Arsenal Back in Champions League Semifinal But City Test Looms Large

29:21And it's that old 300 ,000 passes in the opponent's third type thing, not on the edge of your own box. And that's maybe what we saw in Lisbon a bit, the kind of we had the possession, but it was in our own half, but this was higher up. and yeah we were a bit blunt but I think the intent was so much different in this game yeah yeah I think I think that's fair and again I I think that intensity that pressure that everything we do well flows from that another thing that I think was really encouraging though Clive I think Martin Zubimendi made a an improvement in this game but it's an interesting one because where I thought he was really influential and where I really enjoyed the things he did was actually higher up the pitch.

30:08Some of the little runs into the box, some of the ways he combined in the middle third and more advanced third. There was actually one moment I got frustrated with him was deeper on the pitch. He received the ball from David Raya. There's no one behind him and he went straight to Saliba. But then when he had a chance to move around a little bit more, I thought he grew into the game. I thought this was a really nice improved improved performance from Zubimendi, who is, make no mistake, very important. He's going to be in the midfield for us the rest of this season, assuming he's able to hold up.

30:36And seeing him improve in this way, if I'm not correct, if I'm not wrong, maybe he was man of the match. He was man of the match. He was man of the match.

30:44Elliot:He's in UAE for team this week. So what do you think? Yeah. So I'm so glad you asked me this question because you know I love my midfielders, deep midfielders, not the high-up ones, not the fancy damn ones that you like. like right so um so i i think in many people's eyes he's been misconstrued he's been miscast slightly and um yeah what do you i don't think he's a true six i think he's just a center midfielder i think him and rice has sent midfielders they're six eights and i see them as all action midfielders that play sometimes behind the ball sometimes ahead of the ball what's happened recently for me they've been behind the ball too much both of them at the same time again my research trying to find some joy in the world in the last few days got some supermendy comps out and look where a lot of his best work is higher up i discussed it a few people are tactically aware and one of them say that he's more gundigan than a georgino that's a really smart sort of analogy that is because Gunnagun can obviously play deeper but he did a lot of work in the box and scored goals and I thought hmm yeah that matches where my head is going we've got to get him bouncing and moving and he was very closed against Bournemouth the ball was coming in in the tunnel he's going back to the tunnel Matt today did a brilliant analysis on him there was a simple pass out to the right back come from the keeper but he went back to the keeper again because he didn't want to open out in this game he opened out he opened out his body took it on the bounce around the corner and opened out and suddenly starts skipping for the midfield it's one coaching message open out as the ball's coming you open out your body and you then you've got all directions that you go so you scan you choose which side you go if i said to you what's the ball move comp and what's the sporting comp and have those two words open out in your mind you'll realize how simple it is sometimes to turn somebody around and give them something to remind them of what they were doing at the start of the year and what they can do again and he started to bounce and when you see him put a left foot cross in you know he's back right because that happened in bruges was it bruges him i think it was bruges when maloweke scored in about yes i think it was when you're sent amid that you everyone thinks he's a six he's putting left foot crosses him maybe you've got it wrong how you've analyzed him and maybe we don't realize what he can do and he's been reminded of that what can he do i thought it was excellent first pass i have to say first pass everyone's a bit nervous about him right because we're all we're all online first pass a little angled pass into essay and it just skipped ahead of him i thought oh no i'm a huge fan of him right well no he really has gone he's gone but that then after that he was absolutely fine when the intention that pass was good and he was absolutely fine so i'm really pleased because i think our back end of our pitch is is league league quality by that i mean league team of the year quality and he's dropped away recently and i was devastated by that because i really rate him but now he's back very quickly and everyone's saying he was fatigued well two days three days after bournemouth ever it was he's back skipping around with him man and mats some of this is psychological with him and it's about reminding him where he is, what he can do.

34:04Elliot:And I thought he was really, really good. The pair of them were really good in there. Can I stay with you, Clyde, for one other player then? Because I think we had the return of Piero and Capier. And I have to admit, my preference has been Calafiore, but I can't argue with what Capier has given us this season. And however frustrated you may be to not see Myles get more opportunities, and I love Myles and I hope he has a big career and a big career at Arsenal, I'm warming to Piero and Capier a lot. he has won a league. He's been in a team that won a league. Went unbeaten doing it. And he looks like a guy who is not shrinking from the moment.

34:39There were some players, it feels a little like the moment is swallowing them up. He is not one of them. I was really impressed by him.

34:46Elliot:Massive. So again, full disclosure, last time we saw him, cut final, got booked early, unfairly in my opinion. And we lost him, didn't we? We lost him in that game. Califuri came in, looked like man of match. Should have got man of match. Maybe should have come on at halftime. and that changed the whole game for us and i'm thinking oh well let's see what he does elliot mate he came in and he dominated his side in every single action i saw a big part of him second half down my side i kept thinking be careful don't get injured needed for sunday needed sunday slow down just stand still he kept going he kept going he kept going i mean it was ridiculous and on my IR I said he literally emptied the tank and right now what we want are people stepping out of their normal performance and going above and beyond and if more people play like that we're going to be absolutely fine we need people to find their top game and empty it on that pitch this manager will love that player and what he almost epitomizes what an identity player is incredible effort he puts in dual ability attacking ability defensively intensity everything you want and uh which made the cup final almost so stark he was so quiet he was so nude by that yellow card he doesn't add up but he's back now and well you know sunday he's gonna be he'll i think he's playing I think he's playing.

36:18Yeah. I mean, gosh, as much as I like Cal Fiore, I think I want Pierro and Capier in the team. Tim, I'm sorry to shut you out a little bit. You did get your Arsecast appearance today. Yeah, that's fine. We've heard from you. You heard my vocal cords nearly gave out last time. Yeah, we need to protect you. Protect this man. I think we can start to steer the ship to maybe some of the things that are a little concerning and that people will be looking at in this game. And certainly when it's nil-nil, people want to know where the goals are. People want goals. Nil-nil gets you to the semifinal and it did.

36:56And that was our job. And I do think you always have to be aware of what the tactics and strategy of a game are, right? Because you don't need to go hell for leather to batter sporting when nil-nil gets you through. And to the credit of this Arsenal team, sporting created hardly anything. I think 0.29, 0.27 expected goals on, you know, eight shots or something like that. So mission accomplished. But per James Benj, Arsenal averaged 1.04 open play expected goals per 90 this season, okay? 1.04. When Martinelli, Jokras share the pitch, that number drops to 0.29. In a very small sample size, when Meduake is in there as well, it drops even further.

37:39This front three is not one that I think people feel a huge amount of confidence in. And you can see why. It's in the data. It's not as effective. Can I get your perspective on it? I don't know that Mikel had another option. So I don't know what else I'd like him to pick. But I think it is pretty clear that the characteristics of these three players do not complement or enhance any of their individual performances. And that was very much the case on this night. Yeah, it's a profile thing, isn't it? it's not just that you know I'd say Saka Erdegaard and Havertz have defined our attack over the last kind of two and a half three years and like basically none of them are available and the only other guy who's really defined our attack is probably Gabriel Jesus and he's like a husk of himself as well so I think he probably didn't have a choice and I think there are a couple of selection areas where I think we do have eyes on Sunday obviously Mikel Arteta is not going to tell us but I refuse to believe he doesn't know that this front three doesn't work but I mean first of all yeah what else is he going to do play Dalman you could put Trossard in there as well maybe but I think he wants Trossard for Sunday and I really hope at least one of Saka or Odegaard are available and I think he probably just didn't pick them because he wants to make sure that they're available I think there's there's potentially a conversation at right back as well the fact that Ben White doesn't come on at all, is that because he's being saved for Sunday?

