Episode 880 - Fried Rice ...

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1:00right here on Arseblog.com. How are you? Hope you're well. Thank you very much indeed, as always, for being here. We are right, well, we're not slap-bang in the middle of a World Cup, but we're well and truly in the throes of a World Cup. At this point, I think every team has played a game, the 750 teams that are in this particular tournament. They've all played. There have been some big games, some big goals, some big scorelines, some surprising ones as well, and quite a bit of Arsenal interest along the way. So that's going to be the focus of this particular episode. A little bit later on, I'm going to be talking to Jacob from Poorly Drawn Arsenal.

1:42He's got a book out which is commemorating our title win. You know the one when Arsenal won the league in 25-26. He's put together a lovely little book on that. So we're going to talk about the book and give you a chance to win copies of the book. We'll also give you the winners of last week's competition where we have copies of a fantastic photo zine from Lower Block to give away. So we'll give you the winners of that and give you the chance to win one of Jacob's books as well. And we'll tell you where you can pre-order it as well. But that's to come. That's to come. Now we're just going to get on with it.

2:13We're going to talk World Cup. We're going to talk Arsenal players. We're going to talk Declan Rice and lots more besides. And with me to do that this morning is Lewis Ambrose. Good morning, Lewis. Good morning, Andrew. Have you been enjoying the World Cup so far? I tell you what, I've been dipping in and out, you know, I haven't been gorging on the World Cup. I've been snacking on the World Cup, if that makes sense, which is maybe not a bad thing. I often like, you know, when you're a kid or you saw movies or you read books and they would talk about a feast, you know, after a great battle, they would all sit down and have a feast.

2:51and it always sounds great but like a feast is too much you know you end up with indigestion you end up with you know stomach is you feel bloated it's too much whereas if you don't want you don't want world cup gout no that's exactly it i definitely do not want world cup gout and i won't be getting world cup gout based on the uh the watching that i've been doing but i've been snacking here and there i've been deliberately avoiding certain things for example i i did not choose to watch Portugal versus the Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday because I don't need more Bernardo Silva in my life or Cristiano Ronaldo or indeed Pedro Neto or perhaps a couple of other Portuguese players.

3:36Great result for Dior Congo. But every time I look at it, I just think Dr. Congo. But I know that's not what it is. Up there with Dr. Nick and Dr. Who as the great doctors, of course. A great result for them. But no, I couldn't watch that. But I did obviously watch England last night. And I've been watching the games that are on at a reasonable hour. In this part of the world, and you're obviously an hour ahead, given that you're in Berlin. So there's more time zone stuff for you to deal with. So, yeah, I've been enjoying what I've been seeing, generally speaking. So, yeah, what's your experience been like so far?

4:19Yeah, it's relatively similar.

4:23Lewis Ambrose: If the World Cup were happening here, then I would have, or here, I say here, in Europe or in a sort of more friendly time zone, then I definitely would have World Cup gout because you just, it's on so you just put it on and you you just watch football four games back to back but obviously that's not so easy when some of the games are as you say kicking off at sort of 3 a.m 4 a.m yeah even some of them you know 1 a.m it's maybe something i'd have watched a few years ago that is harder for me to try and stay up and watch yeah i'm more likely now and if i'd have told myself that five or six years ago to watch the games that are happening at 6 a.m the one than the ones what happening at 1am which is quite unbelievable to me even as i say it out loud now uh so yeah like but yeah similarly i i find i found that weird that element the sort of you there's no football until i think there's been a couple of days here in germany where there's been a game at 7 p.m yeah we've had a couple of like 5 or 6 p.m games the whole day almost until the world cup starts but you know then i've in the mornings i've been watching the been trying to watch the bbc you've got like a no spoilers uh highlights packages yeah so like on bbc.co.uk forward slash no spoilers they have uh just the thumbnails don't give anything away and it just says you know uzbekistan versus colombia highlights it's like an eight nine mill it uh highlight package for every game so i've been trying to watch those in the morning without knowing the scores for the for the games that are happening overnight here and that's been quite pleasant to kind of watch the highlights that doesn't really happen nowadays when i was younger you'd maybe watch match of the day and you'd not know all the scores and you'd not know who's going to score but when you do know the scores you know someone gets a corner and you're like oh i wonder if they're going to score from this one uh so it's nice to watch the highlights and every time there's a new clip, you don't know if it's going to end in a goal or not.

6:25Lewis Ambrose: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I've managed to watch quite a few games like that. And then, yeah, obviously the friendlier times, the 6 o 'clock, the 9pm, the occasional 10pm or midnight game, I've managed to hold on and watch those. And it has been enjoyable. There's been a healthy number of upsets. There's been plenty of games with lots of goals. Yeah. I think a World Cup's nice when all the big stars do well. as well like I think you kind of it's a bit disappointing when there's a world cup and you know like maybe like Mbappe doesn't look good or Messi doesn't score yeah I think it's quite nice that there's sort of the biggest names um have pretty much turned up already just one game in uh and yeah a healthy number of very competitive games and and surprise scorelines so I think all All of that, in combination with not forcing myself to stay up or get up at silly times to watch all of it, has made it more enjoyable than I expected it to be so far.

7:30I mean, one of the early kickoffs, one of the only early kickoffs, and I think there's a real inconsistency in the kickoff times, which is a little bit frustrating. Like, there should be a game every day at 5, at 8, at 11, whatever it is. It does feel like that. But because they're operating across three different time zones in North America, then that's obviously playing a part. So it is a little bit frustrating. But I did really enjoy the Spain game the other day. That was a 5 p.m. game here, and they're playing Cape Verde. And, you know, that was – I do think there are too many games. I think there are too many teams in it.

8:09And some of the fixtures, when you look at them, you're going, well, that's pretty uninspiring. I'm not going to stay awake. With all due respect to, you know, Iran and New Zealand, that's not a game that's going to make me stay awake, right? But I think one of the things that we all kind of enjoy about football is the underdog getting a result, right? And it doesn't really happen in the Premier League anymore. It can't happen in the Premier League because some teams are worse than others, right? But they're not underdogs. You can't be in the Premier League and be like an underdog unless, let's say, you're, I don't know, fucking Rotherham or something.

8:52And somehow you just put together this team that makes it all the way through. I mean, the chances of that happening, of course, are really slim. But basically, even the team that's bottom of the table has spent hundreds of millions of pounds putting together their squad and putting together their team. So by no means could they be classified in any way as a traditional sort of underdog. Whereas Spain versus Cape Verde, there is a very, very definite underdog in that particular game. And for them to come away from that one with a point, with some of the defending, some of the goalkeeping, heroic stuff, really, it's a kind of story I think that any football fan can connect with.

