In short
Arsenal-focused World Cup fallout and transfer news, plus tactical debate about England’s defending, a deep dive on new signing Christos Tzolis, and concern over William Saliba’s reported back injury.
Guests
Paul (Arsenal supporter and podcaster). Main hosts referenced: Alex Fitzpatrick (Arsenal Vision Post-Match Podcast) and Elliot (co-host). Also discussed are Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards from The Rest is Football, but they are not guests on this specific Arsenal episode.
Key claims
- England’s elimination: Arsenal players “cleared the blast radius”; substitutions and defensive structure were the bigger issues than individual Arsenal culpability.
- Arsenal identity: defending deep effectively requires spacing between lines; England defended like “one line of eight” with no plan.
- Tzolis signing: Arsenal have a “joined-up” replacement for Leo Trossard; he’s expected to provide end product without being a dribbler.
- Saliba injury: reported back problem could mean ~4 months out; Arsenal may need defensive cover and possibly a deeper midfield tempo-setter.
Notable examples
- England stats: extremely low possession late; only two passes between Stones and Pickford in a long stretch.
- Tzolis production: 17 goals and 23 assists in the Belgian league; non-penalty xG roughly matches goals; “one-cut” two-footed finishing.
- Saliba: seized up vs Spain (France-Spain referenced); being sent back to Arsenal for evaluation/procedure.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOArsenal Game Highlights
1:04 to 1:46
Discussion of key moments from recent Arsenal games and player performances.
“Declan Rice with an absolute rocket with a free kick.”
Arsenal Players and England's World Cup Exit
1:46 to 2:20
Analysis of Arsenal players' roles in England's World Cup performance.
“From what I'm hearing, our business has concluded for the window.”
Patreon Updates and Content
2:20 to 2:39
Overview of recent Patreon content and upcoming features.
“So we can all breathe a sigh of relief there.”
Personal Life and Challenges
2:39 to 3:17
Hosts share personal anecdotes about life challenges and experiences.
“We did a Tuesday night Clive with Clive on the Patreon where I think Clive and I had, you know, an interesting conversation.”
Analyzing England's World Cup Strategy
3:17 to 6:48
In-depth analysis of England's tactics and failures during the World Cup.
“Yeah, yeah, the cruelty was subtle and buried.”
Transfer News: Christos Solis Signing
6:48 to 12:21
Discussion on Arsenal's transfer activities, focusing on Christos Solis.
“Like I said, I was kind of joking, but I'm kind of not.”
Expectations and Approaches to Transfers
12:21 to 14:00
Conversations about expectations for new signings and transfer strategies.
“It is a salve for the people that were just miserable about England.”
Analyzing the Transfer of Tsoulas
14:00 to 16:52
Discussion on the potential impact and capabilities of new player Tsoulas.
“I am glad that this one is in the bag following Leo's departure.”
Assessing Tsoulas' Skills and Statistics
16:52 to 21:33
In-depth analysis of Tsoulas's performance metrics and playing style.
“And, you know, he did OK in the Premier League, but it was clear that the step up in level was a challenge for him.”
Comparing Tsoulas to Trossard
21:33 to 26:31
Comparison of Tsoulas to current player Trossard and their respective abilities.
“And so I do think that that's, you know, something to bear in mind is that he is a guy who does create an end product.”
Show all 27 chapters
Future Role of Tsoulas in Arsenal
26:31 to 28:00
Speculation on Tsoulas's position and contributions within the team dynamics.
“You know, just like, and look, I will say profile-wise, they do profile similarly from a data standpoint, right, in terms of the number of passes they play, their creative stats.”
Solis' Role at Arsenal
28:00 to 29:53
Discussion on the potential impact and role of new player Solis at Arsenal.
“I mean, Leo became essentially our first choice left-sided attacker.”
Preseason Importance for New Signings
29:53 to 31:28
Exploration of how preseason helps new players adapt to a new environment and team.
“I mean, we saw with Mikel Marino, he came in from another league.”
Juliet Slott's Departure
31:28 to 32:04
Analysis of Juliet Slott's move away from Arsenal and its implications.
“And then the Community Shield, we win that trophy.”
Impact of Commercial Success at Arsenal
32:04 to 36:22
Discussion on the commercial milestones achieved during Slott's tenure and their relevance.
“I don't think either of us have deep expertise.”
Club Management and Decision Making
36:22 to 38:23
Insights into how decisions are made at Arsenal and the roles of key figures.
“And Juliet Slott seemed to play her role really well.”
Club Management and Decision Making
38:24 to 39:56
Insights into how decisions are made at Arsenal and the roles of key figures.
“AG1 is the easiest way to have an effective supplement regimen, right?”
Club Management and Decision Making
40:01 to 40:19
Insights into how decisions are made at Arsenal and the roles of key figures.
“you get a free AG1 travel case with seven free AG1 travel packs in your welcome kit.”
William Saliba's Injury Update
41:16 to 42:01
Discussion on William Saliba's back injury and its potential impact on the team.
“I guess the best thing I could say about it is, oh yeah, no, not William Saliba's back.”
Saliba's Back Injury: Evaluation and Concerns
42:01 to 44:25
Discussion about William Saliba's back injury and its potential implications for Arsenal.
“So if his back is gone, we're in big trouble.”
Defensive Depth and Market Needs
44:25 to 47:18
Exploration of Arsenal's current defensive lineup and the necessity for additional depth in the team.
“So, I mean, I don't know how we aren't in the market for something in the area cover here with William Saliba unless there's some kind of miraculous recovery here.”
Strategizing for the Upcoming Season
47:18 to 53:18
Analyzing how Saliba's injury affects Arsenal's strategy and expectations for the season.
“I don't know if there's a path to Arsenal being the best attack this season.”
The Impact of Weak Links in Football
53:18 to 56:00
Discussion on how injuries and player availability affect team performance and identity.
“But to me, it's not the signings they made last summer.”
Evaluating Arsenal's Injuries and Squad Depth
56:00 to 1:03:04
Discussion around the impact of key player injuries on Arsenal's squad and season expectations.
“Gabi, Calafiori or Incapié, Rice Zubomendi, Odegaard, Eza any of those players you want to pick.”
The Importance of Key Players and Future Challenges
1:03:04 to 1:10:00
Exploration of the crucial roles of specific players and the potential challenges Arsenal may face moving forward.
“But if defending isn't at the level we're used to, then I think everything else becomes a little bit trickier for us.”
Injury Concerns and League Aspirations
1:10:00 to 1:11:02
Discussion on the impact of player injuries on the team's title chances.
“points back it won't feel good but I still think we could win the league if we are in that position and we get everybody back.”
Looking Ahead to Future Content
1:11:02 to 1:11:20
Preview of upcoming discussions related to the World Cup and Arsenal.
“We've got more World Cup stuff this weekend around the final and then next week fully back to all the regular Arsenal content.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Hey, World Cup fans. If you want proper analysis, honest opinions, and plenty of laughs along the way, give The Rest is Football a listen. Gary Lineker is joined by Alan Shearer and Micah Richards throughout the tournament as they break down all the big games, the biggest moments, and everything happening on and off the pitch. They'll also be chatting with some brilliant guests along the way. Whether you've watched soccer your whole life or you're just getting into it, they'll help make sense of the drama, the tactics, the joy, and the heartbreak of the World Cup. Listen to The Rest is Football wherever you get your podcasts.