39:10Or is it because we're thinking of Mascara and this was an audition, that we're thinking Mascara, Hincapié, probably two good defensive options, strong one-on-one players against cities-wide players. I do think there is almost certainly an element to which some of this was about Sunday. But I don't think the attack was about Sunday. I think in that we don't want to play that attack on Sunday. And so we played it in this game because we're at home. We're one nil up. It almost had that, you know, like when you play a domestic cup game, right? And the manager rotates, he's not looking for new connections.

39:53He's not looking for players. He wants to keep players out and you try and get away with it. That's what you do in the domestic cups. and I thought there was maybe a small element of that here. Maybe not. Maybe Saka, Erdegaard don't play on Sunday either. I think the right back thing tells you that Timber won't be fit for Sunday. Otherwise, I think we'd have just seen Ben White here. So yeah, but yeah, that attack, I think because we played with a bit more intensity, it was all right in that respect. And all of those players are capable. Actually, I don't know about Yoko as much, but Martinelli and Maduake...

40:34We might come to that. Yeah, Martinelli and Maduake, they can run around, right? They can jockey between centre-back and full-back. They're fast. They can close you down when they put their minds to it. To be fair, Martinelli, I think, always has his mind on that anyway. And I think Ezza added, and maybe this is just a bias thing that doesn't show up in the performance so much, I think having someone who wants to shoot from the edge of the box does change the calculus a bit even if he doesn't do it loads and loads and loads just that thought that like if the ball drops to this guy he's going to whack it a goal which you don't get with any of our other options there really when Kai plays there are you scared of that no you're thinking he's going to go up for a header so we either have to try and win the header or try and win the second ball like I think Eza gives you something to think about in that respect, even if it wasn't like a repeat action in this game.

41:33But no, we all know that front three doesn't work. I think and hope the manager doesn't know it, knows it. I think if we have to play it on Sunday, I think we might be in some trouble. Yeah. And it's a few things, right? It's not sticky. The ball doesn't stick, which is a real problem for us, especially in a game like against City, where you're going to need to go long sometimes you're going to need someone who can hold it um nani to his credit i emphasized that started the pot i thought the press was better nani had some really good ball recoveries that led to some chances martinelli to your point tim had a sensational breakaway stop on i think katamo yeah and he used every drop of that speed we know he has to get back and get that ball away they they weren't brilliant they did some things it was it was an off the ball selection area it

42:23Elliot:wasn't on the ball selection. For this game being 1-0 up, it was an off the ball selection. It linked to your pressing discussion. They were there to be energetic, get the ball off them and press them. We all know, if James Bench knows the numbers, I'm sure Mikla Teta knows the numbers. And that basically means this is a specific case. If he rolls the same three out at the Etihad, can you please delete this bit off the podcast? Because that means we need something else there. I think we saw that towards the end of the game. Well, and we're going to get to that because I think that's really interesting.

42:59But let's stay on Jokeres for a minute, Clive. One thing that I keep hearing is, well, he's scored a lot of goals, so that means everything's okay. I mean, it is nine non-penalty goals in the league. So I think we should pump the brakes a little bit on boasting about the goal return. He's had some decent goals. His goal numbers aren't terrible for a player who's just arrived. And I think to be fair to Jokeres, in a world where everything played out the way Mikel Arteta wanted it to, he would have been one of the striker options, not the only option. And we cannot start the pod complaining about injuries and then not at least praise the guy who's playing striker for us for keeping himself fit all season and being available.

43:39But that is lowering the bar, people will say, and I tend to agree with them. I think the technical level is becoming a problem. I think when you are playing with nine outfield players, you can say, well, you got to get them the ball early. you gotta get, but we don't, but we don't. So it's either a him problem or it's a us problem, but we don't. And what you lose as a result is a player who can combine and control the ball. And I think you saw a clear change late in the game when Jesus and Leo and Kai were on and we got all those and Max came on. We looked more like Arsenal. We got the ball forward.

44:08We held it in the areas we needed to. We had some technical quality and the ball moved at a better pace and stuck. It just doesn't stick. And it doesn't stick for Yoko Ress. And like there was one moment that I was sort of disappointed by. Nani had a ball recovery. well there are a couple I'll highlight three Nani had a ball recovery gave it to Yocres kind of like half space top of the box and he could have driven into the box and he didn't back himself so he just hit it hard from the top of the box and it went over and there was good space that was frustrating because it didn't feel like elite striker mentality there but then there were two other moments Eza played that gorgeous flick to him tried to play one two and he just booted it right and then there was another one where Eza played it to him on the counter over on the right and he tried to play a one two that wasn't on and just passed it right back to a sporting player i'm not trying to kill the guy i'm simply saying i i think the level on the ball is wanting and we are a team that under michael arteta needs a guy whose level on the ball is higher and maybe that's an arteta flaw but that's our manager and this is how we play and to me there is a misalignment there that i feel is starting to really reveal itself as a challenge for us?

45:16Elliot:I think he didn't play well, and we took him off. There have been times this season… At 55 minutes, that tells you something, I think, right? And we took him off. The two sporting games, he didn't play well. He was much more lively against Bournemouth, and he was the best of our forwards. Yeah, he had a decent game against Bournemouth. And he didn't play well. And so what frustrates me about him, and this is a teachable moment for him for me, sometimes we hit him. I just want to see him hold the ball a little bit. but if you don't hold the ball that's okay but what you've got to do is you can't let the centre back go straight through you and then start an attack so you have to affect the exit you have to affect it so you might not win every one but you can't let them have clean possession if they have clean possession they're building whereas we're not getting the second balls and that's what happened at Wembley so we weren't able to affect it so we could get the second balls although we had a numbers issue at Wembley and so on the days where he's not at it, which was definitely one against Sport in both legs, what else can you do for me?

46:18Elliot:Are you holding it? Are you, well, Pressing could do it on this day, which is a runabout job. Are you combining? And if you're not doing that, you don't stay on the pitch. But we can say that now because we've got Kai Havertz. Tim's right. We all know Kai Havertz is playing on Sunday. You can see it straight away, right? So if he doesn't start with centre forward on Sunday, then he hasn't got a tape of the City game for Wembley in his draw. And I assure you that against City, you need as many midfielders on the pitch as possible. By midfields, you know what I mean? People look after the ball. Yeah, yeah.

46:51Elliot:We said it before the game, actually. We said it before the final. Of course, Eze wasn't available. Eze will be available this weekend. Who knows? Timber might be available this weekend. There's still time. Who knows? Timber might be available this weekend. If Timber's not available, just Mosquera playing. We do the old elbow thing where he puts the left back on like we did last night. where Incapi was far freer and Mosquera stayed in a little bit more. Mosquera eventually went forward. But going back to Jokeres, he wasn't there. You've nailed all the situations and I never bothered. As long as you've got an option.

