Can Arsenal Win at Anfield, and the Champions League Draw

39:05And we're going to come at you with that. And we might not necessarily want to dominate the ball. We might do it like in broken plays. so and and Calafuri I think in broken play is really really strong but largely I mean I how shocked would I be if it was like Timber at left back not shocked but surprised I I think generally what managers do is they go with their guys but like I say maybe you know because Calafuri is not a bad defender it's not like he's not Zinchenko you know it's not like if Salah gets him one at least listen Salah can beat anyone one-on-one but I wouldn't necessarily look at Califuri and go oh he can't do it one-on-one the issue is not him as a defender it's where is he because we ask him to do certain things which we ask all of our left backs to do there's always like that's always a bit of a wild card for us so I just I just still expect it to be Califuri maybe with Rice a little bit more tucked in and particularly if you've got Ezza on the left who I think is going to be more of a threat than probably martin i mean trossard's a different type of threat arriving in the box but i mean running with the ball going past you and curling one in the bottom corner as is a much bigger threat at that than than either martinelli or trossard at the moment so yeah i i i expect us to to kind of do that but i am with you phil on if i do think hudegaard will probably be fit but if he's not i do think it will be marino um actually at least to kind of start the game and particularly with their kind of issues of set piece defending and we don't have Havertz then I think Marino's probably quite a good analog for that actually.

40:49Elliot's fuming about that by the way I can I can see the smoke just coming out of his ears yeah. I have no opinion on it whatsoever. Yeah so I mean unless you've got anything else to add we can segue to some ads because otherwise I'll be on the naughty step if we go too long So Elliot, if you want to take it away from here. Phil, you're doing a bang up job in the hosting chair. I can't lie, but leave this to me because if you want to watch all the hysterical memes and reactions that are geo-locked and Jamie Carragher having a meltdown after the game, after Liverpool have lost at Anfield, and then you click and everyone's going, you've got to see this video.

41:27And you click and it says not available in your area. What is if you have NordVPN? NordVPN's VPN, you put it on your computer, you put it on your iPad or your Android tablet or your phone, whatever phone you have. it's just an app you say i want to browse in this region and boom now you can watch that video of jamie carriker saying some absolute nonsense about why it was unfair that they lost even though they lost 10 nil so uh it is going to allow you to watch things that are not available in your area it is going to allow you to sign up for streaming services that might be less expensive when you sign up in another area or even watch shows that haven't come out in your region yet plus it has threat protection so get nordvpn we're going to give you a really good value a discount off the normal NordVPN plan, plus four months on top and 30 days risk-free.

42:07So, NordVPN.com slash Arsenal Vision. That's NordVPN.com slash Arsenal Vision. NordVPN.com slash Arsenal Vision. Do it now. And also, this is a paid advertisement for BetterHelp. BetterHelp isn't online therapy. It's therapy that happens to be online. And no matter how many times I say it, it will continue to be true. Therapy is important. And everyone who has the opportunity should engage in therapy. We should regard it as being part of a healthy lifestyle, the same way we do eating right or exercising. right? This is something that can help you overcome challenges in your life professionally, personally, to get rid of that thing that's just stuck in your head, tearing away at you.

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43:14Talk it out with BetterHelp. Our listeners get 10 % off their first month at betterhelp.com. That's betterhelp.com. And last but certainly not least, do you have something to sell? Art? Maybe it's something you make. Maybe it's baked goods. Maybe it's merchandise, whatever it is. The key to having an ability to succeed at the business you want to start is that when someone wants to buy the things you have, they know where to find you and what they find is a professional looking e-commerce site. Shopify lets you build something that looks like a Fortune 500 company e-commerce site, but without needing to know how to do any code, without having to have any specific business acumen, knowing what cart optimization is or shipping or taxes or any of that stuff.

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44:27Go to Shopify.com slash Arsenal Vision, all lowercase to start selling on Shopify today. That's Shopify.com slash Arsenal Vision. Do you know, Phil? Indeed.

44:38And breathe. We're back. It's incredible. I mean, I can't do that. So fair play. I think you need to be American to do that. Should you be able to do that? Should anyone do that? I don't know. Yeah, definitely not. So yeah, thanks for that. And should we go on to some transfers? The real stuff that people care about? forget Anfield forget Noni Madueke doing bits at Anfield I gotta stop you you're not gonna you're not gonna make us go on record with what we're expecting from like at least some kind of prediction you're not gonna make us oh well I was gonna I was gonna wait until the end but if you want to go now okay no no no no no no no my bad my bad see there's overstepping overstepping you know what let's do it now Elliot I'm gonna I'm gonna put you on the spot first how many goals are we winning by on Sunday I have to learn to trust the younger generation Phil have to learn to put some faith in the younger generation here.

