brighton game in the EFL Cup with 10 changes, it was like, oh, right, we're not used to playing with each other so much.

9:51And Brighton had some chances in that game early on, if you remember, before we settled down into the game. And I think there was some of that last night. As you say, though, I think there's an element of the occasion, Slavia Prague at home against a big team like Arsenal. I think as well, you know, this is not to sort of blow our own trumpet or anything like that. But I do think that over the last couple of years, maybe we don't think about what it means for another club to play a home game against Arsenal. Like, is it becoming more of a glamour fixture than it was? Like, I'm not saying we're Real Madrid or Barcelona in terms of that kind of aura.

10:30We're not, you know, and I don't think we ever will be or can be unless we get about four or five Champions Leagues under our belt, which obviously I would be very open to. But I do think the way Arsenal have been playing this season, the way Arsenal have developed over the last number of years under Mikel Arteta, that it contributes to this sort of home atmosphere because they see this as like, well, we're the underdogs. this is the big team full of great players we're here to have a go and I think that was probably evident in the way that Slavia Pride played the first you know 15-20 minutes of this game yeah of course it is we're one of the best teams in the world we're top of the Premier League and we're basically top of the Champions League so of course that's gonna inspire some extra motivation and maybe a five or ten percent in the reserve somewhere that they wouldn't have found otherwise if they were playing, I don't know, Union Saint-Gilois or Bayer Leverkusen or someone like that.

11:24This is a big occasion. And you're absolutely right. Slavia started the game pretty well. Actually, they were very energetic, physical, aggressive and going man to man in their press, which I respected because I can't remember too many teams doing that to us this season. And we were struggling to find our way out. There wasn't an obvious out ball. and maybe we lacked a progressor in midfield to do it that way. Obviously, Norgard and Rice is a bit more physical than technical as a pairing. I'm not saying that either of them are complete bums when it comes to the technical side of things, but obviously Zubemendy is a more natural option for that kind of midfield role.

12:06But sometimes you just have to weather that early storm and when your opponents are running on adrenaline, it can be very difficult. So we did have to do that. But around 20 minutes in, there was a very clear shift in that momentum. And you can see Arsenal grow into the game, start to apply some pressure. They got their momentum going. And then, you know, once those corners, the corner after corner after corner came, that's sort of where the first goal came from. Yeah. I mean, before we get to that, I think there was something interesting that we were chatting about last night, you know, was William Saliba roaming more than you see William Saliba roam, generally speaking.

12:44And he was pushing into areas where you don't expect William Saliba to be. And what you had then was almost like a back three within Capier, Gabriel and Timber. So it's not unusual for Arsenal to end up in that kind of formation. But typically, it's one of the fullbacks who does that sort of more adventurous role, if you want to call it that. And we were wondering, like, is that to do with the fact that Zubimendi is not there? But Mikel Arteta said afterwards, well, it was more about the way that Slavia Prague press and the way that the nine presses and where we could find a little bit of space, I guess, to get the ball forward.

13:23So that was interesting because we're used to an inverting fullback, usually from the left-hand side, sometimes from the right-hand side. But to see William Saliba in there, and of course, he's a great passer of the ball as well, kind of made sense if they viewed that as the area in which they could find space to use Saliba to do that. Yeah, I really liked this little tactical adjustment, actually. Saliba stepping into midfield and doing a bit of a John Stones in possession where he was effectively given license to go and help create overloads in possession. And I think credit to Art de Roche for asking Mikel about this post-match, as you explained before.

14:01He said it was more about how Slavia liked to play and how this centre-forward in particular wanted to press. But I thought it was a smart way of adapting to life without Zubamendi who is really important for us in first phase build-up you know as I said Norgard isn't really that metronomic guy in midfield in Capier was kept deep in the defensive line instead of inverting like a Myles Lewis Skelly or a Calofiori would so Saliba pushing up asked real questions of Slavia tactically and I think it was important in helping us wrestle back some control in the game because him being there would have messed up their their pressing plan a little bit because I don't think they would have prepared for him in that role and then it it asked one or both of their midfielders to come out and press him which eventually freed up the right hand side for Saka or Nwineri to play with more freedom and I think that made a big impact in the game in terms of us coming back into it because there was more space Saka was getting on the ball against his fullback a bit more isolating him and it was quite funny because Arteta said they wanted to try it, but he felt like they could have executed that plan a little bit better because there wasn't enough time to work on it with such a short turnaround between games.

15:16And I thought, you know, that was a really valid point because people just expect us to turn up to these games, you know, Premier League game on a Sunday, Champions League game on a Wednesday or Saturday, Tuesday, and they don't realise all of this stuff has to go into it there's rest recovery making a new tactical plan thinking about rotation and who else can come come you know can come into the side so it's very difficult and I thought that was a really good point and I don't think Arteta gets the credit he deserves sometimes for being a very astute tactician and I really enjoyed this little tactical adjustment yeah so look as you said we started to put the pressure on we got some corners.

