Arsenal’s “Playoff” Starts Now (Plus Chelsea and Spurs Schadenfreude)

26:21Maybe. But I don't take anything for granted against Newcastle because they're a big bunch of bastards. So it is one of those where you just want to get the win against them. They have come and made life really difficult for us at the Emirates in the past as well. So take nothing for granted there. Fulham at home, tricky team, got an iffy record in that particular fixture. Then you're going to be playing a West Ham team that is scrapping for its life, really. So none of this is easy. So I think the context that you put that in, the Burnley game being the one where maybe you can say, okay, I feel really confident that this is a team we can just sort of go out and beat.

27:05Then it becomes certainly a talking point or something that the manager has to think about. But he's got to get to that point. And we're on a run of, what is it, one win in six? You know, I will say this about that. That as a run of form, that is kind of an outlier for Arsenal this season. Any season in recent memory. Well, yeah, but maybe last season was a bit more like that where we had sort of those stumbles. A lot of draws, right? Yeah, a lot of draws. And we have done it before. Like we've done it twice this season. We've won five games in a row in the Premier League twice. And we actually won 10 games in a row earlier in the season in all competitions.

27:52Weird coincidence, by the way. The run, one of those runs of five wins in a row was against Fulham, Newcastle, West Ham, Burnley, and Crystal Palace. That's bizarre. That is mad, isn't it? Isn't that some kind of coincidence? So we have to do it again. I think it is within our capability. It is within the wheelhouse of this team to go out and do that, but they have to lift themselves up and they have to sort of, I think just what we said on the Arscast today was like, don't make it out like they're finals because I think that sort of adds a bit too much pressure and we're not that great at the whole finals thing.

28:39But make it one game at a time territory. you know, one block after the other and just go do it. And then if we get to Burnley and we need to score some goals, absolutely throw caution to the wind. You know, that's kind of what we got to do. So let's get there. Let's get there and then have that conversation again, perhaps. There's maybe something clarifying to knowing just go score as much as you can. Like maybe there's something a little clarifying about having the freedom to play on the front foot, to not being circumspect, to not being trying to constantly balance between control and organization and defensive solidity and finding a way to get chances, but really just going hell for leather.

29:18I mean, as much as it frustrates me, I think in recent memory, some of the best moments of performances I've seen from Arsenal are when we've had to chase a goal and suddenly it was quite clarifying and we performed a little bit better. I do think though, Andrew, and we'll come on to maybe line up stuff in a moment, But we find ourselves in what feels like an endless loop. You know, it's the Hotel California or, you know, it's Sartre's no exit or whatever you want to say where we reach this point of the season. And Arsenal fans are tearing each other to pieces over. It's not tactics. It's availability.

29:54It's just because of the players we haven't had. It's injuries. And like you look at it, we had a better performance against City. And does it surprise you had a better performance against City when Kai Havertz was fit to start a game up front? when Odegaard was fit to start a game, when Ebrecht Ezezio finally got to start at left back. We still didn't have Timber. We still didn't have Saka. If those players come back, you're different. Like, in football, talent trumps tactics for me. You know, otherwise, you know, Fabian Hursler would have Brighton in first, or, you know, whoever you rate as a manager of a mid-table club.

30:22The fact of the matter is, like, you can only tactic your way to so many performances if you don't have elite talent. And the best teams win stuff. and I think the team we're capable of putting out when we're fit is the kind of team that can win everything. But when you're playing some of the lineups that we've seen, you can't. So people don't want to hear it because they're frustrated because it feels like just redux of previous seasons. And there is a debate to be had about why we keep winding up injured at this part of the season. And I fully accept that it may be related to how the managers picked his teams and used his squad.

30:58Pep Guardiola seems very good at having fit teams at the end of seasons, something we have not managed to do. Yeah, and I mean, I'm sure that has nothing to do with trips to Barcelona and other places to see professionals of certain skills. And anyway, point is, I want to know from you not about why are we always injured this time of the season, we can do that inquest at the end of the season. I want to know from you if you think it's as simple as we're getting players back, and that could be enough to start to turn the tide on what was a really poor run of performances in a additional results this season?

