transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:24] Hello, and welcome to a brand new Arseblog Arsecast, right here on arseblog.com. How are you? Hope you're well. Thank you very much indeed. As always, for being here, I hope your week has been all right. It's been a sort of tricky one, hasn't it? Because it started with the disappointment of what happened on Sunday against Manchester City, and any defeat sort of lingers around like a bad smell. It takes too much time to dissipate and to disappear, but eventually it goes away and the air feels a little bit more fresh. And to be honest, I don't really know how to apply the rest of that analogy to the Newcastle game on Saturday. I mean, there is an obvious one, you know, that whole scene in train spotting when Spud wakes up in the morning and lifts up the sheets, but that's not an image anybody needs at the start of a podcast, is it? Even though right now it's right there in your head. I'm sorry. I really am. But this is what football is driving us to. This is what Arsenal is driving my brain to. It's not my fault. It's external forces. Beyond my control. I suppose I could just open up the metaphorical window and let the fresh air blow through. Sweet summer breeze. That's what we need. But what we've got is a podcast. What we've got to do is talk a bit about Arsenal. So let's get on with the show. And with me today to shoot the Arsenal breeze a bit more than Arsenal have shot themselves in the foot of light from the Stadio Podcast. It's Ryan Hunn. Good morning, Ryan.

Speaker 2:
[02:05] Hi, Andrew. How are you?

Speaker 1:
[02:06] I'm good. I'm good.

Speaker 2:
[02:08] Yeah?

Speaker 1:
[02:09] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[02:09] Is this like a, I'm fine. Honestly, I'm fine.

Speaker 1:
[02:11] I'm fine. I've spent, I said this to you before we started recording. I spent an hour searching my office for my banking DigiPASS thing, you know, sort of do the online banking stuff. And it's, it's just always on my desk and now it's not, and I don't know where it is. It's not in a drawer. It's not anywhere. And I know there's a universe in which Arsenal have beaten Bournemouth and Arsenal have beaten Manchester City and my DigiPASS is on the desk in front of me. Unfortunately, we're in the different one, the not good one or potentially the not good one where those two results happened and my DigiPASS is nowhere to be seen.

Speaker 2:
[02:54] So it does put the football into perspective.

Speaker 1:
[02:57] It really does. It really does. So yes, to, to, to sum it up, I'm fine. How are you? Where's your head at this morning?

Speaker 2:
[03:07] I'm all right, actually, I think the city result was a weird one, right? Because even though they won, it felt fairly positive from what could have been.

Speaker 1:
[03:15] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[03:17] So yeah, I'm all right. Yeah, I'm all right. I think the last time we spoke, I said, I'm expecting it to be, that lead to contract and maybe expand a little bit before the end of the season. It's done that. Maybe I wish it hadn't have contracted as much as it had. But I still think it's far from over without jumping ahead. But yeah, so I think I've, I don't know. I mean, the season has been so long and such a grind, and it feels like it's been quite an emotional struggle, for want of a better term. I've made quite a while ago, I was like, look, I'm not going to try and overreact week by week, because otherwise it's just going to envy. It's almost like I will worry about it at the end of the season, to see where we're at. I think that's a bit of a self-preservation thing.

Speaker 1:
[04:08] But I think that's fine. I do think that the angst and the things that we're experiencing are perfectly violent. These are normal emotions that football gives you or inflicts upon you, I think, is maybe the right way of putting it. I think all the things that everyone's feeling to varying degrees, whether you're a cool cam and collect and you're like, this is just how it goes in a title race. It's all still to play for and you're confident that we're going to do it. If you're the other way and thinking, oh, Jesus, we've blown it. I'm sort of reminded this week of, I don't know if it was an episode of The Simpsons or if it was in the movie, but like Homer has a pig on a barbecue, you know that one where it sort of rolls down the hill and he's like, it's just a little dirty. It's still good. It's still good. It goes into the river or something. I think it is like, oh, it's just a bit wet. It's still good. It's still good. Like part of me is Homer Simpson and Arsenal season is the pig. And I'm like, it's still good. It's still good despite things not going quite the way we want. But it is, it is I think incumbent on me anyway. And you're obviously in that place as well. That until such time as we have resolution one way or the other, I don't really know what I can say about, I don't want to speculate and project on like, well, if it all goes terribly wrong, this is what must happen. You know, I think we have to wait until we get to that point.

Speaker 2:
[05:47] It's quite a lot up in the air still.

Speaker 1:
[05:49] There is, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[05:50] Even if it is successful or not successful, even within that, there is so much up in the air. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[05:55] I mean, there's only the possibility that we could win the Champions League and the Premier League in the one season.

Speaker 2:
[06:01] Yeah. Isn't it weird that we're late April and potentially on for the most successful season in the club's history, though everyone's just like, ah, it's really weird. I think I feel quite lucky in the sense that doing Stadio, we're not Arsenal, we're not an Arsenal show. It's not a Manchester United show, despite Moussa being a Manchester United fan. So I think what I've been trying to do is coping, is to try and literally just focus on anything else for a show. Like for example, I was at the Copa del Rey final on Saturday. It was the first time I've ever been to a Copa del Rey final, and it was amazing, genuinely amazing. Real Sociedad won their first trophy in front of the fans since 1987, it was amazing.

Speaker 1:
[06:41] Where was the final?

Speaker 2:
[06:42] It was in Seville.

Speaker 1:
[06:43] Right.

Speaker 2:
[06:44] Came through the airport. One of the first things I saw was a picture of Hector, which was lovely. But I was in my, all I wanted to do was just do like a three hour episode on Stadio on Monday about the Copa del Rey final, but obviously we had to do the Arsenal Manchester City Arsenal game. So, I've been trying to find my like, can we talk about something else that's going on? How are Venezia doing in Serie B?

Speaker 1:
[07:15] What's going on at Hartley Pool United this week?

Speaker 2:
[07:17] Yeah. Commentary got promoted. Cool. I think I've been trying to do that and actually get to a few more games away from Arsenal and away from Premier League to just almost like distract myself a bit.

Speaker 1:
[07:34] It is crazy though, isn't it? Because we're all so, it's like tunnel vision at this point, right? Where we're so invested in everything and there is, I think anyway, as hard as it is to sort of try and get yourself out of it and look at things in a more objective way. And I realized because it's so subjective to all of us that that is extremely difficult, you know, to sort of take the wider picture and you can go too far and say, well, you know, the world's in a fucking state and what, you know, what are you getting so wound up about football for? And ultimately football is the sort of most important of the unimportant things in the world, you know?

Speaker 2:
[08:19] That's why we look to it, right? Because we want to escape all of that stuff.

Speaker 1:
[08:22] Well, that's it. And now we're trying to escape football and we're like, well, how do we escape from football and the world? You know, I don't know where we're going to go into the movies.

Speaker 2:
[08:30] A lot of the stuff that's going on in football is mirroring or echoing the things that we're trying to escape from in the wider world. So you just end up waving arms around everywhere, everything all the time, including your football. And you're like, ah!

