Transfer Deadline Day PANIC and Champions League Draw! | EP 822

Arsenal fans in debt to UEFA for giving us 60 Minutes not freaking out about the transfer deadline this is the Arsenal Vision postmatch podcast my name's El smithing black me on Twitter Yan Gunner hello everybody thank you so much for being here for sharing this this period of equinity and calm and and kindness and love and positivity I'm so glad we no I'm kidding get the pitchforks get the flares get the get the Torches it's a good old school burn down the Emirates kind of feeling that's going around and we haven't had that in a while cuz you know we're good people seem to have forgotten that by the way we're still good by the way even if we don't win the window we're still good not as good as we could be but good but still good so um there's a lot of good stuff happening we've been doing daily transfer updates over on the patreon but of course if you go back and listen to any of those at that at this point uh pretty pretty worthless at this point but we'll be doing another one tomorrow we got a really really exciting bonus episode coming out uh for everybody not just patrons in the next day so looking forward to that and um just generally going to take you through today a busy day of news actually because we've got uh ramsdale moving on we've got um all the incomings that we linked with we will cover those in a uh 45 to 50 second segment that we call transfer news and then we're going to talk about the Champions League draw and then we're going to talk about Brighton so a lot there I think the Champions League draw is actually pretty good one very excited to cover that and what that means and here to do it with me is Paul find them on Twitter pause my pants H pause woohoo indeed and very happy to welcome on the Pod Harry simu you know him uh as the host of The Chronicles of aunar pod and uh just from generally being on all your TV screens all the time Harry brilliant to see you thanks for being on thanks for having me guys it's a pleasure to be alongside the uh podcast Kings Legends Legends are only found on the Arsenal Vision podcast I think I forgot to mention Andrew and James have canceled for today so you'll have to settle for us but thanks for saying it um no we've got we've got a lot to get to so I think we'll do it this way let's do the transfer stuff up front then we can do the draw and the Brighton game and that way we're sort of going from most important transfers to least important the football um you know by the time we get to the football no one has to listen anyway and I do want to touch a little bit just on the reaction to the window and and how that impacts people so Harry you're the guest so I'll let you uh go first here I want to get you on record are Arsenal gonna sign that illusive forward that we need do you see it happening I woke up this morning Elliott thinking maybe and I was hoping that throughout the course of today we would hear something there are some rumors flying about I'm not sure how credible they are we're being linked with Ivan Tony I read earlier today which I don't think is going to happen would you take him no um I'd rather we sign nobody than Ivan Tony um and I know that not everybody's going to agree with that oh you may get your wish I don't I'm not too keen on the idea of Ivan Tony um I read earlier that Raheem Sterling has been offered to Arsenal again I don't know how true that is but it it feels like nothing really that credible is being talked about at the moment so I am a little concerned because going into the summer I was very clear on my thoughts I thought that we needed to bring in three players I wanted a Defender who could preferably play at left back which we've got in Ricardo curri I wanted a natural eight which I think we found in Mikel Marino and I wanted an attacker I'm not that fuss whether it's a Winger or a center forward it just has to be the right fit for this team for this project and that's the one that we haven't got yet so I'm a little bit concerned about that and I do think and I've been listening to you guys over the last few days as well and I compl completely agree with this take I do think that the fact that Gabriel Jesus is injured has led to this kind of frenzy around you know whether we have enough or not I think had Gabrielle jayus been available and and been looking sharp and good then I think a lot of us would be a lot more relaxed about the forward situation than we are currently yeah I I think there's a lot of Truth to that I I agree with you this is a priority and you know we've spoken about this before but uh James Gunner blog reported after the Bayern tie that Arsenal felt that a lack of attacking power and the lack of that extra attacking weapon caused us or or in part was to blame for us falling short against Byron so let's put it this way we'll set aside for a moment are we good enough to achieve our goals I think we know we have a good team we have a team that currently right now the squad as it's configured as of the time of the recording is better than it was last season and last season went to 89 points and broke its scoring record but I think we also know that without the addition of an attacker we are leaving a lot to chance to injury luck to fatigue and for form and we'll be relying on certain players a lot in a season that almost guarantees us more fixtures than last season coming off an International Tournament if we were to fall short this season due to a lack of attacking options I don't think there'd be a lot of forgiveness because it would be seen as something that was very uh easy to anticipate if not easy to solve but needed to be solved so let me ask you the same question Paul before you get into what it all means do you still hold out hope or is this a abandoned hope all ye who I definitely hold out hope I think this feels like it could be one of the craziest transfer deadline days Europe wide that there's been for a wild I really want to do a live stream and it's been a long time since we've broken out the live stream inflatable organ ready to poke in your ear um yeah always ready to inflate yeah got the like the Market's never been as weird with the various you know psrs spfs fpps uh ffps uh Europe being like like the big teams being in these weird spaces PSG Barca your regular buyers uh Barca with this weird salary cut like there's all sorts of dominoes with Saudi still offering big money but only for certain players Maybe not as big as before so players that looked like they might go might not but that means they're stuck at their clubs who had assumed they were going to get a big fee have them on big wages you know azaman is one that's been talked about I know that name is pronounced multiple other ways apart from the one I just said but hey um and so yeah so St on brand you know you're gonna have these moves or players stuck with with or sorry teams stuck with players that they thought they could get rid of like Kasa that move to Liverpool is you know you could scratch your head and and think through why and how and who does why did it happen why wasn't it Saudi I mean I can think why not Saudi this year it seems like they got a a kicking from the bad publicity the bad aura around the bad feedback from the players and so players are more reluctant maybe they're much pickier about the profile of player the mentality the attitude of the player coming to their league that the player knows what he's getting himself into so that this Log Jam the money's kind of disappeared so I just think there's a really good chance that there's a bunch of players that need to get moved situations and problems that need to get solved from the Chelsea with Sterling kind of situation the Tony with brenford the aam men the etc etc across Europe you know Barca having two or three players you know they haven't they can't sign Danny Elmo Etc ETA I think there's a lot of that still to be resolved so there could be moves and moves beget other moves and dominoes so yeah yeah I I think you've hit on something that's really important because the one frustration that I see people bringing up quite a bit is we've known we want it it Forward why isn't it done and I can connect to that I absolutely can I do think that Mel will have had Targets in mind and I do think he will have communicated them to edu and edu would have been out there trying to work them I think there's some complexity to this though for example to to to Paul's Point let's say Rafia was an option and niik Williams was an option and we said we want nicoo Williams and ad says I think he's going to go to Barca but if he goes to Barca Rafia might be Surplus to requirements do you want Rafia and Mel says Fine Nico option onea he goes to Barca we take Rafia well Nico says I'm staying at athletic and suddenly neither NCO is available nor Rafia because now Barca can't let Rafia go right you may have a similar situation at Byron where Zan might have been an option that we looked at but their incomings haven't materialized in the attack so now Zan is not moving right and so these dominoes that have to fall to make the players we might have targeted available seem not to be falling um and by the way that's all projection I don't know that those were the guys but that that certainly seems like Kind real name after name which is this happens if that happens but club would like to move on wages are out of line fees this can they you know and the disparity between the options of Saudi or the Premier League or someone in Italy or somebody in the in the bundes lia the like those fees Jump Around massively the wages Jump Around massively so I think there's a whole bunch of dominoes that make tomorrow very very potentially interesting or it's past the parel basically some deals are easier to do yeah some deals are easier to do on Deadline day and I certainly think English players in the English league who want to move who the everyone knows pretty well I think they're easier to execute for a variety of reasons from a club standpoint player standpoint I don't think the Coman deal happens um and I'm perfectly fine with that I think K whether you like the player or not I mean there's personal stuff there that I would just prefer given