Rob Holding Talks Arteta, Arsene, Magic Moments and MLS

20:35Kent Malmros:On one hand, it's probably a good thing. Yeah, exactly. Maybe he thought I was on the bus and I'm sat around. We're all at the tables on the bus. And I get a call from my agent and he says, oh, Arsenal are going to sign you. You're not playing tomorrow. How do I poker face that in front of four or five of the team, not allowed to say it? you know like so it's probably for the best i had time to compose myself before going down to dinner but then all the lads knew anyway i don't know who told him but word had got out i'm sure things

21:02Rob Holding:like that can only get out they do leak they do leak yeah i remember when matt turner signed for

21:07Kent Malmros:arsenal i think it was like the the worst kept secret for months that he was signing and eventually

21:11Rob Holding:he signed so yeah so let's talk a little bit about that transition for you and one of the really interesting elements of your career at Arsenal. You definitely became this cultish figure for any number of reasons. I'm sure you have an appreciation that Rob Holding coming out at the end of the game indicated a very positive thing. But you span multiple eras, a transitional time from Wenger. Obviously, you played through other managers through the Arteta era. And you played with big stars because that's what happens at big clubs. So let's talk a little bit about the integration initially. And what is it like for a young player?

21:49Rob Holding:Again, you were very young and you're still very young. I mean, that's one of the interesting things about having a decade long football career that starts at that age. But you meet Mesut Ozil, you meet Theo Walcott, you meet, you know, even someone like Kieran Gibbs, who in his own way is sort of Arsenal royalty because he had such a long tenure there. Who takes you under their wing? How do you begin to acclimate? What's

22:12Kent Malmros:that like for a young player walk us through that um yeah obviously it's very intimidating as i

22:18Rob Holding:i remember the only word right yeah yeah as i walked into the chain into the training ground

22:24Kent Malmros:at the first time i'd ever laid eyes on arson bengar he was just walking past like so you walk in the reception here and then like the walkway with the train the changing room and stuff on the other side and he's just walking past and i'm like oh my god that's arson bengar like i've only ever seen him on TV at Old Trafford in the away end and like been so frustrated that Arsenal were winning maybe you know like that was the that was what it was for me um so I was like oh my gosh that's awesome thing this is what this is crazy and he sees me and turns and comes over and says hello like we're excited to have you here uh we've been watching you and I was just like why how why have you been watching me you know sort of thing um and then yeah going into the changing rooms and find my locker obviously i was number 16 so i had alexis sanchez number 17 to my left i had mesut ozil was number 10 but obviously he was he was sat next to me for some reason i don't know why there's no 13 there's no 12 for some reason mesut was next to me and i just was like why oh he wasn't maybe he wasn't fio fio was next to me because he was 14 sorry so i had anyone that's

23:30Rob Holding:not going to see this video i just have to explain that you're visually recalling the locker room you're you're thinking about what you're thinking about yeah yeah the worst part was probably the

23:43Kent Malmros:worst part but the best part was i had the strictest person in the changing rooms directly opposite me which was per mertesacker because he was four so it came around so anything that i did that might not have been allowed to do in the changing rooms i had eyes on him and if he saw I mean, he was, boom, as a young lad, I expect that though. So yeah, like a very crazy change in dreams that first year. Danny Welbeck, obviously, is having a great season now at Brighton and I'm pushing for him to get on the plane and get him to America for the World Cup. You had Santi Cazorla, Hector Bellerin, Nacho Monreal.

24:16Kent Malmros:Incredible. I think that year had just come off the Germany winning the World Cup 2016. so yeah i've got mercer urzil and then mustafi joined and these are all like won the world cup in the summer i went to thailand with my mates and went backpacking for three weeks you know they played in a world cup and won it and then we're in the same pre-season koshelny forgot about koshelny like yeah french international won everything like what a guy to have next year there's a young player 24 years

24:47Rob Holding:old.

24:48Kent Malmros:Granted, he was always signed in the same window. Yeah, he's just had an unbelievable World Cup and his breakthrough with Switzerland. Granted, he was a very, very intelligent footballer. He saw he'll go into management but he has to because the way he sees the game and how when each manager came in, he was just very tactically in tune with each manager straight away, just knew what they were asking for and there was nothing more evidently So then when Arteta came in, he had like a real clear tactical plan and Granit just saw it straight away.

