Arsenal’s Strength In Depth Blows Forest Away

33:48Elliot:What did you think about the Eze shots? What was your feeling when you watched it? Well, obviously my initial feeling is find the better option. Find the open. Man, there was one in particular where he took. So the move we referenced, right? The one where Ethan starts it and Zubamendi runs through and he gives it to Eze and he cuts in and he shoots. Calafiore is overlapping him and he wants the ball and he's frustrated when it doesn't come to him. But I do think that players who have the instinct to shoot and can create rebounds and deflections and things like that. I mean, the volley deflects.

34:19It's probably going in anyway because it's hit so hard. The header deflects, by the way, too. But the leap is sensational. I just think it's the point that we know we need to take more shots. We know we need to be more willing to take shots. And I think there will be a reward for that long term. And in terms of understanding where the options are, I think Mikel said it, in fact. So I'll leave it to him. As usual, he had the right comment on the—he was asked about Eze's performance. He says, the new ones that started, five for them today. So five new signings in one lineup. That's a lot of change, right?

34:51He says, really impressed with them. I think you can sense and feel that there are new relationships flourishing. There are new relationships flourishing there that are going to give us different things. Did we go more unpredictable? Nani, I think he was excellent as well. So we played a front three that we've never played before, and it was good exposure for them in terms of the timings as well. It was exactly what they needed because they played a lot of minutes, and overall, I'm very happy. and this is what you want in early season, Clive. You want to get new groups together, new players' exposure to each other early in the season so that they can start to build those automatisms and click.

35:27Maybe next time, as he does slide it to Calafiore on the overlap. But for now, they're learning each other and this was really good exposure to them. So what do you think of that? Just the five new signings all playing in a lineup together and how they were able to start to build an understanding.

35:42Elliot:Yeah, it's all happening in front of us. I think the reason I asked you about the shots thing, because I thought, you know what? I'm glad you take that shot. And I did see the options. Picking one of them, there's an option on the right-hand side. But I'm glad you're taking it. Because that's what we want, isn't it? It's what we want to see happen, you know? I'm not looking, I'm not on a shot count thing. I'm on a threat. I want to see our threat go up. And if Eze can't shift it to his right, I thought a couple of his touches were a little bit not quite correct. He bounced one. he took an option away and I could see in him that he was really not to say over trying but it was an important day from his first home start and he was really trying to work off the ball to show everybody that he's part of the collective and you can see him sprinting around I wonder what Palace fans think of him off the ball because his off the ball intensity for them has not always been great that's one of the things they critique him on but he was doing it mate he was doing everything and when the ball came to him he was looking to make a really good impression and I loved his approach to the game.

36:46Elliot:I really did. I loved how he grew into it and started to play at his pace and just looked like a really smart, intelligent player when the ball comes in, you know, really good, you know. And as for the other, I mean, Jokeres is just a, he's just learning, right? They're just learning each other. That's the key. And so we're learning. So as we're watching it and you're watching it, it's the first time we've seen them And now I have my Anfield regrets now. Could they have all three of them started there? Would they have played like this? I don't know. But Liverpool don't know either. Right? So that was the one thing in my mind.

37:24Elliot:But it was so refreshing to watch this. We have watched our attack now for quite a while. We've watched a number of key people for quite a while. So we know them. We know them. I'm not saying we're bored, but we know their good things and their bad things. We know them so well. So to walk away from this game with so many positive thoughts about players and their level, it's like, wow, I'll tell you, I've had two overwhelming home games so far. This carries on. I don't know what's going to be there. There's been nothing left of me. Yeah, I mean, eight goals at home, none conceded. We've conceded one goal this season.

37:59It's from a free kick from 40 yards out. We're giving away next to nothing. We look very strong. And obviously a big part of that strength is depth. And Mikel was asked about it and about signing all these players and adding to the depth of the squad. And I think his answer is well-worded as ever, but gives away what he's trying to say pretty clearly. If we hadn't done that with the injuries that we have, unfortunately, some of them are very difficult to control. We'd be in a very different place. and that's his way of saying that if you don't have Odegaard and you don't have Rice and you don't have Saka and you don't have Kai and you don't have Saliba and you don't have Ben White where are you going to be?