everything else going on that we don't get ourselves into but I understand if people feel differently I don't think it's happening the two that are interesting to me are Tony and Sterling now Harry you've already mentioned you don't want Ian Tony I'd take him yeah let me be clear on this this is pure eye test stuff for me I know the data is mediocre I know a lot of people don't particularly rate him I rate him I think he'd be good that that's just me I that's just where I feel but the reporting is pretty solid on that one the Mel met with him that or when he met him or whatever did not click with him and from a personality stpoint he doesn't fit the dressing room and if that is the case who am I to argue with that we've seen how other players that didn't click with Mel worked out so we certainly don't want to go down that path again but the Sterling one is pretty interesting I don't see a world and this could look stupid by the time anybody's listening to this but I don't see a world where Sterling is still at Chelsea when the window closes because he's soaking 300,000 per week from that club they want him gone he wants to be gone if the window closes and he's still there that's bad for both of them whatever they can get to move him is better than the alternative of him soaking 300K a week while the media asks about him every day putting the new manager under increased pressure so to me that's a deal that if there's a home to be found you'd find it Mel knows him likes him I don't know if it's the exact deal we want but I certainly think it's a deal that if the money and the the time Horizon is Right could fit so what's your take on Sterling because the hope I have left feels like it's coalescing around that deal Raheem Sterling is a player of incredible pedigree and I don't always think that he gets the respect that he deserves for the career that he's had he's played at some big clubs for some incredible managers he was brilliant when he broke onto the scene at Liverpool I thought he was fantastic at Manchester City I thought he really thrived under sort of Pep guardiola's management that kind of arriving at the back post You could argue is what's you know put his goal tally in the Premier League up to what it is because he was often the end of a Manchester City move and he became a real big part there then he moves to Chelsea and I think he does okay at the beginning I've got to be honest he he arrives when the club is in chaos and he does pretty well from the beginning I think you're right to say then he moves to Chelsea and goes to a club where there's lots of chaos going on there's not a real Clarity in terms of the club's Direction and again he starts quite well I think he did fade a little bit into his Chelsea Career but I think we can all tell from the previous that Raheem Sterling is a top top footballer now the situation at Chelsea is very clear they don't want him but as you say Elliot they have to move him on he has to move on as well if if I were edu I would be waking up on Deadline Day morning and I'd be putting in a phone call and I'd be saying look Raheem Sterling needs to get out we're in the market for a Winger I'll tell you what we'll do we'll give you a fee to take him on loan for the season and we will cover 50% of his wages now you do something like that on Deadline day and I think Chelsea are in a position where they at the very very least have to consider it because they need to cut down their costs they're in a serious problem place with it when it comes to finances and I think that you know that's a way of potentially doing this deal without bringing an awful lot of risk on Arsenal because it's fair to say that for all the positives I've said about Raheem Sterling he isn't at the peak of his powers this is a Raheem Sterling that's probably slightly on the decline and I think Arsenal would be be protecting themselves if they tried that and also putting Chelsea in a position where you know they would have to at the very least consider it so I like Raheem Sterling we know that his relationship with m artetta is very good we know that he's credited Mikel artetta for so much of his development as a footballer it feels like a match made in heaven in that sense my only issue is the finances of it so I would make a cheeky offer I would try my luck and see where you get I think the thing about Arsenal going out and and bringing in a forward I I wake up every morning and I'm like I'm praying today's the day that I read a report saying we're going after X or Y but whenever somebody sits me down and says right who do you want then who's the one I struggle to give them an answer without flip-flopping from one option to the other so I'd be a hypocrite if I sat here and said well that's the guy and we're not going and getting him because I just don't know myself Nico Williams would be the number one but as far as we're aware he's not wanting to move this summer so where do you go that's the kind of problem I agree and I mean look Sterling will be 30 in December he's on huge money I don't think this is a guy you can commit a big future to also the one thing I worry about with Sterling and people know like here comes the age curve talk great this is Fast Forward fast forward fast forward I get it I get it but just hear me out I think players like Sterling you worry about age curb more only in this respect it's the SAS fabrigas syndrome he played almost 2,000 minutes in his 17-year-old season he's been playing for a long time right there are some players that break through at the senior level at 22 and at 30 they've been playing eight years Sterling's in his like 12th year of pre of Premier League football so there's a lot of mileage minutes on those tires um you don't put minutes on tires but you get the idea so Paul let's let's focus on Sterling for a minute before we get to uh ramsdale leaving in some macro stuff is this is this the solution because you look into the data from Sterling the last couple of Seasons at Chelsea and it's not terrible I mean last season he his take on numbers are pretty good they look sort of consistent the thing I would say and you see this with age his take on success rate has plummeted uh over the last four years and I think that is one of the things that Wingers lose as they age you do see that happen that their their success with their take on drops but his shot totals look okay his X gxa stuff all that underlying stuff I still think there's something in the tank there and frankly you know if you've got to start someone other than Baio saaka and it's Raheem Sterling and it's a bottom five bottom six team in the league I think you feel better than if you're doing ree Nelson that's just me you know um I think he can play off the left also I just think gives us it gives us just that extra little bit you see Liverpool signing kesa and I certainly would regard Sterling as a better bet to make a contribution to a big season than kasasa at this point for example so you know of course it probably cost more depending on what you granted so is Sterling is Sterling the one if we're going to get a forward is Sterling the one that feels doable because the club he's at has to move and logistically at least with him being sort of local and everybody knowing everybody seems like one that should be doable should we do it uh probably very probably not just football-wise would I want him would he enhance the team the squad yes but like I don't think he's coming to be a backup um he's not a longterm solution he'd be big wages you don't wait I gotta I got to stop you already just real quick I think he would kill to be a backup at Arsenal versus what he's staring in the face which is training alone and playing in the reserves I mean there there does not seem to be a lot of Alternatives like you may give me the choice of being murdered or tortured I'm gonna go for tortured but I'm not going to be happy Squad member are you right um just because we ask just because it's death or death by Bongo Bongo right so so can just to make his ambitions it's not enough that it was his second worst option right so so just a couple of things on this firstly he immediately goes to a group where like he knows rice and he knows sacka right he'll he knows some people from the England team that he'll really like he knows Mel and will have fond memories of Mel from Mel sort of being a part of his development in his career so immediately he's in a a better place just Dynamic wise and cultul that's not that's not a good place yeah well I think a much better place culturally for set his personal playing time thing aside but I don't think it's out of the question that you say Raheem starts all the League Cup Ties on the right starts the fourth round of the FA Cup on the right starts some of these Champions League ties that we we'll we'll mention later on the right starts against I switch at home on the right like I think sacka having played this summer Mel's going to want him going into the run in fresh we've seen some fatigue and Sack at the end of season so like I don't think the minutes are going to have to be as limited as maybe you do it's not about minutes though it's about status and like if you don't think uh Raheem Sterling cares about status we must be talking about different players I don't think he's a bad egg but no but does he have another place where he can have the status you think but that's solving his problem it's not solving our problem if we got a play if we give him a less worse option he says this is much better than Chelsea but it turns out he's still not happy like you got to be be happy it has to sit with your ambition and what you want to be doing we we're going to be buying him for what four years he better be Bloody Happy uh no way we're not doing we're not doing that I it's alone or it's it's alone one YearOne it's probably alone I would think we can pull off alone you know if he and and Mikel are clear on on the role and then sure he footballism we won you over we did it for a very defined job where he gets to compete he'll get you know we're in the Champions League we might be playing 10 League games and then kick on to the Champions League knockout stages and he's part of the mix and he's coming