Eze and Gyokeres Lead Arsenal to Demolition of Spurs

26:18Elliot:I felt the other one should be given. I've seen a couple more that have been using examples. The AKT came when I felt, actually, I thought that was okay because they were both in the air competing. You know, so they were both at their limit and he just got there slightly better. But everything else, no, mate, you should be giving those fouls. Simple as that. There's no way Columniarie was winning that ball without fouling Gabriel. No way. You know, so... I mean, it drops to his foot. He doesn't even have to head it. I mean, that's what tells you he moves Gabby enough that he doesn't even have to jump for it.

26:49Elliot:Yeah, he separated him. That's just a foul move on. But I will say, Gabby has got that thing in him, I've got to be honest here, where he goes down to jump up. And if you feel something, he goes forward. And I always say the same thing. This is England. Mike Oliver's walking around. They can do what they like. They do it on pure vibes. If they feel as though they don't like you this day, they're not going to give it to you, whether it's in the box or not. we've seen it before don't risk it you know don't risk it make sure you you get up in the air anyway you know just in case so that's my that would be my little advice well and look i mean ultimately if you want to talk about deserve i mean this is a game where arsenal massively outshot tottenham 20 to 6 we had xg'd them more than two to less than one we out touched them in the box 45 to 7 we outdueled them 71 to 49 I mean it was one sided but there are those moments and I mean Declan Rice was weirdly involved in the other one too where he gave it away again for the Raya goal line clearance in terms of the things that I take away from this game though I think look no further than just Eze and Jokeres and the performance those two put in so let's talk about Jokeres for a minute because I think we do a thing in football sometimes that when someone has a good game, we then pretend they never had a bad game.

28:12It's like, see, ha ha ha, he proved you all wrong. And it's like, no, no, you still had some bad games. But this was encouraging. Battled for a lot of balls that he won well. By the way, Tim has made this point. This guy cannot get a foul call. Like, he cannot get a call when he loses a duel. It's just play on. But he stuck with it. He got to play 90 minutes, and we talked about this on the Instant Reaction, but the data was clear when we signed him. This was a 90-minute player who often got stronger as games wore on, much like Declan Rice does, and we saw that with him getting a powerful, strong, well-taken goal in stoppage time at the end of the game.

28:50But it's right after halftime. There's going to be doubt because we've conceded in stupid fashion. We've failed to take a number of really clear chances, and there's that question, are we really going to do this again? and it's three minutes after the restart. Timber plays the kind of pass we don't usually play, by the way, and we should more. Urgency to get it to zone 14. He gets the ball out of his feet and he strikes it beautifully. And I think all in all, this was a very good Jokres game and a game that gives him something to build on and maybe a blueprint for how the team can play to his strengths as well.

29:24Elliot:Yeah, Jokres' best games have come. We've essayed with him or maybe have hurts with him. you know and yeah i think your question this game i think he passed to reze the most i think seven passes he played to him and that tells you that's a partner and it's not just the the passes it's the the way he affects exits from defenders and so he affects the defenders which leaves bits and pieces reze trust size and sacker to clean up and create quick transition so he hasn't even got to win all his tools he just needs to be there affecting them not fouling them maybe getting the odd foul you know I think one of our patrons said something that he's suffering from Shaq rules remember when Shaq used to play basketball he never got a foul yeah because he was just too strong he never got a foul and I think Jokeres he's got that impression that he's really really strong so when he hits the ground there's a tendency to say get up son you know and rather than look at what's actually happening so he's not really getting the foul but he definitely gets confidence from having people close to him, fairly close, that he can work with, spin off of, use as decoys to make the opposite run.

30:33Elliot:And I think that counter run is really important. And Timbo, I wonder if Timbo would have played that pass into that area if it was one man on his own. But when you're playing it into two men, and they can create something there, and I think that's really important. And Eze sort of rolled away from that space to leave the ball for jokeres and jokeres then did the thing that we've all seen on youtube and we've been waiting for for five months he can kick it can't he you know he's just one touch out of his feet and elliot the way he stepped into that ball mate he's only going one place wasn't it you know and um and this is the things that the goals don't move and he's got this power in him he scored 100 goals in two seasons it's not all lost and i i think some of the analysis around him has just maybe not had the full context of where he is.

31:23Elliot:Even the substitutions earlier, I sort of agree with them much of the time, for most of you. You know why? Because we've got another game in three days' time. And he will be playing in that one. And we can't play in 90s all the time. But he played in 90 in this game because we did have a week off afterwards. And I think, like many people have already known, including myself, when he comes off, sometimes we lose something. We lose some direction. and we're talking 10 touch games, but we still lose something because players need to know where they're passing to, particularly late in games when the stress is on.

