Episode 853 - Statements (Ryan Hunn)

0:24Hello 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. It's an interlull. Of course, some of our players are away on international duty. We'll be keeping all of our fingers and toes and anything you can cross, cross it. Because it is being said that once we come back from this interlull, we might have some of our injured players back in the group, back in the squad and ready to contribute. So the last thing we need is for that to be offset by some international duty injury. So I'm keeping everything crossed.

1:01Anyway, we'll just have to wait and see what happens. On today's show, we're going to be doing some statements. If you don't know what that is, I will explain that to you in a couple of moments time. But before we do that, just one last call, please. We need your votes. Arseblog has been nominated for Best Fan Media, Best Friend Merida, at the FSA Awards. It's the Football Supporters Association Awards 2025. The deadline for voting is this weekend, I think. So this is my last chance to ask you if you had the time or the inclination to give us your vote. It would be very, very much appreciated by me and all the Arseblog team.

1:41We're up against some very high quality opposition. The Anfield Rapper in there. Our friend Dan from HLTCO is in there and a few others besides. So it is very stiff competition. So we need your votes. If you could do that, that would be great. You will find a link to the voting form. It's in the show notes right now. You can find that, click it, give us your votes. And we thank you very much indeed in advance for that. There's also some other Arsenal votes that you can do. Declan Rice is up for Men's Player of the Year. The other nominees are Semenyo, Holland, Mateta, Caicedo and Gravenberg. So come on, let's help Declan get the gong there.

2:17And Women's Player of the Year, Alessia Russo and Mariona Caldente up for that one. So you can do some other Arsenal voting as well, tactical Arsenal voting. Like I said, the link is in the show notes, and I think you have until Sunday to do that. So again, thanks very much indeed. Right, let's get on with today's show, and let's bombard this man with some statements from the Stadio podcast. It is Ryan Hun. Ryan, good morning to you. Morning, Andrew. How are you? I'm very well, thank you. How are you? I'm all right, thanks, man. Good to chat to you. You too. Today we're going to do some statements, which you know all about.

2:52But if this is somebody's first time listening to one of these podcasts, the drill is I solicited some statements from our wonderful Patreon members. And I'm going to put those statements to you. And you either have to strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with those particular statements. So no middle ground, no sitting on the fence. I've got some interesting ones. I've got some easy ones. I've got a few which, you know, are a little bit out there, but might provoke a little bit of discussion. So we're good to go. If you're ready to go, I think we have a relatively easy one to kick us off.

3:29Okay. Ready. This one comes from Solo. Don't know if it's Han Solo or just a distant relative. Anyway, they say, after an extremely impressive run, the draw with Sunderland was actually a well-timed reality check. needed so the squad doesn't get complacent and drop points to actual rivals. I would say agree. And the reason that I would say agree is that I don't think that result comes out of context for the players. I think the players knew that they were hanging on a little bit. They were struggling physically and they just needed to get to the international break. We were talking about this on Stadio actually about how last weekend felt very much like a lot of teams were let's just get this one out of the way and get a few players back so i think the players will be fully aware of that i think in terms of a well-timed reality check i'm not sure i agree fully with the phrasing necessarily but i agree with the idea of that hey you can't like this is how tiny the margins are maybe the specifically the well-timed reality check was the was the equalizer i'd say right because that felt like something that hasn't really happened to us much this season.

4:45Sure. So I'd say agree because I do think that there were elements of the game where Arteta afterwards can be like, look, this is going to happen if we're remotely off our game. And Sunderland are a good side. And I think Arsenal are going to, you know, with the games that have been moved, like the Everton game, for example, I think that they'll be able to take elements from this game and apply it to other games this season. So yeah, agree. Okay. Do you think there's more of a reality check for the players or for the manager? Because where do you stand on this discussion that, listen, we were 74 minutes whenever it was when Leandro Trossard scored the goal.

5:26We played very well in that second half. But maybe there was a call for some extra legs. Do you destabilize it back forward? Because most of the subs we had available to us were kind of defensive subs, right? So we had Ben White, we had Incappier, and we had Muscara, and we had Christian Norgard. But, you know, is there the balance between adding fresh legs, which might give you a bit more impetus in the game that, you know, I don't think it has to completely change your approach. If you want to if you want to see it out, go see it out because you're a defensively strong team versus the idea that if you do make changes late on.

6:02There's a reason why managers typically don't tend to make a lot of changes in their back four in the final stages of games. they will add to their defence, but not necessarily take players away. But do you think there's maybe something for Arteta to think about when he's got Louis Gellion and Capier and Ben White, where, OK, you can keep the spine of your defence with Saliba and Gabriel, but you can add some more on the flanks? Yeah, or even just in front. Maybe the reality check is for Arteta in the sense that the reality is that this isn't last season or the season before or the season before that now.

6:35this squad is pretty mega even with all of the injuries and there's been a lot of discussion about i've read your blog this morning about you know for example miles and ethan's playing time however the great thing about this season compared to this time last season or even january february last season is that those two are more than able to come on in big games like that and add something even if you are protecting a lead. Miles, for example, in terms of his ball carrying and progressive passing, I think, and he's also his defensive now for someone so young. He's not the, like occasionally he does get caught, but I think if he's coming on to, as almost like an extra line in front of the stable back four, that's a real asset.

7:21So maybe the reality check for Arteta, sorry, the reality check for Arteta is, I don't need to worry so much about maybe I don't need to worry about as much as I used to worry about because we're actually really, really good. And I think that a few more proactive changes, if that makes sense. I'm not sure if I've used the right word there, but changes that would invite less pressure on your back four and actually just keep everything a little bit further up the pitch. I mean, that's maybe the reality, I think. Because I think we're more than capable of doing that this season. more so than other years.

