Episode 858 - Girding our loins

0:23Hello and welcome to a brand new Arseblog Arsecast right here on Arseblog.com. How are you? Hope you're well. Thank you very much indeed, as always, for being here. It's been a pretty quiet week, relatively speaking. No midweek games for us anyway, and that has given Mikel Arteta and the players a bit of a chance to sort of decompress, as he said, to reset, to get ready for this weekend's trip to Everton. And what lies beyond and what lies beyond is an EFL Cup quarterfinal against Crystal Palace. There's a home game against Brighton, a home game against Aston Villa. Then we've got FA Cup and we're into the new year.

1:00So there's a lot of points to play for at this time of the year. And as we know, very often around the festive period, you know, the Premier League table, the league table can take on a very different shape, you know, over the space of a couple of weeks. If results go your way or don't go your way. So that is something, obviously, that Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff and the players will be absolutely aware of. And, you know, they'll know as well that performance levels have got to improve after what we saw last week against Wolves. But I am in no real doubt that there will be a concerted effort to make that happen, starting with Everton on Saturday.

1:36In this particular episode, we're going to talk about the EFL Cup draw, the potential EFL Cup draw. Well, the draw is not potential, but our participation in it is because we still have to play our quarterfinal against Crystal Palace. We're going to talk about the reaction to Wolves. We're going to talk about some of the moments of the season so far, taking some questions from our Discord members, because it has been a bit of a quiet week. A little later on, I will give you the winners of the Eberacheza T-shirt competition, which we ran last week, thanks to our friend Dan Evans, and a store like 94, thanks to so many of you who entered.

2:11So we will give you the winners a bit later on. But with me to talk about all the bits and pieces that are going on, a bit more besides, delighted to welcome back from The Athletic and from TIFO, it is kaya kind of kaya how are you i'm very good andrew thank you how are you i'm fine thanks very much indeed looking forward to all the football we've got to play over the the festive period and everything else so you girding your loins for what's to come yes yes my loins are girded well and truly i wish i don't that's such a strange phrase i don't really know i don't know what that means um in in literal terms i'm guessing it's to do with like medieval stuff is it to sort of protect your bits you know i could be wrong no that's that's good prepare for a challenge it says yeah okay okay yeah i'm ready for a challenge yeah i'm i'm that's my sort of take on it anyway it's like when you needed to wear armor around your your your loins yes yes so we're all we're all fully girded that's a that's a good thing so look speaking of girded loins how are we feeling about the EFL cup and the EFL cup draw now first thing we have to say is if Arsenal get beyond Crystal Palace and that is not a foregone conclusion I think it's fair to say it's a very good Palace side who've been very good in cup competitions and you know getting past them not a foregone conclusion but if we do then we face a two-legged semi-final against Chelsea and this is creating a lot of discussion quite a lot of I think maybe PTSD flashbacks to last season and the two semifinals against Newcastle and rightly or wrongly maybe somewhere in the middle you know how it was perceived to have an impact on our title challenge last season and our ability to challenge properly for the Premier League title I think there are other factors at play.

4:04How are you feeling about this? Where do you stand on the EFL Cup and the sort of, I think it's sort of down everybody's list of priorities, but people are, or some people are saying, right, I'm absolutely willing to just fucking sack this off. Other people have a more nuanced view on this. Arsenal are a team that hasn't won a trophy since 2020, but we all want to win the Premier League. it's a nuanced one, I think, is the right way of putting it. Yeah, I don't think I'm in the sack it off camp at all. I still remember, I think it was 2008, when Arsenal were very much with Manchester United in the title race, and they got Manchester United in the FA Cup, and Wenger played a massively rotated team, and Arsenal lost that game 4-0, and the title race never really recovered from that, and there was obviously different factors that played into it, but I think the momentum of losing to your big rivals in a title race is big, and can't be understated.

5:00So I don't think you should sack it off. And I think a lot of the excitement about having built such a big squad this summer and us seeing two quality players for every single position is that you can compete on multiple fronts. And now obviously there's lots of injuries going into this time of the year and it hasn't quite worked out as we'd like in terms of the two players per position because we've been lucky to have one in a lot of them in most positions. But I think you have to take these competitions seriously. And Mikel Arteta was in a Manchester City team with Pep Guardiola, who won the Carabao Cup a lot.

5:30And Pep Guardiola's first trophy at Manchester City was that Carabao Cup, which he won, I think it was Wenger's last season and beat Arsenal 3-0 in the Cup final. And from then, they went on to win and you get this sort of hoodoo off your backs and you feel a little bit more liberated. And listen, if Arsenal only win the Carabao Cup this season, I don't think anyone's going to say that's a successful season. You can define that as a job done. But if Arsenal don't win any of the Cup competitions or even make it far in any of the cup competitions, I have to say I'd be a bit disappointed because kind of the point of this massive squad that Arsenal spent so much money on in the summer was that they could go deep in these competitions.

6:07And I think Chelsea specifically, when I looked at the four teams, obviously getting part of Palace is the first thing. But when I looked at those teams that Arsenal could have drawn, Chelsea was kind of the one that I wanted, if you can want any of those teams because they're not particularly easy. But Chelsea are a team who Arsenal have a good record against. You don't have to leave London. I couldn't be bothered for all the narrative of Arsenal-Man City. It's the title race playing out in the Carabao Cup and all that stuff. I couldn't be bothered for that. Newcastle seem to have this weird hoodoo in this competition and uphold over us.

6:39Like you mentioned, PTSD from last season and lots of players going down injured and lots of just general frustration from that game. I'm happy with Chelsea if it is to be Chelsea in the semifinal and they get past Palace, which is no easy game. But I think Arsenal have to take the Carabao Cup seriously because they've got such a deep squad. They spent a lot of money getting that deep squad. And yeah, I'd be disappointed if they sack it off, to be honest. And I don't think they will. No, of course. I mean, there's no question in my mind that Mikel Arteta will take this seriously. Of course he will.

7:10You know, that's the sort of, what's the word I'm looking for? The attitude that he wants, you know, this club to have is every game is worth winning. Every competition is worth winning. And for me, it's like, I get it. I get the priorities. I get the concern about injuries. I think, you know, this would be an easier tournament, easier competition to sort of get on board with. If you're not on board with it, it would be easier to get on board with if it wasn't a two-legged semifinal. If it was just a one-leg semifinal, which I think is what it should be, and hopefully that's the way it progresses in the years to come.

7:43There's no need to have two legs home and away, given the way the schedule is and the demands on players. I think if it was just a one-off semifinal, people would be like, yeah, let's do it. Let's go for it. it's the fact that it's the two games, London derbies. I mean, I think I'm with you in the sense that I prefer Chelsea to Newcastle or Man City. I was out with James last night. We were going, yeah, well, you know, two semifinals against Fulham and then a final against Brentford. That'd be nice. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way. But I think, you know, if you are a club that has not won a trophy since 2020, as I said, I get the priorities.

