Raj: Okay. ⁓ sorry for the, sorry for the awkward intro. It's because we've been having this funny thing with Riverside and YouTube and we can't quite sync up when we go live and when it actually appears on YouTube. So hopefully it's kind of worked and everyone can hear me. But what you've probably noticed so far is that Roger started talking and it's not Mize. So sorry for the disappointment. Mize isn't with us today. So you've just got me and Chooks. So, you know,

Chucks: It's gonna be massive disappointment, mate. That it's just you and I.

Raj: Maybe you've, yeah, exactly. A little bit short change in some ways. We'll try and make up for it. I feel like we've got a lot to say because, um, it is still raw. We obviously, this is a proper, there's a somewhat of a proper on the whistle because Arsenal played at 5 45 today. We've drawn one all with Leverkusen, um, away from home in the first leg of this champions league knockout tie. And we are just after halftime of the sort of next batch of games. So, ⁓ currently we've got a Bodo glint winning two nil and PSG beating Chelsea two one and Madrid beating city three nil. So, you know, in a kind of hybrid watch along type thing, Chooks has got an eye on the TV. So if there's any interesting goals, he might let us know. But, ⁓ I mean, it's, it's difficult to just say those scores and gloss over the fact that I just said Real Madrid three city nil. That's pretty mind fucking blowing. Is it not given The whole buildup to that game was essentially that Real Madrid have got about 10 outfield players, you know, in every, in respective position injured. They could literally have fielded an ⁓ injured 11, if you like. And so, you know, the pendulum was swinging allegedly in City's way in terms of, who's favorites for this tie. And then, know, Fede Valverde just goes and scores a first half hat trick. I mean, it's just like Madrid all over, isn't it? It's just like, somehow they just find a way in the Champions League and Valverde, who's not their talismanic goalscorer, he just looks like Messi, third goal, unbelievable. think, Juke, before we get into Arsenal, any thoughts on what you're seeing at the moment in Real Madrid C?

Chucks: This is typical Madrid. This is typical. Right. I mean, at the end of the day, this is why that they are, I have to admit, they're a magical club because you can never count them out. There's something about always with this club, whenever you play them and everybody's saying, yeah, they've got so many people out injured. There's so many key players missing, but you're right. In any position and at any point, they just remember that they're real Madrid. And then all of a sudden they turn up. They've got City here. And you're right, Valverde has just decided, I think I'm just going to go and win this game. And at the moment, seem to be in control, complete control of this match. And there's not really anything City can do. And I would maybe even say that maybe they've rallied around each other with the fact that they have got so many injuries that potentially just galvanized the team because they maybe are feeling, for weirdly, the pressure is off. in a way because nobody was expecting them to take much out of this game, oddly, even though they're at home at the Burnabout and we're talking about Real Madrid and they've just gone and just played football and Valverde has obviously just picked up the mantle and decided he's going to be the man tonight and I love it. I'm here for it. ⁓ You know, the matches so far are going the way that we as Arsenal would hope them to go. So, yeah.

Raj: Is it the realm of dread have a penalty to realm and my phone is telling me realm of dread have a penalty cheeks

Chucks: I'm all for this evening. Good. have got a penalty. Yes.

Raj: Okay. So, so you, so you keep an eye on that. You keep an eye on that. Well, I just, mean, cause just following up on, on what you said, right. Like I think the, the crazy thing about Real Madrid's love affair with this competition is that I think it's not just about some random lucky mysterious thing that they have when they play in the champions league. It was so interesting hearing Gareth Bell on the stick to football podcast, talking about his experience as a Real Madrid player. And. He was basically just talking about how they, essentially the Champions League is everything. The Champions League is the most important competition and it gets absolute priority over everything else. And he essentially says, you know, fine, we're still expected to win the Liga, but we know that if you're not playing Barcelona or to a certain extent, Atletico Madrid, it's just about how many goals you'll beat the opposition by. So you basically just manage your squad and manage your workload around Champions League ties, right? Everything is focused on that. All the prep is around this champion league ties. The press are fucking on one in the buildup to it. And he goes like the main thing as well is, Florentino Perez, he, he always rocks up with the team at their hotel for big games and inverted commas, right? And when he rocks up, the players all know, okay, it's like a serious game. Like it's, it's an important game. ⁓ they, they like that. And then goes, Rup Chabazee Games. He always rocks up. You're going to say something.

Chucks: as he's about to be taken. Vinny Jr. And saved! ⁓ Donnarumma! Save! Vinny, didn't mess that up. I mean, he did one of those, you know, hitch kicks before he kicked it. It was a bit of a faff. Really easy for Donnarumma to reach. And yeah, saved. But to be quite frank, at three and a half, they can afford that. They can afford the faff. But yeah, you know. I think Vinnie could have done much better with that. Much, better.

Raj: There's me hyping up right. That the magic, the magic of this competition for a real Madrid, the focus and they just go miss a penalty as I finished my little monologue about that. But anyway, I guess the point I just want to allow them that it feels like it's not, it's not by luck or whatever. They are super hyper focused about their relationship with this trophy is the most important thing. Um, and you know, I guess we're seeing it play out now and all the more reason to bring up the outrageous fact that I think. I am hoping I get this stat right. I don't think Real Madrid have ever beaten Arsenal in a Champions League tie. I may have got that a tad wrong, but someone can correct me on this. Like I read something like that. At worst, I think it's something like they haven't beaten Arsenal in a Champions League tie in 15 years, but I think it may be bigger than that. And I think they may have just never beaten Arsenal in a Champions League tie. I'll just throw that out there. I also see that Chelsea have equalized against PSG by the way.

Chucks: Yeah, yeah, yeah, literally right now. On that, on the point around Real Mediator never beating Arsenal, we need to we need to confirm that before the end of this, before the end of this gas, right? We need to fact check that for sure. Yeah. And yeah.

Raj: You to fact check me and fact check me. I am searching, right now on Google. Have Real Madrid ever be an arsenal?

Chucks: Okay. Nice goal from Chelsea. Nice goal. Yeah. Hold themselves back into the tie.

Raj: ⁓ in the Champions League. ⁓

Chucks: I think it was Enzo. Yeah, Enzo scored. Wow, interesting. PSG now. I think, well, OK, 2-2 at home and they got to go to Stanford Bridge as well.

Raj: all. So I don't know if they have to, nothing is coming up here of Real Madrid being, yeah, so Arsenal Real Madrid head to head history. This is like a very interesting segue for everyone, apologies, but I think we need to get to the bottom of this, don't we? So match has played, the last two matches we played, Arsenal beat Madrid 2-1, Arsenal beat Madrid 3-0, then Arsenal in the Champions League when we got to the final, we drew 0-0, we beat them 1-0 in the Burnabout.

Chucks: Really?

Raj: That's it. That's the only times we played them in the champions league. think that's, think so. That's what this seems to be. You wave as official website says, um, anyway. Yeah.

Chucks: right yeah yeah no you're actually all right

Raj: So look, it's not a hell of a lot of times, is it? But still, ⁓ you know, let's, if we, if we do meet them again, let's see if we can keep that record up. ⁓ no, it's it. So yeah, look, interesting. It's all going on. ⁓ I mean, let's pivot to Arsenal because, know, I guess what's happening in Madrid has cheered me up a little bit. We can talk a little bit about whether it's a good thing or bad thing, actually, ⁓ Man City kind of taking a pasting and maybe going out. Let's talk about Arsenal. look.

Chucks: Yeah. Yeah.