45:26You know what you're doing. How many goals are we going to win by? 10-0, obviously, but... I am torn between 2-2 and 2-1 Arsenal. I don't see us keeping a clean sheet at Anfield. But obviously, I mean, Liverpool have just shown that they don't have that defensive resilience this year. I'm going to say we manage a 2-1 win. It's time to win at Anfield. I think we have the right players to hurt them. We have the right depth to overcome the injuries. I think they have some critical injuries that are going to be hard for them to recover from. And given their defensive frailty of late, I think if we can get a goal early, especially, or relatively early, I think there might be some insecurity there, some frailty that we can expose.

46:13So I'll say 2-1 Arsenal. Okay, 2-1 Elliot's going 2-1. Tim, how are you seeing this one? Yeah, I think 2-1 Arsenal. I think it's time. I think we've got the tools to hurt them. And I think it's just overdue. I think last season we shouldn't have won there because we were horrible in the first half and good in the second. But two seasons ago, I really think we should have won there, actually. And, you know, things, well, they would have turned out very differently, had we, because we literally lost the league by two points. But, yeah, I just think it's time. and I think we've got the players to do it.

46:54Interesting. I'm going to go to all. I think we're going to play really well and make chances and look the best that we have for a long time but I just feel like at home they'll find a way to score a couple even though I know we're the best defensive team in the league, which is fine. I'd take a point and I'm not saying that we can't win. It's just how I'm seeing the game. So mostly positive. mostly positive considering we've got three to four injuries and to key players as well so i think that's a really good thing um but yeah we'll get some other predictions from clive obviously on friday night clive um he'll have he'll have words of wisdom for us and tell us that everything's okay um so yeah transfers let's get on to transfers because obviously the window is still open things are happening arsenal are keeping busy obviously we had the the ezra stuff last week how has it only been a week i feel like a million things have happened since then um but as i said the window is still open we've been linked with piero in capier from by leverkusen who also used the spurs rescue hotline so it's a credit for him um it's a it's a very dangerous time at the moment spurs loitering around we might have to rescue xavi simmons as well but you can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved i mean yakub kivior looks like he's going to porto there were whispers of reese nelson going to crystal palace i think there'll be some other departures to sort out as well loans for young players and maybe others who couldn't snag permanent deals Tim I'm going to start with you again Elliot Sting has been asked has been to ask how people rate the transfer window out of 10 but I think at this point I don't know if people can stomach another 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 debate so I'll just ask you instead take me through things from your perspective how you're feeling about the additions we've made so far and whether you expected us to go this big because it's not really very Arsenal doing what we've done this summer, but it's been quite a, you know, we're here, we're here and we're there and everything's on the table.

48:50And I think Arteta has kind of been so scarred by last year that we will never, we will never suffer at the hands of an injury again. So that's kind of what it feels like to me. Yeah. I think what you can see and what we're getting to know about Arteta now is if there's like, if there's a weakness from the season like he the sledgehammer comes out for that walnut you know um it's like you know in 2022 23 when we challenged you know quite well but maybe we're a bit open it was like right Declan Rice is coming in four center backs like that's not happening again and one of the thing I'm really pleased about is I think 90 % injuries wrecked last season and listen we're saying wrecked we finished second and got to the Champions League semi-final and that's wrecked right and I think sometimes we lose that perspective that we're still very very good and actually coped pretty well in the circumstances but what I really hoped is that Arteta and Arsenal didn't just sit there and go well it was injuries what can you do what they've done this time is go okay well let's make sure a let's make that less likely with a much bigger squad and b if it happens again let's make sure we're much let's assume the worst basically and i'm really really pleased with that like there isn't a signing i'm dubious about or not pleased with that's not to say like i think that like generally speaking it's very unlikely that they're all going to be absolutely amazing signings but we haven't made many duds I don't think there'll be any of those particularly but like some of the depth signings I really like as well and we got that business done very early as well like Mascara, Kepa you know and Norgard I think they all make us stronger than we were last year Zubamendi's such like that that one keeps getting lost in the kind of fog like I think that's such an important one for us a massive upgrade i think on on thomas parte um and jorginho as well and obviously the the as a side i think you know i think everyone had that same feeling about madueke which is like like it but if that's it that's a different context but i think and different people reacted to that differently some people thought that and expressed it in a fairly conservative way some people went to the stadium with a tin of paint and like probably probably even some matches they probably got talked out of doing that like you know the the range of reactions was very extreme but i think most people had that feeling in some way and now it's like oh maduaki plus eze yeah that's really good um like i said the only thing that's and and this maybe like a little bit of Stockholm syndrome because we never quite go that extra mile I am a little bit concerned isn't the right word that's overstating it but when I heard like Kivio is going to go to Porto I thought okay yes like you know fair enough like he's at an age where he needs to play we've got a good player that we've kind of turned into a sellable asset if you want to Chelsea it up a little bit and disregard the fact that he's a human person but first of all, how on earth have we got, like we've got one player who's really sellable, good age, not a massive wage, and he doesn't want to play in the Premier League.

