And welcome back to PD Football. My name is Presh.
My name is Darren. And how are you doing today?
I'm okay. I'm just super fatigued, yo. Had a
tough week at work, but we got to keep going.
Yes. On your end. Myself also, but of work. But
the main thing that's really grinding my gears,
and I know this is a football podcast, but the
Oscar nominations came out. Navatar wasn't nominated.
Not really. Oh, that's a devastation for you.
Yes, I'm a big fan. I'm a huge fan. James Cameron
is Jesus to you. Yes, JC. That's my JC. Yes,
so I think let's just get into the Inter Milan
-Arsenal game. Before we start, you know, conversation,
I think let's just talk about their setup. Arteta
or Arsenal set up in their usual 4 -3 -3 with
a massively rotated team. Only Zubamendi, Raya
and Timber survived from the draw with Nottingham
Forest on the weekend. In terms of Inter, this
is the second time I'm watching them this season,
so I don't have a lot of background of watching
them. But they stuck with their 3 -5 -2, which
their previous manager Nzaghi instituted, and
their current manager Christian Kivu has kind
of built on that. Right? Yeah. So, your thoughts
on the game? I mean, I thought it was a comfortable
game for Arsenal. More comfortable than I expected
it to be, honestly. I thought the first half,
we started really well. I mean, we have a habit
of starting well in games, I think, generally
this season, especially the bigger games. I'd
say we only really struggled against you guys
and Chelsea, maybe Man City as well, although
they sat deep against us, so it was a bit of
a different test. But as far as yesterday, I
think it was really impressive to have... Almost
a B team. I'd say in a way, with Zubamendi and
Saka, we still had two of our best players. At
least they would be... I think after Rice, overall
Zubamendi's been our second most important player
this season. I think Oteta was looking to keep
a certain amount of control in the team. the
three nominal selections. I just think it was
a comfortable game. It's kind of what I expected
as well. So let's go through it in terms of overall
play. I thought in the first half Inter pressed
really aggressively, but it wasn't very effective.
Because Arsenal usually just pass through their
press. I mean, I think anyone who goes super
aggressive against Arsenal so far, we haven't
struggled to play out. I think it's usually the
more counter -pressing or zonal -orientated presses,
maybe mid -blocks that we've struggled with.
Yeah. I think our centre -halves and Zubamendi
and Rice are very comfortable playing out of
pressure. Where am I? So, in the second half,
they eased off a bit. Actually, they eased off
a lot. And I assume this is partly, you know,
as a tactic and partly due to fatigue. You know,
you can't press the entire game. And they do
have an ageing squad, I mean. Yeah, well, every
year we say Inter has an ageing squad. All these
guys are like 36 years old at this point. At
some point it's going to catch up though. And
they're going deep in the Champions League every
season. On the flip side of that, I thought Arsenal's
press was not as aggressive, but much more effective
and well worked. I counted at least three times
in the first half where the Inter player was
just caught dawdling on the ball and a group
of Arsenal players were just all over them. That
being said, Arsenal's press didn't need to be
great because Inter weren't that good on the
ball. They gave the ball enough... They gave
away the ball a number of times and it was, you
know, not a very good display from my perspective.
Yeah, I mean, I think... I don't think Arsenal
were at their best either, so I think the argument
could be made either way. I mean, I guess you
could say it's a B team, but they're both top
of their league, so I think Inter... some sloppy
play. Arsenal also had some sloppy play, I don't
think, intercapitalized on it. But I think in
particular I was happy with the... Miles Lewis,
Skelly, because he hasn't been playing well.
I think that was a better performance from him,
particularly out of possession. He didn't get...
I mean, the test is not the same, I guess, as
maybe he'll have this weekend with Diallo. But
we'll see. Well, do you think he's going to play
this weekend? Or do you think it might be Timba
on the left? Yeah, I think he would go, but I
think he will play at some point. in the game.
I think he will come on whether it's later on
or whether he starts, I don't know. But I do
think he will be introduced at some point. Back
to this game, in terms of Inter's goal threat,
I thought their best moments came on the counter.
They engineered some good chances from it, but
unfortunately they couldn't capitalize on all
of their, not all of their chances, but you'd
hope that a few of their chances they would capitalize
on. When he was substituted, the commentator
said Lautaro Martinez wasn't playing his best
due to injury. So I don't know how true that
is, but certainly his replacement Esposito looked
better than him. So I think Esposito should have
started the game. Because Martinez had a very
poor game, I thought. It depends what their thinking
was, I guess. Maybe they were... I know Martinez
works hard out of possession. Like, I haven't
watched much of Inter under Trevo, honestly,
because... I just haven't watched much football
outside of the Premier League and the Liga this
season. And I think, what is it? You can only
beat what's in front of you, as they say, for
both teams. I think even if Inter had won, you
could have said, oh, this was Arsenal's B team,
but it wouldn't have really been much of an excuse.
So I think Inter... For a team that's top of
the league, you would have expected more, but
at the same time, I think Arsenal were good enough
that you could see a clear difference in the
quality of both teams. Whether that'll tell in
the later stages, there's no knowing because,
I mean, we saw it with PSG last season. Well,
there's other factors that come in later in the
season, like mentality and like, yeah, that's
it mainly. You can win a bunch of games at the
beginning of the season, but when it's crunch
time and you're under pressure, that's when,
you know, the real test comes out, you know.