on as a sub regularly yes as a loan yes as anything more uh that' be I think that would be disastrous but you're right he could see one year at Arsenal as a way of uh keeping his his getting enough chances to show what he can do in the league in the Champions League even if it's coming on as a sub at 60 70 minutes on a regular basis yada yada yada so yeah you're right I'm wrong yeah and and you know it's not a it's not a guarantee but I don't I think it's a potential path back into the England setup like maybe if he if he's contributing to a fantastic Arsenal at premier league and Champions League level if he's showing that he can still get that if the reports coming out of Arsenal is that he's working hard and he's fit and you know they're winning like I don't know I just Harry I get Paul's point right you you can't give this guy four years have him till he's 33 on 300 Grand a week or even if he's willing to take a pay cut 250 a week knowing full well that it may be blocking what you need to do which is go get the future additional Fus we all agree there's some 25 23 24 something year old for we need to add sometime soon to really finalize the front line but we're we're into keep the season on the rails territory here so so what what are your thoughts to to Paul's valid concerns yeah I I I totally understand why you would be worried about Raheem Sterling's point of view and why he might think that um you know joining a club where he's going to be second fiddle to someone else is is probably a little bit beneath him given the career that he's had but I think yeah for me it would only be on a loan deal um that's the only way that this works for Arsenal and that's what we've got to think about first and foremost isn't it he's a fantastic footballer but it has to work for us financially and I think Arsenal have shown us this Summer that they are trying to be a little bit more responsible financially than maybe they have been in the last few years and I think that for us it's a change of mindset now you know we've had some really really exciting summer transfer Windows to get to the point where we have this team that we now believe can challenge for the game's biggest prizes at some point the spending was going to slow down and at some point it would be about making the odd Edition here and there and making sure that they're the right additions rather than it being about a volume in terms of how many players we're turning over I think with Raheem Sterling I would at least ask the question if I was arsenal we know what his situation looks like and we might be able to make that work to our advantage would I have gone into the summer saying we need to go out and get Raheem Sterling no um but as I say I'm looking around I'm trying to figure out what the answer is I'm bearing in mind that Arsenal probably don't have 50 60 million pounds to go and spend on a Winger at least not in their plans so this is maybe an opportunistic signing a bit like the Kaza one is for Liverpool you know you look at that deal and you think the potential upside is huge but the risk is very small because they've paid 10 11 million pounds for him so yeah I just I I think we have a responsibility to go and ask the question concerning Raheem Sterling and let's see what comes of it in the next 48 hours I'm sort of in the same boat Harry I got to be honest um I think we should touch on the goalkeeper thing too quickly so so so let's leave it look quick guys no one has anyone else they want to throw out as a name other than the ones we brought up right it feels like we're coalescing around a couple of names I'll just ask you quickly Harry do you see a left field forward signing that none of us even have in our thoughts materializing between now and the window Clos I'll be honest no um just because we haven't had any reporting and I know that we're normally you know we're normally sort of finding out about these things once they've already got going because that's just the way uh this works you know there has to be some contact maybe for someone to get wind of it and then by the time it comes through the various sources that's when we hear about it but there's just literally nothing on the radar which makes me think that in this day and age uh for that to be the case it means that there's probably not boo that's what I want to say boo Harry you think there's a surpr like a surprise do do you believe this well nothing happen no there's a surprise other name that we haven't mentioned that could materialize I believe yeah I believe it could um would be weird if we had this there's so much going on out there would be weird if we didn't have an eye on a couple of situations that if they break one way or another we would go and it would be very quick it does happen uh I mean apparently I don't know um I learn from people like Harry but based on my sources Harry it it does happen uh but uh yeah obviously no clear line of attack right now on the things we kind of know about so I'm just crossing my fingers the need is there and [ __ ] will break tomorrow will it break for us I don't know the [ __ ] that we'll break might be everybody's uh see what was that har is that is Sol yeah we can get him in Solomon C who else is there Draxler Julian Draxler is he still available can get him in um schwarzer and keep as keeper we we've got all all of them maybe Yan and Via can sh up the Midfield um Paul let's let's talk keeper though for a minute all right so so we're all agreed by the way that the names that are swirling even though they're not swirling very swirly are the ones we think it could be anything could pop up we agree something needs to happen we'll go big picture on what it means if we don't get that forward in a moment but before we do that I I was surprised so Adu got us 18 million for ramsdale on a permanent move to Southampton with six million in performance incentives and 1 million uh in a staying up bonus so in other words there's 1 million if they stay up I think that's probably gone to be honest but let's not worry about that there's 6 million in performance bonus uh incentives we don't know what those are and there's 18 million base so if he hits the in performance incentives then it's 24 million so let's use that number let's not use 25 million we'll use 24 million you can get outraged about the difference there in a moment Paul I I find that to be tremendous business for ad and I think combined with the fee he's secured for in Kenya at 25 plus 5 the fee he's secured for Smith row last summer what he got for balagan what he got for shakka who was one of those class good for everybody right late in his career a a really good fee for a guy late in his career who wound up being great for the team who bought him but it was good money for us and we were able to go to a new system that worked well for us as well so anyway I think the bad at selling label is maybe coming off a little bit we're getting some things right we're finding the ability to shift some of our players and a rising Tide Is Lifting all boats we're a better team so people want the better teams players but some people feel that what we got for ramsdale was not enough and I'm surprised by that I can explain why a minute but I'm curious what you think of the ramale sale let breing it into a few pieces basically I agree with you I think edu has done good to get that money for ramsdale when I was getting a bit nervous how things were going to turn out and uh you know he's he's he's stuck to his his principles I don't know if you can have principles in selling aart from get as much as you can but he he's kind of he's put him out there as a not to be not to be pushed over no neg neci Ator if there's one thing we've shown by um giving away our players and running down their contracts is we won't be trifled with h in some weird kind of way but it it does actually seem to be maybe a thing that you know he's he's not going to be get get pushed over we don't need to do anything we're going to do deals with you so I think as a transaction in isolation good um I think there's also a sellon clause or at least I saw one or two tweets saying if he gets sold on by Southampton we get we get a share don't know I only saw that once maybe twice um I'll take it obviously there's the whole Rya ramsdale what we bought him for blah blah blah but that's that's in the rearview mirror there's nothing edu can do about that whether you liked it or not whether we tanked his value a bit or not whether we he was an overpay and now we're only getting this and now we're going to spend that and some more maybe on this uh Joan Garcia does all of that side of it but taking that transaction trans transaction on its own you can't really fault 18 million for a keeper when you say here here's the other piece that I would parcel off though and maybe it's a it's kind of a parallel conversation are we good at selling yet I think we're good at selling English players especially our Academy players in part because that's what the market who would buy from us want and I'm not sure we have proven ourselves to be good or that we have priced correctly with the wages players who are not A- English and be Academy um where we need to sell them elsewhere and I don't think we have a lot of notable successes in the last few seasons of anybody who isn't English or an academy player and maybe they kind of sort of uh sell themselves in this market um which I know is contentious not the mood of an Arsenal supporter but that's that's what I see uh and the evidence I don't know there's a lot of evidence to say non-english players we've got good money for non- Academy players who aren't English we've got good money for well so I I just think in general it is difficult for Arsenal fans to Value their players especially ones they love because our perception of their value is based on our our bias on the player we love ramsdale that doesn't matter to the buying team that doesn't matter um ramsdale is a player who if you get into goalkeeping data has never looked good his data has always been mid now that could be a good argument for throwing out goalkeeping data by the way and I'm I'm totally behind the idea that goalkeeping data is mixed and it's in its value