31:59Elliot:If you've got an exit you can trust that gets you up the pitch, you will play it to him. If you don't, you will play the ball in the wrong areas and things can happen. You know, like Manchester United at home. You know, things happen if you're playing the wrong areas with the wrong level of confidence and the wrong level of next pass ability. and so I must admit I have been patient with him I am a I like what he does I like his style of play it's not perfect on the eye it's not Robin Van Persie here every touch is like silk you know this isn't the same player he's rough ready sometimes not quick enough remember the other week I said to you when I was watching him warm up on the subs bench I think it was against who's the team he beat in the cup I've forgotten sorry in the cup game.

32:47Elliot:Wigan? Wigan, thank you. I just looked down and thought he looked slimmer. I couldn't recognize him. Didn't know who he was. He looked fitter. He looked slimmer. Declan Rice posted a picture with him where he had his top off, and I'll tell you this much. There's no extra meat on the bones. Yeah, he looks fit. Yeah, and so he just got fitter. Maybe got used to the level. Maybe the level required more from him. But early in the season, there were periods in games when he was running the most. and so there's something in him I think fitness is his thing and we don't know what happened post that injury because post a burn the injury we lost him for a bit didn't we gotta be honest we lost him for a bit but he's been improving and this calendar year he scored more goals than almost any other player in the league or had more goal involvement in all competitions and he's on his way and these two goals were like oh they're the clips I was watching all last summer before we signed him yep there you go yep I think that's right and ultimately there was just something about the dynamic in this game and look you can be like well the dynamic is that Spurs are shit well Wolves are shit you know what I mean um you have to beat the teams that are in front of you and and I do think it is just a reminder we can talk about how everyone's shit but maybe it's kind of the opposite because if you look at even the games yesterday Liverpool needed what I thought was an offside goal in deep into stoppage time to beat Forest um and then And, you know, but the game before, what, Chelsea drew Burnley and Villa drew it home to Leeds, right?

34:14City looked, I thought, pretty mediocre against a completely shattered Newcastle team that had flown halfway around the world just before the game. So you just have to beat what's in front of you. But the Eza and Yolkres thing looked really, really encouraging to me. There's an interesting thing in this game, Clive, that I think is worth a mention, which is it's sort of a Rorschach test with how you want to see the Bakayo Saka performance because Saka was involved in almost everything threatening, but he left a lot of opportunities out there. Eza played him in once a really lovely 1-2, Eza won the ball, played 1-2 with Yokoz, slipped in Saka, Saka shoots.

34:52That's actually, I think, how Eza gets his second goal. There's the Incapie pass. Incapie was fantastic in this game. He plays Saka in, and he's 1v1 with the keeper, and instead of rounding him, he tries to, I think, go through his legs, and it's blocked. Saka had a lot of really good opportunities in this game didn't find the back of the net so in terms of that Rorschach test how do you see this encouraging sign of his involvement or that he needs to get his end product right?

35:19Elliot:You can always say a bit of both but I do think on the one when Nkapi played around the corner the goalkeeper was right there and he tried to bounce it through his legs the goalkeeper dropped his knee just to close his legs in time and so that was the right thing to do on the one where it led to the goal if you watched the tackle coming from the side the touch was perfect to move it away from him I think Van der Ven wrapped around and got the challenge in and it bounced and obviously we slotted there was another one when Dragasin came over late and he got a toe on it and he just hit the goalkeeper straight on if you can tell me if it was anything that he could have done extra there wasn't much there there wasn't much in that and then he had another one where he kicked three legs on the near post and he just went past the post again that's what that needs to go in you know and um and so for me his involvement i think you said it right his involvement was really good and the thing i really i'm liking at the moment is he's taking responsibility for our attack he's moving around his runs are varied he's running down the center he had two runs down the center the goalkeeper had to come out like superman and head one away in the first half on a straight run.

36:30Elliot:He's running in behind. That's a sign, Elliot, that he's feeling fitter. If he's making those long runs, he's starting to drive and go that way. This is a really positive sign that he's rolling into fitness and form. And I felt it. People are focused on the last action, which is fine. There was a great tweet. I just tried to find it about how many of our attacks that he was involved in. I'm going to try and find it. it's incredible number he was just involved in anything we did you know so our threat and the joy we feel today a lot of it has come from what he did and what timber did again the match today did a great great job on timber and and saka and how they work together and how they destroyed that side and i think that's a really good bit of analysis because when that game was tight it was all about him.