Raj: All the chat before the game was there asked them, we're going to walk this one. Um, you know, that was really the unanimous chat loads of reasons. One, I was actually very good and labor coosin even for Bundesliga standards are not very good. They're just not very good. Um, I think they're like around fourth or fifth. They may be even lower than that. Um, and six, right. Okay. So there's, there's six in the Bundesliga. I mean, Dortmund a second in the Bundesliga.

Chucks: Thanks.

Raj: Atlanta beat Dortmund, Atlanta beat Dortmund, Atlanta just got pasted 6-1 by, you know, by Bayern Munich. so yesterday the stock for the Bundesliga was probably, let's say, an all time low, even with like Bayern Munich like battering Atalanta, like, because, you know, I think that was just an indication of the fact that Bayern Munich overall play in the league where it's just a piece of piss for them. And so Leverkusen there in sixth place, right? Like, I think the writing was on the wall to a certain extent and, know, I will even say again, I can't remember if I mentioned on the last one, I bumped into burnt Leno at the barbershop on the day of the draw. Yeah. He played for the Leverkusen. He played for Arsenal. I asked him what he thought of that at the draw. And he said, it was going to be easy for Arsenal. He said it's easy draw. Right. Everyone, including ex players therefore thought it was going to be easy. Right. mate, we, we, we, we scraped a draw. We scraped a draw and we stunk that place out. Tell me. Tell me like how you feel, what's your overall feeling from that game.

Chucks: flat. We were pedestrian in nature. It felt like we were only operating really at walking pace. We really, especially in the final third, we were quite devoid and we can get into some of the players specifically shortly. I almost felt I'm gonna say this cautiously, but I felt like the weight of the running that we're now kind of going into was somewhat showing on the players. What I mean by that is ⁓ there's a lot of games, a lot of games, because we're in all competitions between now and the end of the season. And so there's a lot of football to be played. And so with that... I don't know if they were... I can't say this is necessarily tactical, but you could clearly see because of the weight of what is coming up, this wasn't a cup final to these guys, right? Where it was like a win at all costs. This was a... We're away at Lava Cousin. We know they've got to come to the Emirates. Let's just get some kind of result. But we're not going all out here. We've to manage our stamina. We've got to manage our players. We want to get away with no injuries. So it's almost like a steady as she goes. But then what resulted was, in my view, a pretty poor performance and almost a defeat. We managed to scrape a draw, which I think is maybe what we were playing for because we knew that this wasn't a Jeopardy game, right?

Raj: Yeah.

Chucks: ⁓ so yeah.

Raj: Can we, can we just dive into what, you, everything you've just said so far, right? Because, you know, I think right at the beginning, you, you just a few things. think all those things are interesting. And I think what you've just talked about now is arguably the most interesting area because it's one that I was wondering while I was watching this. And I think you've, you've kind of answered the question I was going to ask you. And the question I was going to ask you is, you think that they have looked at all the fixtures coming up and gone, okay. So. What we need to do is we need to manage this by playing at a certain pace. So basically this is a very intentional, we are going to play at this pace because we just cannot go hell for leather. Not even hell for leather. We can't go fourth gear. Like we can't, we can barely touch third if we, we're really generous ourselves. Or is it a case of we are actually knackered. So like we're actually knackered and the way that we've been playing recently and today, you know, that, included, very much included. Is this a case where they're going, actually, like, we don't want to play this slowly. We don't want to play this, you know, perhaps, conservatively, we don't want to be, we don't want to lack this kind of crisp execution. We're just fucking naked. ⁓ I would be super concerned if it's the latter super concerned because like you said, there's loads of games to go. We're only at the bloody beginning of March. Like, so it's going to go, there's two games every week, each of those games. has more on the line, right? ⁓ So I'm somewhat reassured that you think it's the former, you know, but clarify that for me a So you think it's the former, you think this is a, ⁓ we are deciding to do this because this is going to be a marathon and we, this is the best, smartest strategic way of, conserving energy.

Chucks: do this because when you see it saw some of the players positioning in in opportunities nobody was racing and you know killing themselves and getting the box so that they could be on the end of a cross it was it was pedestrian mate and even at times when people had opportunities it felt like getting you know you would have seen me put it in the chat there were times where I thought take the shot but And they were still kind of just almost... Timbo's really guilty of this. Freaking the ball back, trying to pass. And in my view, I thought, nah, this is way... This isn't a team who are absolutely driving to get an outcome here. This is a team that's just kind of going through the motions, almost like a training session, and just saying, let's just control this game. Control it. A draw is fine. And nil nil's fine here, right? And if we can nick a goal, okay, that's fine. The main outcome is getting to high brain and finishing it off there. That was what I felt I was watching, because it...

Raj: Is it arrogant? Is that an arrogant way of playing? that you're basically saying we know we'll get the job done over two legs. So you know what, if we, if we draw, we draw and you know, we're gonna, we're good enough to draw like, so it's gonna, it's a champions league knockout game.

Chucks: I think it's... think... No. Honestly, I don't think it's arrogant. I actually don't. I actually think it's the way that they... So, if they want to go for all four, which, by the way, I... And we have spoken about this before. I don't think that they should. I think that they should prioritize certain competitions because it's unrealistic to go for all four. But clearly, it's historic. We've never been in this position before. And nobody's ever done the quadruple. So in my view, they actually are going for all four. And that is risky. Because it's almost like an all or nothing. You could you run the risk of ending up with nothing. But clearly, the only way to do it is strategic, right? You've got to manage the games. You've got to manage the game time of people. You've got to also manage how you are playing the games. You cannot go at a, you know, 90 % to 100 % in every single game. You're going to have injuries and then there is a high risk. And I think you've said this before, Raj. These guys are very much data driven. You know, there's nothing, it's not by accident a lot of the time in terms of the way they play and what they do. It is data driven. So I do believe that they've looked at this game and they've gone, it's a waste of Leverkusen. Manage the game, manage the minutes, manage the people, make sure that, you know, we come out with some kind of result. ⁓ If we're pedestrian, that's fine. We know we can finish the game at Highbury and we've got so much to play for. There's no way that we should be going all out for this. I do believe that was a static.

Raj: I'm saying I 70 % agree with you. agree. I 70 % agree that this was intentional. I, I, I worry about whether that's a good idea. Like, and I know yet. Okay. You're completely right. If we're going to compete on all four fronts, there's got to be this element of just being serious, right? And being logical. But I guess where we are right now, right? Is the running of the Carabao Cup is over. There's one game left. Okay. There's only one. So it's not even a case of de-prioritizing that, you know, you're going to prioritize it as much as anything else. It's just one game. FA Cup. We've not really had to prioritize or not prioritize because we've had a fairly gentle sort of draw so far. had Mansfield, you know, and we were going to have Southampton. So for me, for that, we'll probably play a second string anyway. So in that respect, I kind of feel like they haven't, you know, aside from that Carabao run, there's not really much else they could have done in terms of. rotation and all that kind of stuff all this time. But I suppose that the concern I'd have to, right, is that we still went out and played arguably our best team. Yeah. Like our best available team. Arguably. He's done that. You could debate, you know, the ones that didn't play were tactical. weren't like, I'll tell you, I was going, no, actually, you know, I want to rest this play. Otherwise I usually would have started. It felt more tactical, maybe have an exception anyway. But the point is he's played a lineup. He's basically played his best line. And now because we haven't got the job done, when we go to the Emirates next week, he has to play his best team again. Right. So it's not even like what he could have done if we, you in another universe, it's gone, right. Let's, let's, let's kill it. This like, if we go, if we win by two goals, mate, we can manage the, the Emirates tie. We can manage that. You don't even need to start with your best team, or you can just like play at a gentle pace. You can bring some people off. He's gotta play his best team now. Like on whatever. So, phew, I don't know mate.