Speaker 1:
[08:41] And it could all be solved by Arsenal just scoring a few more goals and getting a few more points on the board. And we could all just be really happy. I mean, just touching on last night, I didn't watch, obviously. I went out to have some dinner with my wife and kind of, like I said, switch off and not think about football and not have football right in front of me. Were you expecting more from Manchester City than a 1-0 win? I was expecting them to win, but a 1-0 win seems like probably the best possible outcome we could have got from that game in all reality. Like, I know there's a way that Burnley could have got something, but I wasn't expecting that. And I was kind of expecting a 4 or 5-0, to be honest.

Speaker 2:
[09:25] It seems like the performance was what we expected, but maybe not the result. And therefore, I think we have to take those positives. That's a big opportunity missed for Manchester City. And I think that, I was thinking about it afterwards, if that had been Arsenal that had closed the gap and gone to Burnley and had a real opportunity to cement a gap in goal difference, I just thought, I wonder what the shows would have been saying about that afterwards. It feels like a real opportunity missed for Manchester City.

Speaker 1:
[09:54] What are they saying on the Noll and Liam football forum this morning? I mean, I'm not going to look, but...

Speaker 2:
[10:00] Yeah, just I have no idea how different it would have been if it had been an Arsenal result. And I find that quite interesting. But also I think because Manchester City have closed the gap, maybe the next couple of games are going to be different in how they're talked about. But yeah, I mean, I didn't watch the game. I checked the score every now and again and it got to about 20 minutes to go. And I thought, shall I watch this? Then I thought, no, because if they score as a second, I'm going to be like, oh, great. That usually happens with some buying games in Germany. There's usually some times where, I don't know, like Augsburg might be 2-0 up after 25 minutes. And I'll be like, ooh.

Speaker 1:
[10:37] Well, turn it on.

Speaker 2:
[10:37] And then buy and win 6-2.

Speaker 1:
[10:40] Have you figured out that it's all your fault yet or not?

Speaker 2:
[10:42] Exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, I just thought I'd rather just leave it as opposed to actually witness the second or third goals that they happen. But it looks like from the stats that they should have put a few more past Burnley. So yeah, I mean, I think that was the one that we looked at in the calendar as, okay, this is going to be five or six. And the fact that it isn't is a positive. And I think at the moment we have to take those positives because I think that, yeah, I think both teams are going to drop points for the rest of the season at some point. And so I think we have to prepare ourselves for those kind of swings for the rest of the season.

Speaker 1:
[11:26] There is like, you know, a lot of focus on goals and goal difference and potentially this title being decided by goal difference. I'm not sure it's going to come down to that, but it could, right? And it feels like and has felt like to a large extent that goal scoring has been something of an issue for Arsenal this season, which is counterintuitive because until like last week, nobody had scored more goals in the Premier League than Arsenal, not even Manchester City. They've overtaken us now. The, their top on goals scored, the goal difference is exactly the same. Yeah. So there are three ahead of us. And there is this focus on whether Arsenal need to lean to the attack and really try and make that possibility as slim as it can be by banging in a load of goals against the teams that we've got left to play. You know, how do you view the, the psychology of that? Is that a dangerous thing for Arsenal to consider? Is it something they should be thinking about? Or is it a case of, right, this is real one-game-at-a-time territory, because ultimately the best chance we have is to win all five games. If you're winning 2-0, do you, like, do you really go for it and try and get a third or a fourth and leave yourself open at the back and maybe concede a goal? It all gets very hairy and we've all experienced those, like one goal leads with 15 minutes to go. And what they do to our heart rate and blood pressure and all of that kind of stuff, you know, that's something that I don't know quite how they do it. Like the idea that every game is a final from now on feels like, ooh, that's a bit too much pressure. We just had a final a few weeks ago and it was fucking shit.

Speaker 2:
[13:28] Not great in finals.

Speaker 1:
[13:29] No, no, exactly.

Speaker 2:
[13:30] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[13:31] You know, do we do it like, hey, it's a, as Michael Arteta said, it's a whole new season. It's a brand new start. It's a fresh start, you know, pretend like it's August and just go out and win three, four or five games in a row. It's, it's a really tough one psychologically to, to try and get your head around because, you know, the manager has his methods and his tricks and his bits and bobs that he does on the training ground. And, you know, you might think they're ridiculous or whatever it is, but there's no question the psychology of the situation that we find ourselves in now is, is something that we're going to have to contend with. If we find the right way of doing it, you know, he's a genius. And if he, you know, makes them all dance around a totem pole dressed in kilts and singing Chumba Wumba or something, you know, as a way to ease the psychological pressure. You know, if it works, he's a genius. If it doesn't, he's, you know, a lunatic.

Speaker 2:
[14:26] Right. I don't mind or care really what he does as long as I just don't want to see it on Instagram. I don't want to see it posted anywhere. I don't want to see anything. Honestly, for the rest of the season, genuinely, this is one thing that has kind of been, it's the one thing that has been bugging me a little bit. I get a lot of the stuff that has to come out on social media and stuff like that, but I really wanted to see some kind of just like lockdown on behind the scenes with training, what's going on. I don't want any of that to be used as fuel in any capacity against this side, because there has been enough thrown at them this season from kind of everywhere that I would just want there to be an environment that whatever it is that Mikael Arteta decides is needed to be done for the squad, it's just for them and not for us. Because it doesn't really help now, especially at this point in the season. But going back to what you were saying before about the approach of whether they just go and win games or whether they really put the foot down is quite a boring answer. But I just think it's opposition dependent. Because if you go back and look at the, you know, when we beat Atleti 4-0 at home, that came after that really tough, full and away game, 1-0. So it was like we struggled to get, like struggled to even score in that game. That was the Calafuri disallowed goal. That was brilliant. But that was a really, really tight game. But then Atleti were quite expansive against us. And we just completely capitalized on that. So I think it's more of just maybe knowing when to push and when not to. Because this side is defensively robust. It's not as defensively robust as it was before Christmas, especially in that period where it felt like we might never ever concede a shot on target again. And so I'm a bit, if we were in as defensively sound or shape as we were then, and getting creative players back in to the side together, I'd feel a little more confident being like, yeah, just go for it. Whereas now I think that, I think I'd just be wary of changing too much too quickly. Like even the fact that we're managing to get Havertz, Eze and Erdegard into the same 11 is quite new. So let's just focus on them gelling a little more, seeing what will, like I think Sunday was a good example of what naturally can happen just when you have three players like that playing together for the first time. It feels like in ages. Yeah. Good players and creative players make performances better and tactics a little more creative.

