Battle At The Bridge Ends In Frustrating Draw

33:41Elliot:Yeah, so we weren't able to get into any flow. and they started quite quickly and held the ball for a while made us defend in certain challenges 50-50 challenges referee every time it stops a big big moment big conversation it starts again and and then we started to get some paths together sometimes when you're playing a game you have to recognize what's in front of you and you have to manage their start and i think rice and um did many just got on the ball a little bit more you know and just took took the pressure away once you start doing that once you have so many people behind the ball and your exit route becomes basically timber and bakaya saka basically that was our exit route you become very much a little bit like our sort of last season you know because we spoke a lot this season about diversity of attack and we have far more dual-sided now and we have a set rotation on left-hand side and that was maybe a little bit upset by the fact that rice had to do a little bit more build-up play shall we say and I felt I felt positionally I wasn't too sure about some positions that he took up they may have been positions that he was told to take up but actually for the game that was here I wanted him slightly more inside I'm not sure if that was my my fear talking there versus tactically what we could do on the left hand side and I just didn't really like how that left hand side looked at all so we lost a little bit of man on man in the middle of the pitch but as you say I don't think it's a massive game for midfield I think midfield was an area that people ran through you know and the reason why that happened yeah and the people why that happens and what i will say i haven't seen this yet i i still feel comfortable with our line height you know i felt it was a little bit lower you know it just felt that way to me come on people will tell me if i'm wrong it felt a bit lower more spread out so i feel like the defensive line was lower but but we were pressing quite high it was very weird the lines were not compressed we didn't have our I didn't like it.

35:36Elliot:There was no compactness. I didn't like it. I didn't feel good about that. And again, when you have got a card, you stand away a little bit. You know? And that's the truth, you know? And your centre-backs, because they're young, you know, when you have young centre-backs, they just say, oh, it's a centre-field standing in front of me. Cheers. Thanks a lot. I'll accept this. When you're someone like Gabriel and Siba, get off my toes. Get up there 10 yards. I don't need you here. I can handle it on my own. Get away. and that amazingly pushes things forward he's just experience he's just experience it's not a critique of the players it's just now it's just football what happens and so yeah i felt i thought oh they've come to play we didn't manage this you know we didn't manage this and eventually the you know the bottle top came out of the bottle for chelsea because basically they went over the top and literally and uh and that sort of quietened the game for a little bit yeah i mean it's interesting i know paul didn't like our approach on the instant reaction and we we made a decision to press very high and aggressively and to be fair i think they can be gotten at with a press but instead of trying to play through us they were willing to just hoof it and i think if you have gabby and saliba you're going to see a lot less joy from that strategy first of all there's probably a little more bravery to stand a little higher right compress the lines a little bit more um hold that higher line but do you think that it would have made more sense especially given who was missing to be and i know look maybe maybe maybe mikhail had ringing in his ears some of the criticisms of how we played at anfield or you know the the conservatism claims but would this have been a situation without saliba and gabby for more of a nasty 4-4-2 not low block but maybe a mid block frustrate them make them try to find solutions and hit them i mean do you think that the decision to press high and let the game get stretched the way it did caused us more problems especially given the absences i i was quite pleased to see i also go to stanford bridge and have rice up high as they're up high and almost like a front four press and it's really going for them it's like a leaving he's over his right shoulder a little bit of space now he could travel out there i'm fine with that we're not we're not scaredy cats right we can't we come to play you know and um i think where i think we missed something just the dominance of that challenge you know there's something involved in rugby called dominant tackles you can tackle somebody but dominant tackles where you send them back three yards right and that's what we have we have dominant center backs and i felt our center backs were fine but they weren't dominant until the next phase the retaining phase of winning a challenge was 50 50 Elliot you know Rhys James can get about a pitch mate you know it's 50 50 excellent and um assistant referee and midfielder all in really really good and he and he got around the pitch really really well you know and he read some second balls we had a second ball kings and it was very much a 50 50 with him you know and um and so yeah it was a it was a challenge for us to really get those waves you know that and that's all we miss but that's part of a season isn't it we won't have all the top boys all the time it just feels like sometimes i'm sure everyone feels the same when will we have at least most of our top boys on the pitch so we could really have a look at us and um but yeah to wake up and see sleep or not be there and do what we did i'm okay in hindsight i am yeah i agree i want to talk about how we handled the 10 10 v 11 period of the game and especially some of the substitutions i mean i'll just give you a bit of a sneak preview I don't think they worked.

39:16I understand why we made them, but I think they were the wrong choices for the occasion. Now I have the benefit of hindsight, which is super handy, but I will explain that and get your take on that as well. Clive want to talk about certain individuals. I think the left side of our attack certainly needs a little bit of an investigation. I want to talk about the sack of game as well. And also just a little bit about how dependent we are. Declan Rice at the moment, because I'm starting to wonder if maybe he needs, a trip to Dubai or Ibiza or something for a few days just to rest and recover because that guy is an absolute colossus for us.

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42:43Elliot:Indeed. Not it. All right, Clive, down to 10 men. Mm-hmm. This game did not go the way we wanted to. Mikkel said it. He said it point blank that we did not manage to settle the game. He said, quote, we had four more yellow cards and those players were obviously targeted in order to even the game in terms of numbers. And at halftime, we said, let's push now. Get what we have to do. And we were very clear on our intention and how we were going to dominate the game in the first action. Long ball, free kick, corner, and we concede from a set piece. So then the momentum shifted, and ultimately the team have to react to that.