I mean, yeah, and then it's just margins at the
end of the day. And like kind of having to, if
you're, you know, like challenging for your league
and you want to go deep in the Champions League,
you know, maintaining a high level through all
those games is a very difficult process, you
know. And yeah, and keeping the... the squad
fit and happy. There's a lot of things that come
into play, but I think overall, Arsenal have
been the best team in the Champions League so
far. So, I think that showed again. I think Inter
were one of the better teams in the Champions
League and there was a clear quality gap. I would
say that, very interestingly, the stats say that
the teams were pretty similar. And I was shocked
at that because I also felt Arsenal kind of dominated,
right? Inter had 15 shots to Arsenal's 14. Yeah,
but I mean the... And then Inter had 4 shots
on target to Arsenal's 5. So very comparable
shots. Yeah, but a lot of their shots were long
range, I do remember, so I think... Yeah, and
then possession -wise, it was 51 % to Inter,
49 Arsenal. So, you know, like in -your -face
stats, I don't know what to call it, like the
basic stats. Yeah, I mean, if you just looked
at the basic stats... Yeah, it was quite an equal
game. Yeah, I mean, but so... The Madrid and
Marseille game was equal in stats as well. I
mean, the Madrid and... Monaco game was equal
in stats pretty much as well. Well, I was just
pointing out that it's interesting. I'm not saying
that's the be -all end -all. I would also say
that if we took a look at the advanced stats,
like expected goals, that's where you see Arsenal
were clearly in front. So Inter had 1 .38 expected
goals to Arsenal's 2 .39, which Arsenal slightly
overperformed, Inter slightly underperformed.
you know it was fairly equal i'm not fairly equal
i mean both teams fairly performed according
to the xg i should say that yeah right so i think
it was a fair result uh given uh the xg okay
uh uh so we've spoken about general play let's
get into individual moments uh the first thing
i want to speak about is arsenal's first goal
it was a well -worked team goal right the last
pass or It actually looked like a scuff shot
from Timber. You know, it makes it look a little
bit untidy, but all the interplay before that
was really excellent leading up to the goal from
Jesus. Yeah, I agree. I mean, there's not much
we can add to that, I think. Yeah, it was a bit
of a throwback Arsenal goal, a lot of people
said, to the Wenger days. But I think the...
I mean, there would be a lucid interpretation
because I think... It's a goal we've seen a lot
under Arteta, particularly with the holding of
the diamond shape. I don't think Wenger was that
much of a protagonist of keeping four players
close together all the time. I understand the
short passes, why people could have seen it like
that, but I think it is a goal that's common
under Arteta. We've scored many goals like that
before. Then Inter's goal came from the counter
-attack, which I mentioned in overall play, and
this is the only time it worked. That being said,
even though it was a counter, it had to be finished
off excellently by Suchic. Yeah, it was a sensation.
That was a very... It was kind of like he didn't
know what to do. There was a moment of hesitation,
but when he got onto it, he just really whacked
it, and I was like, wow, take my hat off to you,
Suchic. It was a great finish. Yes, then we get
to Arsenal's second goal. It was from a corner
and really nothing to be said about it. Lautaro
Martinez must have hit her and then Jesus reacted
first and capitalized. So, yeah, like I was mentioning,
Lautaro Martinez, poor game. Some people say
I have an agenda against him. I don't know why.
I just point out the fact that he's not good.
I mean, I guess some people say, like, they...
I guess they use his stats. Again, he's a player
who has good stats. Stat padding against Bologna
and them, man. I mean, he did well in the Copa
America Argentina one. Di Maria, Messi, De Paul
all holding his hands. McAllister. That was the
World Cup. He was probably the 2021 Copa America.
He was probably second to Messi in that tournament.
And did they win it? Yes. What? They won? Oh,
that was before the World Cup, eh? Yeah. Yeah.
Alright, whatever. Fuck him. I don't care. You
were saying? Oh, I was saying he had a poor game.
Because he did have a poor game. Anyway, Arsenal's
third goal came from a counter. Martinelli played
an excellent ball over the top and Jokers got
very lucky with the rebound. A missed control
from Saka. Yes, but nevertheless a good finish.
I think Sama could have done better as well.
He seemed a bit slow. Maybe his age was catching
up with him. I don't know. Was it a chip or what
do we call that? I think he passed it in. Yeah,
it was a very curling finish. I don't know what
to call it precisely, but a cultured finish from
Jokers. Yeah. Are you going to apologize to him?
No. Oh, okay. Jesus still starts until Havertz
gets back. I see. And you think he's a lost cause?
No, I don't think he's a lost cause. I don't
hate him. If he's an impact player, if he's willing
to be that, I would like him. But I don't think
we should have made him our... Starting nine.
Yeah, I don't think he will be the starting nine
if Havertz is fit. So I don't mind him as a backup.
But I don't think we should have made him our
marquee signing, should I say. I see. We shouldn't
have given him our most important jersey either.