47:24Elliot:If you're playing crap, you come out. And we got him out and that's it. And the next guy who's going to play on Sunday who's a bit more of an all-round ball player and suits a game where the technical level needs to be higher. It needs to be higher. And you have to accept that. That's where we're going to a level of technical play where we can't afford technical passengers. And so to say, it's much like when we had Eddie Nketiah playing for us. There were certain games where you think, good to have him there. Other games, no, mate. We can't have you here. First touch, second touch is a tackle.

47:58Elliot:We can't have that. Do you see what I mean? We can't have that. But I'm much more, make sure you've got all the tools in your toolbox that you need. And I go back to the Everton game. we were not winning that game until Jokeres came on and stayed between the sticks and got us that first goal so there's there's room for all of them but Elliot I'm not saying he should be playing on Sunday because I don't think it's a game for him and I think you hit on something that maybe helped me organize my thoughts a little better and you always do that for me I think you frame things in a way where it's not that I'm changing my mind it's that I'm organizing my thoughts a little better.

48:32And what I think I'm realizing is when Arsenal play in the right areas, when we have the ball in the final third, I really like the focal point that Yorchrist provides and the clarity of purpose of having a striker who's between the sticks in the box looking to score. I like that. Right now, Arsenal are struggling to play in the right areas. We're struggling to get the ball into those zones and keep the ball in those zones. And he can't help us do that. And so I think his his weaknesses are more evident to me based on the other challenges we're having progressing the ball and keeping it in those zones right and so to your point you know when you play a manchester city or or you know even a bournemouth who are pressing a softball whatever it is if the ball is at the feet of saliva and gabby and saliva and gabby and ray and saliva and saliva and gabby and it's moving slow and we're not connecting and he doesn't have the instincts to move around freely and drop in and connect or hold up a long ball that's where i notice those failings more yeah whereas when we are more arsenal-ish and we have timber and saka and ezza and odegaard and we're moving the ball and it's in the final third and we're keeping it there then i think a striker who has real striker instincts and positioning then you start to see the benefits of those a little more so that's a fair observation dear man they fancied him mate all day he had him

49:52Elliot:he fancied him you know he had his number completely had his number yep strange good player he's all right he's all right you know what jesus came on and again the last impression is right in front of me and he twisted his socks mate cut the times ran around him and so dead big victor yokarez can't hold it up jesus into feet turn around dance around him and killed him studs in the ground and it's like the matchup against amandy was not a matchup he needed mate I'll tell you that for nothing. But I'm always okay with that. You're crap today. You come off, son. Come sit next to me. Come sit down.

50:27Elliot:You're not it. The problem we've had this season is, on his crap days, we had nobody else to come on. We played him 90 minutes till he was flagging. And that's left to the lasting impression. I think we need this guy in our squad. He is not the guy. For me, he's not the guy. And so back to your statement about collectivising the attack. That's what we've done. we will no doubt talk about this our changing strategy about our attackers because it's becoming apparent now the level we're at top four in europe our attackers at this moment in time with fitness and health are probably the worst of the four and that's not where you want to be nope and i have to say it just was very noticeable to me when it was leo and jesus and kai right boy oh boy were we able to like get players closer to each other and keep the ball a little bit and get past a first man and give the next pass and it's just an interesting change in dynamic so I think before we move on from this game there's a couple little pieces he's out for it because I want to do a proper preview of the city game Mikel Arteta was on fire as he said in his pre-match presser he was on fire in this game he was up he was screaming he got his yellow card I do think people love to notice managers eccentricities when they're struggling without noticing them when they're succeeding because need i remind people that we're one season away from pep guardiola clawing his head and saying i'm so so happy right like managers are weird uh from you know managers who stare at their shoes during press conferences you know unai emery marco over and over again.

52:11Managers are eccentric and weird. They say weird. They're tightly wound, competitive animals. They say weird things. We overanalyze it. That's football. But the way he went after Leo Troussard was real interesting and very noticeable. Did it come up on TV?

52:26Elliot:Because I've not seen it on TV. Oh, it did. I mentioned it last night. Yep, they caught it. It happened a few times. Did you see it, Tim? Did you catch it? I saw one. Tim, did you see it? Yeah, yeah. So, Tim, what do you make of Arteta being very fired up, but in particular having to go at Leo like that. And were you able to see from your brilliant seat at the ground, which you've never, ever mentioned or bragged about what the heck was going on there? Cause it was, it was a moment of significant intensity for Miguel towards, towards Leo to put it mildly. Yeah. I don't know exactly what it was and I can't remember cause I can't recall thinking that Trossard had done anything egregious.

53:00The only thing I can think of is the opposite is a sub. So he's only just had his instructions. And if he strayed from the instructions, then, you know, Mikel could be like, I was in your ear two minutes ago telling you what I wanted you to do. Like it could have been that. I don't know if it was a perceived lack of effort at all, or maybe, I'm not sure I believe this. This is a bit far-fetched, but we haven't seen the best of Leo Trossard in a long time. and I think one of the things we think about him at a fan base is that he's at his best when he's a bit angry, when he's a bit annoyed and he's got something to prove.

53:38Is that Mikel's just trying to piss him off? Yeah, maybe Mikel's trying to poke the bear a little bit and doing that Chief Wiggum thing, singing off key to the police dogs until they attack him. Again, I kind of think in the heat of the moment and that would be almost too clever, even for Arteta. But maybe it is just like, usually, mate, I put you on the bench, and I put you on, and it's like wind you up and watch you go. But now I've done it, and I'm not getting that from you. So yeah, maybe I need to hit you with the cattle prod and shock you into life a little bit. At the same time, like you say, he was like that all night.

54:20He was like a coiled spring all night. He was doing his simi-coil. I mean, can you imagine like when we play Athleti, Simeone, like they're going to need a steel cage around. Like it's going to be like, they're both going to be like Hannibal Lecter, like the fourth official is just going to have to like put them both in full body stint, stilts and kind of, you know, cover their mouths and muzzle them and stuff like that. Because like, it's going to be like two Dr. Zoidbergs, you know, dancing around on that touchline. I do like Dr. Zoidberg. Yeah, yeah. And it could just be like that. And I think also one of these things that managers do as well is that when they feel the team is down or not performing or whatever, they do become more active.

55:05If we're playing well and winning 3-0, don't get me wrong, Arteta's very rarely sat down chilling out. He's always there. He's always present, isn't he, with his kind of nervous energy? But I'm sure he came into this game thinking, I've got to be like a 12th player here like they need coaching through it like because they they need my help at the moment um whether that was helpful giving a trossard a mouthful um I don't know if I can only speculate you know does he look back on that and regret it a bit and think maybe I went a little bit over the top there or was it kind of by design or was he thinking no he didn't do what I asked so he's going to get it both barrels not the only player to have had that.

55:49And I've said before, I think sometimes Arteta's substitutions are emotional for better and for worse. I've seen it so many times. And I think we kind of saw it with Jokeres as well. It's like, you know, I've seen it with Madueke a couple of weeks ago. Ball rolls under his foot, you know, out of play for a throw-in and Arteta just goes, you on now. Like, you know, sub's going through his warm-up so clearly isn't standing there waiting to come on. It's like, right, you on now. like this guy needs to get out of my sight you know so you know maybe maybe there is an element of that and I think you can only speculate whether that's helpful unhelpful I don't know I think my overriding point though like not necessarily about Trossard and something I've been trying to say I guess in defense of Mikel Arteta a little bit you know as people kind of speculate about his future and blah blah blah all those players keep signing new contracts and for whatever else I am seeing I am not seeing a lack of effort.