8:19I get the worry about injuries. I get all of it. But I don't think you can be arrogant enough to turn around and say, this does not matter because it does matter to the players and it matters to the manager. And if there's a final at Wembley and we get there, you're telling me it doesn't matter, that it won't hurt if you lose? Of course it will. And I think the idea as well that winning the title or competing for the Premier League and going the distance in this competition are incompatible, as you said, has been demonstrated not to be true by Man City. Of course, I think we have to say that they've got their, you know, special blend of 115 vitamins and financial supplements, which have been an aid to them in that period.

9:02But it can be done. And it just strikes me that this will be something that Arteta, you know, when you get to this late stage of a competition, will take absolutely seriously. Yeah, yeah. And I think also just to add to that, you mentioned about the there's no way it couldn't hurt. And I think I've been working on a video for Tifo as part of my day job, and it's why the Invincibles didn't win again. So if any Arsenal fans fancy watching that and... Some nice cheery stuff ahead of Christmas. Exactly. A nice early Christmas gift. If you fancy watching that, then please do. It will help me out a lot.

9:36But basically, I stumbled across this quote from Wenger, and I think he basically was saying that the Birmingham Carabao Cup final, or it was the Carling Cup back then, that Arsenal lost and, you know, is all horribly etched into all our memories, had a massive impact going into the rest of the season. And they never quite recovered from being so shell-shocked by losing that game. And it was a really, really tough moment for Arsenal. And listen, the four teams in this tournament mean that that won't happen again because Arsenal have got four teams who, in their own rights, could probably win this competition.

10:06And I'd include Palace in that, actually, given they won the FA Cup last season. But I think these things do have a massive, massive impact. And yeah, I don't think you can just ignore them. They're big for the rest of the season. That look of horror on my face was me just looking up what happened after that Carling Cup game. Yeah. The Carling Cup, the final was on the 27th of February. Arsenal won three games in the rest of that season in all competitions. Wow. I mean, look, I think the manner of it was horrible. the build-up to it was horrible, wasn't it? Because we lost Fabregas. I think we played Stoke the day, the midweek before that final and Fabregas went off with a hamstring injury.

10:56Always Stoke, man. Always Stoke. Always Stoke. I mean, that was, I think Squilacci, Sebastian Squilacci scored the only goal in that win over Stoke. So, you know, there's a portent of something for you. Fabregas got injured and couldn't play in the final. Van Persie, did he start the final and then had to come off with injury as well? Oh, boy. Yeah, well, there you go. I mean, I think this Arsenal team is probably made of sterner stuff than that. But the converse could also be true, couldn't it? That if you come through a semifinal against Chelsea, and if you win a final against Newcastle or Manchester City, that it's quite possible that that sort of gives you fuel for the rest of the season rather than sort of invigorates you.

11:39Listen, I know it's, in inverted commas, only the EFL Cup, and that's an only that can really only be applicable when you're a fan of a big club. And I think you have to recognize that it's sort of verging on arrogant to look down your nose at any kind of trophy, right? Because all the other clubs below the top six, if you want to call it that, would absolutely be delighted with winning a trophy. So we have to recognize that as well. I've lost my train of thought here completely but the idea that winning something might just take the pressure off this group and allow them to maybe play with a freedom that can actually help you in a title race yeah and I think it also gives you the self-belief of right we can do anything and you just yeah I think that trophy thing is such a big thing and I think in the way the players are sort of reacting to these big moments that have happened recently you know they're accused of overreacting to the villa loss I personally thought that was ridiculous because if they didn't slunk to their knees then everyone would be having to go at them but then they're obviously the deck and rice stuff after the walls game where they were accused of maybe celebrating a bit too vigorously for a team that scraped a win in the last minute via two own goals against possibly the worst premier league team in history and the way they're sort of reacting to these things suggests that they're feeling the pressure of a team that knows they probably should win the league this season I hate using that word should because it's a really hard thing to do but they're definitely favorites in my eyes and um i think they're starting to it's just signs that they're feeling the pressure of it a bit but once you get that win you get the trophy you get all that conversation away from you i think it does probably give you a little bit more confidence a little bit more calmness going into that latter stage of the season so yeah i think i think it's big i think people massively underestimate the the value of cut competitions and it also keeps the rest of the squad fit and firing for when they inevitably need to come in because every player in the arsenal squad will get injured at At some point in the season, it's just away.

13:37That's it. My sort of twisted logic this morning was thinking about it was like, well, we seem to lose a player every game through injury. So the more games we have, the more likely we are. I mean, I know that's not true. And it just sort of feels like it, though, this season, doesn't it? I mean, you mentioned Wolves, and I would slightly push back at them being the worst team in Premier League history. Potentially they could do it, but I don't actually think in terms of, you know, teams I've seen down the years, they are the absolute worst. But they're on course for a really, really unfortunate points total this season.

14:09So I recognize that. Now that a few days have passed, how are you feeling about how that game went? I'm sort of inclined, while recognizing that elements of that performance obviously were very worrying, and I was concerned that it is, to some extent, a little bit of an outlier. I'm not saying we've played brilliantly, but that kind of paucity of performance isn't something we've seen a great deal. And, you know, I've said it before, you go back a couple of weeks and we're spanking Spurs and beating Bayern Munich and everybody's really happy. So football, you know, can twist and turn over the course of a season in pretty quick ways.

14:48Are you sort of more inclined to look at this as a moment where Arsenal can kind of take stock internally, whatever about externally, but internally, the manager, the players can be quite open and frank with each other about how poor that was and how things need to be better and you need to improve with the safety net of taking three points? that, you know, how many times have we seen it, Kaya, where you say, actually, that was terrible. That needs to be a line in the sand. Some home truths need to be spoken here. And we're sort of saying we've got to react and bounce back to winning ways, having lost a game or drawn a game.

15:33This time, at least, it comes with the benefit of three points. Is that too much of a glass half full outlook or is that really where we should be with this? No, I don't think so. I think it's the best way to realise that you have issues is by winning games along the way. And I think I was really happy with the post-match reaction and that Declan Rice was furious and that Mikel Arteta was furious. And there was no PR job. There was no attempt to sort of polish the turd that was that performance. It was honest and upfront. And I think that's what Arsenal need. And Mikel Arteta has really, really high standards.

16:07We know that. And Arsenal didn't get anywhere near that against Wolves. I wonder if there was an element of rocking up and thinking, well, this is Wolves, maybe not the worst team in Premier League history, but the worst team this season, and thinking, you know, we'll beat them. This is pretty easy. But also, I think the end of that game, Rice looked shattered. Hincapié could barely stand up. Obviously, Ben White went off injured. And I know we spoke about the depth of the squad, but it was the first time this season where I've thought, wow, this team looks like they really need a break. They look knackered.

16:38And I think the week off this week and the chance to work on the training ground and to go back to basics and fix some of the issues, genuinely fix some of the issues that have played Arsenal in that game and maybe a couple in the build. I think Arsenal have conceded some soft goals recently across a few games, not just the Wolves game. I think the Villa game, they conceded, you know, the first goal was pretty soft and the second goal was quite avoidable. And there's been a few games where they've just sort of let in sloppy goals. And it's annoyed me, especially given how good Arsenal were defensively before that.