What jersey? Jersey number nine. Oh, I thought
it would be 14. Oh, I mean, I guess it depends
on how you look at it. Yeah, I mean... Because,
like, who's the iconic, like, Arsenal number
9? Well, for me, I think... Wasn't David Rockhurst
number 9? Damn, I don't know who the fuck that
is. And Ian Wright? Okay, Ian Wright, I know
Ian Wright. Yeah, so... Top striker. But, like...
I don't... I mean, I identify more with them
on a political level, so I heard they, like,
that's my favourite number. The nine? Yeah. Alright.
So, it's more for off -the -pitch reasons. Alright,
I see. Yeah. So, any other points you want to
make about Arsenal into Milan? No, not really.
I think it was a good game. Arsenal won. easy
victory alright great analysis thanks no I mean
if I do have to say anything it's just that I
mean I don't know I would like I don't know if
Inter have been better but I would say it's not
a good sign of Serie A if that's the best team
because it's probably one of the easier games
we've had recently I see We also, when we played
them, they were quite easy as well. So, yeah,
Serie A are not looking good. Anyway, do you
want to move on to the Marseille versus Liverpool
game? Yeah, the game you thought you guys were
going to get thrashed in. Yes. Before that, let's
not talk about that. That should be in the miscellaneous
section, but I'm just going to mention it here.
I want slot card. Oh, you've fully decided now?
totally slot out if say there was like a yeah
you see i was right now i got stuck in trying
to justify my thinking but your curious did have
number 14 and then i was like when you said what
number does he have i got confused and i'm like
but isn't jesus nine then i was confused and
i'm like okay now i have to think about number
nine and make it sound something that's rational
on the page yeah i'm i swear number 14 is the
iconic arsenal number Yeah, so I just had to
go along with what you said, but then now I'm
like, no, wait, Hazen scored. I remember him
holding his jersey as number nine. Hazen Gjokera
is number 14. All right. Anyway, back to the
Marseille -Liverpool game. Before the game starts,
slots press conference pisses me off. If, say,
being slot out is like a scale of 0 to 100. And
past 50 % means you're slot out. What did he
say? I missed that. He said people were questioning
whether he can be successful in the future for
Liverpool. And he said he's surprised to hear
that because this is a club that's only won two
championships in 30 years. Which... That's a
diss. He's dissing us. He's dissing the fans.
Right? Yeah. And fuck him. That's all I can say,
bro. You know, you can play abysmal football
and I'll forgive that because I believe he has
the ability to turn it around. But he has no
tact, no like, what's the word? We, as the fans,
can swear his mother every day for the rest of
his life in front of him. But if he says one
word to us, he's in the wrong. Do you get what
I'm saying? Yeah. He doesn't have the... He's
not allowed to attack us in any way. That's just
the... He doesn't have the same jeopardy. Yeah,
it's like... I don't know how to explain it,
but it's just fucked up that he said that to
us, you know? And yeah, if, say, being slot out
is like 0 to 100, and 51 % means you're slot
out, I was, let's say, like 20 out of 500 last
week. This week, I'm 51%. I want him out. So,
but is that going to turn into an agenda? What
if you guys play well or win the Champions League?
We can win the Champions League. You don't diss
the fans. He has to come out and apologize to
the fans. Guardiola's criticized City's fans
many times. You can criticize the fans. Don't
diss us. Come out and apologize to the fans,
slot. I really can't get behind this. I'm slot
out. But anyway, let's get to the game itself.
Being a Liverpool fan, what did you make of it?
Well, first of all, Marseille, the fans had a
Beatles Tifo. I noticed that. I was actually
going to ask you, is that John Lennon? But yeah,
you can explain now, I guess. It's just cool
that the French, they do Tifos. I don't want
to say it's just a French thing, but every time
I watch a French team in the Champions League,
they have an insane Tifo. Yeah, that was kind
of kissing up to you guys a bit, though. It's
the Beatles reading a newspaper of Marseille
winning against us. So, yeah. Like, it's a very
belaboured point, but nevertheless, I thought
it was a fun little thing. You know, a shared
moment between fans. But, yeah. Speaking about
on -the -pitch stuff now, I'm done with my little
gripes off the pitch. We played in a 4 -2 -2
-2. Right. Back four, as usual. Pivot of Gravenberg
and McAllister. That's... Two tens. Wurz and
Samoslai. And two strikers, Salah and Ekotike.
That's what Thomas Tuchel used to use a lot at
PSG. Yes. And you would think, oh, okay, that's
very narrow. But the fullbacks were pushed all
the way up. They were... At some points, it looked
like a 4 -2 -4. That's how, you know, aggressively
high they were. I guess that's to kind of combat
the Zerbies 4 -2 -4, right? I don't know what
to... How can it be a 4 -2 -4? No, the fullbacks
are up, right? So it's a 2 -2 -4. Or 2 -2 -2
-4. Yeah, but I guess it's numerical superiority
is the thinking, right? And then Gravenberg and
McAllister split. you know, to cover whichever
side, you know, the attack is coming on. So say
Kirk is all the way up and they play a ball down
our left, McAllister will shift over to left
back to cover the space. So we, you know, we
were well covered in terms of counters and, you
know, there wasn't a lot of space for them to
operate. And that basically, that's what I'm
saying. This 4 -2 -2. I noticed Kirk is making
a lot of runs on the inside channel as well.
