Arsenal win the Premier League!

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0:53Ryan Hunn: hello everyone it's wednesday welcome back to stadio i'm ryan that's Moussa

1:01how are you Moussa? I'm not as good as you

1:04Musa Okwonga: I'm not as good as you don't I'm going to cry oh my goodness many many congratulations thanks man many congratulations thanks man

1:14Ryan Hunn: we hope you've all stayed safe and well wherever you are yes today we are going to talk about Arsenal winning the Premier League for the first time in 22 years 22 years if you are listening to this on the free feed then hello welcome if you are new here which sometimes happens when teams win titles we also have a Patreon you want to go to patreon.com forward slash you can sign up and get ad free episodes every single episode ad free info so should we just get straight into it because Max Dalman was not even alive Miles Lewis Skelly was not alive there's a few of these players who weren't like were not alive i was still a teenager it's amazing it's amazing there's so much to say yeah yeah bournemouth drawing 1-1 with manchester city was enough to give arsenal the title after their 1-0 win against burnley on monday night which i was at can you start because

2:16Musa Okwonga: i don't think i can actually start at full time my reaction was joy for yourself joy for ian other members this is a righties house chat that's been around um since the podcast started we started that project um and then also the wide arsenal fan base and this kind of huge journeys end and i i couldn't stop thinking about the the sort of the spiritual release that this is for arsenal fans and the arsenal fandom and how much better that energy will now be spent out in the world instead of worrying about getting this title over the line. One of the most impressive title victories I have seen ever, that we'll ever see, that we'll ever see.

2:59Musa Okwonga: If you consider what Arsenal have been against, if you consider the City machine, in my opinion, the greatest coach of all time, with some of the greatest players of all time who don't get injured, with astonishing resources, virtually boundless resources owned by a state and all of that. And also not the kind of distraction of ex-pundits, you know, ex-players who are pundits. Pep Guardiola has been able to work in a virtually soundless, soundproof room for 10 years. And he's produced a spectacle that many of us will never see again. Arsenal went up against that and they beat that. And I'm not an Arsenal fan, but I don't think I've been more happy for the fans of another club.

3:45Musa Okwonga: As happy, yes. As happy for sure, but not more happy. That's how I feel about it. So I cannot imagine how you as an Arsenal fan are feeling.

3:54Ryan Hunn: So I got quite emotional full-time from the Bournemouth game. And I think probably a little more emotional than I thought I would be because it's easy to say it now and hindsight's, you know, everything's easy after the fact. but I know how good this team have been for a long time I know what my eyes have been telling me for a few years now you've seen just this incremental progress year on year last season I think was a bit of a I think it's last season has been put into context a lot more with this season in a way because the sheer amount of injuries last season made it impossible for them to sustain a title challenge and yet they still put very very very nearly could have been in the Champions League final.

4:41Ryan Hunn: This team is really good. It has been really good for a while. This season it's had to adapt slightly and it's played on the margins a little more than it has done in recent years. There is a reason for that. If you look at the lack of ability that Mikel Arteta has had to field a regular first team attacking, an attacking combination for the majority of the season. It's been tricky. There have been a lot of moving parts. And I think that to finish second, second, second, and then first in this era of the Premier League shows just an unbelievable level of consistency that no one else in the league has shown.

5:25Ryan Hunn: Not even Manchester City. Not close. You know, people have yo-yo, people have dropped off, people have won the leagues. Even Klopp's Liverpool were brilliant and they would have these drop-off moments. I mean, Klopp's Liverpool were unbelievable. But what I mean by that, the era of the Premier League that we are in is so intense. It's such a grind. And I think to win it this season in particular, when it's been clear from the beginning that it was going to be such a tough Premier League season, I think, just in general. probably from an enjoyment point of view and from a football point of view as well because the football on the whole in the Premier League has just been slightly tricky and that's where Arsenal just had to adapt to and I don't think that they have been anywhere near like this isn't a load of just dudes with no ability who are just hoofing the ball up which some very, very, very experienced ex-professionals have been talking about them as if they are.