0:34Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for$15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills. But it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms.
1:21It's Rice. What a goal! Declan Rice with an absolute rocket with a free kick. Arsenal lead 1-0. He's cut inside. Saka! Sublime finish. He's back with a bang with Bukayo Saka. 1-0. Unbelievable. Look, everybody's a little bit down about the England thing. But the one thing that always helps? Transfer news. This is the Arsenal Vision Post-Match Podcast. My name's Alex Fitzpatrick, Black Man, Twitter, Yank, Twitter. Yeah, we've got transfer news. David Ornstein confirms. that Christos Solis' deal is done. 40 million euro, and he's ours. We have our new left-wing superstar. I don't want to say this definitively.
2:03From what I'm hearing, our business has concluded for the window. So I'm really satisfied with that. I don't know if I'm kidding. Don't worry, don't worry. Look, I view the England game through the lens that I always view big England moments through, which is, were any Arsenal players directly culpable for the loss, and will that affect them going forward? And as far as I can tell, the answer is no. So we can all breathe a sigh of relief there. But we will touch on that a bit. But if you want the full ranting and raving, the World Cup Daily is out and you can listen to that. A One Club episode came out yesterday with Clive and Tim over on the Patreon covering a massive rebuild going on for Arsenal Women.
2:39So you can listen to that. We did a Tuesday night Clive with Clive on the Patreon where I think Clive and I had, you know, an interesting conversation. conversation now you might say clive had an interesting conversation and elliot was present but either way i think it's worth listening to saliba 50 is the code half off uh the first month you can check it all out we obviously will have some additional stuff going on and our christos scout christos solely scouting video is there you can watch it i like this player we're going to be talking about that today and our app of course it'll be a free app not ad supported or anything like that app will be out soon for ios and soon to follow on uh android if apple ever gets off their bottom and actually just approves the thing so once that's done we can get it out to you okay uh here with me now is a man uh that i i call a friend i call a fellow podcaster i call a tremendous arsenal supporter i also call him other things but not on a hot mic but his name is paul and he's here now.
3:37Hello, Paul. Woo-hoo! How are you, my friend? I'm doing great. Yeah, great. I quite like that intro. You've given me many intros. Some have been very cruel. That one was pretty good. Yeah, yeah, the cruelty was subtle and buried. I just want to say, I just want to say, Elliot, on behalf of the listeners who don't even know this, that we are with you in these hard, hard times as an American going through what you're going through at the moment. With the England team? your refrigerator oh oh god so yeah i'll get personal for a minute uh yeah the music do you have music the uh the refrigerator is out it's on the fritz that means everything in the freezer and refrigerator uh needs to be tossed away it means water is leaking out of the refrigerator because of the freezer because the freezer contains ice which is uh this is interesting science corner here uh when the ice heats up it turns into liquid water um did not see that coming yeah uh and so uh just like pickford to enzo's shot but um so that's going on and then i was supposed to be taking the kids away for a little road trip vacation with my wife and my two daughters to uh lake superior which is a beautiful area up in the northern part of minnesota where i live one of the largest lakes in the world and just a really lovely quick getaway horrible forest fires in the area leading to deeply unhealthy and unsafe air quality conditions so now we have to figure out what to do with that so um i can tell you more about uh what's happening in my personal life but i suspect yeah yeah whatever elliot but let's go back to the refrigerator the the thing that we understand as non-americans is how central to your identity your refrigerator is that's because that's where the food is dude yeah well but your ice and your cold water with lots of ice in it i mean your whole world when you go to a restaurant the first thing you do when you sit down you come for food is they start queuing up behind you the waiters to give you water with ice in it for some reason you know obsessed the water breaks in the world cup i'm gianni infantino gets a lot of shit over the water breaks we know why you're getting water breaks it's the americans they want the water with the ice in it they just haven't had the balls to have a hydration break at the start of the game like they do in a restaurant when you're sitting down for food and they come yep sorry well what it was so my dad maybe my dad should move to europe because my dad when he goes to a restaurant orders the same thing every time a diet coke with no ice no ice and the funny thing is in europe this would be no problem he just ordered a coke light and they would bring it to him and there'd be no ice in it but here he gets the eye roll from the server and server comes back with this giant flask flagon of diet coke that's like warm and then he's saying i don't understand why it's not cold and it's like come on man what are we even doing here um a conflicted american yeah yeah maybe he's just a deeply self-hating american which to be fair you know That's the thing.
6:44Okay. Let's talk about Arsenal. Yeah, I know. Actually, all right, fine. Let me get your quick thoughts. England are out. Like I said, I was kind of joking, but I'm kind of not. I do root for England. I was hoping that they would do it. I have a lot of friends who, you know, are deeply unhappy about the result and switched pretty seamlessly and smoothly from sadness to anger, which is good, mostly directed at Thomas Tuchel. But, like, my lens of analysis is were any Arsenal players directly culpable? And no, Rice played well, then he had to come off because he's unwell. Saka didn't play, Nani didn't play, Ezzet didn't play.
7:18And whatever you want to say about those decisions about what that means, it means that they don't come under direct fire for this. So any other thoughts beyond that very Arsenal-centric perspective? Yes, the Arsenal players had managed to clear the blast radius, I think. Declan Rice being the closest to it, but I think he can safely say he got out of there before it all melted down. What's also interesting is you hear Arsenal pulled into the discussions after the game in terms of how to sit in a, how to drop back and hold on to a game. And like, it's interesting. I think it's instructive. it's like you can do something well or do something badly and we do very well and we actually maintain a shape and we saw once or twice in games last last season the premier league what happened to us when we didn't when we kind of dropped into a back five and and kind of was all all men to the pump kind of thing but didn't hold the shape and and dropped into our own back line and like England just aren't good at that.
8:25They got away with it a couple of times. But you hear a lot of references to, well, Arsenal do it and it's like how you do something and this was not their plan. And identity, and it has become part of our identity as a club. It's part of England's identity, but not defending with shape. It's just like hanging in there and dropping back and forgetting how to pass the ball around midfield. I just think it's a very interesting conversation about identity of a club and what we've become and identity of England and what they're not able to move past. which is what happens to Argentina when they're under pressure, what happens to Spain when they're under pressure, what happens to England when they're under pressure and fatigued, and you go to what the collective idea of identity is.
9:21Anyway, well done good. I won't totally repeat. I will somewhat repeat some of the stuff that I said on the World Cup Daily. But, like, look, obviously the substitutions were diabolical. They made it a lot worse. Keenest. Keenest. And to your point, like, you can defend deep in a really effective way if you have some space between your two lines, your two banks of four, so that four defenders are in control of the wide areas in the box, four defenders are in control of the balls into the box and the shooters at the top of the box. and there's some ability to keep them at a distance. When it's one line of eight, no one knows who the hell to cover in the box, and there's no pressure on the ball either for shooting or for crossing.