38:34You're not going to be winning games 5-0 and 3-0 and going and winning at Old Trafford and nearly getting something at Anfield that's not the position you're going to be in and so I was going to say

38:47Elliot:I think he's learning about there's a moment in the game when we had a couple of moments. They had that, we had the mixed up clearance. Califiori got runner, just I think a run once. That wasn't quite to the pitch of the ball. And as you looked at the pitch, you thought, okay, well I thought, because I'm a worrier, I'm not as bad as you, but I thought, this is the moment to make a change. You know, to change something there and just to create, to stop any momentum appearing. Within a few seconds, Miles Lewis-Galley comes on, Declan Rice comes on. Over. Do you know what I mean? Just like that. Over.

39:26And to have those level of players,

39:31Elliot:the England starters come on the pitch and just do something else and just be fresh and sharp and want to make an impression, just brilliant, right? So now, for Tuesday, and maybe for Sunday, maybe, given our goal, we know the players, maybe a Califuri shouldn't play. And he should be building up his core fitness so he can be really ready for City. There's no critique. We've got a new signing we haven't seen. We've got a young England player that hasn't started a Premier League game yet. And we can just say, you know what? We're going to go with this. We're going to try to build up Califiori so he can be robust for the games we're going to need him for.

40:11Elliot:Because the whole goal for me in this is to do a PSG. Be ready for the last two months of the season with all the players that you want to play in the right condition. What we're doing now is we're learning about these players. We're looking at our squad. We're wondering, wow, we're quite good. Wait till we're all fit. We want to be fit in April and May. That's when the medals are handed out. And we haven't been fit at any point in Miguel Harte's reign. It's almost been a constant. Apart from the one time when we had won 18 games, sorry 18 games 16 wins one draw one defeat that's the only time we've been really fit and even then we couldn't quite manage the Bayern week so this is what he's planning for so I'm wondering who's going to sit this week so they're ready for City and they're ready for the games after like Portvale etc Newcastle we want to be there at the critical moment with the right players in the right condition and that's that's the goal really yeah I I want to talk about Eze and Jokras um that goal, of course.

41:16I want to look ahead to Bilbao briefly and maybe talk a little bit about City and Liverpool's weekends. So there's stuff I still want to get to. I know you're dying to hear about brands, but I'll just say this since we're not going to probably talk about them at all this game. You know, what really felt like last season, last season just everything that could go wrong did, it felt like. And we'd just gotten 2-0 up. The game should be safe. It should be comfortable. and then a ball bounces off Chris Wood's chest and goes in the goal. That's what happens last season. You know what I mean? It's a nothing moment.

41:50It's a hopeful cross. It hits Chris Wood in the chest. It somehow bounces up over the keeper and goes in, and now it's 2-1, and there's rumbling in the stands, and we've already lost a player to injury. That's last season. It just felt somehow like a little flicker of the clouds parting that it comes off his chest. Raya, to his great credit, get some fingers onto that to get it onto the post. Then we make a complete hash of the ball, playing the ball in our own box, right? And wind up having to have a scrambled clearance there, which we get clear. And that moment, instead of going to 2-1 and all of a sudden we've made it nervy and maybe, you know, we get pegged back at the death, it goes begging, we get the third, and it's a very comfortable, happy day.

42:36But it's just those little things in football where you've done basically nothing wrong all match and a ball bounces off a chest and goes over your keeper and goes in that can turn everything on a day and the fact that it didn't happen and thanks to the huge leap by raya i think was worth a mention in my mind just because it felt like such a

42:55Elliot:potential turning point you know yeah and you know and timbers goes to clear it and and then moscarath who takes it away from him so timbers almost half injures himself we'd lose we'd lose him for a month last season wouldn't we right so uh and um and then Moscow is tackling the box and we and we all have a little bit of a laugh and and it's gone you're absolutely right it felt it felt like that there's a different feeling in the ground area there is a different feeling mate it feels different and there's a physical and technical maturity to this team that i've not seen before i've not felt before in almost every player they're so in command of their actions my reactions are going to go well but they look so in command isn't there's little or no fragility you know and um it was a top top performance it really was in all aspects.

43:52Yeah. Let's talk about that Yelkirsch goal. But before we do that, let's definitely, definitely talk about brands. And the brand that I almost don't even need to mention at this point, because everybody knows about it, everybody uses it, people get in touch on social media and joke about it, it's NordVPN. If you click on a video and it says not available in your area, that shouldn't be happening to you anymore. Because that video is probably either A, something awesome Arsenal did, or B, something hilariously stupid that United did. And either way you want to watch it. So you get NordVPN, you put the app on your device, you tell it where you want to browse and you're browsing there.