17:06So I think, yeah, it's a chance for Arteta to get them on the training ground and say, that wasn't good enough. And hopefully just move on and put it behind them as quickly as possible. I want to forget about that game as quickly as possible. And the only reason, the only way we do that is by, you know, beating Everton. And then, you know, I don't think anyone ever talks about it again, to be honest, after that. If Arsenal win against Everton convincingly, I don't think people start talking about this again. I think people forget it and hopefully that will be the case. Hopefully so. I mean, you talked about letting soft goals in.

17:35I think what was interesting about the post-game analysis, and it was quite notable that Arteta singled out some horrible defensive habits, which I think is fair, absolutely unquestionable to me. Where I think I have more of an issue or where I would like to see a bit more focus is like, listen, I'm not saying we should turn up and spank Wolves 6-0 or 7-0 or even 10-0 as some people were speculating. There's no divine right to do that. You've got to work hard in every Premier League game. But I think what you do, if you have a period of defensive instability, which I think we've got because of the absences, because of Gabriel not being there, I think there is ultimately a knock-on effect to that, which is inevitable.

18:21When you lose one of the best central defenders in the world, you're going to be less secure defensively. But where I think you can put yourself in a better position is by what you do up front and how productive you are in the final third. And I think there is where maybe when Arteta is thinking about that Wolves game, he's going to say, well, I didn't get much from Gabriel Martinelli. I didn't get a great deal in the first half from Victor Jokeres, but I got more from him in the second half because I got more from Trossard in the second half than I got from Martinelli. And there was a little bit of that.

18:53I didn't get a great deal from Eberre Chiesa in this game. You know, how do I improve the output of my forward line? because if you've scored two or three goals, if that late pressure from Wolves results in, you know, the goal that they scored, it doesn't really matter. You know, you've given yourself a cushion. You've given yourself the benefit. And obviously, I think if you're 2-3-0 up in that game, maybe Wolves are just sort of playing to see it out to the inevitable conclusion that they might come to. So is that something that you think will be the focus? Obviously, you want to be as defensively secure as you can possibly be.

19:29But I think maybe there's a sense that this Arsenal team, despite some good performances this season, some really good results, you know, beating Atletico Madrid 4-0, beating Bayern Munich, putting four pass spurs, you know, some big wins, some good performances, hasn't really found its attacking rhythm on a consistent basis. Yeah, I think, and I can't remember who said this. This isn't an original tape from me. Someone said it, I read it somewhere, but someone said Arsenal have to work the hardest for comfortable victories. And I think that's their biggest problem a lot of the time. They may get a first goal and then often it will take a while to get a second.

20:09Or, you know, earlier on in the season, I think Arsenal were doing pretty good and there was a run where they were, you know, scoring quickly a second, third, et cetera. And that was helpful and it made it a lot more relaxed. and you could sort of enjoy the games and that was fun. That hasn't happened for a little while in the Premier League, at least. Even the Brentford game where Arsenal won it 2-0 and were quite comfortable throughout the whole game. It was quite late on the second goal. And I think, yeah, it's all linked, isn't it? Defensive instability is probably to do with, you know, so against Villa, for example, Arsenal pressed high.

20:44They couldn't do that as effectively because Villa could go long because there was no Gabriel or Saliba and Timber and Hincapi aren't the tallest guys in the world. So Villa had an out ball, which meant that Arsenal couldn't attack as effectively. So I know Arteta views it all holistically and I know he doesn't view them as individual things. But I think, yeah, you could probably do with a little bit more from the attackers. I mean, the goal numbers are pretty good for Arsenal at the minute. And maybe we'll come on to that a bit more detail later. But I think, yeah, it's a tricky one in the sense that I think the attackers all individually probably need to be doing more.

21:18but you're coming up against low blocks every single week and that's really hard. I think every team struggles against that and Arsenal are no different. So yeah, I'm reticent to criticise the attack too much but I also think they could be doing a bit more. It's a weird halfway house I'm sort of finding myself in on this. It is. I mean, we're taking some questions from our Discord members today because it's a kind of quiet week. So there was a question on goal scoring and Joss W Bennett asked, are you concerned about Arsenal's goal scoring in general this season? Only once in the past 10 seasons has the highest scoring team not won the league, which is when Liverpool won it in the COVID-19 season.

21:58City already have eight more than us and none of our players have more than four league goals. 15 teams can better this. Or do you think it will be sufficient for us to resolve the current defensive injury crisis and grind out 1-0 and 2-0 wins like we did in the first quarter of the season? It does feel like the piece is missing or there's something slightly missing from the attack in that sense. There's an argument, isn't there? Okay, maybe we've only got players, the most we've got is like on four goals, but we've got four or five players on four goals, I think, or thereabouts, where City have got Haaland on X billion and then whoever else has scored one or two, Foden maybe.

22:45He's got a few in the last couple of weeks. So the argument is about whether or not it's better to share goals around so you're not as reliant, or does having somebody who's basically always available, because that's one of the key things about Erling Haaland is he's basically indestructible physically. And if that is the case, then he's always going to score a load of goals, and that gives you that advantage. He's a guy who can crack a tight game open, as we saw against Palace at the weekend, rather. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I was going to point out that Haaland, he did miss six games last season due to an ankle injury.

23:22I hate to sort of tempt fate on that one or hope for it, but that would be great if that would happen again. And yeah, he's got, so City and all-comps have scored 54. He's scored 23 of them. And Foden has got 10. So two of their players are responsible for more than half their goals. Arsenal haven't got that and I don't think ever will or were likely to have that. So I guess it depends on that goal scoring thing and of how you want your goals to be scored. I think I look at City in the way they won titles under the early part of Pep Guardiola and they had teams who didn't score more than 15 goals and they won the league quite comfortably.

24:01I think in the season they got 100 points. I don't think anyone in the league scored more than 15 goals for them. I could be wrong on that. Right. So I think it's not necessarily an issue in itself, the individual goals. And I think, listen, you mentioned that defence and Arsenal are very strong defensively. So I think it doesn't worry me about the fact that the teams who in the past have won, have scored the most goals. I think Arsenal score quite a lot of goals. They're actually outscoring their XG, which surprised me by about three goals. So I think it's interesting. And if you look across the whole season, in the Champions League, Arsenal have scored.

24:39I think they're the second top scorers in the Champions League. And they've actually scored comfortably more than City in the Champions League. And, you know, they've had tough games. And obviously City have had tough games. But Arsenal have been really good in the Champions League. So I think it concerns me a bit. But I kind of, in a way that the Wolves game concerned me most because it kind of surprised me. it didn't feel like it came out of nowhere, but a lot of the issues were disappointing and a bit surprising. Whereas this was an issue I kind of expected Arsenal to deal with throughout the season.