6:30Ryan Hunn: You look at the back four that started on Monday, and this is without Uri and Timber, but you have Riccardo Calafiori, who's one of the most unicorn-y left-backs in the world, who at one point, it was actually really great, I was sat in the west and lower, quite close to the clock end in the corner, and there was four guys from Northern Ireland behind me. And there was a moment in the first half where Calafuri pops up in almost like an inside right position. And I just went, is that Calafuri? And the guy behind just went, I fucking hell it is Calafuri. There were moments last season, I remember being at the PSG game in the group phase of the Champions League where Wright and I were like, oh my God, that's Timber and Calafuri bursting forward as these attacking wingers and then locking stuff down in a defensive sense.

7:21There's quite a lot of the technical ability

7:25Ryan Hunn: that is across that back line is, I think, goes hugely, hugely under... Do you remember when Zinchenko was the ceiling? Yeah, exactly.

7:34Musa Okwonga: As amazing as he was when he came in and now the ceiling's even higher. So my point with that is that you don't have

7:39Ryan Hunn: a back four like that if all you are is this anti-football thing, which I think a lot of people have been talking about. And I think that what's so great about this title win is that it's going to have to... I get why some people are just like, I would... Rival fans and all this stuff would be like anyone but Arsenal, right? But I think for the wider football discourse, and I said this earlier in the season, I think it's actually going to be quite a good thing for the Premier League and for coverage of the Premier League in general from now on because it puts to bed so many narratives that have been repeated year on year on year and used to whip up fan bases.

8:13Ryan Hunn: and that's just gone now and I think that is better for everyone it was better for example when Liverpool won the title in 2020 it was it was an amazing thing for the Premier League because it put to bed a lot of the discourse that was used to kind of wind up Liverpool fans right and to talk about the club and I think now what's happened with Arsenal like 22 years is a long time you know for Liverpool it was 30 since they'd won the league and the first time they'd won the Premier League it helps it really helps because fans calm down a bit rival fans calm down a little bit and mainstream broadcasters have to actually find something new to talk about you know people have got lazy

9:05Musa Okwonga: they've got lazy

9:06Ryan Hunn: and I think so from that point of view from a neutral point of view because you know Stadio isn't an Arsenal show even though I'm an Arsenal fan. But please forgive me. Allow me this. You know, because this is the first time Arsenal... This is only the second trophy that Arsenal have won since we've been doing Stadio. Right? This is the second trophy that Arsenal have won since we've done Stadio. And like you have... Manchester United have won more trophies. Like you have celebrated more trophies than I have once since we've been doing Stadio. I don't like to talk about it. But still... And you know, it's the first league title in a long, long time.

9:37Ryan Hunn: And I feel like... personally, you know, since we've been doing Stadio and, you know, since I've kind of, we were doing Righty's House and popping on places like Arseblog and stuff. I think I wrote a thread originally after the Bremford game. I knew it! The infamous Bremford game. Right? And Erdogan hadn't come back yet because he'd been on loan for the second half of the season before, but he was, he was about to come back. But there was so clearly like a core there. Yeah. And it was so clearly the beginning of something. that I think I wrote this thing basically being like look this reminds me at the moment a little bit of an NBA team that has got loads of really good draft picks but they just don't have the experience and it's going to be bumpy but it's going to get there you don't get to where Arsenal are at now without that period because you can't just flip 15 players out and bring in 15 players that are the equivalent or the standard capable to win a Premier League and to take on instruction it has to become learned and you have to have experience and people that the manager trusts and people you know and it's taken a long time it's the same reason why like it was quite you know people don't want didn't want Liverpool to win the league because it makes you look at your own club and be like hang on a minute why are we doing that?