9:36And I'm sure people have seen the story about the goalkeeper. He's 40-odd and he's an Arsenal fan, apparently, which is great. And the defender, Roberto Lopez, known as Pico Lopez, he's from Dublin. He's like literally from just down the road from me here where I'm sitting right now. He's played his entire career in the League of Ireland, played for Bohemians and now plays for Shamrock Rovers, who are managed by Stephen Bradley, a former Arsenal youth player. he discovered via LinkedIn that he ignored it. He ignored it as you would, because like, what if it's that diary of a CEO wanker trying to get in touch with you?

10:17You know, they'll be like, I'm not, I'm not answering that, but he was sent a message on LinkedIn in Portuguese, message in Portuguese and ignored it. Cause I don't speak Portuguese. Yeah. And then like nine months later, I got another one and realized, Hey, I could have just put that into Google translate. But his dad, obviously his mom, his mom is from Dublin. And his dad is from Cape Verde, one of the Cape Verde islands. And he is 33 years of age at a World Cup, 88th minute. There's Oya Thabal of Real Sociedad. The ball comes across to him, has a shot on goal. And he pulls off a piece of like Gabriel-esque defending, a brilliant block to stick it over the bar.

10:59And I mean, stories like that, that's kind of the dream we all have as like, I don't want to do him a disservice, right? But let's say as a footballer who isn't at the very, very highest level, to be able to play and represent your country of origin, of your dad's origin, on the biggest stage in the world and to walk off that pitch with some of the players that Spain have and hold them to a draw. I mean, what a moment for that team and for that country. It's unbelievable.

11:33Lewis Ambrose: Yeah, that's like you say that with the Premier League, like you can't have a true David-Goliath clash. Like it's just a David and a smaller David. Pretty much 10. That's what 10 Premier League games are every weekend. There are some massive Davids and there are some other smaller ones and they play against each other. Teeny tiny Davids. yeah it it's uh it's great like you say a story like that that's it's sort of roy of the rovers type stuff almost like you couldn't make it up uh you know there's linkedin messages and and suddenly yeah he's like you say he's 33 and he's played his whole career in the league of island uh and then he's boiling roger's piss on the global stage that's the dream get that man the freedom of dublin give him the key to the city he's done it honestly uh yeah it's fantastic and i thought they were good value obviously spain dominated the ball and the shots but i thought they were good in that one i thought they're really good value for the for the draw as well like the goalkeeper 40 odd years old playing in the second tier in portugal and i think it's just all these these players you'd probably you just don't think you obviously grow up and dream of being a footballer who plays at the highest level um but you don't i guess you get to a certain age and you don't think you'll ever have the chance to share a pitch with laminya mal and pedri and yeah and those guys and not just share a pitch with them but then compete as well i think after the germany game at the weekend uh against curacao i think we all probably looked at that spain cape verde game and expected something similar to happen yeah And it's really good for the tournament, good for football, and as a fan, good for the feeling of watching it all, that that didn't happen.

13:30Lewis Ambrose: And hopefully it's not the last one that we have like that. You know, we've got Haiti playing Brazil in a couple of days. That could be another big shock if they were to sort of go toe-to-toe with them and hold them for as long as they can. And yeah, I think it's really great, these sorts of stories and results. And I don't love the new World Cup format. I think there are too many games. I think a real shame is that for Spain, for example, this isn't fatal. Like Spain can draw against Cape Verde and kind of as humiliating, embarrassing, whatever. Like they obviously should win that game. But they can kind of shrug their shoulders and go, nah, it doesn't matter.

14:17Lewis Ambrose: I was like, we'll be fine anyway. There's a good chance teams get through with three draws in this group stage. However, it's nice to see the result happen. And even if I would like it to have a bit more weight to it, it doesn't take the shine off of the achievement for Cape Verde. No, no, not at all. I mean, listen, we remember, of course, Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia in the first game of the last World Cup and they went on to win it. I mean, do you think there is an element of that when it comes to this expanded tournament that, you know, it can be presented in one way as sort of more inclusive and getting more teams in it?

14:57And you have these amazing moments for countries like Cape Verde and Curacao who had their moment against Germany until such time as the hydration break broke their rhythm and Germany came storming back. Like, you know, there is, I think, you know, a good argument to be made that for those players and for those countries, it's very special to be involved in a World Cup. But at the same time, the format is designed in a way that allows the big teams to get away with something if something like, you know, what happened with Spain happens.

15:33Lewis Ambrose: Well, we've had it. This is unfortunately the way that football keeps going. On that Curacao one, by the way, when you talk about them having that moment, I saw a clip as a German news reporter speaking to, I don't know if it was in Curacao or I'm guessing it was outside the stadium, speaking to a woman like, you know, draped in a Curacao flag after the game. And just the most ridiculous question, this reporter, this German reporter just asked, like, why do you think you couldn't win? Where do you think it went wrong today? and the i just loved the response the woman from curacao laughed and said didn't win we scored a goal against germany we won yeah yeah yeah we're at the world cup and we scored a goal against germany but we won yeah it's all relative obviously it's ridiculous um where did it all go wrong i mean you know you know what do you think the problem was today why couldn't you why couldn't you win or something like that are you serious it's i mean the country's the size of a small german town is probably where the answer lies uh but yeah we have seen football trend that way that look at the champions league the expanded champions league as well suddenly uh real madrid psg over the last couple of years different times manchester city have had horrible runs for two three four games in this champions league eight team phase where more teams go through than ever and you just get more chances a second a third a fourth chance if you if you do mess up if you do have a really shocking performance a really bad couple of results you know i think the old champions league group stage if you started badly with you know kind of two defeats you'd be fighting tooth and nail for the last four games to try and get the points to get over the line and that's not the case anymore and i think unfortunately that is you know what we have here with the with the world cup you know germany have gone out in the group stage of the last two world cups and go for the recent years we've also recent world cups so you go back sort of since the start of the century and we've seen france as holders go out in the group stage we've seen spain as holders go out in the group stage uh and and then germany again in 2018 then again uh in qatar it i I think it's a shame that these teams who have more resources, players at the absolute top level in terms of club football, now have the opportunity to mess up and not pay the price.

