Episode 892: 1-Ø to the Arsenal

0:00Hi Pod fans, Max here. Barry's here too. Hello. And now the Premier League is back, Barry, meaning we'll be providing incredibly astute analysis three times a week wherever you get your podcasts. Barry, with the remaining 10 seconds of this advert, can you provide some astute analysis? I think Arsenal are going to win the Premier League. And there you are. For more hot takes like that, watch or listen to Football Weekly wherever you get your podcasts.

0:45Hello 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. Arsenal kicked off their Champions League campaign last night. away to Napoli, a tricky enough place to go, but came back with all three points, a 1-0 win, and a performance, I think, that was really, really encouraging. We faced a team that sat deep in a low block, and as, you know, seasoned Arsenal watchers will know, that has been, at times, a kind of kryptonite for Mikel Arteta and Mikel Arteta teams. Not last night. The 1-0 scoreline did not do us justice.

1:25Well, maybe it did our finishing justice, but the all-round parts of our game, the creativity, the way we dominated, the way we played the game in their half, it was all very, very impressive until those final actions where I think it's fair to say there is room for improvement. You know, kick the ball in the back of the net rather than kicking it over the bar from three yards or ten yards. I'm looking at you, Piero Incapierre and Bakayo Saka. Anyway, there's a lot to talk about, a lot to get into, a lot to enjoy. So we're going to get on and do that. And with me this morning to talk about it all is Phil Kosta.

1:58Good morning, Phil. Morning, Andrew. How's it going? It's going good. You know, there's a lot to get into, I think, with this game. I think scoreline does not do us justice would be a decent headline for this one. And we'll touch on all those aspects, but a really pleasing way, I think, overall to start our European campaign. I said on the preview podcast I did with Lewis for our Patreon members that I was really curious to see how teams might set up against Arsenal this season, what the perception of Arsenal in Europe is among the other clubs, the other coaches, etc, etc. I think we saw a little bit of that yesterday in the game against Napoli.

2:41Max Allegra, as we know, is kind of a more defensive minded coach than some, it's fair to say. But in the first couple of minutes, there was a little bit of high press from Napoli, which I thought, oh, OK, they're going to try a bit of this now. and Arsenal just sort of bypassed the press a couple of times and immediately Napoli began to sink back into what we now call a low block or parking the bus, whatever you call it. I think in part because that was what they felt they had to do against Arsenal, but in part because that's what Arsenal made them do as well. Definitely. And first of all, I don't think it's ideal Napoli away as your first game, even though they aren't the force they were maybe 10, five or even two seasons ago.

3:29I would have preferred Slovan Bratislava at home, for example, like PSG, which are much or it's a gentler ease yourself in kind of fixture, but naturally haven't started the season well. This is a very mix and match team without much star power, especially with Scott McTominay out. so I did feel good about our chances because we're playing well at the moment but you could see from the first minute what we were trying to do and how we were going to play fullbacks pushed high all 10 outfield players within 30 yards of their goal probing in those tight spaces squeezing the game winning the second balls quickly and that's just who we seem to be this season which is really encouraging I mean when they tried to transition um they they did so successfully i think they did threaten they did have moments on the break but when you're being transitioned on i think it gives the illusion or the feeling that the team are disorganized and chances are being created when in reality there were a few pop shots that went straight to david riah yeah um and nothing more but i think overall arsenal settled into that difficult environment very quickly they got on the ball They did their right-hand side thing, which we all know and love.

4:45But yeah, it's quite interesting to see not only the confidence with which Arsenal are playing with already, but how teams are kind of taking a step back to say, oh, maybe we don't want to jump in at these guys straight away. Well, yeah, yeah. And you can understand why, because, you know, Arsenal are playing really well. We are the Premier League champions. I want to come to sort of, you know, how we feel about all this and how we feel about how we're playing a little bit later on. But let's touch on the team and Mikel Arteta. He did make changes. There were four changes from the team, which beat Chelsea on Sunday.

5:17Piero Incapie in for Ricardo Calafiori. Mikel Moreno in midfield ahead of Myles Lewis-Skelly. We had Eberachie Eze on the left-hand side ahead of Christos Solis. And Victor Jokerez came in up front for Kai Havertz. And, you know, there's probably a bit more to say about Jokerez later on. But in the early stages of the game, he set up a couple of chances. is there was one for Eze, which got deflected over, and there was one for Bukayo Saka, which would have been a hell of a goal. It was a really nice pass with the outside of his boot from Yacarese, Saka overhead kick. But at that point then, Arsenal, they really started to turn the screw, I think from about minutes seven or eight onwards.

5:58And I think the two opportunities I mentioned, I think it was about the eighth minute for the Eze chance, and then 12, 13 minutes in for the Saka chance that Yacarese set up. Then Arsenal really, really started to turn the screw in terms of where we were playing the game, how we were playing the game and how Napoli felt they had to respond, which was essentially to sit deep and try and deny Arsenal the space and time. For sure. And I was personally quite happy with the changes because you're never really sure with Mikel Arteta, who does prefer continuity and stability, unless we're playing dramatically weak or a position or, you know, we're 100 % mathematically secure to go through.

6:42But like you said, there were some people we need to be mindful of in this group, Calofiore and Havertz chief among them. So I was glad to see Hincapier come in. It was a good opportunity for Jokarez, obviously Marino and Eza too. I don't think making seven changes was ever realistic, although he probably could have done it. But even making four, I think you can see the strength that we have in this squad, even with Bruno Gimaraes not 100%, Durian Timber still out, William Saliba out. It's quite amazing, really. And like you said, there was an early start from Napoli, a bit of energy, a bit of intensity, riding that early wave from the stadium.

