Arsenal Deliver Eze, and Five Goals, In Memorable Day

39:42Elliot:And I think that's going to be the evolution. And that is where I think some players need to realize, actually, it's okay. Let's go. If they're there, let's play it. You never know what could happen, you know? And that will take out the horseshoe criticism that we've suffered in the previous weeks, shall we say. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, it's Pakayo Saka again, just bursts away, scores the goal. I mean, he looked great. He looked like he was ready to tear leads apart. You know, I thought we were a little more left-sided early on in the game. And then when the ball finds its way to Saka, of course, he scores the goal.

40:21He's the guy to make the game feel safe and go on to be a five-star performance, five-star day. well we're going to have to talk injuries we're going to have to talk the Odegaard and sack injuries unfortunately the good news is it sounds like we don't have to be as down in the dumps about either of them which is great um but I do want to talk Odegaard and Ethan Wineri in particular I think there's a lot of individual performances in this game those I want to talk about Jokras obviously Nani Meduake obviously Max Dowman's debut so there's a lot to get to um and because there's so much to get to you could argue I've already let you down by going 40 minutes without telling you about brands.

40:54You could make that argument. But I would hope that you'd have just a little bit of grace and understanding that I'm caught up in the emotion of a big day, but I am not going to let you down. And the first thing I'm going to do is tell you how you can watch those videos when you click on it. I watched Match Reviews of the Day show last night. I actually thought they did some good analysis of us and good analysis of Yocres opportunities. But you know what? Geolocked. No, it's not. With NordVPN, you can watch those videos that say not available in your area. So when you want to watch the videos that are not available in your area, when you want to watch streaming services that are not available in your area, when you want to watch the football that's not available in your area.

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41:57NordVPN.com slash Arsenal Vision. NordVPN.com slash Arsenal Vision. NordVPN.com slash Arsenal Vision. Do it now. And this is a paid advertisement for BetterHelp. Is that what I'm supposed to say? This is an advertisement from BetterHelp. This is a paid advertisement from BetterHelp. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. There. They can't accuse me of not saying it now. I said all three of them. Look, therapy is important. It's that simple. My wife and I went out last night celebrating our anniversary, which is actually coming up in a few days. but this was the day we could get away. So we had a really lovely time together.

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44:14So do it now with Shopify. It's easy. You're going to love it. Established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Sign up for your$1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash arsenalvision, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash arsenalvision, all lowercase to start telling Shopify to that. Shopify.com slash arsenalvision, all lowercase. Do it now, Clive! Is that enough of that? Indeed. Not it. Okay. Clive Martin Odegaard was clattered off a throw-in, went down on his shoulder awkwardly. I was not super worried about this injury, and we've now been told it's not that serious, but you could tell he was struggling, and I actually think the last 10 minutes of his performance struggled a bit because he was struggling with the pain.

44:49I think it's just a pain tolerance issue, which is totally understandable. So Ethan gets a chance to come on and play in midfield. And I just want your take on the differences in these players. You know, we had a complex conversation about Ethan in the instant reaction, and I saw a huge range, a spectrum of reactions to Ethan's performance in particular. And I want to say just one thing because it's important. Ethan is 18. If he takes two years to learn to play in midfield and really it clicks for him two years from now he'll still only be 20 he'll be ahead of schedule so any conversation about ethan still bakes in that 18 i realize max being 15 has burned our brains out about 18 but 18 is still really young too uh same with miles but but what did you what did you make of that moment and and the difference in what ethan provides and how you he performed in midfield yeah i think uh what i also do with with players like ethan i think it's

45:42Elliot:really special by the way because we had michael marina on the bench he could easily play that role we had trossard on the bench he could easily play that role you know and they would have probably loved it but we are we are true to our word and we're given the roles to the 18 year old who came in and he's slightly different to odegaard who's a high touch metronomic creative playmaker ethan is more of a a winger playmaker if you know i mean in his style wing fielder yeah i was gonna use that well i wasn't sure if it was appropriate but he receives the ball leave it to me to be inappropriate clive i got it um we leave he receives the ball like and he's but he's thinking about how can i get in the space behind you like a winger does how can i manipulate the ball to go past you but then he's because he's sharp he's not thinking i'm gonna go create an angle for a pass i don't know i'm going past you i'm going past you and i'm gonna eliminate you you know so you can eliminate you by carrying the ball eliminate you by manipulating the ball and passing the ball right so and he chooses that way i thought some of his first touches were incredibly sharp yes high quality you know letting the ball run across him then chopping it back the other way he's got the confidence to that in small spaces he's developing in front of our eyes he really is i would have got a couple of shots edge of the area and then i'm thinking mate you let even have that shot you've got a problem you know because um that's his trademark right so i'm really pleased the club do this you know and and don't just default to the guy with the highest wage and the biggest contract you know who are sitting there that played in euro finals you know so this is something that we do and i'm very proud of them to do it and when when we see things in the past the managers doesn't want to play young players don't please don't don't be silly he doesn't need to just let's be honest if you lose his two games he's going to be in trouble that's what he feels like and so why wouldn't you play the older player who's going to give you more experience and not make mistakes the fact he does this i think he's great and the fact that they're so for ethan now he needs to develop on and i will say to you based on what i saw in this game that is being his best interior again for us without a doubt i felt he really tried to get it pop it move it chase after it i think he was more active when the ball was away from him he tried to put tackles in and challenges you can literally see that someone sat him down and said this we need to improve and he's trying to implement it so he's trying to be more metronome he's trying to get on it have less spectacular not every touch needs to be a one-on-one step over go past you less spectacular touch to create a rhythm he's doing it he's trying it he's trying to press and i think i think it's brilliant that we can see that in a 5-0 home win and the benefit of that will be felt in winning time when only guys have a proper injury and he has to make a call it's going to have a major impact to how a major game goes not on august leads at home but a major game so he's building trust for that moment so i i thought he had a really spectacular game on the basis of where he is in his development yeah and so i've kind of made a commitment to myself this season on the podcast and that commitment is i'm going to try to be more honest about what i saw and trust that people will have the grace to allow me to say what i saw and if they disagree have the willingness to come tell me i was wrong i certainly know tim and clive will do it as well So I'm going to tell you what I saw.