we know how he is with the ball at his feet it's not ideal it's probably the biggest reason we moved away from him um he's just spent a year not playing and when he played in the last year it did not go particularly well fair enough he wasn't playing so you have a guy who's on a big wage like I I cannot emphasize this Enough by goalkeeper standards his wage is very high and for Southampton he will immediately become one of the highest paid players they have the fee they are paying for him is one of the top eight goalkeeper fees in history that's how low goalkeeper fees tend to be so you have a high wage a high fee we acquired him expensively he lost the job he spent a year not playing and it's kind of like the Sterling situation in a way just a microcosm he's a player we clearly are ready to move away from who clearly isn't happy sitting the bench where we will be best served getting him to another team as he will be because we've already got our eye on the guy we want to replace him as a backup with so it just felt to me like you know if you're selling your house in a market where 10 people want to buy it and you actually are fine not moving you're going to get a good price if you've already accepted a job halfway around the world and it start starts next week and your mortgage is 7,000 a month you're just going to take what you can get so you know Harry I think it's a good sale and I I want to get your take on it we certainly look thank you to ramsdale for what he did for the Vibes for the way he lifted us for the transition he helped us make we'll always love him for that for the character that he was for for what he meant to the fans I wish him the best I think moving on was right for us I think it will be right for him want to get your take on the on the sale but also then turning around and putting a big chunk of it back into Joan Garcia um I think my initial reaction to that was why a second fridge that's so expensive but as some people have pointed out Ry has no spring chicken Garcia might ultimately be the guy who replaces Rya so here we go again you know yeah it's um it's a hard one the ram situation because I think we all got so emotionally attached to him that it's really kind of difficult to to to turn that off and switch that off when you're discussing what the right thing was to do with him um I think what we paid for Aaron ramsdale is kind of irrelevant now because I think you have to accept that when you don't use a goalkeeper in particular a goalkeeper I think you have to accept that their value is going to tank when you do what Mikel artetta did was which was say I've got two number ones but very quickly Pro that actually that wasn't the case then you have to accept that the market for him is just going to be non-existent um and in this case there's one club that were willing to bite at the price point that arsenal were looking for I kind of feel sorry for Aaron ramsdale a little bit because I feel like the way the market is at the moment it hasn't worked out for him and I feel like he's taken a backward step by joining Southampton I think there's a good chance that they get relegated it's an experience that Aron ramsdale has had in the past and I'm sure when he moved to Arsenal he thought his days of fighting relegation were probably over so I feel for him in that sense I feel for him in that he must have been on top of the world at one stage being Arsenal's number one being so loved and the way it's kind of all unraveled for him has been you know I don't want to say unfortunate because we've got the better goalkeeper now but it's something that I can imagine would have been quite difficult for him to take um on the Joan Garcia thing I look at that and I look at the keeper that we're talking about now and I know we're talking about potential and all the rest of it but can I hand on my heart say based on what I know of Shan Garcia that he's an upgrade on Aaron ramale no I can't say that at this moment in time therefore I would have expected us to have sold Aaron ramsdale and then moved to get Joan Garcia in while making some profit and actually when you look at what we're reading today from fabito Romano especially about espanol digging their Hills in and wanting that 30 million euro uh release Clause triggered we're actually not going to make any profit we might actually even be spending more to get this guy in so I I think I'm at a place where I trust the club I trust the hierarchy I trust the scouting Department they've done a fantastic job of getting Arsenal where they're at today but to say I'm not even the slightest bit uncomfortable with the fact that we've let ramsdale go for good money but then when they're going to go and drop all of that money on a goalkeeper I don't know anything about I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit nervous about my initial reaction Harry was exactly this which is wait a minute wait a minute go find a 1 million pound journeyman who's 34 years old to back up Riya let's go plow the money into a forward I think it boils down to this for me if the money we're spending on Garcia is in any way stopping us doing from a forward then it's a colossal error in my view but there's no indication that's the case Rya is 29 in two weeks that's still pretty young by keeper standards Garcia's 23 his data again if we care about that for Keepers is excellent and by all accounts he is extremely highly regarded so this may be a case of future planning you know it is very hard when the expectation is win the treble this season and for some people that is the expectation to remember we still need to be a club in three seasons and Four Seasons from now so the things we are doing currently that have three or four seasons in mind will aggravate people myself included because people are like I don't I don't care about that I care about winning the treble this season and that should be the priority because the winning window is open but if the Garcia move hasn't actually stopped us from doing anything else this could be a very Savvy continuity play so I'm prepared to to again think that it is expensive for a second keeper but not expensive for a second keeper who looks to be the incumbent for the first um over time and maybe we will see more of a traditional scenario where Garcia comes in and plays champions league and plays domestic cups at least until you get to knockout rounds or something like that so we we'll have to see first of all that Deal's not done by the way so there's work to be done there for that to happen he does have a release Clause but to Harry's point a release Clause has to be paid in one lump sum so we'd find oursel down from the ramsdale sale not that I know that that makes any difference Paul your thoughts on the Garcia incoming potentially obviously Harry is somewhat held back by having uh as he said from having a strong opinion because he doesn't have all the facts or the knowledge on the player but uh that's really where I come in yeah that's where I come in here um I know less than har and somehow that has freed me up I think to have a much stronger opinion than Harry um yeah look what we've really bet on is in Yaki Cana right and his picks and okay the runers thing how can you I love runers two million and all of us to a man said well there's one deal we can't lose money on and we did but okay that was a that was a a patching job right that was just a fix job and whatever uh small table Stak um I would say we've had three two in yanki Cana picks so far right we've had ramsdale who they thought they could turn into something more than almost anybody saw out there and I think it's fair to say they were successful with that having worked with him and they'd gone for Rya was that season or the season before so obviously Ria was the one inaki knew and wanted and when the chance came they gazumped ramsdale which is either admirable or heartbreaking or just cold but it's how it is if you want to win um and we all have strong strong attention attachments to ramsdale God bless him and all who sailed in him we can only wish wish him great going forward but like here we go again you would assume if we do this guy it's you know there was a discussion over Rya versus ramsdale because ramsdale was good enough for us but but the deal was he wasn't the right star for how we want to play and as we see Ryan as he settles and as he gets confident we see more and more of the stylistic differences that are significant to how we play one can only assume uh that either we're we've done crap scouting this guy or he's the right profile style that they see developing and this will be the guy who comes over uh it's horrible watching it in slow mo motion but we'll kill the guy that killed the guy that killed ramsdale and like we will see this guy progressing and developing and the skill the style the way he plays his feet I've never seen this guy play like I'm really free in my analysis of this guy phenomenal he's phenomenal phenomenal I too have never seen him play all yeah can I just say can I just say one thing as well I feel like for whoever comes in as the number two to actually develop and become the goalkeeper that obviously the club think he can be he needs to play football matches it it can't be like it was last season where I'm not saying that Mikel Etta should have been rotating goalkeepers one week from the next and should have been making substitutions in game as he suggested at the beginning of that whole Rya ramsdale Deb barkle but I do think Mikel Etta one of the things that he has to do this season is being more open-minded to the possibility of rotation and I know that in the past you could argue that we didn't have the depth and that was maybe preventing him from doing it but you can't bring in a goalkeeper with a view to developing him if he doesn't get game time so you have to at some point draw the line where you say that's David ryers and that's going to be Gian Garcia's whether that's the Cup competitions or whatever that's up to the manager but you have to be open-minded and I know we're not talking about these guys now but I feel like the same with cury with Timber like how are you going to get these guys all in the team I'm not saying they're going to