Chucks: Come on. You know and I know it's harder to kill the tie when the first game is away from home. It's very hard. And again, the risk. The risk of.

Raj: Mm. Mm. But you try though, shouldn't you try? Shouldn't you try and do it? What about PSV last season? PSV like seven one or whatever, know, then, you know, put your legs up in the second leg, draw two two, happy days, who cares, you know?

Chucks: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, If we play our game and we are just strong and solid at the back, which we are, we've got our system and we are consistent in our approach, we can get the job done at Emirates without too much of an additional effort and move on to the next game. And then if there is a problem, we're at home. We have a better chance of fixing that if there's an issue and either revving it up or... changes in players if we have to, but we can still get the job done without, know, the whole coefficients of how much more effort do I need to do at home, we'll be able to do it. And now I don't, think once we start to get into the latter stage, potentially past this stage, whether he will still deploy that tactic or whether he would do it a little bit different, TBC, because potentially as you're getting closer and closer to the end and there's less and less games. And so,

Raj: Yeah.

Chucks: and the jeopardy is much more higher, right? He may go, okay, for this leg, or for this stage, fine, but for the next stage, I don't know if we can do that again, because it's, well, it will depend on who we're playing. And I mean, right now I'm looking at the scores. Bodo is stuffing, sporting, two-nil. They just scored again. that, has it just gone three-nil?

Raj: Yeah. 3-0 Yeah yeah yeah so it was two nil before it's two nil like I think but I think I'm pretty sure they've just scored it says three nil on my phone.

Chucks: Well, okay, well, yeah, they may have just got that at the second. It's not quite updated on my picture yet. So I tell you what, that's both a team or not. Yeah, it is 3-0. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. Doing well.

Raj: They're not, they're not about it. So, so I mean, yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, look, let, yeah. So I've thought some of this boat Bodo thing and I, I, I feel like we, if we go through, right. And it looks like it's Bodo. Um, it still may not be by the way. Cause I think Bodo came to one of those sides who are just, they're just much, much better at home because they have such a freakishly abnormal, uh, environment there. It's just, they have an artificial pitch. Right. Like it's completely the artificial pitch moves rapidly. So you can, you can train for it or whatever, but you're basically going and you're playing. You're playing in a stadium, which has an artificial pitch where the ball's moving rapid. It's cold as fuck. ⁓ and you're playing it again. You know, I think 8,000 fans is like their stadium size. So it's a mind fuck, right? I think, I think you go there and I think it's a mind fuck and you you're playing against a team.

Chucks: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Raj: Who, love who's that? This is what they do. This is where they play. Right. So I think they basically just try and like knock you out at home and then hope for the best when they come away. So on the contrary, I think if we get, if we get through and we go, I would actually be happy with a draw away from home at Bodeglin. I'll be happy with that. Then we come home and we bat at them. Right. I can see that. But if we just, if we just stay on this right now, right. So I, I'm playing devil's advocate with some of the things that I say. Cause I think you are right. And in the sense that. I think on Tuesday, it's Tuesday, right? When we play labor.

Chucks: My Mate 32PSG

Raj: Oh, hello. Who scored for PSG? Yeah, let's have a look on, let's have a look here. Butinia. Oh, wow. See, this is the thing, mate, right? So they just, they bring on Carara casually after 60 minutes. A man gets an assist 10 minutes later. But, um, yeah, yeah. So, so when we play on Tuesday, the likelihood is actually the lineup will not be the same as this anyway.

Chucks: Yeah.

Raj: for tactical reasons as well, right? He's probably more likely to play a Calafuri at left back, for example. He may, he may well actually go with Mado A.K. on the right anyway. You know, we could see Trossard. Yeah, like I said, things may change. don't know, Odegaard might be bad with us. So things might change. So yeah, you know, you're right. Like fine. But it, and it's also a bit of an interesting kind of period, isn't it? Cause we, we've got Everton coming up and then, So it's Everton, then Leverkusen and then the Carabao Cup final and then, ⁓ international break. I think, I think that's how it goes. ⁓ but anyway, let's go back to this game for a second. Cause I think we haven't finished, ⁓ unloading about some of the things that we saw. Okay. So we've made peace to some extent of like the overall approach in some ways. ⁓ but let's move on to performances regardless. Okay. ⁓ cheeks, I was very, very, very disheartened with the level of. the technical level on show today. after about 20 minutes, I sort of felt like, okay, do you know what? It seems like the way we're doing this is that we know we're going to get a few chances because we've got quality. And so in those moments we'll create three or four chances and we think we're good enough to defend whatever they can throw at us. So it's probably not going to be a fun game to watch this, but we're probably going to win. And I think that I kind of concluded that mainly after seeing Martinelli hit the bar and that move was pretty nice. And I was like, okay, more of these are going to come. So I was kind of at peace with it, but, but honestly, it did not work out that way. think that was our best chance really. Right. And then it just was just so tepid and they, they grew into the game as a result. ⁓ but let's talk about some individual performances maybe, because, you know, for me, as a lot of these places did not cover themselves in glory, we've had a central midfield. Who has arguably been one of the best central midfield pairings in Europe this season, but on the ball, have failed to dominate and control a game for about one to two months. Now they failed to really go, right. Let's boss this and dictate play and set tempo and really, really just control the game in the kind of, in, in the most rudimentary sense of the word. ⁓ and then we can just move to all other areas of the pitch. I've got enough to say about our wingers as a, my God. ⁓ I don't know where to start. ⁓ Giocheres I can forgive somewhat because of, know, when all those others aren't playing well, what the hell is that guy supposed to do really? But still, you know, that he wasn't fantastic. What did you think, mate? Anyone you want to call out anything that concerns you mainly, or was it more of a collective issue that you were concerned about?

Chucks: was a collective issue, but there were a couple of players that did concern me in terms of what I was seeing. We've spoken about Eze before, and I don't know... I was hoping that this move of shifting him a little bit more central, so to be like that, direct attacking midfielder behind the striker was going to be more his domain.

Raj: Yeah, closest to the goal.

Chucks: he still goes missing in games. He still drifts into space that you go. How are you thinking that's the best place to position yourself based on where the ball is at the moment? He still does odd things when he's on the ball. He's got all the ability in the world, but his vision and reading of the game. And don't get me wrong, I know it's still a new team.

Raj: Mm-hmm.

Chucks: He's still fitting in, he's been here the whole season, right? He's almost got a season under his belt. And I still feel as if he's disjointed from the rest of the team. And my view is, except for the Spurs games, I haven't seen a performance from the guy. Correct me if wrong, but except for those two Spurs games, I have not seen an actual performance from Eze when he's been on the pitch and been on the ball. And that really does concern me because I'm going, well, when's it going to happen? Because what I'm seeing right now doesn't bode well. And I'm already going, okay, well, clearly that position is a position that we need to think about signing somebody in the summer for. Whereas originally I was hoping it was only going to be for the left wing side. But I'm now thinking we also need to potentially find signs on the center, which is unreal because we just signed him.

Raj: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Chucks: And he was the person that we hoping was gonna really transform that position in the next few years. So, Eze does concern me. ⁓ You know Martin Ali always concerned me, unfortunately. He's, you know, we know what he does, we know what he brings. He's not bringing anything new. That's why I've been saying for a while, the left wing is a position that we do need ⁓ a bit of surgery on. But who really did concern me tonight was Saka. I didn't like his...

