Gyokeres and Rice Star In Another Clean-Sheet Arsenal Victory

34:54Elliot:How can you make a front five into a front six? X amount overload. Have you got quality to put the ball into the box, into areas? so I can really damage your position. That's how we're brought up. And then we find that Zinchenko comes out of the sky and he stands in place of the pitch that no full-back should ever stand, right? So we dominate midfield and his ability on the ball allows us to get plus ones in there, 4v3, and we dominate games until people find us out and ping it into our left-back area and make him defend, right? So Salah, Liverpool, and Anfield, for example, right? But now these two are, and Califoy and Timber in particular, they are all court players.

35:34Right?

35:34Elliot:So they can do the outside thing and they can do the inside thing. What they really can do, I think Timber's up. I think he's a really good dribbler. I think he's a really good carrier. You know, I think he really can carry. He can get out of pressure on the ball. I think he's just a really smart footballer. He's crossing, he's okay, but he's sensible. You know, he hasn't got the soft feet of a Ben White cross, but he just puts the ball into areas, right, at the right time with real intensity. He can carry the ball up the pitch. We saw it the other last week. I think he's a magnificent player.

36:09Elliot:As a defender, he's just ridiculous. Just don't go and eat him. You're stupid if you do. But Cano Fiore, again now, he's more of a running flow type player. So he runs in terms of he has an instinct for the game that's been encouraged. Now we know if he stands at left back in a game, which he has to do on occasion. He can do it. When he's fit, he can be really tight and get around people. But when he's allowed to move into areas that he feels benefits the team and Trussard on his outside is more of a passing wide man to pass it into him, then he suddenly becomes a completely different threat. And when you set up defensively, you know who your matchups are.

36:53And what you don't want, mate, is somebody arriving late.

36:57Elliot:into those areas because then you're thinking oh my god what do i do now he's arrived i can't let him go because he can play he's two footy he can do a lot on the ball but now i've got to make a decision and if i make a decision i make the wrong one i disconnect from my man and they suddenly flip the ball to my man i've just left everyone looks at me and said why'd you leave your man for and this is about space and arriving in space don't stand in space i think we've developed from that we spoke about Declan Rice earlier standing in the high eight space but now he's arriving into space and how much better does he look how much better does Califuri look when he arrives into space rather than standing in areas waiting you know and it's all about timing and connections and yeah these two players I thought Matt today did a fantastic bit on it and they had the numbers associated to it as well these two players are educating people on what attacking fullbacks are modern attacking fullbacks they're not hakimi and who's the other guy i think mendes mendes nina mendes they're not quite them they're something else which would cause a lot of teams problems right and they're not far behind those two in my opinion the the star attacking fullbacks of the league karakas and frimpong just tearing the league oh no that's not actually happening is it um sorry i couldn't help myself yeah there was this one moment in the early on actually i I think it was, yeah, yeah, the 21st minute.

38:22Leo makes this beautiful pass, this like pass between two Burnley players into the box for a shot. And I'm like, who was that? It took me a second to realize it's Calafiore because what's he doing? He's standing on the elbow of the six-yard box. Leo picks him out there and he turns and shots blocked out for a corner. But just an incredible moment to realize the positions that are being taken up. Yeah.

38:47Elliot:It's true. And funny enough, on the commentary of the Liverpool Villa game at the weekend, Andy Robertson was taken at quite similar positions. And the commentators were going, oh my God, look what they're doing with Andy Robertson, pushing me to high areas. And of course, I'm an Arsenal fan, so I've got the ump immediately saying, don't you watch Arsenal, you lot? I started to feel lazy punditry. Don't you watch Arsenal? Don't you watch them? and um but i'll tell you what this is a sign of though right and this is something where we've never been in this position i won't say never remember this position for a long time is that we are setting some football trends that people are starting to follow the set piece is one thing although we it's a trend and now we're getting blamed for it long throws is another thing everyone's doing it but it's arsenal that are doing it the most in fact i saw athletic Madrid Drid do it.

