Episode 872 - Arsenal give us a semi

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0:46Tim Stillman: Hello 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. Today we are looking back on last night's 0-0 draw with Sporting. Not the greatest performance of the season by any means. Not the kind of performance that maybe some people were looking for going into a game against Manchester City on Sunday. But sufficient to get Arsenal through to the semi-finals of the Champions League. Which is not for everybody. It's not for Liverpool. It's not for Man City. It's definitely not for Tottenham.

1:26Tim Stillman: It's not for Chelsea. We're in esteemed company with Atletico Madrid, with PSG, with Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona eliminated in the quarterfinals. But we are through. And for all our problems at this moment in time, I think we have to recognize that as obviously something to be celebrated. So look, there's a lot to get into. I think despite the fact this was a nil-nil draw coming off the back of last weekend's game against Bournemouth, how we responded to that, what we did on the pitch. Perhaps more importantly, what we didn't do on the pitch are things we can chat about this morning.

2:05Tim Stillman: There were some shortcomings in our game, obviously, but there were also some things that gave me at least some encouragement about what remains of this season, given how much there is at stake and how much we still have to achieve potentially. So let's just get on with it. And with me to do that this morning is Tim Stillman. Good morning, Tim. Good morning. Let me ask you first, how are you feeling about this progression? Because I think if you step back and objectively look at it, obviously getting to the semifinals of the Champions League is fantastic. As people keep saying, and Mikel Arteta was keen to make the point last night, this is the first time in the 140 years of the history of Arsenal Football Club that it's happened.

2:49Tim Stillman: Would have been quite the miracle if it had happened back in 1897, whatever. But, you know, I get it. I get it. It is, you know, a brilliant achievement. And I think, you know, it wasn't long ago that the idea of a Champions League semifinal for Arsenal was a pipe dream, basically. You know, and now after three years back, we've got quarterfinal, two semifinals. Progression at European level is obvious. And yet, at the same time, I don't want to feel like I'm entitled or you feel like you're entitled or we're spoiled or anything like that. And I couldn't sort of fully get into the happiness, the celebration of that.

3:29Tim Stillman: I think I wrote on the blog this morning, it feels like a kind of underwhelming happiness. So I recognize what we've done and what we've done, as I said, objectively is really, really good. But it is in the current climate, in the current context, it feels not quite what it should be. Does that make sense?

3:50Arseblog: Yeah, absolutely. And if you want or needed a reminder of how far Mikel Arteta has taken us, that's it. Right. We couldn't even get, we couldn't get near this competition, let alone get in it for years. And we were kind of standing there out on the street, pressing our noses up against the glass, looking at it. And now we're in the semifinals and that feels quite routine. And I was kind of thinking about this the other day as well, in terms of, I think we've all seen that the players seem to feel a lot less pressure in this competition than they do in some of the Premier League games. I'm not sure that was definitely the case last night.

4:28Arseblog: But generally, as a theme, we've played with a bit more freedom, which is really strange because we've never won the competition before. So it's almost counterintuitive to not feel or not look as though that the players feel that pressure, that the fans don't feel quite as fraught at these games either. and I'm not kind of fan blaming. I think it's quite understandable that we've all felt a little bit on edge in Premier League games, but then that seems to kind of go away for the Champions League games. It's such a strange thing, understandable, I think, but strange that both fans and players seem to have had that serenity around this competition that we've never won before, that we've only been to one final.

5:11Arseblog: There's a whole generation of Arsenal fans who haven't seen us in a final even or win a European trophy of any kind of repute for over 30 years. So, I mean, it tells you where everyone's head's at. Really, everyone wants to win the league. But I just find it so remarkable that this has almost felt almost a bit like progressing in the FA Cup or something, where it's like, oh, that's quite nice. I hope we win this, but we really, really want this. And weirdly, that might really help us. and where I had to make a conscious effort to do this, but I really kind of, before the game last night, I was like, don't let this pass you by.

5:54Arseblog: Don't, you know, don't kind of idle it away because it is special. And there is no other English team at this stage and none of them got close. They all got walloped, the lot of them. The closest any of them got, Liverpool lost 4-0 on aggregate or was it 3-0? I think four, yeah. Yeah, and Man City lost 5-1 on aggregate. Those are the second and third best performances. So I think there's a lot to that. But yeah, I just find it really strange that we might be kind of helping the team almost by considering this quite secondary, which is very strange.

6:31Tim Stillman: It is a bit. It is a bit. But I think that, as you say, it's understandable because there's so much focus on the Premier League and there was obviously a lot of spotlight on the team after what happened at the weekend against Bournemouth. So I think many people, myself included, were kind of hoping last night might be the kind of performance that gives you just a little bit of confidence boost. You know, as fans, and I'm talking as fans because I think we'll talk about the players a bit later on because I think what they've been saying and the way they've been talking, it feels like everything is different for them.

7:05Tim Stillman: You know, the experiences are distinct for them because it is game to game to game to game, whereas we're under this overarching umbrella of what this season has been so far. And I think we were looking at last night as a way of boosting confidence. I don't want to go full Sergio Leone in that it was the good, the bad and the ugly, but maybe the good, the bad and the indifferent is kind of what we got last night. because I do think there were aspects of what we did last night that we can take encouragement from. And I think those are the things that, based on what we've seen for most of this season, we're probably going to have to lean into, both in the Champions League and in the Premier League.

7:51But if you're looking for the attack to click

7:56Tim Stillman: and to get encouragement from what they might produce, it wasn't really there last night. The front three was the same as against Bournemouth. And I do think, you know, I can't believe for a second that Mikel Arteta thinks this is my optimal front three. It's clearly a trio that he picked last night based on who he had available and also maybe who he wanted to be available for the game against Manchester City on Sunday. but it it doesn't work and it didn't work again last night which you know is part of the worry that people feel about the way this team is is performing yeah definitely i my kind of bright

8:43Arseblog: side is um as with you i i hope that there are a couple of players we're going to get back on sunday um i don't think we're going to find that out until the team sheet drops because I very much don't Mikel Arteta will say anything on Friday No definitely not after he was asked about it

8:59Tim Stillman: I think it was James Benj asked him in his last press conference like he's sort of why don't you you know give a bit more information and he was like okay he's going to play his cards like absolutely close to his chest