25:23Rob Holding:We'll definitely get there. So let's stick with this because I'm curious. Sorry, yeah, I'm jumping all over. No, no, this is great. It's fantastic. It's safe to say, Rob, it made an impression. Yeah, yeah, for sure. As you run through the entire squad. And listen, I mean, there are such special players.

25:38Kent Malmros:I mean, these lads I forgot, like Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere.

25:41Rob Holding:Who's training with the squad again as we have this interview.

25:45Kent Malmros:yeah i play um i play playstation with him most night most afternoons because he's really evening yeah we have a little group that he still plays and um yeah we'll play a bit of call of duty or fifa or whatever and it's always good because it's better than just giving him a phone call and catching up you actually play the game but you're more just catching up with each other which is really good um so yeah callum chambers obviously like my best mate my best mate in football he was probably one that anyone will say the first two years that I was there any anywhere you saw Callum you saw me next to him and vice versa it was we were always just together like away from the training ground we lived 10 minutes away I'd be at his house for dinner and his mate who lived with him were now really good mates a really really good special club yeah so that first year pretty

26:34Rob Holding:memorable debut against Liverpool I'm curious when you think back to that first season is it moments on the pitch or is it things that you learned from some of those players or even from arson right like how do you think back to the impression of that season and and it's funny in interviewing footballers i've learned some people remember everything on the pitch like vivid pictorial memory from the games other people remember the dinner they had the night before and don't remember the game at all i'm curious so like what makes the impression for you of that

27:05Kent Malmros:first season um definitely moments on the pitch and it spreads throughout the the year obviously when i joined and then within a week we were going to pre-season in la and we had the we played the mls all-star game um dignity health and drogba was playing when he was in in the states so i was like oh my gosh i'm playing against didier jogba i didn't expect that you know i've got didier jogba in front of me up against me i've got pet check behind me i'm like how if I landed in between two Chelsea legends. So yeah, I ended up playing three of the games, scoring against Chivas. And I didn't expect to even be anywhere near the pitch as like signing in for the first time.

27:51Kent Malmros:So then a couple of injuries happened, Koscielny and Murtasaka. And then by the start of the season, we'd Liverpool at home and I'm playing. I remember I'd never been to the Emirates prior to that. I'd never gone and looked around or anything. so it was my first time in the stadium, walking on the pitch and just sort of walking out and we have first game of the season, obviously a bit of fire and fireworks and stuff. And I just remember feeling the heat of the fire and that was the same at Wembley actually in the final later in the year. But that heat from the fire and I was like, whoa, within the scream of 60 ,000 people walking out.

28:26Kent Malmros:I was like, this is the big time now. And then it ended up being a crazy game, like 4-3 or something stupid that we should have done better in. But I think Liverpool were just sort of hitting a stride there with Klopp. They'd had a few years with Klopp and they were just sort of getting the team with Salah, Mane, Firmino, Coutinho. They were just sort of finding that feat and that rhythm. And then obviously they went on to do what they did in the four years after that. But yeah, that was obviously the first game. Very, very tough and like sort of welcome to the Premier League moment. And then played a few games.

29:02Kent Malmros:we had, I'm pretty sure it was Leicester away after that. We had a nil-nil draw. And that's when Wenger did the famous quote about me, not costing 55 mil. So how can I be good? Which was a little tongue-in-cheek, but very amusing. And obviously that's going to live with me forever, like you said earlier, about the cool moments and stuff. Like there's a few of them with me, you know. And then we had Watford away and Ozil was back playing and he scored and Sanchez scored and I think Santi Cazala scored. And I was like, yeah, 3-1 into a national break, living the dream.

29:40Rob Holding:Absolutely wild. And yeah, I do want to ask you about the quote and I'm curious. Is that something that it is tongue in cheek and everyone knew that, but it was a talking point, right? Because Arsene had been so legendary for identifying talent. You were someone that he spoke so highly of. You came in and listen, every new young player, people want to know what they're all about, where they came from. So that was probably just at the point when internet sleuthing was starting to really take off. I mean, it's at a completely different level now, right?

30:14Kent Malmros:But if I could change the era of my career, I'd go 10 years earlier for sure. So I don't have to deal with that. That is a guarantee. I'd pay as much money in the world. I'd go, yeah, I'd go, what was that? 2026 to 2025 in the prem. If I went 2005 to 2015, I would be more than happy.