37:22Elliot:It was all about him, how we get it to him, what he can do, what would come from him. He set up the first goal. He's involved in the third goal. He's just a really, really key player. Defensively really, really solid. Really strong to keep the ball. Fouled the most in the game, I think he was. Just top, top stuff. And he's not in form yet. So this should be really encouraging. Yeah. I mean, look, do I want him to take some of those chances to finish some of those chances, yes. But the thing that's been driving me nuts lately is just the lack of involvement from our attacking players in general.

37:58The forwards just haven't been as influential as you'd like them to be. And in this game, you look at where the shots came from. Yokoz had four shots. Troussard had four shots. Ezza had five shots. Saka had five shots. I mean, that's what you want to see. Not just that we had 20 shots. They're not coming from three headers from Gabby on a corner and two Rice free kicks. And by the way, there's nothing wrong with those, but the attackers were the ones generating the threat, and that will lead to good things. In terms of Ezzo, one thing that I thought was interesting, by the way, Clive, Mikel was maybe more honest than even he meant to be.

38:32You know, he said Ezzo was mad. He was mad at me for not giving him a chance. And he went out there, and he showed that he deserved it, basically. I think Mikel was very honest about Ebrecht Ezzo making a point. One thing I wanted to ask you about is the dynamic in midfield, because I look at the way Ezzo was combining with the forwards and there was really lovely interplay. Like I said, Leo was popping up on the right a lot. Ezza, if you want to talk about him as a left wing option, had that moment where he got on the left wing and nutmegged Paulinian and got in on him. That was a beautiful moment for us to transition.

39:04Do we need Zuby and Rice all the time? Can it be Rice-Odegaard in Ezza? Can it be a case of Rice plays that Conte role like we talked about, right, where he just kills everything, cleans up every attack? Because we did see in this game some opportunities for Rice to be more of the playmaker. There's the one where actually Jokras got some, I thought, unfair criticism where the ball bounces off his heel. I think Rice plays the wrong pass there, right? He's away. Yeah, he should have played it in behind. Yeah, in behind between the center back and the full back. But my point is simply that is there, seeing all this beautiful combination play and movement and freedom and knowing that Rice can do that role, Is there an opportunity for Mikel to even try to get an extra final third oriented player on the pitch?

39:53Because I thought Odegaard looked good when he came on as well.

39:57Elliot:How can I say this, Elliot? You don't like this Rice and Zubamendi thing. The double pivot thing, I admit, it is tricky for me. You have this picture in your mind where you just… Can I just say one thing? Just stop you for one second. I love Zubamendi. I think he's been one of the better signings we've made in years. And I think he's had a brilliant season. So it's not about Zubamendi. It's just about the dynamic to squeeze more out of this attack. That's all. So, well, this is it, you see. You need to have a look at this a little bit differently. Because we have those two players there, we're able to see Hincapie and Timber really affect the attack.

40:32Elliot:If you have just one there, you can't have both your fullbacks doing what they did on the day. You just can't. And if you look at Zubimendi's defensive numbers, I'm sorry, take him out. that it's not happening, mate. Honestly, it's not happening. We won't have the stability. You will not see the game. When you think about attack, if I'm thinking about attack, I want to take out as many defensive players as I can and have my attackers on the pitch. If I'm thinking about the game as overall and my structure, where I want to attack and how I want to group my players and overload my players to create the one-on-ones, to create the extra man, to create the acceleration passes, I need to have a structure of stability knowing I can create ways of attack.

41:19Elliot:If, for example, the ball bounces in midfield and suddenly Declan runs, who can sweep up, you can go and catch people, but you're not controlling everything. You're putting a lot of onus onto him to cut everything out. Even on the chance when Declan sort of messed about, did a flip-flap and got caught, dude, Mendy was over there. Savvy Simmons made a great run in behind him. Declan saw it, covered it, you know, and dealt with it. Now, he was unfortunate, but they work as a pair, right? One goes and engages, one drops in behind, and it's a bit unfortunate. Without that partnership, we don't have the same stability, and we can't get the ball into wide areas with the same frequency.

42:03Elliot:So, Supermendy, for me, I think he's really important, and I think people are looking at him and looking at some of the games where he has looked a little bit fatigued and looking for a problem that isn't there. He just isn't. You're being cut a foul tomorrow. Would you pick him? Yeah. I would. 100%. Yeah, 100%. But what I want, I guess what I would say, right, is Wolves almost certainly won't be in the Champions League final this season. There are games where I feel that, and maybe this is what's frustrating, whatever sense of control or structure that that double pivot gives us, It is frustrating that we find in certain games we'll take a lead and then suddenly can't find an Arsenal shirt to pass to and can't create the control that's the whole theory behind why we have this structure in place.