Raj: Can we, can we, cause I've, ⁓ yeah, let's get onto soccer in a sec, right? Can we kind of just like go a little bit more on Eze, and I think Martinelli, there was a bit of a link there point, right? Because, you know, Eze can play on the left wing as well. I share your concerns massively about Eze and it's really frustrating. I think that it's very, it's very clear that

Chucks: you

Raj: Arsenal liked Eze, but didn't really want to sign him and Havertz gets that injury and they've kind of gone, okay, we're short. And it just kind of went, right. Okay. Let's just kind of make sense and you know, what could go wrong. And I don't think it was a bad idea. wasn't a bad idea to do that move in that moment in time. And I still don't think it was a bad idea. And, and, and I think if I'm to make a statement, which kind of summarizes how I feel about it is. Eberichet Eze is good enough to play for Arsenal. Ebrich is a is not good enough to start in number 10 for Arsenal. He is not good enough a player to start at number 10 for Arsenal Football Club, unless you are playing Mansfield or Tottenham. Right? I'm not being harsh, but I'm saying the way the type of football we play the expectations on us. You can't play the way he does at number 10. You just can't. You can do it. Maybe, you know, if, things aren't working out and you want to try something else and you change a few other things. Okay, cool. Go for it. Whatever. He, but he's not working as your number, as your plan a number 10, it's just not. And so I have that same thought as you, where I think, well, well, hang on there. So like, you know, we're not completely satisfied with Odegaard as well at the moment, right? We do need a genuine alternative or even just to move on from. Um, so it doesn't feel like as a, the answer to that. Right. So for, for, for, for solving for that, unless we're saying, Hey, do you know what? No, I know he's going to come in next season and he's going to go bang. I don't think we're going to take that kind of risk. I don't think so. So I think they will be thinking about that position. And then I think my concern for as a is a little bit then. Okay. Well, you know, yes, I still think he's a good footballer, but like you've just touched on with Martin, where is it as a in the pecking order on the left-hand side currently? third or fourth maybe because Madawake could play left as well. And we are saying, which I agree with you, that we need to upgrade on the left. So your third or fourth choice on the side we have to upgrade on. So I have big concerns with Eze of even though he's good enough a footballer to play for Arsenal, where's his future in all this?

Chucks: And part of it may is. I don't think he fits our system. I think that's a part of the problem. I'm going to try and be somewhat diplomatic here and say it's not all Ezzy's fault. Part of it is the system and the way that we play football and the way that we are set up and we set ourselves up to win. There's an element of there's a team that battles, there's a team that's robust, there's a team that...

Raj: It's not, yeah.

Chucks: tries to ensure that it doesn't lose and then finds a way to win the game. Um, and Eze is that maverick that if it was, let's say probably potentially you put, you stick Eze in, I'm just watching them, this PSG team that are full of football, really talented footballers, they're syncing up play, they're linking up, you know, really well together. They're, they're, finding ways to find space. Maybe Eze actually clicks in that team, but For the team that is Arsenal, which is pragmatic, which is, ⁓ let's be tight, let's be strong, and we've got a team of battlers, and also we find a way to win, and we've got multiple ways of winning, that potentially doesn't suit Ezzy. Therefore, the question is then, well, what do do with him? Because right now, he's getting a bit of a run at the side. I think Arteta, to be fair, and is actually good of him, maybe a bit risky, but is good of him. is taking a risk and just giving him a run in the team so that at least it isn't a, well, you didn't give me a chance to start gaffer, right? ⁓

Raj: Yeah. Yeah. Cause he got that criticism, didn't he? tell you when I think as a star, did okay. I think it was against Wigan, I think. And then next game, he started Saka in the 10 and he played Madueke right. And he got criticism because he was like, well, as a, as a, he's a confidence plays a form player. You've got to give him, know, and whether it's cause of that criticism or not, I doubt it's cause of the criticism, but you are right. Arteta has done him a solid here.

Chucks: Yeah. Yeah, he's given him a run and it's not looking good at the moment, right? So, especially once we start to really get into the business end of the league, I don't know if it's going to stay that way. There are options on the bench, know, Havertz is back ⁓ and he even played, one point, he Havertz at the 10, Jesus up front. So there are different options that he can do. I don't know if he... And without a guard, hopefully coming back imminently, I don't know if Ezzy will keep that slot. So yeah, it's disappointing because I really hope that he was going to be the key that just unlocked a lot of stuff for us. But I'm just, it's not even that he's playing badly. I just don't even see what he's adding to the game. As I said, he's taking up positions that I'm not sure what brilliant goal PSG would for to. Brilliant goal. So Chelsea.

Raj: ⁓ There was such a seamless transition onto that statement. Amazing. right. Who is good? Kavara. I mean...

Chucks: ⁓ Yeah, so I'm just not sure what he's adding to the team. Let me actually even give you another thought. Imagine a team where you've got Zubimendi, you've got potentially ⁓ Declan Rice. And then let's say you have another Declan Rice type player playing in that tensile slot. not because what he's doing right now, what obviously Arteta likes is he likes the creative player in that tensile slot. So either the Audegarde or the Eze or someone who can try to unlock a defense. But as we've said, because of the style of player that they are, sometimes they just go drifting in games and it doesn't quite work. And therefore... there's an element of the team that kind of carries them a little bit. But imagine if you had another rice style individual. So instead of going and getting ⁓ someone who's in another creative, getting somebody who is in, who can do that, but is also a bit of a battler, that maybe fits with just the overall style of the team to play in that tense lot. All of a sudden, you know, the team could really benefit from that because that is just our style. I'm not saying that he should go and necessarily do that. I'm not saying that there isn't space for creatives, but there's just a thought. I'm just thinking instead of having a player that we're carrying, imagine if we had a player that was just adding to the way that we play and we just accept this is just how we play. I wonder what that would do to the team.

Raj: Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I look, I, I am a real big fan of trying to make the Sakura 10 work. Cause if you look at, example, what PSG are doing, what they did last season, they just play a bunch of like really talented, like wide forwards. Like they play basically like four of them and they have more on the bench. And they rotate and they can all finish and like, you know, they just got so many different potent options on the pitch who all just want to like, to go, like they all want to just go at you. ⁓ and I don't, you know, and I think maybe a Saka at 10 world is, is, is the answer maybe. I don't know, but yeah, like it isn't as a, can we talk about Saka though? Because You were about to talk about him before I kind of brought you back onto, onto these guys, look, he, got hooked before 60 minutes. I think I don't think it even was 60 minutes. This happened once before this season where he was hooked on a game. And I think it was around the 75th, eighth minute. And it was the first time that he had, he he had come off where it really looked like he had come off because of performance. Like literally Arteta was saying, I would rather have someone on the else on the pitch right now than you, which, um, you know, usually never happens for soccer, even if he's having a bad game and to have this on 57 minutes. And, you know, I think I was, I was saying, you know, in our, in our chat that I'm sure they'll kind of come out and say that he had some knock. I'm still sure they will do that to sort of save face. It's not nice to have your like franchise player. If you like, you know, look like he's losing favor or looking like, know, he's someone that you want to take off when you need a goal. don't really want that. So I think they will say that. But let's be honest here. He was, he was, he didn't stink out the place. I think that's not the right phrase. He was just, he was doing, he was trying to do the right things, which couldn't do them. That's what it felt like to me. He just couldn't, he was like, he was doing, making the right decisions. Like when it was the right decision to cross, he was crossing when it was a

Chucks: 5-2. ⁓ they're offside. He's offside. It was PSG. They'd gone to, they'd scored. I mean, a complete and utter mess from Chelsea. Defensive mess. But no, he was offside.