9:10Arseblog: Yeah absolutely like it might be like when the team goes for its walk in Manchester on Sunday morning someone will have a picture or a video or something They're all wearing Calafuri masks Yeah yeah yeah even there he might even plant a decoy anyway um i i wouldn't put that past him whatsoever um so yeah i'm not my my hope is that you know one or two of those players particularly i think that the profile of player we've been missing has has been a real problem like the the guys who keep the ball basically saka urdegaard and and a fit kai havertz i think really those three players have defined our attack for quite a while now um probably for the last two years or so and we haven't even had one of them available really apart from maybe Kai Havertz who doesn't look himself so someone said

10:04Tim Stillman: to me the other day it's 2024 since those three last started a game together I could be wrong on

10:08Arseblog: that but you know that tells you something yeah absolutely so you know that that's kind of been one of the problems of the season really that the guys we bought for depth have become the main guys and the profile of player we've been missing seems to be very, very similar. So I would really hope at least one of those players is going to be available. I do think Ezza helped last night. I think that was at least having someone who's prepared to have a shot at goal from range and who's got that kind of that power in his shooting and someone who can make the ball stick a little bit as well. I do think that helped quite a lot.

10:51Arseblog: But yeah, and I think there were other choices that were made in the lineup. Like the fact that Ben White didn't start and didn't come on, I think that tells you Uri and Timber's not going to be fit for Sunday. I think that tells you quite plainly Ben White is going to be needed for Sunday and we did everything possible to not play him so that he's ready for that. So I think we can read into that one a little bit. But yeah, I just, and I wonder as well with Saka's situation, You know, it sounds like they're managing something rather than it being like an out-and-out injury. And I wonder with Madueke going off, like I kind of wondered anyway, whether Mikel Arteta might think, look, Bukayo, if we're going to play you for one game in this run-in, it's this one.

11:38Arseblog: And, you know, we don't want to risk your World Cup or anything like that. But like, if you can play one game, we want you for this one. And I wonder if the Maduecki, you know, Maduecki going off, it kind of looked like his knee again. So has he fully recovered from that injury he got on international duty? I'm sure they'd have preferred to ease him in a bit more. But again, because other guys are injured, we keep having to put players in who are probably not quite fit and not at the level as well. So, you know, I'd really like to see Saka Ndegaard on the team, she on Sunday. And if they're not, I think that's going to be a big problem, frankly.

12:15Tim Stillman: No, I agree with that. The one thing I would say, just circling back to something you mentioned there, is the idea that we're not going to jeopardize your World Cup, which I think we recognize is important for players, right? To represent your country at a World Cup is a huge thing. from an Arsenal perspective, I'm like, fuck your World Cup. I need you out on that pitch for us. But what I do think, and I've seen it do the rounds quite a bit, you know, on social media. So take it with a pinch of salt or whatever way you want to take it, is the idea that maybe some of these players are saving themselves for the World Cup.

12:51Tim Stillman: And I just cannot get behind that whatsoever. I think if there's any way Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka could be out on that pitch with this team, Jurian Timber as well. You know, I think if there's any way they could be out there to help drive this team to the title after finishing second three years in a row, they absolutely would be. It's just a bit too easy to say, right, well, I bet they'll be ready for the World Cup. Well, if they're ready for the World Cup, it's because the season's over, they've had a few weeks, and they're not injured or not as injured as they were. I think there's only one explanation as to why these players aren't playing in these games, and it is because they're properly injured.

13:28Tim Stillman: But let's sort of, before we talk about maybe some of the things that were good about what Arsenal did last night and how they saw this game out. If we focus on that front three, and the conversation has been had many times about the profile of players, Martinelli on the left, Matueke on the right, and Jacare is in the middle. It's toothpaste and orange juice. It just does not really work. You've got three players of fairly similar profiles. That being said, But is it realistic or is it too much to ask to expect these players to be able to do some of the basics and fundamentals better? That when the ball comes to you, the ball sticks with you.

14:14Tim Stillman: It doesn't bounce off you. You don't end up on the ground when you're a six foot two hulk of a guy. I accept that defenders and central defenders are big and strong, but so is Victor Jokerez. and he ends up on the ground more times than not when it comes to a duel. And listen, you can question the wisdom in playing those kinds of passes into him, but, you know, it bounced off him too many times last night as it has done this season. Nani Matuweke on the right-hand side. You know, the technical level should be good enough to control the ball and make the pass or take on a man or whatever it might be.

14:54Tim Stillman: I mean, there was one, he got the ball, he had a chance to run at the left back. He just sort of clumped it off his own foot and went out for a goal kick. I'm not saying it's easy to dribble past a man and create a chance and put a cross in. I'm not saying that, but I also think there are certain fundamentals that if you don't have them in your team, it becomes really, really difficult to be in any way effective as an attacking force.

15:19Arseblog: Yes, definitely. I kind of feel like with Nani Maduweke, I've been transported back to the days of Jovino, just in terms of dribbling to the touchline and quite a lot of the time it goes out of play. I think kind of what we're dancing around here a little bit as well is that the striker is a problem. And I don't like saying that. I think we as a fan base have been very, very nice to Victor Jochores and I'm good with that. Like, I support that. I want us to support our players. And he has scored a lot of goals, which is fundamentally what we've brought him to do. But essentially in possession, we're playing with 10 men because there was, I don't know whether this showed up on the camera on Saturday, but it was right down below me in the first half, rather.

16:11Arseblog: Jokeres kind of pulled over to the left and Zubimendi had the ball. And Zubimendi just kind of stopped, put his foot on the ball and didn't pass it to him. and Jokoraz was furious at him for not passing him the ball. And maybe this is just my bias, but ordinarily I would have been unhappy with Zubamendi not making that pass. But I kind of thought, it's going to go out for a throw-in, mate. That's why he's not passing to you. And forgive the slightly tortured analogy, I don't think this is true, but did you ever hear that thing about Daddy Longlegs is one of the most poisonous spiders in the world, but its fangs can't penetrate skin and that's how i feel about victor jokeres's physique i feel like it's the most wasted thing i've ever seen on a human because he is like he is very very hench incredibly muscular like you know um just just very very broad-shouldered he looked like he looks like he could play NFL.

17:12Like he's a really like big, strong guy, but he doesn't seem

17:17Arseblog: to be able to use that other than when he's thumping the ball at goal, which he's very good at. And it's a real problem for us not to be able to pass the ball to our striker and our striker can't control the football. That is a fundamental problem. It's a problem in the way that we play. Like you say, the two wingers who played last night as well, they're not always 10 out of 10, you know, receiving the ball and controlling it, etc, etc. But I just think that has been a season long problem. And the fact that Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus just haven't been fit enough to really play, which means Jocheres does have to play all the time, which is another part of the reason I think we've kind of gone easy on him because we know we need him.