11:02Ryan Hunn: And yeah you've got to spend money everyone in the Premier League has to spend money now and Arsenal were so far away I don't think people remember how far away they were I'd said on either right his house or said it we'd said it we'd talked about it being like I'd made my peace with Arsenal never winning a league title in my lifetime again because the landscape of football had changed so dramatically since the last time that they had I couldn't see a pathway back genuinely and that sounds very dramatic now but at the time it really wasn't I remember it I remember it

11:33Musa Okwonga: I'm not an Arsenal fan but I saw from the outside 2019 when he took charge if you just look at the squad it's not to name names it's not about you know player shaming if you look at the collection of players that Arteta took and I don't mean because those are bad players I mean those players were scarred by different things somewhere injury different places in their careers the collective was not where it was where it should be and then you had to like ship out certain players who didn't fit what was happening um in Arteta's mind in terms of his vision it's it's actually incredible what he has turned around in seven years it is amazing really like and i say that from the from the outside i mean harry mcguire said it best i think he was talking to the guys over the overlap sorry he's talking to the team yeah he's talking to ian and he talked about how arsenal were the best team he's faced this year yeah you know they beat you know ask the manchester knight to beat arsenal the emirates he said but we scored two worldies so they didn't give us anything didn't give us anything but that is it better than city because and he wasn't just trying to have a dig at City.

12:35Musa Okwonga: He's not like that, Maguire. It was more like, this team is so good. And I compare this team to Klopp's Liverpool in one respect. They remind me of that time when Liverpool win the Champions League in 2019 and they were the best team in Europe for about three years. You get to the final in 18, Salah gets the injury, they lose to Madrid despite the heroics of Sergio Mane. And then the next year they win against Spurs, which they deserved for what they'd done. But for that period of three years, they were the best team in Europe, in my opinion. And I think Arsenal and Liverpool, they're similar in the sense that they built the club back properly academy products good transfer business all the fundamentals and if you do the fundamentals properly you take time and the reason people are afraid of arsenal i think there's a couple of reasons but it's because they built something that can actually last they have max down in there they're going to have a great summer in the transfer window because people are going to be looking at them differently now like i do believe they're going to make at least one signing that will take them on a stage probably in an attacking sense yeah I think there's yeah I think they also had to sell quite a lot as well yeah but the platform for progress is there and I think look to your point as well just to answer your point about the culture of everything I want to give some huge credit to people that are not on the field with Arsenal but I think responsible for their success in no small part um we were chatting the group about people are congratulating us even though we didn't kick a ball but I actually think someone like Andrew Mangan and the Arseblog team have been a key part of this I don't think they win this title without Arseblog.

13:58Musa Okwonga: Because one thing I would tell you about this, it sounds like a weird thing to say. It sounds really weird. It's a hot take. But one thing that's reminded me so much of this title run-in is how important the emotional temperature around the club actually is and how the mood is set. And I'm not saying it's any one blog or any one podcast that's made an impact, but I'm saying if you have total chaos off the field and total naysaying, it does affect players because they do see everything. And not every footballer and we'll come to him in a moment is like Declan Rice. We'll come to Declan Rice again very soon.

14:30Musa Okwonga: Not everyone's like that. It does affect people. I think what Arsblog have done as a team over the last few years in creating a context, in creating a moderation of mood, just a social conscience has been absolutely vital. And I don't think this title happens without them. I really believe that. That's nonsense. But in the same way you thank the kit man, in the same way you thank the staff in the kitchen for getting all the meals ready, they are part of the Arsenal ecosystem. I want to give them credit. But on Declan Rice, before I forget, and I'll hand it back to you, the decision after City win the treble to go to Arsenal instead of Manchester City, when most other players in world football, Ryan, at that juncture, they go, you're going to be given the keys to the next decade of City dominance.

15:17Musa Okwonga: Pep is there. There's a spot in the midfield that you can see for yourself. It's opening up. Declan Rice's choice to go to Arsenal, one of the boldest, most confident, most consequential choices that a player has made in terms of their career that we're ever going to see in the Premier League because it altered the destination. It's basically equivalent of, it's like Steven Gerrard staying at Liverpool and not going to Chelsea when it was all there for him. It's the same. And of course, Gerrard made the gamble and winning the league. It didn't happen for him and he deserved it to happen. But of course, Gerrard set the foundation for what Liverpool are now and always respect him for that.