52:25Like we've got this unicorn player. It's like we finally got a really sellable player and it's like, no, no, actually I don't like London or the Premier League. And actually I want to earn less money by going to Portugal. It's like, what are you doing, man? How have we ended up in this situation? but I kind of thought okay yeah Mosquera Mosquera's our Tommy Asu can play at least three positions across that back line and I kind of think seven defenders when a few of them are very versatile is kind of enough I do fear a little bit it's such a fine balance between being deep and just having a little bit of redundancy and I've really seen this I've really seen this on side actually where they veered between the two and what tends to happen when you're really really deep this might be famous last words you actually don't get many injuries so you get far fewer and then you've got people who are just sitting around doing nothing and I'm a little bit concerned that it's like one too many I would have been happy Selkivior for a good price shake his hand say thank you very much we've got seven really good defenders and you know yeah look maybe the worst happens and we get four defensive injuries and we're really unlucky again I kind of think there has to come a point where you're a bit like if that happens the season's screwed anyway um and and just avoiding that redundancy so just that last little bit is is it's eating me a little bit but obviously like in terms of grading the window there's sales as well I think we all understand there are reasons that Nelson Vieira Zinchenko none of that was going to shake out before the last week of the window look at clubs like Palace, Fulham, West Ham who've done basically nothing like you know hopefully those will all shake out I am quite glad though that Arsenal and they're probably going to lose even more money on some of those deals because we're so stacked and everyone knows we have to sell but I am quite glad that Arsenal have gone screw it if we lose a couple of million on each of those players let's make sure we have what we need and if we lose seven or eight million in the process fair enough so largely really really pleased um it's it's one of i can't ever remember a window where i'm looking at our squad and thinking i can't see anything glaring um and i like pretty much all of our players so yeah i mean i can't really complain it's a big dog move isn't it because you sort your own interests first and then you deal with the rest afterwards and i know elliot you've been speaking about this recently in a couple of podcasts about, oh, Arsenal are still bad sellers.

55:05We can't get X out of the club, Sambi's in Chenko, blah, blah, blah. But ultimately it hasn't prevented us from doing the business that we'd like to do. So does it really matter in the end? Obviously it's good for the balance sheet. Obviously it's good for the books, but do you feel slightly different about it now knowing that we've done what we wanted to do and that sales don't seem to be mattering so much anymore. Yeah, look, what I care most about is that Arsenal builds the best possible squad capable of competing at the top for the longest period of time and continues to be able to do that.

55:38We've done it. Selling to say we're good at selling is not the goal. The goal is to build the best possible squad. Now, we all, most of us, I think, learned some very painful lessons during the period of joint ownership where, you know, the KSE didn't have complete control and the Emirates era where we, you know, net spend had to be roughly zero every year. So, yeah, I cared about selling and selling well a lot because previously our ability to sell well directly dictated what we could bring in. But if that's not the case, then I don't give a flying fuck about what we sell. Like, who cares? You know, I mean, obviously PSR and SCC, like squad cost control for UEFA matter.

56:23As long as we're within that, I could not give a shit. I mean, if Kivior should have been 33 million, but we're only getting 25, like who cares? I used to care a lot because that might be the difference between getting the forward we needed and not, but we got everything we needed. So at least for right now and until something materially changes, I think you need to be able to sell for a few reasons. I think you want to stay within those PSR and SEC regulations and be compliant. I don't think you want unhappy players sitting around at the club not making matchday squads. I don't think that's good in general.