10:11And that's what it kind of became for England. I mean, look. When you see Messi getting time and space in the areas he couldn't get all game, you know that they're defending without a plan, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, I mean, if you look at the England game against Mexico, obviously, Kwanzaa got sent off. But forgetting the Morgan Rodgers sub, which was at 90 minutes, Stones, Byrne, and Spence came on. Saka came off. Elliott Anderson ultimately came off. And Nico O 'Reilly came off. So, you know, essentially, you had to lose one attacker. But he left Declan Rice in there. Rice was able to play.
10:56Obviously, he left Gordon in for some kind of out ball. He didn't make the subs, those other subs, until 75 minutes. Like, I just think there was a more coherent team on the pitch to defend, even with 10, than there was with 11. 7 % possession between, what was it, 72 minutes and 92 minutes. Yeah, there was some insane stats. like they completed two passes during that period of time and those two passes were between stones and pickford passing back to each other so like if you put on five subs and gave them no instruction you'd expect to do a little better than seven percent possession and cons cons are taken taking the balls and the trying to get it into the box on one end messy on the other end it's like my god where is the plan not good so well look i mean england are out it's a shame but it means we can go full steam ahead into arsenal now um you know i mean there is a world cup final we'll obviously be watching it michael marino scoring the winner is going to be fun uh and you know he he will come back with his stock massively risen um we missed him certainly at the tail end of last season i think you know when you look at the injuries we suffered last season the extent to which we just kind of cobbled through and survived them.
12:15It's easy to forget that our best football last season was played before we lost Mikel Marino and when he was a big part of things. So I'm looking forward to him winning the World Cup. But we do have an Orn Barm. Orn Barm? We have an Orn Barm. Balm. Balm. An Orn Balm. It is a balm. It is a salve for the people that were just miserable about England. This balm gives you some kind of salve, of balm, based on transfer news. I don't know where I'm going with this. Just follow me. So here's what - You're not going anywhere. You're there. Posted. I am there. Arsenal reach agreement with Club Brugge to sign Christos Solis.
12:53Deal for 24-year-old left winger done at 40 million euro. Asking price by Club Brugge. Move in process of being finalized. Greece International wanted and prioritized an AFC move throughout. Obviously, Leo Troussard is gone. He posted his emotional farewell message, called himself your guy, Mr. Clutch. Did you see that? No, I did. At the end, he goes, you know, like, thanks for everything. I'll always care about you, Arsenal fans. Your guy, Mr. Clutch. And I thought, the stones on this guy. I love it. I love it. He nicked it. I've never heard anybody call him Mr. Clutch. He calls himself Mr. Clutch.
13:29That's great. That's a beautiful thing. and I loved it. But Mr. Clutch is gone. Mr. I don't know, soon to be Clutch is in. Paul, I love this move. I like this player. We scouted him. And because I looked at, you know, 40 minutes of video, I'm now an expert on him. I'm joking. I'm not. But I liked what I saw. And I think any frustration with this signing is purely order of operations because people want bigger names, more exciting talent. But this is just like how Leo was when we bought him. The kind of signing you have to make in addition to the bigger ones you do. So I'm curious how you feel about this.
14:03I am glad that this one is in the bag following Leo's departure. Yes. So Zalas is Greek. Is it Greek? Is Greek for clutch. Oh, there you go. Mr. Clutch, just in Greek. I'm surprised how joined up the thinking feels, right? I mean, these transfers always start great and then the guy actually plays for you. And if you see my avatar thing on Twitter, it's like, remember we bought the six lads, Ramsdale and the boys. That's my little picture on Twitter. And I remember when we got the six, we had a conversation. I'm like, well, the thing about transfers is you got two that work out, two that are so-so, and two that don't work out.
14:49And if we went back to who the six were, that's probably about right. So we don't know. In comes this Mr. Tsoulas. And look, you've watched 35 minutes more video than I have, but the five minutes I saw, he's fecking brilliant. No, he looks really good. I'm surprised that he said left winger, because I read a couple of things that said left wing or right wing or centrally, but they always say that. He definitely plays off the left more. Well, I should say definitely. He does based on what we watched when we watched the video. But you know the way they always say you can play off the left or the right or centrally, so that you're getting your money's worth.
15:29And sometimes that's true. I just like the way Leo said goodbye yesterday, and it kind of was official. And today, first thing, at least for the US side of things, is here's this guy who comes in. It's almost like that guy's gone. This is the replacement for that guy. Not for the left wing, for that exact guy. just feels very joined up. He's going to have time to be, like we love a good preseason, you and I, Elliot, right? Preseason's the real season. It's a fun time. Yeah. We'll be in Dublin. We'll be in Dublin for the one game preseason. Rub it in. And, you know, we're going to, hopefully, I don't see any reason why not, see a lot of solace during preseason.
16:15And the bam from solace might be very encouraging. We're going to need players. We're going to need a fast start. We're going to need cover. This guy can play in apparently seven positions, and we'll probably need him in three or four. We haven't even mentioned so far. So getting numbers in will be key, settling him in. We don't want it to be one of those. Well, he joined us at the end of the transfer window, so he had a crap first season. How about he joins us nice and early, becomes part of the mix, settles in, and has a really good, fast start to the season. So I say welcome to him. look he looks really good um i read good things about him i've i need another week or so now to become an actual expert on him to talk in depth like you can yeah i mean i leave the expertise to me on this one thank you uh so a few things first of all this is a guy who produced a lot of end product 17 goals and 23 assists in the belgian league and And for people who haven't been as convinced by Jokeres, they might say, well, we saw a guy who produced a lot of output in the Portuguese league.
17:29And, you know, he did OK in the Premier League, but it was clear that the step up in level was a challenge for him. Before I say anything on that, because I have stuff to say, I'll ask you what you would say about that. Because for people who are somewhat Jokeres skeptics, I think they would suggest that they have the same kind of concerns about league transition with Solis. yeah look i i don't have a i think that's a valid concern query we've been through it once so it's like we know what the question is and we've dug into it and we've we've signed this guy he looks good he's played in europe he's played against good teams in europe but like i don't even think you can say well somebody was good in the champions league so it'll be good in premier league that's a different thing as well it's i'm not saying it's easy it's just different so i'm i'm assuming we've done our homework and like you've watched some tape on him do you see this guy as a ball to feet guy a run-in behind guy he's ball to feet he's not a dribbler so so let me give you my take on it from what i watched and from what i've read and i don't want to pretend like i'm the authority and what i'm saying is right i'm giving you my view your initial thoughts on 40 minutes ball defeat uh more of an inside left than a touchline winger right so very leo so far leo operates in leo spaces a little different but but what i would say the things i really like first of all he has enough burst um and and you can say well how can you tell speed based on the belgian league the champions league does provide sprint speed data at least top sprint speed, which I know is not, this is not definitive, but his top sprint speeds compare well with the upper echelon of sprinters, which at least shows he's got some top speed.
19:19But he's not a sprint away, a tear away winger, and he's not a dribbler. What I think he does well is that he has two excellent feet. He's very strong with both feet. And because he's very strong with both feet, He's what I'd call a one-cut player. He cuts inside and delivers with his right, or he cuts outside and delivers with his left. First time, early decisions, quick, thoughtful, intelligent distribution off both feet. He can shoot with both feet. So if you get him the ball on the left channel, picture this, right? Left channel, left foot. He will shoot across the keeper with his left foot accurately.