7:18but as soon as Arsenal started to get on the ball it was like dropping deeper and deeper and deeper little passes heading over to the right we were very secure in possession I thought there were no bobbly touches on what was a pretty bumpy pitch dry I thought we were very secure the little triangles we were making were nice we had some very intricate pieces of play in close quarters around the box so you know this has been a big theme of our start to the season but in general regardless of the changes we made the the principles stayed the same you know fullbacks were still high the one touch football was there maybe we can't bounce off Jocheres like we do with Havertz but as you said there were a couple of chances created early on so I just think it's a big testament to to the group and the coaching that we can make those changes and still look pretty fluid at a difficult place like that I mean technical security is a sort of buzzword that gets bandied around quite a bit but 92 % past completion throughout 90 minutes you know the 90 odd minutes that we played in this game tells you the story and I think before we get into some of the opportunities and some of the things that we could have done better what struck me about last night's game and I think there was a lot to be positive about a lot to be encouraged about both with some individuals and also collectively is that you know we have seen teams set up like this against Arsenal time and time and time again.

8:44Like infinity times, right? We've lost count how many times this happens and we've lost count maybe how many times we have struggled to make the chances. I know we didn't take the chances and we should have taken more chances. This game should have been an absolute whitewash. There's no two ways about it. When you look at the XG, it's like over four XG. I think it's the highest arsehole I've ever generated in a Champions League game to point to XG for Napoli. it tells you a story of how the game went, right? So we can analyze the chances. We can analyze the finishing, talk about what we didn't do really well.

9:18But I think my overall takeaway from this game was real encouragement that one of what's felt like a weak link, sort of a weakness in Arsenal over the years is, oh God, another low block team. How are we going to break them down? Do we have the tools? Do we have the movement? Do we have the precision? Do we have the craft? Do we have the creativity? well yesterday we absolutely did you know 26 shots on goal I think we made 24 key passes in the game there was just so much to like about what we did and you know above and beyond the scoreline I think the fact that despite Napoli's best efforts and Italian teams ladies and gentlemen if you didn't already know sort of pride themselves on being defensively secure they've got a word for that and everything.

10:04So I think the fact that despite Napoli's best efforts, we were able to fashion those chances and not just sort of every now and again. We did it consistently from about the eighth minute onwards all the way through to the end, you know, when we had chances to score a goal. I think for me, that is the most encouraging aspect of this performance. And I think when Mikel Arteta calms down a little bit over the wayward finishing, he will be very pleased about what his team did. Yeah, it's funny because we usually message each other during games. And it will be little bits of commentary about chances or tactical patterns we've noticed.

10:40This one was just sending, how, what, in capitals, because it was just chance after chance after chance that you think, come on, lads, we're not kicking for field goals here. But you're absolutely right. I think, obviously, it's frustrating to watch them miss these chances. But so much of our Arsenal viewing experience last season was centered around not creating enough of them and then having to dissect every single one every moment because they felt like life or death when it came to getting the result that we wanted so when we're sitting here the morning after the night before having dominated possession having taken 25 shots having created over 4xg for the first time in nine years by the way i'm absolutely fine with that if you see another away performance like that in the competition this season, I would be very surprised.

11:32You know, by the way, that's 10 goals for Arsenal this season and none from set pieces. I don't recognize my club. So although we were the only side to keep a clean sheet last night, so swings at roundabouts, but we do feel different. We do look different. And I think that ability to sustain waves of pressure and really squeeze teams was something we definitely saw last year, but not to this level and not to this regularity. And I think a lot of that has to do with the confidence running through the team. But I think one player in particular, who I'm sure we'll touch on shortly. We will. We'll come back to that.

12:10I just wrote down sustained pressure and then two letters afterwards, just to remind me of exactly who it is I'm going to be talking about. And I think everybody knows, of course. But let's talk about some of the chances and some of the opportunities that we had um you know there was a Mikel Moreno header which was a nice move it was a sack across to the back post it was headed back across by Everett Chiesa a Moreno sort of diving header got it on target straight at the keeper it's one of those where I saw a lot of people saying oh he's got to score that it's a bit of a sitter it's a bad it's a bad miss and I get it I think what it tells us more than anything is that we expect Mikel Moreno to score when he's in a position like that.

12:54You know what I mean? It's not so much, I think, the quality of the chance per se. It's the fact that we've become accustomed to Mikel Moreno applying the finish when he gets himself into those positions. Yeah, definitely. I completely agree with that sentiment because it's a difficult chance, especially when you're coming onto it. You don't know who's around you, who's behind you, but it did go straight at the goalkeeper. Maybe he could have headed it down, I think anywhere else in the goal and it's, it's in the back of the net. So it is one that you think, oh, maybe he could have done better.

13:24Maybe that would have been a nice early lead for Arsenal. But I think that chance was, was crafted and created so nicely that I just felt again, like I did against Chelsea, the goals are going to come. If we keep playing like this, the goals are going to come. Yeah. That's what I said at halftime. If we keep playing like this, the goals will come. It was only one goal, but I felt confident. If we could keep playing like that, there are other chances. There was an Eza shot wide of the near post. Ben White had a chance where in the box, he just kind of went, wait a minute, what am I doing here? Oh, fuck.

13:56What do I do with this? And he was a little bit tame with the effort on goal from close range. There was one for Bakayo Saka as well, where he sort of cut in from the right-hand side and it sort of bobbled up for him. It reminded me a little bit of the way the ball bobbled up for Eberachie Eza last season against Spurs and he got his foot over it and finished really well. but Saka couldn't quite get his foot over and shinned it wide. And then there was the - That was a big one for me, I think. Yeah, that one sort of goes under the radar a little bit because of what happened afterwards. You kind of forget how good a chance that was because of the one that he missed, you know, following that just before halftime.

14:36Yeah, because he does everything well. And the pass from Odegaard is timed perfectly. He times his run really well. He takes the touch inside the defender. He's completely through. and blazes over under no pressure. I think the bubble did have a small impact on the chance, but if we're going to be consistent as someone we're looking for or looking to for leadership in this team, someone to set an example, those are the chances he needs to bury. And I think he knows that despite scoring two already this season. So yeah, a bit frustrating not to score that just before halftime. Yeah. I mean, again, I never felt that we weren't going to score in this game, even though we left it quite late.