15:56I think Saka had a shot on goal. Keeper made a save. And it just became a case that Arsenal started to play the game more and more and more in the opposition half. It was from a corner that we got the penalty that opened the scoring. I didn't notice anything in real time, but then they said, oh, there's a check for VAR. They went and had a look. And it's one of those, I think that in Europe, it's always going to be given as a handball. It was quite funny. You could see in the replay, the referee's explaining to the Slavia Prague player who's saying, I hit my head and then my hand. And he said to him, you can literally lip read him.

16:36I'm not lip read him. But he goes, I promise you. But the ref has already been over to have a look. It's not a completely unnatural hand position when you're jumping. You know, you've got to put your hands somewhere. But it's sort of right by his head. Gabriel flicks it on it hits the hand goes over the bar I guess if it was you know the idea maybe is that maybe the Gabriel header was going on target therefore it stops that being a chance on goal so they they give the penalty I think last season we had one given against us in the Champions League as well for a fairly it was maybe Mikel Moreno I can't remember yeah it was Inter away Inter I think it might have been this match week actually match week four so yeah there you go So yeah, you get them given against you in Europe and you get them for you in Europe.

17:24And listen, you know, we could debate and discuss all day what is and what isn't handball anymore. But in this instance, in European competition, you're always likely to see that given as a penalty. Yeah, honestly, I think handballs in Europe are total nonsense. And I would have been fine with that not being given for or against Arsenal. but once you saw it on the replay once you know how they are treated in europe it was always going to be given and ultimately you just mentioned it there we've been on the end of some decisions like that before so i'm not gonna complain when we're the beneficiaries um it's just yeah i don't think they need to be given full stop but knowing the sort of threshold that is considered when giving handballs in in europe it was always going to be given so yeah slightly unfortunate from a from a Slavia perspective, Gabriel does head it onto his hand.

18:17It's not particularly raised, but it is a little bit raised. So what are you going to do? I mean, I'm never going to turn down the opportunity away from home to take a lead because more often than not, when Arsenal do take the lead, that means they win the game. So yeah, Saka steps up. It's a really, really good penalty, actually. I'm enjoying the oomph he's giving them this year. I don't know if he's changed his technique a little bit. I don't know if it's him feeling a bit more confident from the spot, but he seems to be whacking them low into the corners now. And for me, that's just like music to my ears because that's how you should take a penalty.

18:54No nonsense, no stuttering, full of conviction. And the goalkeeper, even though he went the right way, was never getting anywhere near that. So yeah, a good moment for him. They always look good if you're sort of casual and cool and the keeper goes one way and you roll the ball the other way and it trickles over the line, you know, you do look cool. But you also run the risk of looking like a right twat if the goalkeeper just stands there and picks it up as it rolls towards him. So I'm with you when it comes to penalties. I always prefer a penalty hit with a bit of power and a bit of pace. I think the best penalties are those.

19:29It makes it really, really difficult for the goalkeeper. In this instance, he went the right way, but still couldn't get anywhere near the ball. So that's 1-0 to Arsenal. Well, Slavia were complaining about a penalty or wanted a penalty up the other end. There was a foul on Incapier. The ball sort of rolled off him. And I thought this was quite funny. Their giant striker guy decided he was going to try and intimidate Piero Incapier, Ecuadorian international, by sort of looming over him and shouting in his face. And Gabriel was sort of there to protect him, but also to pull Incapier away in case he reacted.

20:07but you know he's not getting scared by that guy at all is he no no i did enjoy that jumped up giant center forward who probably chugged about four monster energy drinks before the game spent the whole half trying to rile our defenders and them having absolutely none of it i mean we get it where you're there to use your elbows and be a presence and push people and foul people but he was so angry and it just felt like he was there trying to fight people and actually some Slavia fans uh got in touch with me afterwards and they said there was one person in particular who said he was an embarrassment to the club who was given a six game ban for punching somebody in the crotch last season was that I think he punched a goalkeeper in the nuts yeah yeah yeah and then on his like come back on his return he then put his finger into an opponent's bum this this context is very important to to provide some some imagery of this player things make a lot more sense now i mean just imagine how many holes he's punched or headbutted in that home dressing room he just he just seems like such an angry person um like a teenager playing on his xbox in the dark during summer um yeah i don't know i was really glad that none of them stood for his for his nonsense and i did enjoy that little clip of in capier just trying to give him some back as well yeah let's be honest he was trying to rile him up and he just thought what are you doing you idiot yeah you're you're awful and we're all over you yes exactly exactly you know if you want to intimidate people and they just make you look like in like an egypt then fair enough and he's a guy who lasted about two minutes of the second half.

