Arsenal Deliver Heroic Victory To End Massive Weekend

31:52Elliot:they were closer earlier they were they were closer exactly the proximity means that his runs were harder to see when you're 15 miles away from him and you're banging a long ball guess what a defender does he drops off wins the race right and you're setting forward looks dumb the proximity that central group was what really allowed him to flourish yeah and a great example by the way of just that proximity leading to opportunities timber had one of our best chances of the game the header when he gets him behind look at what that comes you know the one i'm talking about right yeah timber gets him behind that one yes yes that's that's the one sorry that that's the one i'm thinking of but but it's the point right clive to your point that they're they're all right there in that zone playing instinctively first time just speeds up the tempo really good sorry Sorry, my bad about that.

32:39Okay, so we do have to get to the sort of VAR of this and the decisions of this. It would be wrong not to get to that. So let's do that, and then we can get to some of the other performances, some of the goals, their goal, of course, our goal, some of the other big things that are in this game. You know, I do think that Mikel said something that I really liked because he knows what he's doing here. I'm getting the result late. He says, unbelievable feeling. That's what football is about in a team. When you get what you deserve right at the end, it's not a better feeling than that. And he's just saying that for his players, for his fans, for the media.

33:23This was one we deserved to win. We got what we deserved. And it's a little thumb in the eye to all the different ways that this game might've been analyzed. On the VAR decision, So let's start with our penalty being overturned. It is a great bit of play. Should mention, Raya had a fantastic punch from a corner before that. Really strong, dominates his box. Eze plays the ball along the sack, he wins it. And this is where sometimes you can get accused of looking for reasons to praise a player. But Jokras is on the sprint to get that back pass. He doesn't have to be. He gambles. It's striker's instinct and he gets there first.

34:05Really, really good work from him to do that. He goes over Pope's knee. Now, Tim, the way it's explained is Pope gets a touch on it. And because he gets a touch on it, it can't be a foul. I don't understand that because I'm old enough. Well, I'm old enough to remember when we were told William Saliba getting a touch on a headed ball in a simple contest in the air was still a penalty for heading. I think it was Ja Pedro. Was it Ja Pedro in that moment? Right. I'm old enough to remember that. And there's clips of Howard Webb going around saying the touch on the ball doesn't change that it's a foul.

34:54So this is a wrong decision. now look i can almost live with the penalty not being given in real time and not being overturned to mckel's point mckel went very big when he was asked about it about it's supposed to be clear and obvious error he didn't talk about whether it's a penalty or not and i think he made a really smart decision there he talked about the standard being clear and obvious error because if you watched on nbc and for anyone who's based somewhere or was using stream somewhere where you could watch an nbc the nbc comms had the var audio in their ear and they said the var is trying was guiding guide jared gillett to reversing his decision and these these are exact words he said taking a long time here i didn't know this i didn't know this i mean if you listen to the arse cast i actually think andrew played the audio i don't have the audio so of course i'd encourage you to listen to a pod you've already listened to no doubt but the audio is jared gillett is being guided by the VAR and it's taking a long time.

35:53They're trying to explain to him why it's not a penalty, which means to me that when Jared Gillett goes to the screen and looks, he's still not totally sure why that's not a penalty. Now, even if you want to say, well, letter of the law, this, that, you know, you could make it not a penalty. Maybe you could make it not a penalty, but the decisions made on the pitch, it's not a clear and obvious error. And they've gone a long, long way to getting the referee on the pitch to change his decision so tim i can't come away with this feeling anything other than it is an injustice based on the standards as they've been set and based on the fact that if you foul a guy who might have gotten to the ball anyway for your touch and then to your point in your voice note they make it a drop ball for newcastle which doesn't make any sense at all so i mean have i covered all the angles you see what what's the what's the angle i don't know what's left listen i'm i'm with you i can live with that kind of not being given not least because we still have the ball and the referee stopped the game we could have still scored from there now that isn't necessarily a referee's fault because he's given us a penalty and then to your point the var has decided to completely re-referee the game on a total minutiae post hoc like you'll always get this there'll always be some like little kind of thing you can say i think i heard something like uh pope's foot didn't go into a forward motion or something i really don't understand how that's at all relevant that strikes me as post hoc re-litigation as well and to your point we heard all of that after the select and like while um while this happens there's there's going to be inconsistencies as well while you try to retrograde everything like this it's just going to lead to frustration it's just not a clear an obvious error at all i think i think it's a stick-on penalty i think he's impeded on his way to goal in front of basically an open goal at an angle but he's impeded knee hits knee he's taken out it's a penalty like in and and so to to re-referee that moment just like completely unnecessary and yeah i heard the uh the audio andrew played it and and it's yeah it's like why are you letting the var like guide you and why is the var doing that in the first place and even if they send them over to the screen to your point he watched it so many times clearly not sure like whether this is enforced or not clearly there should be a limit it's like i thought it was a penalty in real time i'll have a look at it if it's not clear after like two reviews why are you watching it seven i think it was eight times he re-watched it like why are you doing that like you you saw it in real time you've seen it six seven times and still haven't changed your mind like it's it's just nonsense it's one of the things that happens away from home as well i think at the emirates that probably doesn't happen it's probably just just given and it's it's one of those uh scenarios as well that you see atst james's park a lot you see a lot of ground well not that many grounds actually it's in james's park is one anfield's probably another where the the crowd referees the game a little bit as well go and have a look at where the vr camera is um atst james's park not next to the dugout it's uh it's in the thick of the newcastle fans so you know there's some uh maybe some positive reinforcement there and it's just like it's it's a very um there's just like a lack of personality from the referee um as well there's just no justification for spending that long on it trying to come up with some post hoc hair's breadth like or maybe the goalkeeper shaved his legs this morning so you know it's it's like i think everyone knows that kind of smells wrong as it were and actually like had a look at little look at my twitter timeline at halftime and most like neutrals seem to think that was nonsense to overturn it as well which um yeah but but you're always going to get this with var we're always going to veer backwards and forwards and not to reliscate the var debate too much i think this was quite foreseeable it's always going to veer wildly between oh my god we're being criticized for being too interfering so now we're going to do nothing and then it will drift back to over-interfering.

40:15And what you'll probably get next week off the back of this is, what we've got to do now is just like, only if someone's head's fallen off or something, do we re-litigate it. And then that won't be good enough. And you'll constantly get this veering backwards and forwards. Yeah. I mean, the funny thing is, I'm not even me personally, I'm not against re-refereeing it. I want right decisions. I know that's a very American take on it, but like to re-referee it, which we're told they're not supposed to do, to then not get the right decision is kind of like nobody wins in that case. Clive, what are your thoughts on the situation?