18:06Arseblog: We know he has to start most of the games. We can't, you know, you put Kai Havertz in for three full 90 minutes or whatever, and he's probably going to get injured again. Or we're not seeing the kind of, should we say, the full fat Kai Havertz this season anyway. So a lot of our issues in attack, I think a lot of it is about maybe sometimes having too many options, too much rotation, not enough chemistry. But a lot of it's just about fitness and not having our main guys and then having to play guys who were either intended to be backups. Like even with the money we spent on Madueke, I'm sure we didn't expect him to play this much.

18:45Arseblog: And, you know, guys who perhaps we would really like to have been coming off the bench quite a lot, having to start, having to back up games. Like Madueke, probably not entirely fit. The fact that he's gone off in this game, but we have to play him. So there's kind of a lot of making do and mending in the forward line. But I do think having a striker that can't control the football is a fundamental problem. And I think it reminds me of when we signed Lacazette, when just so many summers had passed, waiting for a unicorn to fall out of the sky in terms of a centre forward. And I understand why Arsenal pressed the button, because we just couldn't go another summer without buying a striker.

19:29Arseblog: I'm pretty sure we could have got Jokeres a year earlier if we really wanted to. And so it's one of those do you stick or twist? Because frankly, I don't think he's very good. But should we have done nothing again? I don't think that would have made any of us happy, particularly as we say, without Jesus or Havertz or even Marino. Like what the hell would we have done? So it's a bit, we can complain about him and I complain about him. And every time he plays, my WhatsApp, my Arsenal WhatsApps are full of pictures of wardrobes and stuff. But ultimately, we kind of need him. We're kind of stuck with him.

20:07Tim Stillman: Yeah, I mean, we do need him and we have needed him. And he has scored more goals than anybody else this season. And I think, you know, your point about Havertz and Jesus is spot on in that, like, we've needed them. They haven't been available. But also, when they have been available, they haven't been brilliant either. Like none of them have sort of made you think, all right, you've got to start the next game. So I think that is a fundamental issue. I agree, by the way, I think it is a fundamental problem. I remember in Lisbon last week, there was a moment in the second half when Arsenal were playing towards us and William Saliba had the ball in their half.

20:44Tim Stillman: And Jokeres was sort of standing with his back to the defender doing the, come on, give me the ball, give me the ball. And Saliba just didn't and wouldn't. And you can see that, and I think that is an issue. It is an issue. You know, for his goal-scoring prowess, you know, you give him, generally speaking, if you give him the opportunity to score a goal, he'll have a good go at it. And we would be, you know, a bit lost without the goals that he has scored. But I can't, I just can't get away from having watched him all season, the connection between how we attack and his presence in the team or what he doesn't quite offer the team as a centre forward are sort of inextricably linked in my mind.

21:28Tim Stillman: And, you know, that's something we're going to have to reckon with between now and the end of the season. Nevertheless, in the first half, it was pretty stodgy kind of stuff. I think Sporting were doing the kind of Chelsea and the Carabao Cup thing in that they decided to come, make sure they didn't give anything away, out of possession they went to a five at the back that's really difficult to break down generally it's difficult to break down when you're not attacking with any kind of rhythm or fluency which is where we are at this moment in time and i think probably nil nil at halftime was not at all unexpected nevertheless there were a couple of scary moments towards the end of the first half david raya i don't know what happened there he gave the ball away and we got away with one and then not long after that they had a shot which came off the outside of the post so a couple of scary little moments but probably linked to that Raya moment which gave us the jitters a little

22:28Arseblog: bit just before half time yeah definitely I think um I think what's really interesting as well um I think it was I can't remember if it's conversation you had with James or whether on our Arsenal Vision Patreon, James was on an episode with Elliot, and James was talking about, you know, really growing up with those Arsene Wenger teams and not really informing the football he'd like to see. And I think I'm only like two years older than James, so I don't want to uncle him here. But, like, for me, the most formative Arsenal trophy I've ever seen us win is the Cup Winners' Cup in 1994. 94, yeah, yeah.

23:08Arseblog: And this is how we did it. So I'm probably a little bit more predisposed to kind of winning 1-0 over two legs. And I look at all the other Champions League semifinals, which are full of goals and excitement, and our games aren't. And I like that. That's like, maybe it's the Stockholm syndrome, but that's how we did it the last time we won a European trophy. The masochist in you is not far below the surface, is it? No, I want 1-0 to the Arsenal all the way. um but yeah so i i thought what was really interesting you know you talked about the kind of the rare era kind of giving us the jitters a bit one of the things i found really interesting about last night is at no point as much as we were solid and didn't really look like sporting were going to break us down even um other other than uh the kind of moments you mentioned And it was really noticeable to me that we did not sit at any point.

24:06Arseblog: We did not go into a low block, which you'd kind of expect maybe with 10 minutes to go. I was expecting, right, everyone's going to kind of come back here and we're going to sit in our shape. And what was really interesting was our restarts were fast throughout the entire game. Even in stoppage time, Raya had the ball and he got rid of it straight away. So that was clearly an instruction. and Arteta was playing ball boy on the sideline again, again, even with a minute or two to go, he's running to get the ball and restart. So I think, and I'd be interested to know whether that was a tactic tailored to the game last night or whether there's something in there that Arteta's kind of thinking, right, we've got to move the ball quicker.

24:48Arseblog: We've got to restart quicker. A response to Bournemouth, for example. Yeah, yeah. And actually this is a longer term thing that we've got to get that urgency back into our game. And I think that's probably where that Raya mistake came from, was kind of, there was clearly an instruction, like, don't sit on the ball. Don't put your studs on the ball for 45 seconds again. Don't take a minute over throw-ins. Maybe that's part of why Ben White wasn't selected as well.

25:15Tim Stillman: Well, you know what? It's funny because the other day we had a question on the Arscast Extra about throw-ins, which we didn't get around to, but I had a look at the opening stage of the Bournemouth game, the opening stages of the Bournemouth game, and we had about five or six throw-ins on both sides. The first throw-in we got in that game came about a minute in. Ben White got the ball. He didn't have it in his hands for more than a second, and he threw it really quickly down the line for Victor Jokerez, who ran onto it and ran the ball out of play for a goal kick to Bournemouth. And that was quick, and I'm pretty sure that was instruction, But as time went on, Miles Lewis-Skelly took 20 seconds, came over the other side.