21:48I don't know what exactly happened to him. Maybe he sort of pulled a muscle as he was running from their weird kickoff. If you remember, they just sort of launched the ball forward. But within 30 seconds of that second half starting, we're 2-0 up. And it's a nice goal, you know. It's worked out to the left-hand side by Declan Rice to Leandro Trossard. I think what's really interesting about this is that you're sort of wondering, oh, is Trossard going to take this guy on? Is he going to come back inside? Is he going to go outside? And he actually just makes space for an early cross. And Marino, the movement is really good.

22:25The timing of the movement is really good. The finish is excellent from inside the box. And it's 2-0 to Arsenal. So whatever they had said at halftime, right, it's 1-0. Okay, this is not going as well as we would have liked, but it's only 1-0. You never know what can happen second half. Just keep it tight for 5-10 minutes, and we'll see what happens. and you know it's it's sort of remarkable that when you look at the goal and when you look at you know what they've talked about probably um at halftime the way marino is just positioned between two two central defenders the guy in front has got no idea where he is the guy behind is looking straight at him but makes no effort whatsoever to close down the space and get across which is to take nothing away from marino by the way because i do think he drifts into that space very well, stays on side and finishes from close range.

23:17Yeah, this goal made it a formality, really. It's a goal that came from nowhere. I think Norgard does well to find Rice in the middle. Rice sends out to Trossard. I think it's really poor defending from the fullback, first of all, to allow that cross to come in. And then Marino, like you said, completely unmarked in the middle. Take nothing away from the execution. Really, it's a great left-footed cross from Trossard, his second in as many games and a guided finish from Marino that gave me shades of Olivier Giroud going at the near post there but it was too easy from an Arsenal perspective although when that opportunities are when when those kind of opportunities are presented to you can you take them and the answer in this case was yes this particular opportunity was taken him with conviction and I just find Mikel Moreno he makes me laugh he really makes me laugh because I have such a hard time figuring out what he is who he is because we signed him as a really competent two-way midfielder and he looks like an ideal fit for that left eight role as someone who wins his jewels he can crash the box he's got a you know good technique and also due to his age could be plug and played right without necessarily needing to be a starter all the time but had enough experience to contribute when needed but he just does the strangest things um you know in midfield he can look really amazing and then look really loose within 10 seconds but then you put him up front and he's got these goal scoring instincts one touch finishes I just think he's such an enigma that that we haven't really figured out yet but either way I'm enjoying it because you know he's doing an amazing job and is contributing whenever we need him to contribute yeah I mean do we even need to figure it out you know sometimes we overanalyze things maybe this is just a guy who's at a point in his career where something has been unlocked in him and good for us that it has because you know we spent most of the second half of last season without a center forward.

25:22We now don't have a centre forward again because of the injury to Yaccaraz. We'll talk about him in a little bit. Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, all potential candidates for the centre forward role. None of them are available to us. Nani Maidueke, not available. Martin Odegaard, not available. Martin Zubimendi, not available for this game. I'm not saying you're plumbing the depths. That's entirely the wrong way to put it. But what I'm saying is that you require the players you have left to be able to deliver something and he over the course of the last 10 months more or less less even has scored at a rate that is completely incongruous from the rest of his career it was mid-february 2025 when he came off the bench to be put up front against Leicester and he scored two goals and there were the stories weren't there about, well, they didn't tell me I was going to be a centre forward.

26:23And then they just sort of threw me on and said, give it a go. But what's fascinating since that time, right? Since that game against Leicester, he has scored 18 goals for club and country in that time. Between 2018 and 2024, he scored 29 goals for Real Sociedad and for Spain. 29 goals in six years versus 18 goals in a little over six months. So something has clicked for him, you know? Something has developed this sort of latent goal-scoring ability. I thought what was really interesting was Mikel Arteta being asked at his press conference last night, like, what was it about Mikel Moreno that made you think he could do that job?

27:15And I do think a big part of it was, well, I've literally got fucking nobody else. Right. But you can't say that publicly because why would you? But what he did say was there was something. Well, let me get the right quote here. He said, my view is that he always had really good timing and the capacity to finish in the box, especially one touch. And I think that's evident in the way that he scores his goals. You know, I do think there is a case that, you know, desperate times call for desperate measures. When you don't have anyone else, what do you do? You try and find a solution internally. This one has worked out really, really well.