40:53Elliot:Yeah, well, they re-refereed the, well, they didn't re-referee, the referee didn't give a penalty against Gabriel, but they wanted to check late in the game, right? And that's where VAR really helped out because you could see a deflection. But again, did we need to go there in any which way or form? And I think Mikel was really good in this once rather than debate the decision he debated the process we've been held to a high bar so why are we doing that why are we going there why are we spending the time so you know what if you if the referee gives a penalty that's based on his opinion and this is a subjective decision so why are you introducing bar now people are now trying to bring in things like forward motion all the rest of it and his foot being planted mate how about knee to knee stopping a striker going forward as long as I've been playing football or been around football and watching football if you kick someone in the knee and he's going in the forward direction he's going around the goalkeeper 99 times out of 100 that's the penalty let's keep it simple should we let's not be stupid because this game's been around a while can we just do that if you don't do that you're bringing in suspicion you know and there's a lot of smart people on Twitter can bring out pictures and comps and in about three minutes flat you know and it's all in our timelines really, really quickly.

42:10Elliot:They can do what they like when they choose to, and that's what it feels like. That's how it felt last season. It's probably the first time this season, oh, no, not again. Not again. Let's not do this again at Newcastle. Please, no. Pushing the back. I mean, oh, let's not do this. I mean, it must have been traumatic for people there, and it's traumatic for everyone around the world. We've seen it before, haven't we? We've seen this before. It's so triggering for everybody. That's why I'm so glad that we overcame it, right? And now we have something to hold on to, right? Which is not a bad luck story, but a positive one.

42:42Clyde, do you agree with me that it's almost in a way better? To win a game that you can now tell yourself this story. We don't have to let our heads drop every time a decision doesn't go our way. We can just come back and overturn it. I posted in the moment, yes, this is a travesty. Yes, it's an injustice. this we've got 70 minutes to still go win the game we're playing well enough go win the game and we

43:08Elliot:did yeah yeah i mean hey look it all worked out but we did a lot of painful podcasts last season you know brighton bournemouth right and twice you know we're talking man city kicking the ball away just for a half time i mean you just ruined the game of the season you know and then we're still getting critiqued for how we played that second half by the way that's people seem to have forgot with down to 10 men, but let's not worry about that. Let's criticize Arsenal. And so those things from last year really hang around in our thought process. And let's be honest, it ruined the enjoyment for many Arsenal people last season.

43:45Elliot:It did. It ruined the enjoyment of how we felt victimized. And whether that's right or wrong, we did feel that way. And when we went into Europe, fair enough, we felt a lot better about watching those European games because there was no sort of legacy feelings that we felt with referees. And they just refereed. the two teams. They're as simple as that. It comes to a point where the referee in this game is not allowed to referee Liverpool, but he referees us, right? And so I'm sorry, but people will always have questions about this, you know, but we overcame it. And I think it's going to do wonders for our own self-belief.

44:26Yeah. A couple of the other decisions, since we're on decisions, instead taking them chronologically, Tim, I'll just ask you a few things so there's the push gabrielle pushes voltamada and i guess his hand sort of slips up yeah to his face and people are calling it a punch you know i mean i know that they have a reputation at newcastle for being soft i just didn't know they were that soft i guess is what i would say um there is the handball shout on gabby that one's close that one is close because the way handball is refereed right now if your hand's in that unnatural position you're making yourself bigger in the ball hits you expect penalty but as it was explained to me at the time and as i understand it it's a deflection off him onto his arm which nullifies it being a penalty, whether you agree with that or not.

45:19I have come on this pod and said, I don't want handballs like that to be a penalty. I think giving an 80 % chance of a goal because someone comes flying in for a challenge and the ball deflects and hits their arm, what are we doing? So I've always believed not giving penalties and not giving red cards is less of an injustice than giving wrong penalties and wrong red cards because those change the game fundamentally. So it was a heart and mouth moment for sure. Do you have anything to add on those incidents which were I think the big incidents of the game yeah I have to say in the interest of fairness like you're right like the the rule apparently is if it deflects onto your arm then it can't be a penalty I do have to say I think that's a technicality in this in this scenario because Gabrielle's arm is right up and it probably stops the ball going towards goal like I kind of think that should be a penalty and it's um yeah it's almost a bit of legalese isn't it it's just like and I understand why that caveat's in the regulations about the ball deflecting onto your onto your hand it's just the way it happens here like the ball's going towards goal and his arm is way up like I I think that probably should be a penalty to be honest and we've we've probably not been lucky because it is within the rules it's within the rules but probably not the spirit of the law as it were so we'd probably get off on that with a technicality the kind of the thing with um is it walton marder i don't know how to pronounce his name um yeah like yeah but probably a bit silly because he could have gone down and made a meal of it um but at the same time i i don't have a huge problem with it to be honest um i think it's it's much of nothing and i always like it when players do that thing afterwards where they complain about it loads because oh but I don't like to complain about this type of thing.

47:09I'm not that type of player. It's like, well, why are you talking about it then, mate? And again, let's reverse the role, shall we? Two seasons ago, we lost their 1-0. Jorginho really was bashed around the back of the head and we had, I think, very, very legitimate claim for red colour. I think that is one of the worst decisions I've seen around Arsenal in the last five to ten years because it's such a clear case of violent conduct what what what were we told for complaining about that so yeah um yeah yeah exactly um the other notable decisions there's yorkers pulled down by his face you know i mean if you want to pick everything out i'm leave it i'm fine i don't care the last one is the gabby on voltamata um i would say this it's not a foul it shouldn't I don't want to go disallowed for that I think what Woltamata does is very clever though he doesn't push him down to get his leap as Gabby's trying to back up to kind of get touch tight and feel him he gives him just a little bit of a push as Gabby's trying to back to him and it stops Gabby being able to close that distance and then I do think Gabriel realizing I'm in trouble here goes down quite softly I don't think it's a great look for Gabby it's what Nick Pope should have done to Saliba for the winner but he doesn't see him yeah just a little right just create the space you create the space for yourself now a keeper can do that you know I think if Valtemata's push is more notable then maybe it does chalk off the goal but I think it's clever because it's not a push to generate his leap it's a push to keep Gabby from being able to close space and Gabby goes down and there's there's no penalty or no foul worth disallowing goal for there's just good center forward play to protect his space and get himself the space to leap.