44:26It's that simple. When I go over to London to see the mighty Arsenal, because I've only come to see the Arsenal, one of the annoying things, I can't watch the football on my subscription to my service here, but I can because I VPN back here and then I can watch it. And we had a great memory at a pub with a bunch of fans just kind of together celebrating, but United were playing Fulham. This was last season and it will be scored a late winner and I had my VPN running and I had the game on the phone and we were all gathered around and we had a grand old time watching United drop points. So just, you know, an easy way to keep up with the football.

45:01Very, very good speed, very safe. And they have threat protection. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's Arsenal Vision. It's not. That's not the website. The actual website is nordvpn.com slash Arsenal Vision. That's nordvpn.com slash Arsenal Vision. nordvpn.com slash Arsenal Vision. You get a huge discount off your plan and four months on top do it now. And last but not least, Indeed is the hiring platform where you can attract, interview, and hire all in one place. Indeed is just the obvious sensible way to do this. Hiring is getting worse because AIs are talking to AIs and you're not finding the right candidates and the candidates aren't finding the right jobs.

45:35And it's partly because there's so many different sites you don't know where to look. With Indeed, one site is all you need. And with sponsored posts, your job jumps right to the top of the page for relevant candidates. This is the whole idea, right? The Candidates want to find the jobs relevant to them. They don't want to see a bunch of jobs that aren't relevant. You want to find candidates that are relevant to you. If you just weed out the noise, you have more signal. More signal for the person looking for a job. More signal for the person hiring for a job. It makes a huge difference. Sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have 45 % more applications than non-sponsored jobs.

46:04And those applicants, remember, are going to be better quality because you're going to be getting the relevant candidates applying to it. How fast is Indeed? And the minute we've been talking to you, 23 hires were made on Indeed according to Indeed Worldwide data. So there's no need to wait any longer. speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show will get a$75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com slash Arsenal Vision. Just go to Indeed.com slash Arsenal Vision right now and support our show by saying you heard about it on Indeed on this podcast.

46:29Indeed.com slash Arsenal Vision, terms of good supply. Hiring, Indeed.com. Is that enough of that?

46:34Elliot:Indeed. No, no. Talk me through the Yolk Resk Gold, please. Just getting back to my seat, and I see these balls swing up in the air going in behind. I thought that looked a bit easy. And then I see it's a sort of slide it and uh and it's in the net it's like three passes you know just like oh that was that was a bit easy how's that happen but again it's all about timing isn't it you know he's not just he's going out to in to then darting behind so that's that's a connection there they've developed already maybe had a chat who knows and then he's in behind and then he he side footed across the and I'm missing and Jokeres he's hungry right he's hungry he's playing like he's got no food in the fridge right he's hungry and he goes in and side puts it people are going to think that's a weight joke by the way oh would they say he's hungry but not because he's overeating let's be clear about that well I don't I don't agree this weight thing honestly I don't I don't see I see a player that's getting fitter and fitter all the time you know that's what I see and a player that actually a big part of his game is his fitness you know so he needs to be fit to be him to be quick to be sharp to be relentless the word relentless and the way he has described the way we've seen him play is a relentless style well relentless means you do something again and again and again when you're not fit that word's out you do something once and you take five minutes to recover and you do it again if you're lucky right so um and that's where he has been and if if kai was fit he'd be able to get fit in a slower way and maybe spend more time off the pitch working on his fitness but he has to be ready to play right so he's getting fit on the pitch so wonderful easy go at it easy easy work right what's football it's not complicated is it easy yeah except i i see that going wrong nine times out of 10 for Arsenal in the past because the actions that have to be taken for it to turn into a goal would not be the same so the first question I'll ask you is about the center forward and this is not a critique of Kai by the way who I absolutely love and think is going to give Jok a run for his money for playing time when he's fit but what run does Kai Havertz make in that same situation because to me I think he goes to the penalty spot or he drops back to the top of the box for a cutback yeah I think the instinct to run to the back post is not something we've seen as much yeah different different style of players right and um i saw some clips this morning of martinelli playing left footed crosses no quite good crosses but we weren't really ahead of the defender or bustling him and and so i thought the quality it's just about quality isn't it this is about quality you know you know tchenko can play that pass you know that that karen fury did but he also wants to play the ball inside you know and then and he's already inside.