39:41Elliot:Let's not worry about that. So we're setting trends now. We've always maybe the ones that have followed other people's trends, and it's interesting, right? Yeah, it really is. I want to talk to you a little bit about Saka and the way he's kind of managing his way through games, a couple of missed chances in this game, and the second app performance. Let's quickly hit a brand. We just got the one brand I want to tell you about today. That is NordVPN, and it's the easiest one to tell you about because it's the one that by now I think all of you have taken an opportunity to take advantage of, it feels like.

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41:11And then two is just the speed. So NordVPN.com, you get four bonus months with our code and a discount off their plan to begin with. So it's a discount and four bonus months. All you have to do is go to NordVPN.com slash Arsenal Vision. That's NordVPN.com slash Arsenal Vision. NordVPN.com slash Arsenal Vision. Do it now, Clyde. Is that enough of that? Indeed. Okay, that was easy enough. Okay, so real quick on Saka. I mean, look, I have to be consistent. I genuinely believe that when you have an attacking player that you're watching, the question isn't how many goals are they scoring. Ultimately, it will be.

41:49But the question is, are they getting into position to score goals? Are they getting the big chances? Are they getting good chances? And Saka had two big, big chances in this game, both provided by Yoko Riz, both not taken. I'm sure he'll be frustrated not to have taken it, but as long as he's in those kind of positions, things are going to be all right for us in the long run. I do feel he's managing his way through games a bit right now. We know he had been feeling something or experiencing something last week. International break is coming up. We cannot afford for Saka to miss any kind of significant time.

42:21So I don't mind him managing his way through games. I think he'll just be frustrated and take his chance. But what's your evaluation of those kind of moments and how he's making his way through the games right now?

42:31Elliot:Yeah, you can tell with him how he's moving straight away is where he is. A lot of it is how he moves, how he even gets up off the floor after being smashed. You can just tell where he is in his mind. And I think it's something that we've, as Arsenal watchers, we know where he is in his body. And he had some quiet games recently. But when he came on against Brighton, funny enough, he looked really, really sharp. And I thought, oh, great. He'll be ready for Burnley. Because at that moment, I was worried about Burnley. I don't know why I was worried about Burnley. and I thought he looked really good when he came on and he scored and I thought, brilliant, he's back, he's back.

43:11Elliot:Whatever he was carrying or managing, he's over it. But at the weekend, I saw him take a step back again. So, when you see that, you say, well, he's not lost it. He's just managing something, isn't he? Whether it be illness, whether it be hamstring related. We all know that the hamstring he got before Liverpool was a major blow for him personally. Probably went to play in that game. I think it cost us that game. If you ask me honestly, I think we'd have beaten him if he was there. But hey, that's another story. And it's a big year for him. There's a lot of pressure around England's squad at the moment to be there, to be available.

43:45Elliot:But on this occasion, I'm hoping that he gets, you know, if he can get through to the Sunderland game. And I'm hoping he does get a chance to have a bit of a sit down and get that right. He's had a number of hamstring injuries now, including one that's required in operation. So when he feels something, he must be nervous about it. It's just natural, isn't it? if he feels something down there, he's going to be really cautious. I'm happy with him being cautious at 2-0. Honestly, I don't care. He can stand still, mate, for what I'm concerned. I just don't want to see another four-month-old. That's what we just can't take that.

44:20Elliot:This team deserves what he could get, what's coming for it, if the key parts are there. And he's one of the key parts. Right? And his career deserves it, whatever. He's had a lot of second places in finals, England finals, you know, league games, big moments that haven't quite gone his way. He needs to be available so we can turn those seconds into a first. Yeah, I think just the involvement. Obviously, look, the two big moments he has, if he scores those goals, we're not talking about his involvement because two goals is two goals, right? I mean, no one talks about Erling Holland's involvement.

44:53He has five touches. He has three goals. Everybody's fine with it. But you look at the Fulham game, for example. Against Fulham, Bukaiosaka had, he had, well, he had a lot of stuff. So let me run through a little bit of this, okay? So against Fulham, Bukaiosaka had 86 touches. He won 13 duels on the ground. He had six out of seven successful dribbles, and he attempted 14 crosses. Okay, so 86 touches, 13 duels won, six dribbles. In this game, Mikai Osaka had 34 touches, one dribble attempted, not successful, one ground dual one, and one attempted cross. It's just a very muted performance. Now, again, if those two goals go in, no one's talking about that.