49:15And if it's wildly wrong, then I saw it wrong. Okay? So I'm just going to try to be better about this because I've been guilty in the past of not saying what I've seen all the time. I saw everything you said, Clive, for sure. I still see a player that in that position has one big step in his development left that will take him to the absolute top of the game. And I think that is just understanding that in certain zones of the pitch, you can't take everybody on and beat everybody. Learning to release the pass earlier, learning to play the easy available pass, that the ball moves faster than you can, I still think there's a bit of that.

49:51Obviously the one that everybody will stand out with is when Max was out on the right, he had tons of room and Ethan sort of carried it through the middle and off to the left-hand side and just ran it into trouble and lost it. We saw Odegaard, by the way, do something very similar to Old Trafford, so this is not unique to Ethan. There was the one where we scored the goal. The funny thing is I have much less problem with this. The goal we scored, Saka's goal, He carries it into the middle and gets trapped and loses it, kind of twirls around and loses it. But he collapsed three defenders to him.

50:16And as Clive has said, sometimes losing the ball that way can unstructure the defense. We win it back. We now have space to attack. But I think if you look even at just some of the numbers, obviously, right? Because Odegaard played like 38 minutes and Ethan played all the minutes after that. And if you look at the way Odegaard played the position, five final third entries, six progressive passes, Ethan in double the minutes, one final third entry, three progressive passes. as he completed just five passes more than Odegaard. He did so many good things. I think where Ethan goes from an exciting young talent to one of the elite interior players is when that balance of carry the ball, beat a man, give the ball, make the pass, when that sorts itself out, I think that's where we will see it really go to the next level.

51:01So Tim, am I maybe, do you have a difference in perspective on me? What do you think? And then Clive, of course, I'll let you, I know you have a difference in perspective. to five i get it but like i said i'm gonna be i'm gonna be better this season about not being scared to say what i saw and then we can have a good conversation about why that may not be the case so what about you tim yeah yeah yeah i definitely saw all those things i think he came out of this with a 100 percent passing uh completion uh you know it's interesting because because fat mob had 100 had 26 to 26 fb ref has 26 to 27 but anyway you look at it it's still yeah yeah very very good which which i mean and and i take some maturity from that usually i'm not sure i'd want like a creative player to have 100 passing um yeah kevin de bruyne was like a 75 passer for his career right because he's playing those lines playing passes all the time exactly exactly but i i think that kind of probably showed intelligence in the moment um you know coming in and thinking well actually i've i've got to adjust to this so you know i I think all the things you said are right, but at the same time, I think there's signs that he's conscious of that.

52:04And a lot of that will just be because at youth football, and this, by the way, the more we see of Max Dalman, this is going to happen, right? Because what Max Dalman, I'm just 15 for God's sake, but he's in that sweet spot. It's kind of weird because he's in that sweet spot where people kind of don't know him. But also I think there's this psychological thing for his opponents where it's like, oh my god this guy's 15 and he might humiliate me and can i really clatter him when he's 15 in a couple of months in a couple of months people are going to decide yep i can clatter him that's what i'm going to do and um and and like ethan doesn't get any of that treatment because i think we've seen in the last few months physically he's starting to really fill out and and that maybe that's why we didn't see him that much at the end of last season like he's he's grown a bit more I think so that you know a lot of it for him will be at youth level he will have been used to I can go around four players so I'm gonna keep doing that whereas you know I do think there are kind of signs he's learning also like when he was in the team last season he was pretty much our best attacking player because of the injuries so even though he's coming for Odegaard here and and there's a wider thing here about like we really have attacking depth now because even when Saka and Odegaard come off and Eze is up in the stands sitting next to the directors, Martinelli can't even get on, right?

53:31So there's, and you know, he's playing next to, like Ethan's playing in our proper team, basically. Whereas last season when he was playing, he was our Hail Mary. It was, we've got Raheem Sterling in a dream, basically. So what we need you to do is every time you get the ball, we need you to do something with it. Whereas, it's like, okay, this is much more, this is the team, like Declan Rice is here, Jokeres is up front, Maduwek is over there, like Trossard's here, like you're okay in this team. So I don't disagree with you, but at the same time, I felt that there was some maturity in this performance.