7:58Yeah, you look at the amount of goals you've conceded or haven't conceded, whichever way you want to frame that, and it tells you that defensively we're a really, really strong outfit. What about this one then from Bergkamp's Pixels? And he says, smaller clubs. He didn't put in inverted commas, smaller clubs, but I'm going to say in inverted commas, smaller clubs, because I think it's worth making that distinction, right? So in inverted commas, smaller clubs raise their game against Arsenal more often than they do against any of the other so-called, so-called big six. So we have a so-called big six, but in inverted commas, smaller clubs.

8:39I disagree with that, I think. Do you think that's a question of... I don't think it's any different. Yeah, do you think it's a question of perception? Because, you know, we only really experience those games as Arsenal fans, whereas I'm not really watching Sunderland versus Man City too often or Burnley versus Liverpool, those kinds of things. Well, that's a good example. It is, isn't it? Burnley did raise the game very much for Liverpool and we're a little unlucky, I think, with that result. I think that there's probably, not necessarily raising the level or whatever, I think there has been historically a bit of an undercurrent that Arsenal can be got at or rattled.

9:25So I think maybe there's been an element of that. Whereas I think, for example, if you look over the last decade, Man City have felt at points so invincible that there is a little bit of... We see it quite a lot in the Bundesliga, for example. Sometimes some teams, depending on when they play Bayern, they're just like, yeah, we're fucked. Let's just worry about next week. Obviously they don't. And a lot of teams do... The teams who really go at Bayern and sometimes pick up points. But, you know, Union did it this weekend, for example. But I think that sometimes people have maybe thought that you could probably get something from an Arsenal game that you might not have been able to get from a Man City game.

10:05I think that's different now. And I do think that using the Sunderland game as an example, I just think that's how Sunderland play and they've done very well this season and they are a good team. I think they're a better team than we're used to seeing at this point from a newly promoted side, I think. Agree, yeah. And I don't think that result is going to age terribly, personally. It reminds me a little bit. It's different because I think the response to it has been very different. But it reminds me in terms of a result that will probably age not very badly, like the Bremford away defeat, the 2-0 that time.

10:50because, you know, Brentford were new in the league. Everyone was a bit like, oh my God, how could this happen? But you've seen how, you know, Brentford have established themselves as a Premier League side now. So I'm expecting Sunderland to do similar or potentially worse to a few other big teams this season. There is a really interesting sort of discussion maybe to be had about the way Sunderland have approached the Premier League, having been out of it for whatever it was, nine years. Listen, they spent a load of money, right? A load of money. So that obviously plays into it. You look at, God, I'm just trying to do a quick ad here.

11:25I mean, it's in the region of£140 million, something there or thereabouts, for a newly promoted team. That's a lot of money. And they brought in experience and they brought in some good players. but they brought in players who allow them to play this way. Like I made this point to James on the Arscast Extra. On Monday, like with half an hour to go, they swapped out their entire front three. And all of a sudden, you know, you then have fresh legs against tiring legs. As great as these Arsenal defenders are, if you're playing 90 minutes against guys who are only playing 30 minutes, chances are they've got a bit more zip in the final few minutes of a game than you might, right?

12:07That's just normal. But I do think it is interesting the way that they have approached it, that there is a sort of reward for, okay, we're not going to come up and sit back. And I can see the logic in that, by the way. You know, for a team like Burnley, okay, we are limited on resources. There are ways and means that we can play certain games in the Premier League. but I think the way Sunderland have tried to play this season both physically and with the ball. I mean, they beat Chelsea a couple of weeks before they beat us, by the way, at Stamford Bridge. You know, it's not really a flash in the pan.

12:42So I know it's not something that all promoted sides can do but it does demonstrate maybe there is a different way of doing it particularly after a couple of seasons where the three promoted teams are the ones that usually go back down or have been there or thereabouts, you know, in the relegation zone the entire time. And I think maybe it's too early to say it. Maybe we'll end up with egg on our face, but I don't see Sunderland getting pulled into a relegation fight. Yeah, and if they do, then it will be because maybe just the Premier League is a little bit chaotic in general. I referred to it on Stadio the other day as there's, you know, in F1 terms, it feels like everything from third or fourth down 10 places is like a DRS train.

13:27Do you know what I mean? It's just everyone's just kind of following each other and no one's really getting into position. But I think from a Sunderland point of view in the money aspect, I think this is just something that we're going to have to get more used to with the Premier League. In that a newly promoted side now, because of the amount of money that is involved in the Premier League, and it's hard to overstate, I think, the gap between the Premier League and everyone else. You know, a newly promoted side like Sunderland can make two signings from Ajax. They can sign someone from PSG. They can sign someone from RB Leipzig.

13:56By a Leverkusen. By, you know, Granit Xhaka, who won an unbeaten double a couple of years ago at Leverkusen. They can make these signings because, A, that they know that they're going to be kind of set for money for this year, which is you can gamble a little bit more. And especially when you add into that a sale of someone like Joe Bellingham for 20 odd million quid. But also players are just happier to... I think compared to a decade ago, players are more willing to leave clubs like Ajax or PSG or Leverkusen and go to a newly promoted club in the Premier League because they know that if they do one good season there and the club doesn't stay up, they'll get another move in the Premier League.

14:39So it's quite a new phenomenon, I think, in terms of something that's been a little bit more accelerated over the last few years. And I think Forrest did quite a... Forest look they weren't they didn't do an amazing job of it but they did they tried that approach they were just they just bought everyone as possible there's huge squad turnover at Forest and I do think that that was one of the reasons why they managed to stay up initially because they just the quality of players they signed was so good I think Sunderland now they've not only signed a huge amount of really good players they've signed them with a plan they're not just random signings.

15:17And I think that the thing that you mentioned about the ability to switch out that front line supports that argument. You know, it's not just random players. There's definitely some thinking there. Yeah. I mean, I think it's sensible. I mean, it's hard to say that like, oh, you come up and you spend 100 million quid or something. It's really sensible. But I think in terms of with the financial security that the Premier League gives you now, it is fairly sensible because you need to stay in the league. Well, yeah, if you spend that 100 million well, I mean, you could spend it all on one player these days, or you might not get much change out of 100 million.