26:02Tim Stillman: There was another one, 20 seconds, 25 seconds for Ben White. You know, the longer the game went on, the longer it took us to take those throw-ins. So, you know, there is something there in that, like, we can do it if we put our minds to it. If the movement is right, if the opportunity is right, we can do it. I think another interesting aspect of last night was we started with real energy and real intent. You know, I can criticize and be concerned about the fundamentals and the technical level of our front three, but I will not have anything negative to say about the work rate and the endeavor.

26:40Tim Stillman: I think every Arsenal player on the pitch last night really worked very, very hard. your mileage might vary on how much that matters to you but I think in the early stages of this game what was interesting was how snappy we were we were closing them down we were cutting off the passing lanes and I don't know when it happened but I remember thinking about six or seven minutes in we have not gone back to David Raya once with the ball at our feet our centre halves played it to each other and they would play it wide not once did they look back and that felt to me like right you know they've recognized that if you do that in the opening stages of this game people are going to go oh you know in the crowd it'll be involuntary but after seeing david raya be the second highest passer in the game against bournemouth receiving 38 passes in the entire game and attempting 50 overall that they said if we want to try and build some momentum or at least make sure the crowd and the anxiety aren't informed by what we do on the pitch we have to sort of keep looking forward rather than take that that safety first approach so there was something about the way that we set up for this game and obviously the discussions they had that were trying to correct some of the things that

28:02Arseblog: were not right against Bournemouth yeah absolutely and I think there's been you know in the conversation about Arsenal style, which has been long and ongoing for certainly the whole season. I've always felt there's a delta between like, what does Arteta actually want and what are we actually doing? And I don't think for a lot of, particularly the second half of the season, that he really wants to play like that. I don't think they were told to go back to David Raya every opportunity on Saturday. I don't believe that was part of the game plan. I think that's something that happened, probably a little bit because of nerves.

28:38Arseblog: and also because Bournemouth set up very well. And ultimately as well, I think your style is defined by your talent. And if I was to name the players in the Arsenal team that I think are world-class, like top three in their positions in the world, they're all behind the ball. It's the goalkeeper, it's the two centre-halves, it's Declan Rice. You know, Saka when he's fit, yeah, he's really the only one that enters that conversation. so I do think that you know there's a lot about like oh Arteta's so cautious and all of this and I don't actually think he is I think you can ask questions about is our style of play so physically demanding and by April it's very difficult to retain that intensity and the amount of work he asks for particularly out of possession is that sustainable over a 10-month season I think those are reasonable questions.

29:30Arseblog: I don't believe that he's saying, move the ball really slowly from side to side, give it back to David Wright. I don't think that's his instruction at all. And I think we really saw that last night. And I think I said this on Arsenal Vision after the game against Bournemouth on Saturday. If that game has one use for the analysts and for the coach, it's a fantastic manual of what not to do. Ever again. Like, yeah, there must have been so many clips from that game that the analysts clipped up and they're like, see that? Don't do that. And see this two minutes later? Don't do that. Don't do that.

30:10Arseblog: In fact, do the exact opposite of that. So if that Bournemouth game gives us anything this season, it's, you know, don't ever do any of this again because that's rubbish and terrible and you'll lose. And I do think we saw that last night. And that's why I always kind of back Arteta to fix those issues, which is kind of why I was surprised by the Carabao Cup final, actually, because I was a bit like, we're usually quite good at solving these problems in game and we didn't have any solutions to what they did. Because usually I'm quite comfortable with the idea that, you know, Arteta will, you know, clockwork orange style.

30:48Arseblog: They'll all be sitting in there. There's a little like cinema room at Colney. They'll be sitting there with the hooks in their eyes. Yeah, yeah. Watching themselves pass the ball back to David Reier, you know, set to Mozart or something. Yeah, aversion therapy, I think they call it.

31:03Tim Stillman: Getting electrocuted every time the ball goes back to David Reier.

31:07Arseblog: Yeah, exactly. So, you know, and I think we saw a lot of that last night. And I do think as well Arteta's point is very well made about, like, there's a reason we're the only English team there. Like the physical effort. But you look at the other quarter finalists, PSG had their game, you know, just thrown into the sun for them by the French League. Bayern rested players and still won about 100-0. Atleti rested their entire team. Like, really, of the semi-finalists, it's only us that had to go full tilt. You know, at home to Bournemouth, which a few years ago you might have looked at as a bit of a home banker, but there are very, very few of those kind of games around in the Premier League now.

31:54Arseblog: So I do think Arteta's point is well made there, like that you look in the league phase and all the English teams kind of swim through it. And then when it gets to this point, they're all getting absolutely whacked out of sight. Newcastle and Chelsea conceded eight over two legs in their ties, you know, Liverpool four, City five, like it's tough. And so I do want to give the players and the team and the coach real credit for that. I think we shouldn't hand wave that. And that's something, however you feel about the project, the manager, etc., etc. I can count the games on one hand under Arteta, where I've come out and thought that the players did not work as hard as they possibly could.

32:37Arseblog: And in many ways, that might even be the problem, when we look at whether we run out of steam at the end of the season.

32:43Tim Stillman: He made a change pretty quickly in the second half. Victor Jokeres, who had misplaced the pass to Matuweke again, that sort of lack of combination between the two of them. You know, it's a bad pass. It ended up at the left back. Maybe it's not a great run from Matuweke. Either way, it's not great from either of them. He put Kai Havertz on, and I think it was better. I mean, it wasn't like it was brilliant, but I think it was better. I was sort of looking at the stats. Jokeres, over the course of his 55 minutes, 14 touches, his pass completion percentage is 55%. Havertz in his 40 minutes or whatever it was, 21 touches of the ball, pass completion 94%.

33:22Tim Stillman: So it just gives you slightly more stickability up front if that's the way of putting it. There was one where Eza had a shot over the bar and it was like a sort of light bulb went off. David Raya just lumped the ball forward. Kai Havertz won a header on the edge of their box, knocked it down. And Ezza shot over and you're like, I mean, stuff like that. You're not going to win it all the time, but it gives you the opportunity to have a goal. So it did make a bit of a difference from how I think we played the rest of this game. Daman came on from Matueke who, listen, I don't think he had a good game at all.