19:56He does not need to chop it back. When you think about how many times players lose opportunities in the box or near the box because they're in the channel or their wide area of the box and they've got it on their left and they're a right-footed left side winger because that's what's trendy now and they have to get it back onto their right to shoot or deliver. He will cut it across the corridor of uncertainty or shoot across the keeper with his left. If it's on his left in the box, if it's on his right, he can curl it. And I think that shows in his 17 goals. And by the way, you know just to to put a little bit on this his 17 goals from seven come from 17.4 expected goals he does have three penalties in there so he'd say 14 goals from 14.24 non-penalty xg so his goals equal xg roughly and i like that because i i do want to say something about this we we make a big mistake i think in our analysis where we look at someone who overperformed their xg in a season and go, aha, finally we're getting a finisher.
20:57No, because the problem is most players don't overperform their XG season in, season out, season in, right? That's not actually how this works. What I like when a player has 17 goals on 17 XG is you can say they created a high volume of scoring opportunities. If you buy a guy who has 17 goals on seven XG, what if it just turns out they were on a hot streak and they're not actually very effective. And I'll give you an interesting example. When Martinelli had his 15 goal season, I think it was on like nine expected goals or something. And as it turns out, he's never really repeated that goal scoring prowess.
21:35And so I do think that that's, you know, something to bear in mind is that he is a guy who does create an end product. Now you could say that end product is in the Belgian league and I agree, but I think when you're very two footed and have good technique and just enough burst and you make good decisions, I think things like good decisions and two-footedness and technical quality translate. It's physical power and speed that sometimes don't translate as much. So I'm, and just so we're clear, Paul, I'm not saying he's coming in and he's going to be Mohamed Salah for us. I'm saying I think he can come in and be a valuable asset to the squad.
22:12And if that is, by the way, playing in league phase, Champions League games, he's shown he can do that. If that's playing the cup ties, he can do that. And if that's playing some of the lower level Premier League opposition, I think it will translate. That's where I'm at with Solis. Bloody hell. I was more looking for like 10 to 15 seconds. Welcome to our new section. That was 10 to 15 seconds plus. Welcome to our new section, Thursday Night Elliott. Man. We were signing a play. We stopped just short of his love life. I love the bit where you said, you could say, and I'd like, I could if I could get a word in edge.
22:48Now you could say. Now you could say. that was really good i'm fired up i read he was a bit dribbly so you don't think he's he's big on the dribbles he's not a dribbler no yeah no what i did see in the bit i looked at was like and look it's highlight clips but like there's a skill to watching highlight clips and i think i've developed it he's really picks out a clever pass that's what i've seen so far that i'm looking to like very quick looks up sees a pass and you're like you don't see it looking at looking at the YouTubes he sees it and he hits it now that's there's a lot of survivor bias those are the clips that made YouTube but like I thought he was unusually smart at his his kind of outpass or I see a lot of Leo Trossard in what you're saying and what you describe whether you like that comparison or not no i i so first of all the problem with comparing him to leo right is that for for everybody right now that's a very emotive kind of comparison right you're taking a player that's hugely appreciated hugely liked regarded as a success you compare him to him because he's vaguely he he's not ready to like this guy plays in the channel like what is the comparison exactly i think he's more two-footed than leo um i think leo had leo's very two-footed i i think no, I'm going to disagree.
24:13I'm going to disagree. I'm going to disagree with your disagreement. Fair. But, no, it's not that Leo can't use both feet. I think, but Leo has more power in his game, probably. I think he's probably more effective dropping deeper, but also Leo was a support striker for a while, right? And so I think he is a more natural goal scorer, probably. I mean, I know Solis got a lot, but 14 goals in the Belgian League, 14 non-penalty goals, like it's good. I think Leo is probably a bit more natural of a goal scorer. But I think what Solis can give us is he can facilitate, like he was in the 100th percentile for chance creation in the Belgian League.
24:52But if you look at his Champions League output, that's obviously where it comes back down to earth a bit. Now, there's not as many games played, but 70th percentile for XG and still 82nd percentile for expected assists. The top speed was in the 72nd percentile. Sprints, 90th percentile, number of sprints. Sorry, sprint distance, 90th percentile, number of sprints, 93rd percentile. So, you know, we like these players, right, that have sprint repeatability, that can run and run and run, that have that fitness level, that have that intensity. But if you look at his dribbles, I mean, he was in the 18th percentile for dribbles in the Champions League and 54th percentile in the Belgian League.
25:39Now, you might say, okay, he's not good on the ball. It's not that. He's just, he's not going to dribble his guy. He's a one-cut player and make a quick decision and distribute off both feet. They both speak Belgian? I don't know that I expect him to be as good as Leo. but I think he's good enough for our level as long as we have another player in the mix that is meant to be the guy, you know? Yeah, sure sounds a lot like Leo, just younger, and we got to give him a little time to see if he can develop. Look, Leo is Mr. Clutch, and Zolas is Belgian for Clutch. So we'll see. That's right. And once you realize that, they're basically identical players.
26:24I mean, what I'll be curious to see is if he is as comfortable on the ball as Leo has been. You know, just like, and look, I will say profile-wise, they do profile similarly from a data standpoint, right, in terms of the number of passes they play, their creative stats. Right, they're, I mean, Leo is two-footed, but I actually think Solis has a better left foot than Leo does. Sure. um they're not i'm not saying they're yeah i'm not saying they're actually the same player and that they sold us back the same guy i'm just saying you know if you got their radars for profile together don't do that because i'm sure radars always look completely different but anyway in my mind what you've described is somebody who kind of has the same kinds of strengths and powers and they will they will evolve differently or they are different one or the other but well so let's look at this same neck of the woods yeah um so let's look at so one thing that you can look at actually so yeah leo's shots were predominantly uh predominantly right foot i guess same for so solely so solely's took 82 right footed shots 34 left footed shots um and if we look at leo and that's in the Belgian league by the way um so 82 and 34 paul yeah compared to let's look at leo 4 ,000 here you go 36 and 13 yeah so maybe just a bit pretty pretty similar range there but again lots of shots lots of end product i think he's good let's um let's just do this really quickly before we move off Solis, let me just ask you, do you anticipate that, what do you anticipate the role and the involvement of Solis to be?
28:19I mean, Leo became essentially our first choice left-sided attacker. I don't think that's what we anticipate with Solis, and I don't think that's the last player we will bring in who can play in that position. Well, if we assume that it's Morgan Rodgers for the time being, then I think that's kind of it, and Rodgers can play off the left. He can play left eight-ish. And, you know, if we keep Martinelli, then I'd see a battle between the two of them, but probably Solis coming out on top over a little time like Leo did. And then Rodgers plays off the left. We've got Eza. I mean, you know, we've got plenty of names for that side of the pitch, I think, if you assume Rodgers.
29:04If you don't assume Rodgers, like there isn't an analogue, I don't think, for Rodgers. If you bring somebody else in, they're going to be much more role-specific. I think you can start Rodgers in a few different places, and he'll still pretty much come into midfield and drop and pick up the ball and power or go from midfield out wide. You know, we saw him putting in the cross for England yesterday off the right wing where he had started, but he kind of joined the midfield on many occasions to help out and use physical. So I think the first move is, do you have Rodgers or don't you? And that changes everything.
