Gyokeres Unveiled and A Young Star Shines Brightly

43:47The problem is he needs to physically make a step forward. You can't make that training step forward to get stronger around those key joints if you're having to sit because you keep getting tweaks. Much like we've got a few players in our squad that we can see a physical development in them. It's making us look at them in a different way. His potential physically is huge. No, absolutely huge if he can just stay fit. That's the frustrating thing. I think his talent is right up there. So, yeah, he's a... Think about anybody else in the world of football that plays left-centre-back like him. There's not very many, is there?

44:29There's that free spiritism. It just isn't, you know? So Bastoni does a bit in my mind. It's like having Izak as the left centre. Don't use that name, Paul. I know you've got a European knowledge field, but Bastoni, he plays quite in a progressive way on the left-hand side. And so I can't think of very many. Obviously, when John Steiner did it from the central point and then dropped into midfield, it was transformational for City. So they have this talent on your books and you keep having to sit them down a month every now and again. It's not great, right? But we have options. We've got eight very good defenders.

45:05Don't forget Timmer can rock over to the left back as well because Ben White looks like he's back. So we're in good shape. We're in good shape. But we need him. Got to stay fit. We need him. Yeah, so shortly after he came off, Jacob Murphy made it to all. A bit Petr Cech from David Raya. I thought he was a little bit slow getting down there, but again, I'm not overly bothered about it. He came off almost directly after that anyway. and then then something happened Clive and forget the other stuff let's talk Max Dowman because we're 40 odd minutes into this podcast and we haven't mentioned him yet which feels ridiculous considering the impact he made in this short cameo again I think it's really important to manage the noise and expectations around this player afford him time to develop to pray to play freely to enjoy his football to make mistakes as well um and just as a fan base maybe we need to take a step back and remember that this is a 15 year old um trying to carve out a career in one of the most physically and mentally demanding competitive sports in the world so without going overboard have we produced the next lionel messi and would anything less than nine ballon doors by the time he turns 25 be a failure yeah he's going back to school next year for his final year for his gcse so this isn't a 15 year old about to leave school he's got another school year ahead so I mean it's incredible he doesn't need GCSEs Clive it's fine yeah do you think so I think he's going to be alright I don't think he's going to be poor so yeah it's incredible to see I have seen him close up I've mentioned it before on the podcast and what stands out to me is just the balance that he has you know and he's just a wonderful balanced athlete and I look at him and I'm looking around and I've seen him play against adults and he looks like the best mover on the pitch.

46:58And I was just saying to somebody earlier today, my wife sort of does, she's our athletics coach and they talk a lot about your contact time on the floor. So the less time you're in the floor, the more you're in the air and you've got cadence of your feet, you move quickly. When you watch people like Dalman run, it looks as though they're floating, doesn't it? It looks as though they're floating across the ground and that's because he's got strong feet, strong ankles off the floor very, very quickly. That's natural talent. Dave Bergkamp had it. Natural talent to move across the ground. So you look at this guy, how's he moving this fast?

47:34He doesn't seem to compute. Joel Linton is 6 '3", 6 '4", physical monster and he was running with him. That should not be happening. He's running past him. That should not be happening. You know, it just shouldn't be happening. And it is, because his talent just screams, right? So I'm trying to say cool, because I'm a mature man, and I need to be mature about these things. And there have been many other channels that will be going over the top and owning the player in their own minds. Hey, look, these things don't happen very often. That's it. Simple as that. There's lots of information out there, lots of film out there.

48:15We watched UEFA Champions League stuff this year. He was the youngest player to score in that competition. watching play for England incredible if you watch that FA youth cup court fire against Manchester United where the referee was an absolute disgrace it was incredible to watch him play the youngest player on the pitch and play like that it's all out there you just gotta be cool you know you just gotta be cool and just allow the kid time to develop and just learn and he's in the best possible environment the best possible people around him and what I read and hear he's got a great family as well.