15:18Can I just ask you of your overall assessment on the Saka performance? Because I think his finishing was bad. There's no two ways about it. He can't sugarcoat that in any way. I mean, the one I mentioned where he went through and it dribbled off his shin and then the other one that he absolutely should score. There's no two ways about it. He should score that. But a bit like the idea that I'd be more concerned if we weren't creating chances in games, I would be a bit more concerned about Bakayo Saka if he wasn't involved to the extent to which he was last night. So I think you can slightly separate the finishing, which was bad, from the rest of his game, which was lively and involved.

15:59Nobody had more shots. I think he had six shots overall. You know, that looked a lot more like the old Bakayo Saka, if you want to put it that way, which is a ridiculous thing to say about a 25-year-old. But you know what I mean? about the Bakayosaka, who is at his most effective. I thought the overall part of his game was much more that. Just the final bit was really, really poor by his own standards and actually by any standards. I think when you put a player through on goal, he puts it over the bar from 10, 12 yards. You're going, that's not good enough at this level. But I was encouraged by aspects of his performance that might be sort of obscured by frustration with the finishing.

16:38Yeah, for sure. I mean, he will always be involved for Arsenal because we are so heavily influenced by that right side, especially when Ben White's playing. Odegaard, I know he's been a bit more flexible and free this season, but he naturally drifts over to that side. Declan Rice is over on that side as well. So a lot of our play goes down there and it's normal that Pakai Osaka is going to be in the middle of it. And I think generally he was very secure in possession. I think he passed at 89%. you know it's it's difficult for him sometimes because we just expect him to be able to beat his man or beat two men and get a perfect cross in on his what on his right foot or cut in and score um and i do think we need to hold him accountable if he is on this big money contract he is the the guy we all look to to make a difference and i think more often than not he does um so he was involved i think he he completed two dribbles two out of two you know it was it was it was good it was good i think a goal would have made it great it would have made it better um but he's looked good this season he's looked sharp i think you can see in how he's moving that he doesn't look so heavy i think towards the end of last season with the obvious achilles issue yeah it almost felt like he was scared to put any weight on that foot at all um he didn't look anywhere near his best physically but now you can see him moving a bit a bit easier a bit freer and i think that applies to a lot of the team to be honest where the second half of last season was such a grind yeah um but i think we just have such high expectations about saka that we expect goals and assists and magic every game um when that's not possible all the time sometimes you just need a steady influence a secure influence on that side and and he was although i i admit that he he should have scored that no he definitely should have there was another big, big chance early in the second half as well.

18:31Ben White headed back across. Piero and Capier, I think, owes Ben White an assist bonus for this one because how he missed. I know he was under a bit of pressure from the defender, but he was only three or four yards out. I mean, it's an amazing clearance. If you're a defender, that's an incredible piece of defending. But when you're up the other end, even if you're a left back, even if you're a centre-half come left back, That was a really, really extraordinary miss from such close range. Can I just say, though, I think we're very spoiled with Ricciardo Calafuri and nobody can do what he does the way he does it.

19:09But I think Incappier gave a really good account of himself going forward yesterday. No, I agree. He had that miss hit cross that nearly went in. He got down the left more than once to look for cutbacks. He was really nice and cute, I thought, in sort of congested areas when he always has that small doubt about that side of his game. Can he do the one-touch stuff? Can he get him behind? So I think in terms of what we need from our fullbacks at the moment, he isn't Calafuri and he won't be Calafuri, but I thought he gave us something on the left, which you can't always say that he does. So yeah, I thought he was good.

19:44Okay. I mean, he had three shots yesterday. Martin Odegaard had three shots. Bakayo Saka had three shots, you know, so he did get forward to good effect. I'm sure he had a bit of a sleepless night last night, or depending on the plane travel. He'll know he should have scored that one. But it was, again, more of the same after the break, wasn't it? Just dominance from Arsenal. The goal, it was one of those where you sort of felt like, are we going to rue these missed chances? Are we going to rue not putting the ball in the back of the net? And then you get sucker punched, which happens quite a bit in Europe.

20:19The manager made some changes. He brought on Bruno Gimaraes and Christos Solis for Mikel Moreno and Eber Echeieza. Then brought on Havertz and I should remember this because Madueke. Madueke. Yeah, he brought on Madueke for Saka and Jokerez. And not long after that, we got the goal. And again, it was a really, really beautiful piece of play, this. Because Arsenal, as they did all night, didn't panic around the edge of the box. didn't try and force it too much. But when you look at the sort of one-touch play that brings about the shot from Martin Odegaard, it's so intricate. Sometimes you see those passing drills, you see the rondos in training and that kind of stuff, and you go, yeah, yeah, yeah, this is just a bit of fun.

21:09They're having a bit of fun. But that's exactly what that was. It was like passing it around a sea of legs. Opens up for Odegaard, who I think maybe last season, I'm not sure he wouldn't have had the confidence to try the shot, but I'm not sure that last season's Martin Odegaard would have had the confidence and the form and the rhythm to hit that shot the way that he did. Keeper got a slight touch, but it went in off the post and it's just a beautiful goal. Yeah, watching it back this morning, I'm definitely guilty of overlooking the buildup because I knew it was an unbelievable strike and I think more than anything, it was just a bit of relief that we could finally make the breakthrough.

21:47But some of the one-touch football beforehand was brilliant. It's Bruno into White, White into Odegaard, Odegaard into Solis, Solis back to Odegaard, all in really close quarters. And just a big old whack on his left foot. Have that. I mean, on a night where your shooting felt like more of a threat to the crowd than the opposition goal, watching that cracking off the post was brilliant. and we'll probably talk about him in more detail later on. But thinking back over the last two seasons and about how much power Odegaard seemed to be lacking in his game, his shooting, his finishing, just watching him find form again has been so encouraging.

22:30This is someone who used to score so regularly that he had a trademark goal in the O-zone between the penalty spot and the edge of the area. And that just totally vanished for whatever reason. but you can see him enjoying his football again. And that was a real fuck it, I'll do it moment from the captain after seeing his teammates miss some very presentable chances. And there was a good stat from Opta. They said Odegaard's match-winning goal for Arsenal against Napoli ended a 29-pass move involving 10 of their players. So a really delicious goal that maybe I didn't appreciate in the moment because I was just so fixated on A, the strike, but B, taking the lead.