15:54Musa Okwonga: He basically made the Steven Gerrard choice. It's unbelievable. And it's different. It's maybe even greater because Gerrard, it was the boyhood club and the emotional tie to stay there was one thing. But Declan Rice literally had a choice between Arsenal there, where it's a ton more work and you'll get a ton more ridicule and you know what the social media is like because you've seen it from your West Ham days. You've seen how they can come at people and you've got City. chill quiet get good money get to work in peace you know you go to match the city it's like being a it's like being a world-class surgeon with the best possible facilities you're going to do the best work of your career classical music playing in the background and you went to arsenal with the noise and uncertainty and the chaos and you went there it's it's it's it's incredible i think

16:41Ryan Hunn: what you saw with the outpouring of stuff last night is a sense of actually how big this football club is. And I think that's one of the reasons why Arsenal dominates so much discourse is that it operates in a really, or it has operated in a really unique space in the football ecosystem where it's never really been dynistic. It's the third most successful English side, you know, it's never won a European cup, right? You know, on the men's side, this is. And they hadn't won the Premier League for 22 years and yet it is so huge and we were chatting to some friends like Neif and Callum Jacobs went out down to the Emirates last night and Neif said that he's never seen London like this for any trophy he's never seen it and I think the thing about Arsenal is that I was there on Monday and the energy and the the change in the dynamic of the fan base as well, like the fan base feels younger, it feels more engaged.

17:49Ryan Hunn: There was an energy there that, with the smoke for the bus arriving and just the atmosphere that is created in the stadium by, and I know that there's been some issues with the Ashburton Army and all this stuff, but I feel like the presence of a fan group in the stadium like that, if they weren't there on Monday, that place would have been even more anxious. And just having that constant thing going, it really does help. Things like that matter and people have mocked Arteta for these little things like removing the tunnel you know but that's had an actual impact. Yes. The North London Forever you know the Angel the Louis Dunford tune they sing before the game.

18:31Ryan Hunn: People mock that and I get it because when you start new customs it feels weird and slightly unorganic and a bit forced but everything starts somewhere. However whether you like it or not the fact that that exists and that is a thing now it's had an impact and all of these things have probably had maybe like a slight impact here and there but you combine them together with the the the stuff on the pitch and it creates something that is like I can't remember Arsenal having all of that actually even even in the peak peak years no it wasn't there it wasn't there it wasn't there even getting the club close like back to something like that I can't think of a manager that's managed to do that at a club that size in the modern era with the non-football stuff as well.

19:18Musa Okwonga: Yes, because what you've got is you've got this alignment of football and culture slash fashion music. That's obviously on a lot of players. Like it's a cool club. This is the thing. I think another reason people didn't want them to win, those who didn't want Arsenal to win, it was because they've kind of got everything else, right? They have the cultural cachet. They're cool. They are cool. like before winning this title you look who collaborates with them you look who's a fan of

19:46Ryan Hunn: theirs you look who can just rock up at a game i wish they'd lean into that a little more sometimes and you know make slightly different decisions with regards to some commercial stuff for example yeah i completely agree because i feel like it's a bit of a free hit there for them i think it's a

19:58Musa Okwonga: complete free hit and i think you can get lazy with that i don't want people to get complaints

20:01Ryan Hunn: in terms of i mean that's also just us being us right but yeah no no definitely no i think and i

20:07Musa Okwonga: look the things the problem with um these things with cultural capital cachet whatever you call it cash i prefer cash it can be squandered very fast that that can happen i think there's also an element of artette i think has been quite good in in reining that in and not losing focus of the mission sometimes in ways that i think people have found quite um regimented um prohibitive and all the rest of it, this achievement, like to overturn it, and I keep saying it because it can't be said enough because I've been seeing already some analysis of Arsenal's victory. I'm not going to name names, but even some of the congratulatory analysis is extremely begrudging.

20:49Musa Okwonga: It's extremely begrudging. I have to say because it's almost like -

20:52Ryan Hunn: Is it like the guy from Come Down With Me? Enjoy the money, Jade. What a sad little life, Arsenal. What a sad life, Arsenal. You won the league with all the decorum of a reversing dump truck with no tires. With no tires on it. I was like, oh, I didn't get it. Didn't get it.