18:08Lewis Ambrose: Because it's, well, you know, as long as you win one of your three games, you'll be fine. I'd like to see more. And I think maybe that will come into it. We said it's been a really good start to the World Cup. Maybe when you get to the end of the group stage, that lack of jeopardy will tell in terms of the entertainment factor in some of the games and whether or not more upsets carry any weight or as much weight with them. So, yeah, I would like to see it done differently. But, you know, FIFA want to make sure that all the big names are in the knockout rounds because then more people keep watching.

18:44Well, that's it. Well, I mean, as well, the fact that there are more games means there's more advertising and more sponsorships, and it's a bigger commercial package. So if you want to sponsor, then you're sponsoring however many games, 48 games, 90 games, 100 and what? I don't know how many games are going to be in this World Cup, but a lot. And obviously there are the sort of hydration breaks. I wanted to ask you before we talk about France, I want to ask about France and I want to talk about England, obviously, because the Arsenal boys were involved to a large extent there. What has the German television experience been like when it comes to the hydration breaks?

19:21Because last night, RTE, to their shame, cut to an ad break halfway through the first half of the England-Croatia game when there was the hydration break. Which, you know, we keep calling hydration breaks. We should call them ad breaks because that's what they are, essentially. That's what their purpose is. You know, they dress it up as, well, the players need a drink. the weather, I think if the weather is sufficiently hot, it makes a lot of sense. When it's 19 degrees and drizzling, it does not make any sense to me whatsoever.

19:53Lewis Ambrose: When they're playing in air-conditioned stadiums. Air-conditioned indoor stadiums with the roof closed, it does not make any sense to me. And we can all understand why. So have German TV remained pure or have they embraced FIFA's nefarious ways, Gianni Infantino's ongoing destruction of the game of football? Are they complicit in the madness like RTE are here in Ireland? And I say boo to them. Or have they sort of stuck? I mean, it's three minutes as well. You don't need three minutes. Well, that's another thing. When you say we should refer to it as an ad break, if it was truly for a moment to get a drink of water or whatever, it would be a one-minute break.

20:34Lewis Ambrose: It's also now a tactical break for the managers, for the coaching staff. But at the same time, they've told you, they've said when the goalkeeper goes down injured, you're not allowed to gather at the bench and get advice from the coaches. Yeah. You're not allowed these sneaky tactical breaks because the goalkeeper pretends he's got a bit of cramp or something. You're allowed to have them halfway through every half. Hurry up taking that throw in because we want the game to move. We want the game to be fast. We want it to be exciting. Hang on a minute. Here's a three-minute break for no fucking good reason whatsoever.

21:03Young people nowadays, Andrew, they don't have the attention span to watch 90 minutes of football. but let's stick an extra break in the middle of each other drives me fucking mad i know there are there there are issues right and attention spans and all that kind of uh you know i routinely see young people uh at games of football watching the 90 minutes with little or no problem you know at games or also watching on tv you know i think this idea that that the the new generation of football fans need to be the game needs to be modified for them i think it's insulting to everybody else also insulting to them you know that's just crazy it is crazy anyway german tv they've um they've they've kind of taken a half half approach right i would say so uh

21:53Lewis Ambrose: so it's you know it's like i don't know what's going on in in the uk i know that i know itv aren't showing adverts i know bbc don't show adverts anyway but i don't know if they're cutting away to like something else so like in germany there's been maybe during a couple of games they won't show any during the first game and in the second game they'll show not an advert during the first half but the broadcaster will be like download our app with like a little cutaway scene like download our app so you can catch all the highlights of the games you miss so it's like a little you know highlights package on the screen or you know they're advertising their own app it's not like adverts yeah yeah which is i don't like it it's a slightly different thing but i still don't like it i want the camera to remain on the football pitch for 90 minutes of football uh yeah i so i'm i they found like a sort of halfway house i guess yeah and they're not doing it during every break but but isn't i mean i was watching qatar uh qatar against switzerland and i think it was the second half and qatar are a goal down and all 22 players are back on the pitch about two minutes into the three minute break um uh two and a half minutes and the goalkeeper has a free kick guy outside the box the qatari goalkeeper and he's standing there waiting to take it and the ref wouldn't let him take it until the three minutes were up it's like it's player welfare but the players have gone they're hydrated they're back on the pitch that all 22 of them are standing there waiting to continue playing and the ref had his arm in the air for a good 20 seconds no no not yet we're not ready yet i mean if you needed any more evidence that this is not about the players No.

23:47Or the football at all. No, it's not. And I think it is a bad development in the game. I know I read somewhere this week that UEFA have said that is not something that we will do in our tournaments. I do think there was a break in the Champions League final, wasn't there, in both halves? A little bit of a drinks break.

24:08Lewis Ambrose: Was that due to the, with the temperature? I think it was maybe to do with the temperature, and that's, you know, I get it. But this is something different, something a little more pernicious. I think you said already as well, I've got nothing. When it's 30-odd degrees and the ref sensibly 25 minutes into the game wants to blow the whistle, point to the benches, and then the players can quickly go and grab a bottle and then get back on the pitch and start whenever they're all ready again. They've all had a bit of something to drink, a few seconds to catch their breath, whatever. I've got no problem with that.

24:41Lewis Ambrose: I think it's absolutely fine. mandating it to last three minutes no matter what the weather is that it just doesn't make any sense no it doesn't it doesn't it's bad um and i think we need to call it out we need to keep calling it out um because you know unless we do that it becomes normal and if it becomes normal it becomes just part of the game and we do not need football to go that direction you know 45 minutes is not really a long time you know you can manage 45 minutes without a fucking advert um it's an interesting it's interesting to see the those sort of momentum shifts as well like i can't imagine a lot of the players i imagine are quite unhappy with you know you're on top yeah yeah you know you know when you're battering a team but you can't quite you're creating chances they're pending their own box and then it's half time and you're like ah i wish it wasn't half time i wish if they'd give us five more minutes, we'd just try to get that goal.

25:36That's now happening in both halves of every single game. On the flip side, obviously, some of those games in the past 10 years when we've been at Anfield or Manchester City, and you're kind of holding on for dear life against these waves of Jurgen Klopp attacks. I'd have loved a break in the half to interrupt them. But it's not fair. It's not how it should be played. And if you've earned that momentum and you're pinning a team back and you're coming with wave after wave of attack,

26:13Lewis Ambrose: knocking on that door, it doesn't feel sort of fair in a sporting sense to then have like an artificial break that stops all of that. And then it shifts completely. I agree. Let's talk France for a minute because obviously I think when you look at a squad in terms of pure talent, at least pure attacking talent. They're the one that really sort of stand out to me. And the first half against Senegal wasn't brilliant. It all felt a bit Didier Deschamps. And then France did away with Deschamps. Didier away with Deschamps? I don't know. Anyway, they sort of played with a lot more freedom. Obviously, they moved Michael Alisse into a slightly different position.