23:11I think it gave us a bit of freedom to attack those last 20 minutes. There was a video during the rise. I think it maybe went out in the Premier League's social media channels of the Havertz goal against Chelsea. And it showed how all the Arsenal outfield players were involved in that goal. So this was a real team goal as well. I mean, we might as well talk about him while we're here because I think that's four goals this season. he scored one last season. So, you know, this is a huge step forward. You know, I've always been of the opinion that the issues with Martin Odegaard were about fitness and about form and about, you know, rhythm rather than quality.

23:55And I think some people, he's reminding people, those who maybe chose to forget or maybe some who actually forgot, but I think people who chose to forget what Martin Odegaard has brought to this team over the last number of years, you know if you are critical of what he didn't produce in the last 18 months or two years whatever it is well it's because you know he's capable of better because you've seen him produce better because you know that there is an outstanding footballer in there and I think you know he had six key passes in this game he had three shots he scored the winning goal Nobody had more touches.

24:34There was another stat from, I can't remember exactly where it's from, but I'm looking at it on Reddit here. Players with more than 70 accurate passes in the final third of a pitch in a single Champions League match since 2003, 2004. And Odegaard is one of those, along with Xavi, Iniesta and Toni Kroos. So this is the kind of - Xavi who's done it five times, by the way. Yeah, of course. I mean, yeah, Xavi's ridiculous. But I mean, that tells you above and beyond the goal, which of course is like a decisive moment, right? It's absolutely decisive in the match, but he was so impressive overall as well.

25:19The way he, and not just he alone, I think it would be wrong to say Martin Odegaard is dictating the way this team plays, because what he relies on, I think, are the players around him to bounce off and for him to sort of play those little wall passes and move and move it across the pitch. And that's Declan Rice, and it's Mikel Moreno, and it's Bakayo Saka, and it's Ben White. And, you know, there's a supporting cast there as well who allow Odegaard to operate the way that he operates. But when he does play like this and when he is feeling confident like this, the influence he has on the team is just unbelievable, right?

26:02And I don't think you can separate what we were talking about at the start, about Arsenal facing a low block and struggling to break them down or struggling to make chances. you cannot separate that I think from Martin Odegaard like if we'd had this Martin Odegaard in the last two years would we have had those problems no I don't think so so it's um an individual highlight I think but he his individual quality I think is is so important to the collective yeah I mean watching him in this form is magic not everyone can do what he does run a game um dictate the tempo of not only his own side but what the opposition are doing as well because different playmakers do different things some are purely final ball which makes the games more end-to-end but others want the ball close to them they want the touches they want the wall passes they want to pick the locks and that's what he does for better or worse a lot of your identity depends on him but when it works it's amazing to watch and i think him playing at the world cup was really important not only because he played well and norway had a successful tournament but because it gave him valuable minutes after a really stop start season that was basically his pre preseason and i think everyone knows he hasn't been at his best but when you're crunching down on your shoulders every two months and damaging knee ligaments in freak collisions how do you maintain any kind of consistency and that's not to say injuries were only thing holding him back because when he was fit i don't think he was playing particularly well but nobody was um and you can see the difference in how he's moving the areas in which he's demanding the ball the decisiveness in in his final third actions how easy it looks for him to get around the pitch and i think confidence is just a hell of a drug in elite sport because trusting your body is basically step one in finding that again um and you know you have recession indicators you know the metrics used to identify whether an economy is is tanking i think erdegard indicators are whether or not or how frequently those scooped passes over the top come off because when he when he's not playing well they drive me absolutely mad sure but when he's when he's playing well he looks light he looks creative they always seem to work and that's how the hincapié chance should have been scored last night because he scooped one over to ben white he was running in behind.

28:33So I just think watching a player enjoying their football is so fun. And he's in flow state. He's in flow state and just, it's a joy to watch at the moment. He's been brilliant. I absolutely agree. And long may it last. And, you know, the sort of conversation around how Arsenal can be better this season in attack is a contentious one perhaps, or has been a contentious one, you know, when you're looking at players like Odegaard and Saka and Havertz. And I understand why people might be concerned or have concerns about their fitness, but there's no question that if we have those guys fit and available, and in particular, I think Odegaard, whose craft in midfield, whose vision, whose creativity is absolutely fundamental.

29:19You know, he was asked if Odegaard was being, you know, tasked with getting in the box more, Mikel Arteta, in the press conference afterwards. And he sort of said yes, but I think that's a confidence thing as well. You know, I think when you're feeling the rhythm of the game and the way that he can feel it, the timing of your movements is, it only needs to be like one or 2 % up and all of a sudden you're creating problems for the opposition, right? And I think you can see in two of the goals that he scored this season, the community shield goal and the one against Chelsea, it is all about the timing.

29:53And other players have played their part. Obviously, Solis got another assist. That's four assists in five games for him now, by the way. A really, really impressive start to his Arsenal career. But the Havertz dummy, et cetera, et cetera. But the way he can read the game and the way he can time those runs into the box is, I don't know. When he's on it, there are a few better, I think, in the Premier League, you know. So it's really good to see him back because there were doubters. and I get that there were doubters and I think it's absolutely fine to have had doubts. But, you know, ultimately what you want is for all your players to play well and do well and have end product and score goals.

30:34But there are a few players, I think, in this team who are quite as crucial to how we play overall as Martin Odegaard. So when he's on song, you know, we are. I think Arsenal and Arteta are much happier when a fit Odegaard is on the pitch and playing well because he's the eyes and the ears of the team he's an extension of the manager um and you nailed it you're absolutely allowed to say when he's not playing well without it needing to be a haha gotcha kind of thing when he does start playing well again you know it doesn't need to be a referendum on his performances every time he plays he was struggling a little bit you can point to a number of factors and different contexts why that might have happened but he's extremely difficult to ignore in this kind of form and i I think Arsenal are at their best and at their happiest when he is at his best and at his happiest.