48:56So I think on balance, when you talk about what's just, if you want that handball against Gabby given, you must have the penalty given for Gilchrist. And I think Arsenal, as we've shown, when we go one goal up in games, we go two goals, we go three goals, right? We're good at hitting teams that then have to come at you and be a little bit more adventurous. So I don't know. I think on balance, everything evened out the way it needed to. That's sort of my instinct here. But you know what? If other teams want to think we have PGML on our side, I'd love to have them on our side. Wouldn't that be amazing?

49:37Imagine living in that world. We've got so many good performances and moments still to get to, but I should tell you about some brands because at this point, you've got to be, as they say, gagging for it, I would think. So we'll do that quickly. And then, Clive, I have a couple of things to ask you. But first, I will tell you that if you are trying to watch football, you're probably going to be on streams that are not exactly ideal for your computer or your tablet or things like that. And so you should use NordVPN because NordVPN has threat protection and will protect you. But the best thing about NordVPN is simply this is the kind of weekend when you want to watch all the content.

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52:14Elliot:I sort of disagree slightly with him on the Gabriel one. I think he's just a big slide tackle crunch that he slid in and the ball bounced up. But the only thing I cared about was him getting to the ball first, which he did. And then, because at that moment of time, if we'd have took him out, I think I would have cried. and so and it bounced up and and to be honest when you're sliding in that is exactly where your hand should be right so um i just but i'm so glad i am glad for vying that situation because referee was forced to stop the game even though he didn't give it and then it showed it and i thought thank god for that you know because um i don't think i'd have coped right that had gone the other way so um so yeah all good all good all good okay so real quick on their goal um leading to it mascara gives a corner away that doesn't need to be given under limited pressure it's just a miskick trying to go back to raya i don't think mascara did much wrong from a defending standpoint but i do think in this game there was a little bit of safe and and maybe a little bit of nervy distribution i don't think he looked as comfortable on the ball as maybe saliva does so i don't know that he was subbed off at halftime so much because of a concern about his defending as much as just comfort and confidence on the ball, Clive.

53:36So do you see it that way?

53:38Elliot:I think we're going to have to rewire our brains when it comes to how Mikel's using substitutions this year because he's really using them. He's not taking risks to people because I think he's sick of getting to April and May and not having players in the right condition. If you just keep that line in your mind then everything that we we're watching is saying that we are not taking risks with people there's even the conversation pre the city game that as they couldn't do 90 right and so that's one of the reasons why he didn't start i'm not going to stand on i'm not going to stand on a hill with that but i'm just saying to you these decisions are being taken saka look what we're doing with saka this year tim said earlier on this is not stuff we do normally mate we run him to the last minute if we're well if we're one down we don't care right and um and so we're trying to learn we're looking at people in the long term even the decision we've had at by the way to get his knee up that's a long-term decision that's not a short-term decision short term he's still out there right so um so i think there's different decisions there i was a little bit surprised about sliver because i thought he needed a game at portville i really think he needed it but he had it i think yeah you're ready now for james's park so to not seeing that i was a bit surprise but Mosquera's a good player so um I wasn't too worried but he did the old remember the old Tommy Yasu back pass against City that De Bruyne ran onto it was like that on your wrong foot just make it wait for the ball to settle don't take it too early or hook it over your shoulder safe side to the touchline later in the half he hooked it out for a throwing like the message has got through he's 21 years of age nothing to see here mate he's gonna be a fantastic player um and we took him off but you know what i looked for in the last goal the whole bench emptied and mosquera was in the huddle at the end and i'm thinking well you're not crying you're you're part of this and you're playing for arsenal football club in the biggest game in the world that day you know and um and so yeah he's this fantastic experience for him and he won't and he won't do that again and it's very very simple who just so yeah i i thought sleep when he came in i thought he had a magnificent game and he made a massive error his first involvement where voltamata missed over the bar but the flag apparently had gone up yeah gone up to be honest when that happened i was worried i thought maybe he's not fit and maybe we've gambled i thought my god he might have to come off he looked so weird didn't it took him a while to settle because let's be honest he went into livermento and he couldn't quite slow down and so they've they've clashed in the air and i believe i'm not sure at the time of recording libra mento may have an acl right and that's his second one in his career that's an absolute shame right so that's two acls in a week for one for lilpool one for libra mento so i think that'd be such a shame for him because and so he didn't look quite right but then he settled and now our distribution was back and now we got our back two back with rice in front of them good luck with those three seriously and we could then get seven people into that last line and make substitutions that really attacked that last line and took over the game because we had the big space coverage of Sleba and also the timely distribution no one's as good as him you know when it comes to passing out from the back and we really needed him gosh I you've you've sort of taught me this clive though but athletes are they are creatures of habit center backs don't usually get subbed period unless there's been an injury.

57:09And I wonder how many times in his career, William Saliba has come on as a sub in the middle of the game. So I think it's really hard for a guy who's used to starting and getting a feel for the game as it heats up to come on at halftime of a fever pitch game like that and come to grips with the game right away, chasing it, needing to try to win it. So, you know, I think there's a little bit of that too, right? Just coming into an unfamiliar environment as a player that like i said i'd be curious to know how many substitute appearances i think has ever made i think he he came on as a distributor as well i think it was yes newcastle a one nil up they're not going to come forward very much we need your passing it wasn't about mascara's defending i don't think it was about mascara at all it was you're an eight out of ten defender you've done very little wrong we've got a 10 out of 10 and we need to move the ball sharpish very very quickly it was about Saliba not Muscara and I think it was about him as a passer more than anything else well said to you so so Tim we have another 10 out of 10 defender who is starting to really be a 10 out of 10 all over the pitch and that's Uri and Timber you want to weigh in on him because this is just another game that makes you say what on earth have we got in this player yeah I think um on the Premier League productions kind of broadcast Ian Wright did a little bit of analysis on Yuri and Timber and the way he defends one-on-one and it really made me think about it it was like you never see him go to ground you always see him like because he's built like a boxer isn't he he's like a middleweight boxer like all upper body strength and what does he do he's tight to you and you're not getting away from him and he does that kind of the thing that's so useful as well he does that regain and retain thing it's not I'm going to smash you into the touchline and can see the throw in it's i'm getting my body between you and the ball you're not moving me and i'll either get a foul because you'll be climbing all over my back or i'll maneuver away he's just he does remind me of a boxer like he's got that movement he's got that low center of gravity dips his shoulder gets his shoulder into you there's no big tackles there's there's no big actions and the other thing i like is he engages people so high up so he doesn't wait until the wing is in the penalty area and it's, oh, if I touch you, then, you know, Jared Gillette, whatever the hell his name is, like, you know, pointing to the penalty spot, waving his Liverpool scarf.