56:45Never. I'm never seeing that. And so, like, they're pulling for him, I think. And for me, a discussion about the manager should only start when you doubt that. And I don't doubt it. So, yeah, maybe he's annoyed Trossard. Maybe he's going this summer anyway. And maybe he doesn't care. So, let's see, I think. He has some interesting points there, Clive.

57:07Elliot:Yeah, I saw that. He's right near me. So, I've got a good view. I think there was some sort of breakdown between him and Incafi on that side. but Tim's point is right because he got it quite quickly. But on the same side, because Noli didn't play well against Bournemouth, but in that first half going towards clock end, he was really working hard and really pressing. And the manager was clapping him and really, really on him, but in a positive way. So that's what I expect from you. The effort that he put in compared to Bournemouth was significantly different. You can imagine the clips against Bournemouth with the full-back running off his shoulder.

57:42Elliot:that didn't happen so much in this game and he was really much more active and I think sometimes when the player nearest to you gets it, the fullback or the winger just gets it they get all your anguish and every single touch they have is analysed whereas the other guy, Mosquera on the other side of the pitch in the second half, didn't get anything, he was fine he was away from the manager I bet Trossard wanted to swap wings at that point sometimes I think he just got it from the tension and what I will say when the final whistle went there was a lot of coaches joy on that bench like a lot you know whereas I felt relieved they were they were like joyous and it felt like a really important game to the club not just from a it was not just from a sporting perspective but obviously there's 15 million quid in whatever that was in that game regulatory wise financially you know you feel the game was important for the club.

58:42Elliot:And beyond what we're seeing and who's playing in midfield and who's on the wing, it felt like an important moment to get to par for the season for me. Well, and I wonder, I think Mikel looked at Odegaard and Timber, maybe Saka, I don't know, that one might be longer term. There's some scary whispers about that. We probably won't talk about that today because we don't have any information. But I think he looked at it and he said, I'm going to try to rest Odegaard. I'm going to try to give him more time to get ready. I'm going to try to rest Timber. I'm going to try to give him more time to get ready.

59:12I'm going to rest Leo tonight. I want him fit. I'm not going to give Kai a start tonight. I think Mikel rolled the dice and said, I trust this group to get the sporting tie done. And he took that risk and he just about got there. And I think it was celebration to be in the semifinal and relief that the risks he took, keeping giving players a little extra time to get fit, paid off. Because if it hadn't gone right, I bet there'd be a part of him saying, Could I have pushed Timber? Could I have pushed Odegaard? Could I have started Kai? He didn't do that. He made a choice to trust the squad, and the squad got him there, just about.

59:47But the squad got him there. And I think that was huge that that happened. Declan Rice was captain, by the way. Dex said he had been ill. But he said something, and I think it's a message to his teammates too. That's just my read, where he said, I was ill, I wasn't at my best, I don't know if I could play, but I wasn't going to miss the chance to help this team get to a semifinal. He said that. I wasn't going to miss this chance to help get this team to a semifinal. maybe a rallying cry for people who are on the edge that there's big things to win and we have to sacrifice ourselves to get there uh he was also captain and he's and Mikel said they made a decision because Declan has earned it as well the status the role the way he's taking ownership as well in difficult moments he's a great leader he's a top player for us and I love the players to take ownership I think that's just an interesting little sidebar do you have anything you want to add to a city preview as well.

1:00:36Elliot:You bet I have. I think. Okay. And Tim, I'll let you come in on that. Hey, look, we're all adults here. I think. Well, speak for yourself. The players have had a discussion. It's quite clear. They've had a discussion amongst themselves about what happened at the weekend. It's quite clear. And even think, I'm not sure if things are going to change, but there was a far more togetherness. There was far more intensity. There's far more ball speed in this game. Restarts were quicker, as Tim said earlier on there was more purpose there wasn't trust me Elliot some of the build-up play was scary man it was nervy it wasn't well I was nervous it wasn't smooth but the intention was so much better than the weekend so much better than even sport in a way which was a more controlled European performance but it was better and I just felt a more collective thing and I will say I did notice a drop in effort against Bournemouth at certain stages from certain players which I haven't said before for a long time you know and that game hurt me to my core but i felt it felt different there's been a there's been a conversation and i've been talking about this for a while now and i can't quite quantify it in words because it's still we're still in the all-in part of the season but i do think there's a regime change happening within the team there's a realization that certain things need to change and you either put up Or get out.

1:01:59Elliot:Do you know what I mean? And it's now time to put up. We're at the crunch time. We are right here. Put up or get out, mate. If you're going to show, show. Get on the pitch and show. We're going to keep quiet. And that's where we are. And Mikel added a line too that I'll throw into this. He said, quote, Declan yesterday was shattered. He had no chance to play today. He wasn't feeling good at all. Today he played 94 minutes at the level that he's done. And then he said every single player is putting everything on the line to contribute to give his best and I really value that from the team so it is a time for showing up I think Mikel took some risks I think he got away with those risks I'll give you one quick thought on that Tim and we'll pivot to a to a city preview but like yeah um I think it's celebration as it should be and I think it's relief I think it's both and now you get a couple weeks to focus back on the Premier League.

1:02:54You get a couple weeks to refocus to maybe get some players back and he got through this hurdle. I agree with your earlier point that making the semifinal gives you a base camp of achievement that you can feel good about. So I think it's relief and celebration mixed together. Any thoughts on Dak, on Mikel's comments, on just the group moving forward from this? Yeah, I mean, if you were going to make a scurrilous rumor, you might think that some of those comments were pointed and, you know, there's a World Cup this summer and thankfully that's not our stock and drink no that is not i i you know i think that is interesting because essentially you're taking the captaincy off gabrielle to give it to declan rice you know you give it someone else you're kind of taking it from someone else that doesn't always have to be like uh for like a punishment or anything like that um we've actually seen that in the women's team this season katie mccabe hasn't worn the captain's armband when she usually does and that I think is signifying a bit of a change of the guard.

1:03:52Can be clarifying too, by the way, just take pressure off a player, let them focus on their game one less thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, Gabriel was excellent in this game and he's playing 90 minutes and everything. I think in terms of, I guess, to wrap on this game, one of the other things that governs probably the way you feel about it and if you're struggling to connect to it and all of that, we didn't get a goal. And I think that's always quite important as well. um i mean this is too much of a statement of the obvious but imagine if you flip the kai havertz last minute winners right imagine it was nil nil first leg and kai scores in the 92nd minute to put us through last night like obviously you'd feel very differently about it about it then but even leaving that aside if we'd have got a goal last night and and you know had something to celebrate other than the actual final whistle that might govern the you know like the endorphins start going at that point don't they and we didn't really have that like endorphin releasing moment yeah and sometimes the final whistle can be that i was at the real madrid game at highbree in 2006 and that final whistle it's like three goals went in um you know lots of stranger hugging that that was the goal but that was real madrid and this was a game we were expected to win so it was more of a thank god that's over type thing and and that probably governs the way you feel about it as well i um because of airline price gouging i didn't do this out of overconfidence i do it because you have to i booked my flight to madrid already um because it cost 70 pounds and if i'd waited until after the final whistle it'd be about 400 i think it's about 450 at the moment so essentially i had 70 quid on the game as well and that probably governs why i felt a little bit better about it and then i frantically went down into the concourse to book my accommodation for Madrid as well.