31:29Well, I mean, just think about the Man City game and think about what kind of game that would have been with a fully fit Jury and Timber and Bakaio Saka on the right-hand side. Like, we were weak down the right-hand side. I think Mosquera did a good job. We subbed our right winger at halftime. Exactly. And put on a guy who was even worse. Who was worse, yeah. Yeah, you know? So, I mean, there's clearly a link between having your best players available and on the pitch and how well you can play. no question like i know he's a player who who causes a lot of discussion and debate at this moment in time but like i feel like if we'd had martin odegaard fit and available and in rhythm and form this season might not be exactly where it is with no question whatsoever there's no question if we had you know found a way to get odegaard and ezra on the pitch for more than like 20 minutes together, whatever it is.

32:26I know they played the other day together, Eze came off, and maybe it was a physical thing or whatever, but imagine those two on the pitch at the same time with Kaio Saka, with Jurian Timber, with Kaia Havertz. Have you seen Saka, Odegaard, Kaia, and Eze have never played together at any time? I mean, it's 2024 since Odegaard, Saka, and Havertz started a game together. And there is obviously truth in what you're saying, and people will say, well you know what about greece winning euro 2004 they tactic their way to uh to to victory and it can be done there's no question it can be done um but it's rare it is an outlier and it it demands you to probably suffer you know greece's tactic was not like let's go play the most exciting football we can it was like park the bus and stop everybody scoring we'll get a goal from a set piece, which sounds like could be an idea for Arsenal in the last five games.

33:27Don't want to give, hopefully, Mikel. Cup football is quite a bit different too, right? I don't think you can tactic your way over 38 games to three points enough. No. You need the players. If you look at it, Jamie Vardy scored, what, 24 for Leicester that season. Aguero had 21 in two different title-winning seasons. Diego Costa, I don't think we think he's incredible. He had 20 goals for Chelsea. Obviously, Holland scores a million goals. 28 or 29 goals for Salah. Van Persie had almost 30 the season he won it for United. The less said about it, the better. We're trying to win titles where our top scorer has 12 or 13, has 14 or 15.

34:06And I'm not saying it can't be done, but if you're going to collectivize the attack, then you need the collective best talent on the pitch. And I would simply say that when you're building a squad, if you're Mikel, if you're Berta, or you're Adu, or whatever you are, and you're saying, like, picture how you're going to get over the hump. If your thing is, I'm going to have Kai Havertz, and I'm going to have Odegaard progressing the ball, and I'm going to have Saka breaking deep blocks with his individual brilliance, and those players don't play together, you're firefighting. And we've been firefighting constantly.

34:39And again, I want to be clear. At the end of the season, when it's all said and done, we'll do the inquest on why this keeps happening. Some may say that there's culpability. Some may say it's random chance, and every opinion in between exists. but now we're at a position where players are starting to come back so i'll just ask you quickly why don't we do this because i want to ask you about how you'd line up for the newcastle game and and and a little bit about the champions league so why don't we uh talk about a vpn because at this point people are saying i don't know what vpn to use they're they're in a tizzy there there's head loss there's panic in the streets and that's my fault i own that and i i I feel tremendous, tremendous responsibility to people.

35:17So I do want to let you know that there is a VPN and you can use it and it is very easy and it's called NordVPN. NordVPN is an app you put on your phone, you put on your iPad, you put on your Android tablet, you put on your computer, you click and you browse. So the next time someone sends you a video and you say, it's the funniest video I've ever seen, you click, it says not available in your area, now it's available in your area. When I go over to see the Arsenal in person and I want to watch the other football matches, I'm using NordVPN because I can use my streaming service. and let me tell you that NordVPN is not only the VPN that I use but it is also a VPN that gives you threat protection because sometimes if you are on strange websites that football supporters are often on you might have things downloading onto your device that you do not want so you use NordVPN it gives you threat protection it gives you high speed it gives you the ability to watch what you want and they were kind enough to give us a promo code that allows you to get four bonus months a huge discount and 30 days risk free NordVPN.com slash ArsenalVision, that code.

36:13A bonus, four months, a discount on your plan, and 30 days risk-free. NordVPN.com slash ArsenalVision. NordVPN.com slash ArsenalVision. NordVPN.com slash ArsenalVision. Do it now. Andrew, is that enough of that? That is quite enough of that, yes. That is enough of that. Okay. Who are you picking for Saturday's game against Newcastle? Like where? everywhere or you know i was gonna say arsenal players on the pitch at the emirates but you know if you just want to pick people and things and places well listen trevi fountain i don't know we're we're we're a little way out from the game so we don't quite know who's going to be available and who would be uh fit and ready i mean i think if shurian timber is available um he comes back into the team, two central defenders, pick themselves.