54:10And I think the other great thing about this, by the way, having him as this kind of interior, he's very different to Erdegaard, and I think that's great. like there is something a bit like he he doesn't need to go and try and be Odegaard that's not who he is and that will be really valuable for us because to Clive's point there might be a game like you know instead of keeping Odegaard on until like the medics have to go and drag him off you know maybe 70 minutes it's 1-1 or something and we go do you know what should we get the slightly stockier slightly more physical I'm going to get the ball out my feet take people on and have a go at goal guy here like i i think he's he's developing into a really nice option for us separate from his own development you know what's amazing about this an 18 year old academy player came on and played an hour in a premier league game in central midfield and mikhail didn't get a single question about him in the post-match presser that that tells you something he's just an original player two 18 year olds and a 15 year old for the last half an hour what are we doing?

55:16I'm like Saka came off. People need to take a step back. We're living through an absolute golden age. So before we let Tim go, Clive, I do want you to come back on this just quickly. Because I know you have maybe a slightly different perspective on what I saw.

55:30Elliot:No, not really. I just, we're watching a player develop, right? So what we shouldn't do is then immediately compare him to 25-year-old Martin Odegaard and 250 grand a week. and then compare his numbers to him. I don't think we should do that. He's a young player that's just played, I don't know how many times he's played in the interior for Arsenal. Not very many. And I think that's his best interior game. He's had better games for Arsenal in the wing, more spectacular games, you know, and scored goals from travelling from out to in. But for an interior game, to win three ground julls, that's the stuff I'm looking at.

56:09Elliot:To have 40 plus touches, he'd disappear from games in the interior. Did Mikel pay you to say that, Clark? no no no we had uh i'm sure that'd be in the comments though to have three to win three to win three ground jewels let's be honest when have you seen him win a jewel let's be honest we watch him all the time yeah none and i'm watching saying oh you're starting to get stuck in you know you're starting to think you're actually right and one time he ran through and didn't pop it to downman but the very next time he ran through he popped it to downman yeah does it mean so somewhere the word they let it go even this is what we're doing what i'm trying to say to you is you're absolutely right you are talking absolutes what i'm trying to say to you is we are watching a player develop in front of our eyes and it's okay as our school people we are we are doing that the manager could have chose to go another route but he's choosing to do this and i think it's wonderful that really fits with the values of our club and and this is why we're all here right so and it's not going to be perfect you know doesn't mean you can't say you've said it right so So when he does a flying coif turn and sticks it top corner, we're going to say, bloody hell, what a good player he is.

57:21Elliot:Where is he learning that? Where's that expression? Where's that freedom come from? It comes from allowing him to fail at these moments. And he's failing in front of 500 million people watching around the world, which I think is brilliant. Yeah, wouldn't say failing either, obviously. Yeah, I think where I'm looking is in the progress curve for Ethan. This is a steep curve, right? He's getting better and better and better. And by the way, they always say manager can tell you what he thinks of a player in one way, selection. And you're absolutely spot on, Clive. There's no way, no way. That Mikel Arteta didn't think about should I bring on Marino here, right?

58:00But he went with Ethan and that tells you more than any comment after the match or anything that we can analyze. He must be showing Mikel enough in training and enough when he comes on that he knows he can bring this guy in. We've got to let Tim go. But look, we still got to talk Nani Meduike, Jokeres, Max Dowman. So those things still have to be discussed in a bit on the injuries. So we're going to get to all that. But Tim, thanks for joining and we will talk to you very soon, I have no doubt. Yeah, thank you. I would just say on the Yoceres thing, I did watch this game on Sky. Theo Walcott and Jamie Redknapp actually did a really, really good bit on Yoceres after the game.

58:35I'd advise people to go and look for it, particularly Theo, who I think is becoming a really good pundit. And he had some really good perspectives on it, which I think people should look for. So, yeah, thank you. Well, I'd advise people to stay here because we're about to talk about the two. After you've listened to this. Okay. Thanks, Tim. Thanks. Well, Clive, the thing that I think everybody was waiting for in this match and was hoping for when we saw this match on the calendar was Victor Jokras to get off the mark, right? To break his duck, get some goals, have some good feeling. And it worked out great.

59:12He got a goal that I think was very eye-catching and was a reminder of the sort of unique qualities that he brings that maybe we haven't had in the past. and then he gets the penalty, which we can even talk about that a bit because the way he struck it, I don't think you're going to want to take that role away from him, man. That was a confidently struck penalty. He also showed that he is maybe terminally online with his hair fixing celebration to show that he knows some people had made the comment that he had more touches of his hair against United than of the ball. But he needed this. Let me rephrase.

59:42I want to rephrase that. He didn't need this. I don't think this is a player who's going to be worried about whether he got goals or not. He's a goal scorer. But I think we needed this to settle down any anxiety about the way he was being discussed. And I think there were more opportunities out there for him. So your thoughts on the goal he scored, the penalty he took, and his day overall?