45:47But I think maybe that's another issue of the Odegaard versus Rice thing. If Declan Rice is leading us in touches, the left-hand side was firing. Leo's on the ball. Cal Fiore's on the ball. Declan Rice is on the ball. So there's a bias to the side that we're building up. And when Saka gets to the ball, he's got two big chances. So that can work too. But I just think when Bukayo's really feeling it, he demands the ball. He makes sure it comes to him a little bit. So right now, maybe just a little bit of game management going on.

46:14Elliot:Yeah, absolutely. And in this game, we had a couple of players had to leave. Superman, he had to ask to be substituted. And obviously, Jokwes had to come out. that immediately takes away a substitution option. So Eze played the whole game, or most of the game against Bryans. He had a lot of minutes recently because he didn't get loaded in the national break. So he's a bit overloaded at the moment. And Saka's there, and they say, can you just jog this one out, mate? Can you? Because maybe it would have been a day for Max Dahmer for the last 15 minutes if you'd have to make a Jokeres who sat down in the week.

46:47We needed 3-0 so that Saka could have come off at 75 minutes or 70 minutes for Max.

46:51Elliot:Yeah, maybe. and just, you know, it's just, it's a tough one, right? So, I know we all sitting here now, 2-0, cigars on, thinking, yeah, I knew he was going to win 2-0. I was disappointed they even hit the post. That's what we're thinking because we immediately become comfortable and we start winning like eight, nine in a row. But the manager's thinking, I need to manage this game properly. I don't need to wake up there, Carl. I don't need nothing. So, I'm going to do this. I'm going to see this out and be really serious and really focused. And it would have been nice. You know, we're really missing Nonny, you know.

47:20Elliot:not just for the Saka thing, but for just to have that extra electric player that really moves. We miss him. We're missing three really major forwards, to be honest. And I can't wait to integrate them back in. And then we won't be seeing Jokeres running himself until he can't hardly run. We won't see Saka risking, or not risking, but having to be conservative because he made me feel something. We can just play full power. but that moment's not far away mate unlucky spurs we'll see you in a few weeks time yeah yeah and so i do think it's worth touching on this second half performance and i i think that there is a fine line between managing your way over the line and letting the other team back in it more than you might like now burnley had a whopping three shots in the second half and this is where arsenal broken my brain a little bit when a team has a shot i'm like oh we're playing like crap now because they're not supposed to have a shot, right?

48:18But the second half, we outshot them four to three. They out-XG'd us 0.42 to 0.15. I mean, 0.15 XG on four shots in a half against Burnley. Maybe not exactly what we want. They out-touched us in the box 10 to eight. And Mikel did have some comments about the second half performance. On the performance, he's very happy. It's a really tough place to come. They've lost here once in 18 months against Liverpool with the last kick of the game from a penalty. I think we started the game exceptionally well. I think the first half was one of the best that we've played. Agree with all that. Now, here we go.

48:48Scored two goals, generated another two or three big chances, concede nothing. That was a platform because in the second half, we dropped the standards, especially with the ball and with our intentions to take more risks and play forward. But again, defensively, we were exceptional until the point of the free kick. We were a bit lucky that it hit the post and we kept the clean sheet. And I got in your WhatsApp and I said I was annoyed because we have a corner kick at 93.40 or whatever with four added minutes on, and we decide to go to try to score a goal from that corner kick. Instead, just keep me a corner flag.

49:19Ethan loses the ball. Everybody has to sprint back. Gabby goes into a big sliding challenge, picks up a yellow, and they get a free kick that they almost score from at the death. And I just think those little concentration points of managing your way through the game, nobody needed that sprint at 94 minutes. Come on, guys. But do you have any thoughts on just, is that a perfectly fine way to manage out the second half? Were you a little antsy with how we managed it out? and the balance of how we were playing, why do you think it was maybe less controlled than we might have liked?