56:54I do think that eventually selling well will have some impact on what we spend. I don't think KSE will endlessly fund us the way they have this summer. But for right now, I just don't have the energy to be animated about it. I mean, will there be a time where we look back and say not selling well meant that we didn't continue the cycle of renewal and injection of capital that we needed, maybe. But for right now, it just feels, it feels like looking for a reason to be annoyed to care about the sales, if that makes sense. Because the squad is as complete as I've ever seen it. So I have absolutely no particular time for or energy for getting worked up about sales and what we recouped for players.

57:34I also think people just fundamentally don't understand the dynamics of the market in the sense that if you give a player$100 ,000 a week at Arsenal, that's a backup wage. You go onto the continent, there might be 10 clubs that pay$100 ,000 a week, period, to anyone. And the rest of them don't even pay. If that. I know it sounds nuts, but so the minute you put someone on a wage that feels like a backup wage at Arsenal, not only is it going to be hard to get a fee for them, a lot of clubs just can't even pay them that full stop. Where's Zinchenko going? Who can pay his wage? You want to sell Martinelli to like a mid-table Bundesliga club or something for$50 million?

58:07They can't pay him$180 ,000 a week. So it's just a simple reality that why can Kwanzaa command the price he does, in part because he doesn't make anything. You know, so unless a giant comes in for your players, that's going to have an impact too. So again, we could get in the dynamics of buying and selling, and could we be better at it? But it feels like nitpicking in a summer when we've done all the business you could possibly want the club to do to fully safeguard the season ahead and fully build out a roster of incredibly talented players across every position, across all the age ranges you'd want, to have a clear path to succeeding for every trophy that we're involved in.

58:45So, I mean, you know, look, maybe I've gone a bit big here, but I guess what I'm saying is that I am over the moon with what we've done this summer, even down to the fact that the last sort of big fun signing, not the Hincapier one, we did a Hincapier scouting video, by the way, I think he looks great. Eze isn't just the piece we were missing. He's also the vibes. And I love that we got a player who feels like he fits that little bit of fantasy we haven't had in that zone, but also is a player that can inspire that kind of reaction at the Emirates. You know, it's just a beautiful thing. So yeah, Phil, this is a window unlike any of us have ever experienced.

59:26But more than that, it's a squad unlike any we've ever experienced. and I'm very, very excited to see how far it can go in every competition. I think my slight pushback on the not selling well and what impact that has, I think that was seen last summer, maybe in January, maybe if we'd sold better. And one of the reasons this window's been so busy is because, let's face it, we didn't do what we needed to do last summer. And last summer was our PSR summer sell to buy type thing, when actually we did sell pretty well last summer to be fair like smithrow and ketia we had some we had a couple of good players there who were attractive to sell ramsdale ramsdale as well yeah yeah yeah so like three fairly young english players basically um two of whom were from our academy so shops pure profit etc etc but you know perhaps if we had a slightly better history of selling we wouldn't have had um kind of summers like that and and in some respect we're playing catch up because we didn't do what we needed to do in in in those kind of windows so that I get I guess that would be I say push back um but at the same time what as we've discussed before earlier selling doesn't happen in isolation I think what we're doing now a bit like with Smith Rohn and Ketia we're pushing the level of the squad up and when you do that you'll have better players to sell um I am a little bit surprised I have to say that Martinelli is just doesn't seem to have had any interest from anywhere i am quite surprised about that like maybe something will materialize in the last week but to me that's the kind of like okay martinelli might be getting pushed out here a little bit and we can sell him for good money but for some reason we can't which does strike me as slightly odd but um yeah i do think it is something we're going to have to do slightly better but i i'm i'm with you in terms of like it's not like the central tenet of my emotion at the moment i think it's a it's a marginal gain um i think as much as anything yeah i just want to come back across that if you don't mind on two things just yeah i agree with a lot of that tim one thing i'll just say with regard to last summer it was such a quiet summer from the big clubs in general and i don't know what happened there but there may be some market forces or some variable that we're not as clued into as to why we've seen more activity from big clubs this summer on incomings than last summer the other thing i'll Yeah.

1:01:53Yeah. Yeah. The other thing I'll say is obviously the director of football changed. And so we don't know how much that influences thing. Just we basically didn't have one in January. And last summer we had one who maybe was checked out or being marginalized or couldn't get on the same page with the group overall. And that may have had an influence. So difficult to know what to wait in terms of why things have shaken out the way they have. I think the other thing as well is that I'm a little bit cognizant of that I think fans should ready themselves for is that January, like if we have to do anything in January, we'll have like the worst injury crisis ever encountered in football, quite frankly.