42:52So what I loved about this game was the urgency, the urgency to get it forward, to keep attacking in waves, to keep pushing them back. And I'd like to continue to see that dynamic. I mean, obviously, that's not much analysis. Of course, you'd like to see that. But I didn't feel that there were periods of this game that we just sat off or couldn't pass to an Arsenal shirt or couldn't create threat, you know?

43:16Elliot:Yeah, the more we see an improved SA, and when I say that, I don't want to dismiss what you said. When we talk about a game that are 4-1, we can talk about, well, do we need to have both the centre-mids there? Well, mate, if we draw that game 3-0, we'd have a different conversation, you know, about what we're doing as a team. I know there are many people that want to see one player standing there and have many attackers on the beach five attackers on the beach and go for it maybe Wolves was one of those days you know maybe it could be one of those days and we chose to go another way you know but as I said at the time we were tuning up and the job was done it was on us we didn't keep the ball as a team we were inaccurate I don't think we respected the game appropriately and we paid for it at this time we fixed it and so yeah I just, that day will come.

44:09Elliot:It will come. It'll be obvious. And some people say, why isn't Norgard getting minutes late in games? So people are going to have their views on it. I happen to really like that structure we have at the moment. And more importantly, I think we're finding Yokoz and Eze. And I think that's key. There are two marquee signings. We're finding them. Incappy's burst into the team. And we're finding people. Havertz is a few days away. Saka's on his way back. Maneweke's had an impact. You know, so, yeah, we're on the way. We're on the way. Well, I hope that's right. Because it was a hell of a lot of fun.

44:50And I mean, if you could have drawn up what you'd want from a game like this, four goals, a big win, and Eza and Jokras both starring, that's what you'd draw up and that's what you got. I do want to talk about the fullbacks. I want to talk about Mascara a little bit more about some of the big moments in the game and what the manager had to say about it. So let's get to all that. But I should, not just should, I must tell you about NordVPN. NordVPN, I just used NordVPN recently, actually, and I will be using it again this week as I travel to London because sometimes when you're in places that aren't your main place, stuff you want to watch isn't available.

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45:58Nord VPN is going to give you a great value. And let me read that out to you. Here we go. four bonus months on top of your huge discount and it's completely risk-free with a 30-day money back guarantee so go to nordvpn.com slash arsenal vision nordvpn.com slash arsenal vision nordvpn.com slash arsenal vision do not clive said none of that indeed okay um well yeah but before we get to mascara i mean i think the fullbacks all all the fullbacks have played in capier timber and then mascara all had a great day they were all an important part of this in capier really i mean this is what you love about competition, right?

46:34Right now he's saying it's my shirt. You know, he's defending well. He's getting forward well. He played in Saka, as we mentioned earlier. I thought he had a really good, strong game coming off the Wolves game where he was probably the only one that came away with credit. Timber, much better in this game than we'd seen. He played the ball in New Yorkers for his goal, but then he comes off and Mascara comes on. It's no stress. I wish Mikel would have done it against Wolves, to be honest. He looked fantastic. So a great game for the fullbacks. I think they all come out with credit. Yeah, I think I heard Tom Canton say this morning that Timber had an injury and could only go 60, 70 minutes.

47:10Elliot:That injury was picked up in the Wolves game and maybe should have come out in the Wolves game, as you said earlier. So his performance for the first hour and 10 was heroic and was really effective in our attack. I think sometimes when we're analyzing Timber, remember the last 15 minutes? Well, I don't think he's brilliant in the last 15 minutes of games. and I think he does too much running, too much work, and can destabilize us a little bit, depending on the game state. In Cappie, I like him. I like what he is. I'm not sure we knew what we bought. I think we thought we were buying a centre-back, and I think we bought a full-back.

47:47Elliot:And I think he's very, very good at it. I think he's got a good attacking instinct. He transmits warrior tendencies. He goes through people. He tears through to people. he's very very abrasive he's got a lovely left foot that's now showing different layers to that he's got a lovely soft cross you know and um yeah he's developing into something and he's challenging Califuri shall we say who is a magnificent player you know particularly on build-up and he's really challenging those guys and Mosquera well I just want I just wonder what we have no seriously he just locked down he locked it down didn't he completely and we've talked about Norgard coming in late in games to lockdown potentially and I think Mosquera can come in late in games and really do things defensively to make sure he just wraps his legs around people just takes it off them doesn't do too much wins it in the air good for late set pieces against us you know just make the change while you have the squad you know you have the squad for just this moment and um and he comes in it's just no drama with him he comes in and looks completely part of it again.