Raj: Right. Quite late. Well, ⁓ yeah, yeah, you know, as I said, when it was the right time to dribble, he was trying to dribble. When it was the right time to cross, he was trying to cross. When it the right time to try and take a shot, he was trying to do those things, but he did all of those things badly. Right? The crosses weren't good crosses if they were coming in at all, if they were beating the first man at all, the shots weren't coming off at all. They weren't beating the first man. The dribbles weren't coming off at all. It's a concern, right? Because it's not like a one-off game. He's not really hit a level for a while. He scored against Brighton the other day. Yes. Deflected goal. Okay. Outside of that. Didn't really do much else. Like after that point, ⁓ you know, his GA numbers haven't been great all season. We've been talking about it, but we've been basically saying that he is that good a player that at some point it's going to click. So how good is it that we're on top of all the, of the league and this and that, because at some point, Zach will click. Will he click at some point juice? Cause this was a really concerning performance for me on a very big night.

Chucks: Yeah, and by the way, there's no scrap happening in that psg chelsea game. It's all kicking off. It's all kicking off over there It is it is drama galore now. I think somebody's gone into the hoarding and yeah, ⁓ So I'm gonna i'm i'm gonna slightly contradict you here mate, I think he did stick the place out That was my view. I think he did stick the place out

Raj: I should have positioned this better. ⁓ my god, okay. Okay. ⁓ wow.

Chucks: He, what you said was right. He was trying to do various things. He just couldn't do them. Right? And it almost felt like it was very standard. It was predictable. You know, we could all see what he was about to do sitting thousands of miles away watching on television. So you can imagine if you are the player trying to defend against him, then... you know he's and it was pretty much every time he was going to cut back inside. He was going to cut back inside and try and get the ball into his left foot. Right. You could see that just the way he was kind of positioning the way that his shoulder was about to drop the way that his hip was positioning. You can see it. No. Saka, the beauty about Saka is he does do ⁓ he does different things. He he he's unpredictable. So you don't know if he's going to cut back to the left or he's going to take you on if he's going to take it down. you know, down the line and then try to cross it in. But tonight, it just felt enormously predictable. And they figured him out. And then that's why he was hooked, because he was, he just snagged. Maybe he has got a knock. And maybe it is true, because that is not what I saw tonight was not the Saka that we normally see, right? The unpredictable kind of kid. It was just a paint by numbers kind of shell of a Saka that was playing this evening.

Raj: Hmm. Yeah. ⁓ What's he got to do though? Cheeks? What's he got to do? Because you know, I hate it when I hear the things about players getting knocks and whatever. like, my goodness, I know the demand on players are higher now than they perhaps were 10, 20, 30 years ago. But everyone plays through knocks. When you're in big clubs, you play through knocks. And it feels like we constantly went back when players, when big players don't put in good performance, we're like, ⁓ he's playing through a knock. ⁓ you know, he's like playing through this. ⁓ he had an injection or something like this. I'm really I don't want that to be the story with him for the rest of the season. What what does he have? What have they? Sorry, by the way, have PSG's court? What ridiculous guy. really wish I was watching this.

Chucks: Go. Yeah, go. Yeah. Five to carry on. I mean, the scuffle was because I think I think one of the Chelsea players had pushed a ball boy into the holding and then it just kicked off. And then PSG now because they've lost they kind of lost their minds a little bit. PSG has just got to punish them. Five to one.

Raj: I mean, just, you know, slight pause on soccer. What a bad week for the narrative that English clubs are like the best in Europe. Like every English club we played in the Champions League apart from us lost. ⁓ sorry. No, sorry. Sorry. Newcastle drew. Fair enough. No one won. No one won.

Chucks: Yeah, and badly. Okay, yeah, fair enough. Everybody else lost, and badly, badly. It wasn't even, like, close, really badly. So, and at this stage, which is, you're getting into the business end of the times, but you're still not at the end yet. And it's looking at the moment, like, pretty much, you know, all of them except us and maybe Newcastle, it's still TBC, and Knock on Wood, are gonna be going out, because these numbers...

Raj: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Chucks: are hard to overturn, really hard to overturn.

Raj: Yeah. I mean, the only, I mean, you, you'd think that Liverpool could probably at Anfield do it overturn a one nil against Galatasaray, but the way that Liverpool been playing this season is not a hundred percent Chelsea. You're right. I mean, I don't know how they're going to overturn this at the bridge city. mean, okay. Fine. They have in theory they've got some players who can do serious damage and they've got pep, but still man, three, no. Um, Yeah, geez. Um, Tottenham. Oh God. Um, anyway, on, on second. Okay. So. Okay. I mean, I guess we're not going to able to solve the problem, but, but we need to do something. Don't we look at some point because you see, we're, not going to be able to just do this all for the rest of season and come out with. Okay. We might be able to do this all season.

Chucks: I mean, you forgot about Spurs.

Raj: And maybe we may be able to win the car about, yeah. We may even like actually coming to think of it, like we may, because of the way the fixtures are for us coming up and because of the sort of the way that fixtures are coming out for city. know, we may be able to be this turgid, this kind of like this conservative, this lacking kind of in the final third and actually still win the premier league bizarrely. we, that could still happen. But ⁓ my God, it's going to be the most painful couple of months if we do that. if we don't, if we keep playing like this, and we don't win the Premier League, and we don't win the Champions League, or like all the Champions League, does that say we don't win either of those competitions, and we continue playing like this? I'm not really sure what they, what we take from the end of this season. Like, what is, what is the positive that we take? Where do we go from that point? Right. Like I, I, I do have a bit of anxiety about this because I really thought we'd come out today and like, you know, kind of assert ourselves and yeah, maybe, you know, I'll take your point maybe. And, know, Charles made that point as well in the comments here, you know, you know, I'll tell wanted to perhaps this is part of the plan and he wants to kind of, you know, do it at home. Okay. Fine. Maybe. But you know what? Like I, do you have faith that we go and play Everton this, this weekend and go put on some kind of like dominating like. really assertive, really like, you know, clever final third performance. Do you you do you think we're going to do that?

Chucks: I think what we're gonna do is we're gonna go to, we're gonna go to Kuduson and we are going to play, ⁓ sorry, of course we're at home, so sorry, we're gonna go to the Emirates and ⁓ it's not going to be an ⁓ overall dominating ⁓ stamina sapping display. I think it is just going to be a very specific, very precise control of the game and...

Raj: No, it's at home, it's at home. Is that ever it's at

Chucks: we will get a goal. You know, like again, I think we'll score and we will just stop them from scoring. ⁓ It is almost as if a Teta wants the football to be played as much as possible through our defenders. And what I mean by that is keep it tight. I don't mind taking out, you know, control the game. Have confidence that our defenders can manage. ⁓ any problems or challenges or issues. And then if we can get a goal up front, great, but I'm not going to be firing everybody forward to try and get that goal. I'm just going to have confidence that through 90 minutes, a goal will come, or maybe even a second one. And that's good enough for me, right? That is, and it's almost just trying to be efficient. That is the sense I'm getting as we're moving into the stage of the season. We're trying to be efficient. We believe we've got good enough players to be able to win games and therefore, like you said before, like trust the process. I'm going to be efficient with my use of the ball. I'm going to be efficient with my game management. I'm going to know that whether through the football we play or some of our set pieces, we're going to get a goal. and then we're gonna just control the game and then move on. It's not gonna be the most prettiest football. It's not gonna be the most dynamic football. It's not gonna be a fan pleaser, but he has confidence that if at the end of the season he delivers trophies, which is what we've asked him for, which is what we have all asked him for, then we will forgive him for not being the most eye pleasing football.

Raj: Yeah. Yeah

Chucks: That is the state I think that this club is now in. And I'm all for it. mean genuinely I'm all for it. Give me the trophy. I can live. I can live with the football not being great. Give me the outcome. Atetta has now moved to being outcome focused. Not pleasing the eye. We've done the pleasing the eye. We want nothing. Give me the trophies.