Yes, I will get to that just now. Actually, we
can just talk about it now. I just thought Kirk
had a sensational game. This is the reason or
the type of game that we bought him for. 1v1
defending. Any player you can coach into having
a good team defense, right? But what you can't
coach is good 1v1 defending, I don't think. He
looked a bit like Joao Cancelo when he played
at left back. Yeah. In the Man City, yeah. You
could say that. He was bombing up and down, put
in a few good crosses. The crosses weren't 100
% on the money. He has to get used to it. Like
you said before, I don't think with Gakpo he
got enough service, so he probably hasn't had
as much practice crossing as... Because I just
remember when Robertson signed and Robertson
played his first couple of games, he would just
whoop it in perfectly, just on the person's foot.
And they were just going to tap it in. Kirk is,
you need to work a little bit more to, you know,
control his ball and then play it. So it's not
as good, but hopefully I'm glad the lad is learning.
He's not like a waste of money that he's, you
know. We can use him in the future. So both defensively
and offensively, I've got to tip my cap to Milos
Kerkis. Was he your man of the match yesterday?
Or was it Wurz? No, it was him, Kerkis. I think
Kerkis had the biggest impact. Again, both forwards
and backwards. Yeah, it deserves his stubbornness,
I guess. It allowed your midfield, like Diamond,
whether you were defending or attacking, you
always had an extra man. I think it was also
really easy with his man -orientated pressing
for you guys to continuously play through, whether
you stretched them or made the game narrow. From
even the moments I watched, I didn't really see
Marseille, which is kind of, even from his days
at Brighton, been his problem. He's a bit too
open. If you can't consistently break his press,
I think he falls off. I know you consider him
one of the best. I wouldn't say he's one of the
best. He's my favourite. There's a difference
between best and favourite. I wouldn't want him
to become Liverpool manager because he's too
open. He's too erratic. He would fight with the
board, complain about signings, derail our project.
I would love to have him in the league. He's
a character. And he develops good attacking players.
Maybe like a Bournemouth who don't really...
Imagine a team that's not going to get relegated,
but they're not really going to get any higher.
Maybe like a Fulham. I would love to see Deserby
at a Fulham. Yeah, that could make sense. Maybe
even Tottenham right now. Could be. Was that
just you being a dick to Tottenham because you're
an Arsenal fan? Oh, no, not really, but I think...
I don't think the service is good enough for
Spurs if... No, no, I don't think in the long
run, maybe if their intention is to compete,
but he could take their current squad and turn
them into a European -level team, I believe.
Could be. But yeah, defensively, he's not the
best. He's not at all. Yeah, he leaves everything
quite open. It's just very much reliant on the
intensity of his pressing, and if you break the
press, it's very easy. So yeah, the entirety
of my notes all boils down to Marseille were
bad, and we just kind of walked over them. What
I do appreciate is that we were more clinical.
Than we have been in recent weeks. A goal. A
first goal comes from Sabot's free kick. With
a poor wall. A poor wall. Yes. We were watching
the highlights. And the commentator was like.
Oh that's a poor wall. Yeah. Nothing we can say
about that. That happens once in a while. It
was a good free kick though. Clever. Yeah. We
can't. You know. Add that to our analysis. That's
not a. That's an. an anomaly that's not a regular
game state you know what i'm saying second goal
that we can say is a good thing because it's
from wing play from from pong i just don't get
why slot didn't play from punk from the beginning
right apparently uh not apparently well it's
uh from pong played in a back three at uh leverkusen
right So I assumed he wouldn't be the best defensively,
but Slott didn't even give him a chance there.
Slott just didn't play him, would play him with
like the last five minutes of games as a right
winger. He wouldn't give him a shot. Now in these
last like three or four games, he's given him
a shot and he's done wonderfully well. So yeah,
I just don't get it why he wasn't thrown in,
you know. in the deep end and let, you know,
just allow to swim because he hasn't put a foot
wrong, in my opinion. Every game he's played.
Yeah, I mean, we wouldn't know what the coach
was thinking is behind that. Obviously... And
the big... Oh, sorry to interrupt. No, no, no.
The big problem we've been having is breaking
down teams. And, okay, let me not say that. So,
earlier in the season, we were playing with the
front player of Gakpo, who's more of a cut -in
-and -shoot guy. Salah, who's more of a cut -in
-and -shoot guy, and Isaac, who's a striker,
who's a shoot guy. So all of our guys are shooting,
but nobody's passing. Frimpong solves not all
of that, but a lot of that by crossing. He's
the guy who attacks, he takes on a man and crosses,
or, you know, cuts back, whatever. He would have
solved so many problems earlier in the season.
Slott, you know, speaking about Deserby's stubbornness,
Slott is very stubborn in that, like, unless
injuries... force him to play a player, he will
refuse to, you know, play that player. He has
his favorites, and they're usually Dutch. And,
yeah. Salah. Do you want to speak about Salah?
Well, do you want to speak about Salah? I thought
he was poor. His few touches that he did have,
not great. That being said, I'd rather have him
than Gakpo. Gakpo is, at current moment, a net
negative. I do realize that he scored, but he's
so selfish. He's so selfish and one -dimensional.