43:16We managed to get some good spells without having too much momentum, and we scored a great goal. And after that, we had two or three big chances but lacked certain detail, especially in the manner we attacked, especially in certain position. Robert Sanchez had the ball in his hands. I just think this is a game with a team that wants to play long they want to play fast, they want to play physical and we needed technical security and due to the yellow cards we had to make some changes, obviously Miles comes on for Cal Fiore, at halftime I thought Cal Fiore was one of our best players Martinelli

43:48Elliot:I haven't seen any indication that he is, so I'm going to hope and cross all my fingers and toes that it was purely tactical because he didn't want three-fourths of his back four on yellow cards for the whole second half i think you mentioned this clive mikhail carries the scars of past injuries that's how our summer transfer policy is built right on the scars of what hurt us before i think this game zubomendi came off calafiore came off i think those were scars of red cards gone by and i think without zubomendi and without calafiore and with nani and martinelli on the left being more off-ball sprinters, and then ultimately Jokras comes in.

44:25And for me, I think this game was crying out for roll the dice to leave Zubion, bring Odegaard in for Martinelli, and let Ezza come to the left and have more of the ball, have 75 % possession and squeeze them. And I really think the players that we had available to us, whether through yellow cards or tactical decisions, lent itself to a more stretched game rather than a controlled game. And I think that may define a little bit of why we couldn't get more pressure on them in the 10v11 period.

44:54Elliot:Yeah, I don't mind that solution. We always make the assumption when we have other solutions that they're going to be just perfect. They would have been absolutely perfect. They're just going to win all the tackles, look after the ball perfectly, and just continue, not get sent off, just like down the pitch, and just manage it. I think I'm always low with this because I don't have all the information they would have. The way Eze was playing in the first half, He had a massive week, right? And this is new for him. You know, massive games like this every three days. The Palace never been in Europe.

45:30Elliot:This was new for him and it looked like it on this game. I don't care the fact he's 27. This is a new experience. And I would have liked to see him play left in this game. I would like Odegaard to be fitter. I would like Jokic to be fitter. I would like Saliba to be on the pitch. You know, so there's always things that you want. And I was sort of understood to, I don't know about Califiori-Miles, as usual, what the reasons were, but I'm actually in some ways, because Miles had a bit of a rough game against Bayern, I'm quite pleased that he was trusted again quite quickly. When you have a bit of a dodgy one, you want to get back on the pitch very, very quickly and try to erase him.

46:08Elliot:I thought he'd semi-erase him, not fully, but I thought we need to trust these people. Our squad is only as deep as the people that we trust. you know and uh if you don't then we we might as well not buy these players and just do what you always do try and win it with 14 players you know until they break down in the month of march and april and then we ask ourselves questions oh why have we why have we dropped the points again you know so um so yeah i don't mind your solution i i i felt the biggest issue of this game was conceding that goal you know i think it was a it was a poor goal to concede what's your take on the goal it's it's the free kick first of all i don't think incappier has to try to come through through the man on the on the first ball i think you can just stay behind him if you're gonna win it if you're gonna win it win it if you can't win it you can't head through someone's head right you just gotta you gotta stay behind and just hold but one hand in the back it's very difficult earlier because they're very very clever hitting the floor you know and um and so it's difficult but we didn't win it free kick and i felt that rayo came out maybe he should have stayed in his line um once he'd come out he had to make a save i'm not sure he was going here i said yeah and once he goes to a corner it wasn't going in yeah yeah i didn't think it was going in and then and then so he makes a save because he's lost his bearings he has he can't let it go past him and so he makes a save goes to a corner they win the first contact i'm not sure why you know i'm sure why muscana's on the back post he's probably the tallest player on our team on the day and um he's on the back post and again a bit more experience he gets thrown in the net and he makes the referee see the foul.

47:44Elliot:But he ends up getting messed up with Enzo, getting tangled with him, rather than focusing on clearing the ball. And you've got to take it. Well, we score set-piece goals and we laugh. But it hurts when it goes against you. Well, our defensive record on set-pieces without Gabby is poor. I mean, last season we were letting them in for fun when he was out. Do you think Mascara... Every time I watch it, I feel like he can just head it off the line? Well, he could have done right, but he sort of was attracted to the man. He was involved with him. And the ball flashed past me in a second. This stuff happens at speed.

48:18Elliot:It doesn't happen to slow motion from a settee. It happens at speed. I would have headed it off the line. That's what I would have done. I'm not saying that's what he would have done. And so, yeah, so we concede now. So now we've got a game on. And actually, I was really pleased how we responded. I know it's easy to say this now, but I thought, well, we're going to score. because when when when the guys get when they get dialed in to their work they're really good you know they're really really good you know and that's why you almost know what's in you what characters in you what's what levels you've got to go and we scored a beautiful goal it's one of the best attacking moves of the game saka twists his blood and then flicks across into the back post look at the touch before the cross he just creates an angle for himself and clips it in one of the good judgments of a good cross i always say this is what i always say is um make sure it drops between the sticks it drops between the sticks eliminates the goalkeeper because it's flat enough and Mourinho just buries it right and pure quality and I thought we reacted pretty well after that Odegaard was on the pitch it almost told me what happens then Elliot I don't want me to go on a little bit more but what happens then is Odegaard is a player that likes to feel the ball and I think we needed his level of ball dominance.