30:31Rob Holding:Is that just because you're private and it's not your style? I mean, personally, I'd love to do it too.

30:38Kent Malmros:Yeah, the fake accounts, like zero posts, zero followers, but we'll just comment a load of abuse. I've had my comments off for years, but I'm just like, what is you getting out of that? And then 10 years prior, it wasn't even a thing, and you could just go about your business. So yeah, I think definitely. I mean, that's a whole different topic, but yeah it's not because yeah one of the things i was fascinated about and i was actually

31:00Rob Holding:thinking to ask you was is any 20 because you were just about to turn 21 right 20 going on yeah just about to turn 21 like is any 20 year old ready to go from i've never been at the emirates i've never met arson wenger i didn't even know arson was interested right you've never been to london grew up in manchester you're playing at bolton it's not like you're i can't even imagine that a 20 year old is ready for that and then you look at what's going on with you mean them all max dowman ethan i mean it's insane how young these kids are getting thrust in to the spotlight and i'm curious if you reflect on that and how how challenging it must have been yeah i think it is challenging but at the time you don't realize it you're just so

31:41Kent Malmros:in the moment you're just you're just you don't appreciate it till like i'll always remember when i won the fa cup the first time um obviously chamberlain said to me like you don't realize what you've just done you just think it's like a normal thing and i'm like oh like we're just playing football like and we've ended up winning he's like no this doesn't happen that often you know like you have to treasure these moments and he'll always stick me when he said that but again that leads back to each game you just sort of going into it like oh it's an it's a football game like this is your job this is what you're paid to do it's not until you look back and think wow i was 20 year old and i was just like strolling out at the emirates and trying to play as a center half.

32:17Kent Malmros:It's not like you're a winger or attacker where it can be a little bit easier as a younger player to go in. So yeah, you don't appreciate it until you look back on it and think that was actually quite challenging and you sort of took it in your stride.

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34:47Rob Holding:I can follow the teams I care about, get real-time scores, breaking news, and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment. I like the way you framed that, though, Rob, because I think so often when that type of commentary is made, it's, oh, you don't appreciate what just happened. And the implication, intentionally or otherwise, is, oh, you just think you're going to win all the time. And you framed it in a way that I think is right, which is, no, I wasn't even thinking about the significance of an FA Cup win. I was just playing football and trying to win the game.

35:20Kent Malmros:Yeah, exactly. And that probably helps you win the game. Rather than getting super stressed out about it, like, oh my gosh, this is an FA Cup final. I'm so nervous. I just thought, oh, I was strolling into it as a normal game, prepping the same way.

35:34Rob Holding:You then established yourself with a team and over the next couple of years, you go through this transition, right? And to your point about internet trolling, that was certainly something that picked up with the unfortunate sort of Wenger out trolling stuff, which became heightened. I'm curious. It's not even really worth revisiting that. I'm more curious about what it's like for you as a player and a team that was pretty well established. Clearly, they're ins and outs. Dealing with going from Wenger to Unai Emery, having Emery go through his struggles. To your point about caretaker managers getting for Jumberg.

36:09Rob Holding:you know, and then eventually landing on Mikkel. How do you as professionals handle transitional times like that? What is it like and how do you try to work through the establishment of new tactical identities, new cultural identities? I think that's got to be difficult.

36:27Kent Malmros:For sure, yeah. And there's an adaptation period. I mean, you see it with when new managers come in, there's a little bit of a bounce back because it's a new manager. Everyone's putting more effort in. and then it might drop off a bit while they sort of build the tactical like look at United now they sort of they had a little spike and then they dropped again and then they're sort of slowly building again like the way it happens is we're in a generation now where the success is expected right away where I think where Arsenal where Arsenal have been really clever is Arteta had them sort of two three years at the start he was sort of building his philosophy building the culture of the club again because the club had like lost a bit of its culture and the club gave them him time like when you finish eighth or ninth i can't remember which year that was but we haven't just scraped into europa league might have even missed europa league they're such as a team as big as arsenal it's such an easy excuse for an owner to be like not good enough you're out the door but having that trust and the knowing that there's a process and we're going through it we're building again and then you look at where the team is now and And it's in a much better place.