Speaker 1:
[17:21] I mean, that's it. For me, it's been such a huge regret of this season that we haven't been able to play as a no de guard in the same team for any sustained period of time. That's obviously because of the injuries that the captain has had. I think it's four different injuries. Well, the shoulder twice and then the knee where it's just one of those where you get a knee to knee and it could be really sore. You run it off, it's fine, but obviously it was an impact for him and then he sort of overextended it and that's been a huge regret because I've said this before. I think Miquel Arteta is a manager who wants to build his team on a solid defensive platform. There's no getting away from that. You can't look at the profile of the players that we've signed, the way he sets his teams up, the emphasis on being hard to beat first and foremost. But I also don't think that some of the football we've played this season is like, this is my ideal way to play. It doesn't make any sense. Is he an arsenwenger, all-out attack manager? Absolutely not. Is he definitely more focused on defense than some other managers? 100 percent, he is. But it doesn't make any sense to me to build that platform. It's like building a house with no roof, if you like. And the football that we've played has been hard to watch at times. It's been effective and we've granted, but it has been hard to watch.

Speaker 2:
[18:57] It has been a struggle. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[18:58] And I understand why people don't like it. I really do. But at the same time, and this isn't to sort of go to bat for Michael Artera, I don't think it is what he absolutely envisions when he thinks about how he wants his team to go out and play. And you know, Bukayo Saka has been injured and hasn't been at his best. And the stats doing the round this week, by the way, in terms of our forward players and what they haven't contributed this season. I think it was Orbinio who posted them up. I should just get them out again here because I think they are, they are worth just highlighting. Let me have a look here. Leandro Trossard hasn't scored in his last 22 games in all competitions. Bukayo Saka. It is weird. Bukayo Saka, two goals in his last 24 games in all competitions. Gabrielle Martinelli hasn't scored in his last 23 Premier League games. Nani Madueke has two goals in 22 Premier League appearances this season. Martin Odegaard has one goal in his last 21 Premier League appearances. Like, I'm not discounting the manager's responsibility in that. He has to be ultimately responsible for the end product of his players. But I think when you look at the underperformance from some of those players, it goes a long way maybe to explain why things have been a bit a suffering and everything else. So it's just, it is a tough one, isn't it? You know, to, to, because we can say now, yes, lean into Havertz, lean into Eze, lean into Odegaard. And I really actually hope that that's what we do, is we get as many of these players on the pitch at the same time as possible. But, you know, trying to cope with that level of underperformance and being top of the league all through that period is kind of, is weird. It goes back to what we were saying about Arsene being the team that scored the most goals. And you're like, really? Have we though? Yeah, we did until like last week.

Speaker 2:
[21:03] And set pieces have kind of fallen off as well, really, relative to what they were. So it's not even that.

Speaker 1:
[21:08] You're over out.

Speaker 2:
[21:11] As soon as you got the mural, that was it.

Speaker 1:
[21:15] It's like you turning on the, turning on the TV to the buying game. We're blaming North Bank.

Speaker 2:
[21:22] You know, I don't want to sound like Matt Letizia, but it makes you think. So I have a bit of a thing about this. I was talking to Musa on Stadia the day about the depth that Arsenal addressed in the summer. And while I think it was, I mean, celebrated at the time, and I think rightly so, I also am wary of sounding like one of those Arsenal fans that's like, well, look at the injuries. And I think that the thing is, I think what's what's gone on, if you look probably with a bit of distance from the season, there's probably a little few things, a few factors in different areas that have probably all contributed together just to create this sense of hanging on, which I think has made Arsenal a little more conservative as the season's gone on. I think they are way more conservative, or they have become more conservative as the season's gone on than they were at points during the season. There were some games this season that Arsenal were unbelievable, took control of games, pulled teams apart, or managed games and knew when to put the foot down. And it's a different Premier League than it was four years ago, five years ago, right? It's stuff that we've talked about loads of times.

Speaker 1:
[22:36] The goals are down, generally speaking, across the Premier League.

Speaker 2:
[22:39] If you look at the top two, the top two haven't scored. They're not even in the 70s for goals scored yet, and they've played 33 games. That feels weird to me. That feels genuinely quite weird that Manchester City have only got two goals a game. That doesn't feel normal. I think the depth has made what the depth has done this season. I think it's allowed Arsenal to maintain a push on multiple fronts. I don't think because of the injuries that they have sustained again, I think it's stopped Arsenal from making that push over the line or clear improvement on the season's past. Because I think Madueke has played more football or started more games than you probably would have imagined he would have when he signed. Jokeres started more games at the beginning of the season, definitely compared to when we thought he would when he signed. But then on top of that, there are a few things where I'm like, well, were there games when we actually could have just started Miles in midfield and if it wasn't working, then Brin Zubermendi or Ryerson, or could we have actually played Christian Nagel in those games a little more?

Speaker 1:
[23:47] Christian Nagel.

Speaker 2:
[23:48] Yeah. Did you see him saying the thing randomly when he said that clip went viral and he talked about how every time he goes in, Declan Rice just goes, Christian Nagel. Really funny. So it's a bit like, well, I think there are quite a few things that have contributed to probably Michael Arteria getting more and more nervous and almost like, liken it to someone like NBA fans, probably like Tom Thibodeau, former Knicks coach, tightening the rotation in the playoffs. You know, his stuff, his shit gets real. It's like he calls on fewer players. And I think that that has then probably led onto fatigue and potential injuries. So is this this, I wish that we'd maybe been a little more liberal with our selections in the autumn, maybe. I think that we, I mean, hindsight is great, right? But I do wonder if a little more rotation in trying to keep people back fresher for the for the end of the season may have meant that some of the some of the performances would have been a little better because maybe they would have just been pressure players, more relationships.

Speaker 1:
[25:00] Sure.

Speaker 2:
[25:01] And maybe we wouldn't have lost so many players for such a sustained period of time. But you never know, right? But I think that's where I've always been this season. I've been like, look, we're clearly a very, very good football team. I know what my eyes have seen over the last few years. And, you know, a good few years ago, we were struggling to finish sixth. So the improvement has been massive. It's like, well, is there any one specific thing that's causing us to stop getting over the line yet? No. But then again, whenever you bring those things up, you just sound like some fan who's trying to cope with it all. So it's a bit like, maybe, do you know what? Maybe I shouldn't actually be doing the podcast. Maybe just keep it to myself.

Speaker 1:
[25:44] Keep it to yourself. I mean, listen, I think, you know, there is such focus on the end result, the finish line, that, you know, nobody wants to hear about, you know, the fact that you can't be where we are without being good, good enough to get over the line. That's a different question, of course, you know. But I just, while you were talking, had a quick look at where the Premier League was in 2022, in terms of goals scored after 33 games. This season Manchester City have scored the most 66 to Arsenal's 63. In 2022, after 33 games, Manchester City had scored 80 goals and Liverpool were in second, having scored 85 goals. I mean, that's a huge swing, isn't it?

Speaker 2:
[26:38] Yeah. And that doesn't mean, I think this is the thing where, when you had all of that talk of being like, oh, if Arsenal were in the league, they're going to be the worst. I was like, no, actually, you're not watching what's actually going on in the league. The depth of, the floor of Premier League teams is so much higher and has got higher year on year on year. Same with Wolves, like Wolves are not anywhere near being one of the worst Premier League teams, even though at one point, their points total would have put them in that category, and they're just not. So I think that it's been understandably maybe a little bit difficult for people to fully grasp where teams are or how good teams actually are, because the landscape of the league is just radically different to a decade ago.