49:38Elliot:I felt we were just a little bit fatigued on build-up, a little bit one-dimensional, had to bring Odegaard into the play a little bit more, just to settle us down. As soon as he came on, I went, oh, thank goodness for that. Look at him, he's dominating, he's moving the ball side to side. Great. And Chelsea just rested during that period. But they were alive to the transition, and they were fast. And so people said, oh, Chelsea didn't fall away. What they did were very selective when they got involved into a collision. When they went, they really went. You know, they really went. And they trusted they could break up the play if they were caught too high because we wouldn't retain it.

50:16Elliot:So they committed to a counterattack, which made them look like they had more players on the pitch. I felt we were fearful of their speed. And so Odegaard was getting on the ball nicely, but I felt he faded towards the end. That tells you where he is in his fitness. I thought his execution was poor. I thought he gave us that urgency to get on the ball and keep possession and bring it into the dangerous zones, which he's always going to do. Some of the little floated in-swingers that went right in Robert Sanchez's arms that give them time to reset, to reload, to take the sting out weren't good.

50:49He had some, you know, he tried one of those little chip passes over the top and chipped it right into the chest of the defender. Like his execution wasn't sharp with the things he was trying to do.

50:59Elliot:To be understandable, he barely played a moment this season. However, a lot of rusty players were on that pitch by the end, right? yorker s odegaard i mean nani's only just back miles yeah yeah a lot of rusty players on the pitch you know in a compact environment which is quite high high intensity and um yeah i do have a concern about sort of what's that concern i'd like odegaard to do to be better at crossing is that good analysis i want to see him really fizz that ball across the area you know um he's yeah i just want to see him do it mate because the goalkeeper's coming i mean that means you've locked you up in the air right i mean because he's only coming to stuff he can get right he couldn't get sackless cross could he do i mean he didn't move did he see you they recognize the pace of across immediately and i feel i better stay on my line here if i come out i'm gonna get i'm gonna get eliminated and so i'd like to see a change there but hey look that's just that's just me pinning picking him apart yeah i i like the fact he gave me a sense of relief and then Obviously, we've scored.

52:02Elliot:And I actually quite like the fact that we were quite patient. But what I felt was I felt we lacked cohesion in certain areas of the pitch. Where to be? I felt we were not quite as our normal selves accuracy-wise. And I think what we did, I think we feared them breaking. And I think it maybe made us a little bit passive in some of our actions, some of our movements, where there are some players that were busting a gut to get into areas maybe a bit too early and lacked a bit of patience and and other players thinking oh i better be careful here and so to manage the game i think arteta made one big decision really he he moved to center back slightly wider and stuck rice in between them yeah and what he did it took rice away from the battle he must have been so frustrated because i think he would have dominated the midfield if he was allowed to be in there he must have been so and towards the nights in the last five minutes of the game he started to drive through from that position he thought suck this i can do this on my own and started to drive through and so tactically what he did he sacrificed himself but hink happy and mosquera were better in as wide center backs if that makes sense yeah i thought they were better in those wide channels i feel their mosquera is more of a second center back i think hink happy's a third center back or or i think he's a left back i said it i'll say it again i think you pay left wing back as well I think he's an outside defender and once he's on the outside I thought his game went through the roof I thought he's in areas of the pitch he was more comfortable I think it created a challenge for Miles because he was forced to be higher up for longer rather than to transition through the team and I felt he was on the last line a bit early on occasions and I think he blocked Nonny's space on occasions Nonny needs to get his body right so if he's going to play left wing he needs to do one-twos have a couple of moves but you can't receive the ball like you do on the right wing and just wait to line someone up and go past them you've got to get it get to speed quicker and use your speed so get it if you're going to separate come deep and then go but then go at speed and make people run backwards i think it's a little bit static the way he received it again he's not super sharp yet and obviously on the right hand side everything's more natural and so we got development points to add in those areas which is fine right which is absolutely fine i will say no i'll leave i just We've got development points in that left-hand side in particular.

54:20I think if I think about how you emphasize numerical superiority, you want players who really want the ball at their feet with lots of touches, who pull you out of position, who wear you out going left and right and shuffling and shuffling and you can't get the ball off them. And I think about Eza left and Odegaard and Rice in midfield and Zubamendi behind them and Saka and Marino and a lot of possession, a lot of touches. and we finished with Jokeres and Nani, right? And no Calafiore in there. And so Rice dropped deep. And I just don't think we had the on-ball technical security to really hold the ball and push them back.

54:58It was really just Saka and Odegaard. I want to ask about a few performances then as a result. Let's start with the left side though because I don't think either left side of the attacker was effective. There are games for players like that, But I think if Leo is what you're missing, then the closest thing we had to that, I'm not going to say Eze had a good game. He didn't particularly, although we created two really good moments for us, but otherwise was not what we needed. I think he could have slid out to the left and helped us hold the ball more in the attacking third. Instead, we went for Nani, and I thought neither Martinelli or Nani impressed me.

55:33But I mean, I think between them, they had one shot. The Martinelli shot from the edge of the box. He didn't really catch. One shot. I think no chances created. No dribbles completed. it just was a passenger kind of game for both of them largely.

55:48Elliot:Yeah, so when the team was announced, I was thinking, I hope he plays better. We're okay to go back to that ground. He want to prove himself. By the way, they were up for going after him, I'll just say. They were kicking him. They were pushing him. They were booing him. It must have been a rough return. Yeah, it was a rough return for him. I wanted him to start, but actually I agreed with him not starting because he would have been a focal point, which would have not been great for the flow of the game. In the end, there was many more issues around flow anyway. I felt he was fitter than Martinelli when I saw him against Bayern.