48:50We're just very, very lucky. We're very lucky. If we manage this player correctly, which I'm sure we will do, we've got some nice times ahead. That's all I'm going to say for now. Take the hype away. Can I say, Phil, for the listeners, not to panic, Clive is mature, but we have me on the podcast. So, you did mention Lionel Messi. Yeah, yeah. You did mention Lionel Messi and I think you've opened that door there for me as he goes past player do you do remember how fast Lionel Messi was with the ball at his feet as a teenager in his early 20s and like you can't help but look at Max Downman 15 absolutely torching past players who are fast right um and and who are making the excuse to themselves I'll be able to catch him in full season it's pre-season but Messi had that thing I'm going to use Messi's name a lot while talking about Max Downman but the listeners should not get focused on the Messi thing they're just going to hear the word Messi quite a lot here he's a 15 year old guy don't be loading your expectations on him everybody that's my job and so here he is with the ball at his feet he is faster than any other player on the pitch because he has the ball at his feet because he can go up and down between gear seven eight nine like in a sprint i don't think he's faster than joel linton but put the ball at his feet where he's pulling all the strings like messi he's the fastest player on the pitch and he goes past players because they can't go to 10 or he'll make them look like idiots he'll stop he'll put them on the rat so they can only ever run at eight or nine against him and his ability go up and down his gears that that the slick way he goes up down skips around They have no idea.

50:43They now know before he shows up that they're going to have no idea what he's going to do next. Yeah, he's an absolutely phenomenal talent based on whatever, 50 minutes of time we've seen him playing against adults. He's loving it. He knew he would. Look, he's playing in training against our guys who are really good. He knew he was going to absolutely embarrass players once he got the ball at his feet against senior players here. He's going to get kicked, but he can also learn from Saka who had to go through that process. They learned how to protect Saka so that even though he was going to get kicked, he knew how to ride tackles, how to present his backside to them, how to move away from the attacker.

51:30uh we have we have a playbook for how to how to keep sake in games and not get kicked out of them and uh fortunately damon's playing the same side of the pitch although as i say i think any injury from any player should be an opportunity to shuffle minutes across and get him on the pitch um it's incredible that he's like i saw um one of those football stat things where they say he's six foot i don't know if he's six foot but he's bloody tall uh they may you know they get ahead of themselves with those this guy's six foot this guy's six one but i guess he's on his way to six foot at at uh whatever 15 i've heard various comparisons maybe caca's kind of a an interesting one tall leggy number 10 ish could he play striker for us i think he'd probably do anything he bloody he wants but you know he could you can get him on the pitch because like oh we'll have sacker we'll have odegaard we'll have when erie i don't think the problem with max down when you can probably do anything anywhere on the front half of the pitch and he's going to end up in super tall and who knows what kind of physique and size and stuff but if he's at uh zooming in on six foot at 15 oh my god so we'll see I mean he is always someone who has played above his age group and I watched him a lot in the UEFA Youth League last year and even though Arsenal struggled as a team some of the stuff he was doing as an individual against players three or four years older was just stupid I mean he looks so physically ready and I think there's only so long you can ignore a talent of this level of this magnitude and for him to not only look the part technically against like seasoned premier league players but physically as well is beyond exciting i just think the bravery the running power even some of the basics in terms of how he receives the ball how to ride contact his timing and weight of pass i mean they feel so refined already and it just wouldn't surprise me at all to see him get some first team minutes this season i mean and like phil people will say no we got to protect them we got to protect you know these players who get into their late 20s and early 30s and like they become i say use him up right make sure he's not playing at 22 use him now we've got him here now he's great use him up okay he only makes it to 25 what a glorious decade he will have use this guy up now i mean we wouldn't we've held him back long enough 15 year olds we held him back last year phil i was calling for him to be in the team last we've held him back a season i say look use this guy we've spoken about messi but lamin jamal is an example as well he came in at 15 was playing for for spain as well at that age i'm not saying we should exactly use max every week welcome on board is he an option yes maybe maybe um can i just say as well i think per mertesacker deserves a lot of credit um because even though he's not directly responsible for the coaching and the scouting i I think the new generation that's coming through feel very grounded.

