Thomas Partey is our BEST midfielder! - HOW can anybody be Arteta out? FT @DiffKnock

Excuse me boss, what team do you support? What Chelsea? **** Chelsea. Chelsea ----. **** Chelsea. What? Amen. **** Chelsea. Pussy or what? Say something. **** Chelsea. Amen. **** Chelsea. Away from the stupidness. People deluded, I'm back again. By now you already know what we do. You know, again to be fair with you, you know, DG feet the def knock. I don't think we can talk to Saliba and Gabrielle, but we're a decent partnership. How you doing my friend man? I see you going crazy on social media. Just going to drink some Chelsea tears. Hang on. Aye, sip it. Back it. Back it like some shots man. Need 100 more mate. Never taste so good. So good. Mate, that was, yeah, so funny. So funny. Payback for the 1000th game. Payback for all those. I wanted seven. I'm not happy. Payback for Cesc. Everything, mate. Everything. I'd rarely do this, but last night I went on YouTube and just searched up Chelsea fans and just watched all of them. Yeah, yeah. Same. I was just like, Rory Jennings, all the related videos. Anyone. I'll watch any of them. Rory, the carefree Louis's of this world. Matisse as well. Everyone. Any tears I could get, regardless of where they are in this world, I was loving it, man. Let's get into it though, man. Obviously, Arsenal 5. Chelsea, Neil Cleese. She raining goals. Kai Havertz celebrates, let alone scores a brace. Benjamin White doesn't watch football and he scored two goals. Martin Wondergaard was amazing. Before we get into individual performances, what did you make of the game? Obviously, the backdrop going into it this week is crazy for us. Two London doves. Yeah. It's a funny one. This is the only negative thing I'll say about this game because it was so fun and there were so many positives. The first half, I didn't think we were actually that great. I thought Chelsea caused us a couple of issues. I think we, I think if you look at the numbers, not the, I think there's a, there's some number going on. That's why I wasn't happy, man. You could see him. Yeah. There was some number going around about expected goals on target, i.e. like the quality of their shots or something, which basically, but the XG, you know, if you're into that kind of stuff, the XG itself was, was, was actually a lot harder than expected. Yeah. It was, it was, yeah, the first half was a little bit concerning in terms of how we managed. I was talking before the game to TNT about, he said like the runners off the second line and I wasn't quite sure what he meant, but I think when I was watching it, I realized basically sort of the, the parte rice, I suppose it would have been Trossard and Saka line of our press. In behind that, Mudrick and Madhuike were making these sort of darting runs and diagonals and Enzo and Kaiseido were particularly good. We're finding them just in behind them and they were making those runs. They spent a bit of money on them, not much, not much, but, but yeah, so, so that was causing a couple of issues. I thought we looked a little bit more vulnerable from set pieces than we have done, but that's the end of my concerned analysis. That was mainly just, yeah. Just unbelievable. I thought the second half we came out, we got into a rhythm, we got our distancing a little bit better. I thought in the first half, uh, he says he'd given up, um, in the first half, I thought parte rice hadn't quite, they were brilliant individually, but hadn't quite worked out when one was going, one was saying they were jumping at the same time and then tracking back at the same time. It wasn't quite, it wasn't quite there. Um, but in the second half, the distances were all right. We were, it was so good. Execution was so good. And uh, yeah, I mean, Odegaard played left eight. So if someone stands in one position once, it doesn't make them a left. Oh, Ben White's our right winger. There you go. Bro, you said it there, man. And again, we'll get into Martin Odegaard because you love that lad as much as I do. Yeah. This is what I wanted to see, especially from that, that three that started that we've been, you know, we haven't seen too much this season. We flirted with it, obviously mainly down to parte's injury. When Odegaard has that freedom to roam into that left eight, to occupy that right hand side, which is his bread and butter. You literally saw him involved in all actions that just before we've come live, I've watched the game three times now. I'm excited. You can tell. And for me, the second half was amazing. And you made a great point about two things. The first one, I would say first off, I don't think we were terrible and I don't think we were lackluster, but for want of other words, I felt it was a bit of a slow first half. Like you said there, I felt we was good in the final third. It felt like one of those games where we would be good in the final third, decent in the middle, but it's that we'd make a mistake or there'd be a brain fart and that would be Chelsea's opening. I think Saliba was faultless and I'm cherry picking, but there was a moment he kind of diddly-dallied on the ball, they countered attack. The only thing Saka did terrible yesterday was probably not scoring, but also that crazy kind of pass he did, which led to a corner. Maybe they, yeah, maybe they were helping Chelsea out. And obviously I look at the Bayern Munich game, I look at the Aston Villa game in specifically the second half. If we're honest with ourselves, the first halves were indifferent, we fell off a cliff in the second. And as I said earlier, and I was doing a watch along, the thing that encouraged me is our set is moving like pep. You see it with the conversations that he's saying after in relation to their so good, so, so good basically, but he did not look happy. Maybe he's genuinely not happy. Maybe it's acting for cameras, which I don't agree, but he didn't look happy. And I feel second half, we slaughtered them really. I think he made minor tweaks towards Odegaard and Rice and Partey, like you said. And I think he just reiterated to the players, the job's not done. It's 1-0. You need to kill their hope. You need to kill their optimism. They want to come and spoil your day. And it just reflects what we've been doing. You know, we've got a great record against the top six. For me, I'm very, I know I'm cherry picking, but I'm happy with the clean sheet because we haven't really done that at the Emirates. And the Emirates has been filled with drama, but there was none in that regards, man. What do you think this means for our title aspirations then? Because as I said, it's a massive week, Chelsea trying to spoil our day, Spurs hope to do that on Sunday. Where are you at, man? Does it change much or does it make you more bullied? I think after the Villa game, I said the only thing we can do is be four points closer next time they play. That's all we can do. And we had to respond. What I'm pleased with is we've done