26:59And, you know, he's a player, I think, many football fans, whether they were Arsenal fans or not, coveted when he was at Crystal Palace because he's just so exciting and so good. And he was really instrumental in the way that they pulled the strings. And, you know, there was one where, not for the first time, Kylian Mbappe just didn't quite get there. The touch wasn't brilliant. It was a brilliant run and pass from Alise. But Alise provided a pass and Mbappe scored a goal. And it sort of opened up a little bit there. Were you impressed by second half France in that game?

27:33Lewis Ambrose: By second half France, yeah. As you said, at least there's always this problem, if you like, at international level, when you're trying to squeeze your best players in. And having Ousmane Dembélé play kind of behind Kylian Mbappe doesn't look like a natural fit to me. you know I think if you watch PSG I could easily imagine Dembélé playing with Mbappé if say Mbappé was out wide but he's not, he's playing through the middle Dembélé's also in the middle of the pitch it's not it's not quite the combination that maybe France would want it to be with those two players, Alise put him on the wing centrally he's a player who creates and makes things happen you know for other players and facilitates that and looks for the movement of others.

28:28Lewis Ambrose: And I think that's more what suits Kylian Mbappe, definitely, as a sort of... Or that service. Elise is fantastic. He's been fantastic for Bayern Munich the last couple of years, this season especially. And Mbappe... If the first half was a disappointment, then the second half screamed, excuse me, don't forget how good I am. excuse me uh yeah uh you know the the give me the ball and watch me make things happen it really looked like a to me a superstar player kind of deciding taking over and deciding yeah i've had enough of this sure i'm gonna make sure we win this game and i'm annoyed that that first half wasn't good i know what you're going to be saying about me and you will not be saying it come full-time uh mbappe's had a weird couple of years since joining real madrid and there's weird there's a weird i think vital vocal minority at real madrid who don't seem particularly happy with him uh and i understand that you can frustrate with the with the work rate and and all that but they did the goal record he scored 40 42 goals in 40 something games for real madrid this season in competitions like it's not it's one thing if he's not scoring goal if he's not working hard and he's not tracking back and then he's not scoring goals it's one thing but when he's scoring you know a goal the game i find the complaints a little bit surprising and and yeah i mean he's he turned he turns it on whenever it's the world cup yeah that's personally that's one of those things that i that i'm very happy to see a world cup like i want to see the best of killian mbappe at a world cup with the exception of one portuguese man in particular uh i do not buy into the sort of schadenfreude when the best players in the world or biggest players in the world uh struggle to perform a world cup it's the world cup i'm sitting down i want to see the best teams and the best players play their absolute best and enjoy that uh i think it's the you know just the size of the stage sort of demands that and the the fact that these games more than you know league games certainly and and a lot of champions league these games will be in history forever and looked back on you know Mbappe is one of the best players in the world and I very much enjoyed the fact that when it's a world cup he he turns up and gives his best football uh you know it's it feels it feels right that he does and yeah the first half didn't look like that the second half As I say, I felt like he took control of the game to a large extent.

31:19Two goals and an assist. Two goals and an assist. Almost won a penalty. I mean, I think that's a penalty. I'm sorry. I saw a lot of differing opinions on this. Yeah, I did enjoy a little bit the sort of, like the absurdity of the ref going in. Because I thought it was a penalty too. So I think at the very least it's obstruction.

31:43Lewis Ambrose: Like he can't keep sprinting into the box because the guy slides across him, even if you don't think there's much or enough contact there. But I did enjoy, yeah, the absurdity almost of the ref going over to check the screen. And then I'm watching it thinking, oh, it would definitely be a penalty now then. And then he just goes, oh, it's not a corner because he didn't touch the ball. So I guess I'm going to give a goal kick now. Yeah, he said something about how the attacker initiated the contact. And I'm like, well, I think that's a generous interpretation from a Senegal perspective. Anyway, I think that would have been a penalty.

32:17But look, you know, you mentioned the biggest players in the world and the best players in the world. And Mbappe is obviously one of those. And he's on two goals and an assist. 14 goals in 15 World Cup games and sort of right behind. Obviously, it was close as record.

32:36Lewis Ambrose: Messi's matched it with that hat trick against Algeria. I was going to come to Messi. And, you know, a slight aside on that, I think one of the things that I have enjoyed in this World Cup are the goals from distance. And we all love one that flies in the top corner. And we've seen quite a few of those. Obviously Mbappe, Messi's first goal was like, what the fuck? You know, the Austrian guy scored one the other night. There have been a few, you know, from distance, which I think are always really enjoyable. But Messi, listen, I'm not sure that Zinedine Zidane's son is the best goalkeeper I've ever seen.

33:15Just throwing that out there. Nevertheless, Lionel Messi doing what he does, that first goal was amazing. The second goal, he's on the spot, keeper spills it, and he tucks home the rebound. The third goal is just the most messy goal you've ever seen in your life where, I'm sure I've said this before, is that sometimes you see a player score a goal and they make it look so easy, you go, why don't you just do that all the time? And actually, Lionel Messi is one of the players who does that all the time. There's a sort of superpower, pace and precision in terms of the finishing that he has that he makes look so, so simple.

33:53And you're looking at it going, maybe the goalkeeper should save that. And then you look at it again, you go, actually, no. He's actually leathered it right into the corner. There's no way a goalkeeper is saving that. and the best goalkeepers in the world, you know, and across Europe and in Spain, have been trying to keep out Lionel Messi shots for years and years and not done very well with that, you know. But amazing hat-trick for him at 38 years of age, which is obviously just the right side of, you know, where you're still effective as a player, regardless of your career history. Yeah, he turns 39 next week or the week after, during the tournament at some point.

34:32he turns 39 until then though he remains 38 he does that's how it works that's how it works I was really looking forward to seeing Messi at this tournament because I think like

34:47Lewis Ambrose: a lot of people especially in Europe this is the longest in 20 years that I've basically gone without seeing Lionel Messi I've seen clips of you know oh look at this goal he scored look at this this pass this assist you know you wake up in the morning after an MLS game and you'll maybe see something flash across your screen and see a goal that he scored the night before. But I haven't sat down and watched Lionel Messi play football for longer than any period in the last 20 years. And I didn't know whether you'd see just sort of little glimpses of the talent. And there was a lot more than a glimpse of the talent the other day.