37:36Kent Malmros:So yes, going back to your question, sorry. The transition with the managers, I can only imagine for some of the players that had been there eight years when Arsene Wenger left, I'd only been there two years. It was relatively new still and sort of learning as I went along. Lads that had been there for so long that were in such a pattern with Arsene, that that must have been a big shock for their new night to come in. He was a younger style of coach, a little bit more dynamic in his play rather than the possession style that Wenger used. Dynamic in his personality too. Oh, he's brilliant. I loved Unai.

38:12Kent Malmros:I had my best spell at Arsenal under Unai. I thought he was brilliant. And yeah, maybe he should have got a bit more time than what he got. But maybe they learned from that mistake with Arteta and that's why they gave Arteta more time, you know. So it's swings and roundabouts. But as a person, Unai, great personality. Hilarious. these backroom staff that you had uh Juan Carlos who now coaches in a Cypriot team they're just really nice friendly people who knew how they wanted to play and were I enjoyed everything with you and I for the two years obviously I had that the run of games where I played 22 23 and we went 18 unbeaten um which was like a really successful period that was like my sort of establishment in the team.

38:58Kent Malmros:Coming back, and then obviously the ACL that sort of put a damper on that and that's football. It happens, people get injuries and you're at a top club, you're going to get the best treatment and come back stronger. And then Arteta comes in and at this point, the club's in a bit of turmoil with the culture from top to bottom, don't really know what direction people are pulling in the same direction. And Arteta came in and made it very clear that this is the plan get behind it or jump ship and leave and it was didn't matter who you were you know there was there was no egos there was nothing it was this is the way you go and get on board or you're gone and i think you needed you needed that i want to ask

39:40Rob Holding:you more about michael because i think it's so timely and curious from someone behind the scenes how you establish a culture how you start to change a dressing room but i just think it's worth putting a flag in the sand proverbially about what you just described because when I comes in May of 2018 and then you're right that run which I remember so vividly right it was improbable in some ways and you were winning games you shouldn't have won but it was that type of unbeaten run and I now remember this is probably another piece of the Rob Holding lore because that ends and you do then rupture the ACL in December and then there's a lot of debate around whether or not you were the critical piece to that run and could be falls apart yeah

40:26Kent Malmros:and then of all places to do it at old trafford while my family there that's against the first game at old trafford and boom that's rough yeah that was the rough part that it was at old trafford it was my first time playing there but since then played there was that actually your first time playing there that was my first time on the pitch playing yeah i'd been on the bench i don't think i realized that yeah i'm sure that was part of the commentary

40:49Rob Holding:that day but that's a few years ago yeah wow well i don't even know if people didn't even know i was

40:53Kent Malmros:from manchester i don't know but that was why it was such a special yeah that was why it was such a special moment because load of family were there and it was the homecoming type game for

41:02Rob Holding:my family which was cool yeah so for the arsenal fans who didn't pick up on this to the point about internet sleuthing grew up in manchester united fan hence some of the comments about you know oh wait you're signing for arsenal what are we doing here from your parents yeah well from my uncle

41:20Kent Malmros:especially because he went he went home and away he went home and away to united games he uh he was a vivid yeah massive fan and yeah he was like i mean my dad used to go to the the games and he has a tiny man united like football badge that like a little pin badge wow okay so we used to have it on like he's he'd have like his shirt or his jacket and then he'd have it like under his jacket just so we always had like he's united next to him while he was supporting arsenal watching me

41:46Rob Holding:which i always thought was quite funny that's incredible so let's stick with mikhail and i'm curious listen his intensity you know the standards the absolute requirement to get on the bus proverbially are are all pretty well documented we've obviously all seen the amazon documentary curious from a player's perspective how you would describe that situation what your thoughts are and how people should kind of understand what it was like to have him come into the dressing room clearly he was a well-known entity many of your teammates not many some of the teammates that point had played with him yeah he is a well-known coach under pep but what is that like