something new this year in terms of we haven't had that kind of April crash. You can't call this an April crash. Yes, we had two moments, obviously against Villa and against Bayern Munich, but you know, if we take them actually in isolation, they are in different competitions, first and foremost. And against Bayern Munich, that's our first time back in the Champions League. We can discuss that if you want, but it's, you know, it's, it's, there's. Oh, we will. I've got my notes, man. I've been preparing all week for you, fella. There's a reason. There's reasons for that. And then the Villa game, um, you know, there's essentially what we were asking for was Arsenal to win or not lose since about what, December, the end of December, was it end of December when we last won, something like that? To the end of the season. If Man City win this and we win the rest of our games, they will have had to go on the best run they've ever been on in the Premier League since December. So if we make the best team in the world, and in my opinion, in my opinion, the best manager ever go on the best run they've ever been on in league that they've won, what is it? Five out of the last six or six or whatever it is. I can't remember. I forget what it is these days. They turned it into a farmer's league. That's for sure. And do a four-peat. I'm okay with that. And I think we can take the pressure off ourselves and say, look, obviously the problem is, is these two can exist at the same time. Obviously we can improve. There are areas that we can improve. We look at ourselves and there are obviously areas that we can look at, but in the big context of the sport itself, Arsenal would win, Arsenal, I am so sure of this, would win Liga, they'd win the Bundesliga, they'd win the Europa League. They'd win everything. Genuinely. I genuinely believe they'd win every other league apart from probably the Champions League and the Premier League in terms of the quality that we have. We can improve ourselves, but yeah. In terms of the title race, we're so close. We're so close. We know we are. It's now about going and really clearly isolating what are the things that are stopping us just getting over that line. But we have to remember that line is set by the best team of all time, arguably in the Premier League. So it's not to make excuses. We have to make that jump. That's our level. That's what we want to get to. And you don't see Arteta making excuses and I don't want to. But we also have to take in the context and understand that that's what we are. You said it there, man. You know, what annoys me about football is two troops can't live in the same realm. You can on one hand, you know, have admiration for what Arsenal are doing, the trajectory we're on individually and collectively and all that stuff that me and you on our channels and together speak about. But you can also look at the margins because we are there where I think we're in that territory now where marginal gains make the maximum of difference, if that makes sense. Whether that's bringing in certain players, addressing certain areas and just really scrutinising ourselves. Because again, I said it again, I think if YouTube's randomly started playing, but as I was saying, yeah, I mean, we've got Vibes Cartel. As I was saying, it feels like the only enemies are ourselves because I'm not saying this to say Arsenal are the biggest and bad team in the world, but I think the only two poor performances where there's zero positives for me would be Fulham away and West Ham in the League Cup. Other than that, it's probably been a bit indifferent. Even when we've gone out to Bayern Munich, there's evident areas we could have done better, but we've competed and whatnot. You touched on it there, yeah, and before we go back over to Arsenal versus Chelsea, you've probably seen it. You know, as you said, we've been winning every game this year, can't expect to win them all. That's not how football works, but Mikel Arteta out, Brigade are back. And for what it's worth, disclaimer to anyone listening, I'm not saying you can't blindlessly back Arteta if you see evidence. I'm not saying you can't say the man's not good enough if there is evidence. But as you know, there's a short reaction, we're a massive club, three games, we're the worst team since sliced bread. Where are you at with the Mikel Arteta thing? Because for me, there are genuine question marks over Arteta, but if you cannot see that this is the man for this job and where we're going, I don't know what to tell you at this point. And I'm not saying he shouldn't be scrutinised, but come on, man, you've just got to use your eyes. Stevie Wonder could see this, man, but where are you at with that? You said it, you know, it's frustrating that two things can't exist at the same time. You say, you point out all the positives and the first response is, well, you know, look at all the negatives, essentially. No one's denying that Mikel has a way to go. Not even the most ardent Arteta in support, if you want to put it that way, saying there's no positives. And probably on the Arteta outside, they'd probably say there are some things that, you know, maybe we play good football or whatever, but we just can't get it over the line. But the thing is, I think people, maybe the one thing that gets reduced down, well, maybe two things. We see getting over the line in quotes as a 50-50, we either did or we didn't, rather than seeing it in what it is, which is it's a 99th percentile outcome. It's not something that happens, most teams don't get over the line. It's not something that like, you know, we just can't get it over the line. I think this comes in, most teams don't. In context, it's because I think of where we are. We've been here for 20 years and we haven't ever quite got over the line in terms of the Premier League or the Champions League. And that is frustrating. And no one's pretending that it's not frustrating. This is a new regime. We have to judge them with fresh eyes. It's like judging the Cronkies for their time from 2006. You take it into account, of course, or 2007 when they came in. You take it into account. He was right at first. He was definitely right at first. 