35:30And why wouldn't there be? For 20 years, Lionel Messi has defied everything that any footballer before him ever managed to achieve. And now he's 38. And as with everything else, time doesn't seem to have had the same effects on him that it might have on others. You watch Mohamed Salah in the Premier League this season.

35:54Lewis Ambrose: And I think if you take that position in football over the last 10 years, Mohamed Salah is the only one, and maybe Arjen Robben at times at his best, that can come anywhere close to looking a bit like Lionel Messi in their very, very best moments. And Mohamed Salah doesn't look like his best anymore. And you could tell that over the course of the last year. Lionel Messi obviously isn't at his best anymore but still manages to have those decisive moments in a World Cup match not just one or two of them but three I was really heartened to wake up and see that he'd scored his hat-trick and I couldn't wait there's something about Messi that just brings out a childish excitement I saw that Messi had scored and I couldn't wait to watch the goals and watch him stroll around a football pitch and, as you say, so casually plant the ball into the corner over and over again, like we've watched so many times over the past couple of decades.

37:02Yeah, a great start for him, obviously, and for Argentina and a very good start for England. It was a bit of a mad game, this one, I thought, last night. First half in particular was quite odd. England have the biggest Arsenal contingent at the World Cup with four players, Declan Rice, Nani Madueke, Bakayo Saka and Eberachie Eza. Two of those started last night. Declan Rice, as you would expect, Nani Madueke on the right-hand side. Bakayo Saka's minutes are being managed. There's also potentially Morgan Rodgers, who could be an Arsenal player before the summer is out as well as part of this England squad.

37:44and he came on. Listen, there was a lot going on in this game. Matuweke won a penalty. Luka Modric, not really aware of where he was, tried to clear the ball, kicked Matuweke instead. Harry Kane stepped up and it was saved. I like this quote this morning. I saw this where he said, when I watch clips of the goalkeeper, I saw he likes to move early, so I knew there was a chance that if I did the stutter run up, he would come off his line.

38:17all part of the plan yeah he's gonna come off his line save it and then i'm gonna do him second time around listen i i i can see that the goalkeeper yeah i think if you do the stutter run up the goalkeeper should be given some leeway i know there was another element to this as well because i think it's kvartial who encroaches and clears the ball and maybe that's part of why it was retaken but I do think if you are a penalty taker and you do the you do the stutter because you want the goalkeeper to move I think there should be some leeway for the goalkeeper to come off his line a little bit you know it feels harsh to me that if you're like two inches off your line because the the penalty taker has done a little to see if you're going to move and then you move like that's what he wants you to do right so I think you you do away with the coming off the line thing if you do the stutter run-up that said you know there is a a part of me that just thinks hit the ball in the bottom corner as hard as you can you know victor it's very strange to see harry kane do that because he doesn't normally take penalties like that yeah he's kind of started

39:23Lewis Ambrose: doing it uh by munich the the star he's like introduced introduced that but i do you think it's because he's bored he gets so many fucking penalties i just want i wondered when he started doing it he scores all of them so why are you changing your approach or your technique like it's not like he's changed it because he had a bad penalty record he scores basically every single penalty that he gets he has an incredible record from he's scored 108 penalties in his career that is ridiculous that is that is absurd that is too many that can't be far off like an average of 10 a season. I'm guessing because we're going back as far as actually I'm looking at transfer marked right now.

40:10So it's going back as far as like they include one in the 2010 European under 17 championships, but we can forget about that. But even if you go back as far as 2014, 15 in the premier league, he took his first premier league penalty in 2015 in January, 2015. So it's pretty much took all of those in the last like 11 years. Yeah. That's ridiculous. So it's like 10, I guess, including shootouts as well. But still like 10 penalties a year is crazy.

40:44Lewis Ambrose: Look, I don't know why he does the run up now because he, as I say, he had an incredible record. He has an incredible record from penalties. But I do agree that it's like the offsides when it's like, you know, the old like toenail offside or whatever. It's like, obviously, you're going to have the rule with the line and the goalkeeper. It doesn't matter that he's only just off his line, but it was so marginal that it did kind of feel a little bit harsh. I just think with penalties, I don't understand rules that weigh them even more in the favour of the attacker. Yes. A penalty is an 80 % chance of scoring a goal.

41:28Lewis Ambrose: it's really hard for a goalkeeper already the punishment often doesn't fit the crime like Noni Maduike is trying to control the ball in midair on the edge of the box with about 15 players between him and the goal when Modric makes minor contact the punishment does not fit the crime that that foul leads to an 80 % chance to score a goal and then with the encroachment, the goalkeeper off the line thing, you're then making it even harder for the goalkeeper to sort of fight those odds. So I don't know how you fix that, fix those things. Maybe you just outlaw the starter run-ups or something. Like you said, if you want to have the goalkeeper on the line, then ban the starter run-ups completely and say that's not allowed.

42:18Didn't they do that in the past, like where players were running and stopping and it has to be one motion? Yeah, they said you can't completely stop. But that doesn't ever happen. A player never completely freezes halfway through their run-up, right? They kind of continue to just slowly move forward as they do that sort of thing.

42:46Lewis Ambrose: How Pogba used to take a 20-metre walk-up to his penalties, basically, and start like miles away from the ball and just slowly walk towards the ball and then roll it towards one of the corners. It's like, well, I mean, he's not stopping, but it's also not really in the spirit of how you're supposed to take a penalty, I don't think. I don't know. It felt harsh. Like the foul was already, it's a foul, it's a penalty. But to get such a big chance of scoring a goal for such a kind of minor infringement and then to get the chance to retake the penway after it's missed. Yeah, did feel a little bit unfair.

43:26Lewis Ambrose: But I also don't think in the grand scheme of things, as mad as the game was as well, I don't think it would have made much difference. Croatia came back well after conceding those first two goals, but I thought generally speaking, England were clearly the much, much better side. This is a very old Croatia. Maybe the team as a whole is not old, but sort of the star players of the previous tournaments when they've gone really far, Perisic, Modric, Kovacic came off the bench. These are all players very much at the end of their careers, now Modric and Perisic especially. So I don't think England would have struggled over the course of the 90 minutes to get the result anyway, in all likelihood.

44:09But they obviously got a little bit of help.