15:51You know, it sounds like a lot of money. It's funny, yeah. You look at the clubs that they brought players in from this summer, Chelsea, Leipzig, Atletico Madrid, Ajax, PSG, Leverkusen, Brighton, Roma, you know. Anyway, enough Sunderland. What about this one? this one comes from okay I'm going to do my best Shrikanth Ravishankar who says Arsenal's top three scorers this season will be Jokarez, Trossard and Saka in that order I mean there are top three goal scorers at the moment right yes um hmm So Jokeres, Trossard, Saka in that order. I'm going to say disagree. Mm-hmm. I thought you might. I am not 100 % sure that that will be the top three goal scorers.

17:00And if they are, I think Saka will be the top goal scorer out of that three. Okay. That was my thinking on the number one goal scorer. I think it will be Saka.

17:15I'm sort of hard-pressed at this point, though, to see who else breaks into that top three. I know we're all waiting the return of Kai Havertz, Mikel Marino, who knows what he can do, Gabriel Martinelli. You know, who do you see as another realistic entrance into that top three? I think Kai Havertz will end up playing a lot of games when he's back. And I think he will pick up four goals fairly quickly. I think there will also be periods where Jokeres isn't starting games, especially when Havertz comes back.

18:00but yeah apart from Gabriel Magaes who might break into that maybe he's going to be our top goal scorer I don't think so we never know no I think it will I think Havert like Kai Havertz is the only player that I see breaking into that because I don't think I know Martinelli I think Martinelli has four goals yeah but he's the he's got more goals per 90 minutes played I think than anyone else in our squad But I think that's also down to when he's been introduced. I think Martinelli is really going to thrive in a lot of games this season coming off the bench.

18:38And therefore, his goal scoring ratio might look really good. I don't think he's going to play enough minutes compared to anyone else to be the top goal scorer. He might be top three, but I can't see it personally, because I think that Trossard is still going to play more than Martinelli. Sure. What do you think? I sort of, I think it's quite a bit for Kai Havertz to make up. I know it's only four goals on Trossard, right? But I think you're right. Trossard will keep scoring. I think the end product we're getting from him at the moment is excellent. Jokeres with six, Saka with six. Like, I agree with you that we are going to timeshare that center forward position quite a bit.

19:20You know, there's going to be games when Havertz starts and games when Jokeres starts. and I think they're going to have to sort of get used to that, but I think it's a really sensible approach because, you know, as we've seen, we lost Havertz on the opening day of the season. We lost Jocarez. It's maybe too simplistic to say that ultimately the Jocarez injury was a consequence of that Havertz injury, but I think in that period he's played more than Mikel Arteta and the coaching staff would have wanted to play because they would have wanted to share those minutes. It's slightly ironic, of course, that he picked up that muscular injury after having a midweek off where he didn't play at all.

19:59But there you go. That's football for you. I just think it's a bit much for Havertz to make up that. I hope he does. If he does, then we're going to be in really good shape. If he can catch Trossard when he returns and overtake him and the goal-scoring list, I'll be very happy because I think that means he's going to be scoring a lot of goals and scoring a lot of goals frequently. so I would say it's I would go for Saka, Jocharez and Trossard as the top three in that order I think my three at the end of the season will be Saka, Jocharez, Havertz Okay we will see What about this one? This is related to that It comes from Joseph O 'Brien and he says Jocharez and Havertz will frequently start as two strikers together.

20:51And there's an addendum to that, with Martin Odegaard losing his starting spot to accommodate this.

21:02Strongly disagree, I think. Okay. Because unless, I mean, if Havertz and Jokeres are going to start as two strikers, then that's a shift in formation. Mm-hmm. I think that this unit works so well in this configuration that I can't see Arteta, for example, all of a sudden being like, right, we're going two big guys up top kind of thing. I think there will be ends of games where it looks like they are playing together up top together, especially if Arsenal are chasing games. I don't expect Arsenal to line up in a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-2-2, for example. And I can't see Maynard de Gaulle losing out completely because I think he is so...

22:02I think that is the thing that is probably keeping Mikel Arteta awake at night more. It's just not having him around. because I think he does so much in a tangible sense for Arsenal, but I think also in an intangible sense, having him fit and available and on the pitch, I think is something Mikhail Arteta has consistently suggested that he needs and he loves with Martin Erdegaard. So I think I can't imagine him all of a sudden just taking Martin Erdegaard out and being like, right, we're going to... These two guys who we've got, who we have been wanting to rotate and switch between all seasons and both of them have been injured, we're now going to actually just chuck them both in at the same time.

22:44I love the idea in theory, but I don't think it's going to happen. I get where the statement is coming from. I think there are going to be times where we finish with both of them on the pitch. Absolutely. And I think if we do start with Kai Havertz and Victor Jokeres in a game, it won't be with two up front. It'll be Kai Havertz playing behind. maybe not quite the Bergkamp to Thierry Henry role, but certainly a little off the centre forward. As for the Odegaard thing, I just don't think there's any way he loses his place to a formation which feels a little bit retro. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course, but it doesn't really feel like the way Mikel Arteta operates.

23:29And I think you could widen that out and say, you know if we have a Martin Odegaard on the pitch at Sunderland do we sit that deep you know do we retreat the way that we did because I think he is really really fundamental in in organizing that team on the pitch and getting it to play higher up the pitch leading the press that Odegaard Havertz you know that's it as well I mean there's the creativity and we need him to score goals and create goals and all of those things. But I just think on the pitch, he would be somebody who would push that team higher up or at least get us a little bit more organized, you know?

24:12Because I think maybe there was a touch of disorganization when it came to that Sunderland equalizer. I mean, listen, you know, if we're in a game where we need a goal and it's late, two big men up front, absolutely. And do we have them? Sorry to cut in, but especially with the set-piece aspect of it, I think that's the thing. I think starting games like that, I can't see it, but definitely finishing games. Yeah, unless Mikhail Teta does what many suspect and actually completes his Moisean arc and goes fully into, right, Arsenal are just playing 4-4-2 now. It's actually just going to, like, Zubamendi and Declan Rice's touches per 90 is just going to fall off a cliff because Arsenal are just going to lump it.