27:54And I kind of agree with you that there are times you look at him and you go, is he a bit slow? Oh, is he a bit, you know, because there are things that he's never going to be able to do at a top, top level, like a centre forward, like a natural centre forward. But given the chances and inside the box over the past six, seven months, he has been as clinical as anybody we've had up front for the last number of years. Agreed. It's quite incredible, really. And if this was, let's say, an Ollie Watkins pulling up these numbers and making this kind of an impact, would we consider him a great signing?

28:27Yes, probably we would. So I don't know if this is just some late stage career development, but he is super effective in and around the box and maybe less reliable than I thought he would be in the middle third. And that's not to say he's a bad player or anything, but he does sometimes do things in midfield that you look at and think that's really basic. How has he not controlled that pass or he's running to traffic there under pressure only to then execute a ridiculously technical one-time finish in front of goal or a flick around the penalty area. And, you know, some people might take this as criticism, but I really do see parallels with Marouane Fellaini in that, you know, last season when all the centre forwards were out, there was potential for Marino to have a Fellaini arc, right?

29:14and contribute in dangerous areas using his physicality his aerial ability his one touch finishing in front of goal and he ended up being a really useful tool for us when we were down to the bare bones but i think most people myself included would have thought jokeres coming in this summer would be the end of marino playing at striker but somehow we're here again and obviously our level drops a bit when he plays there he can't run in behind he maybe lacks a bit of that back to goal play but for someone who's feeling in what he's been able to do there is quite astonishing really um i think he feels a little bit like trossard in that there's an adult in the room whenever they play gotcha you know we're not sure about them sometimes they'll do a couple of things that frustrate us but they're very serious very professional secure and comfortable in who they are um and they're always relied on and relied upon to to contribute when we need them and i I think that's the value sometimes of having these more experienced players in the squad is that they can maybe be out of the team for a little bit and not play a huge amount.

30:22But when they are needed, they can come in and do things like that. So, yeah, it's quite incredible, really, what he's been able to do in a position that he only started playing in really six months ago, like you said. And he got the third goal across from Declan Rice. Listen, I think Marino deserves credit for being there, for challenging. the goalkeeper will have absolute nightmares about that when he came and I don't quite know what happened he completely misjudged it sort of jumped the wrong way of the ball it's quite funny there's a great replay from behind where you can see Marino because it's a sort of flicked header with the back of his head he has to turn around and just the way his face lights up with joy when he sees that the ball has gone in the back of the net is really quite excellent so mistake from the goalkeeper we'd be looking at our keeper if he did that and thinking okay you you've cost us there but I think as well you've got to give some credit to Marino for for being in that position and for Declan Rice by the way to spot the run and to loft in the kind of ball that I guess you would say opens up the possibility for that kind of goal to be scored even if it was a bit unconventional because of the mistake from the keeper yeah Rice was really good again I thought without without putting on his Superman cape too much.

31:38He was very nice and steady, won the ball a lot in midfield. The ball is actually quite a difficult one to defend because it's high. So defenders will often expect their goalkeepers to come for that. So that almost ruled the defender out of the move. And I think Mikel Moreno took a bit of a gamble going in there. The goalkeepers made a huge mistake. Let's not sugarcoat that. But I think he does well to anticipate the ball where it's going to drop. And he can score goals without even looking at the goal now so that's how good he is he's just found that touch in front of goal the golden touch um but yeah i think you could see the gulf between both sides in that or in those kind of moments where stuff that looks very basic was not being done properly and then obviously three nil it's an impossible score line for them to to retrieve from there and we just controlled it until the end so in terms of how we entered the game a bit hit by injury we had to make some changes there There were some people playing who were a bit rusty still.

32:38We had to overcome that difficult opening 15, 20 minutes. It's a hostile atmosphere. I don't think we could have asked for much more last night, to be honest. It was a really accomplished away performance. Yeah, Mikel Arteta said afterwards, and there's obviously a couple of bits that we'll touch on, some other bits. But he said afterwards, the margin looked comfortable, but I don't think it was a comfortable match at all. I guess because, you know, as he said, there were a lot of fouls. The referee was blowing up quite a lot. There were some yellow cards given that I didn't necessarily agree with, but let's not dwell on those too much because ultimately they didn't really cost us anything at this point anyway.

33:17So it was stop-starting, you know. It wasn't a really fluid game. And I think as well the team that we picked and the players that we had missing contributed to a sort of lack of fluency. but I think it was pretty comfortable for Arsenal, particularly after that third goal went in. There was no sense, for me anyway, that Slavia were going to do anything that might trouble that lead. They didn't look like scoring. They didn't look like creating chances. You're always susceptible to a moment or a free kick or whatever, but I think this was a really accomplished Arsenal team with real momentum, with a lot of players missing.