44:12Lewis Ambrose: Well, I guess from the goalkeeper, because the ref technically was just doing what he had to do. Yeah, I mean, Arsenal players involved and three assists, I guess. Madweka won the penalty. Declan Rice got an assist. I mean, the idea that one of Europe's most prolific strikers remains completely unmarked in your box from a corner seems a bit odd to me from a tactical perspective. Not that I'm Johnny Tactics, but, you know, I would seek to mark Harry Kane from a corner if I were the manager of Croatia. But what do I know? Bakayo Saka off the bench set up a goal for Marcus Rashford, very nicely taken goal, which made it 4-2.

44:54And I think on the basis of the second half display in particular, England were well and truly on top. You know, the third goal, I think the Croatian defence can have a little bit of, another little bit of introspection because the defender who I think should just go across and block Bellingham, he decides to just run away from him and track Matueke. I think you've got to take the gamble that if the ball gets to Matueke, maybe the keeper makes a save and you as the defender can block Bellingham. He finished it very nicely, obviously, into the far corner. But Declan Rice is a point of discussion this morning because he came off.

45:33Thomas Tuchel said, Declan had some unusual ball losses and I saw a bit of discomfort. Then I asked him, he pointed to his lower back and upper hamstring that he feels discomfort. I didn't want to take any risks. And if I take Declan off, which I never want to do, it was the moment to protect him. Declan reassured me at the end, it's good, it's good. I know the discomfort will take care of it. It's nothing big to worry about. But if Declan Rice is signaling, I've got to come off because my back is sore and my hamstring is sore. Like, listen, I know there are England fans who will be listening to this.

46:11My concern is not so much about what it might mean for England in the World Cup. My concern is obviously what it might mean for Arsenal. Going into the start of next season and, you know, sort of broadening this out, to what extent do you think it's something Mikel Arteta has got to think about very, very carefully when he thinks about how next season starts for Arsenal? Because potentially England could go a long way in this tournament because they've got a lot of good players. They've got a smart manager. They've got a very good, as much as it pains me to say it, they've got a very good goal scorer up front, right?

46:43So the potential for them to go a long way in this tournament is obvious. I looked at Declan Rice's numbers, the minutes he's played, basically 5 ,000 minutes this season between Arsenal and England, which is the equivalent of 55 90-minute games. And I would posit that Declan Rice does 90 minutes in a different way from many other players in terms of the energy he expends and the ground he covers and how committed he is and how far he runs and just how involved he is the whole way. So I think 55-90s for Declan Rice, it's more than, let's say, 55 for, I don't know, Lionel Messi, right, who isn't running around the pitch despite the quality he still has.

47:34So if he's kind of struggling already after one game in this World Cup, does that make Mikel Arteta think about what he has to do in the transfer market and what he has to do with the composition of his midfield? Because Rice is fundamental to this Arsenal team. I don't know that you go out and you get another Declan Rice, but you've got to find a way to give him and some of the other players, obviously, you know, Matueke, for example, didn't play anywhere near as much in terms of minutes, you know, so it's not the same. His season might be as long, but the minutes are not the same. But Rice was somebody who was on the pitch every time he could be on the pitch for Arsenal last season.

48:16And we might have to face a situation where in the early part of next season, we have no choice as a football club but to give him a rest and to ease him back into action carefully in order to get the best out of him between whenever that happens and the end of May. but also to make sure that whatever he's feeling doesn't become chronic, right? Yeah, Arsenal are going to have to, one way or another, at some point next season, play well without Declan Rice.

48:51Lewis Ambrose: For me, that's just self-explanatory. This will not be able to continue forever, that he just can play that much football. It's an insane amount of football. you know I think we've seen Nani Maduweke by the way played the Club World Cup obviously in play every minute as well but he also had the Club World Cup last summer I think if we're talking of England going far in this World Cup then Arsenal might have to start next season without Declan Rice, Bakayi Osaka and Nani Maduweke and Eberichieza regardless how many minutes they play at the World Cup they're still training every day they'll need a break, all of them.

49:39Lewis Ambrose: So... Mattaweke, by the way, has like 2 ,250 minutes less on the pitch for Arsenal than Declan Rice last season. Yeah, the minutes obviously, you know, in terms of injuries and legs. But I think, you know, there's still mental fatigue and he's not on holiday, right? I think if you look at Premier League Player of the Year, Bruno Fernandes, over the course of the season, and played 15, like if you take the minutes, 15 full games less than Declan Rice. Right. It's an insane amount of football that he's played. And he's a player who, as you say, gives everything all the time. I remember sort of going back like 10 years now, when we lost on the opening day of the season to West Ham.

50:27Lewis Ambrose: And Alexis Sanchez was on the bench that day and came on. And he played and I think won the Copa America with Chile that summer. So had not had much of a break at all. I think sort of wasn't expected to play against West Ham, did play against West Ham. But he had, Arsenal had, and he had a really slow start to that season. And I think you're looking at that too. If you aren't going to give these players a break or ease them in at the start of next season, It could be someone else, right? It could be Zubemendy and Marino at the end of the World Cup. Someone's going to have to play. If we get a Spain-England final, someone's going to play in Arsenal midfield in August.

51:14Marino, Rice, Zubemendy, Kai Havertz could go far. Martin Odegaard could get to the latter stages, who knows, at this competition.

51:23Lewis Ambrose: Arsenal are going to have to, I think, lean into getting as many minutes in the first weeks of the season as possible into players like Myles Lewis-Skelly and Riccardo Calafuri, who haven't had to deal with this workload in the summer on top of all the football that we played. Maybe not those individuals, but as a club that we played last season. I think that's going to be crucial. It's going to be, hopefully, by then, Uri and Timber and or Ben White are OK, and then you've got a couple of players there at the back who haven't played at this World Cup. Do you think it might influence...

52:28Lewis Ambrose: the opportunity to but it's going to be difficult you know arsenal going to have another busy summer we think you're going to bed new players in you want them to link up and create relationships on the pitch with their new teammates and then that's going to be hard too if you've got you know a new player deklin rice partnered with someone else in midfield but then they're not really playing together much until september then you've got a sort of a bedding in period for that relationship that partnership or you know on the left wing if there's a new left winger and and rice is playing that left eight role and the link up between the two of them the more that you don't put these players in in august you know you might have fresher players in september but also players who have to get up to speed with each other in september or october so it's going to be a an interesting challenge for a manager who over the last few years one of the biggest criticisms and questions has been how well does he rotate?

53:23How well does he change the team from week to week? How well does he not just stick with the thing that works but trust players who are maybe on the fringes of the side?