24:55So maybe that's it. Maybe that's what the Premier League is crying out for at the moment. I'm not sure about that. Me neither. If that happens, I'm out. All right. Well, listen, here's one that's sort of related to that very vaguely. Christopher Campbell says, the long throw is here to stay. It is not a passing fad. um i'm gonna say disagree because i think that it will inevitably oh sorry inevitably become less effective than it has been for teams i think what i would i would love to strongly disagree because i'm kind of over it i'm not gonna lie do you do does it uh i don't know offend your purest football sensibilities because i think that at the end of the day i'm not watching youtube highlight videos of some of my favorite teams of all time i'm watching the the most elite level of a particular sport where you know we talked about the finances before you're talking about the most you know the most well-funded league in the world and the margins to to get advantages over other teams it's becoming smaller and smaller and smaller i don't love like aesthetically or just from a purely enjoyment factor i i don't like the long throws thing is that uh ptsd is that sort of tony pulis stoke uh informed no not even really it's just it's just like i'm just like i i think there are other ways and i actually can see this coming back where one of the like you see um evolutions in in football i think quite often come from a change in the rhythm of the game as well and for example one of the things that made that amazing pep guardiola barcelona side so scary was that they were always moving the ball and the ball was always in play and it and you were just never getting near it and I think that just that that psychological like warfare for whatever better term you know I talk to Moose about this all the time who for those who don't know is a Manchester fan my co-host on Stadio and we talk about that Champions League final and it was just like you know just the thing is that when you got the ball back it was almost worse because you knew it wasn't going to last long so I think that I personally think that there will be an evolution where a side like Arsenal who doesn't get enough credit for its actual technical ability and how good it is moving the ball around because people focus on the set pieces and seem to think Arsenal are just a completely direct team in quotation marks.

27:34I think, if anything, their technical ability of this Arsenal side is massively underrated because of that narrative. I think that Arsenal might end up speeding the game up a bit eventually and actually when people are getting set for long throws you might see I mean I'm not sure if this is maybe just a hunch or if this is more of a want but I think speeding the game up and actually keeping the ball in play and applying pressure that sense as opposed to allowing defenses to get set might be the next evolution so I don't think it's going to be around for a huge amount of time I'm not sure if it's going to go away completely this season but yeah what do you think I don't know I mean I think there are teams that are really good at it you know I look at Brentford and they've they've got Coyote who can fling the ball under the fucking crossbar basically that I understand like if you've got somebody who's got that natural ability I understand the decision to exploit that what I don't 100 % understand is Arsenal's embrace, if that's the right way of putting it, of this particular tactic, because we don't really have anybody who's got a good long throw.

28:52I think Calafiore's is sort of mid-range. It's okay. Declan Rice, again, sort of mid-range. You're getting it maybe just towards the front post. So you're looking for that flick on or whatever. But I've seen us do it with all due respect to Miles, Miles Lewis-Galley, does not have a long throw. It goes up in the air, and for a defender, if you're the defending team, meet and drink, because the longer the ball is in the air, the easier it is for you to time it, to time your jump, and to clear your lines. But we persist with it. So I'm sort of, I'm not 100 % sure why. Is it about condensing the game?

29:33Is it about ensuring that all the opposition players are in a specific area, which then leaves you with a lot more room elsewhere when that ball breaks. So you're looking for the second ball more than perhaps the long throw itself to be effective. But I see where you're coming from as well, that if teams start setting up for long throws all the time, then there is a load of room to throw the ball and keep possession. Whereas I think over the last number of years, what's been interesting is, and people have talked about our throw-ins all the time, right? Why do we take so long to take a throw in?

30:08Well, it's because you want to keep the ball, right? And teams are now way more organized. You know, there is a, I don't know if there's a word or whatever, but as soon as the opposition get a throw, every player on the opposition team or every player on the team knows where they're supposed to be. So you've got to mark the man. It becomes increasingly difficult to keep possession from a throw in, right? So I do wonder if the long throw is in some ways a means to an end, you know. It's an evolution because of that specific thing. Yes, exactly. And therefore it will come back out the other way.

30:42It's a reaction. Yeah. The other thing that I thought about, and I did wonder about this, I was going to ask you, was, you know, the focus on set pieces, not just long throws, but corners, free kicks, you know, which have always been a fundamental part of the game. I did wonder if in part the schedule and the physical demands on players have contributed to the increased focus on these things because, how do I put this? It gives you a chance to sort of reset, take a little bit of a breather if you like. Okay, we're getting ready for our long throw. We're getting ready for our corner. We take a while to take our corners.

31:25It could be because we're doing signals, but it also is a way of preserving energy to a certain extent. And when the schedule is the way it is with the internationals and Europe and cup competitions and the Premier League and, you know, situations like we're facing with Crystal Palace, where they're having to play like four games in eight days, nonsense like this. I did wonder if, whether it's deliberate or subconscious or something, that a way of not exerting or overexerting your players in every minute of every single game has led to this sort of focus on set pieces. yeah potentially i also think it's pound for pound one of the most effective things that you can train because it's if you build out a playbook to use a you know kind of like an american sportism the pretty much everyone in the squad knows that can become interchangeable especially when you don't have a huge amount of time on the training ground uh with a lot of new signings coming in as well and I know this isn't it's not like Arsenal all of a sudden embraced set pieces this season it's been something that's been around for a while but players like Incapier, Mosquera can learn certain rhythms or routines that Arsenal can implement and control which I think is a major word because that's what Arteta loves right it's a control aspect he just wants to control as much of the game as possible that is that is a lot easier to teach when you only have a one midweek session because you've got an away game in europe and another premier league game and you've got travel and rest and stuff like that as opposed to hey guys we need to do these triangles here and then actually then this is the trigger and everyone has to do it you know so so i do wonder if that's an aspect of it as well um because it's not it's not just been an arsenal thing it's been a it's been a thing that a lot of teams have started to focus on as well.