49:50Elliot:Yeah, so you've got your Polaroid of that run at the end when they were to run back and it's in your mind. Lack of control. Actually, in my mind, I'm thinking, you control games by your intention to play. And I think our intention to play reduced in the second half. And we've done our sums. And we've seen your careers come off. and we see another centre forward going there who's really a midfielder and it felt a bit like last year, a little bit. Osaka didn't have his sprinting boots on. We didn't have Barton any and we've got all come-to-feet players. So once we have those come-to-feet players, we know we're going to play a combination play.

50:31Elliot:So what tends to happen is our defenders are really, really good. Our goalkeepers are really, really good. We're not playing in the wrong areas. It's the first half, it felt like we were playing in their half a lot more but in the second half, it definitely felt like we were playing in our half a lot more still controlling it but not controlling it in the areas that i prefer us to play in and so i felt the emphasis in the center of our team moved backwards a little bit you know whereas when you got your careers on full power you want to give it to him straight very very quickly so the bit of that criticism that michael made that stood out to me was we the play forward line that's really it when you play forward consistently and you make people defend that's what that's how you affect games if you make defenders comfortable you know what they do they step onto you and they get a foothold into the game right so our offensive energy dropped why why is it dropping because those are players that are overused our defenders all our eight defenders are in tip-top shape all chomping to get onto the pitch right so our defenders, even our goalkeeper gets a day off now and again.

51:41Elliot:So they're looking sharp, they're looking bright, they're under pressure for their positions, they look really, really good. But our forwards now, they have to basically jog out games because they're playing the next one. You know, I think one of the highlights of last week for me was seeing that young Andre Harwin-Anouss come on and play that game against Brighton and make the same runs. Didn't get the ball but he affected Brighton in the same way you know and I thought it was a really good game and I thought I've grown used to that sort of playing and that allows us to get up the pitch and play forward so I think the message for me is not the dropping standards per se but remember who we are and we're going to let's play the ball forward when it's on let's play it you know and we maybe didn't do it in the second half we got a little bit fancy Dan playing in our own areas combinations knocking around each other five-a-side football I don't like that.

52:34Elliot:I want to affect teams like we have done this season. Do you think Marino's important goals late last season have obscured the fact that Marino at striker doesn't really work? Because I think we were so fired up about the Champions League campaign and the league was gone for us, so nobody really focused on it. But the league performances when Marino played striker last season were really poor. I'm not laying that at Marino's feet. He's not a striker. But I just think in this second half, that didn't feel like it was working particularly. And why should it? Again, he's an emergency option there.

53:07But I'm wondering if you think that that maybe is something we might want to move away from, that instead we might want to move Leo into that position if we need a striker or Martinelli when he's back and sort of reduce the amount of time we play with Marino up front.

53:20Elliot:Yeah, for me, it's all about balancing the front line. You know what I'm going to say. When you've got someone who's not going to run the channels, you better have two wingers that can run the channels. Yeah. then you don't think about it anymore. So when Mourinho came on at Newcastle and almost played like a second striker, we were all happy to see him then, weren't we? Nodding in the net. So it all depends on the game state. In this game, we needed probably a bit more running power just to mimic what we'd seen before and encourage us to play forward. The players know what we have as well. So they want to play into feet.

53:52Elliot:So they end up playing to the players that are on the pitch and their physical state, shall we say. So yeah, it's always going to be a less progressive team in the second half just because of players we have on the pitch. We lost our sprinters. If we have Martinelli, Magnaweke, Jokerez on that pitch in the second half, or maybe just those three coming on at 2-0, then we say, hey, lads, you can have the ball. Come on then, have a little play. Let's even come near us because we're going to hit you really hard on the break. you know and and that could be that could be the future quite easily couldn't it you know and that's those are the options that we actually have so i'm more comfortable than you elliot the two nil football we played was a little bit stinky right but i've wanted this for a long time so i'm not going to critique it too much yeah i i think seasons are filled with turning point moments and anytime you get away get out of an away match two nil to the to the good in a pretty low stakes game you've done something right i do think that because our games are so low stakes and we allow so few shots on target so few shots period and almost no goals ever i i think sometimes when we allow the other team to have any participation in the game it can be a bit jarring because we expect ourselves to be so dominant.