49:27Elliot:He's a different player, different skills. And so he just drops it on his head a bit. Eze now, that quality, he's got a two-yard space to put the ball into, and he puts it in there. Goalkeeper's frozen because the pace of pass is great. Jokeres slides it in. Football looks really easy when it's done right, you know? And that was the feeling you got. And it's about quality. The quality of that delivery was so good, and I'm so pleased for him. and the Yorker is and I've seen all these goals now because it seems to be a whole we're all we talk about right now in the back of my mind you know what's in the back of my mind?

50:03Elliot:Our away performances haven't felt like this. Yeah. Right so and so we need to change that because this team is really good and it's the same bit of grass so let's just fix that shall we because this can't be something I'm not really sure I'm not over dramatising it but I'm really comfortable about this team I know what I'm looking at so just go away from home and just deal with teams just deal with them you know we can't be doing Manchester United will be one jogging by the end but I felt edgy in that game and Liverpool I don't think we need to be as edgy we probably felt lacked a bit of confidence with the people that were out well that confidence is gone we've got that back now straight away so as far as I'm concerned there's nowhere we should fear if we go with the same attitude what do you think of of Yocres overall there was the one nice moment where he cut in from the left cut back towards the middle yeah gave it out to Nani Nani gave it to him on the overlap and he smashes it off the side of the post just a little unlucky not to have it inside of the post so we can celebrate another goal I think you can see him coming into the game again and fitness aside this is this is a position striker right where you've got so many new things you're learning in terms of the way we want to play, the way we want to press, the intensity of the league, the quality of the opposing defense, the types of passes that you're going to receive from your different wingers.

51:26And he's played with different wide players in each game. I thought that this was another step in the right direction for him. Unlike other games where there's been questions, where's this shot monster we've seen? He had four shots in this game. He hit the post, he scored a goal. So it's a good day at the office for Jokeres in his development for me.

51:43Elliot:Yeah, I thought it was really good. Again, it looked like I was standing forward. again what's happening now is if we are on a transition and any of our wingers getting behind they know what they've got to do now didn't they they got to play across first time because he's going to be there right so you play to your teammates you develop your connections you play to them i thought he ran back and crushed their six every now and again elliot hanneson fresh from england duty and and being classed as the next savior of england he got pushed about a little bit he's a steady player he's a good player but you know there's there's levels to this right and he was involved in their one good move the the sort of one two three move where morgan gibbs white got in at the end of the first time timber came across it that was a bit scary actually and uh he he can play i shouldn't critique him he can play but like we always do we were young and player we overhyped them and um but jacques came back in him a few times and what i did a couple of things where he sprinted so you hear me use the term roll off the center backs roll off the front line he he sprints into the ball and he thought what he shouldn't do eddie used to do that a lot but he would bounce off him and then into a tackle he sprints to the ball to get there first then just lays around the corner it's old again it's different you know it's really instant you know it's like i haven't seen that for a long time and this newness it felt like it felt really good to see something different and he buzz it out to es and then spin off straight away no waiting around i've got to get to the last line real quick that's where i belong you know it's just a different style of player and um yeah i really like what he's doing he's different to what we have and that difference is what we need ese's different to martin early but that's okay you know um let's talk about it yeah well what do you think him well ese yeah yeah i i just thought he was um quite magnetic so when the ball goes into players have you they have this thing they know when they can trust somebody on the ball right and um and when they can trust you they just give it to you so you build that trust all the time earlier every day in training even in the warm-ups you build it and everyone's looking to see who can't look after it who lets them who breaks the drill down blah blah blah and when someone's got a bit they go they like that do know i mean and they start to give the ball start to wrap the ball into you and see what you've got you know and um he's got the stuff mate he's got it he really has he's got the ability to get his head up and he's got the presence to keep people away i used the word fragility earlier there's no critique of martin odegaard but he he went off and unfortunately it's a big collision he had to land and exactly where he didn't want to land.

54:33Elliot:You know, he's thinking, what's going on here? Two injuries, same place. Never had a shoulder problem as far as I can be aware of. And he's really trying to go into contact and show people I'm stronger than I was last year. I'm going to look after the ball better. I'm going to play more through balls. I've heard what people have said. I'm going to take more risks. I'm going to play inside. I'm going to do this stuff. And he's trying to do it. He's come off twice into home games. He's thinking, bloody hell. Do you know what I mean? He must be really frustrated. But I'll say to you again, there's a fragility about him physically that Ethan hasn't got, that Eze hasn't got, that Yoko Reza's got.