56:24Elliot:And I don't think Martinelli's sharp at the moment at all. And so the left-hand side was a bit more of a challenge for us. I think without Odegaard, we relied a lot on Leo's technical security. So the closest to Leo is Eze, hence I know why you're thought out there. but you're Eze moving out to the left a good Eze moving to the left maybe he's in our best 11 but he wasn't a good Eze on this day and he looked like somebody that was really carrying a suitcase behind him right so and that's the case and that's fine getting off the pitch this is the thing what we can do this year we watched Odegaard play for months when he wasn't right and we just played him because we had no one else we had a 17 year old and that was it now when Eze has a bad day he just comes off the pitch you don't agree with the substitution that's fine but we can make that change now do you see what i mean we can make that change i know the guard that's sharp starts this game we're not even discussing it and as they place left and we're fine but he's not sharp i don't know how many games he's played this season he's only had three injuries you know and it's just december the 1st today right so three serious you know decent injuries and so he's not the player we you know he's lost his pre-season now because it's all gone all the benefit from that's gone you know so um so we have to wait so we have these ideas in our head but it's about the condition of the players this is what we struggled with at the end of last season was not the players of the pitch it was their condition post-operations and things like that they weren't able to be themselves and so yeah our left-hand side was Paul Martinelli was the wrong player for this day we needed something else but why did we pick him on the right-hand side they have James they have Gusteau these are proper runners and I can imagine a manager thinking you know i need to manage that space you know they have estival that's in the papers you know flying and with netto out there i need to manage this space you know much like they had netto on the left why do you think they had him on the left to manage but kaya saka sometimes you put a player in a position to stop something else happening you know and eze is a wonderful player but he's not going to track those level of athletes down the left hand side of our pitch you know but once the game changed i wish we had a fresh air day to move to the left to give us that control that trossard has given us odegaard on the pitch zacker on the pitch timber driving through as technical players on the pitch that can manage the ball and then stop the transitions but we didn't you know we went another way and that's where we were at the end of a hard week that's where we were yeah i mean ultimately the frustration is you wind up with the second half where we had 70 of the ball but i think it was six shots to six in the second half we had one expected goal in the second half they had half an expected goal which is a lot more than you want to give up under those circumstances and just a lot more even than you wanted it to feel and i do think when the game ended i was torn between because i know a lot of people were very mad about it just being four minutes and i don't know where he came up with four minutes other than like anthony taylor wanted off that pitch as quickly as possible before he had to make a big decision shocking that one if it said eight i would have said yeah that's about right yeah seriously to get four was like just ridiculous yeah ball and play i think was 27 minutes or something like that it was very stop start and so that was ridiculous i i will say sometime around probably the 80th minute i found myself thinking i'd probably take the point now i was as nervous about getting chinned as i was about chinning them um because it just was never a period of really clear dominance or control and one thing that must have driven michael arteta nuts assuming Calafiore isn't injured.

59:54He took him off because he's on a yellow and he just didn't want to have to manage that insecurity. And then eight minutes into the second half, Miles has to barge somebody because he gets caught a little too high, a little too central. And that's how he breaks up a counter and he gets a yellow. I do think part of Miles' development is just learning how not to get caught in those positions. Sometimes I do think the vulnerability of the ball over the top of his head, and we saw it obviously against Byron as well, can be a problem for him. And I just don't think that this was a great week for him, but he's very rusty and he hasn't played much.

1:00:28I don't want to kick him while he's down by any means, but it didn't add to that level of comfort and control we were looking for, his performance.

1:00:35Elliot:Yeah, well, there was a number of transition bookings in this game. Submany got done, Carafioli got done, Mosquera got done, Miles got done. So what's that tell you? That tells you they're good at transitions. They are. And they're fast. So there you go. And I can pick on all of them. I believe they have the most goals or the most threat from high turnovers in the league. They're very good with their transition opportunities and changes of possession. Yeah, they were fast. Let's talk about this. They were fast. And we were on the stretch. We were on the stretch in some of those situations. It's okay for other teams to be good, by the way.

1:01:13Elliot:I thought by a minute, their rotations were unbelievable. we stood off and we looked around and went oh bloody what do we do this but we managed it i thought we managed chelsea really well what frustrated me was that goal the way it came about just from a long boy they didn't craft it they do what we do nick a set piece you know they did it to us and it does bother me a little bit and then they get the kudos from it right so we've got to take it we've got to take it because we do it to other teams you know and it breaks the game open they thought they'd break the game open and we could we took control of the game and just score back 12 minutes later if it was 10 minutes later and so that tells you that told me the levels i still feel within the contract to this game i think we'd have learned i think we'd learn more than them you know they will have a level of confidence about being at the top table now they're getting closer to it you know but i say i think it was talking about missed opportunity for arsehole well 10 men don't mean as much as it used to anymore you know arsehole got a system for 10 men.

1:02:09Elliot:Chelsea have been at 10 men 6-7 times as you said. They're used to it. They're used to being down. And the energy of players today and the fitness of players today and the coaching of players they train for these moments. And so the advantage isn't as big. If anything, the anxiety switches the team with 11 because we are now duty bound to win it. How are we going to manage that anxiety? How patient are we going to stay? I watched Manchester United they lost to Everton on Monday night and Everton had 10 and Manchester United couldn't manage the fact that they were in charge they should win this game and Everton got out of there and Everton then got smashed the next game so it's not as easy as it says and I thought we were fine and if Jokic was allowed to head that ball in the air it would have been the greatest away victory in a long time Timber ironically because he's everywhere all the time is in the one place we didn't need him that time which is in the middle of the box just beyond Santos.