31:24So yeah, long may it continue. Absolutely. I mean, there were more chances. Even after we scored, I think we had five attempts on goal. Napoli did not have an attempt on goal after we scored. The key one, obviously, or the big one was Nani Madueke. There was a breakup field. This is something I think as well, by the way, that I'm noticing so far with Arsenal. It's early season. And so you're trying to look at trends. You're trying to look at things that we are doing differently. And I could be completely wrong about this. It could be just, you know, what my eyes are telling me and maybe the stats don't bear it out.

32:01But I think there is a concerted effort on the part of this Arsenal team to get the ball forward more quickly, to be more vertical through midfield, particularly when we implement our defensive prowess and snuff out the opposition when they're in our half. We are looking to get the ball forward really, really quickly. We seem to have outlets. Not always like last night when Matuweke went through. It was Kai Havertz. We got the ball forward. Kai Havertz on halfway. Played it through to Matuweke. Nani Matuweke should score, I think. It's fair to say. Listen, we talked about Bakayo Saka not scoring.

32:39And that was poor finishing. Nani Matuweke, poor finishing. I like the fact that he was there and he's got the pace and he can get in behind. I just think he needs to have a little more composure and a little more conviction. I realize that the dude who looks like the God of War guy from the video games in goal is quite an intimidating looking bloke. But I think he should score in that moment. But I don't know if this is something you've noticed too or something that's caught your eye is how quickly we want to get the ball forward. for sure I've noticed it and I think there's a a real willingness to be a little bit more open this season because people complained about a few of the Napoli transitions and as I said earlier I think the illusion that it creates is that teams are sort of getting in every time and making chances but honestly I'm more excited about Arsenal accepting that trade-off because being more open means we are committing bodies forward.

33:38And it also shows a great deal of trust in your defenders and your midfielders to win their duels. You don't always need to be formidable in your mid block or your rest defense, which everyone knows we do really well. Sometimes you can just say, I'm comfortable leaving you in a bit of space because you're quick, you're strong, you can cover ground, high turnovers can be really valuable. And we want those opportunities. I mean, that move that you just referenced, the Maduweke chance, it starts from a crunching tackle from Zubimendi in midfield on Billy Gilmore. And in three passes, we're through on goal.

34:13So I just think Arsenal have the capability to do that more often. So let's do it. I do think we lack natural outlets now that Martinelli's gone, especially, but Maduweke can hopefully fill those shoes. I never really felt that he was going to score in that moment. I understand why if you weren't confident, you know, I think that's... And I just think he, like you said, he lacks a bit of conviction in those areas. I don't always back him to score, even though I've seen him score an unbelievable goal in person against Club Bruges. But I definitely think we have the capacity to do that more frequently.

34:55And look, if it means pushing your fullbacks forward and leaving things a little bit open in midfield, I'm fine with it. Because when Declan Rice is there, when Esri Conte is there, when Gabriel is there, when Myles Luskelly is there, I'm not so worried. I'm not so worried. And I'm happy to let them have a few pop shots at David Ryer because I trust him as well. I'm much more excited and enthused about Arsenal's mentality shifting towards the offensive side a bit more than I am on a few counterattacks. It's quite simple. Sure. Can we talk Esri Kansa for a moment? Yes, please. I was waiting for this.

35:30All right, cool. I was really impressed with him last night. Really impressed. I think the experience he has is obviously a big part of why we brought him in, right? He does have European experience with Aston Villa in the Europa League and in the Champions League. So much Premier League experience as well. And listen, I really like Christian Mosquera. I think there's a really talented player there, but he's a young central defender and young central defenders. Unless you're a William Saliba, you know, you've got a sort of development curve in your career, right? Which is completely normal for most central defenders.

36:05William Saliba is just kind of this ridiculous outlier of brilliance. I don't quite have the words to describe him. But I think there is something to be said about what Kansa alongside Gabriel does for Gabriel. but on his own merits I thought Konza was really really impressive last night was very good on Sunday against Chelsea we we've all enjoyed the throwing Morgan Rodgers around bits and bobs that have been doing the rounds um but last night there was more of the same I think he just defended really well read the game really well was just too strong for the Napoli players and there were a couple of moments I think we have to acknowledge that there were a couple of moments when as you say we're a bit more open this season that napoli could potentially have taken advantage of there was one in particular i think it was in the it was in the first half they broke down the left-hand side it was a poor decision from the um the left winger i think it was alison santos uh was his name kevin de bruyne was free in the middle and in uh if that was kevin de bruyne at manchester city somebody's playing in that pass and i think we know you know more or less how that ends up when it's Kevin De Bruyne in front of goal, regardless of how old he is at this point.

37:23But Konza just was there to snuff out the danger. He wins the ball. He doesn't just make tackles. A lot of the time, he just wins the ball. And then, oh, here you go, Ben White. You go do something with it, or we'll play it into midfield. The security he has defensively and the security he has on the ball, I think he passed it at 100 % last night, according to the stats. He did, 54-54, yeah. Yeah, the only thing that was sort of missing was there were a couple of crosses from the right-hand side which didn't meet their target, but they don't count as passes per se. But 100 % pass completion, there was one around the corner with the outside of his foot to play it to Declan Rice who just sort of charged through midfield.

38:02Really, I will hold my hands up and say, when we were first linked with Ezri Kahn, I was a bit like, really? But serve me up that humble pie. I'm eating all of it because it's very impressive the way he settled in. And I thought he was fantastic last night. I thought he was excellent. This was only a second start for Arsenal. He's still learning how to play alongside Gabriel, Rice, White. These are all new relationships. And it looks like he's been here for years, which is probably one of the highest compliments you can pay a central defender. It's interesting because he's not the tallest. I think he's about six foot, but he's broad.

38:38I mean, you can see he's got real size and presence about him. and in his defensive actions, they're always completed with conviction. You can see he's comfortable going man to man. His ability to defend wide spaces really suits what we need from him in this team. 100 % pass completion, as you said, obviously the highest of any other Arsenal player. And that's not even to say he kept things safe the whole time because there were some nice ones, some incisive ones in the first half down that right side in particular. without trying to jinx him there is something very saliba about him where you can almost see the opposition players second guess themselves in real time about whether to take him on or whether to chase that long diagonal over the top and that ticks a big old box when you're looking to replace one of the best defenders in world football you know there was one moment when he was isolated down the right side with alison santos who was probably their biggest threat on the night actually No issue.