34:01As I said, I think that part is really underestimated, just how many players we're missing that could completely transform the way not only we play a game like this, but manage a game like this from the bench. The attacking options we didn't have were huge. So I think it was really, really professional, really accomplished from Arsenal. And to me, it was sort of comfortable juggernaut win of a team that has real, real momentum. There was a scare, wasn't there, towards the end when the ref gave a penalty. But VAR did its job, actually. You know, if we can be critical of VAR at times, you have to give it its credit when it does its job properly.

34:42Both players had high feet. The ball actually hit the arm of the Slavia player, who then went down on the ground like he'd been shot. I think it was his reaction that made the referee give the penalty, but it was never a penalty. No, no. If that was given against us and ended up ruining our clean sheet record, I would have been fuming. We might as well have packed up and gone home because honestly, I thought the referee was out of his depth all night with some weird decision-making throughout. But to give that without hesitation on one viewing was really strange. And like you said, I think the reaction of the Slavia forward influenced his decision a lot there.

35:21But yeah, fair play for overturning it after watching the incident again. But you can see there's nothing in it. White clearly gets the ball and there's no contact with the Slavia forward. So glad that wasn't given. But yeah, to me, it did feel comfortable, the second half in particular. I mean, maybe Arteta is considering it in terms of how physical the game was because, you know, Slavia did work very hard. They were kicking the ball long a lot. We had to win a lot of duels, aerial duels, ground duels. Maybe in that sense, it wasn't entirely comfortable because they were trying to make life uncomfortable for us.

35:55But in terms of the quality between the two teams, in terms of how we were managing it, in terms of their threat on our goal, I was never really worried. And as I said, when Arsenal go ahead nowadays, that usually means one thing, Arsenal winning the game. Yeah. So, um, yeah, it's, it's quite amazing what this team is able to do, regardless of who's fit, regardless of who's available, suspended, regardless of what condition the guys coming in or out. We're just very professional. Everyone knows what they're doing. There is a base level of defensive organization and commitment, which goes a long way.

36:32Um, we are just a really, really strong professional team. And I think especially when you go away from home in Europe, being able to manage things mentally and physically, as well as technically, gives you such an advantage. And we can do that with ease at the moment. Piero Incapier, a stat from Squawker. Piero Incapier, the only Arsenal player to contest eight duels in a European game across the last 10 seasons and win 100 % of them. Mikel Arteta, I mean, that's exactly what he wants. A guy who wins all of his duels, I guess. So an interesting first start for him. I think there's more to come from him and we'll look forward to seeing it.

37:13I suppose we do need to talk about the, not the big story, but a big story on the night is that Max Dowman came on for Arsenal. He replaced Leandro Trossard and in doing so became the youngest ever player in Champions League history at 15 years and 10 months and a couple of days or whatever it is. so it's a record we thought was gonna be broken by max this season um the fact he came on the pitch and immediately just started dribbling and trying to beat slavia players and all they could do was kick him tells you a little bit of a story about um what kind of a personality he has i guess there is that fearlessness of youth um I don't know youth seems not enough to talk about a 15 year old playing in the Champions League but you know he he doesn't feel phased at all by this level of football does he no and I think there's kind of a welcome confidence to his game in that he's not overly cocky or he's not a character that you think needs a needs a kick every now and again to keep him down.

38:24You know, I think he's a very measured young man who obviously has the right people around him, but there is a confidence in his footballing ability that regardless of who he's playing, how old the defender is he's up against, what level of experience they have, that he can beat them. And I think it's a great night for him, his family, for Heil End. Obviously, breaking that record is incredible. I don't know who is going to be close to breaking that anytime soon, although football can always surprise you. I mean, not many people thought he would break the previous record, which was Yusufa Moukoko, I think, for Borussia Dortmund.

38:55He was 16 years and 18 days old. So an incredible night for him. And with each appearance, what Max Daumann is showing to me anyway is that he's ready to play for Arsenal. And I don't mean he needs to be there every week playing 60 minutes or half an hour off the bench or whatever. But if we do need him, he is there and ready to go. which again just considering that statement for a 15 year old is pretty ridiculous yeah i mean it's a bit silly it is a bit silly it is a bit but we did actually need him last night or we needed somebody because leandro trossard took a bit of a kick they were saying oh he's holding the back of his leg and i was going oh fuck you know we can't have another injury we cannot have another injury in the forward positions so hopefully it was just precautionary we haven't heard anything it might have been that he just got a bit of a kick.

39:47But in that circumstance, you need to take that player off because he's really valuable. He's a very important player for Arsenal, Leandro Trossard, and he's one of the only forwards, senior forwards that we have fit. So it's not just a case of giving Max Dowman, oh, we're 3-0 up away from home. Let's throw Max Dowman on as a bit of a sop to him. It's literally, we need him. We need what that player can bring to this squad, you know, and I've listed the players that we don't have available. If some of those players were available, I'm sure they would come on probably ahead of Max Diamond in a game like this, but we don't have them.