33:27And I mean, it's sort of mad, isn't it? When Mikel Arteta says, I want Arsenal to be the best at everything. And he said that out loud and everyone's like, whoa, you want to be the best at everything? What the fuck? And then it's like, no, I don't hate that thinking either. I think that's logical. Yeah. I think if you are a football manager, You want your team to be the best at everything within its own capability, right? Are Burnley or, you know, a newly promoted team going to be the best at free-flowing, attacking, dominant football, playing in the opposition half? No. But are there things that they can, you know, maximize?

34:03But that kind of thinking applies to all aspects of the game. So I also think that sort of focus on set pieces is, A, because we've actually got that sort of mindset. B, we've got two players in Bakayo Saka and Declan Rice in particular who produce the sort of consistent set piece delivery that few players really can. You know, David Beckham famously was brilliant at corners for Manchester United because he spent hours and hours and hours practicing those. But how many times did you see or have you seen in all the time you're watching football, whether it's Premier League or the Bundesliga or whatever, crap corner after crap corner after crap corner.

34:49Yeah. Oh, look, another one where they didn't get it past the first man at the front post, et cetera, et cetera. That is a common theme to set pieces. And we have two players who can absolutely book that trend. And also, we have got some very, very good players who are kind of mental in their pursuit of getting their head on the ball in the opposition box. I mean, Gabriel is brilliant. But even Mikel Moreno the other day, whatever you think about that Dan Ballard challenge, he was putting his head in a position where he might get the ball. He might get an elbow if Dan Ballard protects himself.

35:31He might smash his head into Dan Ballard's head. But he's willing to put his head in those positions. And I don't think every player is. And we've got quite a few of those. It's like Tom Sizemore in Heat. It's like the action is the juice. and it's just like that's maybe why but maybe it's just like just keep keep set pieces going I think with the Arteta I want to be the best I want us to be the best at everything thing that was you know that reminded me a little bit of when Arsene Wenger did the whole like I want to win the league on beating thing and you don't say it out loud yeah but I think that I and this is my I don't really you know kind of fall into the like hey everyone hates us kind of thing and because Stadio is not an Arsenal podcast, you know, we're neutral essentially, even though we have our fandom, etc.

36:23And, you know, we have to be objective. But I do think that one trait that has been quite common over the last... I think we're probably going into the third year of this. I'd say the first year that Arsenal were back in the Champions League, I think there was an argument to be made that even though Arsenal were maybe not the best team in Europe, I think they were the most rounded in Europe even then actually I looked at for example I still believe that if Arsenal play the Bayern side that were on the pitch and not the badge Arsenal get through that tie in that Champions League and I think that going back a decade or so there were so there were so many or not maybe so many but there were clearly identifiable weaknesses in Arsenal sides even going back to the ones that were fairly successful before the trophy drought and i think what arteta has done now is he has built a side over the last few years that can beat literally any team depending on what they want to do stylistically a common thing with arsenal was that you could just bully them and then that would be it you can't really do that anymore because they're a bunch of absolute units technically they can hang with the best technical teams in the world really i think the only the only side that is technically but bar maybe manchester city over the last few years i think was the psg semi-final last season that's because arson were threadbare they were knackered and they were threadbare they had no players left um and you know if you if arsenal want to build deep and maintain possession they can do that against low blocks if they want if you if you want to run a high line against arsenal this arsenal side can torch you on the break so i think that arteta isn't while arsenal might not be perfect at everything i don't think there are many if any sides in Europe that can tick as many boxes as this Arsenal side can now and to be honest I mean there's the how many points everyone's got in the league over the last three seasons that is a sign of consistency from this Arsenal side that I don't think gets enough credit because that is very very difficult to do it will change when you get over the line and win one of those big trophies which is obviously something we all need to do but I think sometimes and I know that some Arsenal fans get bored of me for saying this but I think it's easy to forget like five six years ago this we were a million miles away from this like so far so i'm yeah i always kind of lean a little bit more into the the appreciation side of it even if i'm not wild about some of the like for example the long throw thing bringing it back yeah it's fine because that's just another way that arsenal can in theory you know gain an advantage but you know i don't love it okay all right here is one which um i'm sure will elicit an opinion from you brian says abracese is a vanity buy and under delivering strongly disagree

39:39um i think he's been i think he's been brilliant since he's joined actually i think I think he's given us, you know, kind of leading on from the last answer. I think he's given us another element to our attack. I think there were clearly moments that you can see, okay, this is a very different setup to the one I was playing in before, and this is a different set of responsibilities. And also, you know, footballers are human beings. This is a guy who signed for his boyhood club, and it has been probably the most popular signing that Arsenal have made since, like in terms of how wild the celebrations were Ozil maybe yeah maybe like because that but that was just felt like a so out of the blue this felt more joyous and you know like a homecoming sure um so I think there's definitely an element of that played into it I can imagine he was so nervous for the first few games um I think it was a little bit unfortunate for him maybe that he scored his first home goal against Palace because it wasn't even like he could really celebrate it that wildly.

40:52But no, I don't think it was a vanity buy at all. I think that maybe the age profile, some people can be like, oh, well, is it worth the money for that? I think that's just a premium. That's a Premier League premium and it's an English player premium as well. I love the sign-in. I'm really, really glad he plays for Arsenal and not anyone else. Yeah, especially where that anyone else would have been if it weren't Arsenal. And listen, I also strongly disagree with this. If you look at, listen, people will judge forward players by their assists and by their goals, and that's completely normal. I think, you know, over the last number of weeks, again, I think I said this to James on Monday, you know, at one point in the Sunderland game, as I had the ball and he was just sort of drifting across field.