Speaker 1:
[27:22] How do you, do you view the, the sort of, like mentioning the, the parsimonious nature of this team in the early part of the season where we weren't even allowing the opposition a shot on target. Do you think there's something that as the season has gone on, that our attacking inefficiencies, I think might be the right way of putting it, because it's not to sort of talk about any one individual, but as a team, you know, like you say, we've got eyes, we can see that Arsenal have at times found it difficult to score goals or be as fluid from an attacking perspective as we would like, that naturally there's an inclination as your confidence in your own attack. I don't want to say is undermined, but you are aware that this might be an issue, then naturally, it's sort of like the last 10 minutes of a game where you've got a one goal lead, you start to lean into just holding on to that lead, and that itself has sort of become or put a bit more pressure on the defense or the defensive side of our game. And it's all sort of intertwined into this sort of right, we're seeing this, we're going to do this, we're going to do that. And it's sort of a chain reaction kind of vibe.

Speaker 2:
[28:47] Yeah, I also think that Premier League, the wealth of knowledge and expertise there are in terms of coaches in the Premier League means that teams learn quick. And what works for a month isn't going to work for six, because people are going to figure it out. The amount of analysts that are there at every single club studying non-stop. There was like a week where all of a sudden Arsenal started taking short corners randomly. And I think that was because of something that they had identified in how opposition defend, you know. What game was it? It was a few weeks ago.

Speaker 1:
[29:25] It was a few weeks ago. I remember it.

Speaker 2:
[29:27] And so I think people have done a similar thing to Arsenal, but also as soon as someone like Urien Timber goes out of that side, opposition, that creates a whole other potential thing to exploit for oppositions.

Speaker 1:
[29:45] Was it the FA Cup game?

Speaker 2:
[29:47] Might have been.

Speaker 1:
[29:48] I can't remember. But yeah, I know the one you were talking about and everyone was going...

Speaker 2:
[29:51] It was clearly like a thing that they had identified. And so the level of detail that goes into every single opposition from, you know, from every team in the Premier League, I think is probably like difficult for us to comprehend. And so, yeah, teams adapt and learn super quick. And the way that teams play rarely lasts the full season. Like you look how different city are now compared to when they came to us for the home game.

Speaker 1:
[30:19] Yeah, parking.

Speaker 2:
[30:22] When you can sign Gai and Semenya, then that helps. But just like formation wise and approach wise, it was very, very different. So, yeah, I think that when things start to... Look, put it this way. I think if Arsenal had maintained a healthy squad, an 85 to 90% fully healthy squad for the season, I think the way that Arsenal would be playing football would be very different.

Speaker 1:
[30:51] Okay. I think that's true. But obviously the injuries have become a significant issue, an ongoing issue. I've got some questions from our Discord. So here's one that's related to that. It comes from Chapo0882 who says, does there need to be some wider reflection on how our playing style is contributing to the perennial injury crisis? Three years in a row, we've been undone by injuries, and now some of our generational talents have become injury prone and run into the ground.

Speaker 2:
[31:31] I mean, I'm not sure if it's essentially a playing style because it doesn't feel like we play, doesn't feel like we're like, sorry for the reference, but and Posta Coglu spurs, it would just be like, yeah, we're just going to give it a go, you know.

Speaker 1:
[31:47] Did you see the stat though about teams being outrun in the Premier League this season?

Speaker 2:
[31:55] No.

Speaker 1:
[31:56] Right. In 33 games, Arsenal have been outrun once. Wow. Once. So there's a huge physical effort going into that.

Speaker 2:
[32:06] Is that just Declan Rice? Everyone else is normal, Declan Rice is just, you know.

Speaker 1:
[32:10] Yeah, maybe so.

Speaker 2:
[32:11] Or they'll hold my, I don't know.

Speaker 1:
[32:13] I did enjoy the-

Speaker 2:
[32:14] Has a tonic drink.

Speaker 1:
[32:14] Yeah, yeah. My Lucas Aide sport or whatever their drinky partner is. I did enjoy the fact that Chelsea, by the way, were top of that particular table, played 34, outrun 34 times. Yikes. Which is hilarious. Yeah. We might talk a little bit about Chelsea now in a minute, cause it's funny.

Speaker 2:
[32:36] So in that case then, yeah, I mean, that is super interesting. I do wonder where, like how that has had an effect then, because it doesn't feel like that a lot of the time. I know asked a little bit, you know, I've played a little more in transition compared to at times that we've seen them.

Speaker 1:
[32:51] Does it explain why Declan Rice, you know, for the last couple of weeks when they say, you know, post game interview after a Champions League and they're like, Declan, how are you? And he goes, I'm knackered, I'm wrecked, I'm exhausted. You know, maybe there is something to that.

Speaker 2:
[33:04] It does feel like we have a much more mobile midfield than we've had for a long time. Like as a combo between Rice and Supermendy. You know, I think we've all been quite surprised at how, I remember like earlier on in the season when he was popping up and like scoring goals in the box, we were like, oh, cool. And that's great at the time. But then when he ends up playing something twice as many games as he's ever played in his career before, in the season, you know, we're getting into, I mean, that's an exaggeration, but I know he's on course for playing more games in a single season than he has done before, I think. And when you get to April and there hasn't been, you know, he hasn't had a lot of rest, then that's not the time when you want them to start feeling absolutely knackered. So I think that there's, I think this goes back to what I was saying before though, right? So if we know that we're, we know what our running stats are, and we know how we need to maintain a certain level. And if we drop below that, we're going to be punished. Then I do wonder if there have, there would have been more opportunities to get people into that side at certain points throughout the season. Myles is a big one for me. And I know that Myles hasn't kicked on this season compared to last season. I think that's quite natural when you break onto the scene as rapidly as he did. I think the second season is quite often a struggle after that. And I know there was a couple of times when he got caught out defensively. But I do think there have been times this season where, I think of the Atleti game, how he broke the game open actually. He made that pass in midfield for one of the goals. And there's something about his ability to find a little pocket and pass through the lines. I think that has been a thing that Arsenal have missed quite a lot of points this season. And I think if you want to, if you have concerns about him struggling a little bit at left-back, I don't know, I think that's probably one of my major, not major frustrations, but I think one of the things where I've been like, oh man, there were probably some games this season where we could have put Myles in midfield earlier on in the season so it didn't feel like such a big deal like the Wigan home game, when he was going to go in there and then he didn't.

Speaker 1:
[35:14] Yeah, I've heard that debate and discussion and I do get it. Obviously, it's informed by the absences of Martin Odegaard, Mikael Moreno, of course, since January. Moreno has been a big miss and a player that doesn't get mentioned.

Speaker 2:
[35:29] In multiple positions as well because that's the thing.