37:06I mean, it's going to be in Capier, isn't it? Because Calafiori, even if he's there, has been out for a little while. We know what the midfield is going to be. Do we? Well, I mean, this is where I might have an inclination or an inkling or a desire to do something a little bit different. And I think I've spoken to you about this where I think there is a world where maybe if we want to play as an Odegaard together, it's more centrally rather than as on the left-hand side. So that could be Declan Rice anchoring the midfield as the six. And then, you know, we haven't really played like that a great deal this season, which, you know, is I think in part because of injury and in part because Mikel Arteta has leaned into that safety net of Rice and Zubimendi as a pair, which, you know, the net's got a few holes in it.

37:56I think it's fair to say over the last little while. So I wouldn't be averse to the idea that we could play Declan Rice as the six with Odegaard Neza. The question I sort of have then is what the hell do we do out wide? Because in the Premier League, Martinelli is not producing. Leandro Trossard is not producing. Nani Maduweke is not producing. And the other option in the absence of Bakayo Saka is a 16-year-old on whom I think, you know, I'm reluctant to place too much of a burden, you know, at this time of the season. And I feel like to some extent, as much as I'm not at all impressed with, with Madueke and his recent form of late, I do wonder if Max Dowman is more of a game changer, are more of a wild card than Matuweke.

38:56But then I don't know. I mean, he's come off the bench a few times. It hasn't really gone brilliantly for him. So, I mean, it goes without saying for me, by the way, that I would start Kai Havertz up front after his performance. I know he missed chances, but I just think there's a through line between how well we play, the cohesion with which we played, and the way the ball stuck in the opposition half that's directly connected to Kai Havertz and his relationship, by the way, with Martin Odegaard. those two have a relationship that is established we haven't seen enough of it of late but it is established they know each other very very well and i think that that is something we need to lean into but in the wide positions i don't quite know what we're we're supposed to do yeah i my my printer has just kicked into life i think very strange yeah very strange situation with the printer kicking into life for no particular reason um maybe it's that stuff you downloaded onto your phone when you didn't have NordVPN and now it's printing off.

39:52See, now I've got to edit that section out for the patrons. You know what? I'm not going to do it. The patrons deserve a good VPN also. They understand. So, well, there's a few things that make this difficult. First of all, fitness. Obviously, if Pekai Osaka somehow were fit to start, it would be an interesting decision because if he's fit to start, there's a question of which game you start him at. Do you start him in Spain or do you start him here? And if you feel like you have limited access to him. but I think the same goes for Kai and the same goes for Nani who had a lot of strapping on his knee and if you want to be frustrated with the performance against City you may also have to point out that he's probably playing through some things.

40:26Urien Timbers availability has been murky to say the least and on Friday night Clive tomorrow maybe we'll talk a little bit about that but I wanted to ask your opinion no I'm just going to I don't have to want to I'm just going to get your opinion on whether you think the game in Spain stays mainly in the brain of Mikel Arteta when it comes to picking the lineup for Newcastle? I think it has to. You know, when we talk about one game at a time, I think there are points in the season and there maybe are some fixtures where, you know, if you're playing Burnley tomorrow, if you're playing a team that's, you know, down the bottom of the table tomorrow, which Newcastle kind of are, or on Saturday rather, you know, there is the opportunity maybe to rotate and think, okay, I can use this guy in Europe, I can rest this guy.

41:17But I think what we have to do is play the game, then see where the hell we are in terms of who's available, what shape they're in, and what we can do for the next game, and then just pick the best possible team that we can for the following game. I don't think, I think any sort of focus, longer term focus would be a mistake. You know? Like maybe it's a case that Mikai Osaka comes back into the squad. I don't know. You know, I've heard the rumors like everybody else that it might be longer than this weekend or who knows. But I don't think realistically, if he does come back, you throw him right in at the start of this one, right?

42:07Because he'd been out for whatever it is now, what, four or five weeks? You know, since before the interlock, he played the Carabao Cup final. That was the last game he played. And who knows if he's training at all? I mean, what he's doing with the ball, I have no idea. It feels like the sort of injury, when they've talked about Achilles, it feels like the kind of injury that they're just sort of resting and hoping improves with sort of rest. And, you know, he's not sitting around eating Mr. Kiplings or anything like that. There will be some work that he's doing. Leave that to us. Leave that to us indeed.