59:33He gets you in the middle third. And I had a look at some of the data as well about how often Urien Timberlant wins the ball in the middle third of the pitch. So he pushes up on you and he doesn't let you get turned as a winger. And again, someone like Anthony Gordon, that is so important as well, because if Gordon gets turned and faces you up, you could be in trouble because Gordon's one of the best one-on-one wingers out there. Someone I think a lot of Arsenal fans would have been happy to see in red and white this season, but Timber doesn't let you do that. It's just, I'm in your shorts and if you're going to turn me, you have to go through me like a brick wall and he's just so good at using his body and his physicality in a way that he's just so difficult to manoeuvre off the ball and then he comes away with it and he's happy coming into midfield as well.

1:00:23When he gets away from people, he doesn't just pin himself to the touchline and work the line and turn the game into a series of throw-ins. He'll run into midfield, get the ball there and he'll get us out of trouble. The biggest compliment I can pay him is that Ben White has been one of the highest performing Arsenal players for the last three or four seasons. Like I said about the Mascara Saliba substitution, the same things going on at right back ben white is not getting not getting in the team because he's done anything wrong it's just the other guy is you can't move him and that that's when you've got proper competition in your squad proper competition in the squad is not all this guy's underperforming we're going to take him out it's i'd love to pick both of you but i've got to choose one of you and one of you's 10 out of 10 and one of you's nine out of 10 and it's going to break my heart to leave one of you out but i've got to that's when you've got a really high performing squad and there are very few players less popular more popular rather than than ben white and timber is absolutely there on merit like there's someone you you go to war with he reminds me of a lot actually and i think particularly in a game like this not just against um a player like anthony gordon the way he defends is really good for the temperature of games like this because it's not big tackles it's not big slide tackles where you wind the crowd up and the referee buys into it it's just I'm moving you out the way and that's it and the temperature of the game comes down I think he's phenomenal I think he's absolutely phenomenal was on the podium for me last year for player of the season and very early days but it looks like he could be there again this season Yeah, I use the phrase warrior mindset on the instant reaction.

1:02:10He has that and I think he's even upped his intensity this season. He seems so focused on improving his game in other parts of the pitch too. I think he was second in passes into the penalty area or something like that. Let me give you the stats on this. So from sort of more of a building play standpoint, Declan Rice had our most progressive passes. Timber had the second most at eight tied with Zubamendi. He had the most passes into the penalty area by a lot. Six passes in the penalty area. Next close was two. So he's doing those things. He obviously had the header that could have been a goal.

1:02:47Really nice movement. Really nice header that Clive mentioned. And then I mentioned again. And then again. The other thing I'd like to mention as well. you know Clyde was talking earlier about like what what happened in this fixture last year Saka we got the ball to Saka 1500 times out on the touchline three guys around him he smacks in across Dan Byrne says thank you very much that's going into orbit and this time look at where the penalty comes from look at where Saka is miles he's at center forward he's miles in from the line and he took up those positions a lot we didn't want Saka pinned to the touchline getting his ankles wrapped by livermento or whoever else and that is also you have to trust your fullback when you do that because you're saying you're looking after this whole touchline now because we want saka inside as much as possible and that again like you have to be a special fullback to be able to do that yeah yeah clive i i have to say i i am prone to hyperbole from time to time so if i'm hyperbolic here let me know i i think this is one of the best games declan rice has ever played for us um he let us in touches he let us in passes he let us in final third entries he recovered the ball beautifully brilliantly in so many cases there was the one i mean the really scary one was was it ramsey um gets away uh jacob murphy gets away pardon me uh behind we we have a central loss of possession bruno game rice to his credit sees murphy sprinting away it's a great run from murphy's great pass from bruno game rush and declan rice just does not let that lose us the game he goes full terminator charges him down he forces murphy to cut back inside and then blocks the shot and i feel like his superpower is that as other people are getting more fatigued he seems like he's gaining energy um he also obviously delivered the cross from the short corner that leads the equalizer for marino this this was that that performance from rice that maybe we've been searching for this season but haven't had he might be a bit of a slow starter in seasons but this was this was everything you want from that player yeah so when when we first linked to him

1:04:53Elliot:i remember us playing uh brentford with ivan tony up front and they went long and they won all the seconds and i think we i think we might have drew the game in the end they got an offside goal they never drew the lines remember that one and i think we drew the game but it cost us a little bit and um i remember thinking we need to control the momentum of the game in the center of the park better who's the best at that and it's this guy declan rice so what really i find funny when our sky commentators are commentating on the game and timmy may not have got this being in the ground and you are saved and your brain is pure because you haven't had to listen to gary neville saying declan rice needs to be let off the leash he needs to be able to go forward he's able to go do this and i just look around and i look around at the stats and i'm looking around 105 touches first 75 passes completed first 17 line breaking passes first 260 meters carried first 11.3 kilometers covered first just be quiet son you don't know what the game is you don't know what we're trying to do if he can do all that stuff that means somebody else is flourishing maybe one of our wingers who are center forward or one of our tens is flourishing and he allows all that to happen and so i i find it i don't you know i don't care about positions i just care about the game plan and the game that's on offer and can we adapt to it this is a perfect example of that a perfect example and he is so good in so many areas of the pitch that we can make those changes and if he goes on wandering then timber drops in and stops everything and whatever tim said about during can i just times it by two i just think he's you know that's the next contract for me after saka get that one done please because he's 24 years of age and his timeline is perfectly aligned to the players that we have in our team and he understands the contest of the game of football and what it requires and that's why i think he's a perfect modern fullback and and decomite is a perfect modern center midfielder plays high plays low can carry in between long pass short pass and what i think he's really improved on Elliot is the way he receives the ball when he first came he was very close-bodied he'd always go back where it's come from now he's received it on his back foot left foot opening out first time either running with it or it flowing through him he's been he's been training technically we all know he can move the ball with his feet but now we've we've explored the angle around the set pieces free kicks the ability to strike a ball is fantastic whether if it's moving or it's dead.

1:07:33Elliot:And he can do a lot with it now. And he's using both feet a lot more. He's really developing as a player. And after Timber, we won't be long before we're looking at that contract again. And I think it's very important. I think he's still getting better. So positions I don't care about. What's in front of us? What do we need to do? Does he need to be on the pitch? Yes, most times it is, yes. Can he get a rest? Well, you know what? he got a rest against Forrest didn't he? Rather than just play every single game he got a rest against Forrest and he's able to be fresh for when it really really counts so again squad management has been really really good so far even though we don't everyone agrees with every single substitution or team flex Can I?