42:31Kent Malmros:um yeah i'd had prior to him um becoming the manager i'd had a few interactions with him Obviously, I never met him as a player, but as a coach at City, when we played City in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, the first one that I won, I remember him coming into our changing rooms or near our door and just sort of congratulated everyone individually, which was really nice. Obviously, he's had so many ties with City and Arsenal. But I always think with Mikel, he's got that stare where you just know he's serious and it's not good enough. and i got that stare a few times and i think anyone would be lying if they said they never got the look so it is it's just the rite of passage and um but it shows you is that all it takes literally oh he's got he has got this uh a very intimidating stare and you just know like if i made a bad pass or it wasn't as clean or as expected as wherever you wanted the standards and he'd say your name and i'd look at him and it'd just like be like give you this real stare and i'm just like yeah i know like you just know instantly i know like that pass wasn't good enough I'll be better next time so he had that and that comes back to building the culture is that sloppiness isn't accepted and it's there's a constant level that you need to be at and it's how you deal with that some players might not like it but if you want to play you gotta like it so you know you gotta if you don't like it hide that you don't like it and just be like yep and go again you know that's the that's the mentality and you can see that now actually I watched I watched the Arsenal who did they play midweek last week in the league was it Brentford?

44:07Rob Holding:Yes

44:08Kent Malmros:they played I was watching the game and the speed that they move the ball like from side to side forward and back just probing the defences waiting for them to like move out position and then as soon as they do it's a quick one-two with either is it Saka getting slid inside from the right hand side or I mean Odegaard coming back and he played over the weekend he played this pass with the outside of his boot and it was just like so nice just the weight of it and the detail the attention to detail in the passing just you can see it and then you watch other teams trying to break down a low block and it's a little bit slower and there's not as much rotation they're just a well-oiled machine right now and you can see that the clogs are all in line and ticking and that's that's our time people talk

44:52Rob Holding:about how much they learn from him tactically but it sounds like and i think we should talk a bit about that. But more importantly, it sounds almost like every detail is critical. Is it starting with how you arrive to the grounds? Is it video study? Is it how you interact with coaching staffs? Like, are those the types of things that coaches change or is it maybe simpler than that? I always wonder because sometimes I think that this is a theme now in our conversation, right? The narrative, or there's so much narrative around this stuff. Is it simpler than that? Is it just to your point the stare or are there other small attention to detail type things there was

45:30Kent Malmros:yeah in in meetings which sometimes we wouldn't just have meetings to do video studies or like tactical work sometimes it'd be like or it'd finish it'd finish one of their meetings or start one of their meetings with a little bit of like a culture meeting and it'll be like sorry the amazon documentary had these very sort of interesting ways to sort of get the team around the team first mentality so like in the amazon documentary we have the light bulb and everyone has to be connected to get this light bulb to shine um you had the top not tottenham one the leicester away where everyone's like rubbing and just sort of creating this energy some of them stick and work really well some of them lads are a bit like that was a bit weird you know but that's that's it if out of five of them one doesn't stick but you got four influences from them then it's worth doing you know um i go back to like if you're not on board jump off i say that one because it was a picture of like a boat and like a viking boat with the oars out and everyone's rowing and if someone's rowing the opposite way and holding up the boat are you gonna are you gonna sit there rowing the right way and let him try and drag you back or are you gonna then rather than the manager being the one to tell him to row the right right way or get off are you going to manage it yourself in terms of are you able to say to your teammate that's not good enough i want you to be doing this way it'll be better for the team type thing so it's yeah it's how he shifted it but his culture in place of how he wanted it and then it was sort of leaning towards how do we as players manage each other and maintain that culture and grow it that's why you've now got how you have with the team with 22 players 24 players who even though there's 11 playing the other ones aren't sulking they're all ready for their i mean trossard's one of the best examples he might not start as many games as he wants to but how many times does he come on and get like an important goal or martinelli in the last few weeks has come on and nicked a goal at the end like these are this is the thing no one's coming on to sulk they're coming on to make an impression

47:32Rob Holding:and try and start the next game and you certainly get the impression without naming names again when you look back at kind of the documentary that people that do have that mindset they weren't going to work under Mikhail, who wants people that want the competition.

47:47Kent Malmros:Absolutely.

47:48Rob Holding:And that's almost a prerequisite to being part of that dressing room. You referenced playing PlayStation, I guess, with Alex. And I'm curious, Callum, who else are you still in touch with? And what is it like when you leave a squad to sort of retain a connection, be competitors? Because when you're at Palace, you're obviously competing against your old teammates.