29:42And you can't really talk about it sensibly in a world in which that decision hasn't come to pass. Does that make sense? I think it does, yeah. So I think we can move on from the Solis thing for now. I mean, the exciting part is he's in time, you know presumably get the medical done be all signed and announced very shortly here where he can be with the group for preseason and i think there are certain players you know a morgan rogers for example a bruno gamarais for example that have deep league experience who are elite talents and who can come in and and make an impact fairly quickly i think there are signings that don't do that as well.
30:29I mean, we saw with Mikel Marino, he came in from another league. He was a unique kind of profile. The first thing he does is he injures his shoulder. And it was a pretty long time before I think we all felt that we understood the player and that the player understood his role with us. And when he did, boy, oh boy, did that make a big difference. I think you need a preseason when you're changing leagues and coming into a totally new structure and new team, maybe just also to get acclimated to being in London and what it's like coming to Soba Realty every morning and what the dynamics are. You're changing your whole life as a young man.
31:03Think about being a 24-year-old moving country, moving city, away from what you've known your whole life or, you know, I realize maybe not his whole life, but what your life has been at a young age. It's disruptive. I think it's great that we're getting him in now. I think these are the kind of players that benefit from a settled, comfortable preseason. I'm looking forward to seeing him hopefully in Dublin. And you know what? The Emirates Cup. Rub it in. Because that's our first trophy to win. And then the Community Shield, we win that trophy. And then when we win the other four, does it count as six?
31:34Or are you not giving us the Emirates Cup? You're only giving us five, the quint. No, no. It counts as six. It would be the sex tuple, which no other club has ever done. Now, you could say some players have done a lot of sex, but you're saying, do you say, oh, sextuple? Yeah, Elliot, you're trying to pull me into ground that I'm trying to stay away from. I should know better at this point. Okay, we have more transfer news, this time a transfer out. Juliet Slott is moving on. I don't think either of us have deep expertise. Speak for yourself, Elliot. And so I think it is the perfect topic for us to go deep on in the podcast.
32:16Let me tell you how much I know about it. When you said about the slot news, I assumed Arne Slott, I jumped on the internet and found out he was becoming the Dutch manager potentially and that Liverpool were going to pay part of his wages. So that's what I have to contribute to this conversation, if that's at all helpful. Yeah, well, here's what I will tell you. I know there are some things around Juliet Slott's time at Arsenal that are a bit controversial. Some of that related to, I think, the Ashburton Army's amount of tickets they were given and some of that around the ballot. I'm not versed enough in those goings on to speak to that.
32:58So I'm going to stay in the aspect of what she did as the commercial officer. and as the chief commercial officer the one thing that can't be denied is that she oversaw a boom time at Arsenal in terms of additional partnerships in terms of additional revenue for the club and you know this is the kind of stuff that as supporters I don't know that we actually need to get too invested in that but if you're going to get invested in transfer rumors and you're going to get invested in bringing in talent you kind of have to care about the revenue um according to magic hat the magic top hat uh on on twitter she uh he says that slot and her team signed up 15 new sponsors in 25 26 alone which should contribute another 65 million pounds per annum moving forward that's per lou class uh per the magic per loaded elliot well i I mean, look, this is what a chief commercial officer does.
34:01And if you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. Obviously, there's the beer one. There's sleeve sponsorships. There's all kinds of brands that were signed up. In fact, brands I didn't realize we'd signed arrangements with, like Paramount +, Facebook, WhatsApp, Coca-Cola, Guinness. Obviously, we know Asahi. We obviously know L 'Oreal Paris. You know, HFM markets, things like that. So ADT security, no idea. what that's all about. But more of the story is that the Arsenal revenue has skyrocketed. Some of that, of course, is due to the performance on the pitch. And it's hard to evaluate a chief commercial officer because a chief commercial officer is operating either with wins at their back or wins in their face in the sense that if the club is performing terribly and you're out in the market trying to secure sponsorships, you have to be a lot more savvy than if you're like, hey, see these million people in the street?
34:55See all these videos on social media that keep going viral, the celebrations, see all the things we're winning and all the big games we're in. Do you want a piece of this? It's a lot easier pitch to sell that, Paul. So I think anytime there's change like this, it can be a disruption. But if the deals are in place and the revenue is locked in, the next person comes in with a really good base to understand our partners, get to know them and try to extend those deals over time. I'm not ultimately that concerned about this. Yeah. I mean, fair play to Julia. From what I understood, she played chief commercial officer but she also can play right wing and centrally so you know it's it's not easy to replace someone like that but um i go to your point that the success of the club has has a huge amount to to to do with the commercial success you can achieve um she may have well have been central to maximizing that but but it's kind of if you get the sequence right if you get the gains then you can get the right person to follow that it's very deep we may have been lucky to get the right person before we had this uplift in our fortunes and that's fantastic and thank you julia but now you've got the uplift now the commercials are heading in the right direction success begets success and now you have a genuinely great opportunity to find the next person to take you on to the next stage so uh we'll see yeah and i mean the the fundamental reality of arsenal is that it's run by josh and stan end of story does anyone think richard garlick is running the club i mean of course he has an important voice i you know i don't want to suggest he doesn't but stan and josh are the decision makers right they they run the club and to the extent that the club is successful or not successful the people that have the most impact on that players the manager and the owners.
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36:49Everybody else is playing their role. And Juliet Slott seemed to play her role really well. And I do think that generating revenue is such an important role because when Mikkel or Berta go to Stan and Josh, go to Rich Garlick, and Garlick goes to Stan and Josh, however that chain of command goes, and says, I want to drop 110 on Morgan Rogers. Why do you think that's the right move or not? Part of the ability for them to be convincing with that is to point to the work Juliet Slott did and say, we've got$65 million in additional revenue per year from these small sponsorship deals we did. Then we had the year to begin with, and that's before you factor in the TV rights money we got from our performance on the pitch, the way we can negotiate with our shirt sponsor, our stadium sponsor, things like that.
37:36So while the work of the chief commercial officer is easy to shrug aside, when you're asking Papa Stan or Papa Josh for money, that money is going to make a difference on whether you get told yes or pound sand you know yeah i think you're doing them a little bit of a disservice you're doing them dirty telling them down richard garlic oh i mean he runs the club but like the decision makers we know where the decisions are made fundamentally well you say that but from what i understand it josh stan have not been seen since the bus parade they have been spotted around london clubbing uh looking the worst for wear the the boys back at at headquarters are basically making these decisions on their own as it stands so yeah okay that that's true i should have thought of that um okay look i think we should switch gears and talk about uh news we feel more knowledgeable about the medical condition of arsenal's players so yeah our expertise here we go yeah that's that's something we can speak with authority on both from our medical training and from our deep inside understanding of their diagnosis.
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41:16Do it now, Paul. Send up that. Indeed. Nailed it. Okay, so, William Saliba's back. Oh, great. I guess the best thing I could say about it is, oh yeah, no, not William Saliba's back. William Saliba's back. his back. William Saliba, apostrophe S back. Well, that can also mean, you know what? William Saliba's spine, how about that, is not in good shape at the moment. If you watch the France-Spain game, he seized up, he went to ground. It was a really difficult thing to watch for Arsenal supporters there's been a lot of different lip reading Julien Laurent seems to think what he said is my back's gone my back's gone um for anyone who knows anatomy like I do your back is an important heart mon do a party mon do a party that's what he that in in the proper old old tongue that's how it said uh yeah your back's important Paul and without it the rest of the body doesn't work well.