1:08:17I think Mikel, yeah please. Sorry I just wanted to have really quickly Clive I know you tweeted out the clip of Joe Hart on MOTD2 and he was talking about Rice appreciating the big moment so you really slowed it down like the short corner for the equalizer. And he said, like, you can see it wasn't the plan, but rice could see that their defenders were not concentrating. Cause they were so used to waiting 45 seconds and rice went, right, I'm going rogue with like, this is going in. And, um, yeah, just like he talked about him appreciating those really big moments in the game. Yeah. Just like telling Marina, look at back to the center circle.

1:08:53Let's go win it. I mean, it, it, it really is a mentality thing. Yeah. I think it's as good a game as Mikel Arteta has coached. Like, I think it's a fantastic game from Mikel Arteta. Navigating the emotion of it, I think, you know, when we went behind, maybe heads dropped a little bit for a few moments there, and he gets him in at halftime, and he's got a team that's going to feel they were screwed by PGMOL. They didn't get what they deserve. They should be ahead on the balance of play. it comes out of halftime brings Saliba on for you know for some improved distribution then he's got to manage his way through a game we need to win and he he made big calls first of all taking Bakayo Saka off that's a big call but Bakayo Saka being fit for the rest of the season is more important than this game and you know he he brought guys on who we need to trust and should trust Gabriel Martinelli has shown we can trust him as a sub he was great by the way and I didn't mention it in the missed calls but Gabby had a shot that went off I think Bruno Grimareis' forearm that is just as much in that category of you've seen them given.

1:09:59But he takes sack off. That's a big call. He brings Marino on. I saw a lot of people having to moan about that, but he probably knew Newcastle are going to sink deeper and deeper. There's going to be more of a congested box. There's going to be more balls going into the box. Who can get me something in that situation? But the one that really changed the game, and Eddie Howe spoke on it, was Odegaard coming on. And he talked about Odegaard's quality. And Odegaard was absolutely sensational. that ball he plays to miles uskelly i watched it again today it takes out like six defenders and miles is unlucky slips a bit his corner delivery for the winner is sensational um just dropping in grabbing the ball bringing it forward sparking off as a two and we found something there it's a way we can play if we want odegaard and as a on the pitch together you know look it's not fifa i'm not saying drop zubamendi or drop tecklin rice and play tens i am saying that because that's

1:10:48Elliot:what i want yeah but elliot i've got it i know you eventually in my mind in my mind why can't odegaard ese and saka play behind a striker yeah what's what's the big deal they're footballers yeah they will roll and move with each other and to me as he was playing basically as a 10 in this game it wasn't a 4-3-3 really i mean it wasn't no no no but i'm saying in the future we are trossard in this game why couldn't ese play the slightly tuxing on to the left because if you're doing that thing we have this obsession to get somebody in there if anything what we learned from this game is actually martin you can stay in there a bit longer maybe you know what i mean and maybe trust other people to build up in this game we stuck him as almost like a a quarterback and said go do your thing get on the ball there's a couple of passages of play there from odica where he ducked inside the damn burn and clipped it across into rice's stride i mean some of this stuff was just top level football.

1:11:47Elliot:So yeah, I know I'm not one for first 11th, but I'm looking forward to the day where we have a front four diamond of Eze, Jokerez, Saka, and Odegaard. And I want to see what people say then about Arsenal's ability to move the ball and be creative and create chances. Because I don't think it'd be a debate. I really don't. Yeah. It just gives us so many different ways of playing. And Tim, like I said, I think Mikel just got it spot on, but the performance from Odegaard and the way we went after this game late, maybe there's been a sense that we don't create that kind of wave of pressure, but we sure did in this game.

1:12:23And you felt the dam could break. You felt it coming. That's what you want to see. Like, I feel a goal is coming. Can you create that kind of pressure? And we did. And Odegaard was a big, big part of that. Yeah, absolutely. I think sometimes I say this a lot, but sometimes a player has to come out of the team for a little bit for you to and then they come back in and you go ah yeah that's all the stuff that they do that we have we probably haven't seen for a couple of weeks and I think I think the combination of him and Havertz have been really missed or or at least not having one of those players because they do both sides of the game so well and what we end up with in terms of trying to replace them is perhaps a player who does one side of what they do very very well but not both sides but But I think particularly with our midfield at the moment, I'm so excited about it for the reasons you've just raised.

1:13:13There's so many different things we can do with it. And it's a bit like sometimes I take my daughter to buy a toy or something and she wants every toy in the shop. Or she doesn't know which toy to play with or something. And I'm just like, there's a long time they'll all get played with. It's fine. You know what I mean? like just pick one for now and you'll be in the mood for something else later and and it kind of feels like that feels like we've got a bit of a toy chest there and it's a bit like oh do i want the fire truck or the airplane like what do i want to play with today and and we've got those choices and we did it from the start as well today like we did uh sorry yesterday we did something different starting as they there and and the way that the the manager has used the bench um as well how many times have substitutes scored this season like Martinelli, Marino coming off the bench in this game to score the equaliser like that shows as well that's another role for him.

1:14:11We've been thinking about him we were talking in preseason like what's his role this season and it's like okay in some of the biggest away games perhaps or we don't have one of those big two-way players he can be a role player there but what did we see today? Bring him off the bench we get a cross in that's one more guy who can who can get his head on it and he's really really good at it it's almost like bringing on a kind of second striker almost literally so there's just so many different configurations both for starting and finishing games and what I really like and Clive and I were having a conversation about this earlier actually is like everyone's active everyone's doing something no one is an unused sub every single game and the reason we're talking about that in the women's team at the moment there are players who are on new subs every single game and it's a discussion point we've got all of these pieces and they're all playing and sometimes they all come out Zubemendy came out in this game no problem Rice didn't play against Forrest no problem Nwaineri didn't get in the matchday squad but when it came to Leeds and Forrest at home he came on so there's there's different roles for all these players and they're all active somehow and that's going to be really important throughout the season so that you can manage some of those moments like Marino Marino was an unused sub against Leeds right and I don't imagine like that's that's one game against Leeds but if there was a conversation after that I imagine Arteta would have said something like don't worry there are games where you're going to be really important and we've seen a few of them already and maybe next week at home to West Ham that all goes to plan we win 5-0 or something don't get me wrong i don't think we will but if we did he probably doesn't come on and so it feels like everyone's involved and even mascara right we've played him in a big game ahead of saliba even if he only played a half it's like we trusted you in a big big moment and i think all of that is really significant particularly when you're looking medium to long term over a whole