1:02:32And that probably kind of goes for next summer as well. And one of the things that Liverpool do really well, Liverpool had a quiet summer last year, but this year, Eketike, Izak, we can get them, we go get them type thing. One of the things that Liverpool have done very well, and I think this is part of why they sold reasonably well, is Liverpool look at the player. They don't just go and buy anyone. So when they didn't get Zubimendi last summer, they haven't signed anyone for that position since because they wanted Zubimendi. It wasn't like, oh, we haven't got him, we must get. They don't create as much redundancy, I don't think.

1:03:08and I think that's a good path to follow. They've shown that. And I think for people who are addicted to transfers and stuff like that, I think something will have gone very, very wrong if January and next summer aren't pretty quiet. I think this kind of has to be our squad now for the next couple of years and maybe those ones who kind of fall off like lemmings, as it were, moving out and hopefully generating some income from those guys so that when we do have to dip back in maybe you know in 18 months time we have to go big on a position or something that we'll have we'll be able to generate something to do that i mean elliot just to just to finish this i'll piggyback on to uh tim's point is there a world where we've got too much depth and quality i can't believe i'm saying that but are we risking not giving good players enough time and keeping them happy or is it simply we want to win things whoever fights the hardest and plays well enough for the shirt gets the shirt because i look at the defensive depth right back ben white can play there yuri and timber can play there mosquera can play their center back we've got saliba mosquera white even timber at a stretch gabriel calafiore in capier potentially as well if he comes in then at left back we've got calafiore louis skelly in capier again if he potentially comes in that is not i know eight is the usually usually the magic number for defenders but there's a hierarchy within those eight where you have your starters and your backups and your rotation guys who can slot in across the back forward to help out when needed but I don't see an obvious hierarchy there and I think at some point there will be some people unhappy with their game time it doesn't bother me because I'm fine with that but but Tim's also right in saying that it could bother some of the players and I think that's an important factor to to consider as well do you do you agree with that or are you just kind of we need to win.

1:05:03I don't really care who's a bit unhappy. I'll say it this way. I'm glad you're hosting today because if I had proposed that, people would have said, there goes Elliot worrying again. I'm not worrying. Phil, come on. Stop worrying, mate. What is going on with you, mate? Is it something about hosting the Arsenal Vision podcast? What is it? No, well, first of all, let's just be honest. Yes, a very big squad can cause issues with squad harmony and people being upset. But I'd much rather it be Leo Trussard upset about his playing time than Sambi La Conga, right? I mean, someone's always upset they're not playing enough.

1:05:36If it's better players, that's good, because it means you've got a better squad, right? Once upon a time, we were watching All or Nothing, and it was players like Eddie Nketiah and Sambi La Conga arguing about not having enough playing time. And this season, it's going to be players like, you know, potentially Incappier, Muscara, Leo Trussard, Ethan Winery. Better situation. Better situation when the player's fighting and banging down the manager's door to get playing time are better players. So I'm fine with that. I do think there can be a situation if a squad is too big and if the talent isn't clear enough where the manager struggles to land on the best group.

1:06:12Because the one thing I do believe, and this is where I will take a firm position, I still think the best teams know their best 11. And I know Clive is rolling over in his Barkalounge or whatever he's in right now. But I do think the best teams know their best 11. Or if not their best 11, their best 13, you know? I don't think teams that win stuff have a best 22. I don't think it can be that amorphous, right? And so you look at Chelsea, for example, I think one of the things that Chelsea have struggled with is just not finding the right alchemy of which players they have to use in which ways to really get the best out of a group that probably has a lot of talent in aggregate, but maybe doesn't have a clear 11 to put out there to get the best out of them.

1:07:00So, Phil, I'm not as worried about squad harmony, but there are two possibilities. One, in the name of trying to give players time, we don't create cohesion. And two, based on the simple fact that we have so much talent, maybe Mikel, it takes him longer to land on the right group. For example, two seasons ago when we hit 89 points, by the way, that team didn't really get very good until December because we spent quite a bit of time using Eddie and Keddie at Striker and figuring out how we're going to use Kai. And then all of a sudden we found a group. And by the way, it was with Leo starting out on the left quite a bit, right?