Speaker 1:
[35:31] Well, that's it. It's not like he just produces a moment of magic, but he always has felt to me like a guy who gets you a goal when you're going, where is a goal coming from? And then the game against Newcastle away, for example, where I think it might have been Martin. I can't remember who put the cross in, but it was a really, really smart header into the far corner that I don't think any other player in this Arsenal team can score.

Speaker 2:
[36:05] That kind of goal. Ben White cross as well.

Speaker 1:
[36:08] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[36:09] That was a really good one. But there's a thing about him. I think the thing about him that's so underrated is that you can imagine being any player on the pitch in an Arsenal shirt and the closest player to you is Mikel Moreno. I think that kind of goes to like, that's how handy he is. He's kind of almost always just on hand as to like wherever you are on the pitch. If you need someone, he can drop in and get the ball. He can support as a second striker. He can go into those pockets in midfield and he can fill in and take minutes off people in multiple positions that we were talking about before, like maybe saves people throughout the season. So yeah, I know the Myles thing is a bit kind of, it's all very well and good saying this now when stuff has happened and being like, well, actually, if we should have done this. That's not what I mean, but I think that he was so clearly, he's so clearly a midfielder to me.

Speaker 1:
[37:05] But where do you fit him into this midfield? Because that was the question for me is like because last year, we sort of played with a six and two eights to put it in very basic terms, right? So you have this sort of midfield triangle. You've Declan Rice in the left eight where you might envisage Myles playing a bit. But now it's a bit different where the role of the player, head of Rice and Zuba Mendy who are more like a double pivot now, the role is a bit more like a ten. Is that something you think he could do? Do you think he could operate as one of those double pivots? If, and I think is clear, that Michael Arteta isn't prepared to use our friend Christian Norgard, Christian Narkel.

Speaker 2:
[38:00] Yeah, that's just a weird one for me. It is.

Speaker 1:
[38:05] This is a very experienced Premier League player, but who's played 56 minutes in the Premier League.

Speaker 2:
[38:11] That's really weird.

Speaker 1:
[38:13] Listen, a manager, you can listen to what he says and you can read between the lines. But ultimately, I think what I've always said is, you can really judge how a manager thinks about a player by how he uses him or doesn't use him. I think whether you agree with it or not, what Micaela Arteta thinks of Christian Norgard, at least at Premier League level, is that he's not a player he wants to use, unless he absolutely has to. Aside from that, it's like where does Myles fit into a midfield role? Could it be playing in midfield rather than Zubimendi for a game or two? Or even Declan Rice for a game or two? But if you don't have Declan Rice, who's taking the corners? There's another aspect of these decisions, small, tiny things that you think, right, okay, well maybe we're playing a team near the bottom of the table. Maybe we could leave Declan Rice out of the team. Who's taking the corners?

Speaker 2:
[39:14] Yeah, I think it's, again, it's a super boring answer, but I think it's opposition dependent and game dependent. If you got leads at home who you know you're going to get space and you know you're going to have enough of the ball and probably enough, this was at that point of the season, or a few of the games at home where you are defensively solid enough to not have to worry so much about having two people in that pivot role in midfield. Because when, on the times when you are going to, I remember years ago, do you remember when, there was like a few years where Arsenal were linked with Sami Kadira, but at the time everyone just thought, oh no, they really need a six and he's not a six. And there was a thing that I always used to talk about with people saying, well, you kind of need someone who can play six for like 20% of the games, but actually is an eight for the rest of the time. Cause that's the way that we need people to play, right? I think there's, I think for example, if you look at the combination of Arsenal midfielders that they could field at different points to season even with people who maybe haven't featured as many times as you would have liked. There are combinations there that I still think can suit certain games within a full 11, right? Because you have, for example, you have a back four at times of Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, and Hincapié, right? That's a pretty decent unit. You're not getting a lot of joy off those guys. So that might allow you a little bit of leeway in midfield to be like, well, look, if we have Declan Rice in there, but we maybe don't need two people to play full pivots, or we have Myles as a base, just as a passer, and then if we need Declan Rice as the engine to then come and cover in next to him when we need that defensive stability, I think the players are good enough and tactically intelligent enough to be a little more fluid. The game is so much more role-based than position-based. I've just always believed that this squad is capable of potentially leaning a little more out of what looks fully right as opposed to, well, yeah, actually we can kind of play Myles in an almost like Granit Xhaka low left midfield pocket because that's where he's played really well when he stepped up into that position from left back before and made some really, really important attacking contributions from that part of the pitch. And I think there have been times this season where you've looked at the game and been like, man, if we just had someone in there who could just put a pass through, that would be great.

Speaker 1:
[42:00] I mean, that's why we had that whole like, well, he could play Zinchenko as a, you know, which, which, you know, on paper, sounding like one of those things.

Speaker 2:
[42:10] And I don't mean to.

Speaker 1:
[42:11] No, no, no, I know. I know. But I think as fans, it's what we do, right? When we, we see that there might be issues, we're looking for solutions and, you know, ideas kind of catch fire generally, you know, and the miles in midfield ideas, you know, maybe one we were going to see. And we were robbed of that chance to see it because.

Speaker 2:
[42:33] I think that's the key thing because I think Alataz was actually going to do it.

Speaker 1:
[42:36] He was going to do it.

Speaker 2:
[42:37] Okay. I'm not like yelling at something. But then, then we. What was it like? Can we actually play for Marlon in midfield?

Speaker 1:
[42:45] Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You know, I think Colo Toure could be a great DM. You know, the classic players. Yeah, it's that classic thing that fans do. They put a player in a position. It's just like, well, you know, he could do it there. The question maybe is about that particular game. Was it about something he really wanted to try or was it the best solution available to him in terms of who he had available on the day and who he wanted to rest on the day? Because I can't remember. I know it was Calafiori was going to start at left back and Myles was going to start in midfield. And I can't remember who came into the team when Myles had to go back to left back.

Speaker 2:
[43:27] Saka played central, I think.

Speaker 1:
[43:29] Was that what it was?

Speaker 2:
[43:30] Because it was that week or so when we saw Saka playing centrally. So was it him and Eze and Madweke started, I think.

Speaker 1:
[43:40] It was, I think, because it was the Wigan game, wasn't it? In the FA Cup. So Myles went back to left back in the midfield that day was Eze Norgard's Saka.

Speaker 2:
[43:50] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[43:51] Saka came off.

Speaker 2:
[43:51] Two or three games where Saka played central. We were like, oh, is this it? Is this the thing that I think we might have talked about last time I was on? We said that it feels like Miquel Ahtaten needs one tactical accident or find, you know, when you stumble on something through a season, we were like, is Saka in the 10 it? And it turned out it was not.

Speaker 1:
[44:11] Here's another question from Simon King, given that we're talking about Myles and he said, does the Hale End boy now come with additional pressure to be first team ready sooner? Are we expecting too much from the likes of Down and the Myles Lewis-Skelly to come in and be difference makers when the stakes are so high? There's a follow on question. On a related note, on a scale of zero to Saliba, how beneficial will the Nwaneri loan be for both player and club? So maybe deal with the first one first, and then we can come back to the, to the Ethan one, because I think this is another one where, with hindsight.