Kirquez has been underutilized to the nth degree
because of Gakpo's selfishness. He's killed so
many attacks because he wants to cut in and shoot
instead of actually playing whoever is the best
position to be played in, right? Yes, I would
rather have Salah than Gakpo, but ideally I wouldn't
have either. Right now? At current moment within
our squad, if we had to play the same formation,
I would rather have Isaac instead of... Isaac
and Ekotika as the two strikers in the system.
Do you think that could work? Why not? Because
I don't think Isaac's... Wing play is a bit overrated.
I think he's a better... Well, he's not on the
wing. It's, like I said, 4 -2 -2 -2. But I think
the positions he'd have to occupy, I don't think...
I think his elite is a traditional 9 and nothing
else. Okay. I don't think he's good at dropping
in. I don't rate his link -up play that well.
I think he's a good dribbler and a good number
9. Alright, well, you just sound salty as fuck,
dog. Like, during... Was he linked to the Arsenal
and he turned you down? So was Iketike, but...
I love him. I would listen to the whole attack
around Ekotike. Okay, but I'm just saying, Isaac,
top player, bro. I just don't see why we couldn't
get the most out of him. I think it's very doable
that we play with both Ekotike and Isaac. We
just got to get rid of Salah. 400 ,000 great
British pounds per week. I mean... That's your
opinion. And he's doing that. It's not my opinion
that he's on 400 ,000 pounds a week. That's a
fact. No, I'm saying it's your opinion that the
team would improve with Ekotike and Isak as opposed
to Salah and Ekotike. He's 34 years old. I'm
talking about at this moment. I think you'd have
to get a new winger, but I don't think the dynamic
would... I really think... With two number nines...
The fullbacks provide enough worth. Yeah, that's
also your opinion. I think wings are overrated.
I don't rate, like, what is it, Frimpong's creativity
to the same degree as Robertson or Arnold, where
I think you can cover up a winger's creativity.
Sure. We're just going to have to agree to disagree.
I don't think he needs to replicate their creativity.
I think, you know, like, Moneyball. Where they're
like, well, we can't replace him, so we're going
to recreate him in the aggregate. So we can't
replace Arnold's passing, but we can use some
midfielders getting pushed up more, like Wurz
and Frimpong's crossing. That can make up the
numbers, you know what I'm saying? I also think
Wurz would benefit from having one... of isaac
and akitike as opposed to both that's just my
opinion because yeah i think uh again i think
isaac is better when he's strict positionally
and so do i think versus i think the free roaming
player which in my opinion any elite team usually
has one maybe two free roaming players and i
would say that should be akitike in my opinion
all right anyway moving on to the stats They
outshot us 15 to 11 with four on target to our
three on target. So we were extremely clinical.
Three shots on target, three goals. And they
were just not at the races. But yes, I'm looking
at it in terms of expected goals. Marseille had
one expected goals on the dot and we had 1 .63.
So again, we really had our shooting boots on.
And you could argue that we got lucky in this
game. But I would argue that outshooting your
XG is a sign of an elite team. Depending. We
spoke about this last week about XG, right? XG,
if you overperform your XG, that indicates that
you're an elite finisher. But if you as a team
are constantly outperforming the XG, then you
would assume that the team is clinical. It depends
on the level of chances created. What does that
mean? Like, I don't think... Like, Aston Villa
have, I think... Low XG. At one point this season
had the best over -performance of the XG ratio,
but I don't think they're an elite team. Well,
they're third in the Premier League. That's pretty
elite. I would say. But it depends how many teams
you consider elite. I'd say only five or four
teams in world football can be considered elite.
And who are those five teams? Right now? Yeah.
Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Barcelona. The fourth
one is probably Man City, but definitely not
Arsenal. No PSG. Oh, Pearce Lee, yeah. Pearce
Lee, definitely. I forgot about them. Yeah. Thank
you for reminding me. I'm just wondering, you
know. Pearce Lee would be one, actually, probably.
Yeah, that's what I was like. I was waiting for
you to say Pearce Lee. And even Inter Milan,
actually. I wouldn't say Inter. But I mean, you
have to respect their record over the season.
Sure. I wouldn't say Inter and I wouldn't say
Bayern, but sure. There's no way Aston Villa
is better than Bayern. I played both of them.
I'd like to see that game. That's all I want
to say. Emery versus company. I think that'd
be a good game. Can't wait for him to finish
fifth again. So, okay, I don't know. There's
so much hate in your heart, bro. I don't know
what's wrong with you. He left your club years
ago. No, you're supposed to be magnanimous and
be like, oh, he left. You should be magnanimous
about your club legend. No, fuck him, man. Why
should I? Emre has done nothing for Arsenal.
He set you up to win an FA Cup. No, he didn't.
He set us up for the years and years of failure
that I had to work through. Alright. He assembled
the worst Arsenal squad of all time. Let's get
back to this Marseille vs Liverpool game. I want
to put a bow on this and say that Marseille were
poor. We were clinical. I don't think we should
take any lessons from this, big lessons from
this match because it's not very representative
of regular football. Teams aren't going to be
this open against us usually. So we shouldn't
expect it in the future. Yeah. Anything else
you want to say about Marseille versus Liverpool
and wrap it up? I mean, yeah, it was, I think
it was just a gap in quality. I think even if,
I think Marseille had put in a better tactical
display. I think the technical level was just
probably too much for them on the day to overcome.