42:40So I think maybe that's maybe one where you can say, okay, if Saka's back this weekend, we give him half an hour against Newcastle and maybe we can start him on Tuesday or, yeah, is it Tuesday in Spain or Wednesday in Spain? It is Wednesday in Spain. Wednesday, okay. so maybe that but beyond that I think you just have to look at who's available what shape they're in and put out the best possible team you can to beat Newcastle and then after that you know sit down and see what's what and see who's feeling what or whatever it might be you know I don't think you can long-term plan this one or medium-term plan this one it's tricky a lot of people remember that Villa game as the game we lost the title two seasons ago.

43:25What a lot of people maybe don't remember about that game is that it was a very, very good performance. We missed some chances. That may sound familiar. But how about these for substitutions? At nil-nil in a title run-in against Villa, Tomiyasu came on for Ben White, Martinelli came on for Troussard, Jorginho came on for Gabriel Jesus, and Emil Smith-Rowe came on for Martin Odegaard. now that was the game right before we went to the alliance right to play byron in the second leg and villa scored their two winning goals after all those substitutions so we had quite an unusual lineup on the pitch to finish that game i mean in that season i don't think we were using well jorginho had been playing quite a bit but for jesus is a weird change emil smith row as we know was not used much at that time and odegaard was sort of the linchpin of the midfield and having a phenomenal season, but he made some decisions around what he needed to be full power at the Allianz and they wound up costing him two goals and potentially costing him the title as a result.

44:30I think that will be in his memory and I think he will be fully focused on Newcastle. What Mikel Arteta could really use, obviously on Saturday, is a three goal halftime lead, right? I mean, I know it sounds silly, but I would say there's actual reason for him to pick the most powered up lineup he can and tell them, go enjoy yourself and go shoot, go dribble, go get the ball up the pitch with urgency. They have no Joe Linton to kick the crap out of you in midfield. They're missing some of their midfield steel. This is a team sitting closer to relegation than anywhere else. Just go kick them in the teeth early.

45:09I went to see a game against Newcastle at the Emirates, I want to say in January a couple of seasons ago. It might have been that 23-24 season actually where we hammered them. I think we were 3-0 inside of the halftime or the first half hour or something, but they didn't leave their own defensive third for about 30 minutes. I want to say the game ended 4-1. It did. It did. And that's what we need is sort of to really hit them early because then, Andrew, he's in a position where if he wants to bring Max on on 55 minutes or if he wants to take a Declan Rice off for a Norgaard or something, he can start to think like that.

45:45I think resting Zubamendi makes sense. He looks tired. He looks like he's struggling late in games to really influence them. I think an Eza and Odegaard midfield would be worth looking at because, you know, again, that may be something we want to do, but we've had so little chance. So I'm not saying you want to get super experimental and then have a disjointed performance, but I think this is a game where you pick a team that can go really do damage early with the hope that you have the luxury of making some changes late. Or is that just fantasy land for the form that we've been in? You know, that would be the ideal situation, wouldn't it?

46:20I think maybe the other thing to say is that maybe you pick a team that is sent out to build on what they did against Manchester City, that you want them to go out and feel like that's a performance they can replicate. Like, if you can do it against Manchester City, you can do it against Newcastle, or you can do it against really anyone in the Premier League if you can do it against Manchester City away from home. So I think that might be a factor as well. My guess is he's probably not going to be as experimental as we might like. I think he will probably lean into the Rai Subamendi thing, but that doesn't mean Eze can't start on the left or hopefully Odegaard is fit and maybe Saka is fit.

47:04Matuweke has to have a good game in the Premier League at some point, right? So maybe this is the one, I don't know. Yeah, listen, it really is just about getting the result. the ideal scenario of course is being ahead early, get an early goal, settle the nerves, get another couple of goals and then we can relax into a second half where probably Newcastle aren't going to push the boat out because like you say they're all sort of well aware that something is going to change in the summer and that might be a new club for some of those players but it's certainly going to be a new manager I think so they're not going to go hell for leather for some guy who's got half a foot out the door you know so just make it like that for them, make it a sort of a nothing event in the second half would be ideal.