55:19But yeah, you go away and you make the game a low event, non-issue, then I don't think it's worth picking the bones out of it. I would just say that had we gotten it to 3-0, you might have seen a couple other players come off. And I think Martinelli is a big miss, by the way. I think this is the kind of game where when the team comes on you just a little bit more, that runaway speed up the left wing suddenly becomes incredibly valuable. And we didn't really have an out ball and that was apparent. A couple of stats, by the way. This one from Harvey Downs. Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in seven consecutive games for the first time since March to April of 1999.

55:54In the club's history, only between April to October of 1903 have we enjoyed a longer run of successive shutouts, eight in a row. So pretty impressive there. We had the most touches in the opposition box by a Premier League side this season going in, 320. We added a bunch more this game. So we will continue to have the lead in that stat. so just a lot of good things. And amid all the injury crisis, I will say that Arsenal did name an unchanged lineup in the Premier League for the third match in a row, the first time we managed it since May of 2024, a run of four matches. That's Orbinio's stats.

56:29So just some interesting stats there. I don't really have anything else from this game. I think we can move on to just a couple of things from around the league and looking ahead to Prague unless you have final thoughts. But again, you've got to just go win your away matches when you beat a team that hasn't lost at home except for one time in 18 months and make it a non-issue. I think that's mission accomplished. This is the way champions win games, right? By making them stressless, you know, low incident games. This is a game no one will remember. Granted, had Jokers played the whole game, maybe you would have made it one will remember because I think we'll be talking about his performance here.

57:04But that's what you want from these games, right, Clive? I think last season, every game felt so fraught. There was a key injury or a major referee decision. I realize there was a key injury in this game as well. But the games felt very fraught and emotional. You go back a couple of seasons, the big knock on us was we were too emotional when it was the Granite Shaka season we first started challenging. But this season, games like this, this is about as non-emotional and cold a game as you're going to get. And I think you need days like this again throughout the season where you just take all the sting out of the tail.

57:36Elliot:Yeah, we're learning. We're learning. Last year was almost like a non-event because, in my opinion, we weren't allowed to compete. But that's just me being a bitter fan, right? But we're learning. And some of the things that we've done in the past, whether it be too emotional, well, we were three years younger then. We were emotional, right? So we weren't as mature, weren't as assured in certain instances. We didn't manage the Newcastle away game and the Spurs away game. It was a bit much for us, right? when he went to city and got slapped we didn't manage that correctly tactically in my opinion i thought we fell into the trap of wanting to show who we were and we got we got taken apart when we even to the point when we didn't in the in the city nil nil game did we attack them enough right so people have critiqued us for everything that we've done maybe just to summarize maybe we just weren't ready at that time you know we just weren't ready you know we didn't have the debt we didn't have the maturity we didn't have the belief we didn't have the lessons that we've learned to call on say this is how we didn't have the disappointment to feel and to remind ourselves we're not going to do this again we're not going to do silly stuff that get our players sent off we didn't have all of this to call on we just weren't ready right so why all of a sudden does this all look and feel different because we've learned the lessons off the pitch with our recruitment we're learning the lessons by how we play on the pitch the recruitment has hopefully although we're not getting the breaks at the moment they've hopefully allowed us to reduce the injury because we can rotate people properly we're doing a rotation thing in all the areas that we can but we just can't in the certain area because we've got a bit of a crush on offensive players at the moment so i i sometimes think you you just know when you're ready and so i think the pressure is going to come, Elliot, though.

59:33Elliot:The mental pressure. Because now everyone's gone the other way. Rather than tell us what we're not good at, they're telling us that we're really good at everything. And that has a different impact to you emotionally as a fan and as a player. So how do I create a protective state so that doesn't seep into my mindset so I become complacent? And that's what Mikel was saying at the weekend. Don't drop our standards at any point. Because we've spent a long time to get here. right so so we do look ready we do look better but i'm i'm a human being and little pullin city one at the weekend and it felt like they got four points a win while we only got three points for a win right and this is but this is this is football you know i thought i'd say that and see if anyone else believed it did they get four points all they did was win a game but but you know what it is it's some of that clive i think this is the thing playing first means you can put the pressure on the others yeah but the flip side of that is if if they win playing second it feels like they've clawed you back somehow you know what i mean you see those points narrowing at the top so it's an interesting psychological experience it is and pep knows it he's thinking you know pep's thinking he's thinking mate i can just stay close to them asshole boys they've never done this before and i'm gonna get my players i might even buy someone in january and just change and really really flipped the mentality on the mental side onto them now harlan keeping fresh marmucho the good player rogery look after his legs you know the goalkeeper he can save anything i'm just gonna just stay around them and see how they how they cope right so you know i'm thinking eliot i'm thinking mate sliver prague i don't really i don't really care i care about sundan you know why because we could be 10 points ahead of one of them.