55:11Elliot:They're just stronger. They're stronger at this present at the time. And that's a major part of who we are. The physical dominance that we had over them. And Forrester, a decent side. I'll say this to you now, I thought they were quite good. I said it in the IRL, and I thought, I've got to be honest, stuff some of their triangles were really good but then our reaction to them just shut them out you know and um could be so good across the ground so physical and so quick and so combative and the whole intensity around the performance was top and jokeres there wasn't anybody elliot not anybody that wasn't playing the same tune just no nobody everybody was on it you know I don't often say that mate to be honest there's always somebody we can dig out yeah no it was it was a solid performance front to back and and including the subs and you know with Eze first of all there's more variety to his game I think you know with Martinelli if I wanted to be critical I think one thing I'd say is that he's become a bit predictable in what he's going to try to do and defenders seem much more comfortable because they know his they know his patterns they know his intentions they know his preferences as they had so many different moves to beat his man so there's one time he's on the touchline he just throws a hip to the inside and beats his man dead and goes down the the touchline having left him for dead he had the dummy early on in the game a really nice um moment calfiori was out wide as a dummies it yokres wall pass odegaard tried that scoop but the scoop didn't really find anybody yeah yeah um as a obviously has the moment for the goal and i think i've i said this in the instant reaction, but I think it just bears repeating.

56:51Easy goals tend to look easy because everybody's executed at a very high level. First of all, the run is timed to perfection. There is no touch. The first touch is the pass. And that ball is bouncing and it's gone 50 yards and he takes all the bounce off it. He has beautiful pass consideration, right? Beautiful weight and timing right through the corridor of uncertainty so Jokras can slam it home. And then of course, Jokras makes the right run, the run to where the ball is going. So really good understanding um i think the thing that's just worth pointing out is the debate with ese when we were linked with him oh we don't need him we need a winger we have to have a winger well we didn't say that oh well we didn't well look i've been asking for ese for three years but it's the point that i think you can see now this idea that of what a winger has to be is it's not nonsense but it's just not something that you need to be concerned about his pace running in behind looked fine because it's about the intelligence of your running.

57:47His ability to hold the width was fine when he needed to, and his ability to come inside and combine was fine. One of the things that was really encouraging to me, Clive, you know what I saw for the first time in ages was little one-twos and one-two-threes at the top of the box from the left-hand side. Combination play on the left-hand side. And that is something we've not seen. Even when the left has worked okay, it's usually someone sprinting in behind or individual play. There was combination play back on the left, and that was really encouraging, I thought.

58:15Elliot:Yeah, mate, it's just players trusting players, quality players knowing that they can do the stuff that they need. So when you trust somebody, it's your Califuri, you're going to roll around because you know he's going to find you. You better be ready. Your job is just to be light on your toes because the ball's coming. And to have a picture when it comes. So yeah, he's quality. And there are different types of wingers, right? So Madiweke is probably closer to Martin Ellington style than aggression. you know but i think where madame okay is better he just looks more physically dominant saka is uh probably a combination of an essay and uh madame okay he's got the explosion but he's also got the decision making and creativity and that's why he is who he is though many people probably dropping them dropping him in their minds today or moving him in maybe five yards maybe and so um and um and so trossard is probably closer to s8 in how he beats his man manipulates his man uses his technical brain you know so that's why i always thought that would be the chain but we kept them both so we'll see what happens and so yeah we did different styles but the key for me you stand in certain places in different phases of the game but where you end up is where you end up and we've had people say the manager makes him stand here makes him stand there no mate just go where you gotta go combine with people and what's clear when you watch arse playing is that when people rotate out of a certain area somebody rotates in no matter what your shirt number is they don't say well i've got to stay here with my man if i leave this space i'm gonna leave a hole no just move because the team is built up and the principles are so strong that somebody else will cover you because you you moving provides continuity provides provides that and what what's the thing i walked away with well where many things i walked away with but when you do rewatch this you how many times you see the one touch bounce passes going through the middle of the pitch to get in there and that that felt newer to me that felt new that felt new so many one touch passes bounce bounce bounce bounce out to the man you can now dribble because we don't want to hold on to it too much in centre we want you to hold on to it in the wide areas and now go, attack, go we're going to get to you quicker and the separation was there so we know the score when Saka gets there's no separation and you can barely see the goal let alone move towards it because by the time we get it to him there's a crowd scene there the separation, why does that happen?