48:55Elliot,

48:56Elliot:he's only 21 years of age in his first season. mate, we've got a player in our hands here. I'm talking future, future world star player in our hands. You know, you know, at centre-back position or defending position, they tend to mature with age. We've got Incappy, 23, Sleaver, 24, Mosquera, 21, you know, Califuri, 23. I mean, this is a joke, isn't it? It's a joke. Yeah, yeah, I mean, really, really exciting. I have to say, this is why you just keep attacking, you just keep scoring goals, by the way, though, because everybody can remember the Martinelli miss against Forrest, right? Everybody can remember it.

49:36Yep, the Martinelli miss against Wolves. We can remember the misses. But when you score four, no one's really talking about Yoko Ress whipping one just past the post when he cut inside or Bakayo Saka being in 1v1 with the keeper missing or missing near post or because we scored four goals. like the reason you focus on misses tends to be that you didn't create enough and what i love is in this game we created enough to make the misses an afterthought this was a powerful attacking performance and i think mikhail said something about this but on today if today showed how the attackers can unlock themselves yes i think they have some very very good moments with the amount of goals and performances and wins that we have in every competition they're showing that we have to show it when it matters and when it's really on the edge and people are doubting that's when you have to stand up and it's very difficult to do.

50:23But today, I think individually, they had some huge performances and I'm very pleased to see that. But on Eza, I thought this was interesting and I do want to just double click on this with you for a minute. On if you knew about Eza's goal scoring prowess in the second half of seasons, we looked at every stat, but that one, to be very honest, no. I mean, he scored five goals in the last two games against them, which is extremely difficult to do, but I could see that he wanted to prove something. he was upset even with me because i didn't play him in the other day from the beginning and some of the decisions that i made and i start to understand how we're going to get the best out of him now that last line is very interesting i'm curious if you can parse that for us well i

51:06Elliot:listen to uh uh dan from htlco it was called hltco thank you yeah yeah um a bit dyslexic there basically Dan you listen to him talk about Eze and he sort of says you know what he's like you know he's goal scoring late in seasons but he also says something that really stayed with me he'll be in and out of games on occasions one minute he's there the next minute he's not he can run a game completely another game not be there but you've got to show him some love and for anyone who was at the Wigan game like I was Eze was the best player on the pitch he had about 55 shots and every one of them went bang bang I could hear it from the stands.

51:46Elliot:He was really trying to show something and I thought the very next game for him not to play, I thought it was a mistake. It was clear to me he should have played that Wolves game because you have to play the hot hand. You know, he dominated the Wigan game. He got some confidence. You have to play the hot hand. We played Martinelli in that game. I think it was the wrong balance on that front line. Play Eze with the two runners, it would have been absolutely fine. I'm sure he would have scored. And so, yeah, I hope he knocked the manager's door and said mate what about me he said alright then let's see what you got and he showed what he got against Spurs you know and that's what you got to do there comes a moment where you have to take control of your own career and I hope he knocked his door and also then you got to back it up you know if you're going to say I'm projecting here Elliot if you're going to be disappointed in the manager's decision you got to admit that they may have had a conversation and he decided to go with him and he's delivered and hey look not before time really not this player is so important to our end of season for those SA watchers this is how he ends the season and another thing Dan says he scores goals for the end of the year and this is his time now and I've not said it on podcast before but I know this is where Mikael's head is going I'm sure of it PSG toward the end of last season they were in condition to play their players were fit they're ready to go and they turned it on for the last two months and won their league and won the Champions League and they were the best team in the world until they ran out of Puff until they wanted to play Chelsea in the World Cup final.

53:23Elliot:This is what we're aiming for, to peak at the right time. And Eze is a big part of that. Jokic is a big part of that. Saka is a big part. And there's a reason why we've been careful with Havertz because he's a big part of it. And I may have named my preferred front four then. For those who think, I've been having this front four in my mind for a long time but it's about when that front four presents itself i feel like that that can go anywhere in the world with that group and they can fix any problem that you have you know and so we gotta wait it doesn't matter soon give it give it a while won't be long it won't be long um i wonder you know when he says i think i'm figuring out how to get the best out of as a or the the exact quote i guess as i start to understand how we're gonna get the best out of him now i look at his heat map in this game there's a big glowing spot on the left wing there's a little glowing spot on the right wing there's a big glowing patch all across the middle right at the top of the final third and there's a little glowing patch you know deeper around the center circle and to me to my untrained eye it looked like his role was pretty free and to your point he had that double pivot to to create that cradle so he could be free shot me out there he had those he had those three behind the striker kind of exchanging roles but but i don't know that you can make him a reference point and say you stand here in the right half space between the lines and you wait till the ball comes to you i don't know that he can influence games that way in this game it felt like he had more freedom maybe that's it's hard to know chicken to the egg right does it feel like he had more freedom because he did things he doesn't usually do or was he given a freer role but if that freer role is what got this performance out of him then i think you've got the blueprint right there.