All right, so we're done with our two spotlight
games. Now we're just moving on to miscellaneous
kind of stories we just want to talk about. Just
hot, quick news. Ah, so quick, so hot. Ah, so
hot. I'm burning. Okay, so the first thing I
want to say is Bodo Glump vs Man City. I was
out, and when I came home and put it on, it was
already 3 -1 to Bodo Glimpse. I actually watched
this game. So I have no... And City had already
a red card when I watched it. So I watched like
a very boring, cagey 20 minutes, essentially.
I mean, it was a decent game. Like, I think Bodo
played... Like, they didn't play well, but...
City were worse. I mean, City's weaknesses are
glaring. That's why I said from the longest time
I think Arsenal would win the Premier League
comfortably because there's no team that can
defend. And I think it was just like a physical
thing, like more physicality. Man City couldn't
keep the ball down for very long and they made
a lot of errors. And generally with them, if
they make errors, they don't have the physical
level to make up for those errors as quickly
as before. I think Rodri, out of possession,
hasn't found his best level yet. And even in
possession, a lot of his passing is still erratic.
So I think he's probably the best midfielder
in the world when he reaches full form. But right
now, I think maybe Nico Gonzalez has to come
back for a little while into the team. Okay.
I don't know why Nico Gonzalez isn't playing.
I think he might be injured. I'm not sure. Yeah,
don't quote me on that. I know we're supposed
to be a professional show. Yeah, we should. But
even Rico Lewis is a holding midfielder, I think,
right now. Because he played him as a number
eight. And I think... Not Rico Lewis, man. That
guy sucks. I don't hate Rico Lewis. I don't hate
him. I just think he's not good. But they have
no control right now. So who's the... Nico O
'Reilly. As a number six? Yes. They played him
last week in the... No, no, no, no. The Caribou
Cup. He played as a six against Newcastle. Oh,
okay. I mean, that's an option. He looked better
than Rico Lewis, I'll say that. But Rico Lewis
has had some of his best games in the six. I
think you can't judge Rico Lewis in the last
one or two years because Pep's kind of thrown
him anywhere. He's played him at wing, he's played
him in midfield, he's played him in defence.
All right. The next thing I want to say is Liam
Resigno had an incredible quote this week. Have
you heard this? No. All right. Quote, am I a
manager or a coach? I'm both. Coaching is educating.
Coaching is wanting to improve players on a technical
and tactical level. Management is making sure
you have a strong culture. In English, manage.
If you split the two words, it's man and age.
So you're aging men. Any thoughts about that?
I'm sure there's a character I'm thinking of,
a movie character, that always gives this sort
of advice. I think you'd know better than me.
I don't know. It feels very like Michael Scott
from The Office. okay i haven't watched the office
okay well he says very silly things and gives
very silly advice so this sounds like that a
lot of people have taken to calling him linkedin
liam because i don't know do you go on linkedin
often no okay linkedin has a lot of lunatics
about people who are like very obsessed with
their job Yeah. Most people, like, have a job
because that's, like, it pays the bills and,
you know, their hobbies are elsewhere. Then you
have people who are, like, obsessed with their
job and are kind of, I don't know, weird about
it. So, Liam Rosenior seems to be one of the
LinkedIn lunatics. I mean, it's just incredible.
Like, I know a novice manager. getting a job
in general is a strange thing and it kind of
worked out for Arsenal but a novice manager that
has absolutely no connection to Chelsea outside
of working for their feeder club getting the
job is crazy it is crazy apparently he was born
and grew up down the road from Stamford Bridge
but He's a Man United fan. He's a glory hunter.
I remember seeing his dad on Fan Zone. Yes. Some
of the most rubbish takes. Yes. Most people,
I assume, would be more familiar with his father
than with him. But at the same time, not everyone
is like their parents. I mean, I hope he succeeds
in terms of... I don't. Fuck Chelsea. No, yeah,
fuck Chelsea. But I would like to see a person
of colour succeed in the managerial role. Fair
enough. In the Premier League. So I wouldn't
mind him succeeding. It would mean something
to me on that level. But as far as the logistics
of that move, I don't understand what Chelsea...
were doing because i think they they got rid
of a coach that had elite potential in my eyes
and i think he ends up at man city and they they
could have just made man city better maybe if
pep leaves okay so uh that's it for my agenda
for today do you have any topics you want to
bring up anything that came across your desk
this week in the football world um Nothing, like,
too untoward, I think. Well, we can just check
the UCL results if you want to just go through
those quickly. Do some, like, quick hits. Quick.
Ah, so quick. Okay. So, first of all, we have
Kyrat1ClubRouge4. I've never heard of the club
Kyrat in my life. Meaning, well, until this season.
No, me until this very moment reading this. Oh,
I mean... I don't even see them in the, you know...
Have you guys played them? That would be funny.
No. I doubt that we've played them, but yeah.
Bodoglum 3, Man City 1, we spoke about that.