play every week but you need to be much more open-minded to the idea year of rotation which I think is the one thing that I would be slightly critical of miketta for so far because when he's brought his own players in he still hasn't always trusted them and that's a big big issue for me going this season uh I agree that's the thing he needs to prove uh the you'd like to think that the reason is he needs to perform he needs this team look at last season in the Premier League right the margin between winning and not winning the league between pushing a city to the very final game of the season is another three points and you're just out of it and nobody's and you look back on the season and you reflect on and everybody's like oh arsenal were five points behind City one game and you're off so you can understand why he goes into each game or each couple of games thinking got to put out my strongest team got to put out my strongest team because a little bit off that and he's gone as his strong te team gets stronger deeper wider like last year before the season started I couldn't find the 17 players he needs to trust the way pep trusts 17 players I looked down the list I couldn't get past 13 or 14 so I can't slam him for it I know what he I knew what he was going to do when the season last season started this year I can tell you the 17 are you can tell me who the 17 are they're going to be the same 17 players plus Ethan wer gets them to 18 he has his 17 assuming there aren't nobody's out long-term injured th to your point Harry this is the season that he puts up or shuts up to you and me or we're calling him out in terms of rotation like he has the the numbers the Styles the the picks at the level of the ability he's got three guys who can step into Midfield from left left back right he's actually got four who can he from left back he's got his options everywhere but up front Harry final word on this yeah I was just going to I was just going to say the final point on this as well is I know there's been reports that the reason you know or or after the buying exit people felt that there was that lack of creative spark I didn't actually feel that way at that time do you know what I saw I saw AR turn up and not have the energy that they normally do which which I feel like could have been addressed if we had a bit more depth and more trust in the rotational options in the games either side of Bayern maybe to give us that little bit extra that we needed we made sloppy mistakes against Villa as well which was the game sandwiched in between the two B and Tiant that was a period in the season where I thought we were flagging and credit to them they recovered it and they got back on the track but that was the problem for me not attackers I think it's absolutely the case that a part of the reason you rotate and part of the reason you want a big Squad is not just in case there's injuries things like that but if you spread the minutes appropriately you finish strong Manchester City the absolute epitome of this they play their players in such a way and build their season in such a way that they can finish um in incredible fashion and they've done it in multiple Seasons I Paul would it be okay with you I mean we're gonna have to move forward soon can you get this done get it done in 27 if I stop talking right now yeah and Harry on I think artetta got burned by that two-legged tie kind of it was a bit embarrassing at the end of the day for him in terms of where this team should have been and I think what was his response his response was Calif fiori it was Marino and an attacker would be nice he came to the same conclusion you as you Harry it was depth across the defense and Midfield that meant we got done at home and that set us up for a tough away leg and he came to the same conclusion yeah fair enough okay um I so a couple of things here first of all I will just say on the ramsdale point I don't think Mel rated ramsdale I I'm not trying to be a jerk I I don't I really don't think he rated him the way the fans did and I think that is why we saw so little of him ultimately um and that you know I'm not saying I agree with Mel but I I don't think it's not an unwillingness to rotate so much as not trusting the option you know which rightly or wrongly I think that's where that was I think we we have to have a quick conversation on if we don't sign a forward are we finishing 9th or 10th as uh the Zeitgeist would have you believe or is there a possibility we could still finish in the top six so we'll have to cover that then quick one on the champions league and a quick bit on Brighton as expected um we've been as concise as ever and and we've only left that into the 45th 46th 47th minute or so but I got to tell you a few things the first thing I got to tell you Mike from gooners versus cancer is doing something amazing again as he always does the guy just does an incredible job raising money always proud to raise money for coaching for life in the Z refugee camp every April but I love supporting Mike's uh efforts and gooners versus cancer has a an art fair um Coming supporting cancer research and promoting incredible artistic works from Ruth Beck uh dell Leen North Banksy Charlie Shanks and Carl bur Bourke sorry uh Friday August 30 so tomorrow as when recording this 700 p.m. UK uh Drayton Park Pub just across the street from the famous our Al Stone letters so if you know where the Arsenal Stone letters are it's right across from there 700 p.m. UK time tomorrow as of recording Friday August 30th there is a raffle you can get in on it as long as you uh order raffle tickets before 2 pm UK time Friday August 30 so if you're listening to this Friday morning you still have till 2m UK time I'll have the link to where you can sign up for that in the show notes and I will have the link to the live stream of the raffle which will be at 9:00 p.m. UK time on Friday in the show notes support support cancer research support gers versus cancer and the chance to win some absolutely phenomenal artwork so um not my usual waffle there on the advertising side but the good news is I've got my usual waffle for you and that is to say you can shave your privates you can you must and you will shave your privates you probably do shave your privates and you probably do it the wrong way I willing to bet you've tried to put scissors up your nose you've tried to put a razor blade up your nose or in your ears you've tried to to use a a razor in the shower why are you doing that why when you can have the lawnmower 5 Ultra with nextg skin safe blades that have a foil blade now so you can go completely smooth where you want to be smooth the weed whacker 2.0 that's designed to go in your ears 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talk to them get it out get what's on your chest off of your chest not just the hair and actually you know make that development make that progress you need to make that means getting in a car it means driving it means finding that person it means paying the expense means having the time and you know while that is a great thing to do not everybody has the ability to do it but you can do it from home on the web with someone who is able to help who can give you that access to therapy that's what this is all about and so you you know don't let good the perfect be the enemy of good right you don't say oh I'm not going to work out because I only have 20 minutes take the 20 minutes and work out it's better than not doing it this is a way to get therapy into your life so you can go to ReDiscover your curiosity with better help this betterhelp.com Vision today to get 10% off your first month that's better help at jp.com indeed it Harry I know you're the pro here but hopefully that lived up to your expectations of nonsense no that that was incredible to to watch you do that live is something ticked off my bucket see the funny thing is we've started recording the pot like 6:30 in the morning most days and so I'm not awake and so we' missed that energy but now I'm a few coffees in It's the middle of the day I've got transfer window deadline day anxiety going I am in my feels right now and it's it's working for me so um Harry I want to ask you this just point blank very simple question not going to Ramble On like I usually do because people have just heard me talk for about five minutes where does it leave us if we don't get it Forward there there's a lot of people that are going to be very upset how right are they to be upset how good can we be if we don't add this forward that everybody thinks we need we can still absolutely 100% be title contenders as we are um I think a lot of people feel that getting that forward would maybe be worthy of a few extra points over the course to the campaign and I just don't know how you can be super critical of Arsenal when you think about the fact that we keep breaking our goal scoring records in the Premier League I I don't think it's as simple as we need more goals I so the idea that bringing in a forward definitely means we win the league against this Manchester City side is almost kind of disrespectful to them and everything that they've achieved I think we're still Challengers as we are and I'm still confident we can do it and I can't wait till the window closes so that we can focus on what we have really well said and a concise answer you get an A+ for concision there circumcision is a word Paul it is but don't use the manscape tools for that they are not graded for it um what I would ask you is um the same thing how how devastating is it to us not getting a forward and is sixth place still up for gra uh not devastating in part because they still have the January window which I hate as an answer but I haven't actually heard heard people saying that a lot God you're right I hate it too but that's a good point I Paul I always forget I know it's so dumb and no one wants to hear wait till January but like we got [ __ ] in January we got georgino in January it is a fair point that what really matters is what we do from January to May and it that that window counts I'm not saying that makes everything okay but it does count good and there's not a lot to say on that but like our optionality ain't over so they're going