Speaker 2:
[44:53] Probably would have kept him. Yeah. So the Hale End thing, I think, yeah, there is, because I think there is just a bit of a longing, especially in the modern era where, you know, everything feels a little, identity wise, especially in the Premier League, things become a little less specific. I think having players that have come through the youth academy and the youth system at that club in there, it just adds an extra layer of something special and a bit of meaning. And I think that's really, really good for just fandom in general. You know, like Real Sociedad had 15 Academy graduates in the match day squad for the final and 10 of them played.

Speaker 1:
[45:37] Wow.

Speaker 2:
[45:38] Which is kind of wild, right?

Speaker 1:
[45:40] I mean, yeah, you look at, it's a cultural thing though as well, isn't it? Because you look at, you look at there, you look at Barcelona, the players come through the Academy Athletic Club. Obviously you have to be from the Basque region or related to the Basque region in order to play there, which is, you know, in some ways wonderful. I do wonder if at times it might be like just a little bit frustrating as well. If you think like, you know, if we just could get that number nine, but there's nobody good enough who's born in the Basque region in between this year and that year, who can help us out. You know, you can't go and sign.

Speaker 2:
[46:12] Yeah. And I'm not saying that Arse should only sign people.

Speaker 1:
[46:15] No, I get it. I get it.

Speaker 2:
[46:16] We have a strict inside the M25 policy.

Speaker 1:
[46:21] You must be born on Holloway Road.

Speaker 2:
[46:23] Exactly. But, you know, there is something that I also feel like in terms of, fans feel quite protective over them as well. And it just feels quite nice. I think we were all, you know, last season, especially when that moment where, you know, Myles and Ethan connected for, I think it was a Champions League goal, and it was the youngest age combo of a Champions League goal ever or something like that. It was just like, that's just fucking cool. That's just cool. And they're our guys and we want to look after and make sure they're okay. And they're clearly very, very good. So I think what happens is that when you have a season like Myles did last season, that's when the pressure comes a little bit because I think there is an element of, and I think we've seen it with Max this season as well, where they're playing without a lot of that scar tissue and baggage that the more experienced players have had. And they're like, I'm getting a chance to go and play against Real Madrid and the Bernabeu. I'm going to, yeah, like, you don't scare me, Man City and all this kind of stuff. But then when you've been through that and you start, and you start realizing, oh, actually, yeah, the level is even higher than it felt like to me initially in the moment, because you're kind of just being carried on, you know, by excitement or whatever. That second season is always quite difficult. And I think that there has been a little bit of, I wouldn't say, I weirdly don't think there's been as much pressure on Myles this season from fans. I think it's felt a little more like pressure on our tether to, like, what's going on.

Speaker 1:
[48:01] Is that not related to the, to the fact that after a breakthrough season where he did really well, that we went out and bought another left-back to essentially take his place? Well, it sends a very specific message from that. And like, on the one hand, you can say, that's what you need to be competitive. You have to, you've done brilliantly, but now here's a challenge, overcome that challenge and do it. On the other hand, the fact that we went and did it at all suggests that maybe there were some concerns or reservations about Myles in that position. So it's hard to understand the thinking fully, isn't it? Because no manager or no sporting director is going to sit down and say, well, the reason we signed Piero and Capier is because we wanted to give Myles a challenge. We wanted to push him. We wanted to really get him laser focused and have that bit of experience. They're not also going to say, well, we had some worries about him defensively. I think all of us to some extent have an ideal in our mind, right? If you're picking a team, if you're picking a profile of player like, I'm not picking anybody other than William Saliba and Gabrielle at centre half because they give you everything that you need. Strength, power, pace, all of the things that they are. Exactly. The height. Everything you could want in a central defender is in the physical and technical profile of those players. But then when you start going to other positions, do you want a five foot eight full back who's maybe a bit zippy, low center of gravity or do you prefer the Branislav Ivanovich version of things, which is in capia rather than Myles? I think that's where it might come down to. There's a personal preference in terms of the physical profile of a player that a manager wants in a certain position. I can't help but think when you look at Calafuri, who's ostensibly his first choice as and when he's fit, but that's obviously an issue with him. I can't help but think that there's a greater similarity between those two and Myles, who's a bit of an outlier physically when it compares to those two.

Speaker 2:
[50:28] Yeah, I think technically though, Myles gives you a little more of what Calafuri does.

Speaker 1:
[50:32] No, I agree with that.

Speaker 2:
[50:34] I think you can probably understand being like, look, I'm not getting the side because Ricardo Calafiore is playing left back, because sometimes when he is playing and you look at the, you're watching a game on TV and you kind of have to do a double take, because you're like, is that Calafiore? Okay, that's Calafiore. Why is he? He's just decided he's going to go and play number nine for a few minutes, you know. I think with Hincapier, I watched a lot of him at Bayer Leverkusen, he was very, very good and very important to that Bayer Leverkusen side that went unbeaten and did the double under Javi Alonso. However, the Bundesliga is a completely different league. It's a completely different league. Premier League side, like Newcastle, took a Champions League side's best striker and look at where they are in the Premier League. Liverpool took two of Leverkusen's best players last season. The ability for Premier League clubs just to take that talent out, it means that the range of, let's say abilities, it's much bigger in the Bundesliga. Bayern this season have set an all-time goal scoring record in the league, breaking their own record that's something like 50 years old. So it shows you how it's way more open. And I think that Hencapier, when Hencapier came in, I actually thought he would be a really good backup center half option. That's why I thought he would be, because I think he is more suited, he felt like he was more suited to that in our system. However, the fact that he has played so much at left-back, I think has been really good in some instances. And I think it's also had a knock-on effect to some of the stuff that we were talking about earlier in an attacking sense at points. So it's a balance to be made, but also for the Hale End thing just quickly, it's never rambled on this. But I think that there's a balance to be made between, for example, I think if Arsenal had won the league last season, I think Michael Arzettor is just a little more kind of, yeah, we can play Mars for this game or actually, yeah, we're going to keep Ethan and we're going to play him here. And there's a lot, because you've done it, you've just done it. And so therefore it just buys you a little more freedom.

Speaker 1:
[52:52] Overcompensating in the market, perhaps. Yeah, just looking at Bayern, 109 goals in 30 games, Jesus.

Speaker 2:
[53:00] A but in the Premier League, how many would that be?

Speaker 1:
[53:02] Yeah, I know, I know, I know. What about the Waniere thing?

Speaker 2:
[53:05] Just on that, sorry, it's more like, even if that doesn't translate to, you know, the Champions League or it's just, it's the reps, I think it's almost just creating the muscle memory of scoring like five, six goals a game sometimes. That's really important, even if the levels can be different. But on Ethan, yeah, if they could have a do-over, I don't think they send him out on loan at all.

Speaker 1:
[53:27] No, I'd agree.