53:33Lewis Ambrose: There's going to be a big thing, I think, at the start of next season if England, Spain, Germany with Kai Havertz, if they go as far as we think some of those teams will go. France, Brazil, potentially as well with Saliba, Gabriel. In Saliba's case, talk of him. Playing through a knock at the World Cup, you know, I'm kind of already thinking that we won't see him at the start of next season because he'll have to, you know, finally have that dealt with. Yeah, maybe so. And listen, there's this sort of weird sort of counterintuitive in a way because the best players, you know, from the established footballing nations, right, are at the World Cup with their countries for the most part.

54:13but maybe it's a summer where if you're looking at bringing players in you want to try and bring in players who haven't been overburdened by a long season then a world cup and who then need holidays like you could sign a player at the end of the world cup soon as the world cup's over you can have the deal done it's all like let's say just morgan rogers for example and imagine that deal is done pretty soon after the World Cup is done and it's announced he still needs two three

54:43Lewis Ambrose: weeks holidays I think Morgan Rodgers by the way played even more minutes than Declan Rice over the past couple of seasons for Aston Villa like you you think obviously obviously they won the Europa League um and you think of Morgan Rodgers and you think maybe he's not playing that much when they're playing the Europa League games uh he played as many minutes he played 15 times he started 12 Europa League games this season. So I think he's, who scored have, like, and I think sometimes their sort of definition of the season is a little bit wonky, depending on like where international fixtures were placed and stuff.

55:19Lewis Ambrose: Who scored have Morgan Rodgers as making 67 appearances for England and for Aston Villa? Oh, yeah, for England and Villa. Yeah, 55 domestic appearances for Rodgers with 4 ,564 minutes. Declan Rice, 55 domestic appearances, or domestic and continental appearances for Arsenal. 4 ,456 minutes. So he played like five full games more than Declan Rice and if you're expecting Arsenal to go into next season and if Arsenal do get a deal done, if they do sign Morgan Rodgers for argument's sake, you're asking a player to come in and perform quickly with a big price tag and And he will have even more football in his legs than Declan Rice does right now.

56:08I think you can definitely, like you say there, make an argument for next season. The start of the season, it's going to be important to rely on players who haven't played at this World Cup. That's why I mentioned your Calafuri Lewis Skelly. and signing very, very gifted players, but who have also played at the World Cup is going to be tricky when August comes around,

56:33Lewis Ambrose: I think, if we're looking to get off to a good start to the season. Well, it's a challenge for Mikel Arteta and it's going to be a challenge, not just for Mikel Arteta though, for many managers and for many teams who've got players at this World Cup. So we'll see how it all plays out. Obviously, there's still quite some distance to go in this tournament because of all the games and because of all the teams involved. But for now, we better leave it there. Lewis, thank you very much indeed, as always. Thank you. Have a good one.

57:03We'll be right back.

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58:27Thank you very much indeed to Lewis. You can find him on Blue Sky. He is at lgambrose.bsky.social, at lgambrose.bsky.social. Now, on last week's show, we gave you the opportunity to win a photozine from Lower Block. It's called Arsenal Champions again, 25-26, packed with colour photographs of the parade and all the celebrations, the fortnight of celebrations around Arsenal winning the Premier League title. They're by photographer Orlando Gilley. And Lower Block gave us a couple to give away. I asked you as a question, how many people are on the front cover? The answer was three. And the winners are, as chosen by the random number generator, Mike Abeta and Paul O'Murhoo.

59:12So I will give you guys, I'll drop you guys an email. Well, we'll get your details and then we'll get those prizes sent out to you. The rest of you, if you want to order it, you will find a link in the show notes. And one of the things that I've been meaning to do since we won the title, but I've been a bit laid low, laid low, laid low, laid low, laid low, laid low. I've been sick, right? So I haven't really had the energy to do it, but I'm trying to put it together right now is to collate the best independent and unofficial merchandise that's celebrating our title win. So it's badges and books and posters and T-shirts and whatever else is out there.

59:55I'm going to put a post together on arseblog.com so you can have a look at those things and you can decide, ooh, I quite like that. I'll buy one of those because you can never get too much of arse winning the title, if you ask me. but one of the things that's out there or will be out there very soon is a book by our good friend Jacob from poorly drawn arsenal uh he's put together a book uh commemorating our title win with many of his drawings and little bits and bobs in there and I'm delighted to say he's with us this morning good morning Jacob good morning Andrew thanks for having me my pleasure to have you on again and obviously it's uh it's a fun time it's been a fun time how have you been uh enjoying it over the last month uh yeah still definitely enjoying it still uh probably on cloud nine uh pinching pinching myself i guess is the way to say sure you know having a tough time believing that it all happened but it did which is great it definitely all happened and you have put together a book which is called after review you don't have the uh soundtrack of chris kavanagh But it's after review, the 25-26 Arsenal season.

1:01:03And this, I'm going to hand over to you to sort of explain what the book is. And we've got a couple of copies to give away. We'll give people details of how they can win that in a moment. But what is this book? And what was it like putting it together and sort of getting everything together over the course of the last few weeks, bringing together everything that's happened over the season? Yeah. I'm realizing now that you played that little audio clip. What I should have done is, you know those birthday cards where you open up and it plays a little bit of music? What I should have done is you open it up and it just says, after review.

1:01:34Yeah. Done. So apologies that I didn't think of that beforehand. Okay. Well, you know. Next time. Next time. So it's a book with 60-plus drawings from this season featuring probably a drawing from almost every match. There are matches where I was like, no, not drawing that. Yeah. I get it. Yeah. Like, I think, theoretically, I guess we were in a final around January, February. I've completely blocked that out of my mind. That's not in the book. But, yeah, so it's just a series of 60 drawings. Not a lot of words in there because I know write so good.

1:02:18But, yeah, it's just little doodles that I did over the course of, you know, the entire season. Good and bad is in there. uh and then there are drawings that um have not there's a weird way of saying it but released to the public there are drawings like specifically that are in this book um that i did not put my posts anywhere sure so yeah just a little way of hopefully commemorating the season uh in my little weird brain yes you know in your own well i was gonna say inimitable but i guess some people could emit it is that's the right word i no talk so good either uh this morning but i love some of the details obviously having seen it and i'm not going to give anything away but there are you know small details in some of the drawings which are great you know which i think capture the essence of some of the players that are involved in those small moments and they must be kind of fun to do as well you know little i guess sort of easter eggs within the drawings themselves that are probably there just to amuse you as much as anything else but which are obviously uh you know fun to to catch when you see them yeah i would say uh i would say at least 90 of this book is just to make myself laugh um uh you know whenever i post something online that has a somebody has like a tattoo on them or something everyone's always looking for the little details in the tattoo because I love putting little tiny things in details in tattoos.