1:01:22Elliot:And they have a Sunday afternoon, super Sunday job playing each other. And I'll tell you what, we'll see pressure then. We will see pressure flip then. Saturday is massive for Arsenal. It really is massive. If we win it, oh my goodness, I'm going to sit down with a nice drink and watch that other game and see how it impacts their performance and how they cope. Just to put into context how important that Sunderland game is. If we fail to win it and City win their next two, now that would mean Liverpool and Newcastle, so no easy feat, but if they do it, we'd go into the Spurs game in second at kickoff.

1:01:59Can't have that. Can't have that from this position. And again, that doesn't mean the title's gone. You don't want to be in that position. These are difficult games, and we're going to have to make some difficult decisions about lineups, and we'll have plenty of time to read the tea leaves from Mikel's pressers and understand that. But just quickly looking around the league, the results, I mean, united go to forest they get themselves into the lead they drop the points you know i i really think that they're gonna have a hard time controlling games throughout the season but that's a disappointment for them spurs embarrassed as they are want to be and i i think spurs are an interesting case study and fans not knowing what the hell they want because you finished 17th last season you had a manager that couldn't control games at all you got a new manager that comes in and just tries to get his hands around getting some shape and organization to you he's got you in the top five, top four, whatever it is, from a team that was 17th last season that doesn't have the talent to be anywhere near the top.

1:02:51But because the football is not pretty, you're upset because it doesn't align with your culture. Well, you had pretty football that got you 17, so make up your mind. But obviously the teams that still matter to me are Liverpool and City. So let's just spend a minute on City. I'd say I rate Iriola tremendously highly. I think he's a phenomenal coach, phenomenal manager. The high line they tried to play against Holland was an absolute mess. And when Erling Haaland can start his run in his own half and have a clear run to goal, or when he's running in behind because your left back is three yards behind the defensive line, that's not going to work.

1:03:25That is, of all the players in the world, that's not going to work against him. So I just felt like Bournemouth gave the game to City with what they did.

1:03:31Elliot:Yeah, it's not about high lines, but how about having a straight line? Straight line. That's the key. I was sort of disappointed in Bournemouth, actually. you know because before the game i'm a big believer in you know these teams that are not in europe they've got a massive advantage with so many premier league teams in europe nine out of 20 and ballman for a good side i thought well they could go there really do something but i actually thought there was probably a moment at 2-1 when he was about to make subs and he went to 3-1 i probably killed their game plan towards the end of the game they may have got a draw out of it but i just thought they played into their hands too much and look it's easy to sit there and say harlan's coming he's going to run past you when you're a player you may think you're like i can run with him suddenly he's gone you know and um because he's at tip top at the moment tip top shape he looks unbelievably awesome like he did in his first season so he's a different and we couldn't manage him neither elliot you know we had to make a decision big guy made a decision after i've just come back from a hamstring operation i'm not going let's bring him down let's see what happens right so um which is a very wide decision because he's now on the pitch he's the best defender in the league so tough to deal with but i felt form of playing to our hands a little bit much like aston villa did i just couldn't believe what aston villa was doing and by playing short all the time by playing five yard pass in little thinking oh my god i can't believe this no one's going long enough i mean what all clive unai emory is renowned for his film study.

1:05:00How is he the only manager that doesn't realize that kicking long is the way you beat Liverpool? He's supposed to be the student of the game. It's three-hour film sessions. It never came up in any of his film sessions that you just kick long against Liverpool. What the hell were they doing? It's not even kick long.