48:09Kent Malmros:Yeah, yeah, for sure. um yeah i mean i mean callum callum's a no-brainer like i've got a group chat with him and eight of our other friends and we speak daily of footballers no just like interesting okay just a group that you awesome yeah we ended up getting partly really partly with when we lived in london uh some of them are like ex-lads who played at like southampton youth team with him and one of his best mates who's from his area and stuff and my best mate from manchester they're just a group of us and like we talk constantly every day so callum's an easy one the ox is occasionally um and it's more like we never text each other um about day-to-day things like how are you how's things going but if like when we were after something from each other we'd speak to each other and like kyle jenkinson i'd not spoke to him in years because he went and played in australia and we don't we never really spoke texting or like on the phone but then when I was at Palace at the start of pre-season for Europe this year.

49:11Kent Malmros:We played Bromley and played against him. After the game, we sat in the club bit and just spent an hour and a half just catching up. I was really close to his mum and dad. We'd always say hello to my mum and dad, so I went and spent some time with them. It is like that's just the Arsenal family. Danny Welbeck, he's obviously Ghanaian heritage and my girlfriend's half Ghanaian so I was over in Iceland uh the past couple of weeks with her with my girlfriend's Icelandic Ghanaian and uh we were with her her mum's side of the family who obviously are Ghanaian and we're eating like fufu and this is all like Ghanaian food that Danny used to talk about all the time so I'd then text Danny being like I've just tried fufu for the first time like not too bad and we're laughing about that and he was sending video video calling and speaking fancy with my missus and her mum and stuff.

50:04Kent Malmros:So that was like cool little things that you can just connect with players away from house football going. It's really interesting. So yeah, keep in touch. Ramsdale, I was at his wedding in the summer. It was great. Yeah, I mean, me and Rambo knew each other from Bolton. We were both at Bolton as kids. He was like obviously a year or two lower than me. So at 14, 15, we knew of each other. And then as our careers path with him at Bournemouth when I was at Arsenal, I'd always speak to him and be like, doing so well, mate, amazing. And then he went to Sheff United, who obviously I went to. And I had a chat to him about Sheff United before I went and he couldn't recommend it enough.

50:46Kent Malmros:He said it would be great. He loved it there. And then he signs for Arsenal and me and him become really close. And I was at his wedding. Ben White, Kieran Tierney, Matty Turner, obviously now being in America, and can't wait if he stays at the Rebs and we can play him next year.

51:03Rob Holding:You'll have to make sure you get on the end of a set piece.

51:06Kent Malmros:Oh, I'd love nothing more. I'd love nothing more. I said that with, I've got Jonathan Bond, who plays at Houston, plays at Houston now as a goalkeeper. He used to play at Galaxy. I knew him from, he's in our group chat, actually, with Callum, because he played under-21s England with Callum. and then as he left, I came into the 21s because there was a bit of an age difference between us. So yeah, when we played in towards the end of the season, I was desperate to score past him and I nearly had a shot right at the end and he just managed to save it. But then we scored from the resulting corner, which was Paxton's goal, which was like last minute.

51:37Kent Malmros:So yeah, it's funny how big the world is, but how small the football world is and your paths will cross.

51:44Rob Holding:It's definitely true. I've even noticed that doing this work And, you know, I immediately was able to just understand the connections and how people have relationships that go back decades just by having conversations with them about their experience in major indoor soccer league in the United States when I was doing my podcast about the growth of soccer in America. It's incredible how small the world is considering how big a place it is. Before we leave Arsenal, I just want to ask you, we were joking a little bit about you getting on the end of a header. do you remember that first goal you scored it was well into your arsenal career and i'm curious if that stands out vividly to you may of 2022 which one may of 2022 yeah first premier league goals for your first premier oh my west ham one yeah yep yep west ham yeah off the end of a soccer corner so so this is something that my girlfriend got me for my 30th

52:44Kent Malmros:wow okay it's like all different memories from my football career me as a kid that's incredible did she have that made for you yeah it was a french artist actually so yeah that's so cool you've got like bolton when i'm down at bolton how do i point to bolton down here like fa cup and you can yeah yeah with your phone you can um sorry with your phone if you hold it up to the camera because of like the lines that are on it it brings up like a youtube video of like the highlights of the FA Cup. If I take a picture of the FA Cup one, it'll come up with that. The goal where I'm running away with one hand up in the air and the captain's arm.