39:38I'll just shepherd him towards the byline, win the ball, shove him to the ground and get on with my game. Just brilliant. No notes. I've been really impressed with how he started. And I think he'll be very important for us moving forward. But I also like the balance between him and Gabriel because it feels a lot more analogous to what we had with Saliba in the team. And I think that was part of the reason why we signed him and scouted him. There was a late moment, wasn't there, for Napoli, which had me holding my breath when the ball came to Kevin De Bruyne. And I was like, oh, fuck, we're going to get done here.

40:14And again, I think he's sort of got the Manchester City thing in his head where he's looking for Sterling at the back post. Yeah, he's looking for somebody at the back post. He knows at Manchester City, if he plays that ball across the box, there's like Bernardo Silva or Erling Haaland or Raheem Sterling back in the day or Leroy Sané, whoever it might be. there's a host of players lining up to take that uh take that shot and just sort of pass it into the back of the net the wrong option 100 the wrong option uh i think we kind of got away with one a little bit there why is he crossed that i don't know just put your someone that's so good on their weaker side yeah just whack it towards the far i saw the ball go through and i was like oh god here we go this has been one of the most dominant games i've seen arsenal play in years and one whack of his left foot could have made it a draw yeah um i couldn't believe it i was so surprised especially because there was only one player i think in the box or in the six yard box so very strange considering he was kind of shot happy beforehand as well so um didn't get that but will happily take it so thank you kevin for sure yeah thank you very much for your wrong option there um listen i'm conscious of not making every game in which he plays a sort of referendum on victor Yarkarez, right?

41:29So I don't necessarily want to do that. And we've acknowledged that there are things he did well in this game. I think the stats show that he made four key passes. There was a sort of knockdown to, talked about the Eza one, the Saka one, there was a knockdown to Solis, which Solis swung his left foot at. And I think the ball is still halfway down the Amalfi Coast somewhere. You know, but in a game where we're this dominant, it just stood out to me that our centre forward had only nine touches of the ball in the game. And we've talked about how dominant we were, how much we played in the Napoli half, how many chances we created, 26 attempts on goal.

42:11He had six touches in the first half, three touches in the second half before he came off. It's just trying to understand why the centre forward is so peripheral in a game like this, in a performance like this. And I think, you know, most people would acknowledge Jokeres is a player who's better in sort of big spaces, you know, to run in behind. That's where he scored so many of his goals for sporting. And it's probably where he's looked best for Arsenal, you know, when there is a little bit of space. So the actual game state itself probably doesn't suit him in terms of the style of player that he is.

42:49But is it any concern to you that in a game like this where we are so dominant that the centre forward, I won't say peripheral because we just talked about how he made four chances, but didn't have a shot on goal? It is strange, isn't it? I think there were a couple of attempts in the first half from Erdegaard to get him in behind, but they maybe weren't on the same wavelength. my issue with with Jocares is that you know I can understand that it's difficult playing against a deep block when there's six central defenders around you and you're wrestling three different defenders at the same time with no space my issue with him is when is when he doesn't use his physical tools to the best of his ability because he is a big guy he's quick he can run the channels he can make life difficult for center forwards and my issue with him last season was that he wasn't doing that at all you know I can I can live with having nine touches and no shots and I'm not really generating much threat because you can still help the team and last season there were too many occasions where he wasn't having any impact at all on the defensive line and that's what used to frustrate me because i look at him and i think you should be causing people issues you are a problem and he just wasn't and i think towards the end of the year when he had those those good games against atletico he played well against fulham that was when you saw him engaging and occupying a back line and again in this game again game state's hard they're packing the box it's a difficult game to be involved in as a low touch striker who looks for scraps you look for those quick quick shifts and and shots and there was no space to operate in for him really so i'm not really frustrated about that but i would just like him to be a little bit more involved and that's not even to say you need to be kai havertz drifting out to the right you don't need to be gabriel jesus doing step overs in the middle i think he has the ability and the physicality to make more problems and for too long in the game yesterday I forgot he was playing so and that's with with a with an understanding of the context of the game and the game state and why it would have been difficult I just think he hasn't played much this year so we kind of need to understand and respect that he's easing himself in I think a big body like that needs minutes to kind of get to their top condition I think there will be games where he scores but he just looks a little bit awkward in this team and you're right it doesn't need to be a referendum every time he plays because it's a very boring and b not helpful um but there are just moments where i think even if you're not getting the game that you want can you influence it or affect it in other ways i just think there are i just think he's he's floating through them sometimes, which doesn't really help his cause.

46:01To what extent do you think that is the onus is on the individual to do more or for the manager and for the coaching staff to say, okay, we know this game potentially could be a deep block game, a low block game. We're going to have to face that. We know that that's not your strength, right? Yeah, entirely fair. Right? Is it incumbent then on the manager and the coaching staff to say, right, if this is how it plays out, this is what we need you to do. This is the way we need you to occupy defenders. I mean, you could make an argument perhaps that his presence is helpful in terms of making space for other people.

46:38Like I'd have to go back and look at the game again and what have you, but I'm sort of a little bit aligned with what you're saying in that I think there is so much physicality to him that doesn't really feel like we see enough of that during games but I recognize that I think the responsibility first and foremost is on the manager and the coaching staff to to sort of put in place a way that if you know you're going to go to Napoli away if you know it's going to be a low block how do you get more out of a player who's who doesn't suit a low block if you want to pick him for this particular game yeah that's entirely fair and I think large parts of last season were about Arsenal adapting to Jokeres and Jokeres adapting to arsenal um because wherever he's been in the past he's been the guy he's been the forward line almost single-handedly um whereas here at arsenal you need to be part of a of a machine so that's a natural stylistic difference i think he needed to to be more comfortable at this level um it's difficult because i you're you're wary to go too far either side because you don't just want it to be like he's shit all the time and you don't want it to be uh you know babying him in a way because he's a he's a striker in his peak who needs to be doing more himself as well so i i think it's still early i think he will find games that he's useful in i think he will score i think it is on on the coaching staff to find ways to get him involved but also you do need him to be a little bit more secure at times you do need him to put his weight about a little bit more um and i think in the second half of last season i don't really have the data to mind or to hand but there were occasions of him being found in behind we were looking for those runs he was making those runs and it still wasn't changing much so when i saw him at his best last year he was being a nuisance and i just think he needs to get back to that level because even if he's not this technically gifted perfect center forward you can score goals or bring others into play he can still be effective and maybe just needs a little bit of time for him to to get there so yeah i'm i'm reluctant to kind of make sweeping statements yet um but we know it's not a problem that's just happened, you know, his kind of peripheral nature in these kind of games.