1:03:10Elliot:Everyone's talking about, oh, look at Arsenal's fullbacks. They just get into areas that no one can manage, blah, blah, blah. By the way, just before that, so we're talking about the timber header where he takes it off the head of Yokores from a good in Capier cross from the byline. Just before that on the 87th minute, this wonderful interplay on the edge of the area and Marino got a shot away really well hit down low. it's the one that jokeres slides in and by the way i don't think sanchez gets clattered i don't know he was down for three minutes and then it's four minutes extra time so and i don't think he was clattered the four minutes of extra time is insane like nobody can possibly think that was right but it is what is i think it's coming to a point in sport in football as a whole that the lack of transparency around time just needs to go do you mean because the clock is go to a stop clock then?

1:04:05Elliot:Well, we've got to have something where the time is just transparent, you know, much more transparent. I just think you need to see something stop, you know, so people can't take advantage of certain situations, you know. It's a longer discussion, you know, but whether you go to a, something needs to change. Referee does not need to manage time. You know, the referee gives a shout to say to the fourth official, this is the time, put this on the board. you know that that referee's got enough to be doing someone needs to be managing it for him so he can look at the game so he is not the center point and he can the referee can say look the guy upstairs just told me the clock stopped mate so do what you like if you want do you know i mean you can get up if you want or but the clock stops you know he's got a lot to do i think we just need to take that task off and there's about a million cameras and a million officials around the game now the premier league why is that bloke in the middle got all that to worry about that's just of my view anyway yeah look i mean two 30 minute halves with a stop clock you'd get more football than you're getting currently um or roughly the same i think this was 23 minutes in play or 24 minutes in play first half 27 minutes in play second half so you'd be getting more football those 30 minutes to stop clock the only thing i'll say is first of all there is just a beauty to the way you never know how much stoppage time there's going to be or if the ref's going to let you play just that extra little bit longer to score which can be fun in football it can also would be painful but the other reason i'd be against a stop clock and truly the only reason i'd be against it is you just know once there's a stop clock there's going to be ad breaks there's going to be ad breaks yeah no i watch all that stop clock i just want the referee not to manage the time you know and um yeah because he got that time wrong you know so uh well yeah it was clearly wrong he wanted off that pitch i mean he wanted off that pitch there'd been enough big incidents and look i can be critical of anthony taylor if you want me to pick the bones out of it i will I'm just saying, I think it was an incredibly difficult match for any referee to referee.

1:06:01And I'll say this, there are worse referees who would have done worse with that game than he did. Can we talk about Kyle Saka just for a minute? So Saka does so well to craft the goal. There was a really great moment too, where he got the ball by the byline, our byline, right? By our goal. And Kukurea's trying to take it off him. He just sticks his backside into him, shrugs him off, turns and away we go. and he showed so much strength and composure in key moments to keep the ball. I think we needed more of that, but he was maybe pressing a little bit with some of his chances to try to score, create goals.

1:06:36I just, it's funny because he creates the goal with brilliant elite play. I just think he had two chances fall to him in this game. One when they had a player down and we played on and the other from the Eze moment I told you about, he had three shots inside the box and I just felt that two of them, maybe he can do a little more with that. But overall, he made that critical involvement like he always does. So what do you think of Saka's form and the way he played in this game?

1:07:02Elliot:Yeah, I thought he was our best attacker by a mile. I thought we played into him and they knew we were going to play into him. And they put people around him. I think his decision-making way to come out of there is brilliant. The way he throws his leg in front of the ball to get a foul is brilliant. His experience gets off the floor nicely. He talks to the ref. He's our skipper. he takes our corners I think the only thing you can criticise him he did one under hit one cross and I actually feel he was so determined to beat them that I think he almost kicked the ball too hard on some of those shots and the loss of a bit of control and that was all and I'm here for that right I for the moment he came off against Bayern I knew he was going to play in this game I knew he had to play well because Chelsea they get a lot of emotional boost from stopping him and i felt he was ready and he was determined and i think he played the game really well we can always find a pass or a detail that's off across us off but without him on this day you tell me where our attack was coming from you know because 15 touch mark then he wasn't going to do it for me on this day you know and um and and with our left fullback situation and what we had to do regarding taking people out it wasn't going to happen on that side this day so it's always going to be on the right hand side and and he did it he carried it and he created a goal and um we were unlucky not to get a second goal i know that but i i have that regret still on the on the okres one but without saka i don't know what i'd be watching on this day and that felt very much like last year and i don't want that feeling again you know i don't want that this is why I think, sorry to cut across you, but I think this is the thing that people have to do.

1:08:50You can celebrate squad depth, but don't get it twisted. You need stars to win shit. So when you don't have Saliba and you don't have Gabby, your defensive solidity and your, your sense of composure and calmness and control goes right. When you don't have the players, when you start Mikel Moreno up front, when you don't have Odegaard from the start, when you have to take Calafiori off because of yellow cards. We have to take Zubomendi off for yellow cards. I get there's a frustration about not doing more with a 10 v 11 situation. But to your point, what would we do without Saka? We probably lose the game.

1:09:27But that's why you have to have the elite talent. If we don't have Declan Rice out there, we probably lose the game. So at some point, and maybe we're getting there, like it's incredible that we are where we are in both the Champions League and the league. But at some point, the injury situation has to resolve because you can only walk this tight rope so long. You know, we all acknowledge last season the injuries cost us having any kind of season we really wanted to have. But that can happen again even with depth. You know what I'm saying?