to have to look at it and say do we have somebody who makes us better and doesn't trct from the overall Squad field Direction momentum blah blah blah you know is he a good egg or is he a bad egg Ivan Tony like the guy's got a personality Raheem Sterling the guy's got a personality um and so you know the there's a lot of factors there and tradeoffs and other options will come up and they'll say okay at the end of the day it's a good feeli will they make us better will it remove option of a better player in Jan that may come up that they have like there's so many things we will never know and at this stage we're into I kind of trust them at this point it's clear they want to win the league it's clear the Champions League may require some additional spice to what we have but I'm with Harry that the biggest thing was the defense in the midfield if we're really going to go deep in and try and win the league and go deep in the Champions League we're going to need one more for forward but does that need to be today or January I don't know um Harry I so all right let's let's just be clear about something right your point is of course correct we are very good we are a better team today than the team that broke our scoring record last season and that went to 89 points and so if we are a better team than that how on Earth can you draw the conclusion that title's over it's already gone you can't can you at least Steelman the side of the argument that says not getting a forward is inexcusable we knew we needed it it's a big Miss can you are you prepared to to take the other side of the argument for a second and at least make the argument for why this is a big Miss I I'm I'm also prepared to do it um and I'm not saying that I I fully take that side I I see both sides but do you want to take that side maybe make that argument as well I think you can make that argument because you look at Kai havit for example who it's quite clear that when he first arrived the idea was for him to play as an eight um that's where he played the first half of the Season pretty much it didn't really work out as well as Mikel artetta liked he knew that he had that ability and that capacity to play at Center forward he moved him there and then he made the role his own right and he was great the big worry is what if something happens to Kai havitz if Gabrielle Jesus's Fitness is going to be on and off and I'm hoping it won't be I'm hoping that this is just a setback that is going to be able to come through and and we're all good and we can move forward but if he does continue to you know have a patchy injury record and Kai habitz goes down with an injury that's when I think people will be well within their rights to be saying what on Earth are we doing it's fine if you've got two options that are generally quite reliable but we've got one reliable option and one option that we just don't know what we're going to get from over the course of the next 8 n months so I can understand the other side of the argument I just I always think that it's one of those narratives the Arsenal need a number n thing that's been rumbling on for such a long time that people may be outside of Arsenal circles just go to by default I remember so many times on the radio last year having arguments with non-ar Arsenal fans who were saying you need a number nine you can't win the league without a number nine and then we were turning up and scoring fours and fives and sixes and you're sitting there and you're saying are you watching what I'm watching so I can understand the other side of the argument for me it's about the amount of bodies that we have in that Center forward position we've let Eddie and Kea go we've let uh you know Emil Smith rogo who I'm not saying is a center forward but it's OB an attack-minded player Fab Fabio vieira's gone as well and you're starting to look at it and you're thinking we've moved a lot of bodies out and we haven't got the right amount back in to make sure that numbers wise we're okay and I think that's a bit of a flaw in the way that we've built the squad is that we focused so much on versatility that we almost look at the team and we say well we've covered this position and this position and this position but sometimes you're talking about the same guy covering multiple positions which means one injury leaves you short in multiple areas so that's kind of how I look at it it's it's a case of obviously they need to be the right people but it's about the number of bodies rather than it being uh anything else so I can understand why people are frustrated and feel we were singing stadiums are empty everywhere we go just a few months ago to your point scoring fives and sixes with essentially this team minus Marino and Cal Fury now you could say well Eddie was in that team and ESR was in that team Feb a was in the team and while that's all true they weren't really playing during that period in fact they played more prior to that period um so the team clearly can do it I think football's attritional though and a summer tournament is attritional and we have extra games this season there is no Dubai trip in January this year so this season should be harder on the bodies of the players that are asked to play those roles and that you know Harry that that is that is a consideration to your point just about the numbers and I I think part of the reason too Paul let's be honest if jayus and Martinelli each had two goals in two games to start this season I think our attitude would be much more a forward would be nice to have I think the forward is a have to have feeling comes from the numbers issue and I think it's a valid issue I think it comes from a little bit of anxiety about what we're going to get from Martinelli and Jesus Jesus looked rare ino in preseason I was very excited about of course he gets an injury boom he's out that's that and now it's like right back to the same anxiety about him Martinelli just has not been firing in the final third and as a result I think we we've got naturally I I don't think by the way understandably I think people have marked down to use Finance language right impaired the Martinelli and Jesus value in their minds and so now what they're saying is [ __ ] Kai sacka maybe jayus if he's fit maybe Martinelli if he gets it together instead of Martinelli and jayus and K right there isn't that enthusiasm for the options so it's not just that we feel like we're short one I think we've we've lost a lot of faith if you want to go from an instant reaction Vibe stocks falling for jayus and Martinelli have led to us feeling more anxiety around the group so you think that's a part of it too that that the the mental impairment to the values of Jesus and Martinelli in our mind leads us to feel even shorter than we might be look anxiety is the natural state for this particular situation and this time of year podcast oh sorry it's what have we left ourselves short of guess what every team's short of something um we're just short of one of those things that scores goals to Harry's point we scor goals anyway and to your point Elliot we score lots of goals and that was very much my refrain last year um Jesus being injured I will be disappointed if that's a new data point for our scouting team and our our football Executives that it's changing their strategy at this time of year because if he wasn't injured now they should assume he would be injured soon uh the the wise thing is to assume the guy will be available for about 50% of your season um then the calculation is well what do you do about the fact that HTS is always fit and always available um do you what do you do about backup for a guy who's never injured and we have three of those guys who are essential on the one hand utterly essential utterly brilliant or have been for us and utterly actually we four of those guys always available always fit five of those guys who just thought of another one um but certainly sacka odard HTS are kind if you assume that you may or may not have Gabrielle jayus they're very hard to replace either one of those guys for more than a couple of games there are ways to do it but you wouldn't want to be going very long in your season with those guys but so I guess my point is we need another forward just because we don't know and we we don't know where the gods may hurt us but there's three places they could Target based on the mids of old of of the Greek gods like they go after Those whom the gods Love Die Young right who would they go after sacka odard HS like at least a forward gives us one more option up there and maybe you can then do something clever with sacka in the Left Right eight or you know maybe no whener kicks in or use HTS as the right a like there you have lots of options but you probably need one more forward even for a an odard scenario so you can move the the pieces around or for sacko or for HS over a long period of game but if those guys stay largely fit and um then I can see us wait until January to get to work out what we need as a backup depending on where we're weak yeah do do you think as well guys sorry do you think as well that sometimes when we're in the kind of transfer window we lose sight of the capacity that we have to improve what we already have in the squad cuz like you think back to last season I think Martin odard got eight League goals he got 15 the season before so a little bit more output from him and you maybe make some of that difference up you think about Gabriel Martinelli who got 15 the season before and hardly got any last season in the league so you know you're in this kind of place where you're talking about what we need and and we're saying goals goals more more attackers more more options but maybe just trying to squeeze a little bit more out of what we have I think we said coming into this summer into this transfer window that the real opportunity was the left hand side all of it right if we get the left hand side functioning a left hand side may I add that I made strenuous efforts on Twitter to make this point we did not use for 20 minutes in the second half against Aston Villa no passes to Dean rice a 100 million pound player no passes to Martinelli in the attacking half for 20 minutes while we went looking for