49:07Sure. All right. Well, listen, early days, overall, though, a really, really positive night, really encouraging night for Arsenal. One, I think, you know, that when other teams in Europe sit up and take notice of, you know, what we're doing and how well we're doing it this season, yeah, some of the other Champions League opposition, even the more storied opponents that we're going to face will be going, we're going to be in for a test here. What I did want to come to, just before we have a quick look around at some of the other stuff that happened in the Champions League this week, is I'm conscious of how trying parts of last season were, right?

49:47And I think we all know that. We all felt like we endured something. We went through something and the denouement was incredible and unforgettable. But getting there was quite the journey. you know? I was putting it lightly. Yeah. But I do, it struck me last night that as I was watching this and I realized part of it is that the pressure is off a little bit, right? At least in the early part of the season, but I certainly don't feel the same way this season as I did last season where I felt like so much is on the line for this team and this group of players and this manager that if we don't achieve something, you know, who knows where it's going to go.

50:26I don't feel like that now. I feel like there's a lot less pressure, certainly on me as a fan, which I appreciate. So thank you very much, Arsenal, for winning the title and making me alone feel better. But I also was looking at that game and thinking, we need to enjoy this as well. We need to remember that football is a thing that brings you joy and happiness, not just because you win something, but also in terms of how you play the game. And I think maybe part of Arsene Wenger's longevity as a manager was that even when things were not great, there were aspects of our football and the way we played and the philosophy with which we played, which were just unbelievable.

51:21they gave you this sort of childlike spark of uh you remember why you love the game and why you love playing the game you know you think about the Giroud scorpion goal you just think that's ridiculous or the Wiltshire goal against Norwich because that is that's absurd how are you doing that you know and I think there is something different about the way we're playing this season and I want to remember it and enjoy it and enjoy it at the time without being sort of dragged down by the minutiae of analysis and all that kind of stuff. So I don't know how you feel about it, but certainly I'm enjoying the way we're playing this season.

51:59I'm really encouraged and really positive about what I'm seeing from, you know, players, individuals, and collectively, I think there's just so much to like. Completely. Yeah. To quote my friend Tom Curran, who posted on Blue Sky last night, he said, mate, honestly, if you're not watching Arsenal right now and exploding with joy, then I don't know what to tell you. Um, because we're so good and so fun. And I know it won't always be like this. There will be bumps in the road, but last season was just so full of fear and anxiety and misery and every chance, every mistake being under the microscope.

52:35And it just wasn't a healthy environment because of that pure desperation to get over the line. but also for this this group and the effort of this group and the manager to be realized we deserved that title last year we've made hard work of it but we deserved it and don't forget we were only two penalty kicks away from from having the best season in our club's history yeah sorry to open up that room again um but the way we are playing this season is just so free so offensive so exciting so quick and it's not just about the principles i think if you go through the team the individual qualities off the scale like touches are so good passes are great the weight of pass the positioning the physicality the how they win their races there's there's been more creativity from from short corners and free kicks it's just so fun look at the bench last night You know, you're taking off Miguel Marino.

53:38You're bringing on Bruno Gimaraes. You're taking off Eberachie Eze. You're putting on Christos Solis. You know, it's... I'm with you. I'm with you, man. Just really take a second to enjoy what we're watching here. Because as I said, there will be bumps in the road. There will be hard days. There will be gutting days where we lose. But we're challenging for the best prizes against the best players. And our team's fucking mint. Like genuinely, it's amazing. Yeah. So just full credit to them. And I think they've earned the right to play with more freedom after getting the title monkey off their back basically last year.

54:14So long may it continue. I'm really loving it. When I'm like writing about Arsenal or talking about Arsenal, I'm smiling. I'm smiling about remembering little moves and little touches and players throwing players to the ground. All this stuff is brilliant. It's brilliant. We're like a team of fucking big boys who can do pretty much everything. Like there's nothing really missing. I mean, maybe you would say after a night like last night, what Arsenal are missing is that elite attacker, right? That guy who turns last night from 1-0 into 3-0 or 4-0. But everything else is just so good right now.

54:59You know, the physicality, the experience, the way we deal with in-game situations. You fall behind to Chelsea in 70 seconds and then you just monster them for the rest of the game, basically. You know, you go away to Napoli in the Champions League and they have a few speculative efforts. And we mentioned the De Bruyne one that we got away with a little bit. But, you know, by and large, this was a really, really impressive way to start a Champions League campaign against a team away from home in Italy. you know i even in our even in back in sort of the invincibles heyday games like this felt more skewed towards the home side if you were going away to a big side in italy you know and listen i remember the 5-1 at inter and all that kind of stuff you know which was incredible but at the same time i think the the reputation that we have is evident in the way that teams set up and i think that was true last night against napoli and hopefully more true as we go on throughout this campaign and into the Champions League proper.