Villarreal 1, Ajax 2. Your precious La Liga getting
cooked again. Interesting. As long as we have
the winner, it will not matter. All right. Well,
I want Arsenal to win the Champions League. Yeah,
I was going to say. You know, listeners. I wouldn't
mind if we lost to Pedri. I'd be fine with that.
Darren loves La Liga. He claims to be an Arsenal
fan, but he's really a La Liga fan. Anyway, Spurs
2, Dortmund 0. Any thoughts? I mean. Keeps Frank
in the job. That's good news for everyone else.
I didn't watch the game, but apparently, not
apparently, this did happen. Dortmund got a red
card. That's why Spurs were all over there. Yeah,
I don't know how true that is. Because maybe,
like, the red card came in the 90th minute. I
don't know. I was actually really worried when
they got Frank, though. I thought... I thought
Tottenham would be competitive again, so... Olympia
cost two, Leverkusen zero. Yeah, I mean... Most
of the best players just went away. It's a tough
time for them, yeah. Can't expect great things
from Leverkusen. Sporting 2, PSG 1. That's the
shock of the weekend, I guess. Or the week. The
shock of the week. It's just the malaise of PSG.
They're not in the trenches. You know what I'm
saying? Yeah, I mean, they were worse off last
season. So I guess we could say we've seen this
before. That would mean that... Where were they
last season? I think they were 26th going into
the final matchday. They're better off... Whoever's
26 now can feel good about themselves. Who is
26th? Inter versus Arsenal. Spoke about that.
Real Madrid 6, Monaco 1. Any thoughts? Yeah,
I thought it was a... like a dominant performance
from Madrid on the score sheet, but they conceded
a lot of chances. In a weird way, it was a throwback.
They completely... What do they say? Let the
break go? Let the break go. They took their foot
off the gas. Took their foot off the gas. Or
put their foot on the gas, or something like
that. No. Put your foot on the gas, it's not
a phrase. No, they say take off something. Take
off the safety wheels. No, I'm getting it confused.
I don't know what the fuck you're talking about,
dog. Damn. There's a saying, and I'm going to
remember it at some point, but yeah, I feel like...
Oh, the shackles. It seemed like that... They
broke their shackles. Or the lower took the shackles
off, at least. But I think that's the... The
history of Real Madrid, it works for them. And
I don't think it's always a good idea when clubs
follow that model because it doesn't tend to
work for other clubs as well. They don't have
the money. Yeah. And they don't have... I mean,
is there another club that plays that way that
has consistently been elite in the modern era?
Perhaps Chelsea. But Chelsea, they... Their win
under Tuchel, their Champions League win, was
very structured. Their league wins are generally
very positional, even if defensive. I wouldn't
say Chelsea's success has come from fluid football.
Copenhagen won, Napoli won. Antonio Conte sucks
in the Champions League, man. What can I say?
Galatasaray won, Atletico Madrid won. That was
actually probably if I had any... point to bring
up in the section that would have been it like
I can't fully understand how he's been probably
the second greatest league manager to Pep Guardiola
but he hasn't been able to translate that into
Champions League it's especially with someone
like Nzaghi showing that you can compete with
a back three so and Thomas Tuchel so him probably
being like the the point of reference they're
both of those coaches biggest point of reference
it's strange that he hasn't found success that
way himself. Karabag 3, Eintracht Frankfurt 2.
There's a good glass in the back, man. Alright,
well, we're playing Karabag next week, so I'm
going to get a proper eyeful of them next week.
I have not seen them play. We're playing Kairat
next week, so I'll let you know how that goes.
Marseille 0, Liverpool 3 we spoke about. Newcastle
3, PSV 0. I'd like to say we saw the highlights
of that. Johan Wisse goal. Johan Wisse, pressing
assist. Yes. He is a top player. We spoke about
this in the other game, in the other podcast
that we did about Wisse. I mean, Man United would
have been better off going for him and Mbwemo,
keep the partnership going. The thing is, he's
like 29. Yeah, but I mean... You can't buy a
29 -year -old. Was he expensive? He was like
50 million. Oh, I didn't know. I thought he was
like maybe 10 or 15. The only reason... I wouldn't
pay... But I wouldn't even pay 20 million for
Wisset. The thing is, everyone was rejecting
Newcastle. Ekotike rejected them. I think who
else was on the... Sesko rejected them. Mbwemo
rejected them. I'm pretty sure. But yes, they
were linked with a bunch of people and got rejected.
So, yeah. Anything else? Slavia Praha 2, Barcelona
4. I didn't watch this game, unfortunately, because
I was with you and I fell asleep. Yes. But I
did go and watch the highlights. I saw the highlights.
Two excellent goals from Firmin Lopez. Yeah,
Firmin Lopez, I think he's one of the best young
players in the world. Juventus 2, Benfica 0.
Long live Luciano Spalletti. Chelsea 1, Paphos
0. Another club I've never heard of in my life.
Paphos. Chelsea. Paphos. Yeah, I mean, I heard
about them because I believe they had a surprise
victory at one of the earlier stages. I forgot
who it was against, but I think they beat someone
big. Bayern 2, Union St. Geloa 0. I mean, Bayern
are looking decent this season. We'll see how
far they go. Bayern are fucking crap, man. Don't
give me this shit. I hope we meet them. I hope
we meet them. Slot is going to show company levels.