1:00:01Elliot:Yeah, I think we better stop judging him on touches. I've seen many a harder and eight-touch game when he's walking off with the match ball. And so we have to think about slightly differently about what he's going to deliver. uh elia i don't think he's bothered at all by anything um i'll be honest here i've very just watching him just watching him even in training this week watching him just do not care about all facets of the game until that ball is near him and then he changes into something else and it's it's it's he's uniquely talented it's almost it's almost god-given striker gene i can't I can't describe it but when you see it you know it you know and his goal is not a chance let's be honest when he picks the ball up if you freeze the frame there is not a goal there that us will generally score right so there isn't just freeze it on his first touch and look where everyone is in the screen we're recycling that ball Clive yeah and just say to yourself is there a goal here yes or no and we'd all say no chance we've got 44 more passes to get through yet right so and he rolls into the box and one thing people talk about a lot is first touch but if you look at his last touch is what i just want people to look at before he shoots his last touch creates the angle to put it back against the grain and that's his skill his last touch to create ball striking opportunities is his super strength mate he gets it he can go off first touch obviously he's uniquely uniquely he's uniquely psychologically profiled to be that person that doesn't care about everything and cares about one thing and that is getting to the ball first when he gets there having a picture to get his shot off to get into position to get his headers off whatever it requires to score a goal he's got that thing and we haven't had that thing for many many years probably since Ian Wright yeah really because a bang yang was more aesthetic he was a floater right he was a runner he was very very quick he'd get onto things but that he wasn't a core scorer is a really lovely pacey player that could score due to his physical attributes this guy is a killer he's you know he's quick but he's not he's not a ballet dancer you know he's just a killer left foot right foot poke it you know the one he missed i want to ask about that yep well within that that shows you who he is because he knows i've got no picture no picture at all i don't know if i've got someone right near me but i'll tell you what i do know if i poke this really really quickly low the goalkeeper's got no chance if i hit the target so within the that miss because we can all see the space he had within that miss it tells you his psychology i've got to get to it and poke it towards goal straight away you know and so there are misses and he looked bad he hadn't scored yet but if he does that when he's got 20, 15 goals in his bin we'd all just say well that's what he does he's trying to score when he hadn't scored yet people probably got a bit tense at that moment and then when he did score everyone around me went wow and it was like wow about that and on the penalty he's at my end with his goals on the penalty mate well if you'd have tried to get a bet on before that penalty was taken they wouldn't have accepted it you know what I mean just the way he lined up the way he lined up you knew where it was going didn't you i don't want to mention his name but he's got a bit of harry kane about when it comes to ball striking yeah he has he and um whether we thought about what we thought about harry kane in the past you know by munich now just rattling out hat tricks yeah you know um the the thing i'll say first of all declan i love you no one was fooled when you picked up the ball for that penalty it wasn't even a moment's thought that you were going to take that even though i'm sure he would have struck it beautifully it's it's great it's the kind of penalty that it doesn't matter if the keeper guesses right or not he does not care which way the keeper is going he's putting it into the net and the keeper going with it if that's what's acquired um for the miss yeah i mean the it looks bad because we know with the camera angles that he's got time but i actually like your point which is he is trying to make the most immediate involvement to get the ball towards the goal not aware that he has more time and i think that's one of those things that can always look bad anytime a player has more time than they think and they don't score it always looks bad because you're like why don't you take an extra touch there you know um but sometimes you see players no one had time to say time you shout time you know i mean because it was like it was a deflection towards him was it's a tackle base he wasn't yeah it was around yep and and if he's he wasn't quite in the circumference so he took the early shot and i really like that to be honest that shows to beat these keepers now you've got to take early shots or disguise it they're all brilliant right so so i quite like that miss if it was a little bit embarrassing two things i love about the goal one is to your point arsenal just need to get more goals from situations where a goal isn't the obvious outcome you know what i mean like where it's not the perfect situation to score a goal and he's going to create goals that come from situations where it doesn't feel like there's a goal scoring threat the other thing i like about it is there was this sort of narrative before we signed him and and by the way i don't when i say narrative i don't mean negatively i mean i think it's fair analysis which is look at these goals he's scoring in Portugal.

1:05:28He can't do this against Premier League opposition. And this looked like the kind of goal he would have scored in Portugal where he just sort of bullies defenders and they can't get around his circumference and he slams it into the back of the net running through a couple defenders. And I realize it's bottom of the league defenders, but it's still Premier League defenders that he's bullying. So, yeah.