1:05:14Elliot:Just make Canarte and Van Dijk defend. Just make them defend. That's what Liverpool did. They brought Robertson back and Bradley back. They kept their back forward and alive a lot more, didn't expose too much of their of their outside channels and tried to deal with the long ball they had their championship midfield back together again alive to the second ball but didn't need to because Villa decided to make Emi Martinez the playmaker and it's like whoa whoa whoa I thought okay this is this is interesting okay cut the passes and then go no no cut the passes and a couple more a couple more the Liverpool got really encouraged and then took it off and they were lucky to score more goals i don't know how i'm being a fan's field today but i'll be fuming at that i'll be absolutely fuming i did not see a quality gap between the two teams i saw a tactical gap between the two teams one that was stupid the other one that felt incredibly lucky little paul have had two great results one against frankfurt one against villa and the manager will say that both teams played into his hands right i don't think they solved the problems and soon they bring their players that they spent money on back into the group, I think we're going to see a lot of the same things.

1:06:29Elliot:But they're there, right? They're still there. But if we win against Sunderland, Liverpool and City, one of them is going to be interesting to watch, Elliot. I'll tell you what, mate. Might be worth doing an hour after that game. I mean, it depends on how it goes, right? It's a hard one to know exactly what I think we want to draw. If we win on Saturday, by the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for starters. Look, the Erling Haaland thing is an interesting one because if I look at Liverpool and City, I think both teams have more flaws than any I see with us. With Liverpool, the question is, you know, somehow people will say City have Erling Haaland and that could be enough.

1:07:07I mean, at Liverpool, between Izak and Salah, you'd think that would be enough. Now, Salah hasn't really gotten going. Izak definitely hasn't gotten going, so we don't know with them yet. Their defensive vulnerabilities are clear for all the world to see. But I think City's are as well. um you know to be fair to Bournemouth by the way trying to stop Erdogan Holland and playing high line all that stuff they lost three starting defenders and their starting goalkeeper from last season and it it looked it in this game because the line was just a mess um and yeah to your point like I think the keeper keeps out a shot that I think he can do better with he's a little unsighted from the third shot maybe at 2-1 there's still a a chance for Bournemouth to get something from that game but neither liverpool nor city are defending at the level that lets you think they're going to be able to make games as calm and and easy as as we've been able to i i don't i think there are people that have written off liverpool that think city are the threat and i think the season is yet to present itself to us fully i don't think either team is really up and running yet um but we very much are now clive we've got we've got um injuries yeah and we have to be thoughtful about managing them but i think we have to be a little bit careful about just writing off the prog game because you have to finish i mean look we all want to win the premier league i get it the Champions League is another prize that we absolutely want to try to win.

1:08:38And finishing top eight in the league phase is a must. The big teams are looking fearsome in the Champions League so far this season. And you've got to win games like Slavia Prague away so that you don't have to win games like Inter away or Bayern away. So how do we manage this tomorrow? I mean, just quickly, you know, ideally I'd love Saka to be rested because he's been managing something. Jokras, if he has a chance for Sunderland don't risk him tomorrow Zubamendi's in training today so but he can't play he's he's banned so I take that back you can't play him but if you show up there with Norgaard and Marino up front and Max down and Ethan you know Ethan's very good obviously and you know you could get to a situation where you rotate so many players that an away game in Europe is not suddenly something you can just comfortably say you're going to win so how do you balance it yeah

1:09:30Elliot:it's all about it's a tough one I know you want to win this game but most of me my eyes are on something I've got to be I've got to be honest with you I get it I get it but I just read out I just fine enough I just looked at Sofa School and the team they've got down there right so it's quite a nice team they've got they've got Raya White Saliba Gabriel Louis Skelly they've got Rice Norgard Eze Saka Mourinho Trossard there's a few changes in there but i'd maybe make maybe one more i'd get i'd get sack out of there yeah so yeah there's a couple of options there and so but it's all about if they play half a game then it's okay do you see what i mean and so look there's money in the champions league i think you get two mil per win or something like that so there's there's money in the champions league they're not going to throw the game but we've just got to be careful with our forward players so if we can do the job early and I don't know how good Stavra Prague are I've just looked around and I can see they play a back three back five per se that's all I can say I can't see their quality I don't know where they are but if I'm Arsenal I'm getting that game done by half time I'm going for it getting it done by half time and making my changes to that point onwards because we do have to think about the weekend.