42:26So if his back is gone, we're in big trouble. I've seen people say five months out. I don't think anybody has a freaking clue. What we do know that has been reported is he's on his way back to Arsenal to be evaluated. It had been reported that he was going to need a procedure after the World Cup, that he was playing through something that he knew was a risk. Before we deal with the should this have even happened, let's deal with the what this means um are you prepared to go like just fully lose your rag and freak out and go to despair town on this how are you how are you feeling about this uh they haven't given me a lot to worry look i i think i i'm assuming that he's going to have to have the procedure because it was he might or he might not that just watching it on uh live on the tv uh left me with the feeling that he's going to have to have work done that was the vibe i got from him and no substance to that but that's certainly the mindset it left me with an acceptance that it's this is not going to be something that gets better over time by just running it off um and so we got a plan on probably i mean probably a safe safe number to think around something like four months um like i'll settle for him coming back and being getting back to 100 reasonably click quick whenever that is four months or so i've kind of made my peace with the fact the start of the year we're gonna have to do without a few players for for a period of time and we shouldn't be looking for them or asking for them of course we will we'll want rice back as quick as we can get him we'll want uh we'll want saka playing as quick as we get him we can get him but we need that other part of our brain to say no actually take as much time as you need to get as close as you can to 100 and saliba might be the worst case of this um it is when you look at you know we always seem to be buying defenders or looking at defenders or deeper midfielders and we'll still be doing some of that this summer but we thought it was the time to focus on the attack um we're pretty thin defensively when you look at it uh we're probably stocked well at left back um but when you look at central defenders and right back depending on on what happens with ben white we might have quite a bit to do in the market to give us cover and like Mosquera's a young fella who I think started really well for us then during the season I think he was still pretty good but not as like he was near perfect when he started for us early in the season and you could see he was still learning the ropes as the season got busier and he was put in different challenging situations So he's got a lot of ground to cover as a center back.
45:33So, I mean, I don't know how we aren't in the market for something in the area cover here with William Saliba unless there's some kind of miraculous recovery here. Yeah. I mean, some time out is going to be needed, right? I mean, the odds that, oh, it was just a little tweak. He's actually fine. Give him two weeks rest. He'll be fine. Like, I struggle to believe that that's going to be the outcome. doesn't mean it can't be if it is a procedure um you know whether that's minor or major i don't look here's what i know they don't want to operate on backs if they can avoid it um so it's never great um and it's usually not the quickest recovery time we should have phil on for this but unfortunately phil still unable to speak as a result of his back surgery um i would say that the issue for me is one does this mean having to go into the market as you say for a player you wouldn't otherwise be going for you hate to have to do that right you hate to have to buy a player ostensibly as cover for some limited period of time that sucks that's just not in your plan and you know we're already I think in a position where we bought a player like Nani Maduike for example if there was no concern about Bakayo Saka's Achilles do we buy Nani Mdweke.
46:54That's not to say, you know, good, bad, whatever you think of Nani. That's a move that's probably informed by fitness concerns around Bakayo Saka. If we go for like a Kansa, who we've been linked with, for example, I think the only reason you would say we're doing that is largely because of the back concerns around Saliba. And those rumors have been out there for a while, which suggests to me, if there's truth to them, the club have known they have to be thoughtful about Saliba potentially missing time. Here's where I worry, Paul. I don't know if there's a path to Arsenal being the best attack this season.
47:26Maybe there is. But as it stands right now, I wouldn't put my money on that. I think the way Arsenal win things is we're the best defense and we're a good attack. And William Saliba, I think, is still the biggest reason we're the best defense. I think William Saliba is also kind of our six and kind of our eight in certain games. He plays a hundred passes a game and he defends everything elegantly and he provides that recovery speed off the right hand side like he he's so many players for us in one and so i think the combination of losing a guy who can comfortably play a hundred passes in a game and a guy who i think knits together the entire fabric of the best defense in the league can lead to a fundamental change in our identity and our our win percentage without Saliba is vastly different so yeah I'm and I've said on this pod if we sign no players this summer we'll still win the league the Saliba injury if it did become a five-monther and I'm not saying that's what it is but if it did become a five-monther that would significantly change my assessment of our of our path to green this season yeah i mean i don't see how we don't need a another center back regardless but as we're talking about it does make me think the broom no gimares uh signing or role however we we get somebody like that like we need a guy who can do some of the things you're leaning into with salib in terms of chill on the ball, or Zubimendi comes back and has one hell of a preseason and shows other sides to his game that he certainly lost in the second half of last season.
49:15But we need a guy who can hold the ball and set the tempo and move it around and take the stress off the William Saliba position for distribution and chill on the ball, putting the foot on the ball, setting the tempo, the cadence, and we don't really have that with either Zubimendi or Rice and when you don't have that, it puts a lot of stress on the back line and that whole area of the pitch. So I think there's nothing about what we're talking about here that doesn't make Arsenal think they need Bruno Guimaraes or whoever the option B is, even more so than they did a week or two ago. And when I look at how Spain or even how Argentina sets the tempo with their midfield, I still think we don't have that player deeper in midfield and we rely too heavily on William Saliba for it.
50:20just give me your gut on like the the range of outcomes for our season based on this saliva injury like how that's that's that's not something you really can answer i guess what i'm saying is like what's your points restriction you know what i'm trying to say like what's the what's the how are you handicapping our season differently based on this this information there's a part of me that thinks it doesn't it does change things significantly but it i i was already assuming he was going to need a long break and i think the template for our season has to be um i mean sometimes we oversimplify things but the man city template of the first half of the season is just feeling your way um getting going finding with the players you have at the start of that season is a bit of a scramble you're tinkering you're finding how you play and you stay in and around hopefully nobody else becomes so good that they have kind of a liverpool season not of last season but the season before where they come out of the blocks they tear away and they've built up such a lead but we've got to get to kind of christmas the new year within touching distance and then in the second half of next year, of this coming season, start to light it up and start clocking up the wins and become that team because I don't see how we can do it in the first half of the season.
51:46And these players, whether they're available, they won't be fit. They need resting. Like, look what PSG did last season. We need a stronger, if we're going to win the Champions League, we need a much stronger second half of the season at the expense of the first half of the season. So that all our players, all our fitness, all our peaking is in that run-in period where you're also in the Champions League. And that's a gamble. And I think it's a gamble we need to lean into to say we're not going to stress anybody. And if it costs us points, we need to learn how to be chill and to stay cool and to not assume that because we're five, six, seven points behind the leaders for October, November, December, we should all be losing our shit.
52:39I think we've just got to have a leap of faith to say it is and will need to be a strong second half and the first half is all about rotations, playing people in, finding new solutions and giving players like Saka all the room they need to get back to 100 % rather than trying to play Saka at 80 % to 90 % for 38 games plus Champions League. So that's my, I don't know if that goes to where your question was coming from, but that's my template for next season. That's what we've got to lean into. Give the first half of the season room to breathe and what it is, it is. yeah look everybody gets obsessed with the new signings but it's the existing load-bearing walls in your squad that usually tend to determine who you are right i mean i look at liverpool and liverpool lost trent that was a load-bearing wall salah fell off a cliff that was a load-bearing wall kanate and van dyke declined and like eventually that that cratered them yes they signed Verts and Izak and Eketike.