Speaker 2:
[53:31] It's a really boring answer, but I'm not sure we're going to fully know whether it was beneficial or not, to maybe another six months or a year.

Speaker 1:
[53:39] Maybe as a life experience, it'll be-

Speaker 2:
[53:41] I think that's important.

Speaker 1:
[53:42] Slightly formative for him because he is still very young, let's not forget. He's gone away. There was the promise of regular football, but he wasn't getting at Arsenal and then he's sitting around in Marseille, not really playing as much as he would like or Arsenal would like. I'm sure I saw some weird thing last week about how the more he plays, the less Marseille have to pay Arsenal in terms of a loan fee or-

Speaker 2:
[54:13] I remember there was something like that. There was a real, they really dangle the character play as much as possible.

Speaker 1:
[54:18] Because yeah, exactly. That's what it is. Sometimes those loan deals, it's like, well, if he plays more than 20 games, you've got to give us another big chunk of money and it's like, well, we'll play him for 19 games. Harvey Elliott, yeah, at Villa. Completely just counter-intuitive, yeah. But at the time, again, its hindsight is 2020 and all that kind of stuff. At the time, obviously, Marino wasn't injured and Odegaard wasn't as injured. I could see the logic for it if he was going to play, but given that he hasn't played, it's not been a decision that stands the test of time, I should say.

Speaker 2:
[54:57] On that, I don't know if there was a recall clause or what.

Speaker 1:
[55:01] I don't think there was.

Speaker 2:
[55:02] But then you may have to think, well, okay, is that something that they need to work a little harder on for things like that in the future, for that potential situation to happen again? Because there have been points this season where we could have really done with bringing on Ethan Nwaneri.

Speaker 1:
[55:24] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[55:24] Especially in the back half of the season. And yeah, that one feels like a little bit of, like I got, I understood it and I thought it could be really good for him. Yeah, that feels a little bit so.

Speaker 1:
[55:41] Is it one of those where, you know, as I said at the time, we didn't have the injury to Marino and Odegaard, I think was sort of there, thereabouts before he picked up that other injury. But is it just the case that a club with a history of injuries like ours should have just said we're going to get fucked at some point? Nobody's going anywhere, you're all staying here, we need you, and that's sort of the end of that. Or is there a duty or a responsibility to a young player who's got a lot of potential, who wasn't really playing, whether you think that's fair or not, that's the reality of the situation he was in. So is there a responsibility to think about the player and how he develops and to sort of play the longer game, if you like, or is that responsibility on the manager in the first place to actually give him the minutes that he needs in our team rather than somebody else's?

Speaker 2:
[56:57] So I think the Esa signing for Ethan was quite similar to the Incapio signing for Myles.

Speaker 1:
[57:02] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[57:03] Whereas it's like, okay, well, that's a bulk of your minutes gone. But then again, there have been games of season where, especially early on in the season when you're like, actually we can give Ethan half an hour here. If a player of Ethan's age and his point of his career, and I think the same goes for Myles, especially after last season, if they're getting regular half an hours, or two half an hours a week, that's very, very different. I think that paints another picture because, A, they're integrated into the squad and they feel like they're actually contributing a bit. I think that is the one thing, I know the margins have been small this season, and we've talked about all of that, but I do think there have been points this season. It's the one thing where I'm a bit like, it's probably my biggest criticism over Kel Arteta this season in that sense, even though it's not really like, but it is like, yeah, I think there have been moments where you could have got these guys on the pitch and they could have contributed, or even in moments where there were games where the game is so clearly done, and we could have brought on people to give them minutes. I think that you continue their development in that sense, because they feel part of the squad. They don't feel like, I'm already getting minutes here and maybe I'm going to have to go elsewhere. And to me, and I'm, look, I'm not a professional, very, very high level football manager. So, you know, obviously I do not know, but it just feels, feels so much like a win-win. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[58:29] I mean, I have to say, I think there weren't enough games where we were sufficiently far ahead for us to use the squad in the way that we would like. Too many games were sort of in the balance heading towards the, the final stages where, you know, if you're three nil up at home, 75 minutes gone, bang, just fucking make the changes. If you're a goal ahead, you know, you want to rest Declan Rice because he's run around like a horse all day, but you can't because you need that sort of solidity on the pitch. So maybe it all comes back to goal scoring and how difficult it, it's been to score goals, you know?

Speaker 2:
[59:11] Yeah, I'm trying to see. So Ethan didn't come on, was he even in the squad? Again, I'm just looking at leads. Max Dalman came on. I don't think Ethan was in the squad. Oh yeah, he was in the squad. No, he did come on. Yeah, he could come on. Sorry. So there were games like that, for example, the Leeds game early on, but again, like you were saying, there wasn't, haven't been enough of those games this season. And therefore, I mean, there was like Forest at home. There was another big one he came on quite early for Martin Erdegore. So he has come on in those games. And so I think it's, that's the thing where you realize actually when you start to actually go in and analyze it, how these tiny small things in the moment over a course of the season all add up to a big picture where you're just a bit like, wow, there is so much stuff there that needed to maybe like shift on a smaller scale earlier on in the year. For us to maximize the potential of what this squad has to offer this season. And then I think for me, that's probably one of the, I said to Moose on Stadia, I was like, I don't want to walk away from the season feeling like it was a season full of, like not full of regrets, but another season of regrets where you're like, man, like.

Speaker 1:
[60:18] What if, if only, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[60:21] I have, look, if Arsenal go and challenge, you know, and they don't win trophies, it's really, really, really, really difficult to win the trophies that we now want to win or expect to win. But I don't want to feel like I'm like, oh man, they felt like this. We really left, you know, like golfers, there was like, man, left a few out there.

Speaker 1:
[60:43] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[60:44] I don't want to feel like that. Sure. And I feel like there have been a few little things in different, like we said, in different areas that I felt like that so far this season. I think Ethan and Myles' usage has been one of them.

Speaker 1:
[60:57] Yeah. I mean, that's, I think I said this to Lewis on one of the Patreon pods this week. I enjoyed Tim Stillman's framing of where we are now as a playoff, you know? Where we are the golfer who's gone down the 18th with a two-shot lead and-

Speaker 2:
[61:17] McElroy.

Speaker 1:
[61:17] Yeah. We've stuck it in the bunker or we've put it, we've driven it into the trees and you end up with a double bogey and it looks like you fucked it, but your playoff is your chance for redemption. And that's kind of the way we have to approach it now. You know, it is a whatever, five-hole playoff, five-game playoff. You know, we've just got to dig in and trust in the quality that we have. And let's do this one to finish us off, because we need to get out of here. Treads on the Discord says, good morning. What effect will being behind have on us? Am I alone in thinking it might actually loosen us up a bit to just fucking go for it? Or is this, are we in the Hopium Copium sphere here? But like, I can see some sense and I can see some logic in that as well, that there is something different about leading the pack and chasing the leader, if you like, you know, the dynamics are different. The pressure is different. So I don't know. Do you think it will have any material impact or is this just gonna be like a straight dude out, ding dong, bang bang, fucking, you know, you play, we play, you play, we play kind of vibe?