47:50But as ever, I think with this season, it's probably going to be a little more complicated. You've seen some players suffer some serious injuries that are going to cost them World Cups. Romero for Spurs, I believe, is at risk anyway. Obviously, Stavow for Chelsea suffered a horrible injury and that, you know, feel bad for a young kid like that. But if you're a Brazilian at Newcastle with nothing to play for. If you're Anthony Gordon, if you're those kind of players right now who might be moving club next season and have a big chance to be a big part of a World Cup campaign, those are the kinds of clubs you want to have on your fixture list right now.

48:27You know what I mean? Nothing to fight for, a dead project, and a big summer ahead of them. You don't want the ones battling relegation. You don't want the ones fighting to get into Europe. And I think we've been lucky to have a full week off and that kind of team coming to the Emirates. It doesn't mean you don't take them seriously. Of course, that's not my point. It's not going to be handed to us on a platter, but it should be the kind of opportunity. Now, I do think he has to make decisions with players like Odegaard and Kai. I don't think those players are players that can go 90 minutes three times a week or, you know, every three days.

48:58And I do think he's got to have Atleti in his mind at least. And does he feel, I think I can start Yoko Ress in Spain, you know, in the Champions League against the team that has more impetus and use him to run him behind. So I'm going to use Kai against Newcastle. But I think he has to make some decisions. He might choose not to start Odegaard and play Eza in midfield with Rice and Zubamendi with the idea that he wants Odegaard in Spain. I don't know, but I think that's going to be at least a little bit in his mind. And I have to say that I didn't expect us to get past Atleti until I saw the performance against City, and then I said, I recognize my club again now.

49:31I recognize my team again now. And now I think the opposite. They could get by now. People will look at Atleti and say, they're not in great form either. No, they lost this past, whatever it was, this midweek. they played no one they will be playing no one in their games before us because they have absolutely nothing to play for and that is a huge advantage um they currently sit fourth in la liga but they have an eight point lead over bettis so it would be nearly impossible for them to drop out of the champions league places they also have nothing that they can gain in the league so it will be a case of them just positioning themselves to have their lineup as fresh and fit as it can be.

50:13Adam Oluokman is a doubt. Sorloth is a doubt. That's nice to hear. Not that we root for injury, but that's nice to hear. But so they'll be fresh and they'll be waiting for us. I think Mikel will have to have that in mind. One thing I was thinking about though, Andrew, is just the way that the vibes ebb and flow in a season. If we beat Newcastle and we get a result in Spain, the atmosphere at the Emirates when we play Fulham, think about this for a minute, the way the games fall. City don't have a game this weekend in the league. Okay? We go three points clear if we beat Newcastle. We're one foot in a Champions League final if we get a result in Spain.

50:50And that means when we kick off against Fulham, we'll have a chance to go six points clear again with one foot in a Champions League final. That would be a huge vibe shift. And I realize I'm just yada-yada-ing two wins in very difficult situations when we haven't exactly been racking up wins. but is does that give you sort of hope realizing we play twice in the league before city kick off again and we have a chance to really once again flip the burden and the pressure and the vibes back in our favor if we can do our job in these next two games yeah i mean that's it that is the opportunity that we have and it really does feel and certainly i felt it after bournemouth and i felt it after manchester city that we've blown it we've blown you know our chance wasn't it was hard not to feel that way of course of course but it's still there it is still there and you sort of have to um reframe things in your mind you know and not think about it well for us we can think about it whatever whatever way we want makes no difference for the players though they can't be thinking about what ifs and if onlys they have to still think about this as right we have the potential to win the premier league and we have the potential to win the champions league that's a possibility that's a lot to play for at this point of the season and clearly the results of late have been disappointing we lost a cup final we went out of the fa cup which you know i can't say as annoying as it is to lose i'm sort of glad that we don't have that complication as well.

52:27But there's a huge opportunity, you know, and that's what they have to talk about. And that's what they have to do and have to produce over the coming games. And, you know, the idea that we'd have been happy with this scenario at the start of the season, you know, I know it eliminates all the context, right? Where a couple of weeks ago, everyone was feeling good after the Everton game. everyone's feeling great and it's like we could go 12 points clear and now we're now we're second in the table so you know clearly you can't ignore that context but everything in sport and football you know is about adapting to the to the circumstances you find yourself in like if you hit your shot into the bunker you can still play a fucking good bunker shot onto the green and and that's kind of where we are like we've we've we've made life more complicated for ourselves but we still have the ability and we still have the possibility to um to do what we want to do and for this team to do what you know they've set out to do this season i think that has to be whatever way we talk about it or think about it or experience it their their framing of it i think is vital, you know, for these five games and the games against Atletico Madrid.