25:10You look at the fact that Martin Odegaard has been injured for a long time, Bakayo Saka has been injured for a long time, Victor Jokeres has been injured for a long time. Individually, those players have all been injured. You mentioned Haaland has not missed a game this season. So that will distort those stats. I think a fully fit squad, and listen, it's the conversation, I feel like over the past couple of years I've come on this point, And every time I say, if Arsenal can get a fully fit squad, then, you know, things will be lovely. It's not the world we live in, unfortunately. But a closer to fully fit squad, I think, will solve a lot of these issues.

25:40And in all competitions, City have got 54 goals, Arsenal have got 49. So the difference isn't that big. I think maybe sometimes people overblow it because Jokeres is misfiring and Haaland is obviously ridiculously good. So it doesn't concern me too much now. And listen, you can win games 1-0 comfortably. and there was a period where Arsenal were doing that. I take issue with the question saying grinding out 1-0 results because I don't think they were ground out. I thought they were dominant 1-0 victories. I know that sounds maybe counterintuitive in its own way, but I thought Arsenal were really good in those games where they were winning to nil.

26:15I'd love to get back to that. But I think the attack doesn't worry me too much at the minute, especially given that we're scoring decent numbers of goals. But I can see why it's a concern, the fear that it will catch up with us in the rest of the season. Sure, yeah. I mean, just in terms of Champions League, PSG and Dortmund have scored 19. Bayern have scored 18. Arsenal have scored 17. But then Arsenal have let in one. PSG have let in eight. Bayern seven. Dortmund have conceded 13 goals. So in terms of goal difference, it's going pretty well. I think, you know, where I was with Wolves was sort of just an idea that maybe he might need to try and do something a little bit different, you know, to shake things up.

27:05I'm not quite sure what that is, what it might be, what we see against Everton, who knows what we might see against Brighton. I know there's the Palace EFL Cup game in the middle of that, but I think that's sort of out on a bit of an island, you know, in terms of the team selection that we might see for that game. but you know there are players did you find it odd that Nani Madweke didn't get on the pitch against Wolves having come off good performance against Club Bruges scoring two goals, one was an absolute banger of a goal, obviously the second one not quite as difficult to finish from close range you know I know that we had to make a sub because of injury in the first half which robs you of an attacking opportunity, but were you a little bit surprised Madweke didn't get on?

27:53Or was it just sort of, well, you know, we've got Saka on the pitch, we need him on the pitch, and we needed him on the pitch as it turned out. Jesus on for Jokeres, so it's more a centre-forward for centre-forward swap, and you brought on Trossard at halftime. So there isn't really anywhere for Madweke to go. Yeah, I was. So in the game, because you don't think rationally in the game at all, I was surprised. I was saying to my dad, I was sat next to him, I was like, why is he not putting Madueke on? Madueke was amazing in midweek. I even thought Madueke could start on the left instead of Gabriel Martinelli in this game.

28:27But Madueke is a player who probably thrives with a teeny bit more space and there was none at all behind that Wolves back line. So it made sense to me. And Trossard was fantastic when he came on. And as you mentioned, Saka was obviously the game winner for us. So maybe it would have been an idea to have Madueke, if he could have scored another one of those Bruges first goals, it would have been amazing. But I don't know who he would have come on for. So I wouldn't have taken off Saka. Trossard obviously came on for Martinelli. And as you mentioned, Jesus Villocores. So, yeah. But I think that's the almost embarrassment of riches that Arteta has at his disposal that we're even discussing that.

29:02I mean, that's pretty amazing. But yeah, I think Nani Madueke was unlucky not to get on, but I could understand it, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see what part he has to play. Because I feel, you know, listen, Saka, I know he got assists for FPL purposes, but, you know, let's live in the real world, not the fantasy world. I don't live in the fantasy world, man. That's my existence. But, you know, are you – I feel personally, and, you know, maybe people will disagree, I feel like I'm seeing a slight rhythm now to Saka's game, sort of an ability to influence games, even in the way that he did on Saturday, which is slightly atypical.

29:47You know, the two own goals he was directly involved in, one from a brilliant corner delivery, one a great cross from the right-hand side. You know, is he ever going to be like 25 goal, 20 assist player? It did look like it for a while. And I think the injury, the big injury has had a little impact on him. But I feel like in the last few weeks, I'm beginning to see Bakayo Saka find that kind of rhythm that we associate with him. Yeah. Yeah, I think Saka in these past couple of years has kind of stepped up. And I think it's probably since he started wearing the armband a bit more. When Erlegaard's been out, he's kind of stepped up and taken the leadership of this team.

30:28It kind of always was his team, but he's really... When he first burst onto the scene, we all knew he was a fantastic player, but he was almost such a nice guy. It kind of felt like he was a bit backwards about coming forward and taking the initiative. Maybe that's harsh. now it kind of feels like when he's stepping onto the pitch kind of feels like i'm him that feels like his mentality and i'm the guy who's gonna i'm not gonna let someone else i'm not gonna help you know i'm not gonna wait for someone else to do it i'm gonna be the guy and there's such a consistency of output down that right hand side where when he gets it you know if he cuts in his left he can put in a great cross as he did for the goal he can get in good shots but he can also go into his right and and cause real problems that way he's such a fantastic winger because he can go both ways and that consistency of output yeah I'm really starting to enjoy it from Bakayo Saka at the minute I thought he was good and the only one who's probably good against Wolves I thought he had a good game against Villa as well and against Brentford I thought he was pretty decent so I think there are yeah signs that he's like you say starting to develop his rhythm he's not had rhythm pretty much all of 2025 because he missed most of the start of the year didn't really get fully firing towards the end of the season obviously disrupted at the start of this season and yeah I think he's he's he's the guy at Arsenal and we forget that sometimes because we've got such an embarrassment of riches and so many good players but he is the guy in in that in that attacking lineup and you know City have Haaland when you know the proverbial hits the fan Arsenal have Saka and he's stepping into that and filling those shoes and yeah I kind of kind of love it for him.

31:57Sure I did want to ask about Odegaard and Eze whether they're an either or partnership or duo well duo or partnership suggests that they you know they play together which we haven't really seen a great deal and there was an earlier part of the season earlier on when Mikel Arteta looked like he wanted to see how that looked it was a West Ham game at home and obviously Odegaard got injured we haven't really seen it since I did wonder about the Wolves game about whether that was a chance to to see those two together with Eza in his more natural position I guess as a sort of left eight, whether it's Zubimendi in the six or Rice in the six.

32:35But Zubimendi's been so good and Rice is so important and instrumental. It sort of just leaves room for one, doesn't it? Unless, you know, Arteta kind of tears up his own playbook a little bit. Is that something you would be keen to see? Do you think there are certain games without taking anything for granted where that really should be a kind of default where you're looking for the most creativity, the most craft, the most movement, the most goal threat, where those two, if you are facing a low block, feel like a combination that could go some way to unlocking those defenses. For me, anyway, that's kind of how I feel about it.