2006 is when it started, 2007 I think they got their shares. But anyways. Yeah. But to not acknowledge, and even then, Mikel wasn't, Mikel was at the club as a player, but he wasn't even an assistant coach. He's completely fresh, it's a completely fresh team. Yeah. And as you say, there are question marks, there are things we can improve and perhaps we should discuss that. But look, I just don't understand it. I don't understand it. And I'm not saying it in a kind of, you know, throwing my hands up in the air. I would love to talk to someone who's still Arteta out and really understand why. Because at this point, I don't understand the argument. I think I used to get it. I used to be like, yeah, okay, I can see, you know, they've got a couple of arguments. But at this point, the only thing you have is he didn't beat Pep. That is the only thing you have. So I don't really get it. I'm with you with that. I think the only things I could say with Mikel Arteta, and this is just speaking for myself, I feel even for people like me and you that, you know, wax lyrical about Arteta. In the same way I rate Bukayo Saka, if you do something great on the football pitch, I'm going to wax lyrical. So ultimately, you're going to live or die by those high standards. I rate Mikel Arteta as one of the best young managers in the game. You've said it all in relation to the project and where we're going. You can see how we are now from when he took over to at this point. Because I rate you so much, and I think your keyword meticulous, when I see things around, I do think there is a correlation between not having the biggest squad and at times being out of steam. Potentially, you know, he talks about finding internal solutions, and I'm not dissing Kai Havertz. It's been a good sign and he's done the business, but probably need a striker. Again, I'm not a fly on the wall. I don't know everything at London Coley. But because I rate Arteta so highly, that's where I look at it. And I do think the conversation, I think people need to be patient, like you said, but I do think the conversation is slightly shifting to, can we get over the line? Or better yet, let's not say over the line, because there's many metrics to judge where we're going. Winning a Premier League, for me, Champions League, if you can do that, great. I don't quite think we're there yet, but a Premier League trophy. And it's a double-edged sword. It's like grabbing a knife, really, and truly, because on one hand, as you can see, the last two years, he's found different solutions. Players are improving. We're improving in all aspects. It keeps people guessing, but you can't afford to lose games or draw games, especially when you're playing this monster of a city side and Liverpool in the backdrop, which is almost like he's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't kind of thing. So for me, it is that. And for me, it's a thing where I want to see Arteta take gambles. But in the summer, for example, I want less gambles, bro. Like, you know, big up Kai Havertz, he's part of the squad and stuff. But we can evidently see now, we're not Arteta, we don't know football that good. But you can see you need a forward. You can see you need another winger. You can see you need that linchpin in midfield if Partey can't consistently be fit and then marry the squad. So that's where I'm at with it. Do you think there is a correlation, though, between we're using the same, what, 11 to 15 players? And there are times, especially this part of the season, where players look a bit spent, because I actually felt in the first half against Chelsea, if I'm honest, I wouldn't say we was tired or knackered, but you could see we played a lot of games, if that makes sense. Yeah, Arteta didn't take Saka off, and he sort of kept a lot of the players on even when it was sort of 3-4-0, which I thought was a bit of a, I mean, it might be a goal, man. Yeah, possibly. I thought, I don't know. Sometimes I wonder whether substitutes are a slight message. I don't know. They got Fabio and finally saw him again. Maybe a projection. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But, you know, our next game's on, what, Sunday? We've got one, two, three, four days recovery and rest. You know, I think that's enough for the players. You're not going to fix a season's worth of accumulated minutes in four days, whether you take them off at 17 minutes or 18 minutes. To be honest with you, straight to cut you, bro, who cares about who's not getting minutes? If life was fair, we'd all have a lot less. The best players have to go out there, which they did against Chelsea. So I don't, you know me, I would love everyone to get minutes, but where's the business end of the season? Who cares? Yeah, and that's exactly in the sense that we've got to look at the whole season and how we manage the whole season. And I do think, I will say, I said it in a recent video, I think the physical aspect of the of the squad is, is, is it at play? It's, you know, how big it is, whatever. But, you know, you can see, I think, you know, I looked at Ben White in that last 10 minutes against Bayern Munich and I'm like, nah mate, you're flagging. And that's no shade to Ben White. That's just that he's played so much for the season at such a high intensity. I think there was a, an Opta Analyst article that came up and it was sort of, it was all about sort of how many days recovery between games and stuff. And Arsenal sitting in the, will have some of the lowest in Europe. And also if you consider the way, but actually Liverpool, but then you look at their injuries and that probably explains a lot of it. But you look at the intensity that Arsenal play within their press and how their, some of their attacking style is. And the training sessions, let alone the games. And the training sessions. Yeah. And the intensity of the, you know, the league itself, you know, the Premier League is, is, yeah, it's, it's, it's massive. I don't know if you saw that clip of Bernardo Silva talking about his, yeah, his concerns about the fixture schedule. Look, I understand the, well, they're millionaires aspect of it. And I understand the, you know, well, you didn't care when, you know, Klopp said it. It's fine, but it's, it's not about that. It's not about that. It's about, it's about the protagonists of our sport being, telling you, looking you in the eye and saying, we are knackered. We've played too much football. And, you know, it's not, if they played five games less a season, it will probably, probably sort them out. You know, it's not, they're not asking for, you know, a 19 game Premier League season, you know, when you don't play home and away. They're asking, you know, just for a couple of games less. And, and, you know, then you go, oh, the rotation with Pep. But you'll only listen to Pep. You'll only listen to Bernardo Silva. You won't listen to Chris Heckenbottom. You won't listen to, you won't listen to, you know, Lyle Foster, will you? So what do you want? Pep literally himself said, I'm only saying it to you because we won because it would look like an excuse if we lost. So, yeah, it's, it's a concern. And I look at, we, that's a conversation, a general conversation that needs to be had with the FA, UEFA or whatever, and not by me. But in terms of the Arsenal squad, I do think it is a, it has been an aspect. How big it is, is a question, but it definitely has been at play. And I would also throw in as well, for me, something with Mikel Arteta. And again, I'm not a fly on the wall, for instance, in the summer, I don't know if we tried to bring in additional players to address certain areas with conversations we're having. I can only comment on what I've