53:21Kent Malmros:Yes, exactly. That was my first goal. My first game back from my ACL recovery and Nottingham Forest in the League Cup. And I came on captain's armband and scored a goal as well. But Kyle Saka actually crossed it in one of his first games.

53:37Rob Holding:Seems like a theme, right? Yeah, well, he assisted the West Ham one as well. Oh, no, exactly. Exactly.

53:42Kent Malmros:Sorry, I just lost you. Oh, that's okay.

53:44Rob Holding:And just, I want to describe this for people that are going to hear audio only. So Rob, just show me essentially a collage that you say your girlfriend made of images of you in different kits, obviously representing different parts of your career. And you're saying that if you scan it with your phone, it brings up a YouTube clip. That's incredible. That's a very cool gift. And you know, that's something I think every footballer should have. So let's go back to you being in Colorado. and it's been fun to take a walk down memory lane on your arsenal career i'm curious what is it that you want you we talked about this earlier playing in mls for a few years but what is it that you want out of the rest of your playing career and do you expect that you'll

54:23Kent Malmros:coach at some point uh people say that i'll coach like they say that i've got a natural you seem like you have that mindset so yeah like i've got a natural sort of way with how i talk about football and the games and tactics and stuff. I get really enthusiastic about it and find it fascinating at the same time. Yeah, I mean, I'm going to stay playing, hopefully, as long as my body will let me. Be that five years, six, seven, eight years, who knows, I don't know. We'll see how I hold up. But yeah, going back to, I think, right at the start of the interview, I said I wanted to come out here with my body still in a good physical position and I could actually give some of my best football to achieving what I want to achieve which is winning the MLS Cup and winning trophies along the way like once you've tasted winning the trophy it's just like a bug where you just want to achieve it again and there's nothing that there's nothing that compares to it until you get it again you're like yeah that was the feeling and then the next day you wake up and you're like I want that feeling again and it's just the next one that you're chasing so definitely try and win something here at the rapid next year it'd be great um obviously the team's gone going through a little transition with the new manager coming in um and we'll see we'll see how things progress through pre-season and see how how things go um but yeah if i mean if i end up staying in colorado for five or six years i could see that happening i'm i'm really enjoying it here um i'm enjoying this past week with my mom and dad coming out for the first time and showing them around and they're seeing where I live, the area, and how nice it is.

56:06Kent Malmros:I've got to take them into downtown and show them in downtown, yeah, and stuff. Yeah, I'm a big lover of all sports, so I'd go to the Rockies. I've been to the Rockies a few times. I actually saw them win twice, lose once, which apparently is very rare because they're not very good at the moment. I've got the Nuggets, the Avalanche, the Broncos, Denver Summit women's team coming here soon, which will be interesting. If I end up staying out here for a few years, hopefully get my missus to come out here and play. She plays in LA right now. So get her to Denver, which would be easier for us.

56:41Rob Holding:There you go. I don't think I realized that.

56:44Kent Malmros:No, yeah. She played for Wolfsburg and has now moved to Angel City in LA.

56:50Rob Holding:Ah, okay.

56:51Kent Malmros:Which obviously made it make sense for me to come out here. I'm connecting some dots now. Interesting. Ah, okay.

56:57Rob Holding:Okay. I wasn't going to go in your personal life, but that's fascinating. Sure. Yeah. And listen, it is cool.

57:02Kent Malmros:It's cool to talk about.

57:03Rob Holding:Getting into the growth of women's soccer in America. That's maybe a whole different conversation. I bet you have a very unique perspective.

57:10Kent Malmros:I'll be gutted if the summit end up with more fans than us. So we've got to keep pushing them tickets for the Rapids. We've been here a little bit longer. We should have a decent fan base.

57:20Rob Holding:Yeah, seriously. I'm curious. You referenced, you nailed a few things, right? You talked about Midwesterners being so nice. That's definitely true in the United States. I'm saying that as someone that lives in the North, I can take it, right? Are you getting into the outdoorsy stuff? Is that a piece of the equation? So listen, for anyone that's in Europe that hasn't been to Colorado, it is the land of mountains. Everyone that lives there, not everyone. I mean, that's a gross overstatement, but ski, snowboard, rock climbing. I mean, it is an outdoor lifestyle. That's why most people move there.