21:10Musa Okwonga: It's very much, yeah, it's very much that. Because, you know, there's talk about, like, how they won the title, the football, this and that. They've conceded, what, 27 goals? 27 goals, something like that? Like, what on earth? Like, defensively, just beasts. and I've said this before, it's really reminding me of mid-1990s Serie A. It is, because it's that transitional period when the defences get really good and the attacks have to figure out how to make it all work. But Arsenal this year, what they've withstood, the key injuries are key points. In different seasons, this overwhelms them. But there was something about when they lost to City, and look, shout out to Everton because Everton came up big in that game, but, and also by the way, Bournemouth will get to Bournemouth in the second.

21:59Musa Okwonga: They were spectacular against City. they were mind-blowing good they were mind-blowing on that we're going to do a podcast next week

22:05Ryan Hunn: yeah um that might go up either next week or the week after about iraiola can i just say on board

22:11Musa Okwonga: with this very quickly to footnote that against the team that's chasing a league title off the back of having won an fa cup with euphoria of that and i won't take the tiredness because that city's got that city's quite as deep to face a team like that that is desperate to win a title because they were desperate for that treble make no mistake they played football that absolutely blew me away and they should have won 2-0 they should have they were they should have won 3-0 they were or 3-1 Bournemouth were extraordinary as they've been since since January basically start of January but yeah back to Arsenal and what this means for Bakayo Saka as well talk about that journey how he is feeling I cannot imagine I don't there's this human there's not there's words in the there's not words it's not letters in the vocabulary to articulate what that man is feeling at this point you went into Arsenal and you were the guy they rebuilt around you were the person they rebuilt around and you get the assist that clinches the title for you fundamentally you get the assist the Havertz goal and Kai Havertz now has scored two of the most important goals in English football history Champions League final winner and the winner against Burnley Kai Havertz did that it's astonishing and the journey Havertz has been on the journey we talked about this how important he'd be I was worried for him I'm not going to lie I was really worried for him with a city miss, the head of the miss, this header, because those are the chances that can haunt you.

23:30Musa Okwonga: We've seen big chances, haunt strikers, you know, haunt attacking players, you know, Paul Gascoyne at Wembley, 96, these things that haunt you. But to come through like he did, it's, there are so many, this is the thing I love about this title victory for Arsenal. As a non-Arsenal fan, I've always been attracted to the individual stories, the Declan Rice story, the Bakayosaka story, obviously Eberichi Eze and Kai Havertz as well. That one is...

23:58Ryan Hunn: Sorry, can we just talk about Eze for a moment? Yeah, let's go. He wins the FA Cup with Palace last season. He then leaves and goes to the club that he was at as a boy who he's supported his entire life. He wins them... So he wins Palace their first ever major trophy. He wins Arsenal... Well, he wins the Premier League with Arsenal and he's into a Champions League final. The club that he supported and grew up... Supported all his life, played for and didn't make it.

24:23Musa Okwonga: He scores five goals against Spurs in the Derby. Yeah, exactly.

24:27Ryan Hunn: He scores a hat-trick against Spurs in the Derby. He scores five, doesn't he? He will lift the Premier League trophy at Palace. It's, it's, it's, I can't, like, I can't. What level of, what level of, I know. It's advanced level script writing. I'm not religious, but if I was, it would be things like that. Things like that. It would make me, yeah.

24:47Musa Okwonga: You know, it's so funny. It's like, I draw parallels. see how like when Anjan Semenya went off against Bournemouth and the rapturous applause the love because he'd done everything the right way and Eze is someone I think in a similar vein like I speak to Palace fans now and again about him they're like that guy just throughout just conducted himself with class the journey he's been on there was something so fitting about seeing him and Declan Rice actually outside the Emirates at 5am I wonder if they have to get traded Timber and Saka as well. Timber was in the mix. It's like, Hey, what's, there's something iconic about that.