1:16:09Elliot:season clive oh man i couldn't agree more i think i think it's another thing to think about in your mind is what what is football right you're trying to manipulate space you're trying to have the right players for the spaces that you want to attack the phrase i always use it's important to have like in formula one to have the right tires on for the track conditions right so and we ended the game with the right people on the pitch for a team that had dropped away completely it was it was clear to me we had the best players on the pitch for that scenario his sack could have gone night he he would have been there but martin he worked his backside off right so that's the key having the right tool so against man city now where we are trying to manipulate the space and go long marino worked for that scenario but when he went out to the right wing and got trapped he was the wrong player when we go one nil down he was the wrong player what do we do we change it we bring on somebody else who's a bit more of an on the ball player they drop away and we dominate the second half you've got to have the right tires on at the right time for the right conditions that's all we're trying to do and so this is why i vehemently go ahead i go against although i do believe in psychological messages with team selections right but i don't fixate on it because unless you understand what's going to be on offer and i thought newcastle i thought we tricked them i thought we anyhow that's really good against us really good he really sets up his team really really well and has done over many many years now and michael arteta tricked him he tricked him and he flooded the middle and he almost played a front too Elliot.

1:17:51Elliot:So you and Tim were saying Eze played in midfield what's his unit when Tim talk about it's a women's team, Frida plays and she connects to the front, the centre forward. He played like her Tim, he played like he connected to the centre forward rather than the centre midfielders that was his unit and he worked around Jokeres and travelled a little bit across the line I thought that dynamic was really good. Then I started to think ahead And I thought, could you imagine some games when we have Havertz as that second striker with Jokeres running away? What would that do on a certain day to a certain team that maybe has a different certain dynamics?

1:18:30Elliot:We just have so many options now. And at this time of year, it's about using them all until we get to winning time. And much like PSG did last year, they selected their 11 and we all saw it coming over the hill. And no one debated it. It was that 11. And that's where we've got to get to in health, in condition, when the medals are handed out, what shape are we in? Because over five years of our tale, we have never been in shape when it really, really matters. Don't look now, but we have more expected goals in Liverpool this season. We have the fewest expected goals allowed this season. We have the best expected goal difference this season.

1:19:09We have the second most goals scored tied with Liverpool on 12, only City have more. We have the fewest goals conceded tied with Crystal Palace with three. They sit third currently. We are two points off the top, and we look really good, and we have a lot of different ways to play the course. We have more clubs in our bag. And that is where Liverpool are going to be worried today because there's no one coming in to solidify their midfield, at least till January. There's no one coming in to solidify them defensively. If they can't play Frimponk, Sobosla is not really a fullback. Karakas doesn't look like he's working out.

1:19:45Is Robertson ready to run the course? Van Dyke's getting older. He got run a bit against Palace. That's for sure. Mateta had some chances there. They don't have a way to fix it. And we've played without Sackham. We've played without Odegaard. We've played without Saliba. We have the ways to fix it. We have the ways to handle it. We played without Kai Havertz. Mikel Arteta made a lot of big calls in this game. I think he got them all right. And he still doesn't have his full set of clubs at his disposal. and I realize full fitness is a myth, right? So I don't want to sit here and say when every player's fit, but you know what I loved?

1:20:16The togetherness. Because Tim, it could be very easy for this group to fall apart. You guys have both been talking about it. He's kept everybody engaged. He's kept everybody involved. Ethan doesn't make the matchday squad. I'm sure he's frustrated. But when that goal goes in, look at the celebration. Guys in winter coats running up and hugging, you know, mascara to the point that Clive made earlier. You know who I loved, whose celebration I think I loved the most? Yoko Ress.

1:20:40Elliot:because here's a guy who's just arrived yeah we'll see that here's a guy who's just arrived is he really part of the group he's is he aloof is he really part of it does he feel a part of it yet you know he didn't get his goal this game strikers want their goal he seemed the most fired i thought he was going to choke gabriel out that's how fired up he was to win that's what i want to see togetherness from all the players regardless of what it means for them right now Now, and this group is bought in, and if you want to criticize Mikel for certain things, he's there to be criticized. Those things are easy to see.

1:21:12But he has clearly been able to create an environment of players that will put everything on the line, not just for him, but for one another. Saliba, again, did his wacky waving, inflatable arm flailing, two-man arms running off, went nuts for Gabby, loves him, fights for him. His new contract has been penned, apparently. So, Tim, that's the thing I took away, and I'm wondering, as you're there and the limbs are going with the fans, and the limbs are going with the players, it felt like a moment of extreme intense togetherness. And that is going to be necessary all season long to go achieve what we want to achieve.

1:21:47Yeah, definitely. And that's just one thing I've never doubted in this group for a long time, probably since that summer 2021 where we really started, like, you know, we really got busy with the squad. I've really felt that kind of togetherness, probably because I was thinking about it the other day. as well like you know at the beginning of our test run we're talking about players being bombed out players being disciplined stuff like that heard nothing about that for years nothing like none of the guys he's brought brought in we've not heard anything about any of that like any sorts of problems whatsoever and I really think you can feel that um in the group I think you feel it in the stadium it's another thing Joe Hart mentioned actually in his analysis on MOTD too when he was starting to talk about Declan Rice, he was saying one of the things I really admire about Arsenal is they stay focused at all times and the amount that they run for each other.

1:22:46And obviously, Declan Rice is the absolute prototype of that. And I'd add on to Rice's performance as well, by the way. We've taken off defenders the last two games when we've gone chasing games and gone to three defenders. And one of the reasons Arteta really feels he can do that is Rice will run back, as we saw with Jacob Murphy. And Jacob Murphy is a very fast player and he was streaking away. And it was down the other end to me, but I knew Rice was in control of that situation. I knew he wasn't diving in. I knew he'd catch him. And Rice is one of the reasons we can do that. One of the reasons we can take off someone like Zubimendi.