53:52And look, Izak got injured. Verts was okay. Not very good, to be honest. I think Eketike was pretty good. The fullbacks weren't great. But to me, it's not the signings they made last summer. It's the decline or the elimination of the load-bearing walls. And if Saka can't get to a good level in the first half of the season, because he's trying to recover from the Achilles, and if Declan Rice is not fit for the first couple months of the season, and if Saliba is out for a few months, I don't care what we sign. We will fundamentally not be as good. That's my, and look, nobody wants to hear that. But if you tell me that you can't have an elite Saka and you can't have an elite Rice and you can't have an elite Saliba, first of all, you're not going to go into the market and get players that caliber.
54:37They're not, they don't exist. Those are three of the best players on the planet, right? And that's one of the reasons we're so good. you know if you say those players are going to be back relatively soon and in relatively good shape then of course we'll be fine but anytime you're playing without those players you'll be worse you will be worse and for me Saliba's multifaceted impact both on the ball and in our defensive structure is so important and you just see clearly our win rate is so much lower without him and there's been a lot of research that shows football is a weak link sport, Paul? In other words, you are only as good as your weakest link, right?
55:18Where like something like basketball is a strong link sport. If you have the best player, you tend to win or come close to winning everything in basketball. But in football, if you've got a - It's about your floor, to put it another way. Yeah, in football though, if you have a weak link, that can cost you. We saw it with France with Lucadine, by the way, right? I think you saw it a bit with England. And Spain are a great example because I don't know that I would say that they have the superstars in some positions like France do, but they have very few weak links. You wouldn't point to much in that team and say they're weak here.
55:52I think for Arsenal one of the reasons we won the league is I don't think we had a lot of weak links at least when our starters are out there. Timber, Saliba Gabi, Calafiori or Incapié, Rice Zubomendi, Odegaard, Eza any of those players you want to pick. Saka Kai, Jokeres, Leo, Martinelli I mean they're all very good competent players we saw what happened in 23-24 when Saliba came out and Holden came in. Now, granted, it would have been Tomiasu, he went out as well, but my point is that one change, I think more than anything in that season, transformed our identity. And I think it would probably be a little bit too optimistic to say, well, we can just ride out these absences.
56:37And so Arsenal have a really difficult decision to make. Do we make moves in the market to compensate for injuries because that is a, you're acquiring a player for basically a short-term fix. And I don't know that I would support that. I don't know that I would ask the club to go sign someone on a four or five-year contract who were only signing because Rice might miss two months or Saliba might miss three months. So I don't know. I mean, it's a really tricky situation. But for me, Paul, what this does, I thought we were sort of head and shoulders the favorite to win this league again, no matter what we do.
57:14I think this brings us much closer back to the pack because it takes the elite talent that I think distinguishes us away for potentially a quarter, a third of the season, potentially. yeah no i i guess i'm i don't even have myself in the mindset that that were any kind of clear favorite here i mean on paper we are and then you look at who we're going to have available for the first couple of months here and we're going to spot i think we're going to spot other teams the chance to get a jump on us to get and to get some confidence going themselves and to get on a bit of a run. But things change really quickly.
57:53So I'm far more concerned that we don't panic and push players to get back quicker than they need to. I mean, you can still, we have a lot of players. You know, we've talked about the players we need to move on to allow the spaces for other players to come in. But, I mean, we've two high-quality left-backs who can play centre-back. We currently have two high-quality right-backs. We'll see what happens with Ben. Where we're really, really thin is centre-backs. Now, we can borrow Timber to play centrally. We could borrow Hincapié or Calafiori to play centrally. But basically, we've just got Mosquera, and it looks like he's getting promoted in the short term to right-center-back starters.
58:47So we have no coverage for center-backs. We don't want to see Rice getting back and then being used at right-back so we can use right-back centrally. I mean, you can do that for one game, but it's a disaster in terms of any kind of medium-term solution. So we've got to do something defensively in terms of an additional signing. I haven't particularly spent any time thinking about it. We've got depth in midfield. We've got loads of midfielders. And if we add Rodgers, he's effectively one more guy on top. You've got Marino. You've got Kai who can play there. You've got, if we brought in Bruno or something like that, you've got Zuby, you've got Odegaard.
59:34of course you got Rice you got MLS we're like super stocked in midfield that's our one area we can lean into I want to be careful right I'm not denigrating the quality of the players that we do have I just think players aren't fungible and no matter how good they are there's only one Declan Rice ask England about that what happened when he came off last night there's only one William Saliba there's only one Bikai Osaka and there's not a player in the world literally not one player in the world I'd take in central defense over Saliba. There's not one player in central midfield in the world I'd take over Declan Rice.
1:00:11And there is not one player off the right in attack that I would take over Bakaio Saka. Not one, as long as he's fully fit at his best. And, you know, you could say, well, in the league last season without having Saka at that level. Agreed, but guess what? It was probably harder than it needed to be, right? But honestly, I think if Bakaio Saka's fit, we do hit 88, 90 points. And that title feels more comfortable. And by the way, maybe we get past PSG and we're talking about a historic double. And this, you know, we haven't even really talked about, by the way, Timber, who like has just gone to the shadow realm.
1:00:46You know, we don't know where he is. So, Paul, look, I'm not going doom and gloom, just to be clear. I think we're still going to be very good and we are going to challenge for a league title. But I think we as supporters probably have to be realistic so we're not throwing our toys out of the pram when it happens and say that we're probably going to start the season with a limited Declan Rice availability, with limited Saka availability, potentially with limited Timber availability, and potentially for several months with no Saliba availability. and if that is the case having an expectation that the team performs at the level you demand is really not realistic it just isn't, that's not how football works, you know if you you can even see it with City, right Rodri out they stink, Rodri in their company it was that simple, one player their transition away from Kevin De Bruyne they had a struggle they struggled evolving from that look at Real Madrid, Real Madrid have so much talent but Modric moves out why can't I think of it the German midfielder that was there forever God my brain's just gone oh a Real Tony Cruz and suddenly the team doesn't look coherent anymore these big load bearing walls these critical key players they make a big difference and I do think we tend to do this thing where we'll get injuries we'll play poorly and here's what happens.
1:02:16Inevitably, here's what happens. Then when you try to assert the injuries after you play poorly, people go, there are the excuses again. There's the injury excuse again. So let me say it up front instead of after the fact. I don't see how you can be as good without a Rice, a Saka, or a Saliba, or a Timber, as you would be with them, Paul. And Saliba for me is really the key because our identity is our defending. And we cannot defend as effectively without him. And I don't know, again, I realize I'm retreading, tracing my steps here, but I want to say this as clear as I can. If you tell me Arsenal can be the elite attack in the Premier League, that would be really exciting.