25:26Musa Okwonga: Like the fact that they were like, we've got to go out and just soak this up. We have to feel it. That's when you see what it means when you see what it means. And I think this is the thing that I respect so much. It was so bold. These players could have gone elsewhere. And even like, no, Timber with his injury issues. I love that he was in the mix. You know, he's the Mount Rushmore now, isn't he? He's there. The four of them. Tim was in the mix all his injury issues he's been incredible Declan Rice in particular Declan Rice Bakaissak and Eberichi Eze all had these journeys you know when Eze was at Palace and Alisa was sold I was really sad because he's not going to get his big move now not because Palace are not a big team don't get me wrong but because of in terms of Eze's arc and what he wanted I thought it's so much harder to attract the transfer you want now that Alisa's gone your key playmaker's off to Bayern he's dominating running things who would have said when he left for Bayern and became a boss that Eze would be in the Champions League final before him and that's as amazing as Elisa has been like Eze's journey takes over the reins at Palace the first half of that season looked a bit like out of sorts not finding his rhythm wins the FA Cup like you say and then just does all of this and not in an easy season adapting to Arteta and the tactics then he gets a second wind and then he comes in at the 10 and he looks incredible and he's pushing the ball downhill like a kind of um people can united fans will hate this comparison but you know like how bruno finance started playing higher up the pitch after playing in center mid where he was bogged down with his defensive responsibilities and then became the better version of himself the essay that emerged from that challenge that arteta gave the tactical challenge the essay that emerged in the last few games of the season, I was like, that's the guy they signed.

27:15Musa Okwonga: That's it now. And what's exciting is the pieces they're going to put around, I think, Eze in the summer, in an attacking sense, I think will go to another level. Couldn't be happier. Honestly, and again, I say this as I'm a football fan first, but for those individuals I've named, I couldn't be happier for footballers.

27:32Ryan Hunn: I mean, I'm hoping that there's going to be another chance for us to do a long Arsenal episode this season. Yeah, yeah, yeah. because you know there's a big there's a big game coming up in 10 days time and which is weird because it's big

27:48Musa Okwonga: but this is the one this was the one

27:49Ryan Hunn: this is the one and I think this is why this was so important because and I think as great as it is to win it on the pitch I think this is as if they weren't going to win it against Burnley for example if they couldn't have won it in that game you know I saw I saw some unbelievably wild commentary about the celebrations for the Burnley game these moments like you don't know when you're going to get these moments

28:19Musa Okwonga: again yeah totally

28:20Ryan Hunn: and if we're not in it to celebrate the moments whether that's a win at home against whoever right in December or it's a win that takes you one step closer to your first league title in 22 years I think that my overriding thought from it after last night in particular and just being at the game on Monday and you never know what's going to happen in football this is why the only way and I just and I just and I just and I kept I keep thinking about that thought I had where I was just like I'd made my peace with Arsenal just being just a consistent never really getting back to the top table because they were the people who were there were on another planet so far And I cannot stress this enough.

29:08Ryan Hunn: I also feel that like over the last few years, I've had to talk about this team with so much context. And at some points I felt like I was going, like kind of losing my mind a little bit because I was like, why can't people see this? And look, criticism is fair, but there's also criticism in context. And I think winning things is really difficult. I think a lot of people didn't want to see it. And I think that, yeah, because it's really easy just to moan about the things that someone should be doing or a club should be doing or whatever when they're fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, right? But when the margins get to as small as they've been over the last couple of years and the Premier League has changed in the way that it has, like it's become incrementally harder, I think, to win it.

29:58Ryan Hunn: And you see what happened to Liverpool this season after winning it last season. it's difficult man and they've had a really difficult season in really difficult circumstances and I just felt a bit like man do you know what like I'm glad this happened now because this has been this has been something that I've seen become more and more possible over the last few years and that's why I think I always was a bit erring on the side of look man I don't want to I don't want to bin this manager off I don't want to do this I don't want to you know like all of this really really drastic shit I was like there's something really there and not a lot of other clubs have got that yes and if and if Arsenal are smart now and I don't want to do this thing of like looking ahead because I think you should really really enjoy this and there's a Champions League final it could get better but like they've got they've somehow managed to get themselves into a position which I never thought they would get to and it deserves a huge amount

30:58Musa Okwonga: out of credit i think you know i think this is i'll go further i think that i am a celebration policeman police officer in one context and one alone in that if i think that people are not celebrating enough i'll have to have a word like it's a bit like the equivalent of going around the office at 7 p.m on a friday and you're like why are you still here you know i feel like that go home go home and i feel like that sometimes with the arsenal fandom one thing i i will gently say is, look, I know it's been, you know, the anxiety machine for years, but at some point, actually, this is what this is about.