41:41And I was like, this is great. We don't have Martin Odegaard, but look who we have. And that's no disrespect to Ethan Warneri, who I think is a fantastic talent. Look at the shots in the Premier League this season. What is one of the big accusations at Arsenal over the last number of years? We're a shot-shy team. We needed to address that. The most shots taken in the Premier League this season, top three, all of them on 19, Victor Jokeres, Eber Eche Eze, and Ricardo Calafiori. I mean, that tells you some of the impact that he's having. Even if those shots are not turning into goals, it's about what it means for the opposition, how you deal with it, where you make them play, etc., etc.

42:24I think there's more to come from Eze in terms of end product. I can understand why people might be or might have been expecting a little bit more from him, but I strongly, strongly disagree that it's a vanity buy or that he's under-delivering, although, as I said, I think there is more to come. Yeah, I agree. I think once his feet are fully under the table as well and he feels like he may be less overawed by the occasion. That sounds like I'm being disrespectful. I don't, but like I was saying before, but I think it was such a big, big deal for him to sign for Arsenal. And I think he's looked great.

43:04I think that once he, you know, maybe takes control a little bit more of the team, because I still think he, you know, he's like the players who've been here for a lot longer and more senior players. I think you'll see a real, yeah, maybe like upturn in the more wow moments. You know, I think he's doing a lot of really, really sensible stuff and a lot of very important stuff, especially for the attack. But yeah, I'm glad he's with us. For sure. Okay, what about this one? I just mentioned him there. This one comes from Kerrick. And they say, the way Arteta is handling Weneri and Miles Lewis-Galley is actually very smart management from both footballing and human perspectives.

43:46Having them playing bit part roles after signing new deals is a way of testing their character. Can I do an agree and disagree? That's not really the thing of statements, is it? But I agree with some of that and I disagree with some of that. Okay, well, you break it down to its component parts then. I agree that it's quite smart management, but I disagree with the reasons why. I agree that, I think, for example, the second season after a breakout season for teenage players can be extremely difficult because they emerge as this unknown talent. There is only upside because you don't expect them to be there.

44:28For example, Miles last season, it was like, oh my God, this kid's amazing. Oh my God, this kid's doing stuff that we would never have thought an 18-year-old could do on a football pitch. In the Bernabeu, for example.

44:45However, that can be very, very hard to maintain at that age. And there is a thing called the rookie wall, right? where young players emerge on the scene and all of a sudden they plateau a little bit before taking that next leap. Because what can often happen is when things inevitably stop going so well, because there is that, then the expectation goes up and then the forgiveness levels go down once you've established yourself. I think it can be difficult for players to then continue that development as freely as they do when they first break out. Do I think that they both should have played more minutes this season?

45:27Yes. But I... And also, do I think that the pair of them will be really frustrated by the minutes that they... The lack of minutes. Also, yeah. But I think they're going to play a huge amount of football in the second half of the season because there are going to be games where we're going to need them both, probably. You know? Yeah. Yeah, I'm not necessarily sure it's because, right, we signed the deal with him now and then we can kind of... Let's fuck them around and see how they respond. I don't think it's that. I think it's more of a developmental thing. I sort of agree mostly with you there because I do think you're right.

46:08You know, why was Lewis Skelly so effective? It's because nobody knew who he was, really. Nobody knew what he did or how he did it. And I think we saw at times last season when people got a bit used to the way Miles played and the way he tried to protect the ball. He got caught out a couple of times. It was a red card, I think, in one of the games. Not this stupid red card against Wolves, but there was another game where he got a red on just about halfway there. Thereabouts he made a foul. He got turned and made a foul. He got sent off. You know, I think that's something that the player has to learn and the manager kind of has to protect them from as well.

46:45It's like you're an unknown quantity. Therefore, when you pick up the ball, nobody quite knows what you're going to do. So that's really effective until such time as they figure you out. And then you have to figure out ways yourself to be a little more effective. I would say, whether it's deliberate, whether it's Arteta just deciding to make his squad as strong as it possibly can be, the sort of win now element of this season. Like, we could have gone into this season with Weneri as Martin Odegaard's direct deputy and Louis Skelly as either first choice left back or the deputy to Ricardo Calafuri, who's done really, really well this season.

47:29And it's worth pointing out that, like, while they will be frustrated with their minutes, it's hard to argue with the results that Mikel Arteta has produced with the players that he has picked, right?

47:41but instead what we've got is Eberachie Heza who's a more experienced option for Martin Odegaard and that has a consequence for Warneri and what we have is Piero Incapier who we don't quite know what this pecking order is yet and I think some of the minutes he got of late were about getting minutes into his legs rather than saying okay he's now second choice to Calafuri I think it was more about, okay, we've got to give this guy minutes and get embedded in and integrated and all those kinds of things. But we have a three into two kind of situation at left back, and that's unsustainable a bit. But those were very conscious decisions to bring in those players, to bring in Nkappie, who won the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen, had that bit of experience, albeit he's not that much older than Myles.

48:34I think he's still only 23, something like that. But those are very conscious decisions to bolster the squad, to sort of increase our chances of winning this season without having to, and I mean this in the most respectful way possible, carry two teenagers. That sounds wrong, but do you know what I mean by that? where you're putting a lot of responsibility on an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old in a season where everybody is saying, if Arsenal don't win the title, it's a disaster, right? Which it might be or it might not be, whatever way you think about that. But I also think in doing that, there is inherently a test of their character where they see a player come into their position.

49:22How do you respond? Do you train harder? Do you work harder? Do you increase, you know, develop other parts of your game? You know, the things that the coaching staff have been telling you to work on, do you work on them even harder? I think it is a good way for Mikel Arteta to see what the response is like from them. Because, you know, the other side of it is like they have demonstrated enough quality and character to make that breakthrough last season. Was the door open a little bit because of the injuries? Absolutely. But they still had to come in and perform. And Weneri nearly got double figures in goals in his debut season, which is incredible.