54:43They're focused. Their heads are screwed on. And that feels very Murtasaka coded. I think his blueprint is all over that. And you can see the influence of his personality in these guys in that they're almost being molded in his image and by his values. And there seems to be a very strong focus on building and developing people, human beings, as well as the players who, look, whether they have what it takes to play for Arsenal at the highest level or whether it's elsewhere remains to be seen but I just really like the players and the people that we're bringing through at the club I think they they represent us in a in a really good way so I've realized we'll be going for 50 minutes here and I should definitely take a break because I always forget and then there's never a chance to break conversation naturally and then Elliot get upset so I'm doing it now and here's Elliot with some ads welcome back to part two of the show and I wanted to start by asking about the left-hand side because it's been a topic of discussion within the Arsenal fan base for a long time now and I know Clive, you and Tim spoke about it in the last pod but it feels quite prevalent again after what we saw against Newcastle because I think naturally by design we're very right-sided as a team and rightly so when our best player is out there but the chemistry between Saka, Erdegaard and White especially feels a lot more natural compared to any relationships we've had on the left-hand side since Granit Xhaka left.

56:04That's Sunderland bound Granit Xhaka, by the way. There's been a lot of chopping and changing at left back. We've used Havertz, Rice and Marino in the left eight role. We've swapped out Martinelli and Trossard religiously. But I can't help but look at the forward positions in particular and think, can we not do better here? And on paper, I love what Martinelli offers us and I've loved what he has offered us in the past, but it just doesn't seem to be happening for him right now. And while Trossard has been a really great and extremely effective addition, there is life beyond him, right? He's heading into the latter stages of his career now.

56:43He can't play in the wide areas forever. And Clive, I'll stick with you. I thought we would eventually look to balance out our team, but maybe is the plan starting to feel like it's being designed towards leaving that left side isolated and is that why madueke makes more sense as a left-sided option for example as someone who's more comfortable beating their man 1v1 if we're not going to sign a rafael layout type for example i mean as a i wouldn't exactly view him as someone who can run in behind like that but i think even he could be a good option for that side but where do you stand at the moment on martinelli and trossard i know they've got time to find their feet find their rhythm find their fitness but i in the case of martinelli especially i'm a little bit worried about where we're going with him yeah so obviously we're we're big supporters so you want to see the positive in your own players but then sometimes you need to look at it from an opposition perspective if kieran tripper is having a good day against our left side which he has had then for me we've got a problem if the opposition trying to stop us or which side are they stopping which side are they standing in they're still standing in our in our right side right so that means we haven't quite resolved the left-hand side yet you know we don't quite get enough productivity from that side we don't have enough fear factor we don't have enough offensive presence and so as i'm going through like the summer you're going through it you're thinking oh what do you need to do what you need to do and the answer world has landed on leo and as a as a two to one favorite in my mind and why is that because they when the ball goes into their feet and the ball stops everything stops because they can do anything from that position because when they start again they're threatening you straight away right so and so they have such a defined game that you're throwing it into the bread basket and it goes in there and then you're off that's the same thing to have with saka so the ball goes into him and then he stops it and then everything can start you know so he's almost like our center forward out there you know we're ticking when we didn't have one right so and so for me i've looked at left hand side differently because what we try and do we try and cut and paste need some speed blah blah blah well mad record can offer the speed and the directness so we got that okay so do we need something a bit more trossars like but stronger and more physical the ball goes in and when we want to put it there because we know one-on-one he can do it on his own and create his own pass or create his own shot trotter's a fine player but he needs people to combine with martinelli is a fine player but i think he needs to define his running game so when he runs his straight lines i think he's easily stopped when he goes out to win runs i think he's fantastic but we don't play them those passes over the top enough we're not direct enough so we're not quite maximizing his talent i mean he needs to turn himself into an off-the-board player and be a relentless mover, always making runs to challenge people.

59:47So he's not receiving the board to just stop it all the time, then knock it back. You see what I mean? So he needs to be strong enough to define his game to his strengths. And we need to play to his strengths. And also we're going to talk about other players in the team and our behaviors around transition, which I think are changing. So I'm not giving up on Martin, because I don't want to give up on 23-year-olds. But if I was to ask you a question right now, Trossard's looking like the better player. And because he does more things on the ball, you know, so Trossard's probably closer in profile to an essay, and we're all projecting, right?

1:00:22So one tweet from the wrong person, and the essay thing will shut down, but we're all projecting that we're going to get him. So it does make sense that balance to have a sprinter and a creative player with a little bit more strength, personality, and number 10 ability, and size, that can really put pressure on those attacking refilled areas. So, left-hand side hasn't quite got it yet. It hasn't quite defined itself yet. There is a lot of rotation feel. For me, game state stuff. Newcastle away. It stretched the pitch and one-0 up. Madweke, Saka, thank you very much. Come on to us if you want. Do you see what I mean?