31:35Musa Okwonga: Like, go and enjoy it and live it and indulge in it and soak it up, because Manchester City this season alone, they added Antoine Semenyo and they added Mark Gay during a title race. A title race that was already difficult became even harder. And all this talk about City being in transition, I'm not having it. If you've got the resources of Manchester City and the quieter players they have, if you look, if aliens visited Earth, if aliens visited Earth and saw the Manchester City squad and you told them what football was and you said, oh, by the way, the squad's in transition, they'd be like, no, it's not.

32:07Musa Okwonga: No, no, no. Okay, look, we don't watch much football. We're aliens. We've taken the metrics you've given us. And by any measure, that team, there's like no other team in Europe that beats that Manchester City team maybe over the course of a season in terms of what they have. And I include PSG in that, I include Bayern in that, because of the league and what the league does to you and how City are trained to fight the rigours of a league. This Manchester City team is as formidable an opponent as you could imagine, and Arsenal defeated them. It's extraordinary. And there's a lot of talk about, oh, the other teams weren't as strong, blah, blah, blah.

32:47Musa Okwonga: No, look, you know what it is? you don't get that excuse in the Premier League because you've all got the money. You've all got access to the best coaches. The Premier League is stacked. The quality of coach. Andoni Iraiola is coaching at Bournemouth. Do you understand how unreal that is? Like in any other era, Andoni Iraiola is the coach of Juventus. He's coaching Juventus. That is a genius. He's a Marcello-Levy level talent and he's coaching Bournemouth. Marco Silva's at Fulham. Like the depth the quality of coach it's tough man it's extraordinary and it's week on week on week on week on week Unai Emery you're up against like multiple trophy winners well I mean just to cut

33:27Ryan Hunn: in I mean I know that people you know would dunk on Burnley but the quality of what they Liverpool Liverpool struggled against Burley early on in the season when they were on that run Arsenal uh found it tricky away at Burnley City beat them 1-0 at Turf Moor and one of the things I was thinking about it during the game and I was thinking the way that they're set up here is actually super impressive and 15-20 years ago a side that gets relegated in the Premier League isn't like this. Steamroller. And I was looking at it and I was like this is a different game to 20 years. This is a completely different game to an Arsenal one league and that team you know those teams around that era I know the Invincibles didn't but they still dropped points to some teams that if they dropped points against now the equivalent of they'd get accused of all kinds of stuff.

34:12Ryan Hunn: So I think that I still think that because maybe it's the sheer like wealth and depth of everything in the Premier League has made stuff level out to a point where it makes it difficult for people to really separate and therefore it can look like some of the football is actually not as good as it used to be and that's an element of nostalgia coming in but it's because unfortunately for attackers and creative players a lot of the time you know they're being manmarked by unbelievable athletes who are also technically amazing you have people like like mickey i always talk about mickey van der ven as an example yeah if someone there are periods of history that if you took that mickey van der ven goal that he scored the let the real the unbelievable one yeah and you showed someone you'd be like what how what the hell is that you know and i think that that's that's what i think that's why i've been a little more sympathetic with some of the the less you know inspiring or exciting performances from Arsenal this season.

35:14Ryan Hunn: Have they been tough? Yeah, there's been some tough watches, man. But I think there have been some tough watches in the Premier League on the whole, apart from sides who have... Like, put it this way, look. I think the one thing... I'll wrap up on this because we will talk about Arsenal again, hopefully, at some point. But I can't remember a side winning the Premier League League with such intense pressure from its own fan base. Yes. From multiple other rival fan bases, from football fans as a whole and media in the modern era quite to this level in the Premier League. Every week. Every week. It was every week.