50:01And Lewis Skelly, you know, one of our standout players last season. So, you know, I don't think there's a situation where these guys are being just, right, okay, let's fuck them around. But as a consequence of trying to build a really, really big, deep winning squad, they're going to be tested. Yeah, I think the one for me that I'm weirdly a little bit more concerned about Ethan than Miles because I think even though you could look that and say that Miles has more traffic in front of him from a pathway point of view with you know Califuri at left back the signing of Incapier and also Christian Norgard in midfield which I think is a position that Miles could could play in he is essentially a midfielder to me I see him as a central midfielder who plays left back you know when he plays he he offers very different things to what ricardo califuri and pierre and capier do so i think for ethan that to me seems like a rhythm thing like for example i could imagine him going to a bundesliga side on loan for half a season playing every single game every single minute pretty much getting a load of goals getting a load of assists getting that rhythm in there because it feels like uh was it the season before last where he was playing quite a lot of the year towards the end of the year uh or not is that was that right no no it would have been it was last season really yeah yeah but he didn't he didn't play a lot towards the end of the season he sort of came out of the team and yeah that's it so there was a period so i've yeah it was at the middle of the or so where he was playing quite a lot in uh for the soccer injury yeah god these last two or three seasons are just all I know melt your brain wouldn't it I know um um so I think he's he's a little bit more in need of that rhythm again where he knows that he's not just going to come out of the side I think I think there will be games this season and I I'm I hope it's not because of injury but I think it might be because of injury when Miles gets a run in the team but also depending on the opposition Miles might will start and we've seen it a couple of times already but I think he will start a little bit more frequently because he just he has such a i think this is where we're very blessed but also it gets a little bit tricky that we have three left backs with three very different skill sets that could all be used depending on the opposition but um yeah i can understand it's also very frustrating for them but i i think that they are both good enough to establish themselves as Arsenal first team players eventually.

52:37They're 18 and 19. And also just one more thing. We constantly, I think recently, we talk about how much football these young players are playing. Like if we want them to be able to play, especially someone like Miles, who I think is skill set, you could see him, you know, playing until however old he is. Like, let's not overburden these players like physically or, you know, responsibility-wise so soon. All right. We'll do a few quick-ish ones to get us out of here because there's a couple of interesting ones. Rayman says, Arsenal will only win the Premier League this season if Erling Haaland gets injured for a significant length of time.

53:24Disagree.

53:27I mean it would obviously probably help Arsenal's title ambitions but I don't think it's going to be the sole deciding factor No, I agree I think it would be very helpful but the quality is there you have to be able to deal with that quality There was another one about whether we need a player which I meant to take but I haven't got but whether we need a player like Haaland or Salah to score that level of goal to win the title? Does every team need that player? Or is the sort of, I don't know, the socialist outlook of Mikel Arteta sharing all the goals around, is that the way to do it? I seem to remember when we had Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who co-won the Golden Boot that year.

54:15And we weren't that close to the title, I don't think, by memory. No. There might have been some other issues with that team beyond Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, with all due respect to him. Speckled Jim, Martin Zubimendi will be as important to this team as Gilberto Silva was to the Invincibles. Strongly agree. You've been impressed? I think he's the sign of the season, actually. Okay. Yeah. Our signing of the season? I think he's our signing of the season for sure. I think also the fact that he, the great thing about Martin Zubomendi was that it was done so far in advance that everyone kind of knew about it.

55:02That essentially when it happened, it actually felt like a weirdly underwhelming signing because of everything else that was needed and because everything else that was going on in the transfer window. I think he is just such a massive upgrade on that part of the pitch for us. and if you look at the price that Arsenal paid for him which is obviously a lot of money but I think in terms of value for money I think he's been just yeah incredible like genuinely incredible I think he's great No I agree I agree I think he could well fill that role I think there are a lot of players who get compared to players in the Invincibles I just think Supermendi was always a great signing There's a reason City wanted him and Liverpool wanted him and Real Madrid wanted him.

55:54Like you say, it did feel underwhelming because of the amount of time it took. But yeah, I think he's been absolutely great. What about this one? Toshi says, if Liverpool miss the Champions League after signing Alexander Izak and Florian Wurtz for that kind of money, it could financially break the club's backbone.

56:21I don't have enough information to do a strongly agree, disagree or whatever on that. Right. I don't know. I mean, I imagine I'd say strongly disagree because I think that they've, the reason they were able to spend that much money was almost like a. Well, the billionaire owners. Yeah. Yeah, but also I think the way that they sold and spent over the last few years. So I think they can afford it. I don't, yeah. I also think that Liverpool will probably finish top four or five, which will probably get you in the Champions League. Yeah, I can't see them finishing outside of that. Mick7071 says, The interfering slash not interfering with play rule should be scrapped, and it should go back to simply being onside or offside any player anywhere on the pitch.

57:21Strongly disagree

57:25because if any player is offside at any point, does that mean any player getting the ball or any player not getting the ball? Interfering with player or not, you know? No, I think we've got enough problems to then yeah yeah some some guy standing 40 yards away in an offside position all of a sudden you have a great goal ruled out he's gone down because he's pulled his hamstring yeah on the edge of the opposition box and then arsenal are in the champions league semi-final and they break to win the game and they get called offside because said player is technically in an offside position i think that that statement might get revisited yeah but also i think that there's just you know I assume this is because of the Liverpool disallowed goal from the other day but I personally thought that was a goal and I think a lot of people could you know I think when you slow anything down like that it's again it's just another example of how I think that the technology is really really useful it's just how that's being applied slow anything down it looks terrible yeah yeah it can do Kale Dahlkvist says eventually Manchester City will have to answer for each one of the 115 charges leveled against them.

58:41I don't know what that means. Well, I guess the sort of wider point is that Manchester City will be found guilty or wanting on some of those 115 charges. Or do you think this, after years of waiting and all the speculation about how a decision, it's close, it's close, we're going to find out, will be the dampest squib of all time when it comes to the way this investigation plays out? responding to the statement then I probably have to say disagree because I imagine it will end up being some kind of like

59:28fairly kind of inconsequential points deduction and a fine I think I don't think we're going to get any you know if we if for example if Manchester City are relegated and the findings are that severe and the punishment is that severe, I would be really surprised. And, you know, while obviously Arsenal fandom hat is like, oh my God, yeah, this is great. I think from a wider football perspective, it then creates quite, this is maybe one for another show, but it creates a real problem for the Premier League. I mean, it is already a real problem for the Premier League, but it creates even more issues for the Premier League.