1:05:45So yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Efficient. You're a clever man, clever man. Well, we are in the semifinal of the Champions League. Let's celebrate that. Let's feel proud of our club. I mean, look, our ambitions are bigger than being nearly men, but it's okay. It doesn't mean you're any less relevant or proud or your standards are lower. To celebrate where we are, I think it is always okay to keep in perspective. Chelsea aren't here city aren't here united aren't here liverpool aren't here spurs i mean spurs might win the league next season just might be the championship um you know newcastle aren't here that they're not here we're here for the second consecutive season they're not here we're here okay so yeah they want to take the piss let them take the piss from their seat because they're going to be on their while Tim and Clive are at the games.

1:06:38And, you know, God willing, maybe I'll get to one. You never know. Okay. Brands? Yeah? Let's do brands. Arsenal fans know how every moment counts, especially when the pressure is on in big matches. That same feeling is what makes playoff hockey so intense. Every shift matters, and there's no room to coast. NHL on TNT has the best coverage, with games that are fast, physical, and full of surprises. The studio crew, with Paul B. Sinet's jokes and Wayne Gretzky's insights, makes every night more fun. If you love the drama of knockout football, you'll love the Stanley Cup playoffs. Watch the Stanley Cup playoffs on TNT, TBS, True TV, and HBO Max.

1:07:25Coverage begins April 19th.

1:07:31Clive! Is that enough of that? Indeed. who wants to do a city preview yeah who's feeling good i'm feeling good let's do a city preview clive historic win at the etihad incoming can't wait for it gonna be exciting not worried very very very excited for this game and i'm confident that whoever's on the pitch and it may be uh teenagers by the time we get to the game because no one's available they're gonna do the job okay no I I'm talking myself into it it's not working great this is a scary game and it's a scary game because of what Manchester City have just done 9-0 against Chelsea Liverpool and Arsenal in their last three games what we've done in our last few doesn't inspire confidence and we had no answers for their tactical approach to the cup final but aside from that Mrs.

1:08:17Lincoln how did you like to play um let's talk I think first things first how do you want us to approach this game what group do you want to see out there what group do you think you will see out there knowing what city you're

1:08:33Elliot:going to try to do how do we combat it yeah it's it's quite clear you need your footballers on the pitch now with the right ability on the ball and the right ferocity off the ball simple as that i watch city at the weekend against it's chelsea and they they do their front four thing but they really do when it goes into the middle of the pitch they really do corral people you know and And if you can break out, they foul you. Never get booked. So I think it's important for us to have the ability to receive it, then try to break out, but then demand those cards that they don't seem to get. Demand those cards which will allow us to break out and travel.

1:09:15We said it before the cup final.

1:09:19Elliot:We said it's so important to our personality. And we didn't show any personality in the cup final. we didn't show personality to adapt and change it's it was it shook me to my boots because i think we're really good at that and then then then you see califuri come on you see a player with personality you think oh no we've got this wrong we haven't shown ourselves right we haven't done it with two quick goals it's too it's too late now we're done and we've got we've been tactically undressed ever since by southampton bournemouth and see undressed to the point where everyone can see where we're going wrong and so for me it's a very simple fix you need your footballers on the pitch you need to allow them to play not say that no that's not right you need your footballers on the pitch that can play that can live with them technically that challenge them to run past people to carry it to turn out of trouble and keep the combining going if you don't get the technical respect of fantasy you you're done you know you're absolutely done and i think it's really important so trust hard and have us for me they're going to start you know the right back situation it depends on what we hear in our whatsapps but i think tim was going to start but if he does start he's not going to end right so in capi will start straight away i think nonny will start because he's on the pitch bouncing around the room is already coming out that he's fine just a little need to need bang he'll be fine and so that you can almost name the team already the right back made me a bit more debate because we don't know the hell but it's very important to have almost like for me elliot he's having two false nines you know like ese and and havers playing there in like a box and then you've got technical ability middle of the pitch where you can retain and hold but you've got as a matter where case your speedster and trust hard i think another body inside to receive so we can build because build up is our kryptonite at the moment because when you see so many people losing it, you know that's where we're nervy.

1:11:15Elliot:I thought Eze settled that down last night just by being available. And once he gets it, he turns in, he turns around and he just bounces the ball. And suddenly I felt better because we had another lane to play in, another line to play in, sorry. I felt better straight away. So we need to have depth to our team, technical depth, and not worry about having a centre forward that runs away that we can't have seven touches. that won't work at the Etihad. It won't. You need 11 footballers wanting the ball, not afraid of it, to look after it, protect it, and control the rhythm of the game. Control the referee if you need to, to give yourself time to play.

1:11:53Elliot:And that's where I am. And I would have said exactly the same thing for the Wembley game. When that team sheet came out, no Timber, no Eze, I was concerned. I was concerned. You take your fullback destabilised on the day by their good tactics. They weren't aggressive enough. we're playing with half a team and that's what it looked like. I want Eze is standing pretty close to Kai. That's what I want. And if we don't, if we're not able to create that, I think it's going to be very easy for City to control us. Because let me tell you what we're not going to do. We're not going to rock up at the Etihad and all of a sudden be playing one-time passes all over the pitch like PSG, Fatini, to João Neves, to Ruiz, to Zaire Emery, or whoever's playing in midfield, to Dembele who's dropped in.

1:12:32We're not going to be doing that. And that's okay. We have to do what will work. And to me, the ball has to get its way up to Kai, and it has to land it as his feet, and he's got to play the next ball, and that's going to be an important route to us creating danger and controlling possession a little bit. So I'd like to see that. Leo coming inside, combinations there. There's a couple of considerations, obviously, availability. I don't expect Saka will be available for this game. If he is, that'd be remarkable, but I would not anticipate that being the case. The Timber one is interesting because, Tim, whether it's Muscara and Nani on the right or Ben White and Nani on the right.

1:13:08If I'm Pep Guardiola, here's my game plan. Pass the ball to Doku. That's my game plan. We were exploited on that side against Bournemouth. And I think Mascara had a decent game against Sporting. And I'm impressed by him. But Doku's in a bit of decent form right now and he always backs himself to beat you off the dribble. What you're hoping for with Doku is he's more Adama Traore than he is Lionel Messi, right? That he beats you off the dribble and then kicks it into the car park. but that would be my if I'm Pep Guardiola apart from putting four men in front of our defenders and watching them not know where to pass it I would say give it to Doku and get out of the way and then Holland can just move around the box and look for scraps that that side feels like it's going to be pretty important so let's say for a second that Timber's just not quite able do you have a strong lean on how you want to see the right side and if you consider that vulnerability to be the one that really is going to keep you up at night Saturday night and maybe and maybe thursday friday night yeah yeah it is because and um you know speculating on who might play at right back like because i don't know maybe mascara played his way in to the team maybe he was always going to start and that's why he started on wednesday because he wanted to give him 90 minutes in that position uh because like fatigue's probably not going to be an issue for him so give him the full 90 give him full game let him really kind of learn and understand that position uh sporting have you know fast wide players who like to go at you as well so it's similar challenge in that respect um i'm fascinated overall by how much this was a bit of a tactical blueprint for sunday you know that kind of we're going to be solid and in our shape but we can't just go and sit back and play for a nil nil because we'll get we're annihilated if we do that we've got to have threat going the other way we've got to have urgency we've got to turn around we're not going going to be able to sit on the edge of our box for 90 minutes so um it did make me wonder you do see that sometimes where a manager does something and you think oh maybe they're just resting the player ahead of you know the gate and then bang that it's like oh no he was doing it because it was like a bit of an audition so yeah that side's going to be really really critical i don't have a strong opinion on on who it should be because honestly i can see a i can see a world where I could say, yeah, it should be Mascara.