You can't always reduce a campaign to two games.
I'm just saying, probably not that good. Anyone
can lose two games. Anyone can go bully the Bundesliga,
but when you play against the actual big teams,
you lose and then you say, oh, but we won the
league. Fuck the league, man. No, what do you
mean? It's like PSG flexing their league. You
know what I'm saying? No, but sometimes it doesn't
go your way. Yeah, that's a disgrace. If you're
spending 10 times what the second best team are
spending and you lose, you're a disgrace. Bayern
are a disgrace. Okay, but they're still a good
team. Sure, but I hope we get them. That's all
I hope. Anyway, Atalanta 2, Athletic Club 3.
You guys beating them wouldn't make them a non
-elite team because you guys are also an elite
team. No, we're not. You guys are just out of
form. We drew with Burnley this weekend. You
guys are out of form. We drew with Burnley. We
drew with... Let me tell you something. Let me
remind you of something. We have not beaten a
promoted team at home this season. And we've
played all three promoted teams. It's one of
those seasons. It doesn't... Like, if you win
the Champions League... Is that an elite team
team? Didn't Real Madrid finish fourth in the
first season of their three -peat? Is that not
an elite team? Yeah, but we're not going to finish
fourth. We're in the free fall. You keep shifting
the goalposts. You guys still have the potential
to win the Champions League. You guys have drawn
twice against us and we've arguably been the
best. I mean, you beat us once and drew once.
You know why? Because Arsenal... Not Arsenal.
Arteta is a coward. That's what you believe.
Why doesn't Arteta come out and attack, attack,
attack? If he came out and attacked us... Because
not everyone has your footballing philosophy.
If Arteta came out and gave us his all, he would
have beaten us 3 -0. I believe, really. The game
at the Emirates, at least. Definitely. And they
definitely showed too much respect at Anfield
as well. No. I think you're underrating Liverpool
and overrating everyone else. No, because I've
seen when a team doesn't fear us, when a team
really gets at us. We tumble. We don't fear you
guys. We haven't lost to you guys for a long
time. It's just been a lot of draws. What do
you mean? We beat you this season. Oh, yeah,
okay. But, I mean, we've lost, like, what? We've
lost, like, one in five or six, I think. A loss
is a loss, fam. But I'm saying it doesn't mean
anything. It doesn't mean that we're not an elite
team or you guys are not an elite team. You said
the elite teams, there's only five. And you didn't
mention Liverpool when you mentioned those five.
So I'll leave that to you. At this exact moment.
But you guys are still an elite team. You said
there's only four or five elite teams. Yeah,
in terms of consistency this season, there's
been four or five elite teams. But in terms of
who can be elite on their day, you guys are one
of those teams. And Aston Villa are not. that's
what I mean I think Aston Villa are better than
us and the table shows that but thank you for
listening I think Aston Villa can't beat PSG
or Real Madrid or Aston I saw Aston Villa beat
PSG last season in the Champions League I think
in the group stage the same stage that we beat
them at we're talking about two leg knockout
games They did play them over two legs and they
got knocked out, unfortunately. But they gave
them a good game, damn it. They gave them a good
game. So did you guys and so did we. So, yeah.
Everyone gave them a good game. You telling me,
you mentioned... Inter Milan gave them a good
game in the final. It's not that funny. It's
not that funny. So if we're an elite team and
you're an elite team and we both gave PSG a good
game and Aston Villa gave them a good game, what
does that make Aston Villa? Anyway, I think we're
just moving in circles here. Thank you for listening.
It's not elite. Thank you for listening. If he
was at Arsenal, you would have had the same criticisms
of him that you have of Arteta because he plays
worse football. He's even more cowardly. Emery
had a much worse team than Arteta. That he assembled.
He had like one or two years. And he'd signed
Nicolas Pepe for 78 million. He just never got
a chance. He never got a chance. When did he
ever play Pepe? I thought Pepe was very unfortunate.
He never got a run out in the team. And by the
way, you shouldn't have bought him in the first
place because the majority of his goals were
from penalties. And he wasn't going to take penalties
when he came to Arsenal. That's one thing. And
Pepe, when you signed him, he had a very good
goal record. I believe he scored something like
16 goals. And 10 of them were from penalties.
So that should have been your big warning sign.
And the same thing has happened with Jokres,
I believe. Jokres scored a lot of goals, a lot
of penalties as well. Not as many, I think it
was like 11. Nevertheless, I think... But I didn't
agree with his signing, and I don't think it
was first or second choice. I believe Jokres
and Pepe are very comparable signings. But you
blame... Emery for Pepe, but you won't blame
Arteta for your craze. Emery never had us competing
at any level, but... You didn't win any trophies?
No. Emery? Like a FA Cup? Nothing. Are you sure?
At Arsenal, nothing. Yeah. And Arteta won the
FA Cup, but you refused to give Emery any credit.
I do. I refuse to give him any credit. Alright.
I think we're done here. Thank you for listening.
Please remember to rate, review, subscribe, give
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Yeah, and any comments. How can we make this
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