1:05:45Elliot:Oh, sorry, man. No, go ahead, please. I think as he rolled down the side, he gets into his running really, really quickly, which means the double team didn't quite get back in, did he? didn't get back in so there was a gap there and he took it if he doesn't attack that ball if he doesn't attack it at speed and get into the box and now he's in the box earlier once he's in the box and he's running downhill they've got a problem haven't they anything they do they wave a leg it's gonna he's gonna get a penalty because of the pace he's attacking the area do you see what i mean so today half freeze that gives him the gap he goes through the gap extra pokes through the gap and then chops it back i i liked it i soon i saw him shoulder delete i thought he'd be fine the premier league you know and now it's about him getting fitter and sharper and one of his real strengths is 90 minutes sprinting and he's not fit yet so this game towards the end of the game he was kept on the pitch because we and but he wasn't fair yet he wasn't fit but he needed the 90 does i mean he need to say i've done a 90 now and um and he's put that in the bank and he'll be fitter next week again you know where we're going to need him right so um so yeah he needs to be fitter to run even better center backs around to really push them and stress them but you can't ignore him mate you can't ignore him he's going to score goals for us a lot of goals and we begate we this is not what we're used to we've added three attackers to our front line right we spent money on them we've added three attackers to our front line and so i'm my eyes are open my mind is open to what we're going to see um these are our passing targets these are people we need to give the ball to and at this moment in time how else we're going to play is not fully clear to me and i don't care and we just got to let it let it wash over us and see what we can do because we've all wanted change we've all wanted to see an evolution in attack and now we've got some people that have got such strong primary games they're going to bring that naturally it's about how we adapt to them and how they have to adapt to us and what we do in our principles so mate it's really exciting it really is and it was it was a good day for my prediction of his season outcome i have to admit there might be yeah yeah some slight good mate slightest nerves i had after the opening day and so some of the narrative that's going around i thought have i have i humiliated myself look there's still a lot of time to go but i it's it's a good day for me good i think it's really good always paramount in my mind um so saka goes off injured we don't have to get as deep into this now as I was worried.

1:08:15And this is the thing. Everybody has their triggers. Clive, I was pretty down after the game. On a day when we announced Eze, won 5-0, got a brace from our new striker, got a debut from our 15-year-old. I was pretty down. Injuries are the trigger for me. And I think the reason is all I want for this team and for Mikkel and for these players is that they get to go out and show whether they are good enough to achieve the things they can achieve. I just want them to get a chance to see that. And I want that for no one more than I want that for Bakayo Saka. The heart and soul of this team, the star of this team, the star man of this team, and the player who I think is poised to go, he's already at the top of the game, but to the very top of the game.

1:08:57And so it's not just injury. It's an injury to this player. And it's a hamstring injury when we saw what that did to his season last season. And it's the scars of last season where I felt we never got to even have a go at the season because it was robbed from us before we could get there. And so for me, I confess I may have overindulged in my own sorrow at full time, but we can only react how we react. And it's funny, I saw some people were with me just miserable about the injuries, and some people were like, why are you focusing on the injuries? It's a beautiful day. I'm curious how it hit you.

1:09:29And now we are getting news, again, I want to emphasize this, that it is not as bad as feared, that it's potentially mild a few weeks. Great news. It would obviously be a shame to miss him for Anfield. But when we talked about Nani Meduake in a moment, we could talk about that as well. But this was the kind of thing that I just in my mind, I was thinking, not again, please. And again, because we had just lost Kai and Odegaard had come off and Ben White's not fit. And it just felt like here we go again. So a relief to get some good news. But how do you feel about that news and just about maybe also in that news realizing how much stronger we are as a group this season to deal with it?

1:10:08Elliot:yeah as you're walking out and it sort of it did affect me too earlier i was worried of my eyes going to be a bit flat right so because i can't i just can't believe before we get to match day three we have five senior pros potentially out yeah you know and we we don't know what to sack or the guard stuff it'll no doubt come out in a week where they are and um we'll be scanning training pictures right so um see what happens but it didn't feel right you know when you see the club trying to do the right thing if you don't like certain people they've bought that's your that's your prerogative right but we bought seven players that cover all the gaps right so and we spent over 200 million pounds so we're trying to do the right thing within that you just hope for a little bit of luck you hope for a bit of luck to say that we can go to these grounds with our with our best face you know we're not playing Liverpool at home without Saliba and then lose Gabriel during the game, lose Timber during the game.

1:11:08Elliot:And we get a draw, but we know we've got a chance to beat them, you know, if we're able to. And we're not able to. I want it for the players, really, that are really so committed to what we're trying to do, excuse me, and the manager, so committed to what we're trying to do. And basically, everything, it felt like I was walking out. Why can't we just get a home win and just walk out of a home win without losing something, without giving something up before a Liverpool game. Hopefully the news is a lot better. It may not be so dramatic, but it did affect my train journey at home to most of you.

1:11:41Elliot:And it shouldn't do. So we bring out a new number 10. It's 5-0. The sun's out. I see loads of people that I haven't seen for ages have a fantastic day. And yet all I'm thinking about is injury. And that's because of the scars of last year where we weren't able to show our best face. And people have to realise, you know, if you lose i heard i have something on tv today if arsenal lose sackler and odegaard in one game that's basically last year i would have been season over right so this year we went oh we're going to play non-imagine we're going to be on the right and essay on the left and your course up front right and it's like so we we're not fully traumatized we just want to have everyone available so we can show our best face right that's where i am with it but sunday today is we're recording and it feels a bit better than it did late last night.

1:12:32Yeah, I mean, this is why everybody knew where we had to go into the market because if we lose Saka, Odegaard, and Kai, which is what we've lost. Now, granted, we may not have lost Odegaard and Saka at all or for much. So, sigh of relief, but follow through my point here. That's basically how last season got destroyed. Right there. This season, you say, Ezei, Yokores, and Nani. No, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that any of those players are necessarily as good as the ones we've lost, but they're players that can keep us at the level. so it's massive that we have that and that's one of the bright spots of the day for me Clive I thought Nani on the left had an encouraging if not fantastic performance when he moved to the right I thought he looked really sharp and really good and one thing again that occurs to me is if we want to go to Anfield and test those weak wide defensive areas with Nani on the right, Martinelli on the left and Jokeres through the middle, that's a lot of running power to stretch that game and really test them So I was very encouraged by Meduake, who I thought had, like I said, encouraging off the left and very, very good off the right.