a a goal we used the right hand side the whole game long uh sorry the whole 20 minutes long till we got that goal even when trossard came on we didn't hit him we hit him after we scored so there's huge upside for us over last year just getting the left hand side working and we've added players like ciori and Mourinho so Marino so that we have the players that give us the options that with or without injury we we can do things on the left hand side that bring Martinelli to life that give us different looks different way ways of playing so there's a significant up upside we would have said uh coming into this transfer window to improve the left hand side we need to see how it plays out we haven't seen Marino in an Arsenal shirt we haven't really seen calori in an Arsenal shirt we've only just begin to see timber in an Arsenal shirt we got all sorts of options to make the left hand side significantly better than it was last year for us so there's big upside here yep yep yeah I mean the most likely outcome is that we are very very good again and we at least run the title close if not win it I think that's the most common likely outcome here's why I think people be upset and guys this is where I think they'd be within their right if we fall short of our goals and the reason we fall short can be traced back to not feeling we had the attacking threat either due to the fatigue of the players we were putting out by the end of the season or an injury issue or anything like that it is going to be very very hard to defend against the argument that this was a known issue and we didn't address it having said that to Paul's point you know there is January and if we get through the first period of the season and we look like we're flagging a bit or Energy's low you know and and then Holland makes a shock swoop to Arsenal because he doesn't want to go down with City because their trials wrapping up then we go and win the league by 20 points so it's fine okay uh Champions League draw we got to touch on that it's big it's important and it's different So for anybody who doesn't understand how this works let me just reiterate there are still four pots you play two teams from every one of the pots you cannot play your own League participants in the league phase okay and you can play no more than two from any league in the league phase the league phase is literally what it sounds like every single participant is in a league and there's a league table the top eight in that League table go through the next 16 playoff against each other to go through to face the first eight so if you're not in the top eight and you're in the next 16 you're through but you've got an extra round of knockout there's also now League table games in January so there's more games two more games and here is what Arsenal have drawn PSG and Inter out of pot one shakar denet and AD Atlanta out of pot two gnk D and Sporting Lisbon out of pot three is that I guess that's diamos a grab and then uh Monaco and Jona out of Pop four the home games PSG Damo Monaco shakar so you know winnable all potentially the away games inter if only we ever had a historic victory in the Champions League at the sanero against inter well maybe there's a chance for a second one Sporting Lisbon again or Portugal again do love some Lisbon as you know Atlanta and Girona Jona apparently has 13 Michelin starred restaurants Arsenal Twitter is letting me know so these these could be some fun away days as well Harry I'll start with you I think given the options and I will tell you what Liverpool Drew in a minute to give you a comparison of the options I think this looks like a very navigable League phase draw yeah I totally agree I've got admit when I was watching the draw unfold with the new super computer and Cristiano Ronaldo pressing that strange button um which supposedly set the computer off as it was coming through and I saw inter the best team in Italy Away From Home Paris San the best team in France and then atanta the Europa League holders I thought uhoh this is not going the way that I want it to but I have to say the rest of the draw kind of made up for it um I'm not saying it's going to be easy cu the Champions League never is there are no mugs in the Champions League it's a difficult competition I still think you know I criticized Mikel artetta about rotation earlier I think his European record isn't perhaps as good as it could be that's probably another not criticism but Development Area for Mikel artetta and so I wouldn't take it for granted that we're going to finish in the top eight but I certainly agree with you that this looks like a draw that we can find our way through maybe I me what's going to be interesting the fixtures don't get announced till Saturday cuz like that that's going to mean something because if it's Monaco at home as our first game that could be handy because I believe there's a Champions League fixture between Spurs away and City away coming up after the international break so it could be International break Spurs away inter away City away I don't know that we'd take that I think we should be very happy by the way that we don't have um shakar away that's a tough trip you don't want to have to go I don't know where they're playing currently to be fair okay still a pretty good long trip um and especially you know if that's in the winter that can be a not so pleasant time so little lucky there City naturally got their lucky draw Barca CL Heritage their their Brown envelopes somehow they still have cash to stuff in them they got the easy draw as well but Liverpool sweet dear Liverpool what can I what can I tell you it it wasn't the draw they were hoping for let me give you this one Paul you have you seen Liverpool's draw yet go make my day let me let me give it to you Madrid at anfield leig away lusen at home Milan away liil at home PSV away bolognia home and Jona away I mean like even some of the ones the pop for like bolognia I don't think that's well they've been rid to be fair they've been a bit rated so maybe that's different we rated them in fact but um it's not it's not good they play Madrid Again by the way so you know that's that's always fun when you got to do that so it's um it's an interesting job but our draw let's face it Paul as I said I think navigable is the right word what's your feeling about this new format and uh what we should format I don't see how you're going to get too many dead rubbers because you're going to really care whether you're in the top eight or the mid6 because you don't want to have to play two extra games with no guarantee of getting into the next rounds you're going to want to be in that top eight and that's a really juicy top eight so everyone in the top eight is probably going to go into apart from maybe one or two clubs is going to go into the final game of The League phase uh still needing to protect being in that the anybody in the 16 is going to be either fighting to get into the eight or making sure they don't drop into the bottom eight I love it I think it's a eight or 10 exciting games I don't love that it's more games and the strain like that whole side of it I don't love but a competition uh isolated on its own I think this is a great format that should keep pretty much every game tasty and interesting you don't play the same team twice so we're going to see eight different teams [ __ ] great isn't it yeah should mention by the way there'll be Thursday games in the Champions League now so just look for inter away Thursday at 8:00 p.m. UK time before going to the edad that's that's exactly what we're getting just get excited for that Harry final thought on this one I was just going to say it's it's funny as well that the calendar doesn't come out until Saturday that's so that UEFA can make sure that they keep all the big games apart for the TV coverage they can make sure that there are eyes on the Champions League every single they they got the Hang how to make that money and get those people watching the games and I guess fair play to them um they even had the audacity to make a super league joke during the draw presentation which is like I don't know man that's like I don't know who who's who's a b Scrooge making fun of who's who's another anyway it's just it's bad people making fun of bad people let's try to figure out who who to name um okay so that's that's there I will say every Arsenal fan who's used to making away trips probably mad that Monaco didn't come up as an away day but you know it is what it is that would have been nice um so we get to the Brighton game as our final Point here in a way this is nice because the closes we don't sign anybody um everybody's freaking out there's a complete meltdown and we don't even have to wait 24 hours to lose to Brighton at home which is nice so we can get the kidding but but but we do have the early kickoff we have the 12:30 kickoff on Saturday so we very very quickly this is the one nice thing about the timing we very quickly get reminded that what matters is what happens on the pitch and it's incumbent upon the players to go out and make that work on Saturday Harry it's a it's a tough one I mean Brighton Brighton are off to a great start I find myself in a weird in a weird situation with with Brighton so far because I've watched them in both games and it's it's not that I haven't been impressed with them in both games I don't want to say that uh you know they are currently two two games played two wins five goals four one conceded um so you know they've looked good they're underlying metrics I mean it's two games so it's way too early to care about that look good but the way they played defensively to me looks like something we can expose um and obviously they've got a new very young manager I think the youngest manager maybe ever am I right in saying in premier league history I think he's younger than me Elliot by that definition he might even be younger than me um so that's not how time works Elliot um all kidding aside what do you make of the the task on Saturday against Brighton and what we might see different from us and what we might see from them I'm really looking forward to this game I think it's going to be really entertaining um I think Brighton have shown