1:02:52But because I'm not sure that we will ever quite be that, if we are not the elite defense, then we are in a tough spot. You see what I'm trying to say? Teams have an identity. Defending is our identity. It doesn't mean we're bad at attacking. But if defending isn't at the level we're used to, then I think everything else becomes a little bit trickier for us. That's, you know, I realize I've said that before, but that's kind of where I'm at. Yeah, look, I think that's all correct. I think, you know, you're talking about losing specific players and that like there's no fixing that. And generally I agree, but I also look at signing specific players and I think Bruno G fixes a lot of that.
1:03:35He gives you the kind of chill in midfield that gets that whole area under control. And he gives you the kind of chill in front of the centre-backs that allows Mascara and Gabriel the time and space to form a partnership. And you could say, well, we need an extra midfielder, but that's like specific players have specific qualities that are not kind of, well, Bruno G or another guy. Right. So it'd be very interesting to see if Arteta and the boys come up with the same answer that Bruno G is a must, given concerns over Declan Rice and allowing him the space to breathe and to come back at the right pace.
1:04:19and giving our centre-backs the cover they need so that they're not in chaos mode, game in, game out, trying to screen or trying to cover situations that are coming at them through midfield. And, you know, maybe Zubimendi and MLS can step up, but that seems like a big ask from what we saw last season, that unless you have somebody with that kind of presence, then you're relying on Rice to be the deepest player. And I just think we've got a plan on giving Rice as much time as he needs in the first half of the season. So it comes back to, will we sign this player and will we sign that player? And those players, you know, Bruno G becomes more and more important as we look at these challenges we're going to face, I think.
1:05:12Yeah. um we i think i think we needed a central midfielder and we were at least i i i like the idea of adding one um i think we know we need more attacking talent which i don't think we needed off the right since we committed to nani but if we get more attacking talent that can help us cope without saka and by the way in this whole calculation like timber may be getting back to fitness and be fine to start the season he may be fine to start preseason we don't know. Saka may just need like six weeks of rest on the Achilles and suddenly he's totally fine. Again, I don't know. Rice, there may be nothing wrong with Rice at all.
1:05:50Like, it sounds like he's got some sciatica. That can be inflammation. That can be dealt with with an injection. It may go away. Like, I had it. I had an injection. I've been fine ever since it's never come back. Okay, so like, and I am obviously an elite athlete. So, like, Rice might be fine. Like, What's been affecting him apparently in the England camp was more illness than anything else. But the Saliba one is the one. And so we'll just have to see. And I guess the question is who's going to play instead of Saliba? Because if you're telling me we're just going to roll Muscara out there for Premier League and Champions League games for three or four months, I don't know that that's the answer.
1:06:29And not because I don't rate Muscara, by the way. I just don't rate Muscara as being ready to anchor the defense. And we've seen this with Gabby, by the way. Gabby's such a talented player but boy does he look different next to Saliba you put these players next to Saliba Upa Meccano with Saliba without Saliba night and day night and day Gabby when he goes away with Brazil and he doesn't have Saliba there doesn't look quite the same does he to me Paul center back pairings are partnerships and I think Gabby works because he's talented but he also works because he's got Saliba next to him you know what I mean I think that makes a big difference yeah it does and like it's an opportunity for Gabby to grow and show what he's got with Mosquera and for them to develop a partnership but you need that.
1:07:16They got Raya behind them, that's huge help. If we have Timber and either of our two left backs I think that provides them an environment in which they can thrive and build that relationship so there's a lot of ifs there, a lot of dependencies but they need a good screen in front of them I think of all the relationships, the key one is who's standing in front of them. If it's Declan Rice from early in the season, grand. But I'm still assuming and would want to see that we've got adequate alternatives for when Rice isn't available, hence the Bruno G conversation. I think that buys them a lot of breathing room themselves to develop the relationship without it being in constant fire drill mode covering our back line yeah we need something I feel bad because we've just done a big segment that's kind of a downer but like there hasn't been much need to do downer segments in the Arsenal world of late But like, I'm really curious to see how the club handles this.
1:08:29And obviously, the news could come out that Saliba's fine. And the rumors of five months and six months were complete hysteria. And so if Saliba's got something that's easily resolvable, then that changes the calculus on this to some extent. But I'm curious to see how the club handles it. And like, I think part of this too is where your starting point was for the quality and the caliber of the squad. Because I regarded us as clear favorites again this season. Like clear favorites. And some of that is, I think Pep is special and City losing Pep, maybe they stay just as good. But in my mind, I don't see that being the case.
1:09:02I could be wrong. And I don't regard anybody else as close. But Liverpool, with their Iola, they have talent. He's really talented. They could be really good. And, you know, that may change what I'm thinking. But for me, obviously, if your key players can't be available to you to start the season and get you off to a hot start, It could be a situation where Arsenal are eight or nine points back after three or four months, and then we start to get to fitness, and everybody who's throwing their toys out of the perimeter realizes, oh, you know what? We're better with the good players, and we go on a hell of a run.
1:09:34I think we should almost plan on that. If it's better than that, great. You don't want to plan on it, but I'll tell you this. I do think our run-in is gentle enough that if we are in striking range in the second half of the season, and we get fit, and we integrate the players, and we look good, I would say to Mikel and the people bringing players in whatever you do plan to be in striking distance come January and February. If you're 6 or 8 points back it won't feel good but I still think we could win the league if we are in that position and we get everybody back. Look, ideally we're 12 points clear after you know, I don't know, let's be realistic, 4 weeks of the season and we just go on to cruise to the title from there.
1:10:16But if not, we'll all go on the journey together. I hope this doesn't get referred to broadly as the pants pissing section it may but like i also think we don't do a good enough job like we celebrate these players we love it's it's a weird one paul we're like rice is the best player in the world saliba's the best defender in the world sack is the best right wing in the world we celebrate then if they're injured we're like we should still be able to be just as good it can't be both it literally can't be both you cannot out of one side of your mouth say these are the best players in the world and on the other side of your mouth when they're not available, say, I expect the team to be just as good.
1:10:53So something's got to give and it'll be interesting to see how the club responds to it. Do we make moves in the market we weren't expecting to compensate? Do we not? It'll be interesting. I think we can leave it there. We've got more World Cup stuff this weekend around the final and then next week fully back to all the regular Arsenal content. Paul, my friend, it is a pleasure to speak to you more so about fun things like Solis coming in than about negative things like Saliba going out. But let's hope there's more of the former, or less of the latter as time goes by. Likewise. Woo-hoo! Indeed, my name is Alex.
1:11:24We love you and we will talk to you after our show. Thanks for doing it.
From the publisher
On this edition of the ArsenalVision Podcast, Elliot is joined by Paul to discuss the confirmation of Tzolis to Arsenal, Juliet Slot leaving Arsenal, Saliba’s intensifying back concerns, and how injuries will shape the start of Arsenal’s season. Chapter timings below.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro Music
05:09 Fridge Disaster and Ruined Family Trip
07:34 England Crash Out of the World Cup
13:50 Christos Tzolis Signing Confirmed
18:11 Tzolis's Numbers and the League Step-Up
29:20 Where Solis Fits in the Squad
33:01 Juliet Slot Leaves and Commercial Revenue
42:24 William Saliba's Back Injury
51:23 Handicapping the Season Without Saliba
54:21 Load-Bearing Walls and the Weak-Link Theory
1:07:17 Who Replaces Saliba at Centre-Back
1:09:16 Staying Realistic About Expectations
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