1:13:35I'm curious if you saw it the same way.

1:13:37Elliot:Yep. Yep. Yep. Although I think Eze will be playing next week, mate, to be honest. You do, huh? Because that is a high tactical level game for a guy who will have had four or five training sessions at the most, you know? Yeah. Well, I think he'll be starting at Anfield. I could be wrong. I mean, I'd love him. We can debate that next week. Friday night club. I'm sure the comments are going to say, cool, she's going to be starred. No, he's not. Elliot's right. He's not going to be starred. That's how we do it on the internet, mate. Yeah, Madiweke, I liked his performance. Again, he's got pace, Elliot.

1:14:14Elliot:So again, he's not been fit up to his point. Carrefour, he got caught hard to pitch one part of the game and Madiweke had to run back in and he put the jets on me and he was back. So that's straight away. And when he went to the right-hand side, I thought some of his left-hand sided crosses were fine, couple into the keeper's hands. But once he keeps doing it, drops his shoulder and whips it, people are going to start moving to a near post, aren't they? Because they fancy the goal bonus, right? So they'll start getting in front of their defenders. And so we just need to work out what he's going to do there.

1:14:43Elliot:And I quite like the fact that he can hold that side defense and he can run in behind. When he went into the right-hand side, then all the bag of tricks came out, didn't they? All the moves came out. Everything felt more natural for him. and he's a strong boy he's quick you know he's got amazing acceleration he's a problem mate he's a problem for people and i thought old trafford i thought we did really well off the bench in this game everyone's talking about the players at the start but also talk about the bench again you know and i thought i thought he was really really good in this game encouraging great second game for us with first start that's a really encouraging really encouraging for me the wide positions mate I'd play four of them every game you know I'd make sure that some started and some finished because we need that power to finish games and different I thought Trossard when he came on he was quite sharp and technical and I quite like what he did I quite like that we can change in these areas and create new problems for defenders and end the game with people with real desire to score and create and finish so we don't go away you know I love that so yeah I liked it mate I think he's going to he'll be playing at Anfield next week, whether it's from the start or he'll be coming on.

1:15:56Elliot:I think he's going to be playing. If he starts on the right and there's him on the left, I don't think that's too bad at all. I think it's really positive. Yeah, and I mean, if he starts on the right and if Karakej wants to go raiding down that side, I trust Nani to have the pace and the athleticism to match him and give some help. Not that Timber ever needs help if he's over there, but if Timber's over on the other side helping out on Salah, then you're covered on both sides. depends on Ben White's fitness as well. Look, people are screaming at us. You're nearing the end. Are you guys really not going to talk about Max?

1:16:28We're really going to talk about Max, I assure you. And I guess the first thing to do would be to read some of Mikel Arteta's comments on Dowman stepping up to the Premier League. This is what we see every single day in training. And I think we just gathered information about how he handles certain situations in terms of training, being in the squad and not being selected afterwards in Manchester. coming on the bench and feeling ready. But again, a big compliment to his family as well. I think there's a kid with a level of maturity, stability, and hunger that is very difficult to see. And obviously to Purr, the academy, all the coaches, and everyone who's been involved in that journey, because there's a kid that has zero hesitation.

1:17:06He's so convinced that he can go at 15 and deliver that, which I've never witnessed in my life. And for us, it brings joy, it brings emotion, something else that makes our job so great. And I have to stop here and make a point. I think Mikel gave a little something away in that comment that shows you how highly he regards Max down. First of all, that he brought him on as early as he did. He clearly wanted him to have a chance to influence the game. But I'm going to read it again. He's so convinced that he can go at 15 and deliver that, which I have never witnessed in my life. This is the same manager that gave Ethan his debut at 15.

1:17:43And he's saying, I've never witnessed this in my life. so Clive he's given just a little bit away on how highly he regards his guy but Pete let's not take it as a slight that's not my point my point is this is this is a player that has a very unique ceiling to him and to come on the Premier League at 15 with 30 minutes to play taking on seasoned professionals beating them winning fouls winning penalties two shots um his personality his talent it it's it's exciting and i want to know from you how we're meant to contain this because it's going