1:01:02At home, Leeds at home. 28 people in the box. we've had 45 touches in the box by halftime you want to go to an edge of the area crowd scene 1-2 top corner so we just need to develop those options left hand side isn't there yet mate he's not convincing anybody and it's not a critique of the players they're fine players but the opposition is not going to stand there and double up on these guys they're just not they're comfortable stopping them so we have to change yeah they don't need to They need to put three players on Saka because that's what it takes to stop him, but they're quite comfortable leaving one defender on Martinelli because that's all it takes to stop him.

1:01:42And I think he's having a bit of an identity crisis at the moment, maybe a crisis of confidence as well in that. I think people have figured him out a little bit and he doesn't have the gear at the moment to be able to go again. I think he's a very straight line player. I think his technique isn't the best, but what makes him special for me is that ability to sniff out the goal. And we haven't used him close enough to the goal. And I hate it when we put him on the touchline because he hasn't got it. He just runs into the corner flag with his head down. But if we play him in one lane more central in those half spaces where he can run between the fullback and centre-back, I think he's a lot more dangerous.

1:02:23But it just feels like he's lacking some levels to go again and he's been figured out a bit. Sorry, you want to come in? Only because this game was a classic example, right? I don't know if you watch Anthony Alanga in this game. Pretty quick, right? Moves, travels, transitions. He's allowed to run. He's allowed to run free because they're a transition team. Sometimes the environment doesn't quite work for you, or you need to adapt your game. For me, if Martinelli needs to maybe look at Alanga and say, I need to play like that, I'm pretty quick too. I can do repeat sprints, but we're focused on giving him the ball.

1:02:59Well, actually, it's giving the ball when he's on the move. You know, it's just a slight difference. It's just a slight difference in emphasis in your coaching message to him. So I don't want to give up on that player because he can run all day. And defensively, if Martin Elliott was on the left in this game, that goal's not happening. Do you know what I mean? Because he blocks off that side. We mustn't forget that. That's part of our DNA. So we just need to work with him and make sure he's a really active runner and I think he'll be fine. Paul, you want to come in on this? Where do you stand on the left-hand side?

1:03:31and do you think it's more a we need to squeeze more out of the players that we have or do you think this is an issue that we need to dip into the market for again um so i always think i i think i've heard this from other folks as well that that arteta looks at a particular game or matchup from the previous season to say where are we short and the psg one is the one that just leaps off the page the the two legs uh in the semis and like he went and got zuba mendy that was always always in plan but that that's his fix my midfield we obviously have an elite defensive line especially now that miles lewis skelly has landed he's so good the other team uh tried to get a and while they were in asia tried to get a cheap knockoff with uh what was the guy's name uh lewis miles or something newcastle guy miley i'm like he's grown man phil he's he's a giant he's huge he's so leggy that bloke yeah anyway i got off point there a little bit where was i oh yeah the matchup uh so like our back line is now basically elite our midfield should be elite right odegaard looks hungry at it up for it taking shots from all over the pitch we should have a pretty elite midfield at least our starting three uh we got an elite attack now on the right centrally the one place nobody's going to look at us and say oh arsenal they're elite is our left-hand side and i agree i agree with the conversation here i like martinelli a lot i rate trossard highly uh but we need a catalyst for that left-hand side and maybe Arteta sees Maduecki doing that for us.

1:05:17But if he doesn't, we definitely need somebody who scares the opposition. And then you keep one of Trossard and Martinelli. I think the obvious answer is Martinelli. Even though I love Trossard and what he's done for us, has been an absolutely great player for us. Moody bastard, but you can allow one or two of those. and I think there are scenarios, like I agree with Clive on the running. I think if you free up Martinelli to be more creative with his runs and how he runs and where he runs to from the left-hand side through the center, he's going to confuse the hell out of the opposition. And I think part of the answer is Jokeres because he'll pivot to that side.