1:00:10that I'm not entirely sure the Premier League could fully recover from, if that makes sense. It's quite a big... This is definitely one for not a statement podcasting for another time, but I think it's a really big deal. It's the biggest thing that has dominated the Premier League for a long, long time in terms of... And its impact. Yeah, do they undermine their own product or do they uphold their own rules, which appear to be fluid and flexible, depending on who transgresses those particular rules, you know. I mean, the thing to say, I suppose, is that I don't hold out at this point a great deal of hope that there's going to be anything seismic from this.

1:00:54You know, I think it will be at best a small points deduction. The only thing that I would say is that I don't think in the context of this season, you could say that that would be inconsequential from our perspective as a team that is challenging Manchester City for the title. So it might be a pretty consequential points deduction, even if it is six points or nine points, whatever it might be. That could be the cushion that Arsenal need, which, by the way, I would happily take. And it would not provide any kind of asterisk on the league season And if we were to go on and win it, people would be going, well, you only won because, you know, City Cup deducted points.

1:01:40Well, that's their fault, not our fault, you know? So, yeah, I'm not too confident, though, that there'll be much in this. I think I've got two more just to get us out of here.

1:01:57Okay, I thought this was quite an interesting one. Bedlam Ham. Bedlam Ham. Bedlam Ham. Anyway, that's just conjured up all kinds of images of hams fighting on a battlefield for me. He says, by the end of the season, we'll be talking about Gabriel Ainza as one of the most important signings this year.

1:02:22Disagree, I think. I think he's been a great addition. i i'm not sure we can we're fully fully aware of the goings-on enough to definitively say he's that's the guy he's the difference maker yeah supermendy yokarez as a but hang on a minute the real the real real ones know it's that guy over there in the tracksuit guy over there i think there is at times a tendency to over index the impact of particular coaching staff, you know. I remember, and this is not a disrespect in any way to Martin Keown, but everyone's saying, well, the reason Arsenal had that brilliant defensive run in the 2006 Champions League was because Martin Keown came back and was doing a little bit of coaching with the team at that time.

1:03:11Like, I think if that was the impact of Martin Keown's coaching on, you know, what was a very makeshift back four, chances are that when we got all our good players back, he would have been kept on to make them even better. I don't know. Never concede a goal. Yeah, we'll never concede a goal again. Arteta would be trying to play and catch up this season to the most parsimonious Arsenal defence of all time. I do think there is a bit of an edge to Ainz which might be useful. I thought it was Muscara a couple of weeks ago doing an interview and he was talking about like, oh, well, yeah, we're working hard together.

1:03:50And Gabriel Aynce, of course, is there. And he says, you know, of course, he's Argentinian. So we're learning a lot. You know, I'm paraphrasing here. So maybe there's something about the dark arts of defending, particularly for young players like Mosquera, where someone like him could be very, very handy. I did find it funny when Arsenal played Atleti and they cut to Nelson Vivas on the Atleti bench. I was like, that's the next evolution. Listen, I've had enough Nelson Vivas in my life. I don't need no more. Sorry, Nelson. A little reminder that man wore number seven for Arsenal. Fun times. Fun times.

1:04:26Just don't talk to me about Leeds. Final one. Matt McGrath. Arsenal solely based their signings on their modelling potential to sell more merchandise.

1:04:41Strongly agree. I mean, there's... A lot of people said that those signings were made because of the squad depth issues. I think the squad depth also extends to the amount of merch drops there are, and we need to rotate heavily throughout the season for all of those merch drops. So maybe. Yeah. The final Thursday of every month, coincidentally, there's a new drop of Adidas slash Arsenal merchandise. Nothing strikes more fear within me than a new merch drop, because usually it is to counterbalance a poor result it's like hey here's some here's some brilliant beautiful adidas original stuff to take your mind off it and i'm like yeah i'm happy and now i'm broke i don't think they're that cynical i think it does take a little more planning to to sort of create and um launch merchandise and oh shit we lost the derby we better get some nice fucking bruised banana stuff out there you know what's really great at the moment there was a There was a bit of a stadio bit a few years ago that I used to do every time Arsenal lost.

1:05:44I used to just retweet or re-quote the result from the club and just say, well, at least the kits are nice. Whereas the thing is now, Arsenal are really good and the kits are nice. You're living the dream here, man. I am, man. I am. Talking to you, talking about kits and statements. What could be better? What could be better? Right. We better leave it there. Ryan, as ever, a pleasure. Thank you for being with us. Great to chat to you, mate. Take care.

1:06:17Thank you very much indeed to Ryan. You can find him on Blue Sky. He is at ryanhun.bsky.social, at ryanhun.bsky.social. And of course, he is the co-host of the Stadio podcast, which is available now on all the usual podcast platforms and comes highly recommended for me if you're looking for something a little something a little different from your usual general football podcast. So give it a try if you haven't already. Right. I'm going to leave it there for now. Thank you so much as always for being with us. Remember, if you do like the podcast, you can give us a review in your favorite podcast app, whether that's Apple or Pocket Cast.

1:06:51I think most podcast apps now have a review feature. So if you want to give us a review, it does help get us up the thing, you know, the, what do you call it? like the list of podcasts, except in an order, the charts, that's what it is. Well done brain. You did good eventually, but you don't have to do that. Of course, just being here, downloading, listening, subscribing. That's all we could ever ask apart from all the other stuff I've asked from you in this podcast, like voting and reviews. But apart from that, there's nothing more I can ask of you. So you can join myself and James on Monday for an interlull arse cast extra.

1:07:30In the meantime, look after yourselves, look after each other, and we will catch you on the next one. Until then, cheers. Bye-bye.

1:08:17I love you