1:18:18Elliot:to be very hard to contain yeah it's gonna it's impossible not it's impossible not to see what's in front of you and this is generational stuff it's done comparing to anything you know the first time i saw him was last summer my own eyes i came back home went oh my god what have i just seen what have i just seen and it it was just to balance the flow the movement the fact he was barely touching the ground i just thought what's going on here again in training this week you see him and you said to me oh you said what's up saying how was max in training i'd forgot to look at him because he looked like all the rest of them do you know i mean i didn't think there was a 15 year old out there training i just thought i'd ask max he looks the same as everybody else you know his physical shape everything about him looked exactly the same and his intelligence was what shone out and how he moved the ball and how he moves it he moves it in a way where the player runs onto it so it creates forward movement so he's passing his x at the moment we're looking at he's dribbling but he's passing it's not really showing up yet in order you choose because we got him on the outside of our team as a 15 year old have some fun out there get the ball into dangerous areas take people on commit people that's what he's showing but what people who watch him in the youth teams know that he's passing is unbelievable he can do the carrying he can do the carrying century you can do it out wide he can shoot for the area obviously and he he lives the whole game in the future he makes it go to whatever he wants it to do and um to have that that's completely different to not just even probably anybody i've ever seen in my in my life there are some wonderful clips of odegaard playing in when he was 15 in in norway and he looks pretty spectacular i can't tell the level but i promise you he wasn't a premier league level do you know that's the difference another guy's got a mood to read on the back of that etc and his career is well storied this is once a lifetime stuff and he just hope and pray that his development continues and his physical development continues in the right way and he can add more to his game that way and the intelligence continues the more he's around people like we are putting him around right now i mean it's it's hard and when he came on everyone screamed you know it's like oh my god you know so he's 15 and um i'm not i don't know what how he's living his life because he's trained like a professional how is he living you know what how's this working out of his schooling etc it's it's it's special and this is only it's only time it's happened to this is the first time i'm seeing this i've been around a few blocks you know so um and so we're lucky we get to see everything we've got far more exposure to information and data and clips etc but we've got to keep our keep our hands on our heads and just be cool and say, okay, let this happen.

1:21:09Elliot:You can't stop talent. I've never been cool. So I don't know how, what you're asking the impossible. It's hard, mate, it's hard. Can I just ask you, I mean, do you see a scenario where he just goes from strength to strength and he gets more of these cameos and he's so good in them where it isn't just a novelty where he can come on at four goals safe against leads, but where he starts to be trusted in moments where there's actual jeopardy? or are we getting ahead of ourselves in that? I wasn't sure of his pathway, actually, a little while ago. We had a debate on a list that we're both on, and I sort of blurted out, I think he might miss the 21s.

1:21:48Elliot:And somebody said to me, no chance, but I thought, yeah, he's probably right. He's probably right. He'll probably play the 21s. And now I'm starting to think, maybe he might miss the 21s. Maybe this is where he belongs. You know? if he goes he's won a penalty what in three consecutive appearances wait wait he's got to play if he goes if he goes to play some of those they got they better make sure he's in the stadium if he goes and plays in academy pitches they better make sure there's security around him because everyone's going to want to go right it's it's it's it's unique it's it's unique and you can't stop talent but you also have responsibility to develop it appropriately and the club are smart at this they're good they've known what they've had for many many years but for many years they've known what they've had and they've looked after him in the right way and and fulfilled their promises as they're trying to do with Ethan and Miles as well and we should be incredibly proud of that and just try to hold just imagine what he's gonna be like when he's 19 can you just imagine that and let's just hope that he's got through that period in the right way and we've treated him in the right way.

1:22:56Elliot:And then we can sit back and watch him dominate English football because he's going to play for England. He's going to dominate English football. He's going to be that player if we can just get him there safely. And that's our responsibility. Yeah, I mean, he's a talent that is going to make some decisions harder than you would have expected earlier than you would have expected. Can I ask you one thing about his performance just real quick though? And when I saw him in preseason, the thing that impressed me so much is he effortlessly influenced Gaines while also feeling like he wasn't trying too hard.

1:23:32He was fitting into the group. He wanted to be in the group. This performance, and I don't know if it's because 4-0 up or it's a global audience and he's in the Premier League. I did feel at times like he was trying to do something. You know what I mean? Like every time he got the ball, he's like, I need to score. I need to score. I need to score. There was even one moment where I think Declan Rice, maybe it wasn't Rice, could have hit it from the middle of the box. And he's like, I'm going to slide it to Max instead. Did you feel that there was maybe a little too much of the like, we got to get Max a goal?

1:24:01Elliot:We don't have the right. And I said incorrectly in one of our previews, I said he's going to be the youngest player. I actually meant the youngest scorer. And that's the Premier League should be the youngest. He could be the youngest scorer. And that's what they were going for, right? So even as the youngest Premier League player, he's the youngest, but he'd be the youngest scorer, you know? And so. And by the way, the youngest Arsenal scorer is Theo at, I want to say 16 years and 200 some odd days. So he's still got plenty of time if he wants to be the youngest Arsenal scorer. Yeah. And I think that was on his mind.

1:24:31Elliot:But who cares? Don't care. The fact he's out there, we can enjoy it. And we can enjoy this. I mean, the shot he had, trust me, that's a seven out of 10 chance for him, you know? And he's got that in his locker. he's really disappointed he didn't hit it on target you know and um and so he had a couple of shots did he and the one that went across the defender just blocked out the near side of the goal but the one from the edge of the area he's got that in his locker yeah he's coming he's coming right so um so yeah just i'm just trying to sit back and enjoy it and hope he gets there and hope he is what we all think he's going to be jamie radnacht spoke very well on him he obviously knows him from a long time ago he probably knows people around him and he spoke very well on him and he said he literally said there is no risk here there is no risk i think he said he's going to be one of the best england players of all time which i was like all right let's let's be careful there is no there is no risk here you know um you know i saw him at 14 playing against players that i used to coach and i walked away thinking i'd never played the game in my life yeah i was never a footballer because that's a footballer and what i was doing was recreation do you know i mean he's unbelievable my my biggest fear with max the only fear i have with max is that he grows six more inches because i don't know if he can stay this good if he's seven feet tall man like just we need to stop the growth on that guy he's the right height i did sort of hear um one of his old coaches say he's projected to get to around six two um based on his parents height etc i get it was not i'm not this is not me talking to someone else and they think he's going to be like a caca player.