Raj: ⁓ yeah, yeah. I think most artisans would agree with you and I certainly do as well. think the concern is that outcome driven is ⁓ therefore contingent on the outcome. Yeah. And so when you go to labor, Kusin and you, you just about draw. It's easy to be quite critical, right? Because you're basically playing an outcome driven method and you haven't got the outcome that you wanted.

Chucks: I get it, but obviously what you can't legislate for is some poor performances in the team. All of our three attacking players were poor. That's the issue. Because for instance, when he took off Saka and he Madaweke on, I mean Madaweke was relevant, and you and I have spoken about this, what we love, right? What we love about Madaweke, what we love about that guy.

Raj: That's what the counterpoint though is that you the the count. Yeah. Yeah, we should talk about that a bit more now. Yeah.

Chucks: is he hums on and he has a goal. Every time his mindset is, tack, let me take this guy on, let me find a way through, me fire the ball across or look for an excessive pass. His head is up, his eyes are forward, and his feet are pointing that way. And he's going that way. And he's going at it every time at 100 miles an hour. And I love that about that guy. I love it.

Raj: Yeah, fully agree. fully fully agree. You know why I love him more is because of the way we play. He's a breath of fresh air. Do you know what I mean? I'm happy when I see him in the lineup. I'm happy when he comes on because I know the thing is with him. It doesn't matter how we're playing. He'll play how he plays.

Chucks: Yes, yes. He was what I was expecting Eze to be. Like that style. Head up, focused. So I think that's what Arteta was looking for when he signed Eze. The person who, there's a system, but I want you to go and basically fuck shit up. You know what I mean? That's what he does. It's just go and just go and fuck shit up. And that's what he was expecting Eze to do. And he's just not doing that, but Madweke is.

Raj: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Go, yeah. But you know, I know. But is this therefore like, is-

Chucks: And I love that. That's what I was hoping Mortinelli would do. And he's got all the ability to do it. But he's now, it's almost like he's been, it's been ripped from him. And now all he is is just like a company man. You know what I mean? He just plays the system.

Raj: this is what I was just gonna ask you that I was gonna say you you're saying that's what might have he expected Madawake so he expected Eze to be in what perhaps we expected as if it were that that's extend that to all of these clowns right like the way I look at it is like Madawake yeah okay fine like he's got a certain nature to him and therefore certain skills that maybe some players that don't have exactly the same skills but I don't see the other forwards approaching the game with the same mentality as he's approaching it with a he's on the pitch going, I want to make something happen. Like, I want to do something I want to attack right. And I don't get any impression that Arteta is telling him not to do that. And he's going against his wishes. So why aren't the why aren't the rest of them like doing that? Why aren't they being that decisive? Why isn't Saka being that much of a like protagonist? I don't understand like he he's not Madwake is not the most gifted winger in our squad. He's skillful. He's tricky. He's direct. Yeah. But like, you could say similar things about some of those other players. They have other skillsets. Why is it true? Why is it? It's not just as a who's not doing it. Why? Why is it that Madawaki is going against Arteta? Is it? Is it? Is that the case? I don't know. You tell me.

Chucks: I mean, you need to think about it a little bit, right? Maybe he is. Because Isaka is starting all the games. Madueke has actually, really, has he done anything wrong? No. Has he come on and, you know, disgraced himself on the pitch and you think, ⁓ I don't know what this Madueke guy's doing? No, actually, you and I have spoken about him, all of us, we've spoken about him very positively on a number of occasions. Madueke has come on and he's... He's actually just added something extra, something different. But it could well be, we don't know. It could well be that it's not the system that the gaffer wants to play. So that's why he doesn't get as many minutes as we would expect him to get. And Saka plays the system that the gaffer wants to play. But I like, however, the Madweke option, because that's what sometimes you need is that You need options. And that's what he did tonight. There was options where obviously the system wasn't quite delivering what we wanted it to deliver. And we needed someone to shake it up. Madweki did that. And that's fine. That's fine. Because if the system delivers, then you don't need a Madweki. And we see that. Sometimes the system's delivering and Madweki just doesn't get on. Right? The game finishes and we're good. But then when the system's not delivering...

Raj: Yeah, and maybe... ⁓

Chucks: then you go right. It's just not working tonight. 90 % of the time it does work. This is one of that 10 % that it doesn't. Let me just throw, let me throw something in that is just gonna completely mess it up. And okay, this works on these occasions, but in the longterm, it doesn't work because it's not the system. Do you see what I mean? So that's why I'm saying, yeah.

Raj: Well, yeah. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, I think it could, I could, you know, it perhaps is disrespectful to our Teta to say that, ⁓ look, actually, all that's happening is Madwake is going against his wishes. And that's why he's being so direct and like impressive, I suppose. In reality, it's probably far more intentional from our Teta and saying, you know, I want to play the first 60, 70 minutes of this game in a certain way. And I don't think Madway case the best player to play in that way that I want to play it. I want the technical security. I want the positional discipline. I want that for 70 minutes of this game. Right. And, and then therefore whether he's wrong or right to want that, at least that's intentional. So you're saying, you know, this is what, and then, you know, you're right. I think you made that point. Like, you know,

Chucks: surgery.

Raj: it perhaps then it's a case of you say to my do a KK go on now and do your thing. Yes. You know, I want you to defend. want you to do these things, but have some freedom, take a bit more risk. And, know, the only person I feel a bit sorry for then in that scenario, if that is true is soccer, because you could then argue, you know, I wonder if sackers, going, well, I want to play without risk. I want to play with freedom. I want, want, I could, I could do that stuff, but you're making me play. in a far more rigid way, a far more kind of scripted way, if you like. Now, again, like, you know, I'm hypothesizing here, that could also not be the case. And, and I would lean over to think that actually Saka is just not executing well at the moment, you know, so I'm not going to, you know, just let him off completely. But, ⁓ I mean, okay, look, it is what it is. It's one-all. Okay. ⁓ I feel confident that we'll go through at the Emirates. It sounds like you do as well. Yeah. ⁓ It doesn't look like Man City. Let's assume Man City don't go through now. Okay. How do you feel about that? Is that a good thing or a bad thing in terms of our league campaign?

Chucks: Really bad. Definitely bad. Right. Yeah, yeah, definitely bad. is it well, it could do one of two things. It could either completely knock their confidence and actually their appetite for the fight because they've been stuffed so badly by Madrid. They, you know, maybe the next leg they do go out and then they go, yeah, terrible campaign. And yeah, we're second. But actually, if they're seeing

Raj: Yeah, ⁓ I'm leaving on that as well, possible.

Chucks: Arsenal still kind of fighting in all fronts and all they're then left with is the Carabao Cup and the league. Players could already start to be thinking, all right, this season is kind of done. me, I might as well just start thinking about World Cup. Exactly. World Cup's coming up. I don't want to risk the injury, all that kind of good stuff. ⁓ Or it could go the other way. It could galvanize them and say, right, let's go and win something. if this was any other year...

Raj: World Cup's coming up, let me just think about that. Yeah, yeah.

Chucks: except a World Cup year, I would say, yeah, perhaps. But because it's the World Cup year, I do really think that's a factor. And I think that is where, and especially if they do then drop additional points, like this drop in is going to potentially affect them from the next league game because they're tired and their heads are down and they know that it's a mountain they've got to climb. And now they've got to go to, I don't know who they're playing next, but they've got to go to whoever it is and play the next game. Could affect their league. And then if they do drop points, and let's say we do. win at home against Everton and the gap opens up a little bit. I think that's all it's that's like a typical little tipping point that's all the little tipping point you need.