34:02Tim Stillman: I just hope the injury isn't bad because, you know, we're missing Saka. We're missing too many players. we just need as many hands on deck Downing came on the expectation levels around him I think are probably a bit too high generally but I understand it because you're looking for the fresh young hope to bring you something but then what I think is most interesting about this game from an Arsenal perspective you know if we look at what we didn't do from an attacking perspective I think how we then saw out the game, if that's the right way for it. We didn't need to score. It would have been nice to score.

34:40Tim Stillman: I would have felt a lot better if we got a goal, but we didn't need to score. Sporting needed to score. They had one shot on target the whole game, which is the same as ours. And our shot on target was basically a Zubimendi header at the back post, which was easy for the goalkeeper. So, you know, we didn't really threaten them either. But you talk about where we are elite, or you talk about where we are at the top level. And I think that is defensively. Sometimes I think we not take for granted, but we sort of forget how good and consistent Saliba and Gabriel are together. I thought they were outstanding in this game.

35:17Tim Stillman: Luis Suarez, who's sort of done a jokeres for sporting, right? He's come in and just sort of banged in a load of goals, didn't have a sniff. They could have played two Luis Suarez's. Even the bitey one they could have played and, you know, they would have been good. And Capier was really good. Declan Rice, who yesterday was too ill to train, put in a really assured performance, I think, on the ball. Nobody made more passes. I think he passed it at 97.5 % completion, which is kind of what you need in games like this. And I thought Martin Zubimendi, after a difficult couple of weeks for him, one man of the match, I thought this was a good game from him where he was, you know, snappy in the tackle, defensively read the game very well you know he was obviously culpable for that goal against Bournemouth where Alex Scott ran off the back of him his defensive awareness he was switched on defensively last night but also got forward really well I think maybe and I don't have the stats because we don't have those available to us but it felt to me like he had more touches in the opposition box than any of our attacking players last night because of the runs he was making there was one where Eze found him with a really good pass and he tried a near post pass to Jokeres who got blocked out at the near post.

36:31Tim Stillman: But I thought those elements, you know, that sort of foundation to the final stages of the game was really, really important. And it wasn't just about, right, let's, as you say, sit in a low block and defend. We had 62 % possession in the last 15, 20 minutes of this game. So we played a lot of that game in the opposition half. And if, you know, I don't think we're going to become a brilliant goal-scoring team. I think we can do better. I think we obviously need to do better and we can improve to some extent from an attacking perspective. But I think what pleased me last night was the way that we controlled that last part of the game.

37:13Tim Stillman: Not quite 300 ,000 passes, but in that ballpark of what Arteta talks about as making life really difficult for the opposition.

37:22Arseblog: Yeah, and I revisit that quote a lot, kind of wrote about it last week. But actually, I think, and it's quoted quite widely after that Watford game a few years ago, but actually myself and others are guilty of not completing the quote, which is 300 ,000 passes in the opposition's half. So not sterile, you know, kind of going backwards between the centre halves. And I thought what was really interesting was we kept trying to score as well. I don't feel like we were keeping the ball. I'm sure it was kind of defensive, if you want to call it that, and just say, well, actually, if they don't... The first leg, for example, that felt much more like, we're just not giving you the ball.

38:07Arseblog: And we'll have it in our own half, our centre-halves will have it, but we're just not giving you the ball. Whereas this felt a bit more like, we're going to have the ball in your final third. And I think they must have discussed as well that at some point sporting are going to have to come out to try and get this goal. And there will be space in behind. And even if we haven't got the most technical front three, unfortunately, you know, Maduake had to go off. Jokeres was so bad, he had to come off. But, you know, we had running power in behind as well. That's what the players we've got can do. So they must have had that conversation.

38:46Arseblog: and even to a fault because, you know, at the end, they kind of, they go forward and really they probably should have corner flagged it.

38:54Tim Stillman: Yeah, yeah.

38:55Arseblog: Instead, kind of went for goal. And again, that felt pointed to me and that felt more like not about necessarily just managing this tie. That felt like managing the rest of the season. Like this is what we've got to do.

39:09Tim Stillman: Yeah, we have to score, like take the encouragement from scoring. I mean, we did hit the post from a corner. Trossard hit the post.

39:15Arseblog: Oh, was it Trossard? Okay. For some reason I thought it was Zubimendi. But interesting as well, by the way, that when Dalman took the corner, because Maduake had gone off, we used to sack her. And I was thinking, oh, you know, these corners are much better when they go, you know, when sack her gets them right to the back post. And Dalman won't be able to do that with his, you know, his little child's legs. And man, he can. It was the first corner he took. It's like, oh, wow, he really can get that over to the back post. But yeah, like I say, I don't think that was just about managing the tie. I think that's about managing the urgency for the rest of the season.

39:52Arseblog: And I think if your brain does want to go to Sunday, or if your brain was on Sunday watching this game, I think it's just really interesting to kind of, to me, this does feel a bit like a blueprint because we're going into the Man City game and I don't want the players to think this mentally, but it's almost like because of the table, it's kind of like we're going to Man City with a one goal lead in terms of like a draw suits us much more than it suits them. But I don't want them to think like that. And it didn't look like they were thinking like that last night. So it kind of felt like, let's be very solid.

40:35Arseblog: Let's not give anything away, but let's try to score on the counter. But actually, if we don't and it's nil-nil, that's fine. and that's kind of what the circumstance is for Sunday as well. And I think as much as many of us are thinking, God, as much as it will be terrible to watch, I'd love us to just shut the game down and grind out a nil-nil and all of that. I think there's probably an acknowledgement from Arsenal, they can't do that. You can't play like that because City will, they will get you if you do that. You have to do something going in the other direction. So this felt quite blueprinty to me, to coin a phrase.

41:13Tim Stillman: Yeah, I mean, it is so interesting to think about Man City now and Man City back then in September or whenever it was that we played them. Having gone ahead, you talk about you can't just sit in and grind it out. That's exactly what City tried to do against us at home until we got that late equaliser from Gabriel Martinelli. Great pass from Eberachie Eze. I agree with you. I just don't think we can go there and do that. But I also think there is encouragement to be taken from the way we played. You probably can question the decision to take an attacking corner in the 93rd minute, 90 whatever, however many, five minutes, six minutes of added time, whatever it was.