1:15:26He's played his way in. And then we kind of swipe cut to Sunday on the instant reaction. And I'm going, God, he took Mascara apart, didn't he? Well, it could happen the same for Ben White. Like, yeah. I thought Mascara was good, but he did tap Katamo on the ankle that one time. He put his leg in a bit. He does have a bit of that. He's tall, he's long-legged, he's got some pace, but he does like to try to reach that leg around to use that height. and it that's a little scary to me when you got someone who's very dribbly you know yeah yeah i think the principal thing for me for this game is what did we learn from wembley there's always a double bluff with man city i said this before the final in that they might pull out something they've never done before that you can't prepare for and that's that's part of the brilliance of their manager and that's why their wage bill is 20 higher than ours as well because they have you Someone like Bernardo Silva, he's just a piece on a chessboard.

1:16:23You put him anywhere, depending on what your game plan is. I found it interesting they announced today that Bernardo Silva is going to leave at the end of the season. And that, again, to me, that felt a bit... So we can parade him on the pitch on Sunday before the game and we can get those endorphins flowing and get everyone in a really nice mood and everything. Because otherwise, why wouldn't you just announce it in two or three weeks' time type of thing. I'm not complaining about that, by the way. I'd want Arsenal to do the same in that situation. I think if that's what's on their mind, that's relatively smart.

1:16:59I think for me, obviously, being able to play around the press, we are going to have David Raya in goal this time. That should make a difference, hopefully. Another lesson, though, I'd like to see us learn is that if and when we do have to go long, City have City play four centre backs basically at the back don't they like their full backs are big and they monstered us in the air as well so I'm thinking can we hit the chest instead like player like Kai Havertz Eberetje Eze instead of going up into the sky and going for an aerial duel which City are quite good at that they're quite comfortable with that with the defenders they have can we is there a way of like going over the press but not going too high over the press you know and like playing into some feet and playing into some into chests like and that's another reason I'd love to see Eza and Havertz start together because that they they can both trap it they can both deal with it or they're back to goal Eza can turn there as well I don't think Havertz has got the turn but it will stick to him and you can play from him Eza I think it can stick and he can turn you as well and I think that's going to be such a critical thing for us in this game where we're likely to be on the back foot a little.

1:18:18I think that's just natural regardless of that's always going to happen when you play away at City no matter the stakes, no matter what the league table looks like. For me, Ezra's ability to spin away from pressure and drive forward is going to be critical to this game. I think we massively missed that at Wembley because the only move we had was let's go high to Kai Havertz and that wasn't going to be enough. I think having someone there who can say, all right, you come close to me. You might even tackle me three times, but the fourth time I might spin you and then I'm away. And I think that kind of breakaway threat that someone like Eza can provide I think could be hopefully very, very important.

1:19:02Cleve?

1:19:03Elliot:Yeah, as Tim was talking there, because I'm thinking about left-hand side. So we're all assuming Trotter's going to play, right? Because we think he looks after the ball etc if I was sitting there a year ago and he was fit I'd be saying I wouldn't mind Gabby Jesus playing on the left for just this same thing to sort of protect because he can hold the ball he's quite technical he played in the 0-0 didn't he he played out wide in that 0-0 it's something that I used to say a lot but because he's been a little bit down lately he doesn't come into my mind but because I got a good view of him last night he looked okay.

1:19:41Elliot:He looked okay. Now again, I'm not going to die on that hill because another reason if we are going to play Kai and Eze together which makes a lot of sense and everyone will probably agree with that do you want speed on the outside? So do we all assume Martinelli won't play because he did a lot of time in this game but Martinelli does quite well against City away from home when we have that speed and that threat to keep their fullbacks back. There are things we can do. Scored our goal at home as well. Yeah. There are things we can do. Running in behind. There are things we can do there. You know and And I thought Martinelli showed a much better attitude in this game.

1:20:12Elliot:The Bournemouth game, again, I think he has like seven touches, something stupid like that. I mean, but in this game, he was really quite good both sides of the ball, although he didn't threaten with the ball. He's dribbling skills, but a little bit off earlier, and took him the second half, then he got hooked. So I quite like the speed there, wider, and the interior looked after by smart people who could look after the ball on and off, but really retain it with good quality. and association and good intelligence. It was really interesting. I know you've got the last phase of the game in your mind, didn't it?

1:20:44Elliot:But it really was like we were playing five-a-side. It was like five-a-side, tap, tap, tap. Everyone turned the right direction. And it felt good again. You know, it felt good. I think we have a little bit more of that, but we must have pace. We weren't overly trying to score in that last phase. We didn't need to. We must have pace. Because if you go back to what Real Madrid did, there's 30 Valverde out there on the right wing and kept him high and wide on the right-hand touchline. I think Nani's critical for this. Do you do the same on the other side? Say, yeah, if you want to go the 4-2-4 thing, as soon as you do that, we're going to go there and we're going to make it a race in those sides.

1:21:22Elliot:Nico O 'Reilly might not play. Ain't Noreen might play. That could be a real advantage for us because I don't think it's good defensively. Nunes has done really well quite recently. You don't want to get into a running race that could enough. You want to play football around them. So there's options there, isn't there? There's options. I think Kuznetsov can be a dope, but he's certainly no slouch when it comes to sprinting. He's very, very, very quick. And Gay, he's got a rick in him too, but you've got to give them complex equations to solve. You cannot just run straight lines. You're not going to win that way.

1:21:57So, Tim, I want to ask you an interesting possibility here, though. When you're playing well and you're holding on for dear life and you're white-knuckling it, You just keep picking the same lineup and keep hoping for it to work. But let's be honest. We stink a little bit right now. Okay. That gives Mikel all the options in the world. Because you know what? If you're doing all right and you're doing all right and you keep picking the same lineup because you're doing all right. If you do something crazy, people go, what are you doing? What are you doing? But we're not doing all right. We stink right now.