1:06:05We saw a much better Martinelli playing with Gabriel Jesus than we have seen since. The center forward dropping into the right just again isolates Martinelli and puts him in these 1v1, 1v2 situations. And it's not the best for him. But you have a guy making that outside run. And Xhaka used to be quite good at that from the left eight of kind of making the move out to the left-hand side. And you think, well, he's not going to, the opposition's not going to feel threatened by him. But he pulls a player with him and Martinelli would come inside. Gabriel Jesus would drop in. I absolutely think Martinelli is a player you keep around.

1:06:42And we'll find a way to again unlock him and bring him back to his best when Jurgen Klopp was going on about him. There were players who combined with him to bring him to life. But he's a bit more two-dimensional than Saka, who's three-dimensional. I saw Clive's finger go up, so I'm going to pause now because I'm always interrupting Clive. And I owe you one, Clive. Well, you know what? we love our players right so we know them intimately so we know all their failings and um but it's what you choose whatever annoys you right so if you if you get annoyed by his dribbling martinelli then then fine right so me personally i think he goes to his weak side too much you know i think i want to see him accelerate stop clip or accelerate stop flying coif inside shoot get more shots off on your right foot get to your strong side quicker you know what annoyed me on his friendlies i know it's only a friendly might be the first game martin and he's broke through him and havertz a little combination havertz gone for an overlap martin and he's got a player in front of him and if martin and he just played havertz on the overlap he squares it across the box and zaka taps it but he takes a shot tries to go through legs and it goes out for a corner now if you're watching that and in the post game review you're saying you've got two options three options here chop inside and get a clear shot on goal that's one option use your overlap it's for a side foot that's two options the least option is to gamble and try to kick through legs and end up for a corner because that's our failing high turnover is not leading to high quality shots improve your decision making around the edge of the area that's why i'm looking at as a and we can barely sleep because on the edge of the area that chart is being created we're already there look at our field tilt in every single game we play we are already here we can't afford to have poor decision making around the edge of the box we can't it's too that's our dna only guard not quite playing the right pass maybe being a bit more complex now he's shooting loving it right so we just need to clean that up because we're already in the areas we want to be and that's a tough thing to get to do to coach to prepare for we're brilliant at it when we get there we can't afford immature decision making that's his that's his development opportunity well even related to that i think it's worth noting that arsenal were one of the worst teams in the Premier League when it came to converting high turnovers last year, especially into shots or goals.

1:09:26So that just adds another layer of, can we afford to wait for you? Or if not, we'll go to Crystal Palace and buy this guy because I think Jokeres really helps in that sense. I don't know about Madueke yet. I need to watch him a little bit more, but we for sure need to be more efficient and decisive in the final third. So again, I'm looking at Martinelli because I don't know how much time he has left to prove himself here. arsenal i know he's he's still got what three years left on his deal two years left um so we're getting towards a decision time right and you know it's an important time for for us to be able to assess our options where do we go from here if we want to commit to this player if we want to dip into the market somewhere else and so yeah i'm still i'm still yet to be convinced even though i completely love the player and recognize what he can bring we just haven't seen enough of it so um again moving on zubamendi i mean we've seen a couple of the new boys in action already Christian Norgard has looked decent in midfield.

1:10:22Steady, strong, no fuss. Kepa as well definitely made an impact, saved three penalties in the shootout against Milan. But I wanted to talk Zubimendi, who I think has looked really promising in his early cameos. I watched a comp of his performance against Newcastle again this morning. I thought, Jesus, he was even better than I remember with some really good stuff on and off the ball, which is good. He's been really progressive and punchy in possession. his defensive instincts have looked really good just you know mopping up sweeping up behind everybody um he's always quick to the bouncing balls and there was one cynical pull on Anthony Gordon which I loved um perfectly placed on the pitch it was a Rodri special that one and I just thought perfect that's what you're there to do mate stop them at any any chance you get if you're going to need to bring them down do it there which I loved um so walk away get the yellow card on we go paul what have you made about or of zuba mendy so far and has he offered mostly what you were expecting or have you seen anything that has surprised you um by the time we were very much on the path to uh sign him i'd done enough work to figure out what i thought we were getting there and uh he fully pops and gives me like i i think he's one of those guys who improves your football IQ like when people first went on about Busquets I'd watch him and think really is is you know or even Chabby uh for Barcelona you'd be like yeah he's very good but like everybody's raving about him and you just you just got to watch the guy during a game and I think Zubimendi is like that in that uh once you start to focus on him you realize the his cadence his tempo the the patterns and he's like there's something going on there and you can't figure it all out but like you know your football iq is about to improve if you work out what that why why he reminds me a lot of michael arteta in that um arteta used to get a lot of flack as the dm for arsenal but he was so smart about choosing which side to go back to and over and when to switch it and whatever and i wouldn't necessarily be able to figure out exactly why it was the right thing to do but after a while you'd see he knew which side to open up and which side to go out and the quick feet you know he's not the biggest guy he's bigger than you think maybe but he's not the biggest guy on the pitch he'll almost always come out with the ball from a challenge from a tackle he's just got the smarts all over the place to know when to go in how to go in how to come out with the ball so the other players around him trust that he's okay you don't need to double cover right if he's if he's swarmed okay how you get back but if it's a situation where he could come out with the ball he will come out with the ball so marino can stay up the pitch marino can be more attacking rice can stay in a position where you think supermandy's come out going to come out with the ball the other thing i love with him is like there's the spot the dm should be in and he's constantly in that spot and then moving up into the box of you know their their midfield box he loves to step into that which is like that Now they're all turning around, head on a swivel.