55:06Elliot:Yeah, the touches were varied. He was receiving the ball off the sides a lot. You know, we said it yesterday. They didn't need loads of no-touch turns around the corner. He's got the power to accelerate away from people, and they stay away. Then he's got the room to make the shot. If he stays in contact, he can buy fouls if he needs to. He's got danger. He's two-footed, right? So if the ball's on his left side, it goes. If he's on his right side, it goes. If he needs a left-foot shot, he'll take it. Right-foot shot, he'll take it. he just needs to get on the ball a little bit more. I think we all want to see him on the ball a bit more.

55:38Elliot:I think we all recognize that he's not ball dominant, like Odegaard is. But he's better than what he's shown. And you have to work harder to get to the sides to connect off the sides. I thought he did. But when he did, he got a lovely sway around the corner. Just really, really positive. So, yeah. He's a player that you've liked more than me, I'll be honest with you. You're the one who's been on this one for a long time. When I was watching Palace, I was much more, my eyes were going towards Michael Alise, to be honest. I thought, that's the player we should go. Well, I'd take Michael Alise. But, you know, given that we had so many lefty creators, it just didn't seem to match.

56:20Elliot:And as I was always unsure about, I thought his finishing was a bit loose. But he fixed that last year at Palace. And when he came in, it just fitted us. but then he was sort of caught in between maybe but you know a bit like Smith-Rowe was in between positions but I do think you can see a cradle appearing with Hinkabi you know around him being quite active with Rice around him being active runner with Yokores potentially ahead of him you can see a little pocket there can't you where he can play within and once he can receive with all those targets and movers and threat around him. I think there's a potential.

57:01Elliot:In the end, right, Elliot, he looks like an Arsenal player, receives the ball, and we said it yesterday, he interrupts the flow of a team and creates new pictures for people. And we look, some of the charts we made yesterday, they looked surprising to me. You know, they were nice and new and fresh. We were talking a week or so ago, everyone was online talking about Arsenal lack central access. We weren't talking about it yesterday, were we? Central access are plenty People close proximity Popping the ball off to each other Quick transitions It's a really top performance Really top Yeah and look David Raya unfortunately made the error That cost us two points against Wolves Do you think it's nice for I mean look it's never nice when Spurs look like they might score a goal But do you think it's nice for him that he had that moment It's a sensational piece of reaction From him to get that ball off the line Do you think it's just sort of nice for him to have a moment that feels important where he gets back a little bit of credit in the bank that he lost.

58:01I mean, doesn't get us the points back, but it's just, he had a much better game and he had a critical intervention that saves a goal and maybe that's a nice way for him to bounce back.

58:10Elliot:Yeah, I thought his claiming was really, really good because they're putting crosses in. I was pleased to see him come and take them, punching where he needed to. I think it's Tim said that today, summarizing, saying basically, he's better from three yards out than he is from 33 yards out. and I think sometimes the bit that's worrying me are the longer shots you know but around his box he's super sharp he's super agile isn't he and there's something about I know it sounds really Ike's almost expecting to make that save I know it sounds crazy but that's the sort of thing he does just leaps on it the double penalty saves that he's done in the past you know double saves off the cross by Ollie Watkins turn around save it he's just very very agile when you least expect it sort of thing so some of his distribution, particularly to Saka, was so important to us.

58:59Elliot:They're going man-to-man around the pitch, right? So we're dragging them into areas they don't want to go and ping. He goes straight in behind them. With quality, players are running onto it. We just didn't have this before. You know, he is critical to us. We all wish he was maybe three inches taller, maybe, but maybe he wouldn't be as agile, right? Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah. So it's just the way it is. But as a footballer, he's excellent. I think my only critique of him, I've got to say, sometimes when he's made a big save or we're taking a big catch, he's looking to throw the ball out sometime before we're ready.

59:38Elliot:And I'm thinking, you know, I think just chill sometimes. Read the room a little bit. That's just my little thing, you know, because I've still got a couple of mistakes in my mind. But apart from that, I thought he was really, really good in this game. And he needed it, needed it. Yeah, and I also think the team deserves credit, by the way, for not letting all the stoppages disrupt our ability to stay in flow because you had the technical issues with the referee and there were some very long stoppages. Then there were some injury stoppages, players down, things like that. And we have seen at times when these games get like that where there's just a lot of stoppages.