1:26:09Elliot:That's the style of player he is. You take that. You take cacaz. Someone that flows through the midfield, carries it effortlessly and one, two, slots in top corner. That type of player. Yeah, we can handle that. Do you think you like that? You know what he could do if he's starting to get too tall if he wants to loan me the height so that he doesn't outgrow his own football career. That'd be fine. I think there's no need to preview Liverpool now. Liverpool have not played yet as of us recording this night. Do you have to say, you want to talk about just a little bit of luck? But Liverpool, you know, they have to go to a pretty hostile place on a Monday.

1:26:44So two days less rest, get kicked to pieces by a club that absolutely hates their guts right now. That's going to be a cage match. And whether they win it or not, they're going to be two days less rested and a lot more bruised. They're going to have a much harder day than we had. Now, granted, we lost two players to injury. So just a typical day at the office for Arsenal. It was five down. Yeah, but you know, you get my point. So that's a bit of luck. I'll say this just without needing analysis. on it. I think it is interesting in a 5-0 that there were no minutes for Martinelli. Now the irony is, like I said, I could see him turning around and starting against Liverpool, where he's been quite effective.

1:27:16So we'll just have to see. But the squad is big. Will you hear my thoughts on that? Yeah, yeah. Why not? Because, and by the way,

1:27:26Elliot:this is just a little hunch I have. I'll share it with just you. Just a little bit. We are trying to define our selling strategy. And what does it look like? So we don't really know yet, in the Berta regime, what we look like selling-wise. But we're about to find out. I'm looking at this, and I'm wondering, is Martin Eddy going to fit? That's how I feel today. I'm not sure that's going to look silly in a couple of days' time, but that's how I feel. And maybe the extra player coming in is going to, I think, play on the left-hand side. Maybe a message to somebody is going to say, maybe, you know what, this may not be for me if I want to play.

1:28:05Elliot:I may have to go and find. And sometimes the way other teams do it, they load up the squad. And some people say, you know what? Maybe those offers that are coming my way, I won't turn them down. I'll accept them. Because my time's going to be limited here. And that's just the nature. And it's up to the club whether we can accept it or not. I'm just wondering, because I think with Madaweke playing left, and he's a pace option, right? So Trostar can also play left. Eze can also play left. It's just a lot. Do you know what I mean? It's a lot there. And the value is in him to balance books. It's not in Trussard.

1:28:42Elliot:The value is in Martinelli. But there's no offers. There's no shame in keeping a 23-year-old player that's done wonders for us, that works both ways, gone a bit flat at the moment, but was part of our Old Trafford win and we don't win without him. So I'm just trying to add up the sums here. We can go either way on this. But it'd be interesting to see in the next couple of weeks, what we what are we going to be like when it comes to selling how do we move people because we're looking at the squad and it not everyone can stay so what does this mean for some of those players yeah it's it's kind of funny because you have a weird situation happening in brazil where you got a rodrigo who can't get on the pitch and isn't liked by the current brazil manager from all accounts and then you got a martinelli whose position at his club is sort of questionable right now in terms of playing time.

1:29:31And they're kind of battling it out for Brazil play. So be curious to see if one of them takes a move away from where they currently are so they can play more and maybe move themselves up that peck order. That'll be an interesting little subplot there. Look, we've got the Liverpool game tomorrow to all watch and enjoy, or today as you're listening to this. We've got maybe a rewatch, but maybe a Power Ranks. We'll figure out whether we're going to rewatch Power Ranks on Friday night, Clive on Friday with MainPod on Thursday. We'd love to have you over on Patreon if you want to be there or the Apple subscription, you get access to everything and it's AVP50 is the code.

1:30:03You get 50 % off a couple of quid and you can give it a try or just stay here. We're just happy to have you here. And I think the best thing, the thing I love about this so much is just that we have such an interesting, interesting season ahead of us. But there's this little voice in my head that says if we can avoid major, major disaster, you know, major injury disaster, things like that, the league is there for us. It really is there for us. It really feels like it is. And I'm getting pretty damn excited about this season. And the Eze thing, well, I haven't had a shirt with a name and a number on the back in many years, but I've ordered that one.

1:30:38So, you know, had to be done. Thank you, everybody. If you want to leave us a five-star review, by the way, you know, look, whatever review, the most honest review you want to give is fine. What I understand is those reviews help other people find the pod, that that's how, like, Spotify and Apple promote the pod, and then it gets boosted up from that. So if you want to give us one, we'd love to have it, but we're just happy you're here. Clive, always a pleasure, my man. I'm sure I'll talk to you many times this week. Thank you very much. My name's Alex Smith. We love you. And we will talk to you after Arsenal 10, Liverpool New.

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