1:13:38Where's Zubimendi gone? Open up all sorts of angles. I think we're going to really enjoy this player and maybe not fully understand why we're a much better team with him. You know, we were talking about Martinelli last season. I kind of feel there's an asterisk about almost every player's performance last year in that it was such a wonky season. We were so short. Every other team had figured out what we were going to do before we got on the pitch. Like, I'm not saying you don't criticize Gabrielle Martinelli and on the basis of Lousy. I'm just saying it's a fresh start for everybody. It's going to be very different how players play this season with Zubimendi as the anchor, as the hub.

1:14:21And I've just really enjoyed watching his patterns and haven't fully got them. But yeah, I think he's been fantastic, subtly fantastic. His good is great, even though it only looks like good. Clive what about you what have you seen from him that that makes you excited for the new season yeah well he does um well one of the scouting he does I was most proud of Phil this one because you know what Elliot's like I don't know what I'm gonna watch you know so um and I really really like the player since the Euro final really when he came on and just crushed my dreams like I thought I'd better have a look at him um yeah I like his two-footness the ball comes into him and it just gets tidied up and cleaned up and sent on its way right so um it doesn't matter what size of him it's on and i think we are quite one-footed in our spaces but now we've got someone's two-footed and again what i liked in these games there's one sort of tactical thing you can see that's i try to look for a coaching emphasis and a message that we're trying to do.

1:15:27And you can literally see Arteta sort of motioning to go over, you know, and we've definitely got that dink passing us now. So Saka's now got his confidence in his hamstring, so he's sprinting in behind, right? So we know we've got a centre-forward coming and can sprint him behind. Kai Havers is moving beautifully, right? So he can go in behind as well. So that pass is now on. And look at the old compsers who've mended. He loves that little clip. But he can clip it off both feet. And that's the key. He hasn't got to wait for it to come on too strong a side. Because you know in football, that moment's gone.

1:16:00In a fraction of a second, the opportunity's gone. Watching Arsenal, my biggest frustration is we don't always see the pass. Okay, I'm in the seats halfway up, right? So I can see every pass. But we do turn away from opportunities. And the reason we do it is to get into our rest defense, into our shape. Then we go. I see a little bit more directness being defined and designed. So you're starting to see shorts, Phil. You know what I mean? We get the ball and shorts are going the other way. And that means that's new. We're doing it immediately and we're doing it collectively and we're sprinting.

1:16:34One thing I admire about Liverpool is when they win it, they go and they commit to the transition. They commit to it. It's a full-on sprint. And then they play the pass big. By big, I mean they play ahead of the runners. So the runners are now forced to go and catch the ball. But the plus point is when it's ahead of the runners, if it gets caught up or defenders win it you're now counter pressing those players so you're moving the emphasis of the game further forward so i'm watching these two games and i'm thinking okay i like what you're trying to do that's before our two fours who can really run in behind even not on the pitch yet you know so this is really really good and really promising which means we've done a really good lessons learned meeting and we're trying to fix things that we didn't do so well and i love it i really do and so supermandy plays into that right so with nor guard as well get it give it merchant get it give it go forward get it no more than two touches he had three touches that means he stepped he must have tripped over the ball do you see what i mean it's like it's no more than two touches if you know that and you're a forward you're separating immediately as soon as he's going in for a tackle you're thinking he's coming my way really really quickly I need to push off you know or I need to go so you're getting clarity to your attacking game and I do like that I really do I want to see us take opportunities that are on show a lot more which means we control game states a lot more and we're not stressing ourselves there are numbers out there Phil you know as well as I do 20 points 21 points from losing positions sorry from winning positions lost that means we're not doing something right we've drawn 14 games we only lost 4, Liverpool lost 4 as well we're not quite being efficient enough despite all the injuries we know the injuries are there and there's red cards, 6 red cards etc but within that framework we have to look at ourselves, don't we?