1:00:47Elliot:why did McIweka get some separation? because of the pace of pass and what we did to get it there and how we supported him and we had loads of distractions around him, which means he could get it. It's the same on the left-hand side. It's very encouraging, mate. I will be watching this again properly to try to understand that better. And no doubt it will be analyzed this week. But I'm interested to see if that continues, particularly away from home. That's what I'm looking for. Yeah, and just to, I think, highlight what Mikel now has at his disposal to ensure that these games stay wins. You did a podcast with Scott that we posted on our Patreon.

1:01:25And it was about turning draws into wins. We had too many draws last season. And the really worrying part for me wasn't the draws. It was the draws where we had been in a winning position and were pegged back. Now, a game that sticks out, and this wasn't from last season, a couple of seasons ago, is when we got pegged back to a draw at home to 10-man Fulham. That one really hurt. You know what? Look at this game. Califiori gets a yellow in the 62nd minute at 2-0. Gets a second yellow in the 72nd minute. Suddenly it's 10-man Arsenal. holding on. He misses City. No. Miles Lewis-Skelly comes on. No drama.

1:01:57Cal Fiore gets the rest of the day off. Easy win. Yoko Ress, still building up his fitness. Who comes on for him? Declan Rice comes on for him. I have to laugh because we all did over the summer. Well, we've seen the last of Mikel Marino at Stryker. No, he's pretty good up there. But then, the forwards. Leo and Martinelli. Both come on. This is what we're bringing on now. This is how we're changing games now. And I think this is going to be as important as anything, not to winning games 5, 6, 7, but not turning 2-0s into 2-2s, the Villa game last season. You cannot let that happen. And now we have the quality to ensure that we finish games as strong or stronger than we start them.

1:02:39That's huge, and I think that's going to make a big, big difference in our season. Clive, it would be bad to get through this podcast and not talk about arguably maybe our best player on the day, if you wanted to be unfair to Nani Meduike, and that's Urien Timber. This guy just flies under the radar in a way because he's so consistent. But I thought early in the game, when our ball progression wasn't perfect, one thing that I noticed is that Forrest were doing a good job early, I think, stopping us from building play with passing through the middle. So you know what Timber did? He just carried the ball.

1:03:15he just carried the ball past them and created so many good little opportunities carrying the ball past players he was on the end of a non-e cut back where he's just unlucky the defender does really well to poke the ball away before he can smash it in um i think he is as good as anybody we have honestly he's he's that good and he's currently keeping ben white out of the squad which tells you all you need to know about his quality but we have the ability to give him a day

1:03:38Elliot:off we need to were you as impressed with him as i was yeah mate um he's the he's the when you're when you're growing up like i was growing up you play football right you always want that guy in your team that would win the fight in the car park right so i said everything went off he's the first one into a big tackle the first one that says we're here we're in london we're playing you and we're here he's that guy and you go back to manfield last week it was really and i was nervous we're all nervous we're wondering how good they are blah blah blah first tackle he has he makes one tackle bang straight for him bang up the game bang running for the middle of pitch mate he he has got something in him a fire in him which is physical we need to be but then he switches and says i need to be an offensive player now and he's that player and when we when we did our scouting of him remember we did a scout of him many moons ago yeah and he was like playing centre-back, he was playing right-back, he played left-back, and then he had a lot of freedom playing for Ajax.

1:04:42Elliot:And if he was in the right wing by the corner flag, he looked like a winger. If he was, like, in the middle of the pitch, he looked like a striker. He looked like a midfielder. He looked like anything you needed, he had all of the attributes. So if I need to coiff you and run away, I can do that. I need to smash you in the tackle, I can do that. I can do it inside or outside. That's complete, isn't it? you know and um oh we've used him properly you know i go back to the old he's injured at the moment but martinez who went to manchester united not used correctly a really good technical player not used correctly not positioned correctly to succeed we've used him to succeed he's bringing one-on-ones and he's bringing a transition and he's a smart player and um and we went to la remember we went to LA we watched him pre-season first time back from his ACL and obviously we watched Ben White for a season probably over play and you're doing your I'm picking team thing and you sort of said I said I don't care what your team is this guy's playing we didn't know where at the time did we but we weren't sure he started the season at left back remember went to Spurs and he played left back this guy's playing and he gives you that aura I'm playing so that's it so you decide what you're going to do Mr Manager but i'm playing and the others can sit and rest you know and um and i do think we know the two contracts that we have to do they're obvious the big two but this one is right behind as far as i'm concerned this one's right behind you have to recognize what you have and get there quick because he'll be being looked at by everybody you know and we need to get him signed up yeah and And James said something on the Arscast that I agree with.