41:55Tim Stillman: You know, keep it in the corner. Excuse me. Keep it in the corner and just sort of see out the time. Instead, we took, we tried to score, as you said, and Sporting came up and had a shot, which was like just wide, right in the last, basically the last kick of the game, I think, you know. So it's one of those, I think you look at it and go, these guys, you know, they know how to defend, they know what to do. But the decision making, the collective decision making in that moment was perhaps a little bit questionable. But, you know, if you want this team to try and find an attacking spark, maybe that's what they have to do.

42:32Tim Stillman: We wouldn't be sitting here as sanguine this morning, I don't think, if that ball had gone just inside the post rather than just wide of the post. Because, you know, common sense just says keep it up there. But it was, yeah, it was a grindy win. And when you think about who we're going to face in the semifinals, they could be the grindiest semifinals.

42:55Arseblog: I've watched Atleti against Spurs and against Barcelona, and it hasn't looked like that at all. and I don't watch any Spanish football and kind of never have, but I don't think Atleti are that team anymore. And I saw Sid Lowe talking about this as well. This is not like the Atleti of 10 years ago or the team that we played in the Europa League semi-final. And I can't remember whether you were in Madrid for that semi-final. I was, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and you know where we were kind of high up behind the goal and we were trying to score. And I remember just looking and just being like, fuck we could be here tomorrow and we're not getting through that like they were just the most defensively organized team i've ever seen um i was complete we only needed one goal and i was just stood there going not gonna happen no i don't think they're that team anymore and you look at i mean i i watched the atleti barca second leg that's a really exciting game unbelievable game of football yeah and it was total basketball so i'm not sure and again maybe they they change for us right but yeah i don't think athletic are that team anymore but it's it's really interesting when we played them in the league phase you know because quite often i go backwards and forwards on like again the let's say external discussion about arsenal style a lot of which is informed by people who half watch us, half look at the 4U tab on Twitter and not that informed as much as I'm not pretending we're like Wenger's Arsenal or anything.

44:32Arseblog: But then I think in the build up to that game, someone said that Arteta's Arsenal is a bit like Simeone's Athlete of like 10 years ago when they really started competing. And I really liked that. I really liked that comparison. I was like, yeah, I think that's the team I want to be. I'd like us to be that really classic Simeone Athleti. I liked that comparison. I found it flattering because I've got, as much as I don't watch that much Spanish football, I've got a lot of admiration for what Simeone's done at Athleti. And I do view them as similar to us in that it's easy to forget what we're competing with.

45:14Arseblog: And I know no one's got the stomach for that discussion, and I understand why. But like our wage bill is 80 % of Manchester City's. We have no right to be above them in the table. We just don't. And I feel like Atleti come from a similar place, you know. They're taking on Barca and Madrid. And they've kind of got no right. And they've been a bit unloved and a bit scrappy. And I really like that. I feel like that's the team I want Arsenal to be, if that makes sense.

45:43Tim Stillman: No, absolutely. And I have to say, I was watching the game on Tuesday night between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona. It was compelling stuff. And it was high octane. And it was exciting. And there was a lot of quality, a lot of technical quality on that pitch. And you're looking at it going, fuck. That is going to be difficult to compete with. Regardless of who goes through, that is going to be really tough to compete with. I'm not taking anything for granted, by the way. But I will say that if you made me choose between one of the two teams to face, it would be Atleti rather than Barcelona. Yeah?

46:21Tim Stillman: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

46:22Arseblog: And again, I watched them play Spurs because I needed comedy in my life and I got it. I thought they were rubbish against Spurs in both games. Like, really, the first leg against Spurs is decided by the fact that Spurs just boot the ball in their own net three times, basically. Like, you know, it was very stop punching yourself, you know. It's just like Tottenham just punched themselves in the face three times, and that defined the tie, really. But I thought Athletic were rubbish. I thought Tottenham looked really like they were getting at them and getting in behind them. and it was only because they've got a pair of brain-dead centre-backs and a goalkeeper who looked like he was suffering from PTSD that meant that they didn't go through it.

47:10Arseblog: Even in the second leg, they had Atleti under pressure quite a lot. What Atleti have though, I think in Julian Alvarez, they've got a really, really good player. I really like that player. Yeah, me too. Antoine Griezmann, I think he's going to MLS next summer, so this is his kind of swan song. he um i think i saw someone on um social media say like i didn't know he was still this good

47:34Tim Stillman: he was like some of the touches the other night uh against barcelona were just unbelievable

47:40Arseblog: yeah it's like that we talk about stickability in the football like when the ball comes to him it doesn't bounce out for a throw you know yeah yeah you get that he keeps it in tight areas and does something with it yeah absolutely so and and that gives them a lot of counter-attacking threat and that really defined their second leg against Barca as well.

48:01Tim Stillman: Was it him that played that first time pass? I think it was, yeah.

48:05Arseblog: That led to the Lukman goal. I think it might have been. Yeah, yeah. And there was a lovely passing behind, I forget who made it, but when Barca got their red card, lovely kind of outside of the foot kind of pass. So they can pick through you for sure. I'd love to beat them 4-0 again. That'd be very nice. Yeah, that'd be very nice, yeah. I might feel okay about the second leg

48:30Tim Stillman: if we can beat them 4-0 away from home in Madrid. But yeah.

48:34Arseblog: Yeah, exactly. I don't think we're that team at the moment. I don't think that's going to happen. And I think in a Champions League semi-final, they're generally really cagey anyway. But look, I'm really looking forward to it. I'm really looking forward to it because like I said at the top, I don't want this to pass me by. I don't want to be blase about this Cause I just, I, when this manager took over, I didn't see a way back into this competition for a long time, um, to be honest. And, and we've gone in, this is only our third season in it, I think. Yep. And we've just like, we've, we've got straight to it.

49:12Arseblog: We don't look like we're plagued, like, you know, the great Wenger teams who had that, uh, but it doesn't really work in Europe, does it? Um, type thing. We don't have that at all. And I think we're going to win this competition under this manager if we stick with it, whether it's this season or next or two seasons time or whatever. I just think what happens in this competition is you keep competing, you keep qualifying every year, you keep getting semifinals, etc. And there's a year where it just drops for you. And I think that is going to happen for us in the next few years. I hope it's this year, but even if it's not, I think if we stay on course, we are going to lift this trophy.

49:56Arseblog: I really feel that.