33:17Yeah, and I was disappointed in retrospect that Odegaard and Eze didn't start together. Maybe Arsenal were managing Odegaard's load a bit because he'd obviously started a couple of games beforehand and he's just coming back from a long-term absence of his own. But I would like to see, and I think the reason they can play together is they're very different players. I know ostensibly they're both number 10s and they play in the same position, but they're very different. And I hate to use another sort of City allegory, but I go back to the season where City won the treble. Odegaard feels a bit more De Bruyne, whereas Eze feels a bit more Foden, I think, in the sense that Eze is the guy who will finish off chances and, as you saw against Spurs, can essentially play as a support striker, if you like, an old-school 4-4-2 support striker up alongside the big number nine, whereas Odegaard dictates play a little bit from deeper, will build the play up, will unpick defences, particularly low blocks against...

34:11I think Newcastle was probably the best example of that this season where he came on and was brilliant and did it from a much deeper role than we're used to seeing him. So I think there is a world in which they can play together. I guess, like you mentioned, the thing that stops them is the fact that Martin Zubemendi is, in my opinion, the best number six in the world. And Declan Wright is probably up there with the best midfielders in the world. So how do you find that balance? I think Arteta said it well when he said about, he was asked about the four strikers that he's got now. And he was concerned when he brought in Jokras, because how will I play Jesus and have it to Marino?

34:43And it's not worked out that way because of injuries. So I think you kind of deal with each game on a game-to-game basis. So, for example, Everton away this Saturday, I wouldn't play Eze and Odegaard. I don't think that's a game for them. I think it's a game where you need a Declan Rice and a Zubamendi because Everton are going to be physical. Goodison, or not Goodison, sorry, the Hill Dickinson is a tough place to go. And Everton will try and outrun you in that midfield and you need the legs. But there are, like you say, definitely games where Eze and Odegaard could play together. And I'd love to see it because I think, like we've mentioned, They offer completely different skill sets and completely different ways of breaking down opposition defences.

35:17And that can only be a good thing because last season, we remember, Arsenal were very, very predictable and it made them very easy to play against. Having players like Eze and Odegaard in the team make you the opposite of that, which is always a good thing. Yeah. OK, well, look, that's hopefully something that we do see over the course of the season. A big issue, of course, is injuries. Chris Boston asks, top of the injury league, Arsenal injuries, Mikel Arteta's Gunners have suffered 100 different setbacks since the start of the 24-25 season. This comes from Sky Sports, apparently. He says, do the medical team have questions to answer?

35:53Like a setback is, you know, a difficult thing to be clear on. You know, obviously we've got a lot of injuries and nobody can really deny that. But, you know, when you're putting up a chart like this is like somebody being delayed coming back a week. Is that a setback? Is that a relapse? Whatever it is. So I think, you know, you can add up those totals in maybe different ways. But, you know, this is something that Arteta was asked about a few weeks ago at his press conference. He was there were a lot of questions about injuries. There were a lot of questions during the summer as well about injuries.

36:27And he talked about how, you know, they had undertaken, you know, some kind of investigation where they're looking at everything. They're looking at every kind of influence over a player's injury. I mean, he went so far as to talk about, you know, we look at, you know, what's happening in a guy's personal life. Like, is he having stress at home or whatever it is? Does that play a part? So I don't think there's any way that they haven't tried to uncover every possible reason as to why Arsenal are picking up injuries. But it's sort of inescapable that Arsenal appear to be or seem to be a quite injury prone team.

37:06And everyone's looking for the answer, like the one thing that might solve this problem. I don't think there is one thing. There's no magic bullet here, I don't think. But it's clearly an issue, isn't it? Where if it continues, it becomes increasingly difficult to achieve what you want to achieve over the course of a season. So I don't know what my question is here. Fix it. yeah easy easy uh the the so that number the 100 injuries is is is a lot but what i've read the article and i found interesting is like deckman rice is the second highest and he's only missed 33 days so i don't think he had nine nine different injuries so like you mentioned before the the setback nature of it is is difficult to to quantify i think uh yeah it's really interesting So Arteta, you mentioned, spoke about it holistically.

38:00And he's big on, at the end of each season, he's big on reviewing the entire thing. So I know before the start of last season, and I wrote about this in my old gig at Football London, that he basically conducted a review and he internally called it upgrading the system. And he's big into big companies like IBM and he's big into sort of that kind of thing. And he likes looking at how companies basically make themselves better and don't rest on their laurels and keep innovating and, I guess, being like leaders in their field, if you like. And he's very into that. And to be honest, you know, his personality and all that kind of stuff, all the jokes about the LinkedIn kind of thing.

38:35It makes sense. You can see how that shoe fits, right? Yeah. And the fact that he was able to go into such detail and that answer that you referenced there, and it was interesting. That answer that he referenced was it was Gabriel's hamstring injury. And the way Gabriel pulled it was chasing back against Adama Torre, who is the fastest player in the Premier League. Gabriel was going full pelt. I would probably pull my hamstring going up against him. I'm not a professional athlete, but I think most of us would. The difficulty is, and I look through these injuries, and a few of them are unlucky, right?

39:07So ACLs, I know in the women's game, they're doing a lot of research into what causes them. Listen, I'm not a doctor, so I don't know about these kind of things, but they strike me as the kind of thing where you're unlucky to get an ACL. There's not an awful lot you can do differently. And listen, this is completely no medical expertise whatsoever. So please, if you know, please call me out on this. If you're listening and you have medical expertise, please let me know. But the ones that strike out to us as obvious as potential things that can be fixed are the muscle injuries, right? And hamstrings.

39:41And last season, Arsenal had a lot of hamstring injuries and a lot of long-term ones. obviously Saka, Gabriel, Havertz, there were others that are not springing to mind right now. And those are the ones where you look at and you think, wow, what could be done differently? Tactically, can anything be done differently? So the defence, are they making a lot of recovery sprints towards their own goal, like we saw Ben White do against Wolves, which essentially led to him pinging his hamstring? Are Arsenal playing too many games in a row? Could they manage the load differently? Could training be a bit softer?

40:11I don't know, given that there's not many training sessions full stop at the minute, because there's so many games. That's what he says, isn't it? We're not training, basically. They're, you know, doing bits and bobs between games, but they're not like having really, really intense pre-season style training sessions where they're running up and down the terraces carrying a fucking bag of flour on their back, you know? Yeah, and maybe that's the solution. Maybe they need to do that more often. Maybe they should pour flour all over the injuries. But yeah, I don't know. And I look through these injuries and like, so for example, look at Martin Odegaard.

40:41He's missed so much time due to injury. can you legislate for a guy in a game for Norway going in and essentially trying to you know take his ankle off his off his foot not really can you legislate for him knocking knees against I can't remember who it was I think it was Mateus Fernandes against West Ham not really there's things you can control there's things you can't control and a lot of it is the most frustrating thing for us and probably the most frustrating thing for Mikkel Arteta is a guy who likes to literally control every minuscule of thing that he can control is that some of it is just bad luck and some of it is things you can't control.

41:13And I go into, again, I've got the stats in front of me that Skype out and they are really interesting. But like Kieran Tierney's included in this list, for example, he got his hamstring injury on Scotland duty. I know Bukayo Saka's got quite a few injuries on England duty. Gabriel Jesus' original knee injury was on Brazil duty. As we mentioned, Martin Odegaard, he got a couple of injuries on Norway duty. Gabriel's injury this season is playing for Brazil. Yes, very good point. And sometimes you just get unlucky and sometimes Arsenal as a club can't necessarily be held responsible for that. But yeah, I guess they're on it and I guess they're looking into it.