1:03:55For an example, you might know that there was a player that let's say played their butt off this season. Really, you know, put their tush in motion. Anyway, the tattoo on this player's tush says, oh my god, my shorts fell off do you think people have noticed i'll just stand here and hope that no one has noticed yeah i i don't know if you've seen the stuff doing the rounds uh this morning but but literally ecuador fans with fake butts and in capia on the back of their shirts you know this has this has gone like you know i guess none of us would choose generally speaking unless we are you know the more outgoing and performative type of people, none of us would choose necessarily to display our arses to the world.

1:04:54So Piero Incappier is going to have to live with this a little bit. Did you see the clip of the guy who gave him a picture to sign? It's an illustration of Incappier with his shorts around his thighs. And he's taking it remarkably well. And I guess at that point, you kind of have to yeah exactly exactly do you do a cease and desist uh you know try and take those images down off the internet or do you just say hey you know you copyright your butt yeah like no one else can show my butt on the internet you you've got me in my prime thank good thank goodness i did this at 23 years of age and not 53 years of age where it becomes a less a less impressive thing to look at i guess but yeah yeah there's a lot there's a lot of good stuff in there as well So, and this is sort of like, I don't want to say like just coffee table book, but it is something you can sort of flick through and it's just really nice to add to your collection.

1:05:45And I'm sure people have got poorly drawn merchandise, but this is a really lovely way to commemorate the Premier League win. I appreciate you saying nice words that I can't say about myself just because I mental block there. um but yeah it's it's intended as like a almost like a picture book for adults which i guess is what a coffee table book is um but yeah it's just you know it a drawing for every game hopefully i did the scores right on every page for for that uh so like you flip you see a drawing from the game and then there's a score in the corner and then there's a little blurb at the end of something that I wrote as like a thank you.

1:06:29But yeah, it's just intended for like a quick look through and hopefully people like it. Yeah, exactly. It's like, what's the word I'm looking for? A keepsake or a memento of what was obviously an incredibly enjoyable season in the end. And I think, you know. In the end. In the end, yes. You've certainly captured some of the moments which, you know, put us on edge a little bit. But, you know, we got there, unfortunately. not all the way there as Budapest showed but I think it was enough for most of us um I'll give people details of how they can pre-order the book and also win a copy of the book after we speak um but World Cup fever are you have you caught World Cup fever given that you are obviously based in the U.S.

1:07:14or is it sort of passing you by a little bit do you need a break from football you're not doing any poorly drawn World Cup stuff I'm not doing any poorly drawn World Cup stuff I I was trying to take a moral stand being like, I'm not going to watch a damn thing. FIFA is a corrupt organization. And Andrew, I failed day one. I was immediately sucked in. I'm still like, you know, obviously it's like a thing where you're like, it's like a cigarette where you're like, this is bad for me, but it feels good at the same time. Sure. Not that I've ever smoked, but I assume that's. I know where you're coming from.

1:07:51Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's kind of how I'm viewing the World Cup. It's kind of got me wrapped up in it all, but I feel bad every time that I do it. I'm kind of counteracting that by reading a book by, I think, Jonathan Wilson about the World Cup history. Okay. Which is really fascinating. and I didn't realize, I guess, how, you know, it's a book about how political the World Cup actually is and how governments have used the World Cup to, you know, push their agendas or even just kind of cover up the bad things that they're doing. So I feel a little bit better reading the book at the same time that I am watching the World Cup because I'm like, well, well, you know, there might be things we're covering up here, which as an American, I can say there are definitely things that we're covering up here.

1:08:43Yes. Well, I mean, at least they're keeping true to the history of the tournament and everything else. Yeah, I would say it's definitely in line with what the rest of the World Cup is. So what are we going to get from you in terms of poorly drawn Arsenal stuff over the course of the summer? I'm guessing the new signings as and when they arrive, we'll see them unveiled and get your take on those? yeah i'm taking a bit of a break from the actual drawing of it uh just enjoying the world cup in my weird way that i am uh and then i'll probably come back uh as soon as we start getting new signings i usually do like a kit review the kit reviews are oh yeah entirely based on uh how easy the kit is to draw so if you're looking for like a you know fashion sense things like that Probably not your guy.

1:09:31But I'll probably start doing some kit reviews once the kits start coming out and then kick off when the season kicks off, which is kind of around the corner as soon as the World Cup's done. Not that far away. It's 22nd of August, I think, and we're on the 18th of June. So really only eight or nine weeks until the new season kicks off. The schedule comes out soon. Yes, tomorrow, Friday, I think the Premier League fixtures are out. So no rest for the wicked, no rest for you either, Jacob, but thank you so much for being with us. You can call me wicked, that's okay. We could make a movie about that, but I don't have the singing voice for it, unfortunately.

1:10:08Yes, thank you for donating the couple of books as well for prizes. I'll give people details of that and we'll catch up soon. All right. Great seeing you, Andrew.

1:10:26Thank you very much indeed to Jacob. And to get more details on the book, to pre-order it, all you've got to do is go to poorlydrawnarsenal.com forward slash zine. That's Z-I-N-E. So poorlydrawnarsenal.com forward slash zine. The link is also in the show notes. We have a couple of copies to give away, thanks to Jacob. And if you would like to enter the competition, all you've got to do is tell me who is on the front cover of the book, which is called After Review. So there you go. Just tell me who's on the front cover. Email your answer, please, to competition at arseblog.com. That is competition at arseblog.com, and I'll give you the winners on next week's show.

1:11:04Right. I'm going to leave it there for now. I just want to say thank you very much indeed, as always, to all of you for being here, for listening, for downloading, for subscribing, for supporting everything that we do. If you'd like to get on board our Patreon, it's patreon.com forward slash arseblog. But for now, take it easy. Enjoy the World Cup. Keep snacking. Don't gorge. Don't feast. Don't overindulge. just have the you know little nibbles here and there it's better for you uh james and i will have an arse cast extra for you early next week for now though take it easy and we will catch you on the next one

1:12:23We'll see you next time. customer. They tune in every week, they trust the host, and that host wants to talk about brands like yours in their own words to their audience. The problem is, you just haven't been introduced yet. We're Acast, where that introduction happens. As the world's largest podcast marketplace, we let you browse shows, see who's listening, and book host-read sponsorships or run your own ads all from one platform. Transparent pricing, real-time data, complete control. Start advertising on podcasts by visiting acast.com slash advertise.