1:22:26So he can do anything. thing he can play as a off the left if he wants with Odegaard Zubamendi and Rice in midfield if Odegaard's fit he can play um Jesus as a winger he is a winger he was a winger for Pep he can play him off the wing if he wants a dribbly guy who can force Doku to defend a little bit off the right or force them to defend a little force Semenyo to defend a little bit more I guess it would be yeah right Semenyo a little bit more off like he can do that he can get a little bit creative with what he does because it hasn't been working and so he has no reason why he has to stick with what he's done and I'm just wondering if you think there could be a joker in the pack there could be an Ezzo wide or a Martinelli striker or a Jesus winger or you know Odegaard is fit and so it's Odegaard and Ezzo with Rice at six I mean again I don't think any of these things will happen but if you're Mikel no one's going to blame you if you try something different I actually think you get more blame for just trying to white knuckle it through with the same things that have not looked well so do you have any inkling of a joker in the pack a thing you don't see coming a max down and starting a jesus off the wing is that something that he could do where everybody goes oh i didn't expect that it it wouldn't surprise me um i i don't know what that is he's done it a few times at city um to be fair in the lockdown season i believe he played willian as a false nine um didn't really work that's by the by and actually the time we lost their 5-0 i don't know if you remember he went with like a 4-4-2 kind of formation um and and obviously we were battered 5-0 so maybe let's not do that um but he has done that against City before and like I said like I I can't remember off the top of my head I'd have to go back and look at it but when we got that 0-0 two seasons ago I think Jesus played wide and I think that was almost like a 4-4-1-1 type formation as well so I think and Jesus was playing kind of came inside quite a lot almost like a third midfielder to create a five.

1:24:42I think that's what he did. It was kind of like a 4-4-2, but Jesus would tuck in a little bit and almost play like a central midfielder. And that's the thing about Jesus, right? Like one of the reasons he looks really washed is because he just doesn't create any kind of danger. And one of the frustrations when he came on, I think against Bournemouth was like he was at left back all the time and he was dropping deep into his own half. That potentially doesn't matter as much in this game um you know if you want to kind of look after the base of your team but to be honest i don't think we have a big problem in the wide areas i don't think with like work rate certainly not martinelli and that's why it wouldn't surprise me to see him start either just because he really really has that work rate um but yeah we we've done it before and i mean i was going to say that maybe the Carabao Cup final was one of those where we were playing quite well or results had been good we felt good about ourselves and we did rock up and just kind of try and do the same thing of course we tried to do it with different players though we tried to do it with a different goalkeeper we tried to do it without Ezza etc etc so like that that to me that's two massive improvements we've already hopefully pending what happens in the next couple of days got for Sunday is that we have our best goalkeeper hopefully Eza will be there I'd love to see Saka and Odegaard at least in the match day squad I'd love to see one of them starting but without if we're without both of those players you can say the technical base is too low and yeah maybe someone like Jesus might come in and start instead of Noni for example and we really look after that because again the other thing about Jesus he's not really losing the ball or anything it's that he doesn't really do anything with it when he gets it at the moment but like it's not like he's getting tackled loads or barged off the ball like he's just holding it and not very in like moderate value areas which again might not matter as much in this game so short answer it wouldn't surprise me but I'm not smart enough to sit here and tell you what that might be yeah and then I think a thing that might be causing a lot of the anxiety in the Arsenal fan base right now, Clive, is simply no one thinks we're going to go to City and score four or five goals.

1:27:06And that's fine. I don't know if people have the same level of confidence in our ability to keep teams out right now. And some of that is personnel and some of that's just how we're playing. I mean, David Raya had a few nervy moments against sporting where in a game where all we have to do is keep a clean sheet. He seemed like he really wanted to pass the ball into places he shouldn't, having done it just against Bournemouth and gotten very lucky with it going off Evan Nielsen's foot so these little moments of anxiety defensively that are creeping into our game I mean do you trust our solidity at this moment that if we do need to sit like let's say it's nil nil in the 85th minute let's say it yeah god I just got heart palpitations thinking about that but you know and and we really need to see it over the line do you feel that we can afford to lean on our defensive solidity in this game, given what we've seen recently?

1:27:55Elliot:I'm more concerned about what we do in possession, really, to be honest. Defensively, we're going to be okay. What caught us out was Nico O 'Reilly, late runs into the box on the left back. That wasn't in our notes pre-game. And he's really done quite well there in coming in. But defensively, Harland, I can't sit here and say to you, Harland, Doku, Cherky, Semenyo. We're going to be defensively solid. Fair point. But we are the best defense in the league. And that's what we do really, really well. For me, it's about what we do in possession, our confidence in possession. But also, once we win it, what we do then, do we go or do we come back and retain?

1:28:43Elliot:And I think we need to go. We need to have a far more aggressive intent. I used to talk about it at the start of the season, about seeing shorts go the other direction. we'd be more direct everyone sprinted we're not sprinting again I've been doing some I've been reminding myself of what I've said and what I've seen what's the Bayern Munich game the rotations in that game the way we were free to press all the way in and we rotated we were flexible we were rigid we stopped doing that the prize has become bigger we're far more positional we're far more rigid in our play but that's the nature of the season football isn't the same the whole year round otherwise there'd be nothing called pressure it wouldn't be worth winning these prizes so how we react to the pressure and the anxiety that we're all feeling is the key so i use words like personality have you got the personality to play when the pressure is at its height and i saw a bit more of that against boy than i did against both you know we were frantic we weren't controlled we weren't didn't have enough high quality we had too many players under par and we let it get on top of us and the team played was fresh and they ran downhill and beat us.

1:29:54Elliot:But we must have the personality to play. Man City fans just think they're going to win. Everyone thinks they're going to win. They're almost putting that in. They're going to win that game. And if I'm an Arsenal player I'm thinking well I'm not having that. I'm not having that at all. I'm bringing my best best Sunday best to this game. You know I can't be having I can't be really cool by this. I can't be having things happening around me. I can't be memed. It's time for me to compete. So I saw the start of that against Boyne and I'm hoping to see another step up. Maybe one more addition coming to the group from a fitness point of view.

1:30:33Elliot:I think Timber would be important. I think, I'll tell you why he's important because if you're going to build out, he's a very good breaker of presses. He carries through and whereas Mosquera will be a target for a press. the defensively really good, but on the ball, he's not as tidy. You know, so I think Timber, it's a huge plus if we can get him back. And you're telling me about resting someone, not resting someone, but making sure because Timber's back and stays back. We have a Champions League semifinal to think about. You know, that's big, that's big time football, right? Yeah. I think there's also a framing here that we should be aware of.

1:31:12Arsenal can go to City and lose. Okay. That's it. That's it. now it's over it's done wrong wrong if we win out after losing at city i still think we will be champions if we win out now you can say why would we win out we're not beating the likes of bournemouth and southampton and we you know we're not beating city why would we win out and for the record i i agree with you that that would be scary but i will simply point out that the games that follow are Newcastle at home, and they won't have Joe Linton, for example. He's suspended. Fulham at home. West Ham away. Not going to pretend that's not tricky.

1:31:53Burnley at home, Palace away. And a Palace that, by the way, could be preparing for their own European Cup final. And totally switched off to that game completely. Couldn't care less. Playing kids. Okay? And I hear some of you saying, you think we can't throw that game? Okay, okay, okay. But my point is, this is not a must-win for Arsenal. It is a must-win for City. If they do not win this game, they are in a very, very difficult position. Because they, first of all, have more games they have to navigate. And they have, okay, Burnley away. But then they have an FA Cup semifinal. They have Everton away.