40:25That is the issue right now. We do not have those players. So Diamond's readiness is actually quite important. Yeah, it's all about opportunity, isn't it? Sometimes football gives you opportunities and you have to take them. That's how many young players sort of force their way into first team football. that's how Myles Lewis Skelly did it last season it's how Ashley Cole did it when he first broke through for Arsenal that's how many young players have done it when eventually stepping up to senior football for this club and let's not forget Andre Haramunanous as well who got on at the end for his Champions League debut I mean not a bad week for either of them both playing against Brighton obviously both of them starting in that in that game both of them coming off the bench in this one and for Harriman Anous in particular I I know he's he's highly thought of in the academy but I don't think he would have imagined being near the first team at all this season let alone coming on in the Champions League so again opportunities are there can you come on and make an impact I think we needed his legs a little bit in those last 15-20 minutes so it's just another example of Arteta blocking those youth pathways again Andrew I mean he's really holding the club back first allowing a shot on target and now this can't continue can't continue what about this a stat from our friend Orbinio Arsenal have won their last eight matches without conceding in all competitions the joint longest run ever by an English top flight side was Preston between January September 1889 and Liverpool between January and February 1920 I mean not even I was born back then.

42:05So, you know, you're having to go back right into the annals of history to find a similar run. And of course, the clean sheet that everybody was desperate for was, you know, to match a record that Arsenal set, I think, back in 1908. Am I right? 1903. 1903. Definitely wasn't born then. So, you know, this run that we're on, we keep talking about it and we keep trying to find new ways to talk about how impressive it is. But the longer it goes, the more impressive it becomes because of how difficult it is. And because of, as we've just seen there, it's like, how do you have to go back over 120 years, 120 years to find something similar?

42:51I mean, that is extraordinary. It's incredible. That makes it 10 wins in a row now across all competitions, eight clean sheets in a row, as you mentioned, equaling a record first set 122 years ago. And, you know, for me, the numbers are incredible, but it's when you look at how difficult it is to do that in this day and age where competition and talent is so leveled out. And I'm not saying that Slavia Prague should be considered a direct rival of Arsenal, but imagine Arsenal playing against Slavia Prague in 1903. You know, it just would have been a non-contest talent-wise. So I'm so invested in these clean sheets now.

43:32I mean, the penalty decision got my juices flowing more than any goal we scored on the night. These are the fogging standards. I mean, I'm being radicalised with each passing week. But yeah, just the collective determination and aggression and organisation that this team plays with is outstanding, really. And that's a testament to the players themselves, Mikel Arteta, the coaching staff. they've really instilled this mentality in the team where not even conceding goals but shots is is seen as a stain on their performance and it's probably worth David Raya putting in a remote work request because he's having to do so little these days he could probably do it from a from a zoom call so um yeah just just amazing stuff really and and as I said the longer it goes on the more impressive it becomes so yeah just a really good omen to take into the next few weeks which are going to be tricky.

44:27Yes. Good stuff. The next few weeks are, I guess, people will be on tenterhooks when it comes to our players who are away on international duty, but it's also maybe an opportunity to get a couple of players back. This week, Arsenal lost Victor Jokeres to injury. We're not 100 % sure yet exactly when he's going to be back. The target appears to be after the international break because the North London derby is the first game back after that. And Mikel Arteta was talking about how he was hoping to have, you know, some of the players who are sidelined currently back in action after the international break.

45:07Like, I think we can talk about Arsenal's defensive stability and how impressed we are by it, about how the players that might be considered fringe players have stepped up and contributed. Someone like Marino last night, you know, doing a job at centre-forward because we literally have nobody else. Max Downman coming off the bench because we need a 15-year-old to come off the bench and do something for us. But I can't escape the sort of feeling that as well as everything is going, we also have to get some players back really, really quickly. You know, I don't think it is sustainable to ask this smaller group of players to play all the games and do what they're doing because eventually there will be consequences to that.

45:59Like, you know, the Kai Havertz injury on the opening day of the season against Manchester United, the consequence of that, you know, has taken a while to play out. But it appears to be the fitness of Victor Jokeres, who's been asked to play a lot of minutes, maybe too many minutes over the last couple of months because we don't have anyone else. Because, you know, he is the guy who's got to do the job up there. So, you know, I'm impressed and I don't want to downplay anything, but I do think it is really important that we get some of these guys back, you know, in order to keep things fresh and in order to give us different ways to win games when inevitably, you know, the momentum halts a little bit.