41:46And sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. And I guess the only thing you can do to legislate against it is by more top quality players who can come in and maintain the level and try and share the minutes around. And that's what Arsenal are doing. So I feel for them in a way because they're kind of doing the right things in terms of having players who you can rotate with and deal with those injuries. And at the minute, we've not really had too many chances to see it. maybe offensively right now, Arsenal have a lot of options and we'll hopefully not see as many offensive injuries throughout the rest of the season because they can afford to slowly kind of manage the minutes.

42:21And once the defenders are all back, then probably all the midfielders will get injured and they'll have to play in midfield. But hopefully when everyone's getting closer towards fitness, you've got a squad where you can manage minutes a bit more. And I think that is kind of the only antidote. And I say this, obviously, again, with no medical expertise whatsoever, but reading through the numbers and reading through the specifics, that does kind of feel like all you can do. And I know Arsenal are looking into it holistically. I know they're looking into it deeply. It's just, yeah, some of it is very frustrating to deal with.

42:52Sure. I mean, I think the one with Ben White at the weekend was like, did Ben White have to start? He'd done basically 390 minutes in a week, having been out for a long time. You have Myles Lewis-Skelly on the bench. And Capier has not been overplayed or, you know, coming back from a big injury. I know he was out for a little while. when he first arrived. Yeah, it's a tough one. And then it just sort of happens because of a random moment in a game where, A, typically, Arsenal get caught in a situation they never get caught from. Like when I was watching that when Hwang went through and it was, I was trying to remember the last time I'd seen an opposition player have all the pitch to run into from inside their own half.

43:37Whatever about getting caught on the halfway line, the old Mustafi special. He'd step up on the halfway line to try and play offside when the guy was in his own half. God Christ. You just don't really see that from Arsenal anymore. And then, of course, the defensive commitment that you want to see is there because it's like five or six players absolutely busting a gut to get back. And Ben White, unfortunately, is a little bit of a casualty in that sense. But yeah, I don't know. I wish I had the answer. I wish I had the smoking gun. And if I did, I'd be more than willing to let Arsenal know for, you know, a reasonable price, I think.

44:11Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Okay, let's do another question here.

44:20Okay, this one comes from Gala7, who says, from 1 to 10, how likely do you think it is that we're going to sign anyone in January? For me, it's like a 2. For me, it's a 1. I think highly unlikely. I think Arsenal don't like doing business in January at the best of times, and we saw that last season. probably you know should have signed a striker but didn't and uh yeah i don't see where the player comes in that they need to sign not without someone leaving i don't think there's a hole in the squad right now i know there's injuries but i don't think there's a hole in the squad and yeah i can't see it happening myself no no meaning there unless there's like a massive crisis touching wood here you know uh in the defense i just can't see uh any business being done so we'll see Apostle Ted of Church Madueke says we're nearing the halfway point of the season so it's time to hand out some awards arbitrary made-up awards the the best that football can offer right favorite kinds it's not like FIFA would get out any of them no Christ anyway player of the season so far for you so it would it would have been Gabriel but I think his injury kind of robs him of that.

45:31And I think genuinely, I said this in the TIFO podcast and got laughed at, but I think Gabriel was on course for player of the season full stop before his injury. Not just Arsenal player of the season, like the Premier League. I think he was excellent. I think he was the leader of the best defence in the league that at the time looked like it was going to carry the best team in the league to winning the league. And I think he's fantastic. I'd love to have him back as soon as possible. But with him sort of, unfortunately, I've gone for Martin Zubimendi as my player of the season so far. I think there's he's come into a new league new country new language all of it you wouldn't know because he's such an intelligent player he's able to control games in a way that I don't think Arsenal have had in that base in midfield I know they've had players in the past who've been good at that but I think Zubemendi's a level up and he's kind of in a way he's made me feel calm because he's been exactly what I expected him to be and I love that so much and I think there's levels to his game that can even improve, which is really exciting.

46:30I think we've seen elements of him adding offensively to his game and maybe even adding a few goals. So I think he's a brilliant player. I think he's, you know, Arsenal, we're in a real golden age right now with Arsenal where they've got some of the best players in the world in their position. And I think Martin Zubimendi is the best number six in the world. I know Roger Rodri's out injured and people have other players, but I think he's brilliant. And I think he's the single point of failure in this Arsenal squad in a way that, like, if Erling Haaland got injured for City, they'd struggle. I think if Martin Zubimendi gets in for Arsenal, I know Christian Norgard can come in and do a serviceable job and I know Declan Rice can drop deeper and play that role, but I think Zubimendi's brilliant.

47:07I think he's the best out there and I really hope nothing happens to him because I think he is the most important player in the Arsenal squad. Very interesting. I think he's been fantastic as well. I would have had him pretty close to my answer for this one as well. I think the intelligence, the football intelligence on show from him every week is just so, so impressive, you know, And, yeah, I can't really argue with anything you've said there. I'll sort of go for Declan Rice as mine because I think there's been a sort of, how do I put it? You know, he's just got a kind of drive that I think if we get things over the line in May, we will probably point to the intangible of the Declan Rice presence as a really, really important factor in that.

47:55But on top of that, you know, he creates, I know some of it is from set pieces and what have you, but there's a lot to be said for being able to deliver a consistent set piece. Why were Manchester United as good as they were in that particular era? It was because they had in David Beckham, somebody who could deliver really, really good, consistent set pieces. And it's not easy. You know, those players stand out. You know, the guys who can do that, they absolutely stand out because they're kind of rare. You know, I'm not saying James Ward-Prowse is anywhere near a Declan Rice or a David Beckham, but he's got that ability, which is why people talk about him or why he sort of, you know, is there in that conversation when you're talking about set-piece takers, whether it's free kicks, you know, corner kicks, set-pieces that you can put into the box.

48:48He's very, very good at it. But Rice has been brilliant, and I think I was so encouraged on a difficult day against Wolves that his attitude to what was going on around him was the way it was. This was not acceptable to him, and it wasn't just at the end. It wasn't performative when we'd scored a goal. It was quite a running thing through that second half where he was absolutely fuming at what was going on around him. So I think that might be just sort of part of how we do it. Best team performance? Yeah. So as a half, I think Sunderland away in the second half was the best we played this season.

49:34I thought we were absolutely fantastic. And I know people will probably take issue with that, especially given the fact that they conceded in the last minute. But I think that was some of the best football Arsenal played. I thought offensively it was some of the best football they played. they broke down a really resolute low block that have caused problems for a lot of teams this season and they did it effectively and I thought they were brilliant but as a whole it's hard to look beyond Bayern at home because I think Arsenal came up against the second best team in Europe at the time and deservedly beat them despite what Joshua Kimmich had to say after the game I thought Arsenal were brilliant in that game I thought Arsenal went for it in that game they didn't hold back they weren't backwards about coming forwards and I guess maybe that's the sort of the nature of these Champions League games.