1:09:58Elliot:Yeah, it can do if it happens at the wrong time. And, you know, when this week was lined up, you know, Chelsea, Spurs, and Bayern Munich, we all had this week lined up in our minds. Then we have the international break and then we see Gabriel go down. Flipping hell. This is a massive week. How are you going to get by without him? You know? But we managed to win the first two games. And not just manage it, but we're top of the charts. Everyone's looking at us thinking, what? Gabriel's just forgotten about. Do you know what I mean? It's completely. Because we won the games. And now we go to the last game without Sliver and Gabriel.

1:10:30Elliot:And we haven't quite won it. But we haven't lost it. You know? And that's really important. You know? We haven't lost it. I think we've left. You know, we haven't lost it. And by the way, I don't think we look like losing the game. If you can't win it, don't lose it. That's always, you know, in a game like that, that's the key. We didn't look like losing a game. And so they haven't beaten us for eight years. They're the ones that are going to be thinking, man, we missed a chance there. We missed a chance. And so, yeah, I'm okay with it. As long as we develop our thought process, no, develop our thought process, let's get people back in good condition.

1:11:08Elliot:You know, we chatted last week about this, and there's potentially a friendly game coming up. and we have a number of players without any minutes and I think as a club, if we're going to have these quite big squads, not just us, how the teams are going to follow next year because the game is so attritional and the sprints intensity has gone up through the roof, if not the amount of games that I played years ago, but the intensity of running has gone up through the roof and everyone's getting injuries. Maybe we're towards the top end of the charts, but everyone's getting injuries and we're playing a lot of intense games.

1:11:39Elliot:The Champions League has changed. There's no gimmies in those competitions anymore. those one in probably january for us there's no gimmies in that competition so you have to play have to play intense and we're losing a few losing a few too many in training if you ask me but we're losing a few you know and um and so we have to keep these players active so they have a chance to do well on the pitch and using friendly the night sounds crazy the answer to football and too many games is bigger squads you know what you're gonna have to do play a couple more games to keep those bigger squads in shape to play in the games that really, really matter.

1:12:13Elliot:And that could be the answer going forward. I mean, Ethan played in the behind-closed-doors game that Gabriel Jesus played in because he wanted minutes. I mean, you're just going to have situations like that. And how great is it to see him back on a bench? But I would say the other thing, the last point I'll make about the sub situation, I don't know that they worked it under their right, but to me, you know, if I look at it from a Kale standpoint, you want to get a goal and you're up 10 v 11. And you've got Yokores and you've got Nani, right? you've got these attackers on the bench that are just bad it makes sense to use the attackers I just think the game cried out for a little more on ball solidity so I think it's a good point and I would say this I recognize that anytime you play an hour 10 v 11 you'd like to get more than that I do think if you told people in August we'd be going to the second place team away with no Jokeresh no Kai no Odegaard from the start no Gabby no Saliba there'd be a lot of it you know anxiety around that.

1:13:07I think we managed it okay. But the other thing that I think is worth considering is what kind of a league we're in. Because one point never feels good in a league where you have a hundred point city chasing you. Right now, I don't think that's the case. Manchester City lost at St. James' Park. Then they went home to face Leeds after losing in midweek. and at 2-0 up versus Leeds, they gave it away to 2-2 and needed a stoppage time winner to get a home win over Leeds. Maybe this is going to be a really tight, nervy title race. It very easily and probably could be, but we are not being chased by the Manchester City that is in our minds, at least not at this stage.

1:13:52Chelsea, to me, you know, they're scrappy, they're scruffy. That's not a team that I believe is ready to win a title and I don't see anyone else that's ready to step into that level. So Clive, it may be there's a little more parity in the Premier League and that much like last season with Liverpool, you don't just win the title with 86 points, you win the title comfortably with 86 points. I mean, that's the thing people seem to forget is that the league was won last season by a Liverpool that we don't even think was really that good with 84 points and they were 10 points clear. 84 points to walk in the park for this arsenal if you ask me i think we can get there very easily and you look at what we need to do it it's like we could draw and lose four five six seven games so i think does the point look good in context not just of the circumstances where we were in the game we had an offer but what this league looks like and at least right now the fact that nobody looks particularly devastating in their pursuit of us yeah i think there's a there's

1:15:01Elliot:issue let's take the top let's take little pool city arsehole really uh i think chelsea are are coming forth and due to their ages we know they're they're coming they can't they what they're they're coming similar to that it's just a matter of when right so um and how much they spend what they've spent historically last two three years they're gonna hit the top level soon they're going to hit gold if you keep getting these young players right so Liverpool they haven't reached their final form yet so Salah didn't play at the weekend the first day's best game as he would do when Salah wasn't there which is perfect timing for him some people call him a really bad signing some people say he's the best player in their club and and really and Isaac if you give him the ball he can do things if he starts hitting top corners we're going to get the heebie-jeebies right because he's a good player right so but they're not in their final form they haven't found their balance right so man city now doku had a hot moment foden's he's he's getting a little bit hot and harlan goal of game guy right so if if they can hold it together they've got players that can that could do things players like marmoosh to come in and if they were to go and buy some ennio in january then they've got another power surge right so and so but they haven't hit their final form The good thing is, that Arsenal haven't hit their final form.