Raj: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. The short term bonus, the short term bonus for us is, yeah, they, they are, they are going to be really, really, really thinking hard about what they're going to do in that realm. Yeah. So they're going to be thinking damn hard about what they do next week. And it's not easy this weekend for them to go away to West Ham. Yeah. It suddenly becomes that extra bit difficult. They're going to go there. They're going to go, fuck me. This team is trying to survive. West Ham are going to go for it. And they know we have to win. They can't drop points. They've got to win. So they're coming off being a bit demoralized knowing that they have to then show up in a few days and like put in a massive performance against Madrid. So, you know, in the short term, like you've got to hope, you've got to hope, you've got to assume this increases the chance of West Ham nicking, you know, maybe getting a draw at least. You know, you got to think that, but let's say city go out. ⁓

Chucks: Sorry mate, just before we move on to that, let's not forget, let's not forget City's last game. They drew against Forest. Now that was a week ago almost, but they drew against Forest and they let a lead slip, right? And they were doing well, right? But then let their lead slip and Arsenal won. They took the three points.

Raj: Yeah. They've done that a few times this season.

Chucks: gap opened up psychologically you're thinking damn it we've still got it we gotta we gotta climb that so that that's still in their heads they they're also thinking we gotta go to madrid next that's still in their heads so they then go to madrid they've been dropped three nil at madrid it's not been a good game at all that's still going to be in their heads plus the forest dropping point they've now got to go to west ham west ham who are fighting for their lives

Raj: Yeah.

Chucks: And if you're right, they will still have this in the head and they're still thinking about what do I need to do to overcome that next Madrid tie. It's almost kind of like baggage that is staying with you. One game to the next, to the next. And it's very difficult to break free. Very, very difficult. And then if you fully do go out, that's why I'm saying if they go out, it could be the tipping point because they could just go, I'm done. I'm looking for the World Cup now, mate.

Raj: Yeah. Yeah. Cause we think of, because we play first this weekend. Right. So if we beat Everton, which we should ⁓ like we, we bloody should. Yeah. There is no excuse for not winning. I'm ever done. Got a good away record. don't give a shit. There's no excuse. Right. We go be Everton with 10 points clear. We'll have played two more than C, but mentally that's not really the point. city therefore playing West Ham and they got half the 10 points clear. Right. So even if we do everything we possibly fucking hand today and win, there'll be seven points clear. Do you know what mean? That is like psychologically as fucking I've got fucking realm of driven three days time. Do you know what I mean? Like, so it could be a massive weekend, a massive weekend and Like I, in my mind, for whatever reason, I've got this huge anxiety. I've got this huge visualization that we don't be evident. It would just be, it's the most awesome thing to do, right? To just not be evident at a time where you're like, just, just do, just do a job. Just go, just do a fucking job. Yeah. Like I don't like, you know, play the shittest, the shit house your way through if you have to, right? Don't do anything dumb and just fucking make sure that you put something away, right? Five day at home fans, Saturday fans are going to be drunk by then atmosphere will be really fucking good. A hundred percent will be really good. It will be brilliant. Yeah. No excuses. It's got everything read for us to drop points. I mean, like I just get really angry thinking about something that hasn't even happened yet.

Chucks: That's amazing. You're getting it. I can't believe you these points. We've not even played the game. No, I... mean, as is performance. I know he's just gonna give a bad performance. He gave such a bad performance on Saturday. Yeah, I know. I see what you're saying. But just... And you're right. Because at the moment, all the pressure, all the pressure is with City. Even because you're right.

Raj: Yeah, exactly. I'm already so angry at Eze.

Chucks: two games at hand. even by the time they come to play, if we are 10 points clear and they've got two games at hand, we've secured those points. They are still to play those games to secure those points. That's where the pressure comes, right? Because if those points are secured and are in the bag and we're basically looking at them going, right, over to you, they've still got to play through all those minutes. They've got to do all the tackles. They've got to ride through all the emotional ups and downs and the refereeing decisions.

Raj: on the board.

Chucks: and the crowd being on your back and thinking about, I've missed this tackle or they've conceded a goal or they go behind or it's an equalizer. They've got to go through that roller coaster. And the pressure mounts because in the back of the head, they're still also thinking Arsenal secured those points. That is where all of a sudden it becomes so much more difficult when you're in the chasing pack. So you're absolutely right. We have to get those points. We have to. Because 10 points, even with two games in hand, it's 10 points you have to find from somewhere. And one slip up, you're in big trouble. And they will know it. Pressure. Real pressure. To be honest with you, they've never had to experience before. They've just turned up and...

Raj: Mmm. Yeah. Real pressure.

Chucks: They win, they win, they win. They go on big runs. They go to Champions League places, Madrid and Bayern. They beat all these guys. This is a different experience for the City team. Drawing a few, drawing with Forrest. Madrid now turning them over. Arsenal have seven points clear, potentially 10 by the time they play. They are not used to this. Pressure.

Raj: Hmm. Absolutely. And, you know, they're also not used to this because half their players aren't of the legacy, like glory years of, of, of, of I'm making it out like glory years were like decades ago. No, you know, but there's a lot of new players, right? So they've got this expectation of being city, but they don't have the experience of being city, you know? So, yeah, I think, I think it's, I think it's massive. And I think that the, kind of the points pressure could get massive. ⁓ regardless of how experienced Pep is regardless, because I think there's another point there of like so much uncertainty at city. There's rumors that Pep, even though he's contracted, I think till 2027, there's rumors that this will be his last season. That the, the, point, the, ⁓ the charges, all of that stuff still not resolved. You know, like there's, there's all this stuff that's just there. There's that it just, feels like a lot and we might just therefore. get quite fortunate for once in the way all of these things fall for us. know, psychologically, you know, we, we might be the ones that just navigate it the best. So look like fingers crossed, fingers crossed. ⁓ so I mean, let's just end perhaps with predictions for, ⁓ for the weekend. So let's predict our score and let's predict city school. ⁓ so we play Everton first, my friend. I know towards that, know, given I'm kind of hosting there, I'm going to like, I'm going to make an executive decision. And it's not more that the score that I really, really like I'm interested in. Because the thing is, you know, we scored like, never, like, you're kind of putting these things, you know, finger in the air stuff. I'm more interested in whether you think like we win, lose or draw and what kind of game you think it's going to be. Like, do you envisage. a dominant win and you know, like a ⁓ in control performance? Or do you do do do do envisage something scrappy or something hairier? Like what do you what do you see? as the Arsenal game do first.

Chucks: Thank you. I think for us on Saturday, ⁓ I think we'll I think we'll win two goals to nil. I think one will be just like a normal open play goal. One will be a set piece. And I think it will be... somewhat somewhat pedestrian what I mean by that is is that it's not going to be like a hugely dominant game we're going to run through the pieces it will just be a relatively standard game but because we know what we need to do certain players will step up like the defense will will be solid deckers like Declan Rice and Remendy they'll do their job ⁓ but it'll be one nil maybe we get like an OB and each half so score a goal in the first half We'll get up, we'll be all nervous because we know that, you know, at any point, if we concede, we're going to drop points. And then probably, let's say, like in the 70th minute plus, ⁓ we'll get that second goal. That will just settle the nerves. and, but that's what I mean by it will be a standard win. It is not going to be, we're going to go two nil up early doors and then we're just going to dominate them and be peppering the goals. That's not, that's not going to happen at all. We're going to be nervous. We will get a goal. but we'll be nervous most of the game. And then at some stage we'll just secure it. Set 2-0 and then that'll be it. And we'll go, ⁓ it should have been so much better. We should have played better. We should have secured that second goal earlier, but it's all right. A win's a win. And then we move on to City. That's how I think this game is going to go.