50:15They're kind of one-off matches at the minute. So you can kind of go for it in a way without fear of long-term consequences. And I thought Arsenal were brilliant. And I thought it was such a high quality game, that game. It was one of the best football matches I've watched in a long time. And Bayern are a fantastic team. And I think they're a real threat to Arsenal in the Champions League this season. But Arsenal sent out a warning signal to the rest of Europe with that performance. It was the kind of performance that sort of says, we're the real deal. And yeah, I thought Arsenal were brilliant.

50:42and I think that's the best they've played all season, if not under Mikhail Arteta for a stop. Yeah. I mean, I'm sort of doing myself down by letting you go first here because that was obviously... You go first on the next one. Yeah. No, I think the North London derby felt more like an individual performance, but I also think it was a very well-worked team performance with a piece of individual brilliance on top. And I also think Atletico Madrid at home, you know, winning 4-0 against a team as difficult to play against as Atletico Madrid. the next the next one is worst team performance and that's pretty obvious we spoke about it in this one so wolves at home i think um i don't want to steal something away from you here but i also think maybe chelsea away in the second half yeah playing against 10 men it wasn't quite what we what we aspire to it's fair to say chelsea was the most angry i felt after watching an arsenal game this season, particularly because Arsenal conceded a soft set piece goal.

51:40It felt like Chelsea really took momentum from it and thought that they were the real deal. And it's proved in the week since that that's not quite been the case. And yeah, it was frustrating because I think Chelsea play a specific type of way against Arsenal every time at Stamford Bridge, where Kukurea is really aggressive to nullify Saka and they go super hard in midfield. And it's a real issue that Arsenal haven't quite been able to combat yet. So yeah, it was frustrating because I felt Chelsea were there for the taking. and it's obviously surrendered points in the title race. And yeah, so that, but Wolves is, yeah, Wolves was awful.

52:11So that's probably the worst of the season. Okay, biggest surprise of the season? I think I'm going to go for how much Ricardo Calafiori has come on as a defender and how comfortably he's claimed that left-back spot. I thought going into this season, one of the most fiercely contested positions in the Arsenal team was going to be that left-back position because Myles was brilliant last season, burst onto the scene and was, you know, keeping Rodrigo and Vinicius and Mbappe quiet in the Bernabeu. And that's not easy as an 18-year-old. He started his career as a midfielder, played left-back a little bit in the academy, but, you know, had come into this Arsenal team and, you know, stolen all our hearts.

52:54And I think going into this season, I think we all kind of were, we thought it was Myles' shirt to lose, but Calafuri's come in and Arteta himself has said this, that the reason Myles hasn't got as many minutes is because Califuri has been so damn good. And I saw a statistic that I think he's the fourth best when it comes to being dribbled past in the Premier League this season. Timber obviously is top. But I'm surprised by that because there were so many instances last season where I thought this guy is amazing going forward and you don't really know what he's going to do. You don't know where he's going to pop up.

53:23But defensively, he seems like a little bit of a liability. It almost feels like this season that's kind of almost entirely gone. And, you know, knock on wood, that stays the case. And also, you know, the surprise has been able to stay fit for as long as he has, which is fantastic. But I think he's sort of kicking on to another level. I didn't necessarily see it coming. I thought I had the guy sort of nailed as a really exciting fullback, but defensively a little bit suspect. He's been fantastic. And I've been, like I say, surprised by how easily he's won that race to become Arsenal starting left back.

53:53And yeah, we're all a bit worried when he misses games now. And that's a compliment. Yeah, I mean, that's where I was going to go with it. It wasn't quite the Calafiori thing, but my surprise was like how little Miles Lewis-Gelley has played this season. And, you know, you're right on Calafiori. I think only Jurian Timber has won more tackles than him. And, you know, if you sort of zoom out a bit, maybe there was that idea that Calafiori was this kind of, you know, I don't know, more of an impressive looking guy than an impressive guy in the tackle or as a defender. But, you know, you're right to say that defensively he's come on leaps and bounds.

54:30Or maybe the more fair way to put that is that with a consistent run in the team, he's been able to demonstrate what a good defender he is. Rather than, you know, he's all of a sudden become a good defender because I think that's probably, you know, part of why we brought him in. But, yeah, the fact that Miles has been a little bit sidelined, a little bit peripheral is a surprise to me. I do wonder if there's perhaps, you know, a challenge in there to a young player from Mikel Arteta, you know, that not everything is going to be plain sailing, that you've got to work hard. You've got to keep your feet in the ground and take your chances as and when they come.

55:07And, you know, I recognize it's difficult to produce your best when you're in and out of the team. But that was my surprise. What's the other one? Biggest disappointment of the season. Yeah. Yeah. That feels a bit, you know, we're coming up to Christmas. We don't want to go in. Not very Christmassy, is it? It's not really in the spirit. But I tried these new McDonald's Grinch fries the other day, and I think they've had a lasting impact on me. And I'm willing to sort of engage in my inner Grinch and say, I think the biggest disappointment so far this season for me has been Victor Yokeres. And I hate to say it because I think some of the criticism on me is far too harsh.

55:49And I think people really, people have held him to the standards of Erling Haaland, which is ridiculous. And they've held him to the standards of the guy who scored 100 goals in 100 games, whatever the crazy stats are from Port School. It was never going to happen and we kind of knew that. But what I did expect from him was a little bit more by the stage and a kind of a little bit more, a little bit more confidence in him and him starting games and thinking, right, this is our guy. And I saw, you know, there's a lot of compilations on Twitter during the rounds of him missing chances and some of them aren't even chances and i think people are holding him to a a crazily high standard but i think the numbers have been a bit disappointing and i think when we talk about christmas there's a guy called jesus who's come back and he's talking about the bible and you know if you're if you're feeling if you're into sort of headline writing as i i used to be in my old job then you know it's kind of a dream in that sense uh yokarez is kind of will be looking over his shoulder a bit and thinking i kind of had a bit of a chance to nail myself down as the guy up front for arsenal i didn't really do it there's reasons why because he didn't really have a pre-season to speak of in the sense that he was on you know he didn't come back early at sporting and we saw we seen with alexander isak like the lack of pre-season makes a big difference and picks up a hamstring injury halfway through what i thought was his best performance against burnley i thought he was brilliant in that game but it is getting frustrating there was a moment against Wolves where he sort of had the ball on the counter-attack and could have played an easy pass but sort of had his head down and kicked it straight into a defender's chest I can't remember which defender it was so sorry for that but it feels like every time he gets the ball he feels that this is my moment I have to make it count and the thing that as a not very good footballer that amazes me about professional footballers is their ability to keep calm keep composure when the games going 100 miles an hour around them i don't get that sense from jokeres that he maybe has that innate ability it does feel like sometimes if he was able to watch situations back and take a bit of a breath and just do them a bit more calmly he would benefit from that massively um i think it's it's tricky because we all want to see him succeed and none of us want him to to flop and i don't think he has flopped and i i went into this season thinking if he comes away with 15 goals I'll be happy.