1:07:36And it was with Kai up front. And that group got on a run and went bang. So I think we need to make sure Mikel knows who his best group is. But as long as he knows that, I'm not worried about the rest. There you go. So direct all of your complaints to Elliot because he took that topic away from me. Right, I'll just finish this with a quick - I did what? I said I'm not worried. What? Come on, man. I'll finish this with a quick fire round. I'll ask both of you. Right, I'm going to give you five names and I want you to tell me whether they'll be staying or going and if they are going, whether it's on loan or permanently.

1:08:11Okay, ready? Jakob Kivio. Tim, gone. Gone, loan with an obligation. Okay. Rhys Nelson Gone Loan With an option Zinchenko Gone Permanently Oh Rogue Rogue shout Fabio Vieira Gone on loan With an option And Sambi Lukonga Contract terminated Okay Elliot Same questions Jakob Kivior uh loan with a obligation yeah reese nelson and that'll be to porto i assume uh reese nelson just a purchase uh zinchenko stays fabio vieira loan no obligation and sambilaconga driven to a farm upstate and taken run back or i think contract termination is a good shout i don't i mean like i think we probably find a loan for him somewhere but if we can i think we will terminate the contract seems like a guy who you know even going back to the all or nothing documentary that we referenced hasn't necessarily been happy with his lot in life at arsenal and i i don't think we need to your point i don't think players being a little unsatisfied is is bad but i think a player who's just openly hostile to the environment doesn't want to be there is not good and that that might be the situation i i think also what the sambi lukonga i remember what i thought and what a lot of people thought when we bought him it maybe exposes the fallacy of the low risk signing like him and i know we largely got our money back on tavarez but like it wasn't really worth it was it i remember thinking oh even if it doesn't work out like we'll probably get our money back and more and and actually with these guys it doesn't um generally speaking like well it doesn't work out for arsenal it works for everybody else except arsenal because chelsea signed players from basel and then they sell them for a club record fee for via real so but like there hasn't even been talk of interest in sambil akonga and that to me suggests his agent is probably shooting for a contract termination um so yeah so elliot you say zemchenko staying i can see that are we going to get another riveting chapter of his autobiography um we um we've been asked to do the audio the audiobook so that everyone's really going to relate to there's a real everyman story there that i think will really tug at people's heartstrings and that he should definitely do a chapter in that in his book yes it's fine just just get clive to read it and everyone will be hypnotized so that's actually a good point that that's a strategy he should impart i just think it's a case of like he is on a big wage there are clubs that could probably use him but they probably think better to get him on a free than have to try to pay money a hard player to move on that wage and to be fair does seem like a player who's liked in the group Mikael said he's like the funniest in the group or whatever he I think if he stays around it'll be in a mascot role but that's about it yeah yeah I mean Jakub Kivio for me loan with obligation that'll get done Reese Nelson will be a permanent i agree zinchenko will stay i agree viera will be alone uh with with just an option and then lakongo will be alone with an option as well i think someone like trabzon sport will come from nowhere and just take him for the year and then he'll he'll be out of contract so right i know going for like a martinelli though or anything like that you don't see there's nobody it should have been a napoli a bayan or even a someone from saudi but they've all looked elsewhere so i i don't know it's going back to your point earlier who's going to be able to not only stump up 50 million pounds but pay him at least 150 ,000 a week it's just not happening so we'll revisit things next year Tim I wanted to ask you quickly about Incapie because I know you haven't had a chance to talk about him yet just what are your initial thoughts on the player have you watched much of him either for Bayer Leverkusen or Ecuador obviously because I know you're quite dialed into South American football I don't think he'll be a secret to a lot of listeners but I don't know if people are dedicated bundesliga watchers for example so give me your quick uh your quick rundown on the player yeah so no very little about him i've probably seen him play for ecuador but not exactly um put a red ring to watch and you know well ecuador actually are pretty interesting team but i won't go into that um i guess what's interesting about it is i think how it relates to Eza and I think it says a lot about the fact that he's I think pretty obviously going to be our left winger and you know when you've got fullback options like Calafiore and Lewis Skelly and Zinchenko as well like that it really hints at like a different type of left back I mean what I've heard is that he can play the wide center back in a back three you know very Mikel defender like can play the wide center back in a back three or be a fullback that that's you know everyone has a type and that seems to be Mikel's um but from what I understand like a little bit more of an overlapper potentially and as is obviously someone who comes in sort of at least travels inside with the ball a little bit more so I I can kind of see the vision there but like I say like you know four left backs Jeremy that's insane um type thing I just it makes me wonder about about lewis skelly as well like do you know do they perhaps see him as a as a you know as a midfield option as well but even that area is very crowded in the team with rice havertz marino you know is that kind of left eight is is he maybe seen more in the zubamendi role potentially um so i i think lewis skelly is the one i think about the most there he seems to be the one with the most to lose i think from from that signing not least because califuri can roll in and be a centre-back as well so it does make me wonder about that but they did just sign Lewis Skelly to a contract they must have had a conversation with him um you know about how they see him so I I do just worry about a little bit of redundancy back there I have to say not least because in that kind of conversation about redundancy whatever else we're going to do around the team I mean Elliot you're talking about like usually you fall on a group of 13 or 15 or whatever i actually probably getting at the same thing i think there's a group of like seven usually and you're starting 11 who basically play all the time um you know rice sacker maybe urdegaard not as much now with some of the depth we've got but generally most teams have those six or seven guys who are like if they're fit they're probably starting unless like they're just deliberately being rested because they're knackered and i think two of those guys are our center backs like I don't see a lot of rotation happening there, to be honest.