1:00:12The Wolves game was like that. We got off to a super hot start and then players were going down and there were stoppages. And sometimes we fall victim to letting that slowing of the game slow our game, but we never did that in this game. We stayed dialed in, which I think was great. Yokoz plays the full 90, as we mentioned, and he gets the goal at the end. And granted, bullying Archie Gray isn't exactly the world's most incredible accomplishment, but it is a lovely bit of running in behind, staying strong, and finishing beautifully into the side netting. And I just wonder if this is going to be a turning point for Mikel with this player, Clive, in terms of...

1:00:46I want to be careful because I think Gabriel Jesus has given us more this season than I already expected, or ever expected, but I do think that we probably have the better chance if Jokeres is in form and is playing, and I wonder if you think seeing him get that goal, 90 plus 4, having that run still in him, that strength still in him, that finish still in him, will just give Mikel a little bit of a mind to not be so quick with the hook. And just so we're clear, because you said this was as we should say it with Jokeres, there have been games where he hasn't earned the extra time on the pitch.

1:01:18I'm not going to sit here and pretend that he's been unfairly hooked at 60 minutes. But do you think that seeing that might lead Mikel to just say the next time he's thinking about making a change, instead he just sticks with him with the understanding that he is a player with the capacity to improve as the game goes on?

1:01:38Elliot:Yeah, Jokrej is a fitness athlete. He's got that power in him. But even on that goal, right, one thing he does really well is he never goes offside. He says that, he's going to go offside. But if you watch his running angles, they're excellent. To stay onside, to drive people back, but he really does create an angle to run onto. But when he received that ball, if you look at it closely, he sort of half steps on it to create the angle. It's not tidy. It's not exact. But the tidiest bit is the ball striking. Oh, yeah. Both of his goals. And I think he's a little unlucky with the one he whips past the post, by the way.

1:02:14He does really, really well with that move to cut inside. and that's the kind of stuff where he's often not kept the ball close enough and lost it. And in that instance, he beats his man well, and he's just a bit wide of the post.

1:02:26Elliot:On that one, when we're doing our scouting of him, as he's rolling inside, he does his normal bumble, bumble, bumble. Then he cuts it away. The last touch before the strike is beautiful. It opens up the goal, and he sweeps into the corner, and that went past the post, and everyone went, whoa, like that. There's his potential. and it's like we saw it in Lisbon we saw his power and his free kicks remember the free kicks he hit it's like flipping hell if that goes in we're in trouble someone's got to take their head off you know it was that powerful and so yeah pleased for him pleased that he lasted the nightly because the game was competitive or he wanted to win it it's important to have that direction that he offers and he's a focal point he's a bustling focal point so because he's not tidy don't leave him on his own get around him so he can affect people and he did.

1:03:16Elliot:And he had his most touches ever, didn't he, in this game? He's ever had 40-odd touches? Mate, we've seen him at eight. You know? Created chances. Yeah, it was good on the ball. Just really, really good. This is a really promising day. He says, hoping for the future this continues. Because if it does, for those people who want to send a forward, maybe since Aubameyang was here, that we might finally have one. Yeah. And look, you look at Spurs, because sometimes you need a laugh, and they are a bit of a cautionary tale there, but for the grace of God, go I. You know what I mean? Like, we're here complaining because we've dropped stupid points in a title race, and that's totally understandable, by the way.

1:03:55We should complain about that. But, you know, you make a few wrong appointments, you make a few wrong decisions, and suddenly it's a mess, and it's not just Tottenham. You look at United, all right, maybe they're starting to fight their way back to relevance, but they're still a long way from competing for anything. You look at Chelsea, the amount they've spent, the mess they've been, and their inability to really pull together a legitimate challenge. We deserve a lot of credit for the position we put ourselves in. Now we just have to get it over the line. And one thing I was thinking about, this is the weirdest season imaginable in this respect.

1:04:27If I told you we don't win the league this season, forget the Cups, we're just going to talk contextually. If I told you we don't win the league this season, where do you rank this season in the last 20 years? For me, it'd be down near the bottom, genuinely. If I told you we do win the league this season, it's our best season in 22 years, nothing even close. And it's so unusual to be in a situation where your season is either going to be the best you've had in two decades or one of your least favorite. So it is just down to what we do from here, but at least they gave us another really high moment this season.

1:05:05The season hasn't maybe delivered the number of high moments in the league you'd like. The United loss, the Liverpool loss and draw, the City draw, the 10-man Chelsea draw, hopefully another big Chelsea win coming this weekend, but maybe it hasn't given us as many high moments as we'd like. The Newcastle win obviously up there, but the Derbies have been great. This was another chance to just enjoy an excellent Arsenal battering a weak Tottenham. And I will take that for as long as the league wants to serve it up. So now, Clive, as a final, final question, we did the job. We looked great. We emptied their stadium.