great attacking um ability in the early stages of this season but they've shown also what we've come to kind of expect from them over recent years which is a bit of naivity defensively so that gives me hope and encouragement that at Emirates Stadium will'll have enough to overcome them I guess for me going into the game the one thing thing I'm thinking about is who plays at left back now going into this season I've been saying zenchenko I think he's got a lot of ability on the ball I think we can all agree on that but obviously defensively he just leaves us a little bit vulnerable at times but I've also said that I think there are a number of games in the Premier League that you can get away with playing zinchenko in and and you sort of take the upside and you you kind of mitigate the risk that that brings in other ways moving Gabrielle slightly across having Ben White tuck in a little bit closer to William cber Etc so I guess my big sort of thought going into this game is do I think this is a game that zenchenko can play in or would I stick with Juri and timber because I do think that Timber struggled a little bit at Villa and I know it was at Villa and I know he hasn't played 90 minutes for God knows how long but while I thought he was good and solid defensively I I don't think we had the same flow to our game because of him going into Midfield and maybe not being being at the same level as zenko in that particular department so that's kind of my conundrum going into this game I don't know what you guys think but that's that's the one decision I think Michel alte has got to make and I think the TR fair to recognize that Timber was playing his first game from the start in a year coming back from ACL surgery to acknowledge that he was in there to do a job defensively which he did and also acknowledge that maybe he looked a little bit challenged to get on the ball and find ways to be available to The Defenders when we were progressing the ball from the back I agree that trassard will come in I I think he kind of has to come in that's my feeling um I think Mel knows he needs to keep him happy he made comments to that effect and frankly Martinelli's performances I don't think in the meritocracy werren him starting this game doesn't mean he can't come in and be a big factor in it um I also wonder if Cal fiori might be getting a debut here I certainly think Mel is going to recognize this is his last chance to see how things work before two games that are very very high pressure at Spurs at city after two weeks of these players being away for the international so we won't even be able to really work on much so this game might give us an eye towards what he's trying to prepare for that game um and so I think it'll be very interesting from that standpoint obviously you got to win this game I will tell you this this has Trap game written all over it if people want to hear about that again but what do you think Paul um will we see something different from Arsenal and and what's your sort of 30,000 foot view of the challenge will POS Brighton have been good uh they played some very good football they got two good results the the both results like everything I mean come on um and man united that was funny that could have gone anyway and it wouldn't look quite so yeah they beat two bad teams is what you're saying played well they got exciting players enino Shel Pedro matoma uh ad dingo a dingo um no we're not doing a dingo a Dingo Took My Baby thing again we're not by the way the dingo ate my baby thing everyone was screaming at me and I can't believe it I remember it it's a Seinfeld thing it's a Seinfeld that's right it was that to uh we did it better you and I did it better so we did it better yeah and they got a million in episode we got nothing so anyway what can you say about Brighton away they'll be good they'll be dangerous uh we need to take our chances so if we we'll be fine if we take our chances if we don't it's going to be a very spicy uh dangerous game for us what will we do trossard will start on the left and um I'm going to we could do one of three things at left back but I'm going to go with we will play Timber again because he gives us in theory a nice balance of boat he's has had his first proper game as a starter at left back so you play him again so that he gets better he settles more and I don't really know what the problem was that people saw with him in the last game AP part from he he didn't do much on his side but then we didn't try to do anything on that side from much of the game and we recycle to the other side and I think that has marked him down in people's imagination they have a picture suddenly of zenchenko hitting all the spots and Martinelli and blah blah blah and we did not pass to Martinelli and rice and artetta did not point to anybody to do anything different it was bring it back to the right hand side and play so this game will be different uh I think we give Timber another goal because he's played in and a reasonable balance of it and we're away from home and they will be attacking and they've got exciting wide players on all sides and we won't want the headache of zinchenko uh getting caught with us way up the field so could go either way Timber yep yeah I I I think the Midfield battle will be interesting um in particular because I think that's an area we should win I mean they're playing James Milner in Midfield um if that tells you anything ham Milner Yep they're they're all spiced up um he's doing really good did you see him sprinting back like he's got the legs he's yeah he's doing good old fella does he have he has the legs against Manchester United I mean did you see what they did to casemiro's speed rating Pace rating on uh on um on UFA what's it called FIFA they T 34 I think they came anyway um well Harry let me ask you this because this is I think people are going to be fascinated think right Midfield is where we should kill them but they're going to have a spicy attacking line at home so you know yeah well so that that what I was going to ask with Midfield do you think Marino will make an appearance in this game because I'm I kind of think he will I think we'll see him I'm not sure um I think he'll be in the squad I'm not sure where he's at in terms of his Fitness at this moment in time um I know that obviously the move was kind of in the pipeline for a little while and that would have impacted you know his kind of preparation for the season I'm sure he would have trained but we know that he wasn't in the squad for one of the games etc etc so I'm a little bit unsure where he is fitness-wise I think we probably will see him if I had to guess I'd say we probably see him but it might only be 10 eight minutes at the end depending on the game state but I think it's important that he comes on gets that reception at emirat stadium and and kind of we sort of get the opportunity he wants to use them at all in the next two games I think I don't think you want to throw them in at Spurs or at City having not played any Premier League football and even gotten his feet wet so doing it in front of a friendly crowd that be very excited to see him is something that he could do I just have a feeling we'll see him I don't know why I think you know talking about his Fitness by the way like he went all the way to the final with Spain so he didn't have an extended Break um he looks fit that's for sure he doesn't look like he added any weight over his holidays uh it is a fiddle I think I think he'll be fine but we'll see look my feeling is this is a game we can win and win handsomely if we get in front because the more they have to stretch themselves I think the more a shaky group protecting their their goal will be exposable um but you know this is the thing with Arsenal right now is everybody's cocking their head to say will the attack click will it look like it did second half of last season you know can we can we create the kind of threat that everybody's going to want to see especially if we don't make an attacking signing that's the part that's going to be under the microscope so it' be very interesting very very important game obviously to go into the international break ahead of Spurs and City getting three wins from three and off to the right start in the league I'll let you make a final prediction here though Harry what you got for the game I'm going to go Arsenal I said Arsenal away but it's Arsenal at home obviously against Brighton I'm just just used to the idea that our first 10 games are almost impossible and the hardest possible schedule like could give us but yeah 3-1 sounds right to me uh it been a home game maybe that nudges up the possibility of zinchenko so I'm a bad 50/50 on those two guys 3-1 yeah it's interesting right cuz our I don't think defensively we looked great in Nei of the first two games but we kept a clean sheet in both of them um so if we keep playing that way you you figured the bounces are going to go against this one of these games but what if we just get it right defensively could we just do that um maybe it's always possible yeah I like 31 let's go with 31 across the board and see if we get it right we'll leave it there uh Harry so great to talk to you I hope you'll have me on Chronicles of aunar and if not me certainly have Clive or Tim or even Paul on it would be great absolutely I'd love to have you guys on um it would be my honor and thank you for having me really appreciate it it's kind of weird cuz I listen to you guys so much and now I'm here like talking to you it's well the same goes in reverse but it's not weird because we've done it and so now it's very familiar and the next time we do it it'll feel like hand in glove it'll just be it'll be like using the lawnmower 6.7 or whatever be just nice and smooth pause on Twitter pause my pants thanks pause my name is ell Smith you block me on Twitter y Gunner we'll be uh probably updating you with a new pod shortly check out the patreon side uh if there's transfer updates we'll post something over there we might do a live stream for deadline day so keep posted for that and uh yeah we're going to have an instant reaction at full-time of the Brighton game we love you and we'll talk to you after arsal time Bright Now