Raj: Okay, that's encouraging. ⁓ I think we're not gonna be very good, but I feel, right, that we're due a moment of magic kind of game. ⁓ I think we're gonna win 2-1, ⁓ but I think that we're gonna not be very good. ⁓ I think we'll score first. I think that we'll then do the standard thing that we do when we score first, where we kind of think that we need to make sure that our positional integrity is prioritized and then we'll end up not controlling possession. We do that all the time. think they'll score. And I think in the like last 10 minutes, the last kind of five, 10 minutes, someone's going to do something impressive for once. Someone's going to do something like it's going to be a It's going to be a great shot. There's going to be a bit of skill and like great if it's something like that is going to have a good, I think we're going to score a good goal. ⁓ so that is my prediction. ⁓ city. What do you think happens to see?

Chucks: Something's gonna be a draw, one one.

Raj: Really? So you think Arsenal go nine points clear at the end of the day?

Chucks: I think this game, what's happened today, I think is going to affect them. What's happened over the last few games, I think is going to affect them. And I think that they're going to be going and they will have an eye on what are we going to do at home with Real Madrid to try and overturn that deficit. And there's no way with Real Madrid coming up that you're going and going to wall out. at West Ham, you're thinking the tactics will be, let's just come here, let's do what we need to do and get home. But it's not gonna be a, let's dominate it, you know, all out, because they've got to conserve energy. They've got Real Madrid at home and they're three no down, which I think is gonna result in a result that's not optimal for them, one-one.

Raj: I want to say that that's what happens. I actually think that I'm not winning. For whatever reason, I think that West Ham just let me down a little bit. I think that Semenyo makes a difference. I think that they win 2-1. I think they'll go 2-0 up. I think they'll go 2-0 up and I think the West Ham will score one, but there might be a little bit of hairiness maybe like, but I think they go 2-0 up and then it goes 2-1 and they win. I would love it if they draw. I mean, I could see it. it, logically, it very well could happen. Yeah. Like, so I'm, I'm kind of am with you. Um, okay, mate, like I'm, I was about to this leave it there, but I want to respect the fact that, you know, we just had another question that came in and I know it's a bit kind of going back to the game a little bit, but. you know, maybe there is actually a point here that we can draw onto like a slightly bigger things that Christopher Hinton, can I call you Chris? Chris says, ⁓ why no down and should have come on second half. Now I thought about this at one point, ⁓ when we just looked pretty crap, you know, and I thought there's a guy who he will be a few players. He will do something interesting. He's not scarred perhaps like by ghosts of the past and, you know, he, his naivety might be a good thing here. And the only conclusion that I came to in the end really was that. What's the benefit for Arteta overall here? Because if you, if you, if you, if you don't go, if you weigh the pros and the cons here, if he brings on Max Dalman and then Arsenal go and concede another goal and let's say we go and lose two nil. It's very easy to point to that and say, you were naive, mate. Like you were very silly in a champions league knockout away from home. One nil is not that big a deal because you can turn it around at home. But if you brought on this kid thinking that, you know what, like, this is going to be some magical story. I've got this super talented child and he's going to like, you know, when, you know, he's going to, you know, when everyone's hearts and minds and do something spectacular, how lovely, how amazing. Um, yeah, I think, I think he probably just thought, no, no, no, I don't need that. Like one NIL is not even the worst thing. And so, you know, I think that that's probably where he went. I I don't know what you think about it.

Chucks: was a dispersed situation, mate, where people had, like, the wrong beats on and all of a sudden we're thinking to ourselves, what happened to this team, right? This was a situation where, yeah, there were players on that team that weren't playing well. But, ⁓ agree with you, 1-0 wasn't the end of the world. And he...

Raj: Hahaha.

Chucks: and I believed as well, the players on the pitch at any point could do something. And if you're going to bring on Darman, you're bringing on Darman potentially for, well, it'll be kind of for Eze, right? Potentially because he wants to bring on Mataweka on the right. So you're thinking, well, yeah, maybe Darman potentially for Eze. But you've got the other options that you had with Havertz and with Jesus, more senior tested players, used to the Champions League, ⁓ can deal with the pressure. It was the right call. Downman's a super special talent and he's, I tell you, clearly just trying to protect him a bit. He's gonna bring him into this team in the right way. He's gonna have a big massive future and it's the right decision. These are not necessarily the kind of games where you wanna lump all the pressure on this kid's and say, know, team isn't performing. You go and do something for his max and then he comes on and as you said,

Raj: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chucks: it goes in the opposite direction and then before you know it, because he's still building his confidence and experience. So it might send him in the wrong direction. I think it was the right call not to bring him on in this game.

Raj: I mean, you know, my prediction for the Everton game, it could be Max Dowman. That is that kind of moment of magic that I'm thinking about, because is there a broader point near about Max? I think you touched on, is that, ⁓ you know, let's look broader than today's game. ⁓ he probably will get opportunities and you know, in the logic that we gave for Madaway K does Max present us with that opportunity as well? Right. Because with the way that we play putting on Max Dowman could be refreshing and just be quite, you know, he'll play with that, that spirit, that kind of optimism, that sort of, that, that flare, that kind of, you know, lack of fear, if you like, ⁓ you know, for the same reasons that we think Madweke is, is really positive and could be a real asset kind of, you know, kind of going forward. I wonder if Dauman can have a very similar effect at times, just like when it is just getting stale, when everyone's running out of ideas. When like, you everyone's kind of just in this place of going, okay, like I don't really know how to be inspirational right now because I'm so used to like playing in this relatively like robotic, ⁓ kind of risk of a system. Like he's bringing on a max say max go run at this motherfucker for a while. You know, you, no one wants to get done by a 15, 16 year old mate. Yeah. Like we've seen already when it comes on, no one wants to get done by that. Like you don't want that. Right. So it could be. could be like pretty important still, I think.

Chucks: What's that saying about the manager? If you're putting all your hopes on the 16 year old, right? What's that saying about you in terms of how you set up the system? How you set up to play now that you're in trouble? Your plan is let's go to let's go to let's go to the kid. I don't think ⁓ in you know, in any kind of scenario.

Raj: ⁓ that child.

Chucks: It was the right environment either for the team or for that or for Max to him to come on this point in the second half. He's got they've got to protect him. They're doing the right thing. It wasn't it wasn't like a complete jeopardy situation. ⁓ No, it wasn't right for him to come on. So I think they made the right call. I think the players that they brought on actually did the job that you want you needed them to do. They tried to test it at this level. They can deal with the pressure. They know what they need to do. They came on with the right mentality. They delivered. And we'll see plenty of Max, but this wasn't a game for him.

Raj: Yeah. All right, my friend. Well, look, let's end the thank you. I've thoroughly enjoyed our chat. feel a lot better. Actually. I feel a lot better. I think you're opening comments on, you know, the fact that this may have all been a little bit more intentional than perhaps like, you know, my feelings allowed me to process. think it may be like, kind of just feel a little bit better than that. I don't know. It might also be the fact that like Chelsea and Manzies each got pasted. Like that might also be, you know, the reason I feel a bit better. But yeah, very much looking forward to this weekend. I, you know, I still think we're going to come through this tie. Um, I don't want to be complacent, but I think we'll beat labor because not home. think it'd be okay. then, man, what a weekend we've got to look forward to. listen, man, take care of yourself, cheeks. And thank you everyone for listening in and, uh, Charles Chris, thank you for the comments. Appreciate it. And you know, you guys might have my back next time. I'm really sorry that, you know, he wasn't here and sorry. You had to just make do with us, but. Everyone onwards and upwards. Let's, ⁓ let's fingers crossed for, ⁓ this weekend. See you later, chicks. Bye.

Chucks: in case.