1:05:41We humiliated their miserable fans in front of their Arsenal supporting manager. It was a beautiful day for us. Jokeres gives the manager something to really cling to in terms of feeling he's the right guy for the job. If Mikel is to be trusted when he says, I think I figured out how to use him, that can only bode well for us. And we get a week, a week to prepare. Now, Mikel was asked if you would let the players have cocktails this week. He said, no. Mikel, don't worry, mate. I got you, okay? I got you. I got you. Don't worry. But with a week off, this is perfect. You come off a really big emotional high.

1:06:18You come off a moment of players who needed a big performance getting it. And now you have Chelsea. another game that matters outside of the context of the title because we hate them so this is big having this week isn't it this is this has fallen for us the way we probably needed it to yeah the

1:06:32Elliot:performance was really uplifting and you could see that in everyone's faces you saw when berta and michael were hugging after the game it meant a lot this game and i think maybe although we've been talking about keeping people engaged and keeping people on the right side of things to support the team etc and maybe turn the volume down there's been various words coming out of it but big wins really help they really help bring the joy back and when you got the joy that you see coming out of Eze and Jokeres in this day the way Saka played the way Timber played you know the way we managed that game in the key parts of the game mate there's a lot of good things there and we spoke yesterday about this um about trying to enjoy it you know Mikel trying to give off the vibe that he's enjoying it i think it's very important that he creates an atmosphere like well we're good we've done our training we're fit we know what we're doing we're prepared we're organized we have many different structures different faces different rotations i've got to take the stress away from this group in any which way i can you know and um because you're the captain you're the leader you're the ones everyone's looking at and i think if he can give that vibe i think pep's trying to do that he's trying to say i'm going a holiday i'm not watching the Arsenal game.

1:07:47Elliot:He's trying to make everyone think, it's okay, hey lad, this is what we do, we're Man City. They're not very good. But psychologically, they've done this before and we haven't. So how we do it is really important and I think if we can make it look almost like a swan, you know, pretend you're just floating along the surface but working really hard and beneath quietly. But make people relax. Make the players relax because they look like a relaxed group of players that have the right mentality for this game. You know, it really looked like it to me And I think if we can do that, Elliot, and keep winning football matches, it's easier to stay relaxed than we win, right?

1:08:23Elliot:So that's what I'm looking forward to. Yeah. Amen. Clive, what a day. I mean, and I have to admit, I want it so bad for me, of course. I want it so bad for all of us. And when you go and do something like go to Dallas and you meet new people and everybody's gotten together and you make a big event out of it and you just see how much people care and how good everybody is and how much they want this together. it really is the case that everybody's just ready to explode with joy it's there and i'm so glad this day went well i i think the league tim called this so early and he was so right that title races aren't fun especially when it's been 22 years since your last one and so to have a day that's just fun where the memes are good and the content is good and the tottenham manager is calling us the best club in the world and you know you're scoring four goals and you're two players that you're really looking for something in Eze and Yokores shine um it is a beautiful thing and I think seeing a little glimmer of of Saka coming back to his best it it's an encouraging day it's a fun day it's a day that we needed and sets us up really well for what's ahead I I think the look when when you drop points to a team like Wolves you you don't have a lot of credit in the bank to say turning points and turning this and turning that you know you have a turning point and you have another turning point but i think it's set up what i have these two derbies separated by a week games that matter games that we can focus on in isolation instead of you know when you play a wolves in a title race you're almost not playing wolves you're playing the title when you play a tottenham when you play a chelsea you're playing them and i i think that's probably good for these players in their mindset because what i've seen from this team is when we just focus on the game at hand when we're just playing Bayern or just playing Tottenham, we can be pretty good.

1:10:12So let's hope we can be good again. I can't wait to be there for it. We'll have the Academy pod tomorrow, the rewatch on Wednesday, the main pod on Thursday, maybe a Friday night, Clive on Friday. We'll see about that. And then obviously the instant reaction from the ground on Sunday. So cannot wait for all of it up the Arsenal. St. Tottenham's Day, I think, could come as soon as next weekend, which is incredible. So Clive, we will be together for a cuddle and a drink to celebrate that. Mikel, again, don't worry. We got you on the cocktails. Just one drink.

1:10:40Elliot:Thank you very much. All right. My name's Elliot Smith. We love you, and we will talk to you after Arsenal 10 Spurs now.

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