1:06:28It's great to have this squad depth. We are so fortunate. And this is a great opportunity season for us to go and win something with all this great talent. We probably won't have quite this much depth after this season. Because there are going to be players who look at this situation and say, I love it here, but I need a bit more. And you can think of who those players are. Players who could be starting for us, but currently aren't. Who are going to say to their agent, you know, I love it at Arsenal, but I want to go somewhere where I'm on the man. But that's okay.

1:06:55Elliot:and that's why and that's how you become a good seller yes because that's what we haven't had right so see that's a great point yes because instead of selling samby lakanga you're selling benjamin white you know what i mean yeah i'm not saying we should sell ben white you get my point but that's how you become a good seller even good oh they're good sellers well you know why because he's a good player and they're a good side have won a trophy if he can't get into that team it's okay but he's really valuable to me that's how you have a good seller when you got people on the bench that are now playing in league one for and on loan at shrewsbury for example you can't sell those players right so um you you've got to think about this clearly and this is what we need to do this is how you change your selling identity by raising the levels and there are young players a young player in france defensive player that we've already looking at you can see you can see the future can't you you can see the future that's how you make something sustainable you know by having adding those young players.

1:07:51Elliot:Mosqueira is an unbelievable buy. It's that type of buy we need to add to the defensive group, potentially to supplement a timber, shall we say. Yeah, well said. There's a conversation happening. I want to read you a quote about Nani Meduake. We're going to finish off just with a quick comment on the athletic game. And before we do that, Mikel said about Nani Meduake and what he's brought to the squad, a lot of courage. That's how I describe him. A lot of quality, but a lot of courage. When we were about to sign him and there was that reaction around him, I spoke to him and he was like, I go for it.

1:08:23I cannot wait to put the shirt on and play for you guys. I said, wow, let's bring him. If I was convinced before, I'm more convinced now that he's going to do it. I think he has such power, such capacity to repeat efforts because to be able to do that physically, you have to have a different specimen. I think he certainly has that. But he's very skillful, very unpredictable. He's so willing to learn and he brings joy. I look at him and he's always smiling. He's always trying things. He gets one wrong, he goes again. And that's what I love about the creative players because you need that to be successful.

1:08:48glowing praise for Mikel I'm going to ask you something that's a little bit more FIFA than it is real football but I'm only going to ask it because I've seen it out there and I think it is interesting but Kiyosak is entering a new phase of his career he's very much in his prime but he has now picked up a couple of hamstring injuries and you know he's in a position where there's a lot of big sprints there's a lot of explosive running there's always been a bit of a conversation that he could be more of an interior player play a little bit more where Odegaard and Ethan play and Nani Maduike right now is is showing us something that I'm sure we're going to want to continue to have in the squad.

1:09:21Is there any world where you'd say, you know what, for the sake of his hamstrings, for the sake of the squad, for the sake of the dynamic, will there be days to play Bakaio on the interior and play Nani on the outside? Or is that just sort of a social media FIFA kind of mindset?

1:09:35Elliot:No, that mindset's been in my mind for about three years. Eventually, he'll end up there. And he has all the attributes because he protects the ball. and decision-making is really good and he runs around people and creates angles and shoots and scores. And this is not new. People know this. People more connected than me know that he's good at this. And it's just a matter of time. But it's okay. It doesn't have to be tomorrow morning. You know, again, it's not about now. It's about winning time. Winning time is April and May. Who's going to have the strongest team then? It will present itself to us when we're hopefully going to Man City in the semi-final of the Champions League.

1:10:16Elliot:Trust me, mate, you'll pick the right team then, Elliot. It won't be none of this messing about. The team will be picked and we'll have a history of performances to make the right decisions, right? So, and that's what the players are all trying to do right now. They're trying to play, gain trust, bring their A game when they come on. I thought when Trossard came on, his feet were brilliant, right? He had an assist. Yeah, he's not coming to mess about. I don't think if I want to play in this team, I better do a bit in the minutes they're given to me. And so, yeah, I heard something years ago that Saka played in a 10-in training, was really, really good.