Speaker 2:
[62:32] Well, hopefully, we're not gonna be behind for very long.

Speaker 1:
[62:36] Well, that's true.

Speaker 2:
[62:37] You know, that's the thing, right? So in, like, hopefully, after the next two league games, we're actually six points ahead.

Speaker 1:
[62:44] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[62:44] So I'm not sure how, how much we're actually gonna feel that. I think it's probably gonna... I don't think that's gonna matter so much. And it's not because the point isn't valid. I think just because hopefully the reality of it won't play out that way. But I think what will matter is the way that the fixtures then shake down towards the end of the season. If it happens then.

Speaker 1:
[63:13] Sure.

Speaker 2:
[63:16] But I'm hoping it won't because I think, I think I'm right in saying that even very closely in the season, City are constantly gonna have to play catch up. So it's about the thing for Arsenal now. I think the difference now is that we don't have any wiggle room. There's no lead to play around with. We have to go and get that now. And I think we actually were by memory at points this season when we had to go, when we had to play first, especially around like Christmas and stuff like that. I think we were quite good at getting the points on the board. That's what we have to go and do now. That's just the main thing because if City then, I think it's very different when they don't have a game in hand or they don't have any more points to play around with or it's not expected if it's like, okay, now we have to completely match them. If Arsenal go and get six points from the next two games before City next play in the league, that's really different because that's like you cannot misstep before whereas City had a little bit more freedom, I think when they weren't really expecting to be in that position. So I'm interested to see how that maybe changes some stuff.

Speaker 1:
[64:26] Yeah. Well, let's hope that that's what we can do. Starting Saturday, obviously with Newcastle, we could be six points clear by the next time Manchester City play but it's in our hands. We've got to do it. It's still good.

Speaker 2:
[64:37] It's still good, man.

Speaker 1:
[64:39] It's still good.

Speaker 2:
[64:39] Look, you know, I've watched that. We were talking about goal before. I watched the Rory Macklethorpe documentary on Prime the other day about when he won the Masters and he said his caddy Harry said to him when he blew the lead and went to a playoff as he was walking off, he said, hey, we would have taken this before we started. And he said it just snapped him out of it. And honestly, I know I would have loved it to be just nine points clear, cruising, focus on the Champions League, resting everyone in the league. But again, at the beginning of the season, if someone said 23rd of April, you're going to be in the Champions League semi-final and level on points with Manchester City at the top, I would have been like, yep.

Speaker 1:
[65:19] You take it. Context is obviously king. We are where we are because of what's happened up to now. But yeah, in isolation, I think that's a position we would have all taken and let's hope it's one we can take advantage of. Right. We will leave it there as ever. A pleasure to chat and yeah, let's just try and keep our cool and do what we need to do. Right?

Speaker 2:
[65:44] Yeah. Yeah. Let's just focus on the future. Let's go forward. Let's not worry about what's happened.

Speaker 1:
[65:50] Forward, not backwards and twirling, twirling, always twirling.

Speaker 2:
[65:54] We're fine.

Speaker 1:
[65:55] We're fine.

Speaker 2:
[65:55] Completely fine. We're fine.

Speaker 1:
[65:57] Thanks, Ryan.

Speaker 2:
[65:58] Cheers, man.

Speaker 1:
[66:02] Thank you very much indeed to Ryan. You can find him on Blue Sky. He's at Ryan Hunn. And of course, he is the co-host of the excellent Stadia podcast, which you should have in your rotation if you don't already. Right? I think that's just about that. Just a quick word about the fundraiser, which is still going obviously throughout the month of April. The target that was set before the fundraiser kicked off was 200,000 pounds. The current total is 388,134 pounds at the time of recording. And there is still seven days, there are still seven days in April remaining. So it's not beyond the realms of possibility that we could push this over the 400,000 pound mark. And as Elliot has explained, that would fund the Coaching for Life program for years to come. One full cycle of the Coaching for Life program, which is run by the Arsenal Foundation in the Zattery Refugee Camp in Jordan. So thank you to everybody who has made a donation thus far. If you're in a position to give a little, whatever it might be, it will be greatly appreciated and obviously go to an incredible cause. So maybe between now and the end of April, we can get that well over 400,000 pounds. You can find the link to the fundraiser in the show notes. And next week, I was going to do it this week, but because my banking DigiPass is nowhere to be found, I've got to order a new one. I'll give you the details of where the Arseblog donations for the month of April are going to go. As you know, every April we give everything that we make on Patreon and a little bit more to good causes. We've already given a 25,000 euro donation to the fundraiser and we will be doing more on top of that as well. But the details of that I will give you once everything has been done and made and the bank transfers and all of that have been done. I'll tell you where exactly those donations have been made. In the meantime though, you can sign up for our Patreon knowing that you get instant access to everything that we do on there. And for this month only, if that's all you want to sign up for, your subscription will go to help those good causes. You can do it at patreon.com/arseblog$6 a month. That's all it is. The price of everything in the world is going up and up and up and up inflation, inflation, inflation. Our price remains the very same as it was the day we launched our Patreon back in 2018. $6 a month plus sales tax if that is applicable in your country. And you get access to everything that we do on Patreon. Tomorrow we'll have a preview podcast looking ahead to our game against Newcastle on Saturday. You don't need me to tell you how important it is, what the result needs to be, but we'll talk about how that might happen, who we might have available and more after the regular Tethys Press Conference on Friday lunchtime. For now, thanks for listening, thanks for being here, thanks for downloading and all the rest. You know how much I appreciate it, how much everybody here at Arseblog appreciates you being part of what we do. So for now folks, take it easy and we will catch you on the next one. Until then, cheers, bye bye. Hello, this is just a quick message to anybody expecting an end bit to this podcast. I realize this is an end bit, but I had something else done. It was like really good, really funny. And before I posted, there was a knock on the door. It was the Podcast Standards Authority, who basically raided my office and said, you know, it's not acceptable. You can't post anything that might be funny after Arsenal have lost. Until such time as Arsenal win again, nothing can be funny. So you better delete that or else. And I said, yeah, or else what? And they were like, try us then buddy. And I said, I will fucking try you. I will. I'll try you on like a cheap suit. How do you like them apples? And they were like, there are no apples. I can't see any apples here at all in your office. Lots of microphones and some foam and shit, but there's no apples. What apples are you talking about? I was like, oh God, they're metaphorical apples. They're not real. And he was, how can I know if I like these apples if they're not real apples? Are they, are they golden delicious? Are they Granny Smith's? Are they the red apples that when you bite into them, there's always a bit of the fucking skin of the apple that gets caught between your teeth? Which kind of apples are you talking about? I said, I don't have time for this anymore. I've got to get this podcast out to everybody. So why don't you just turn around and go back where you came from? So that's what they did. They turned around and they went back to the far recesses of the weirdest corners of my brain. And I think we can chalk this one down as a victory for the common man. Now where the fuck is my DigiPass? God damn it.