46:39Yeah, I think in the case of Jokeres, it's a big shame and quite frustrating, actually, because he'd probably had his best half for Arsenal against Burnley. He'd scored a goal. His all-round play was excellent and looked totally fine, barring an elbow right at the end and now he's missing the next two games so um there is a feeling that we're making do at the moment i i don't think i there's a few people in this team that i don't think are 100 fit at the moment so naturally you need to take that into account and and just going back to jokeres his two best performances for arsenal newcastle away and burnley away both came after arrest so obviously the the first game was port veil that he sat out.

47:21And then the second game was Brighton, which he also sat out. So it just shows you the value of what rest and rotation can do. And I think we're very fortunate to have this outstanding defensive platform where we look strong, formidable, organized. We don't let anything in. But also there is an acceptance. And I'm sure if you ask any Arsenal fan at the moment what they think of our attacking football, they will tell you that there are levels to go up. there are gears to go up we've got pace that is not in the team at the moment in madueke in martinelli in jokeres we've got odegaard injured kai havert's injured out as well they've been key players for us over the last two seasons maybe even more if you consider odegaard as well so i really think the international break is coming at a good time for us just to be able to sit down a bit regroup hopefully get some players back and attack the the fixtures after the break because as you said it's it's kind of relentless from there it's spurs it's buying it's chelsea all within a week that is a big week for this football club not only on a on a smaller scale level in terms of the seven days itself but for the whole season right and i think in the champions league we've put ourselves in a good position not to make that buy-in game make or break but at home we want to beat them you know so it's all about having options it's all about having different ways to to beat different teams and i think there is no doubt in my mind that we're going to look like a different team when when everyone's back and fit and firing so look injuries will happen they're happening to everybody but they're so concentrated in the attacking area of the pitch that we're just having to use people again and again i mean even even though marino scored twice yesterday i still think it causes issues in in how we play no i agree no way to stretched the game.

49:09I mean, I don't want to be critical of him, but, you know, there was a moment in the first half where he picked up the ball sort of where you would expect the six to be. And I think that's a natural instinct for him is to drop in and link play and, you know. But from an Arsenal perspective, I think we need our centre forward higher up the pitch. And again, this is sort of nitpicking a little bit because he scored two goals last night and was absolutely fantastic in that regard. But there are things that are natural to a player that in the heat of a game, they sort of default to those natural instincts a little bit more than the unnatural ones.

49:44So Marino dropping deep means the game is more condensed, means it's harder to break down the opposition, but when we do get him into those four positions, he can make a difference. So it's trying to, I don't know how you readjust, because we can talk about his experience, 28, 29 years of age, right? And that's probably helped this sort of redeployment as a centre forward. But at the same time, he spent all those years playing as a midfielder and playing, you know, with his back to the centre, to his own centre forward half the time, you know? So it is quite interesting in that sense. Yeah, and I thought that that sort of contributed to the initial difficulties we had in this game because there was no outball.

50:27And I think he came deeper looking for the ball to try and help us. Although if he's doing that, then who else are we going to go to in more advanced areas? So you're never going to be able to coach out those natural instincts in a player, you know, especially when you spent your whole life playing in midfield. Six months at centre forward is not going to rewire your footballing brain. You can add things to your arsenal, but that will always be in him. So for me, it's just about having options, having different ways to beat people. Some days we're going to need some speed on the wings. Other days we're going to need a bit more creativity and playmaking ability.

51:02And at the moment, we're being robbed of that. so what this group have done to get through and make do with what we have we've beaten slavia prague away from home we've beaten burnley away from home we've got a big game against sunderland this weekend that's going to be difficult so for me it's about getting through this week regrouping and then hopefully working welcoming back some people after the break because um yeah it's it's a long old season it's a heavy schedule and we're going to need these guys so For sure. The Champions League table, Arsenal, currently sits second to Bayern Munich. Both teams have played 4-1 for Bayern on top because of goals scored.

51:41The goal difference is exactly the same. Have Arsenal been done out of a goal here? Am I two against four? How have we got goal difference of plus 11? Four, three, two, two. Oh, yeah. My bad. I can't count. We only scored three last night. I don't know where I invented a fourth goal for Arsenal in my head just there, which is why I thought we should be plus 12. But why not? Anyway, we didn't score that fourth goal. So that's just me and my brain. Anyway, Bayern top plus 11. They've conceded three. The only other team not to concede a goal in the Champions League so far this season are Inter Milan, who today are at home.