1:16:19Elliot:So we have things to consider. We have major pillars in this team that have barely played this season. Kai Havertz, for example, in my mind, he was our number one centre forward. We haven't seen him. Jokwes has come in, done quite well. I wonder what Arsenal have done with him while he's been out, as he's been recovered from injury, while he's been doing a mini pre-season. I know what I would do. I would have had him in a mini pre-season. I expect him to hit the ground real quick soon. So we've got Martin Odegaard coming in. and you know I love my LeBron James. He plays for the Lakers. He's not the main player anymore.

1:16:48They've got a couple of other players in Luka and Austin Reeves

1:16:53Elliot:and basically he has to find a way to integrate into that team. And I look at Martin Odegaard and while he's been out, other players have stepped up and he no longer has to control the attack, the press, the middle of the pitch, take the ball off the back four and sweep the dressing rooms. he no longer has to do that anymore so how is he going to integrate into this team and what is the final form of Arsenal going to look like because we haven't seen it we're not close all these people giving us flowers right now trust me this isn't the team yet that balance will discover the first level will present itself in the months that matter long as we're in condition and so I do think whatever's happening at the moment we have a five-point cushion but none of these teams are ready they're not complete they're not in the right place they're not in the right state of health they're not in the right state of technical cohesion there isn't a balance there we are the most balanced because our floor is higher than all of them you know and the good thing is that we've got a really tough schedule city haven't played chelsea yet at all i don't think um i don't think chelsea have played newcastle yet this season i'm not sure but they've got some tough games to play to their start as being a little bit soft and we're still where we are and we still have got so many more layers to bring in you know so that's going to be it for me it's going to be decided when the teams reach their final form how strong are they and can they overcome the events of injuries which are uncontrollable we've done it i'm tired of it but we've done it you know um just give me sacro and phil we win just give me sliver at this game I think we win.

1:18:33Elliot:Do you see what I mean? It just feels a little bit like that at the moment. But we're not getting beat too often. We haven't been beating for 17 games, whatever it is, since the Anfield game, in any competition. So you've just got to keep rolling. It's your point, by the way. Chelsea have Newcastle twice still. They have Manchester City twice still. They have Liverpool away. So they've got some tests. They still have Villa away. They still have Arsenal away, importantly. Chelsea are not the title contenders. I think, by the way, we should note, that's now Stamford Bridge done, Old Trafford done, Anfield done, St.

1:19:13James' Park done, and after next weekend, Villa Park done. In terms of away trips that might worry you, that leaves the Etihad. And if you want to throw it in there, Tottenham, because it's just, you know, it's such a big fixture.

1:19:26Elliot:That's our home game for us now. Okay, so then we won't include it. So after next weekend, the scary away trip left is the Eddie Head. And the Emirates, I feel pretty good about what we do there. I feel pretty damn good. And if we are leading the league and as the season wears on, I think the Emirates crowd is just going to get feistier and feistier and more and more supportive. So, yeah, I just look at the teams that are there, the players we have coming back, and what we can manage and our ability to navigate this season based on what's chasing us. If Liverpool can win a title with 84 points, 10 clear, I think this Arsenal team can go on and do it.

1:20:09And for that reason, I think this winds up feeling like a pretty reasonable draw. I guess we should just quickly say we have Brentford midweek. It's at home and then it's Villa Park away. If you even blink an eye in the Premier League, you can have an accident. Like that's just how it works. And Brentford are a good team, although they have not been a particularly good team on their travels. Let's just look at that together for a second. So Brentford at home played seven, five wins, one draw, one loss, 15-4, eight against plus seven. On their travels, one win, four, one win, zero draws, five losses, six goals scored, 12 goals conceded, minus six.

1:20:56Now, interestingly, their expected goal difference on their travels is plus 1.4. So a really weird underperformance situation that they've had in those situations. But you look, they've lost a way to Brighton. They've lost a way to Palace. They've lost a way to Fulham. They've lost a way to Sunderland. They've lost a way to start the season at a terrible Nottingham Forest team. So they have not been particularly effective on their travels. They do have I think an interesting group up front by the way with Igor Tiago. Damsgaard is good. Shada is good. I feel like I'm forgetting someone off one of their wings too who is also pretty good.

1:21:39Otara, yeah. Django Otara I think is pretty good also. So they can cause some problems there. Look, Declan Rice is playing a lot. Do you take a risk? With something else here? Can you play the Zubamendi-Odegaard as a lineup here to give Declan Rice a rest? Is Jokeres ready to play from the start? How are you thinking about this? Can you roll out in Capier and Mascara again to give Saliba just that extra little time for Villa Park? The big decisions Mikel has to make, Clive, are all around keeping players fit without overlooking what Brentford can do on Wednesday.

1:22:17Elliot:Yeah, a couple of things. I mean, I think it could be a Zubmendi-Morino day in midfield, by the way. I think that would be a good thing to do. Marino seems to be really robust, and I think he does well with Zubmendi in there. And they know each other, so I wouldn't mind seeing that. I think the key, one player I would like to see, actually, in this game is Ben White. I thought he came on against Bayern, and that's the first time I've seen him this season. I thought, oh, you're looking back to your sprightly self. And the game didn't quite call for him. and it does show me a little bit sometimes.

1:22:49Elliot:A couple of years ago, if we lose Saliba, the very first person that comes into that position is Ben White. Why? Because he's good on the ball. You know, he's good on the ball. He controls it. He's a ball-playing centre-back. But he's now deemed as a right-back, and he hasn't enough minutes. If he was fitter and better, maybe he played his game. So I'd like to see him get reintegrated in some way. And Timber, he's just playing out of his skin. He's so abrasive, and he's in the action. He's almost like an attacker and a defender, and he's everywhere. We know Arsenal players now. We know what comes next when that happens.