seen naively as a fan. You know, big up Tommy Assi, boss of a performance and party as well. But when I say those names, you've probably said it in your head, injuries. And injuries happen. I'll never get onto a player for being injured, but it feels like the same old story year in, year out around key players. So without getting at the players individually, collectively, that's something I want Mikel Arteta to learn from, because we're flirting. And again, the last two years we've announced ourselves. In the summer, we're finished. It was a fluke. It was this, that and the other. Fair enough. We're doing all right for a flukey team, an overrated team with a certified left back as a right winger. We're doing all right. But the landscape is not always going to be like this. The other teams that are kind of struggling are going to hit back. You know yourself, the path to success is never like that. There's going to be a wobble. And I know, Mikel, the one thing I like is what you said, is Mikel Arteta is not complacent. I think he's got admiration for what he's achieved, but I always get a sense of urgency. I don't think he's happy, if that makes sense. But I do feel we're at that ground now, where naturally you either kick on or you go back. I don't think stagnation really exists. It's either forward or backwards. You're never just stationary. So we're going to have to see in that regards, man. So how are you feeling about the Premier League, honestly, then, in your heart? Four games left. A bit of optimism after battering Chelsea. I'm not asking you to come out and proclaim with chess. We're going to win it and whatnot. But what's your thoughts? Well, unfortunately, I'm not a big Arsenal fan. I think City will win it. I've said it from the beginning of the season. I've backed it the whole way. My prediction was City first, Arsenal second, Liverpool third. And I'll stick with it because I... Look, all we can do is win our games from this point. As I say, it would have taken a historic run for Arsenal. It might not be enough as well. Exactly. And possibly even if we'd beaten, you know, Villa, who knows, we'd drop one more point. Maybe it would have been a draw away to United on the final. Who knows? We can only look back and say at the end of the season and assess it properly. But yeah, I just I think City are going to push themselves to another level. They are... Monsters, man. The reason we all felt so dejected at the end of that Aston Villa game is we knew what was going to come. That's why in any other... Man United won the title with 75 points. Yeah. That's not this day and age anymore. Aren't we on 77? I think we've gone well past 75 points. We're on 77, as you said. I don't look at the league table, but yeah, that just shows you. Yeah, we're on 77 points. Ridiculous. Man United, and by the way, quite comfortably, I think, that year. Like, you know, the levels that it takes to win this league now, not only from the competitive level. Exactly, yeah. But, you know, the physical demands on the players and the tactical demands. And this league is so, so, so hard. It's so hard. All we can do is win our games. And, you know, if, you know, of course, that Villa game is going to hurt. But to me, it's less about the Villa game. It's more about those Fulham games. What game would you say? Like, assume we win all our games. Best, worst case scenario is that we win all our games. It's still not enough. When we look back at this 38-game calendar, what is the game slash games? Or in fact, game. Or in fact, you know what? That's too difficult. Two games where you think, boy, you know what? They're the ones I'm not after. Yeah, the home and away against Fulham. We should be cruising at home. And then we make a silly mistake. Probably put the nail in the coffin of Ramsdell's Arsenal career. Because you literally can't make those mistakes. You know what you're going to say? You can't make those mistakes and you move on. No, no, you can't. You actually can't make those mistakes at this level because of who we're playing against Man City. Yep. So, you know, if you want to win the league. So, yeah. So that's, you know, that's put paid to him. And then away. I thought we were absolutely abject away at Creme Cottage and showed absolutely nothing. You'll be a nice piece of ----. Showed absolutely nothing. So, you know, that was so poor. You know, obviously, and you look at, you know, is it? Could we have approached things slightly differently? The Eti had. Could we have, you know, nicked something at Anfield? Those aren't the games for me. It's the Fulham. It's West Ham at home. Well, again, we were really, really poor. The games you mentioned, those sorts of games. And we could be on, you know, we could be nearing 100 points if we won those. Oh, it's the harshest thing about life, man. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. We could only deal rather than what if, you know, what is. And for me, I would say Fulham. Fulham at home kind of shows the ugliness of Arsenal. If I had to criticise where we're at at this moment in time. I would say for me, beyond the obvious, it's a difficult one because, you know, there's been games we've been better in the first half and terrible in the second, probably like Aston Villa. For me, I would say West Ham at home because we had a billion chances, couldn't put the ball in the back of the net. I'd actually say North London derby, you know, and maybe even the very game that we've been reviewing in the Chelsea game. Because I think we had a terrible 45 minutes to an hour. And I think our tether actually learned not to play Jorginho and Zinchenko based on that game. West Ham, undoubtedly, they were there for the taking. And I just think the Spurs game, we shot ourselves in the foot. Obviously, Declan Rice came off. Big up Jorginho because he's been a key part of this team. But obviously, that happened. So for me, if you had to press me for an answer, I would say West Ham. Let's circle back over this game and get into some individual performances. Thomas Partey, we know the man's quality. We know the baggage he comes with. Yesterday, it's a bit unfortunate because I think he has a claim to be man of the match. But watching the game again, I think Odegaard cooked. I think Kai is up there. We'll get on to them. But what did you make of Thomas Partey, man, as he played his way into the North He's got to start for me. He's got to start. Yeah, mate, he's especially against Salah if he's playing because Salah's that similar sort of leggy, leggy player. He's so good, mate. He's so good. People talk about, you know, what did you do with him in the future? For me, I think you let his contract run out and you keep him here next year because not at the expense of a signing, but, you know, if he's, unless there's some crazy offer, I think we keep him here in the kind of in the Elneny role, essentially, you know, the player who is sort of the sixth man out in midfield. And