52:18I lost you. Yeah, at home to Kairat Almaty. So I'm not expecting their goal to be too threatened tonight. Bayern who we play next will be without Luis Diaz who scored twice for them against PSG and was then sent off for a pretty horrendous tackle on Hakimi got a red card so an eventful night for him he won't be available for that game which is good but as you know I think Bayern demonstrated last night being down to 10 men for the entire second half away to PSG and they still win that game they're a mighty strong side this season yeah if you consider who the the form teams are in europe it's probably us and them and i think bion are just in a moment where all of their attacking players are scoring goals they're assisting goals they've got harry kane up front who is just the perfect foil for all of those players i mean alice diaz they've got ganabri in good form as well so it's it's going to be a tough game and i think we've also got i'm not going to say revenge to pay but we've got some some wrongs to right against Bayern I think because we haven't had the greatest history against them in in Europe I mean there have been a few hammerings we obviously lost to them in in that in that two legged tie a few years ago where we just sort of ran out of steam towards the end of the year so look I think it's a really good opportunity for us to sort of stamp our authority on this season's competition again Bayern have done well they're incredibly strong but I do also think they have the luxury of not needing to be at 100 % every week in the Bundesliga without, you know.

54:00Dismissing the Bundesliga, sure, sure. Yes, without dismissing the Bundesliga too much, I do think they have a bit of a luxury in that sense. So let's see. Obviously, Luis Diaz not being there is a big benefit for us. And also, we haven't mentioned it, but Declan Rice wasn't booked last night. So he will be available for this game, which is great news. So yeah, let's see. What I like about Bayern is that they're very adventurous so it will be a little bit it will be a little bit of attack versus defense in terms of the game in terms of where the strengths lie but I don't think we're going to retreat into a shell by any means I think we have more than enough to be able to hurt them and these are the games that you want to play sure you know this is why we're in the Champions League I mean being at that game is going to be incredible for all the people that can get a ticket so I just don't understand why we wouldn't be anything but excited to play them at home I think it's a huge occasion and let's see if we can really stamp ourselves on the competition again.

54:56All right. Well, look, it's been perfect so far for Arsenal in Europe. Hopefully that continues and hopefully as well it continues this weekend as we get ready to face Sunderland. For now, though, Phil, we better leave it there. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you, mate. See you on the next one.

55:12Thank you very much indeed to Phil. You can find him on Blue Sky. He is at philcosta.bsky.social, at philcosta.bsky.social. and of course he is the host of the Football Vision podcast. Really good show covering more general aspects of football. So if you want to get a bit more fill in your life, you can go and subscribe to that one. Okay, that is just about that for today's Arsecast. We do have one more game before the next interlal, the final interlal as well of 2025 and that is a trip to Sunderland at the weekend. Granite Shaka, the captain of Sunderland now And that, of course, will become, I guess, part of the build-up to that particular game.

55:54The bigger story, of course, is that Arsenal sit top of the Premier League and want to go into this international break on the back of another win. We'll have to wait and see if anybody is back for this one from an attacking perspective. I'm not 100 % sure, but we don't know yet. We probably won't know until Mikel Arteta meets the press on Friday ahead of this game. So to find out more about that, to listen to a full preview of our game against Sunderland, please do join us over on Patreon on Friday afternoon. We do a preview podcast for every Premier League game. We look ahead to the match itself, some opposition analysis, looking ahead to all the weekend's games as well, and lots more.

56:34So if you want to join us over on Patreon, you can do that for just$6 a month. It's patreon.com forward slash arseblog. That is patreon.com forward slash arseblog. Before we go, I've got to give you the winners of last week's competition to win a copy of John Sperling's book all about Highbury. The very simple question was, when did the first game at Highbury take place? The answer was 1913. And the winners of the books, as chosen by the random number generator, are Andrew McBryn and Dean Palmer. Dean Palmer. So well done to you guys. I will be in touch by email and will arrange to get those books sent out to you.

57:13to everyone else. Thank you so much for entering the competition. Anyway, hopefully we'll have some more prizes to give away very soon. Right. I'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much as always for listening. If you like the show, please do give us a review in your favorite podcast app. That would be very, very much appreciated. But as ever, thank you so much for listening. Thank you for being here and we will catch you on the next one. Until then, cheers. Bye-bye.

57:50I'm out.

58:14Thank you.

58:50How'd I get here? Well, it just started as a bit of a joke, you know, between me and the lads. Taking the mick out of that man, you know you guy, you know. I just said, I'm not going to get a haircut until Arsall can see the proper shot on target, you know. How could I have known? How could any of us have known? now I'm sitting here with hair down to me arse look like fucking cousin it on the plus side though all the trophies are nice David Royer sent me a pair of his gloves said don't need these anymore ups and downs ups and downs Matthew Upson by the way tell me tell you a story about him we met him in WH Smiths and Stansted airport one day about seven years ago now at this stage and And listen, I'm not telling tales out of school here, but he had some very interesting things to say about...