57:53Kent Malmros:Yeah. and everyone says that all the time so i've not gone too much into the mountains and stuff i mean we're going on the 20th of september that's my birthday 20th of december we're going up to beckon ridge is it breckon ridge and doing the snowmobiling at the top so that should be that should be really cool so yeah getting thrown into the outdoorsy stuff um my dog's just moved out here from england now as well so um i'm sure i can take him into the mountains on the trails and stuff and uh get me out and about more uh but yeah everyone's so keen to do stuff and i'm excited to

58:28Rob Holding:get it started incredible rob uh let's close with this it's just an absolutely fun resume for you a great resume for you 162 appearances at arsenal two fa cups community shields goals as we talked about cultish type figure in many respects how do you remember your time and how do you want the fans to remember your time as part of the Gunners um yeah it is it is weird because as you said

58:57Kent Malmros:earlier some people just remember me as being the lad that came on to go to about five to see out the last 10 minutes I sort of had that period of my career I then had the Unai Emery period of the career where I had my best run I then had the first year with the FA Cup success and sort of this new kid on the block type thing so I've definitely transitioned through different sort of eras of of my career um yeah i think to be remembered for everything in that all of the above rather than just oh rob holding yeah the back five guy or that first year with the fa cup i mean the amount of people that say i'll never forget that game against costa in the fa cup like that's always going to stick with me so yeah i think everyone that i meet has a different sort of view in the story on how they remember me and i think that's the the beauty of having such a long and successful career at such a big club that you are remembered for many different things.

59:49Kent Malmros:So, yeah, I'll take every memory. It brings back my memories.

59:55Rob Holding:I'll say it on your behalf. I'm sure that it's odd because they all are positive memories. But as a player who's hyper-competitive, the guy that comes on as the back five in the last 10 minutes, that's not what you want. But you still have to appreciate that fans still kind of love you for it. And I'm sure the competitive nature is so hard for you, right?

1:00:16Kent Malmros:Yeah. The way I said it might have sounded a little bit negative. No, no.

1:00:19Rob Holding:Listen, I don't think so at all. I don't think so at all because I think that is what fans said. And, you know, as someone who listened to the commentary, like people said it lovingly. Like, you know, you were the guy who came in to lock down the game, right?

1:00:31Kent Malmros:And I know I always think, oh, you want to be starting games as a professional footballer. Of course. If I'm coming on, and this goes back to a little bit of Arteta and his culture, I knew that coming on in them 10 minutes, I had to give my very best of the team. And that was what I tried to do every single time. And like Wolves away, Martin nearly gets sent off for like blocking a throw in for a second yellow. And we're 2-1 open in a title charge. And it's like, Rob, you're coming on with 10 men. We're going to a bat five. We're seeing this out for 15, 20 minutes. And I think I cleared every single ball that came in the box.

1:01:02Kent Malmros:And I ended up playing 20 minutes, but being one of the most memorable players from that game because of that. And I think that it was from that game on that it sort of stuck as a thing. So yeah, there's positive analogies between all of them eras that I talked about. And yeah, I'm so fond and grateful for the memories that I've had there and how lucky I was because I've grew up with players who didn't really make it in a career and some that grinded out in League 1 and League 2 where it was really tough and they just kept going. So I've been incredibly fortunate and made the sacrifices along the way that you have to do.

1:01:35Kent Malmros:So yeah, it's been a nice career to look back on.

1:01:39Rob Holding:Love it. Big smiles. about all of those memories. Rob Holding, incredible career with Arsenal. Best of luck with Colorado moving forward. I hope you stay in the States for a while. If you're ever in the Philadelphia area, give me a shout. Thanks for joining the show.

1:01:53Kent Malmros:Thank you very much. Appreciate it. All right.

1:01:57Rob Holding:Well, I hope you enjoyed that. And there's going to be more where that came from. And hopefully lots more of interesting stuff that we can do that's outside the norm. But there will also be ridiculous nonsense like instant reactions and power rankings and main pods and scouting videos and rewatches and live streams and all kinds of the usual nonsense. So a little bit of something for everybody, hopefully. That'll do it this time. More to come. Depending on when you're watching this, it could be a different ending. But for now, I will say we love you. And we will talk to you after Arsene's Hand, Liverpool New.

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