if he can play, then great. If he plays the same amount of minutes as Elneny, then fine. He's a fantastic footballer. So, you know, if we can layer on top and still keep him, which is a question that I think would be in a great position and he may stay fit. Who knows? Probably won't, but I don't know. I was with you. I don't know, but it's a dream. The how quickly the ball comes out of his feet. He's so progressive. He's always got a picture when he's when the ball's coming into him. He's always got a shoulder check. He's always turning, always on a half turn. He's always going on. Defensively, he just sticks that leg out and sort of hooks it off the octopus. And it is so good. It's so good. That sort of telegraph ball he's got out to Saka was on display again. Mate, he's just he's he's superb. And the big thing watching it yesterday was, as I say, I think there was a bit of a little bit of maybe disjointment between him and Rice. But, you know, that would come over the course of the season. But imagine a 38 game league season with Rice, Erdegaard and Partey and Timber. I mean, only Timber as well. We'll get on to him. I think only Manchester City, if anything, could talk to us, really. And I think on form, not necessarily ability. Collectively, we might have the best trio there. You know, it's got everything. Honestly, mate, I think we win the league by five points with that team. Like if we've been this good this season, if you know, obviously it would have been a different season. We might find other issues in our team. But if we had the season we had and added them in in important parts. That's his second start in eight months. And it's a shame with Partey, man. I think for me, we've spoken about this. I do think we'll sign a midfielder. I think we need an eight as a minimum. If it was up to me and kind of disregarding Partey for a second, I'd bring in another eight and I'd bring in a six. Now Declan Rice is durable. I'm not saying to get rid of him. There's just been times he needs a rest. And obviously the option to close out games. For me, that trio of Odegaard, Rice and Partey has everything. It's Funder, Ice, Lightning. You've got Odegaard doing what Odegaard does. You've got Rice being what Rice does. And I think with Partey, I can't really explain it. And again, I'm not a fly on the wall. I'm not listening to what the players are saying. But, you know, if anyone that's played football, sometimes when you've got your friend in Sunday league or whatever, and you know they're very good, it raises everybody's standards. It's like Odegaard was gambling already, but it's like he's gambling because he knows Partey's behind him. Rice kind of has that freedom. I think that was probably more reflected. It could have been against Wolves. I might be wrong, but I think Partey came on against Wolves and it looked like Rice had a caffeine boost. I just think Partey's a great facilitator. And, you know, you do a great job with your edited videos and whatnot. Check them out, folks. Passing lanes. You know, with Partey, there's a lot more passing range and lanes. That obviously means the Sackers and these guys stay further up the pitch. Like even the first goal, where it's a good passage of play, I think Sackers found Odegaard. Odegaard found Partey. Partey's found Rice. That is what I want to see. That is what I want to see as a minimum, man. And you said it there. It's just it's all the other baggage with Partey. On paper, quality play. All the other things, I don't know. What did you make of Tom Iassu? Because I actually feel, obviously, when you win 5-0 and all the context is no one's really going to speak about Tom Iassu. And I don't want to speak about certain other left-backs. Big up Timba, who we'd love to see back-fit and scored a great goal. But Tommy, man, great game from him. Yeah, good game in the final third, actually. I thought it was solid. And he looks a lot more two-footed than I remember him to be. I remember Arteta said he's two-footed, man. I thought you listened to the press conferences. They did target him quite a bit, actually. And there was a couple of moments that Matt Brachy got the better of him. If we're sat here in a parallel universe, wearing different clothes, we might be talking about Tom Iassu mistaking a Chelsea 2-1 win. I'm not wishing that into existence. And I'm not trying to be negative. You're letting me down, man. You're letting me get a Kyrie off of Bernardo going past him. Like, it happens, bro. No, no, no. And I'm just saying that, you know, I don't know. I think it's very hard to jump into games at this intensity, at this stage of the season and expect flawlessness. You're going to have a bit of... A hundred percent. Salim and Gabriel, they're in a rhythm. You know, Ben White's in a rhythm. Ben White was ridiculous. Tom Iassu is a brilliant defender. And arguably, and I was watching him last night and I was saying, is he... He's not maybe... He's not maybe our best player in build-up. He's not maybe our... A left-back in build-up. He's not maybe our best left-back. Probably, you know, tucking in size. He's not maybe our best left-back, you know, in certain areas. But overall, in all phases, he might be our best left-back. I can't lie. I'm willing to stick my neck on the line. Timba. I know there's no body of work, but you're right, though. Excluding Timba, in terms of... I'm just getting my stocks in from early. In terms of Kivijor and Zdjanko. Oh, a hundred percent. I think Tom Iassu, in terms of all phases, if you look at him across, you know, in different situations, when the rounds build up, et cetera, et cetera, I think he probably is our best left-back overall. Just depends what type of game you're trying to play. So I think he was brought in probably for Cole Palmer. And I think he did well. Yeah, the thing with Tom Iassu is always going to be, can he stay fit? You know, I think he's played something like 600 minutes for Japan this season. And 800 minutes for Arsenal. You know, it's like, it's like, mate, you know. And we've given him the contract. We clearly don't feel that the injury issues are a major, major concern. But one thing I will say with Tom Iassu is he always has different issues. It's not, you know, it's not part of his hamstrings every single time. It's, you know, with Tom Iassu, it's a calf, then it's an ankle, then it's a leg, then it's a foot, then it's always slightly different issues. But yeah, we'll just have to wait and see. Would you make a Timba, man? Because obviously, again, I feel me and you are very aligned with this. And that, again, I don't want to sound like the bearer of bad news, but I urge caution. I hope he can play some part of the season. I describe him as a unicorn. You've probably seen his Erie de Vizier stats in the final third. The man's a physical unicorn. And obviously, you know, Arteta has to find internal solutions. Injuries happen. But I do think, you know, that really put a spanner in the works of what Arteta wanted to do in the summer. When you couple that with Kavats' initial struggles in midfield, I do think there's a correlation with that. And Martinelli's inconsistent season, not yesterday, but ultimately not looking that good down the left-hand side. What do you think of Timba's potential return for what's left of the season and moving forward? Yeah, I was watching that U21 game against Blackburn and he is... What a goal! I was sat right here and I went like, ah! Just immediately picked up my phone. It was like, ah! It's time to get to play your game, say it, say it. Yeah, yeah. Put the word out, we're back. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, the way he receives, how sharp he is. You know, Mikel's spoken about him in the final third in terms of the qualities that he brings. And he says, you know, he's got qualities that no one else in the squad has. And I think that's about the underlap. I think if you watch him for Ajax, both sides, he can receive it back to goal and turn in that sort of early half space and then move forward as well. He's so sharp. He's, yeah, he's such a good player. I mean, you watch it, the way he receives, the way he can turn himself. That's... To be that, yeah, to be that sharp after an ACL is really impressive. He didn't look fit, by the way. You know, he looked like he needed some time. And he's, you know... I hope he's in the squad for Spurs. I hope we get a 3-0 win and he can play five minutes at the end and just knock it all out and see him back. Well, you know, I think you can manage it and see how the game feels. But I suspect we won't see him starting a game for Arsenal this season. Oh, same. I do think we might get some minutes, hopefully, last game of the season. We might get sort of a half. It's a shame because I thought we'd have him back earlier. But you can't rush these things. And there was, you know, it was always, the moment he got the ACL, Timber's going to be better next season. There's no... We might have got something out of him. People were saying, oh, he's going to be back for Porto. He's going to be in the starting eleven for Porto. You're dreaming. You're dreaming. And, you know, look, we were all hopeful. I remember thinking, like, you know, let's hope he's there. But the idea that that was absolutely actually going to happen in reality was it was a very small chance. So, yeah, look, he is going to change the fortunes of a lot of our left hand side, which has been massively bypassed this season. I think you look at Martinelli. You look at Zinchenko. Obviously, Kivill's had good periods of the season, but maybe not sustained it. I think had we had Timber on our left hand side, mate, we would have been having very different conversations about Martinelli. I think we'd have different conversations about Declan Rice. I think we'd be having different conversations about Kai Havertz. Loads of different things. You know, Timber, that sort of defensive cog, someone who can do what he does, take it, go on the underlap, attract markers, play those one-twos, go on the outside, go on the inside. That buzziness, that sharpness that he has, that had to be part of Mikel's idea for this team moving forward. So, yeah, next season's so exciting. Bang on the money, man. And obviously, you know, we can only deal with what's in front of us versus what if, but kind of like the conversation we just had about Part A. If Part A was a bit Timmy, Tommy Yasuda on a more regular basis, Timber, we're having very different conversations. And I do expect to see Timber primarily play at left-back, but naturally, as you said, he's a versatile player. Who knows? There could have been occasions Benjamin White's legs could have been rested. I do think it's interesting though, because again, what the rumours say and what we actually do are very different things, but it still seems like Arsenal want to address that left-hand side, regardless of Timber, but I'm here for all of the options. And, you know, I wonder where it is. I wonder where Mikel Arteta ranks the full-backs on the left-hand side, because I think he's learned from Pep Guardiola in a sense of Wenzhenchenko's playing inverted. He's obviously a great player, but he's not strong enough one-v-one. And I know everybody's running a lot of jokes about Arsenal and City having about a million defensive players on the pitch and stinking out the place, but you need to be able to have that nitty and gritty stuff. Like when we last spoke, that's why I wasn't surprised at going to the Etihad and getting Neil Nils, because we've shown we can do that kind of thing. So I'm interested to see what happens there. We can't talk about full-backs and not speak about Benjamin White. You know, I don't think he would win it and I don't know where we'd go. And I think if anyone wants to look at Mikel Arteta's progress, you go back a couple of years. If I asked you for your player of the season, before my sentence has even left my mouth, you're going to say Bakayo Saka. Now it's Saka. Now it's Rice. Now it's Gabriel. Now it's potentially Saliba. Now it's Benjamin White. He deserves his flowers, man. And to be fair, in August, you know, Tommy was the guy. Obviously Zinni off the back of last season was first choice. Timbers come in. He's reacted well, man. The man's a warrior. You don't need to watch football when you behave like this. Southgate needs to come out and say, sorry, you need him for the Euros. Need him for the Euros. He is, he's unbelievable. He might be, if you went, right, final third combinations, 1v1, build up, set plays. If you went through all the things that you can do in a football match, throw-ins, like every single phase of play. Shit housery. Anything you can do in a football match, who's the best at it in Arsenal squad? As a kind of average, Ben White's up there, mate. He's an all-rounder, 100%. He genuinely is up there as maybe one or two. Like he, you know, players have different strengths and stuff. This guy, this guy can play centre-back to, I think probably a, maybe not a sort of world-class, I think Salim and Gabriel in terms of their size and speed and their running over their shoulder, I think he'd get done a little bit. So I think it's right to move him out of centre-back. I'm not saying he can't play centre-back to a good level, but he could probably play centre-back to a top four, maybe even top three level, right? God forbid, but he could fill in if something happened to our centre-back. Let's not even talk about that. I don't want that to happen again. And we'll have, we'll get a centre-back who's more, more fit to what we want. But you know, he can do that. And we saw, you know, he got, he played and, you know, I appreciate we kind of fell apart at the end, but that's because of injuries. He played centre-back to a top four level a couple of years ago. So to come to, into a right-back position and be better, and be better in this position. Revert back to a right-back role and play it very differently to what Arteta demands of someone like Bielsa, you're banging on the money, man. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and in the sort of three on that side. What I love about this last night, he used to be in that sort of pod on the right-hand side of White, Urdegaard and Saka. He used to be the sort of, sort of the wall pass, was sort of the, you know, the guy who- That's brilliant to hear about that. Yeah, he'd be, he'd be there, but it would be Saka would knock it into him and he'd get it back out of his feet. He'd have a goal, yeah. Whatever. But now White is the protagonist a lot of the time. He's, he's either, you know, obviously he's always been making the runs, but he's either making the runs or he's passing the ball inside or he's telling Saka where to stand or Urdegaard's getting his ideas off his run or whatever it might be. If you watch that now, it looks like three players who are, you know, it's, I'm not saying, you know, but you know, when you used to watch like Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta and just that, that rotation there, I'm not saying- That is our hub. Let's know, you're bang on the money, man. That is the hub of Arsenal at the moment in time. Yeah, yeah. And I'm not comparing them quality-wise, but you know, the, the, the rotation, the three of them are kind of indistinguishable. Guess your laptop agrees as well, man. What do I do there? I don't know, man. You did something like that. I don't know if it was the form or that. I don't know what you did, man. That happened when I was live with Jesse as well. I don't know what it is. I think you could do this. And then it gives you a thumb, normally gives me a little thumbs up, anyway. But yeah, the, yeah, the, the, how, how smart he is in the final third when you consider where he used to play, it's just, it's like seeing Saliba now and like we come back in two years time and he's, and he's our left, he's our left back. It's like, it's just crazy. It's mental. And what people don't, and what people don't give Benjamin White credit for. And again, how far credit goes, I don't know. Cause at the end of the day, you're playing for Arsenal. You're playing with an innovative manager like Arteta. You have to have a level of competency to undertake whatever information he's giving you and replicate it. But you listen to Benjamin White, how he speaks, you know, getting into number 10 positions and all the facets that come with being a right back. I don't think people give him credit. Like I'm not going to go as far as to say it's the hardest role in this Arsenal team because I'd have to speak to the players. But I don't think there is a harder role than being a fullback in a Mikel Arteta system. You have to contribute in all phases. You kind of have to do everything. And obviously I didn't know he was going to go and win five nil. And I don't really rate Madrid like that based on his form. But I thought for Benjamin White, I backed you cause you've shown it. But I thought anyone who's played Sunday league, if you're playing someone who's quick, it kind of harms your game because you have the, you know, kind of time when you're going to venture forward. You don't want to get caught in a foot race. Now, obviously it transpired that that wasn't a thing, but I've got nothing but respect for Benjamin White. Odegaard though, talk to me, man. There's no way I'm going to get you here and we are not going to have a sentiment or segment on Martin Odegaard. You know, the class region, 30 odd million quid, world-class player in the making if he isn't already, man. Apart all our players at the minute. Yeah, mate, he- And people still don't believe in Arteta, my guy. It's crazy. Yeah, look, I watched a comp of him last night before I went to sleep. I was in bed on my laptop and I was watching a comp of him and I was like, it's like a highlight reel. It was like every involvement. It was like, I'm sure you saw it. I think it's been taken down now. But yeah, like the, it was like a highlight reel. Every touch is purposeful. It's dynamic. The detail on his passing, he's putting it to the right foot, to the right weight, at the right time, in the right consistency, with the right tempo. He's the hub of our team in so many ways in our front three, sorry, not our front three, in our forwards team. He's, yeah, everything flows through him. He is, he does everything. He leads our press. He leads our forward play. He leads us in the final third, getting us up the pitch. He's our captain. I'm sure people are aware that there's quite a big Arsenal account that talks about getting rid of him. Yeah, I saw you go for him. I saw you go for him, or her, whatever it is. But look, yeah, well, I'll name it. No new thing. Look, I really respect that guy, by the way. I think he has really good, I think I find the style of his tweets a little bit bizarre sometimes. Yeah, I've got no problem with it. I don't really see, you know me, I'm not really one to be in the Arsenal Twitter. I don't really see his tweets. I just see your tweet. I'm like, right, you're going after everyone, innit? Yeah, but look, he's a smart, he's a really smart dude and has really good opinions and a lot of things that he says I agree with. But the Urdegaard thing, it's mad. We're watching this guy going, well, he needs to be a left eight. Look how he just played from the right. Look at one of the goals where he ran from the right to the left. He needs to be a free, obviously there's structure, but he needs to be a free spirit, essentially. He needs a free roll from the right. And look, I'm not against playing on the left, but the idea that he's a bum on the right, or like, you know, he's completely, you know, he's holding- What, he was referred to as a bum on the right-hand side? He's holding our team back. It's like, mate, come on, come on, you know? So, you know, I- That's crazy. Yeah, look, I just think he's extraordinary. I think he's extraordinary. I think he's so committed. He's such a good example. You know, imagine being an academy player, looking up at Martin Urdegaard right now to see what it takes to play for Arsenal. Imagine being when you're- Or when you've really learned a lot from him. Yeah, imagine when Mourinhieri or Lewis Kelly, we've wanted these- How many years have we said, you know, Man City or, you know, Real Madrid or whatever, you know, Roy Kim, where are the young players, you know, where are the leaders in the dressing room? If all else fails, bro, you need to go and do the mimicking voices. There's Arteta, there's Reykjanes, look at that. Yeah, when my football career fails, I'll go do that. But yeah, the- Look, the- Yeah, the example he sets for those players is absolutely incredible. And, you know, to see him blossoming, coming into his prime, because what is he now, 25 now? I think he's 24, 25. The next three, four years are going to be wondrous with Martin