1:15:19So I see rotation on the extremities of the team, but I think generally your spine, I think Rice, Zubomendi, the two centre-backs, Saka, the goalkeeper, obviously, they're going to play. So I don't see a lot of rotation other than the two full-back roles, which is why I'm a little bit curious. I'm a little bit curious because it's bad news for somebody. I think if he comes in even with a Kibbe or Sale and I'm quite curious as to who it might be I mean Lewis Skelly was my kind of it sounds harsh but underperformer of the season in the season predictions just because I thought he'd suffer from a bit of second season syndrome I think they'll they'll manage him a bit carefully now because obviously it's not just what he does on the pitch I think there was a lot of nasty noise around him off the pitch as well so I don't really have an issue with him being pulled out of the limelight a little bit I mean for those who don't know about Incappier he's a kind of left-sided defender who can play at centre-back in a three or at left wing back he's just a left-sided defender basically and he's very South American that's probably the easiest way I can describe him I mean the defenders from that continent in particular and Tim can tell you this seem to follow a very similar blueprint just think of Christian Romero and a couple of those guys very chaotic and unforgiving Gabriel Ainser a lot of parallels there um you know Brazil Argentina Colombia Ecuador there's a lot of chaos and physicality in those leagues especially in um the domestic leagues but also the international football as well but he's very aggressive front-footed he wears his heart on his sleeve and really values what defending means I think which is basically stopping the opposition from scoring.

1:17:03Elliot, you did the scouting pod with Clive. What were your main takeaways from that video and where do you see him fitting into the group if we sign him? So first of all, yeah, I thought it was an interesting scouting video. Enjoyed what I saw. Very front-footed, very aggressive in the challenge. A very confident passer, passes above expected in terms of his percentage of passes completed and the difficulty of the passes he plays. has the big switch in his locker. He does, I think he is, of all the left-back options we have now, the most comfortable getting out wide and overlapping, putting in crosses.

1:17:43He's got a great portfolio of set-piece contributions, both goals and final balls in set-piece, so as if we needed more of that. He continues to power us up in that respect. There's definitely a little more blood and thunder in his game than there is elegance in his game compared to what we have. And again, I'm just going off the scouting video. It's not like I watched 1590s of him or anything like that. So I think he brings different things. It is interesting. I think Clive saw a bit of Romero in him. I don't like that. Nope, don't like that. I called Romero angry Mustafi, so don't want to hear that.

1:18:23But I think that's just because of the aggression and the way he goes into the challenge. We don't really have, I mean, all of our defenders now, And I guess this is just true of football in general. It's a lot more stand-up tackling now and stand-up defending. You don't see a lot of going to ground. And in Cap, yeah, I think we'll go to ground a bit and we'll get kind of stuck in in that traditional way. But yeah, I think he's encouraging. It is a weird one. I think we have to be prepared for the possibility, too, that some of the recruitment we've done is with an eye towards some departures that may be in our future that we may not want there to be or may be a bit surprising.

1:18:58I don't know that you have Mascara and Calafiore and Timber and Incappier and White and Miles if you think everybody's staying for the long term. So, you know, that's something to keep an eye on. But yeah, I guess the quick summary is aggressive, pacey, good passer, good crossing, good set piece contribution, very front footed. And I wonder if maybe, and this is a weird characteristic that our left back now have. I think Kalfiori and Miles both have it too, and maybe in Cappia too. Can get caught jumping early and then getting spun in behind. You know, sometimes misreading when to be front-footed and when to drop away.