1:32:29Brentford at home. Bournemouth away. Palace at home. Villa. Okay? Now, they could run that table. This is Manchester City. They could win all those games 5-0, of course. But it's a trickier run, and they'd have to win them all if they don't win this game. and even if they win this game they may have to win them all because then it would go down to goal difference and if it goes down to goal difference i will not be on planet earth you will not find me so you know good luck to you god bless i hope the podcast is great my point is there has to be a way for michael who i think sometimes is guilty of over egging the intensity of the game and maybe raising the fear factor of making the point to his players that city are the one who will bottle it if they don't win that they must win this game to even be in with a chance to win the title is my perspective that if they do not that was the thing that was forgotten the other season the 23-24 season when we got a draw at the any hat if we had won out we'd be champions we dropped those points against villa and why did we drop them by the way we had to play Bayern twice okay we got Atleti coming up so I recognize we could be in a similar situation where all we have to do is win out but we got to do it wrapped around Champions League semifinals but my point stands city have to win this game and that should be at least a chance for arsenal say go chin them they gotta win it go chin them if they get down one nil all of a sudden all the bottle narrative will be city shitting themselves saying oh god this is a problem okay so enjoy the fact that the pressure's on them and make them go win it you know that that that i hope is the message and tim i'll just give you a final thought on that can we reframe this all this negative arsenal are going to bottle it nonsense of the stuff that the media likes to have because because i look i'm going to be careful i say this ian wright's got a video that's going around a lot and some people are annoyed at it because he's saying i'm nervous i'm hurting i'm worried it might be throwing it away and i'm just going to say like are you mad at a guy whose whole thing is that he's emotional and he loves the club for being honest that he's emotionally going through it right now you don't do not feel right did he and wright say anything you don't yourself feel now i understand you might say he's got a platform he's important the players listen to him that message feeds back to the players i look i get it but there's nothing performative about ian wright's emotional reaction to arsenal he's in it just like we are so i get that but but tim that feeling can be reframed because fundamentally we did the work earlier this season to be in this situation now where as weak as we look now we don't have to be elite we just have to be competent and so if we can win out those games i mentioned this game is functionally irrelevant for us yeah essentially now I realize you might say well go different set it aside so can we can Mikel can we all get to a place on Sunday where we realize City have all the pressure on them because this is their chance to get into the title race and they have to do it and maybe we chin them and we get them realizing they're in trouble you know that that would be my message if I was Arteta definitely um they finished third last season they're nowhere in the Champions League again for the third season in a row like say they really need this um people don't view it like that i understand why they don't because they've won it a bunch of times and that obviously takes the pressure off but that's what i'd say if i was arteta certainly you've got to go you've got a chance to go and put one hand on this trophy on sunday and don't be scared about that like and you know i don't know well no we do know about arteta and whether he pins stuff up on the dressing room wall to to coin a phrase we know he does that and you know that that that man city fan i i'm not a conspiracy theorist do you find it odd he was found quite completely set up by sky in in the crowd set up by sky he's been interviewed now yes come on he was able to look down the barrel of the camera that i i found that a bit odd and his explanation straight into the camera yeah his explanation in the interview which conveniently happened the next morning they found him really quickly and all his details and he was able to make it and not didn't have to go to work um all of that stuff happened and and he explained it he said something like i sit behind the dugout at the etihad and my son needed water so i asked the arsenal bench for a bottle of water and this happened 19 months ago apparently and he's held on to it ever since like i mean i smell quite a lot of bullshit there but But anyway, I mean, I don't really, obviously I do care because I brought it up.

1:36:57It's manna from heaven for Mikkel if he wants it. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Put that guy on the little digital projector screen and you can issue it as a challenge to your players as well. This is the image that went around the world. This is the one that everyone's laughing at. This guy is going to go viral again in May for one reason or another. And you get to choose why. Is everyone laughing at him or is everyone laughing at you? I don't know how useful a message that is for elite players. Perhaps they don't need that. Perhaps, again, they don't live in the online world that we live in.

1:37:31They're 24 years old, 23 years old. You better believe they do and they care. Yeah, and we've seen him do it before with the Ivan Toney tweet and all of that. So maybe he does, but maybe he doesn't need to. Maybe just the sporting challenge. go and put one hand on that trophy and you get to chin the guys who've been stopping you, basically, symbolically as well as mathematically, most importantly. That could be huge and it could be huge for the next few years as well. If we go and take it there, that's what I'd say if I was Arteta. I'm not saying I'm confident that's going to happen or blah, blah, blah, but that's what I'd say if I were him.

1:38:13Elliot:yeah I think we've been preparing for this game psychologically since we had to watch City on the pitch lift that trophy and he stood there and he kept them around to make them see them and City said we were very respectful did all the right things that we do as Arsenal people and he made them stand there and he made them watch and then they had in my mind my emotion that day was seeing Turkey do those keepy ups I've never forgotten it mate and I'm not a player. So that to me is a massive disrespect. So if the team is not motivated, they're not the people who I think they are. I'll be honest with you.

1:38:53Elliot:They're not the professionals I think they are. If you can't get motivated for this game, give your all. To me guaranteed the win, you've got to be going out there to play the game of your life, to be remembered for the rest of your life as the team that won Arsenal the League for the first time in 22 years. Trust me, mate. this ain't a time to be hiding this ain't a time to not be showing on the ball this ain't a time for not working I'm excited for it and if we don't win the reason why I'm excited for it it's almost like getting to this point is really important I'm excited for it but if we don't win then we know we're not quite good enough it's almost easy to accept do you know what I mean but if you don't win make it be for something that you could not control yourself you couldn't put another bit of effort you haven't listened to the instructions you haven't showed the right personality you haven't seen the tactical adaptations you need to make you haven't struck the ball correctly because you haven't focused and concentrated do the right things, you prepare for this your whole life, this is it I listened to Declan Rice's interview and I could see the focus in him, he wants this I need more people like him ready to go, let's see what happens, let's see what happens I liked Ez's interview before the sporting game too, I think, he's got the right players saying the right stuff, yeah I don't care But look, it comes down to talent.

1:40:10We have to get the right players on the pitch. That's a starting point. But football is weird. You know, West Ham got points off City recently. You know how many shots West Ham had in the game where they drew with City 1-1? They had one shot. It went in. They got a goal. They drew 1-1. Football's mental. You know who believes Arsenal is going to go and do this? Rafinha. Because after Atleti eliminated Rafinha, He said to the fans there, you're going out next round. So thanks for your vote of confidence, Rafinha. We're in the semifinal of the Champions League. We're playing a game on Sunday. The whole world will be watching because Arsenal Football Club have a chance to win the things that are the biggest two trophies in club football.

1:40:51That's where we're at. We're United, we're Chelsea, we're Liverpool, we're Spurs, we're Newcastle, that's where we're at. Am I happy that we don't look great right now? No, but it's still all there. And as I said at the beginning of the pod,

1:41:08it's as what did i say at the beginning of the pod if it's on no if it's not done it's on what did i say something good yeah until it's done it's on that's it until it's done it's on and so for right now it's on and let's hope for the best we'll have uh an instant reaction on sunday maybe a full boat instant reaction depending on how it goes maybe just get everybody on it um so if you want to be on patreon saliba 50 is the code we've given uh our patron funds to fundraiser this month, which we hope you will be willing to support and help with. So we'd just love to have your support there. And we're just happy to have your support here.

1:41:44And basically, we're just happy to be going through this together. It's one of those times where everybody's kind of tearing at each other a little bit, but let's come together to the extent that we can for the last little hurrah of this season. And hopefully there's something really special for us to all celebrate or a couple things that are really special. I celebrate that I get to podcast with these two intelligent gentlemen. So Tim, thank you. My pleasure as always. thank you very much we love you and oh boy we will talk to you after Arsenal 10s did you know