49:58Tim Stillman: That's a big shout and I hope you're right. I mean, I think, you know, in the midst of this very recent sort of angst that we're all experiencing, again, I understand it completely. You know, we have to look at what we did in the group stage or the league phase of this competition where we finished top, we barely conceded a goal. you know there is a lot that this team can do that it's not doing right now and I think a lot of that anxiety and frustration is rooted in the sense that we know we're better than this you know for whatever shortcomings and limitations we might have in certain areas of the pitch we also know we are better than this and that is something that we have to to find and rediscover and I said this at the top that maybe the way we're feeling as fans is quite distinct from the way the players are feeling and there was an interview with Declan Rice straight after the game on TNT Sports and he was asked by the reporter how frustrating was tonight for Arsenal and this was the response.

51:01Arseblog: Frustrating now, we just got to a semi-final, no frustration positivity all the way, who cares what people think, all that matters is what this group thinks, what the manager thinks and we're in another semi-final I'm delighted. What's the last couple of weeks been like with all the noise around the club?

51:18Arseblog: Like being at any other top club. There's noise with everything. This is Arsenal Football Club, you know. There's noise with every game. There's scrutiny. If you don't play well, if you play good, take it with a pinch of salt, keep it moving. And yeah, bring on the last few weeks. It's a rollercoaster. No one's going to hand you anything in this game. So let's keep going. And what will be, will be. Let's just keep going strong.

51:40Tim Stillman: The question at the start was like, how do you feel about this? You know, how do you feel? And he paused for a moment and went, delighted with the least delighted face you've ever seen in your life. But I think maybe it's about how he was feeling and being unwell and pushing himself as hard as he did. And Mikel Arteta was full of praise for Rice, saying yesterday he couldn't even train and now he's done 95 minutes. You know, on the one hand, fair play. That's a thing to be commended. On the other, you know, if you worry about our injuries and you worry about how hard these players are being pushed, You could view that in a slightly different light.

52:19Tim Stillman: But I do think that was quite interesting in that, you know, the way they're looking at these games and the way they're looking at what remains of this season and trying to compartmentalize things from Wednesday to Sunday to, you know, next Saturday against Newcastle, all of those things, it is different from how we're feeling as fans. And I think for me, I obviously have some worries and I have some concerns about how we've been playing of late. But what I take some comfort in or a bit of safety blanket is the way that questions like that are answered and dealt with. And Arteta spoke, didn't he, about, he said something along the lines of, I wish we were doing the Arsenal documentary and you could see what happened in the last 48 hours.

53:04Tim Stillman: And I was thinking, no, you don't. You don't like those documentaries at all. We might find out who's injured and how long for, if we had that going on at the moment. But obviously, you know, what he was referring to was a kind of response after Bournemouth and the way the players, I think what he sort of intimated out was there was a bit of a sit down, a bit of a, some home truths were spoken. A reset. A reset, you know, which is just what you need. When something goes wrong, the words obviously are of small comfort to many people because ultimately it's what you do on the pitch that counts. You can talk the talk all you want, but you've got to walk the walk, etc., etc.

53:45Tim Stillman: Cliché, cliché, cliché. But I do think that aspect of the way we were internally, anyway, they responded to the Bournemouth game was quite interesting.

53:54Arseblog: Yeah, very. And I thought as in the pre-match press conference as well, like I really loved his answer. And I think sometimes, and I understand this because I kind of have this on the women's side where I am in those press conferences and asking those types of questions. I'm super conscious that like, you know, football media, et cetera, like is so online and we're so informed by what happens online. And actually the players and the coach are not in general, again, particularly on the women's side, Renee Slaggers, the most offline person I think I know. And so they're not, so, you know, again, like journalists in the room will be like, oh, you know, I've been on Twitter or whatever for like a week just looking at that.

54:44Arseblog: And this is all the stuff. And the players are just like, well, I'm not, like I'm not of that world. And so I loved Ezra's answer because he was asked about that and he was asked about all the noise. And I believe Ezra when he says this and he just said, don't care. Yeah, I don't care what anyone thinks. Yeah, just don't care. And like Ezra, he has the perfect like demeanor to deliver an answer like that as well, because you believe him when he says that. He's just like, don't care. Not interested. and and i think as much as obviously like because you can see that they're playing with pressure and and all of that so obviously like they are not completely immune to the external noise and stuff like that but like what people are saying online like i don't think that they're that into it you know and i think we make that mistake sometimes of thinking they live in the same world that some of us do um and that they you know live relentlessly in the take economy um and but it is interesting isn't it that the way that first question was framed to declan rice is how frustrating yeah was tonight and it's a bit like uh no not really because surely you saw our game plan and you saw that we probably executed our game plan pretty well and actually as much as one nil is not comfortable, we kind of looked quite comfortable for most of the night.

56:07Arseblog: And I'm not suggesting that that broadcaster was told to do that. I think that's a subconscious thing. Yeah, no, I agree. Arsenal, bad at the moment. And so that's the way the questions are framed. And I just don't think the players will be looking at it like that, even if they are probably feeling the pressure a little.

56:26Tim Stillman: One final thing. You mentioned Cup Winners' Cup in 1994. as a kind of formative experience for you. But I couldn't help this morning when I was just sort of thinking before we came on air, on air, or to record anyway. Do you see some parallels between this season and 2006 in the way that we're making progress through this competition at this stage, you know, a kind of tight quarterfinal, Spanish team in the semi-final the round of 16 you know was it Juventus that year the round of 16?

57:04Arseblog: Juventus in the quarterfinal

57:05Tim Stillman: you know so it was a it was a the home game was first wasn't it? we had a 2-0 at home 2-0 so we beat Barra Leverkusen 2-0 at home but we played that game obviously second but Juventus was a 0-0 away from home the Leverkusen game was a 1-1 obviously some parallels in that maybe as an attacking force that team was not quite the best that we've ever seen from Arsenal, even though Thierry Henry scored that iconic goal in the Bernabeu and all that. Whenever you have Thierry Henry, you've got incredible quality up front. But it was a season in which we made a Champions League record with that hodgepodge stuck together with duct tape back four that we had for most of that run.

57:53Tim Stillman: it was built on a sort of defensive platform and that kind of feels where we are now.