Urdegaard. And, you know, Arteta also said on TNT that it was not an Hedu signing, but Hedu really pushed for him. So credit to Hedu. Credit to Hedu. And I think, you know, for a lot of younger fans out there that didn't see the Cesc Fabregas and the Dennis Bergkamps and didn't always see the best of Ozil because the dynamics were different. Martin Urdegaard's the closest thing to them kind of players in Santi Cazorla. And, you know, the only criticism I would say with Urdegaard, I think he turns up in big games. But as reflected yesterday with us winning 5-0 against someone that's, what, 12th, 13th? Maybe Urdegaard needs to do better in bigger games, man. Really is. But mate, look at him against Porto. Look at him against Barna. I agree. People will just look at the Chelsea game and their 12th and say he doesn't turn up in big games. He turned up against Bayern. He turned up yesterday. He'd been turning up in big games. He turned up at Anfield. I think him and Rye were two of our better players. But as you know, once people are gender driven, Urdegaard doesn't fit the image of a typical British football club captain. Even though I think if you watch the games, you can see him. Even in the second half, we talked about changes. There's one time he's telling Declan Rice to press further or telling the team to come with him. But at the end of the day, if Urdegaard keeps doing what he's doing, I don't really care. Before I let you get out of here though, man, I need to ask your thoughts on a couple of player-related transfer rumours and questions. We've been linked with Alise Gamares. What's your thoughts on those two players and could they add something to Arsenal? I like Alise. I think he's too similar to Saka. Really? Yeah, in terms of the way he takes the ball, the way he takes on his man. I think he's very reliable in terms of how he holds onto the ball in the final third. He's more of a kind of the greelish-y side of Saka. That's sort of that, and he's a brilliant player and he's more direct than greelish. You want more of a pace. I think he's a brilliant football player who's so technically gifted and probably would be the perfect foil for Saka, but that's not what we need from him. So I really like him, but I think he's a fantastic football player. For someone like Eman Unicer, they should be all in for him. No, man, they'll ruin him, man. Well, yeah, they would. Well, you could get your sign in Rashford if that was the case. Listen, listen. And Gamares, I really like him. My only concerns are about his character a little bit. Really? We need some bastards, man. He's a bastard, man. Yeah, but maybe he's the sort of bastard that you love because he plays for you like Ben White, but I don't know. At the minute, I'm not convinced. I think he's committed, but sometimes I've watched him play and I've thought, no, you've gone... Ben White's doing it in a slightly... You can tell that there's a gamesmanship to it and a sportsmanship to it. Bruno seems out of control sometimes, and I don't necessarily love that because it's a discipline record. I think he's committed. I think what we might need, I don't know, but it depends how our midfield shapes up, but I think what we might need is a sort of overall all-rounder. And if you look at the numbers, Scott Willis did a great bit on this the other day. He has everything. He can pass, he can shoot, he can defend, he can set up, he can score goals, set pieces. You know, he's got everything. He can even wrap together, bro. Yeah, yeah. He can adapt to certain game states and stuff, and I think he would probably die for Arsenal if he came to us in the same way he died for Newcastle. But I don't know. I think there's more finesse. And also, we're gonna be sat against low blocks quite a lot. So, you know, do we need someone who's a bit more... We can unpick those locks a bit more. I hear that, I hear that, I hear that. Give me a prediction for Spurs, then, before I let you go, man. Do you know what? I'm bullish. I'm still drinking the Kool-Aid. I'm going for 2-1 Arsenal. I know it doesn't sound the most optimistic. Yeah. I think it'll be a really tough game. I think it'll be a really tough game because Spurs will be up for it, and they'll want to cause an upset. So... They've had rest as well. Yeah, they're gonna have to be careful. Yeah, but actually, the rhythm of that sometimes is helpful. Yeah, yeah, it's a double-edged sword. You know, if they'd had a... But they've had, like, what, 14 days? It's something crazy. They've had a long time to kind of broom. It's a long time. So, you know, four or five days is good. When you get into eight, nine days, it's becoming less useful. I think I'm gonna go 3-2 to Arsenal. I think it'll be a tough game. Five-goal thriller. Oh, my goodness. Let's hope it's the Arsenal way that has been there all season, where it's boring for, you know, really and truly. I can't imagine anyone doesn't know where you're at, people. Again, make sure you're subscribing to the different... No, Alex has a great channel, man. The man's at 60,000. I told him, don't come back on this channel until you get 100K. I really think he's gonna get that. You keep inviting me back. Yeah, I know, man, because you know what? It is, because for me, and I'm not just saying this because, you know, you always come on my channel when I ask you to. It's nice to be able to speak to fellow Arsenal fans, or better yet, football fans, that apply balance. If there's a reason to be optimistic, you're gonna be optimistic. And likewise, I'm not really on this, you know, we've won, we're the best thing since live spread, we've lost, we're terrible, we're everybody out. I mean, to me, we are, but you get where I'm going. So I've got a lot of time, and it's just refreshing to hear difference of opinions and stuff like that. So the door will always be open for you, my dude, man. But let's hear it out the horse's mouth. Where can they find you, man? So it's up the different knock on YouTube. I've got a video coming out probably tomorrow at this point about Martinelli. And the, oh, okay, okay. I'm gonna be tuned into that. I'll be in the comments. You're doing yourself a disservice, man. The other channels, bro. Oh, yes. And the Canon podcast. Look at him, he doesn't care about them. No, that's not true. The Canon podcast, you can find me there. And we also go live on Thursday evenings on the different number live. Exactly, people. So yeah, man, you know where to find him. There's free platforms where you can find Alex's face. I'm pretty sure you lot agree and disagree and have your own thoughts on what we've discussed. So let us know in the comments, your thoughts on Arsenal versus Chelsea, the individual performances and any other talking points we've crossed, man. I'm gonna go and let you lot enjoy what's left of your day. Come on, you Gunners again. Let's keep going, man. Alex, one love, my dude. I'll link up with you in a bit, man. Peace. Thank you, bro. See you.