56:00Let's just look very quickly at some of the other bits and bobs that went on. A couple of wins for English teams on Tuesday. Villa beat Club Bruges and Man City beat Porto. And Real Madrid against Inter. Jose Mourinho back at Real Madrid against one of his old clubs. Yeah. Real Madrid is such an interesting case study because they win games, but they're all so miserable. like it's one of the most miserable clubs in the world and they're whistling Mbappe they're whistling Vinicius Mourinho's there trying to trying to be the peacemaker Mourinho of all people um you know telling people to calm down that they're still in a process it's just it's just wonderful they are they just love to be upset at that club you know there needs to be a grievance there needs to be a frustration with something um but they will they will always be there in the champions league because they're a super talented team um but it is just funny how they can have killing and bapé up front and still find it in within themselves to boo him it's crazy just junior yeah but i mean that's to be honest inter interplayed well yeah interplayed well they just kind of couldn't get over the line and they made a few mistakes at the back but yeah villa with a good win um dortmund as well ethan when erion for them yeah yeah coming on um very early on again for the second time um after got it went off i think he had a heart heart issue or circulatory issue so i hope he's doing that's that's really bad news for dormant isn't it the two guys that they brought in yeah the two groups one yeah must be something in the diet phil yeah all that olive oil yeah i thought that was supposed to be good for you anyway listen no jokes aside let's hope that it's nothing too serious for him and that he recovers very quickly um yeah barcelona 5-1 winners over Feyenoord Gabriel Jesus on the score sheet I mean fair play I can't begrudge him a goal in any way good for him Barcelona have played five games this season they've scored five goals in four of those games and won the other one 2-0 at home to Athletic Club Just think about what they'll be like with the handbrake off Andrew I mean yeah they have flattered to deceive in Europe over the last number of seasons, but there's certainly a lot going on there, isn't there, in terms of, you know, what they're doing and how they're doing it.

58:28Particularly, you know, they lose Lewandowski. They bring in Gabriel Jesus because they couldn't get Julian Alvarez, who they wanted to be their star striker. Anthony Gordon goes in, he's banging the assists around like nobody's business. Gabriel Jesus scores a goal. They move Rafinha, go, I hear you play up front then. It's like, okay. It's kind of absurd. You can score 30 goals a season. Yeah. You'll be fine. Yes. It is amazing. The way that they play is kamikaze. It's fun. It's fluid. I mean, even some of the midfielders as well. Fermín López. It's just stacked. Laminya Mao banging in free kicks.

59:04They are amazing. They are amazing. But there will always be questions about them defensively, but they've been pretty steady so far. Maybe this is just their year. Who knows? if they keep scoring five every game, they're not going to be losing many. No, that's true. But yeah, Ferran Torres as well left Barcelona, went to PSG, scored a hat-trick yesterday. Really good hat-trick as well. Yeah, I mean, again, that's a team who just have an abundance of attacking quality. Ousmane Dembele scoring as well. It's, you know, Slovan Bratislava will not be the hardest team they face in the Champions League this year, but scoring six goals is fun.

59:41It's nice, so they can do it. Liverpool 2-1 winners over Atletico Madrid after going behind to Marcus Llorente. It was goals from... Soboslai. Soboslai. McAllister. Nicely taken goal, Soboslai's. McAllister's won Jan Oblek. What are you doing? What's happened to him? What happened there? Like, my goodness. He's fallen off. We'd be castigating Jordan Pickford if he let in a goal like that. Weak wrists. Weak wrists. Llorente scoring at Anfield again, though, and his dog is named Anfield. Did you know that? I heard the guy say that on TNT Sports last night when he wasn't talking about his pistachio cannoli.

1:00:24He was talking about Marcus Llorente's dog. But anyway, listen, there are more matches tonight. Some interesting ones, I think. The one I've sort of got my eye on is Como against Leipzig. Cesc Fabregas in charge of Como, of course, you know, ahead of schedule. he did say this when they played the friendly against us in preseason that they were way ahead of schedule being in the Champions League so it'll be a really good test for him as a manager and a test for them as a team yeah excited to see how he gets on because like you said they've they've sort of I was going to say it's been a rise to the top but they've been launched to the top in a in a NASA rocket I mean how they've managed to turn this around so quickly is is a credit to him and the club obviously they have spent money but they've spent it really well on a lot of exciting young players they've really built something there and I guess they're playing a club in RB Leipzig who share similar principles to that so should be a good one maybe just keeping an eye on Cesc for the future you never know there's a there's a natural pathway there for sure but yeah I'm very happy with who we have at the moment so All right.

1:01:35OK, well, look, we'll leave it there. A really good start to our European campaign. The attention will turn to Sunderland on Saturday. More on that and on. For now, though, Phil, we'll leave it there. Thank you very much indeed. Pleasure. Always enjoy chatting.

1:02:04and beyond. Watch now on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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1:03:17Thank you very much indeed to Phil. You can find him on Blue Sky. He is at philkosta.bsky.social at philkosta.bsky.social. So a cracking way to start our European campaign. Next up, We have got Sunderland at the weekend, a tricky trip to the Stadium of Light on Saturday evening. It's kind of mad that this will be our fifth game, official game of the season, excluding the Community Shield. And four of those games will have kicked off at 8 p.m. We had the opening game against Coventry on the Friday night, then the Monday night football. Then it was slightly normal for Chelsea, but we'll have last night's game.

1:03:57Of course, European games kick off at 8, unless you're playing in the earlier kickoff. And then Saturday night at 8pm, which is maybe my least favourite kickoff time of them all. I guess it would be in direct competition with Monday night, 8pm. Maybe we could make the two of them fight to the death and never have any more of those kickoff times again. But it is what it is. We've got a job to do when we go to Sunderland on Saturday evening. We'll talk a bit more about that game in our Patreon preview podcast, which is available to our Patreon members. You can sign up if you would like. For just$6 a month, you get instant access to everything that we do on Patreon.

1:04:35And it goes a long way to supporting all the other stuff that we do on Arseblog. So if you think all of that is worth$6 a month, plus VAT or sales tax, wherever you might be in the world, you can sign up at patreon.com forward slash Arseblog. And we would love to have you along. For now, though, folks, thank you as always for being here. And thank you for listening. James and I will have an Arsecast Extra on Monday, as usual. hopefully talking about another good Arsenal performance and another three points. Until then, though, take it easy and we will catch you on the next one.

1:05:41dedication

1:05:51Hi pod fans. Max Ocean here from the chart-topping Guardian Football Weekly Podcast. Don't like to crow. If you enjoyed the World Cup with us You'll be glad to know we're back for the new Premier League season. Expect three episodes a week, questionable predictions, and the biggest stories in soccer from the Premier League to the Champions League and beyond. Watch now on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.