1:23:21It's just like, he'll handle it. He will control that area and he'll allow all our ballers to go and get up the other end of the pitch. and you see that in the script. You really see it. Even in the bad performances, which have been few and far between, there have been maybe some that were a bit average last season. I've never, ever detected they weren't trying today or they weren't at it today. I literally can't remember the last time I genuinely thought that that had happened. And again, that's great people management. And I read something today as well, which I think came up in that who was the guy that Arteta did a talk with a couple of weeks ago um Steve Kerr Steve Kerr that's it yeah and like look the Telegraph have put it out and they've put it out as a bit of like bait right but there was something about Arteta said he'd brought in guys from the RAF to talk about communication because like the whole thinking is these are crisis communicators who get their message across very quickly under a lot of strain and you know Arteta always does these little things which people on the outside kind of ridicule because they're idiots um but like I love the way he's always looking for those little those little kind of edges um and looking to learn from other walks of life other sports sometimes and I think all of that stuff really adds up it just seems to me that like he has a high emotional intelligence and the fact that all these players just you know continue to commit to Arsenal I think even after hearing his message for quite a long time now suggests that they are bought in um they're

1:25:02Elliot:totally bought in on the manager can i just add a little bit on that i was when i went towards training recently what i realized then that it's not just a football training it's psychological training the amount of things going on you need to be really switched on and the reason i bring that up is there was an interview with ez at the weekend and and they spoke about his time at also and he says, I'm being stretched in my mind. And I think we have to realize that all these, I always say the same thing, all these guys complain. But can you stretch their minds to find the next phase of their football development?

1:25:38Elliot:And they are bored of doing the same training drills. You need to be stimulated. And he is stimulating these young millionaires to further their careers. When they go to other sessions, they're just going through it because they can. They do hundreds of training sessions. 30 ,000 hours worth of training it's like before you even become a pro so it's like so how do you get how do you get to people you have to get to people by keeping on their toes psychologically developing their minds showing them how they can develop having the nuances to their game that they need to improve and when someone when you look at a coach and he knows you that well and he's working your mind out you know what you do if he knows me that well i'm going to trust him and when he tells me to run five yards to the left i'm going to run five yards to the left to receive the ball and and go from there and then you've got to stop at some point and say by the way when you're in this part of the pitch do your thing you know and i think we can see that's happening as well we didn't just take the corner we are getting to the area we are being inventive and creative it's all about when you don't forget he bought these players i mean sometimes you think well he's getting almost criticized for buying these players well let's see them on the pitch and let's see what they can do because i'm because i'm still i can't wait to see the fab four together whoever that is up front in the diamond i can't wait but but when it's there we can start to see what who we are right so i i do think it's a good day right let's not go too far but it's a really good day and a really good day for belief and that we tend to believe anyway but I believe a little bit more today.

1:27:17Elliot:That's for sure. You have to win when you have the chance to close the gap. And it's that simple. And I'll just say, look, I think the reason Mikel gets criticized for the RAF stuff and the other stuff he does to motivate his players is simply this. We live in an age of cynical online trolls for whom any expression of genuine human connection and emotion must be ridiculed. you said you loved someone you cried tears of joy you got moved by something ha ha but you know what absolutely fuck that because what the hell are we doing if we don't love deeply and care deeply and cry tears of joy and laugh when we're happy and connect with one another and feel motivated by things that are designed to motivate if you want to live in that cynical troll culture and be defined by it, you are entitled to.

1:28:16I would like to believe the reason we have any of this is because there's a lot of people that don't. There's a lot of people that don't, that are sick of that. It's dragging them down. It's breaking their heart. And so Mikel Arteta understands the 23-year-olds who are the most competitive humans on the planet aren't cynical online trolls. Look what they post on social media. Look what players post. they want to believe in in sincerity and motivation and they they are the the target audience for that stuff and Mikel understands it you know why because he's been there pretty recently so unless you've been in a dressing room unless you've been 23 and free of the cynicism that so many of us are have heaped on us day to day then you've got no place opining on this and I'm sorry but some journalist who hates arsenal whose most competitive thing they've ever done is won a darts game at their pub who lives on Twitter because, to be fair, that's important for their career, and that's what they think real humans believe.

1:29:14I can understand if you can't connect to Mikel Arteta. But you know what? The players do. The players do. As a final point on this, Tim, football for me isn't just about what Arsenal do. I have the capacity to enjoy many different things, Arsenal winning and everybody else losing. This weekend, gave us that in spades. It starts with Manchester United being humiliated. But at least, you know, Ruben Amram never had an RAF team come speak to the players, right? Chelsea being humiliated. And that Liverpool game, that Liverpool game to me was like when the good guys find the plans to the Death Star.

1:29:59Because Liverpool had been getting away with it, Tim. And you could be like, oh, it's typical Arsenal they're getting away with it. They were getting away with it. giving up leads, getting run through, but finding late winners. And you could say that's character. Sure, it is. You could say it's their attack and quality. Sure, it is. But the problems that are there are real. And someone needed to put double barrels into that weak point, into that fault line, and break up the Death Star a bit. And Palace did it. They did it. And I think it can cause that chain reaction. So this was a fun weekend of great results across multiple dimensions, including Gia Polini taking his shirt off and going nuts at a home equalizer against Wolves.

1:30:35But how much did you enjoy that, the schadenfreude of it, but especially Liverpool finally paying a price for a way of playing that I think cannot carry them all the way this season? Yeah, it did feel like it was about time. There are different types, you know, it's very tempting to look at like late winners and just be like, oh, that's lucky. I mean, we've taken significant points in the last week with stoppage time goals, but there are different types of late winner, aren't there? Like when Liverpool got their late winner against Burnley, it's a bit like, well, yeah, that's happened because Liverpool been in their penalty area for half an hour and the dam broke, as it were.

1:31:15Whereas when I look at Liverpool's like late winner against Newcastle, it's like, that's, that's a bit lucky to be honest. That's, that's kind of not dumb luck entirely, but like a bit fortunate. So there's been a few of those kind of things, I think, going on. And I think what was important about the victory for us beyond the three points is just that kind of belief. And it reminded me a lot of in the 2001-2002 double season, we went to Anfield just before Christmas and we had a ridiculous red card. Some things never change. Gio Van Bronco slipped over and got a second booking for diving. We got a penalty where Dudek took Freddie Jungberg out on the goal line, didn't get a booking or anything, but we stuck it out and we won 2-1 with 10 men at Anfield and there was clearly, there was something galvanising about the way, not just what we did, but the way we did it.

1:32:16And I do think if you're going to win the league, it's a marathon and all of that, but there are checkpoints, you know where maybe you hit 10 miles in under like an hour you can tell I've never run a marathon but you know I mean like you hit you're like oh I've hit that checkpoint a little bit quicker you know like I think you need that psychologically like every title winning season has those games where you go that's where you know where players and fans alike would look back and go that's where I start that's where I started to believe this is where I really believe this is where I thought we were going to do it and what I really hope is that we talk about this game a lot over the next few months um I really hope that you know we're top of the league in January or something by I don't know 15 points or whatever um obviously that's not going to happen and we go the Newcastle game that's where it turned that's where I started to believe that's where you know and all of a sudden now we've come out 13 points out of 18 um with a lot of players missing as well and it's It's like, okay, we've got something to build on.