36:01Musa Okwonga: For years. For years. For years. For years. And I say this again, not a United, not an Arsenal, not a United fan. not an Arsenal fan but watching it from the sides and I think at the final whistle like yesterday night I say that again I felt a kind of not euphoria because I'm not an Arsenal fan but I felt a relief for Arsenal fans and for this collection of players they wouldn't have to wear that they wouldn't have to sit with that because you know football fans can be quite mean about all this stuff oh yeah like take away the context same with Spurs like people go at Spurs for all these reasons but a ton of decisions made at executive level there that have made things disastrous over there like some will say I'm talking out of my neck but I think they made different choices they're nowhere near where they are in the league they shouldn't be anywhere near where they are in the league they're too good those players they are too good they've just been through an absolute ringer with all those things so I just the thing I liked about last night was it was nice to be able to root for a group of players who've navigated some pretty serious challenges and who've had to be really, really robust.

37:09Musa Okwonga: I mean, look, Bernardo Silva putting out interviews on the eve of the big games going, oh, like, they need to man up. With all that Arsenal have navigated, and I was thinking back, it's funny because I think back about, I think back over this a lot, and I think I mentioned this in the previous podcast, but just thinking back over those years when Arsenal were seen as not robust enough to win stuff.

37:29Ryan Hunn: Yeah, man. I mean, my Arsenal fan, and to be honest, I think even if I wasn't an Arsenal fan and I was talking about this as a purely purely as a neutral I would probably say the same thing I think that there's been so much shit thrown at that group I think they are well some of the stuff I saw afterwards with you know Pukai Osaka pointing to the trophy and you know saying 22 years they've basically like or Miles is they called us bottlers now we're holding the bottle that was such an uncle that's such an African uncle moment I was like all of you lot give it give it back because actually you've taken so much shit yeah yeah i think they are way better than a lot of people

38:09Musa Okwonga: have given them credit for i can't remember anything like it i can't remember anything

38:12Ryan Hunn: like it i can't because and there might have been but i can't remember anything i i can't i can't

38:17Musa Okwonga: because not in the premier league no i can't remember the premier league because when it was happening to liverpool liverpool within the fan base there was more unity there was more and i know that arsenal have got like arsenal vision and last blog and it's incredible and they've got this positivity you know there's so much positivity in that sort of podcast space and and that's great. But they didn't have this kind of, they weren't sort of being torn apart. There wasn't this polarization. There wasn't the kind of like, you know, the Venga out, you know. What Arnaz Schlapp is experiencing now, we'll get to that in another podcast because that's another story, the Mo Salah social media stuff.

38:50Musa Okwonga: What Arsenal have had to navigate this season, and I'll say it because, I can say it because again, I'm not biased. What they've had to navigate this season is unique. What they've had to navigate these last few years is unique. And this is an absolute crowning glory. And frankly, if you're an Arsenal fan, it shouldn't matter. If you find yourself online, still debating discourse, actually stop, go out and enjoy it. Or if you can't get out and enjoy it, then go online and enjoy it with people of a like mind. Because that's what this moment is about. And you won't get it back.

39:21Ryan Hunn: The Stadio Communicado Officiel that's been long, long, long standing. Celebrate all your wins like you've won the league. There it is. Especially if you've won the league. All right, everyone. We'll leave it there for today. We hope everyone's staying safe and well wherever you are. And we will be back with you on Friday. Good luck to any Villa fans tonight. Good luck to any Freiburg fans for tonight. Villa Freiburg, Europa League. Vibes upon vice. It's perfect. What a final. It's perfect. Don't forget to check the Stadio Archers place on Spotify. And speaking of which, we're playing out on third generation.

39:55Ryan Hunn: Love is going to rain down on me. Anything that you would like to add, Musogwanga? character at the wheel it's our turn next year making this about you right all right listen listen more importantly no no i'm fading you out fading you out you had your chance

40:12Ryan Hunn: bad booster all right everyone much love back with you on friday see you then Love is gonna rain down on me Love is gonna rain down on me Love is gonna rain down on me If I keep playing the band

40:51We, we had a love for each other But we, we couldn't cope with one another So love has put a spell on the web

41:14Love, you can't hurt any kind of affair Love, love, is gonna rain down on me Love, love, is gonna rain down on me Love is gonna rain down on me If I be playing the game