1:10:52Elliot:It's when he was just breaking into the wide areas. He just stayed with me. And you can see it, can't you? You can see it. But it doesn't have to be yet. It all happened down the road if required. Who'd have thought Marina would have played 10-4 for Arsenal? It just happened, and he was really good at it. And he'll do it again. He can play 10, he can play 8. It's what you want. I want to see Ethan play eight on the left-hand side. I want to see him do it. Because the more positions you play, the more valuable you are to get in squads. Simple as that. Yeah, well, when you talk about the squad, I think people think the point of a squad is that you can rotate.

1:11:25And so there'll be an expectation of a lot of rotation for the athletic game tomorrow. We have five days before we play City. You know, and that is a consideration. I think people have this slightly wrong. Players want to play in Champions League. If you listen to Eze and Nani, they were being interviewed after the game. And as I was saying, neither of us have played, you know, Champions League before. So we're really excited for this game. These are the games they want to play. As silly as it sounds, you might say, but cities at the weekend, but it's Champions League. They want to play in these games.

1:11:52It is an away game in the Champions League to start our campaign. You know what you really want? You want those games at the end of this campaign to be meaningless. So you want to know that the Bayern game is a free hit. If you win it, great. If you don't, great. These are the games you need points. So to me, I'm a little less of the mindset of, oh, we make 11. Some of the lineups I see is it's like 11 changes or something, and we have the squad depth to do that, but I don't think that's what Champions League is about. So for me, I expect to see something very similar, probably Rice coming back in.

1:12:22But I'm curious. You know the positions where it could happen, Miles instead of Cal Fiore or White instead of Timber, but it's Champions League, Clive. It's a way I think we're going to have less rotation than people expect.

1:12:36Elliot:Yeah, I think so. The left-back situation, I'm interested to see what Hinkapi looks like, if I want to see you. So I think he may make an appearance off the bench. And again, I keep my eyes on Big Cappy when he comes back from Brazil. My eyes are on him, you know. And so let's have a look at that situation. Kyle Fiore did well. He sort of hit a mini wall around 60 minutes. You just sort of see it. But obviously, they'll work that one out. Declan will more likely play. I want to see the same front three. but they haven't got to end they haven't got to end the game have they you know and I can see Marino playing in midfield for Odegaard for the away game this is probably this game is Inter Milan probably our two hardest away games so Inter Milan I'm going to write Inter Milan I don't know why I'm saying that I think Inter's away again right yeah yeah two halves away against Inter Milan and so yeah let's just play our best team I think they lost at the weekend but I heard Tom say this morning that they rested a lot of players because he's out there they rested a lot of players and so yeah it's gonna be a hard game i remember that lonz one earlier remember that lonz game that game stays in my mind you know when newcastle played psg i think they played at home and they that first time they played in champions league and it was raucous they had a fantastic result they had many other results also but the first game is the one when the other teams are excited it's their debut night you've got to go with your top boys you know so you haven't got to end and there is enough we're playing i think we're the early kickoff and we're playing and we're playing sunday afternoon there's plenty of time to rest and also man city are playing thursday night yep you know so we should play our look after our business mate look after our business uh if someone's a little bit hanging then look after them but look after our business get the points and go from there yeah i mean byron is between spurs and chelsea right inter away is before united you want to win all these other games so that you can look at those games as an opportunity to finish as high as possible but not games where you must get the points to progress so just get the points here take care of business and be i think if you finish top eight unlike last year i think we finished third but we didn't get a favorable home draw home leg second leg sorry second leg at home.

1:15:04Elliot:They didn't really enforce that last year. I think they're enforcing that this year. So the higher up the league you finish, the better favorable draws you're going to have. Yeah, so I think it's important that we do it. Well, we'll have an instant reaction after tomorrow and we'll have a main pod Thursday. So if you don't want to wait till Thursday and get the instant reaction tomorrow, I think we'll save the stuff on the rest of the Premier League for a power rankings. This weekend feels like a good power rankings week because we had an interesting Liverpool performance to analyze. I think the United-City game was very interesting even though United were crushed and it was hilarious.

1:15:32City gave up a lot of chances and were run through at times so it's worth talking about that they gave up a lot of possession

1:15:37Elliot:which is interesting right yeah very interesting but then they used Holland to ruthless efficiency as a result of it so something for us to think about as we preview that game later this week spare a thought for Ange Postacoglu who shows up at the Emirates with the team wearing white and gets smacked again it's like nothing ever changed so kudos to Ange for that we love you for being here we'd love to have you on the Patreon but if not we'll see you on the Thursday pod Clive thanks very much thank you very much my name is Elliot Smith we love you and we will talk to you after Arsenal 10 Athletic Club Bill