1:33:22It feels like a lily pad for the season and we've got through this kind of tough run of fixtures. And now it's about mentally resetting as well because we're going to face different types of game now. We're going to face low blocks. We're going to have expectation. If we don't beat West Ham 5-0, it won't be good enough and all of that. And I feel like one of the things I would have said in the voice note if I hadn't been several beers in and full of endorphins was I like I feel like now what we need is some serenity we need some 3 p.m home games that are second to last on match of the day that are difficult to get 70 minutes of podcasting out of for a few weeks and it's almost like we need to go away from the public eye for a little bit because we've been in it we've been in the eye of the storm for a long time and I think we've dealt with it reasonably well.

1:34:15And what I want now, I want us to win 3-0 on Wednesday night and to maybe leave on 87 minutes because I'm a bit bored and to have that again against West Ham and then have that again in the next game. I want a series of games where I start looking at my phone towards the end of the match and I feel like we've come through such a stormy period and we're going to have to readjust to some very different challenges now and we need to do that. We almost need to put this behind us, park it and go, right, now the season starts. And that's not easy. That's not something we can take for granted. But we're talking about winning the league.

1:34:53We've got to do it. And I believe this team can do that very much so. Managers definitely chop up seasons into phases. And there's no question in my mind that Mikel drew a line after the Newcastle game and said, that's phase one before we even started this season. Because you had St. James' Park, you had Anfield, you had Old Trafford, and you had City at home, and we needed to get a certain amount of points. I think preseason, I said 14 would be fine. It's 13. It's still fine. And if you're saying, well, I don't understand. Arsenal get a late winner. Why is it different? Liverpool conceded 2.9 expected goals against Palace.

1:35:27We haven't conceded 2.9 expected goals in over two and a half years in any game, in any competition. All right, yeah, we got a late winner at Newcastle. They got a late winner at Newcastle having chucked a two-goal lead to 10 men Newcastle. so my point isn't that our late winners don't you know mean different things than theirs my point is it's pretty clear that they have some issues and they could still go win the league they're very very good I'm not saying they have issues they're going to get relegated I'm saying that the issues that could hold them back are not ones that they are likely to be able to solve very easily right away so now we do enter this period Clive it's Olympiacos in midweek I'm glad we have a midweek game actually to kind of diffuse the emotion of Newcastle before we play West Ham because West ham at home unfortunately has been a weird bogey fixture for us and now they have a new manager bump so what do you think 13 points this phase gone you've seen what the competition looks like around us i i'm just gonna say it at risk of looking dumb i look at our squad and i look at how we play and i really really feel like it's our time now it feels set up for us but you know from one game to the next you can look dumb saying things like that yeah you can i suppose from the

1:36:38Elliot:very first game when Eze walked out I had this weird feeling and it just felt too joyous let it all work out I was struggling to over to not be overwhelmed by all and then I tend to look at the season soon as we won at Old Trafford I was jubilant because we didn't win there last year and we didn't win at Newcastle last year as far as I'm concerned that's us five points up you know and I can't be didn't beat City at home but I can't be honest if you watched the City game last year I remember at halftime I didn't think we're gonna win 5-1 that was a lot closer game than we realized we just executed late it looked massive so they'll pull away we all know we understand that right it was a moment in time so I think with the Newcastle game and the Old Trafford game are really they're really important to me West Ham at home well again a team that we don't beat at home strangely enough so that would be a big win if we get that for this Arsenal team that's a big win West Ham come to the with confidence, with a new manager.

1:37:40Elliot:So I'm not dismissing it at all. I think it'd be a very important win to sign off for the international breakball. Then we can reset. I think Tim's absolutely right. We just need to be a bit boring, you know, just accumulate points and not keep losing a player every time we play a league game. That's what it felt like, you know. And I will stand on message to say, I don't think we're overly cautious. I think Liverpool City and Arsenal are all cautious and respectful of each other. And all it was was the team didn't get the gains they wanted. But you're not going to get those gains that you want in the first phase of the season when players are not integrated.

1:38:18Elliot:All three clubs have made major signings. They're not integrated. They're not fit. You're not going to get the best games. You're going to get cautious games where hopefully both managers want to get out with a point. Liverpool stole two from us. We were late winner. And City, we stole a goal from them late on to get the draw. so that's football early phase of football phase one of the season is nearly over and secondly national break is coming we're gonna have to watch saka play two international i'm afraid so let's watch that space because cole palmer's not there not only macaweke is not there so let's let's see what happens i hope we get come back on the international break with a lot of healthy players and we can really go hard until christmas i love this team i love this group of players we have i I love the diversity of characteristics it has.

1:39:06I love the ways it can play. I love the introduction of Eze and Zubamendi and Jokeres and the difference there. But I love that we still have Martin Odegaard to come in and do what he did and Kai Havertz to come back and Declan Rice charging everybody down. It is beautiful. Bakayo Saka, his season barely gotten going. How good did he look? How good is he going to be? There are so many more levels for us to go to. And I feel for Nani Madweke coming out of the team just as this is happening. but the group is there. There is absolutely no doubt. And to the tedious WARA trophy people who will tell you you can't celebrate something until you celebrate the ultimate thing, they'll never get to feel like I did the last 24 hours.

1:39:45So it's their loss because it's been wonderful. I loved it. I hope you loved it. We will have a rewatch of it for sure. We will have an instant reaction on Wednesday to the Olympiacos game. And here's the great thing now, right? Ethan Winery, not in the matchday squad. He's going to play Wednesday some role, right? He just has the ability to bring these players in and trust them because they're all so good. We're in a really good position. Feel really good about it. Don't let anyone take it from you. And two fingers up to all the idiots whose hearts were broken. One of my favorite bits of audio going around.

1:40:13I don't watch Sky, obviously, but when we scored the winner and Peter Drury is doing his thing, Gary Neville just goes, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And you hear his heart breaking in real time. Gary, focus on your club. they might have a few issues to sort out. All right, let's leave it there. What a weekend. What a game. What a podcast. What a community. We love you, Tim. Thank you very much. My absolute pleasure as always. Two of my favorite things that happened this weekend. Tim's voice note for the instant reaction and Clive, who said he was too busy and wouldn't make the instant reaction, showing up unexpectedly and the joy that that brought on our faces because he couldn't be held back.

1:40:53Thanks a lot. Thank you very much. My name's Alex Smith. Thanks for being here, everybody. We love you. And we will talk to you after Arsenal 10 Olympiakos No.

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