57:59Arseblog: Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think, but what's interesting where they don't match up is like you say, that was like very hotch potch. We threw something together and it worked. Whereas this feels a bit more like we've got two world-class centre-backs, you know, and we've got some really good full-backs and a really good goalkeeper, et cetera, et cetera. Whereas I also think the run to the final in 2006, kind of supercharged by the Real Madrid result, where we beat, by their standards, a quite poor iteration of Real Madrid. But when you beat a team like Real Madrid, you look at the badge, right? You don't look at the fact that actually this team, that Real Madrid team we beat was quite old, was at the end of its cycle.

58:45Arseblog: or the manager was, well, the manager's always going to get sacked, but et cetera, et cetera. So, you know, if you looked at it just head on, it probably wasn't the achievement we felt it was. But at the same time, it's like, oh my God, we've beaten Real Madrid. Like, we can do this. Whereas this has been much more serene, I think is probably the word, where right from the beginning, we've just looked like one of the best teams in this competition. I'm not going to pretend we look like the best team in this competition at the moment. However, with the Champions League, I don't think the best team in Europe always wins.

59:19Arseblog: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Surprisingly enough, I think we're close enough to that. I mean, I think we're in the conversation for best team in Europe, just not at this exact moment in time. Over the course of this season, we are. And what's interesting is we are the kind of ugly duckling of the four in terms of style, because all the others had, you know, great big basketball games with loads of incident and et cetera, et cetera. And we won 1-0 over two legs, and that was about right. I think 1-0 over two legs. I don't know what the XG was, but I don't think it'd be much higher than that, even across 180 minutes.

1:00:00Arseblog: And I think there is an argument that that probably works better in the Champions League than it does in the Premier League. I think in the Premier League, over a 38-game season, you need to be able to score a lot of goals, which we still have. We're still, I think, the top scorers in the league. But there is something, and again, maybe it's just like 1994 brain. There is something in me that just kind of says, you only have to win 1-0 over two legs. Like, 0-0 against sporting. As a league result, that would have killed us. But as a European result, it's fine. 1-1 in Leverkusen, as a league result, would have killed us.

1:00:40Arseblog: but in a two-legged tie is fine. So there is something in me that just wonders if we're reasonably well set up for two-legged football, which actually had been a weakness under Arteta, maybe. So maybe that's something we've amended and we fixed a little bit. But I do feel like sometimes those teams are the ones that do it and the teams that have lots of brilliant attackers and lots of exciting football don't. Sometimes they do as well, but I feel like we've got a real chance in this competition. I really do. It's going to be really difficult. Don't take anything for granted at all if we get through this semi-final, which I do not take for granted.

1:01:26Arseblog: We're going to play an amazing team in the final if we get there. It's going to be really hard, but I really do think we've got a chance here.

1:01:35Tim Stillman: Just to give you clarity on the XG thing, over the course of the two legs, Arsenal mustered about two XG, sporting just about one XG. So 1-0 to the Arsenal seems about right, as you say, and it's a pretty famous scoreline that we can all enjoy and live with as we look forward to a semi-final against Atletico Madrid. Right, we better leave it there, Tim. Thank you very much as always and we'll catch up soon.

1:02:00Arseblog: My pleasure as always.

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1:03:54Tim Stillman: Thank you very much indeed to Tim. You know where to find him in all the usual social media places, covering Arsenal women for Arseblog News, and of course, writing his column every week for Arseblog.com. So there you go. We're through to the Champions League semifinals. And now we have to look ahead to Sunday in what is potentially one of the biggest games in the recent history of this football club. We will hope for some good news on the injury front from Mikel Arteta when he meets the press tomorrow. And we'll talk about that game in much, much more detail in our preview podcast, which is available to our Patreon members.

1:04:34Tim Stillman: We do a preview podcast for all of our Premier League games. And if you're not a Patreon member, now is the perfect time to join. For just$6 a month plus sales tax, depending on where you are in the world, you get instant access to that podcast and everything that we have done on Patreon to this point. Beyond that, though, April is a month in which Arseblog, as I don't want to say an organization, but as a website, as a community, perhaps is a better way of putting it, tries to give something back to a world which is increasingly difficult and crazy and hard to take. So my feeling is that if you are in a position to do even a small amount to try and make it a better place, then it's incumbent on you to do that.

1:05:21Tim Stillman: And for the last number of years, that's exactly what we've done. We have donated every single penny since 2022 that we make in the month of April. We've donated every penny of that and more to good causes. So if you want to get some of that Patreon content and know that your subscription, even if it's just for one month, is going to help people all around the world, then you can sign up at patreon.com forward slash arseblog. Come May, you can delete, you can cancel your subscription. But in April, you'll get that content and you'll be helping. Just a little bit, but a little bit goes a long way in this day and age.

1:06:00Tim Stillman: And don't forget as well that we are aligned with our friends at the Arsenal Vision Podcast to raise funds for the Arsenal Foundation and for the incredible work that they do at the Zattery Refugee Camp in Jordan. So you'll find a link to that fundraiser in the show notes. And you can sign up, as I said, for our Patreon at patreon.com forward slash arseblog. And we will, of course, go into that Manchester City game in some depth. It's just all consuming, obviously. At this point, it's hard not to think of anything else and what the ramifications of a good result there might be. So please do join us for that.

1:06:38Tim Stillman: In the meantime, I just want to say thank you to all of you for being here, for listening, for subscribing, for downloading, for being part of this community. We all appreciate it a great deal. We're through to the semifinals of the Champions League. We can take a breath before we go again. For now, take it easy, folks, and we will catch you on the next one. Until then, cheers. Bye-bye.

1:07:11I'm out.

1:07:31Thank you.

1:08:07Tim Stillman: Welcome back to Sky Sports News. And it is devastation for Arsenal and Arsenal fans after the Champions League final in Budapest this evening. It did not go the way that Mikel Arteta would have planned. And the question now, of course, is what next for this team, for this manager and for this football club? Once again, the Gunners were toothless in attack, barely mustering a shot on the Bayern Munich goal. Victor Jokeres had just one touch of the ball and that was when he stood on it and fell over and smashed his nose into the grass. We tried to catch up with some of the players. Declan Rice, usually so willing to talk to the media, just wouldn't give us the time of day.

1:08:58Tim Stillman: To be fair, he was in the corner celebrating with all the Arsenal players and the Arsenal fans after Harry Kane's 89th minute own goal was enough to give the Gunners a 1-0 win and their first ever Champions League trophy. But we bought some brand new knives to stick in and we're determined to do that. So with me to analyse the game is former Spurs player and pundit Jamie Ohaha. Jamie, your thoughts? No! No!