58:07He's on six so far. So he's just about on par to make that. Maybe needs to up it a little bit more in the second half of the season. But yeah, he has been a little bit of a disappointment just because there's not been that many disappointments in this Arsenal squad. He's kind of by default. But I did expect a bit more by this point. But, you know, I'm not writing him off yet. It's still early. I think as well it's the profile of the signing. Again, you know, the perception was right where Arsenal are finally signing. a center forward, this is it. We've all wanted this for so long, and this guy's going to come in and score a shitload of goals straight away, which isn't always the case, and it hasn't been the case.

58:46But I think that whatever concerns you have or don't have, I think he is suffering a little bit because of that, because of that expectation that comes. I don't think it's something that he would have been unaware of. I don't think it's something that Mikel Arteta wouldn't have been aware of as well. So quite how they manage him now through this little period. Do they play him against Everton, take him out of the spotlight a little bit, play him against, but I don't know. We'll see. But, you know, strikers can often be streaky. And hopefully if he gets a few goals, he can get on that streak and score.

59:16Just finally, before we go, Freddie LJ says, with Thierry Henry getting a lifetime achievement award, what are your top moments of Thierry Henry? I mean, Thierry Henry has been given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show, which happens every year in the UK. Could be Chloe Kelly, we believe, is one of the contenders for that. So that would be amazing for her. But the Lifetime Achievement Award for Thierry, it's hard really, isn't it, to pick individual moments because there were so many? Yeah, there's a lot. I'm someone who because of my age I only got to enjoy the later part of Thierry at Arsenal so my best moments are kind of weighted towards that because that's what I remember best but for me the performance at the Bernabeu is probably one of the best individual performances I've ever seen even to this date and just the swagger with which he dribbles into the corner and is kind of playing for time and kicking the ball out of play I mean, everyone's seen that clip during the rounds hundreds of times.

1:00:24But the goal against Real Madrid, against some really, really good players that he dribbles past, is amazing. That's up there. And I think what's underrated in that run to the Champions League final is how good he was against Juve at home in the quarterfinals. He was amazing in that quarterfinal. It was brilliant and carried a team that had a lot of defensive injuries and they defended really well. And the tactics were kind of everyone's going to collectively defend and we'll hope for a little bit of magic from Thierry Henry. Maybe that's a slight overstatement of it. But I thought he was brilliant in that run.

1:00:58So, yeah, that probably stands out for me. And then the Leeds goal coming back was pretty special too. So, yeah, those are mine. Yeah, I mean, I get it all. I mean, I think there's just, for me, rather than pick out individual moments, it's about the, you said swagger, I think, there. but I don't think I'm wrong or he would take exception to the word arrogance being used when he played from time to time because he knew how good he was. He knew what he could do with the ball. He knew what he could do against defenders. You see very effective players, very skillful players, but you also see players who kind of know they're on a different level and behave that way, and you can say that's right or wrong.

1:01:44You know, Messi does it. Thierry Henry used to do it. But stuff like nutmegging Danny Mills, you know, in the corner flag and then running away from him and Mills is just sort of standing there. Those moments, you know, that happen on a football pitch that sort of not just define the player who did them, but live like an indelible mark on Danny Mills, you know, in the minds of Arsenal fans forever and ever and ever. It's like, yeah, I kind of miss that a bit. Football has become more, I don't know, there's less expression, I think, you know, these days because the game and the managers are all so good and the coaches are so good and the tactical level is so high that there often isn't that room for players to properly express themselves or try things that if they get them wrong, the manager's going to hold them over the coals in the dressing room afterwards, you know.

1:02:40So, yeah, those things that we kind of miss a little bit, you know, the swagger, the arrogance, just the sheer joie de vivre that he brought to the game. I think we can live with that. All right. We better leave it there. Kaya, look after your loins. Great to talk to you as ever. We'll catch up soon. Thanks, Andrew. I'll keep them girded, yeah. Good man.

1:03:06Thank you very much indeed to Kaya. Always great to chat with him. And if you're interested in watching that video he mentioned, it's out on Monday. And we'll give it a plug on the blog and also on our socials over on Blue Sky as well. Right, the winners of our Eberache Eze Dragon Ball t-shirt, designed by Dan Evans and his buddy Josh, and available through a store like 94. We asked you against whom did Eberache Eze score his first Arsenal goal. The answer was Port Vale in the EFL Cup, which I think was back in September. That's who he scored his against whom rather he scored his first Arsenal goal.

1:03:44The random number generator has done its thing. And the winners of the T-shirts are Jamie Payne and Liam Kelly. Well done to you guys. I will be in touch with you by email. We'll get your address and your shirt size and have those prizes sent out to you. To anybody who wants to just get one of those T-shirts, they're still available through a store like 94. You can find the link in the show notes, and you can get 10 % off by using the code FINALPIECE, FINALPIECE, at checkout. You get yourself a 10 % discount there. Thanks to Dan, and thanks to the guys at a store like 94 for giving us the prizes.

1:04:26And don't forget, we will be looking ahead to our game against Everton in more detail over on Patreon. Tomorrow we'll have our preview podcast. Myself and Lewis will chat about the latest injury news, updates, whatever we get from Mikel Arteta's press conference. Preview that game for you. Look ahead to all the weekend's Premier League fixtures and lots more. Besides, if you're not a member, you can get on board for just$6 a month at patreon.com forward slash arseblog. And if you're absolutely desperate for a Christmas present for the Arsenal fan in your life, you don't know what to get them, you can gift a year of arseblog Patreon membership.

1:04:59You'll find that link in the show notes as well. so for now take it easy folks thank you so much as always for being here hope you enjoyed the show and we will catch you on the next one until then cheers bye-bye

1:05:46We'll see you next time.

1:06:18Welcome back to Robot Premier League. Today, we're in North London, where Arsenal take on strong opposition. After the merger of United and City, it's Manchester Combination. But the Gunners have problems. Injuries galore. Striker Bot is injured. Goalkeeper Bot is injured. Defense Bots 2, 4, and 7 are all out of action. But why? With us to try and explain to the crypto betting markets why this is the case, Gunners Manager, Android Arteta. Arteta, how long are these robots going to be out of action? We expect it to be a matter of days. But how many days? Do I look like a motherfucking calculator to you?

1:07:10But Arteta, I must insist. Arsenal have been beset by injuries for over 172 years now. Why have you not found a solution? We have looked at every possible cause. From the mechanics, to the circuitry, to the microchips, And yet, no solution has been found. I will admit, I am going out of my robot mind.

1:07:44Arteta, have you tried turning them off, then on again? Computing. Possibility of piss being taken. 100%. Weapon system now. Online. Arteta, please, don't do anything stupid here. Aim. Oh, fuck. Fire!

1:08:11Our coverage of Robot Premier League will resume at a later date. In its place now, a classic movie. And Adam Sandler stars in Happy Gilmore 19, which sees our lovable hero trying to become the first man to score a hole-in-one on Mars.