53:46It is not, they can't think of, right, oh God, we've messed it up here. They have to still look at it as a huge opportunity to do something historic for this football club. One way or the other, you know, if you win only one of them, it's still historic because it's 22 years since we won the Premier League. And if we only win the Champions League, well, it's the first time in this club's history that we'll have done that. and maybe we could win both. And then let's talk about vibes and talk about mood and those kinds of things. But obviously, at the moment, I understand why people are dubious, and I'm slightly in that frame of mind as well.

54:25But there you go. The players have it in front of them, and it's sort of stand up and be counted time. So I hope they can do it. Vibes in football shift so fast. I mean, I get why people are where they are right now. but you beat Newcastle, you beat Atleti in Spain, and you beat Fulham, and you're six points clear and halfway to a Champions League final, and it'll feel like, how were we ever this down about the season at this time? Now, by the way, even with those results, nothing is guaranteed to us, but it will be a very different situation. I do want to just ask you one last question about the future.

54:58Whether this is a historic season where we win something or some things that we cherish, or we don't, which would make it a very, very difficult season indeed. And I think, by the way, it is one of the strangest seasons I could ever imagine where late in April, the season has the potential to be my favorite ever supporting Arsenal, literally, or one of my least favorite ever supporting Arsenal. And it's April 23rd. And I think both and I'm not being hyperbolic. But if we won the double, the Champions League and the Premier League probably be my favorite ever season. If we fail to win anything from the position we were in, it might be the most agonizing least favorite.

55:36I mean, it's just a bizarre situation we find ourselves in. But it does feel like one way or the other, it could be the end of a cycle. Forget Mikel Arteta. I don't think he's going anywhere. I certainly think if he did go anywhere, it would be entirely his choosing and not the club. But that's a discussion we can have another time. I just want to get your sense if you think big turnover could be coming regardless. That some big players, some players that have been a big part of the identity of this cycle, whether that's you know players who've already started to fade to the fringes a little like a ben white or martinelli or players that are still very much a core like an odegaard um if you think that renewal may be in our future this summer and that it's time to kind of like when we went from version one right when it was raya and sorry ramsdale and zinchenko and um jesus who's still here obviously and sure and we we kind of evolved to a phase two do you think we're going to go from that phase two to phase three where some players had a big identity of this group move on and we refresh do you think that's coming this summer i think inevitably there's going to be some turnover for sure um that is you know just part of how football works you have to renew and you have to you have to go again my big thing really is and again i don't really want to get into the discussion about what if it doesn't happen because until such time as we get there it doesn't really do any of us any good to speculate, you know, because you're just sort of reinforcing whatever, I don't want to say bias, but you know, whatever you're predisposed to think about certain individuals, whether they're players or the manager or whatever it is, you know, you might have a very good point, but if we win something or win both of them, then, you know, everything changes.

57:26And if we don't win anything, then maybe everything changes the other way as well what i think i'm i'm sort of most interested in um is the psychological how do we go again question like renewal helps bringing in new talent helps i think for for fans it just you know you go through the summer you end up and there's a new season you start again you're filled with like absurd optimism as I always am in August I'm a stupid idiot like every August I think this could be the year um and I have done ever since I was a child you know even when I knew better and know better you're like well you never know maybe maybe maybe but I think for the group of players you know what what what is it going to be like for them to try and go again if you finish second four years in a row like how do you deal with that as a professional, as a sports person, as, you know, I don't think anybody can doubt that these guys really, really, really want to win.

58:32They play like they want to win. Do they always perform like winners or perform in a way which gets us the points? No. But, you know, you've seen it and everyone listening to this has seen Arsenal teams with players who don't have that at the core of who they are as players, right? You see it, you know with your own eyes when those players are not doing everything they can to win a game of football, let alone a Premier League title. And we've seen too many of those, too many of those seasons. So to my mind, you can debate quality and you can debate who we sign or who plays when, or is this guy any good or is that guy any good?