1:18:35and what we can do better and I think the management and the executives have looked at what we can do better because the players that we've bought are exactly what we need well you've said it there I think there's been a real focus to bring in some more directness and verticality in the signings that we've that we've brought into the club Jokeres big running big hard runner in behind Madueke the same progressive carries carries into the box Zubimendi can pass forward Norgard I mean look at Brentford what do they do he's the only they might as well not not even be a midfield for Brentford they they just hoof the ball up for for Mbamo and Wissa and Sharda to run onto.

1:19:13So I think that's something we've needed to add to our team. And it looks like we've done it. Whether or not we can execute that is another thing. But I think it just gives defences a little bit more to think about in terms of, yes, we can sit in a low block against Arsenal, but do we risk being on the halfway line? Because they've got guys who can do that as well. So all good and interesting stuff. I mean, just to finish, let's touch on some other transfer bits. And I apologise in advance for mentioning Chelsea because they're laughing in all of our faces right now because daddy mendez has sent joe felix to saudi um for a profit by the way after the last two years that he's had which is just an absolute disgrace um so now they can bring in jorall hato and xavi simmons uh not a bad not a bad little upgrade there but i don't want to talk about chelsea i want to talk about liverpool because they're making a couple of interesting moves uh luis diaz is on the verge of joining by munich for 65 million pounds darwin nunez not part of their plans and everything is pointing towards them signing alexander isak which many people thought would have been impossible after signing ekatike because very similar players occupy the same areas um although i do look at their squad and think really because they are short in central defense joe gomez has just got injured by the way and i still think they need another defensively minded midfielder to support gravenbirge because I don't think Endo's really good enough to to be there based on what they want to what they want to do and achieve Paul do you think there is a now or never element to them buying Isak because next summer they could be Real Madrid in for him PSG in for him Barcelona in for him or was this always part of their plan to sign both him and Eketike I have no idea what their plan was but their plan was big um like there was a lot of courage in them not signing uh zuba mendy last season or a player of that ilk and saying all right we've got michael edwards in uh look his name could be edward michaels it could be jim edwards i mean it's one of those names like men's hairdresser's name i don't a sporting director name yeah yeah yeah um like and there was a plan and a commitment to that plan and the plan was to go big this year uh they accidentally had a brilliant year last year um but they're they're like what was their plan the plan was to go big to go for they obviously always uh had this exact plan in mind i can't i know recently we all went ekatike and guess what they went and signed him um the fact that they also went for isak i mean isak just makes so much sense for him for them uh and for bloody any club but when you're so reliant on mo salah's brilliance and you know that there will be a season he's not there or he fizzles out um what would liverpool have been without mo salah so like the big move for them because they can because they have the funds because they're well positioned for it uh they've obviously been having the back channel conversations with isak all along so and maybe you know new castle just can't say what they're thinking which is you know we're actually up for selling him for a lot of money we just can't make it look like we're up for we got to look like we really tried not to sell this guy so maybe there's always been this level of confidence that that the isak thing was was on um it is amazing they've gone for eketike and isak but isak is not always fit he's not always available and eketike is on the way up he's still establishing himself as a player and look it's a hell of a one-two punch they've still got a lot of summer to fix their defensive line their midfielder with with some filler right it doesn't have when you if you're loading up the front end i mean if you're a liverpool supporter i guess it's very exciting right you're you're juicing up the top end of the pitch you're going to have fun um you may occasionally have to fill in a bit at the back but like they're fair play to them they're kind of going for it i mean and our rivals they're the one team i have maintained respect for mostly over the last decade or so so um the i don't i wouldn't necessarily describe them as the good guys but they're not the bad guys right um and like the bad guys shouldn't win if it's it needs to be between us and liverpool as the good guys preferably us going forward um i can't begrudge them too much they're like they're it's not uh it's not oil money it's not oligarchs they actually have to pay their way along the way so fair play to them it it says to us be better get stronger do the right things progress make the right moves keep building keep improving um so fair play to them but like that is pretty lethal up the top so clive let's say liverpool do sign isac would you be disappointed that arsenal weren't in the conversation even though we are largely happy with what we've done in the transfer market so far or do you think that was just a pipe dream at the end at this level we are definitely in the conversation at some point because there's only five teams in the world that combine right and so and we'd be one of those teams so we just chose to go a different direction or it wasn't quite feasible and newcastle are not keen to sell to us so um i'm sure his people would have reached out a long time ago as they would do to all the top clubs and see where where they are right so i did i'm not sure if i had this conversation myself but when jamie carrigan starts talking about Isaac, and I think he was around March time.