1:10:51Elliot:I want to put extra pressure on the weekend because we've done so well in recent weeks. We've created a little bit of room. And we shouldn't be saying things. Everyone's trying to say to us, you have to win it, you have to win it, you have to win it, you have to win it from here. I'm thinking, believe me, now this is only November and we've only got a six-point gap wherever it is. That's not a lot. That can change in two weeks. But I do think we can really make a step if we do win at the weekend. And the Stardew Park will take care of itself. I think we'll have enough for them. And I do think at the weekend, hopefully we may hopefully see one or two come back.

1:11:28Elliot:You never know. And put a bit of spring into our offensive bench. Yeah, I want to be clear. Sunderland is absolutely the priority. I fully acknowledge that. I just think you don't want to suddenly have that extra Champions League round. in February because it affects your ability to win the Champions League and your ability to win the Premier League, those extra games in February. I don't think we've got – considering we've won every game, I don't think we've got to drop too much. No, no, no. It's just you look at the teams. Last season you had weird things where some of the big clubs were like near the bottom of the table at this stage and sort of scrambling to get points back.

1:12:10It's not that way right now, and we still have Inter and Bayern on the schedule. So I think you want to beat Slavia Prague. I think we'll beat Kairat Almaty at the Emirates. I feel pretty good about that. Bruges away is another one. But I think all three of those need to be wins so that you're not relying on points against Bayern or Inter. But if you have to, you have to. I would say, certainly to your point, I'm not risking anyone tomorrow who could potentially be a doubt for Sunderland. That is certainly something I'm not doing. And by the way, maybe a little bit lucky in the sense that Sunderland play tonight, as we sit here recording, against Everton.

1:12:42And we play on Tuesday. so from a rest standpoint it's not a case where like they played Saturday and we play Wednesday right they play Monday we play Tuesday so we're going to go into the game in similar rest which is at least a little bit helpful and hopefully with some players and by the way maybe Anani Maduike sneaks back into a lineup or a bench against Sunderland or Kai Havertz shows up on a bench against Sunderland and you you start to see some powering up I think we also have to bear in mind by the way I know people are excited for Odegaard and Kai and Nani and all them to get back the first game after the international break is spurs yeah and these players have been out a lot they're going to need to knock the rust off and so we're going to have to be thoughtful because those games you know it's it's spurs it's byron it's chelsea you can't just throw guys who have been out for six weeks 12 weeks back into these games so we're gonna have to find our way to work them back in but that's something we can discuss as we come to it i think that's enough for now oh, we're going to have an instant reaction tomorrow because the game is just going to keep coming thick and fast now.

1:13:42And then we can look ahead to a massive, massive weekend again with Liverpool playing City. So we'll do a lot of fun stuff around that. Maybe we will do an instant reaction for the City-Liverpool game, depending on that, because it could be a big talking point for the season. So lots more to come. Join us for the instant reaction tomorrow. They are really fun, by the way. We get Tim tomorrow will be on the instant reaction, which is a nice treat. We get voice notes from Clive from the ground when he's at the Emirates. and all those pods can just be put right near pod player. So you don't have to like go to a special app.

1:14:10You can just listen as you always do and you can watch the videos as well. AVP50 if you want to do it for half off. We'd love to have you there. We're just happy to have you here. And please, if you could give us a five-star review, that's going to help people find the pod. There has been more of an exodus from a digital space to analog spaces. People not using social media as much. So if you can give us a five-star review, it'll help people find the pod. If you do have issues with the pod and you want to criticize it, then just reach out. I'll give you Paul's email and you can email the negative stuff to pause.

1:14:34Okay, Clive, always a pleasure. Thanks, man.

1:14:36Elliot:Thank you very much. My name's Alex Smith. You are beautiful people. We love you. You're special, and you know it. We will talk to you after Arsenal 10. I'll be back to you.

1:15:05Thank you.