59:12You can debate those things all the time. But what you can't debate for me is the the desire and the ambition and the commitment of these players but then if it's four second places in a row which i don't has anyone ever done that before not not not in the premier league as far as i'm aware right i don't think that's ever happened in english or even in in in the old first division that's what i mean yeah finished yeah so you're sort of in unfortunately unprecedented territory there about like how do you go again and what do you do to go again and what do you do to improve and those are big questions you know but i think you know when you look at certain individuals they're they're definitely going to be some players who who depart um i'm sure the club have got plans already for the summer about who they're going to bring in but you know there's one or two you mentioned ben white you mentioned martinelli maybe trossard you know gabriel jesus I think Norgard I think you're probably also looking at maybe one of Miles or Ethan as well as part of that departure group because of the way their seasons have gone you know that's quite a lot that's quite a lot and I think whatever happens those departures some of those departures are going to take place so whether we win they happen if we don't win they happen under less felicitous circumstances and we have to try and compartmentalize that ourselves.

1:00:36But yeah, inevitably, there will be some turnover this summer for sure. Yeah. I mean, people are hungry for change, but what's hard to acknowledge is since 2022, no one has spent more time atop the English Premier League than Arsenal Football Club. Now, in this modern day and age, the only intelligent, cogent response to that is war a trophy but it's not a trophy but it is a reminder that we have been good for a sustained period and that change invites the possibility that we are less good right change doesn't just everybody says i want change and then when change is worse not like that but once you that's it there's a thing with football fans is that like and it happened all the way through the end of the wenger era was like we have to make a change and the assumption is that as soon as you make a change, everything improves.

1:01:28And that's not the case. And that was a Wenger team that was, you know, failing in inverted commas, certainly not reaching the standards that his previous teams had reached, right? We were a Champions League team for years, then Europa League team. And everyone said, we need to make the change. The change is the thing that will make us better. And it actually made us worse for a while. And we had to do that. We had to go through that process and hit a kind of rock bottom to get where we are. You know, we're sort of verging into talking about the manager here, which I'm not necessarily. Yeah, not ready to do that.

1:01:58But, you know, I will say, and nobody, not nobody, but I think a lot of people listening to this will understand that you can't finish second four years in a row without being really, really good and really, really consistent. And is that any fun? Absolutely not. It really isn't any fun. But then neither was finishing eight and neither was getting 40 shots against you away to Watford. None of that was fun either, you know? And if the only measure of success or the only measure of a team being good is whether or not it wins any trophies, I get it if that's the mindset. but I think you have to realize that we have enjoyed, maybe isn't quite the right word, but we have been in a period of Arsenal's history where the consistency and the quality of the players and the points and the league finishes have been as high as any other time, apart from maybe that first flush of Arsene Wenger when we won the double, finished second three years in a row, won the double again, finished second.

1:03:05Then we had the Invincible. finished second the year after that. And then after that, you know, it didn't quite go the same way. So there's a, there's a lot to, you know, there's a lot to take in a lot to consider. So I have sympathy with both perspectives. Cause I do think if you're going to make change, you have to acknowledge it. Change whatever. And by the way, players, managers, whatever that you took medical departments, whatever it is, change can mean improvement. Change can also mean that performances and results decline. But I do get that. It's like you're on a motorcycle trying to jump across a ravine.

1:03:37and the old motorcycle you had made it halfway across the ravine that's not good enough so you get a new motorcycle new motorcycle gets you 95 of the way across the ravine you're still landing in the ravine so do you get back on that same motorcycle and say it can get you what was that i mean you're you're if you if you only go halfway the first time you're fucked well you're not riding it you're you're hiring people to ride it and then observing observing okay all right they have a parachute okay how about that you have a parachute all right my point is though if the motorcycle only makes it 95 of the way it's still at the bottom of the ravine so it's like do you say well that was better let's do that again i understand if you say no because you're still at the bottom of the ravine right so i look this is all getting a little bit weird and tortured but i guess what i'm saying is let's go win the double and decide if we need change off the back of a very drunken celebration okay why not that sounds like a tremendous plan to me so yeah fingers crossed.

1:04:30Okay, I think we leave it there. We will have Friday Night Clive tomorrow. We'll have the live event in D.C. Please give to the fundraiser and get us over that 400 ,000 pound mark and then we'll pick the two winners for the tickets to be in the box for the Fulham game, which could be a very raucous atmosphere depending on our next two results and all good things from there and all good things for having you on the pod, Andrew. Great to see you and look forward to seeing you in person in the not too distant future. Yes, it should be fun. Sounds good. Alright, everybody. We'll leave it there. We love you and we'll talk to you after Arsenal 10, Newcastle, New.

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