1:25:05So why does everyone think he's going to go to Arsenal? My spider senses went off straight away, right? Because that means he was a target. If you look at Liverpool's circles, Etikike was also a target. And so these are not surprise names to Liverpool people. These are names that have been out there discussed, just like we discuss Eze and Sesko and Jocharez. They've got their targets, and these were the names on their lips, right? So, yeah, fair play to them. I've got no issues with them because if they do it, absolutely fine. But I have looked at their team. I have looked at their fullbacks and where they stand and how high they stand.

1:25:44And I'm thinking, I have seen that Joe Gomez has got an Achilles problem. It's only a minor one. Canate's in the last year of his contract. He's not a pillar of injury strength. And so, yeah, go ahead, lads. Go ahead, lads. Honestly, go with it. Go with your gut. Go with it. Don't get seduced by the beauty contest, which we are losing, because we would normally buy those ballet dancers, wouldn't we? We'd have them. But we're going a different way. We're going much more forceful, much more powerful. We're a team that wants to hold people. We're the field teal world champions, right? We own the spaces, and we just need to be who we are.

1:26:26I'm all right with it. as long as we invest in it and we don't allow one or two people to be perfect. So Liverpool do their thing. They don't really respect us, shall we say, like they are forced to do with their northern friends at Manchester United and Man City. And so they're looking at the world and they can see City on the precipice of maybe ending a cycle. They're trying to create a new one. I'm not sure they quite had the right players to make that happen, but to be confirmed. look at Arsenal and think we haven't got the mentality. So they're thinking, you know what? We've got five years here.

1:27:01We can create something to last half a decade. Let's load up now. Let's take our opportunity. Let's try to dominate the English game. Make us the number one club. Make all the referees bend to our wheel. And then go from there. And Arsenal are the mortal enemy because they've got a bloke called Mikel Arteta that says, I'm not having that. I want to win just as much as you. And I'm prepared to go. I'm prepared to invest. I'm prepared to push my own club to invest with characters that are ready and up for the fight. It's going to be massive. Absolutely massive. I can't wait for it. So I want Liverpool to be good.

1:27:36Because Paul said it forces us to be better. It forces us not to be lazy. It forces us not to look at our floor but look at our ceiling. Don't get scared. Encourage it. Because we're a really good team. We just need a little bit more finishing touches. I don't often disagree with you Clive but handsome FC and not losing beauty contest let's be honest have you seen Victor Giocheres when he takes that shirt off mate you're gonna have to book him book him again after that uh but yeah I mean I think we've basically covered everything today I've got no idea what the content schedule looks like over the next few days but I'm sure there'll be lots of stuff on Patreon transfer dailies history pods one club episodes I mean your Patreon dollars are always good value if you do fancy signing up so go and do that um otherwise all that's left for me is to is to thank my guests clive thanks for joining mate always a pleasure chatting thank you very much paul lovely to see you on the pod and hopefully speak soon my name is phil costa and thanks for putting up with me for this episode it's been a fun week in singapore with two wins in two games two new signings have joined the tour and now we're heading to hong kong where we will talk to you after Arsenal 10, Spurs nil.

1:28:51Tomiyasu and Kai Havertz and Machi Deniz! And Arsenal are flying!

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