1:19:41So that'll be one to see. But I'm encouraged by what I saw, Phil, overall. I mean, ironically enough, I don't like Zinchenko as a 1v1 defender, but he was always excellent in the air, which was a very weird quirk in his game. he was like always in the upper upper percentiles of aerial jewels but yeah i mean we're gonna have a super team if if we manage to bring him in and we get kivio out i mean the defensive depth could be a bit silly by the time the window closes next week and not just the defensive depth by the way the whole squad so there are going to be some people not making matchday squads there are going to be some unhappy people in the squad if they don't make um appearances but ultimately we need to win and we need to win now so if we're if we're lifting a title in may or or even better a champions league title in may i won't care one bit if uh hincapier has only made 10 appearances and he's and he's not happy because ultimately we will have done the job so um unless there's anything else you guys want to cover i think that's more or less it for now i know you're obviously going to record a friday night clive tomorrow um so we'll keep some some content in for that but any any last remarks from either of you i would just say that like i'm incredibly incredibly excited for the season ahead based on who we have at our disposal and i can't remember ever being more excited to see more of the players that we have available to us this season i mean whether it's max getting a chance here and there or it's where will as a play or you know nani developing Yokares at the striker.

1:21:15There's so many fun storylines. And if anything, last season felt like a slog because injuries robbed us of so much talent. I think we all knew we were just going to gut it out and grind it out. In a way, it felt all driven by the failures in the transfer window, per se, because we knew we'd left ourselves short in certain positions. Those positions wound up suffering injuries and the season felt over before it ever really got going. I am so reinvigorated right now to watch Yokores and Nani and Eza and Max and is Ethan going to move into midfield and the new defenders we brought in and Zubamendi I mean what a breath of fresh air we have in central midfield now so yeah I think Phil if you told me I'd be feeling this way when the window closed this summer I don't know if I would have believed you it is as as excited as I can feel I think for a season ahead based on what we've got in front of us you know.

1:22:06Completely agree it's super exciting and actually a lot of the issues we've had in in recent windows largely I think we've done very well in terms of our squad building and recruitment but there have been a few issues I don't think the last two in terms of January and last summer were very good at all I think we've shown the league and and Europe a similar face in terms of our attacking talent and that's made us way too predictable and these signings have just given us a a boost a shot in the arm we're fun to watch we can be a bit more unpredictable we've added qualities that have been sorely lacking in attacking areas such as you know ball carrying speed in transition shots I mean we're going to take so many shots hopefully this year as well so I completely agree that's all I can ask for from from the club is that they're kind of brave and bold enough to do that and if we are going to spend a lot this summer in hopes of going for it then let's absolutely go for it so that's that's the main the main talking point from me Tim you want to finish us off here no I think I'll just finish with the phrase everyone on it has ever been on a team's call was familiar with nothing from my end just gonna try and share my screen here yeah do you see my screen can you can you see that can you see that you hear me are you hearing yeah everything's fine we're good um so yeah that's that's it for the the thursday main pod for those of you thinking where is clive i want to hear what he has to say about our trip to anfield everything's going to be okay without bukayo saka friday night clive is tomorrow so get signed up to the patreon if you're needing your fix of elliot asking questions and clive swerving them before answering something completely different um as always there'll be an instant reaction after the game against liverpool on sunday bonus content alert jim daily from the five-year plan podcast as well crystal palace podcast will come on and talk all things ezzer basically so keep an eye out for that one as well i really like those opposition view uh style episodes because they they offer you a perspective that you won't normally get so otherwise all that's left for me to do is to thank my guests so tim thank you always a pleasure chatting my pleasure as always and elliot always fun mate and get me out of this chair before i get drunk on power so i hope you have me back on again soon thanks and my name is phil costa thanks again for putting me or putting up with me for this episode i mean this could age horribly but the vibes are good guys two wins from two the squad looks fresh everybody's smiling in training i mean what the hell are we doing invisalign adverts or something because every picture i see of ezra rice zubamendi they're all cheesing away um and and more importantly our mental well-being doesn't depend on the hamstrings of a 23 year old so that's a win in my book um so as always be happy keep smiling sign up to the patreon keep listening and we will talk to you after arsenal 10 liverpool nil

1:25:08Outro Music