1:23:26Elliot:So an injury happens. And so we need to stop that for its start, because I do think Villa's important. We had the Newcastle away win, and we haven't had a good one for a while away from home. The Sunderland and the Chelsea game are just in my mind a little bit. The Villa game is really there for me. 12 30 we got to go there with with full power you know and um and we're at home and what you know sometimes when people laugh at arteta for getting the home crowd connected and all the things that we do with the fireworks and everything like that it makes a difference it really does the last two games have been amazing you know amazing events amazing games really well managed by the club and by the fan base with the TIFO and everything like that.

1:24:10Elliot:It's been unbelievably exciting. Not every game can be like that, I understand. But we have a role to play at home for definite. And we've got to make sure we're right behind the team. Because I thought Chelsea fans were right behind their team yesterday and made it a hostile environment. And it made it difficult for the referee, it made it difficult for us. And that's part of the game. That's part of the league that we're in. You know, people are not going to lie down and let us just knock it about and get the ball to sack and give him five yards to turn around. It's not going to happen. they're going to be right up behind him and pushing him into the crowd and pushing him into the dugout.

1:24:42Elliot:That's what they're going to do. And then, so, so yeah, we got to make sure we do our job on Wednesday night and, um, sort Brentford out because Saturday morning, two wins earlier this week, goes into Bruges and then Bruges can be whatever we want it to be, you know? And then we got wolves. Well, it better be good because I'm going to be there. So, so listen, no rotation for that game or the wolves game. Yeah. Wolves again. I'm not going to see any first choice play, any, any starters. in the two games I go to. If you can come out, you know, next three league games, win them. But what will happen is, if you do win the next three league games, we're going to have a lot of players active.

1:25:17Elliot:And that means they're usable. And that's the key thing for me. The key thing when it comes to Christmas time. Yeah. I will tell you, by the way, that Igor Tiago, and I haven't been able to find an update on this, he did leave the game in stoppage time with some kind of leg injury in their last game. Good player. And he went right down the tunnel. Now, I don't know. I mean, look, it was 90 plus one, so you'd go down the tunnel because the game's over. But there's been no update on it. I would just say that if he's even slightly wounded, this is where I want us to become the new Manchester City because Brentford have Arsenal away, Tottenham away.

1:26:00And if you're the Brentford manager and Igor Tiago's even a little bit of a risk, which game do you think you can win? Which game do you think you can win? Do you risk him for Arsenal? Or do you not risk him for Arsenal because you know you can go win at Spurs? Because that's what team, Clive, that's what teams used to do to City. They used to say, I'm not risking my guys. Let's roll over and get our tummy tickled here because we think the next game's a better chance for points. And I want to see teams starting to make those kind of decisions for us. So the midweek games, I mean, I would just say, City going to Fulham, given what they just showed at Leeds, it's not a walk in the park.

1:26:41Although I wasn't particularly impressed with Fulham in their win over Tottenham. If I can say that they went to Spurs and they didn't really batter them as much as they should have. But yeah, so they're coming off a win over Tottenham. They host City. It's a chance. It's a chance. But this is obviously a game where we need all three points with Villa Park coming up at the weekend because then City hosts Sunderland. Not an easy game, but probably one where you'd expect them to get the points. Chelsea, go to Bournemouth at the weekend without Caicedo. Although they have – who do they have midweek?

1:27:16They're at Leeds midweek. So we'll see. But for me –

1:27:19Elliot:Chelsea-Leeds is a hot game. Trust me, historically and the fan bases, not fans of each other. And going away to Bournemouth, it's not easy, mate. It's not easy. So we'll see. Well, we'll see. Look, the most important thing, I think, for midweek, obviously, aside from the three points, is that we're starting to get players back, and Mikel should use the squad and be ready for Villa Park because that's not necessarily the best place for us to go in general. Look, they're on a great run. I'm not super impressed by them. But the one thing we can't do, we can't look past it because if we were to look past Brentford, then that would make this...

1:27:53Clive, what would that make this? A trap game. A trap game. That's exactly what it would make. It would make it a trap game. I wish Paul was on the pod so I could explain that to him, but he's not. It's a trap game. Don't get trapped. Don't look past it. We've got to be loud at the Emirates, and we've got to get the three points against Brentford, which, by the way, I think we can do. And obviously, if we get the three points against Brentford, and depending on what happens midweek, again, a point at Chelsea could wind up looking really, really good. It is important to remember that between Leeds and Newcastle for City and Spurs and Chelsea away for Arsenal, we have gained a point on City over that time.

1:28:29So good context there. Excited to see some players come back. Excited to see what we can do midweek. Excited to chat with Clive and Tim and Paul and Phil and Scott and all the guys about the Arsenal as we carry on. We'll have something on Patreon tomorrow. But you know what? I'm not totally sure what it is. So, you know, we'll all learn about that together. Probably going to be the countdown though. Okay. Clive, thank you very much.

1:28:52Elliot:Thank you very much. Thank you very much. No, thank you very much. We hope you're doing great, everybody. we hope you're doing so well we hope you're not rolling around holding your ankle trying to get out of responsibilities because that doesn't work whatever you do be good be good to yourself be good to others we love you and we will talk to you after Arsenal's hand Bradford Hill

1:29:27Martyr II Casting No Feast