This is Fine… Right?

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Transcript

Jerrell 0:01

It is time to discuss Arsenal bottling the league. February?

Will 0:09

did not announce the 1, 2, 3. So I'm doing my last second research and all I hear is that I was like, was that performative? That's

Jerrell 0:16

Yeah. Today's Thursday, February 19th, 2026. We only had one Premier League fixture since the last time we recorded. We had a couple champions league, but we're gonna talk about some of it. Will, how are you doing? How are you feeling? Has your week gotten better?

Will 0:33

could be better. could There's room for improvement.

Jerrell 0:37

How about outside of the football space? Has your week been better?

Will 0:42

life is fine.

Jerrell 0:43

Oh good. Good.

Will 0:44

is fine outside of the football space, but

Jerrell 0:46

That's good. Gotta remember there. There's other things to life than, than football.

Will 0:51

No. Fuck that. We, we, we've been riding high for 21 match days. Fuck that. I don't want no shirking anything. I was re-listening to last week's earlier just so I was just like, you know, and Chris was just like, we've been trashing, it's funny we haven't lost in seven games, but it feels like the sky's falling. But we'll get there. I'm

Jerrell 1:08

But

Will 1:09

are you,

Jerrell 1:09

we've been trash. Pretty good. Pretty good. I wasn't here last week. I couldn't say it on the record. Both my kids got a point last week in the, in the Jarrell Derby as I think you guys branded it. And, and an arsenal just, I don't know,

Will 1:25

your

Jerrell 1:26

made me sad. AR

Will 1:27

kid.

Jerrell 1:28

two kids two.

Will 1:29

said, fuck your one kid. I don't, I didn't sign up for this for two kids. Okay, you just bought that little fucker along. All right,

Jerrell 1:37

Oh he brought a bee home and I was like, that's pretty cool. Put it on the fridge.

Will 1:41

one's ever said that. No one, literally, no one has ever said that, but it, it's fine. It's fine. Life is fine. Life is

Jerrell 1:48

I'm saying if the bees go extinct and so does the human race.

Will 1:51

That was a shitty Mark Wahlberg movie. Yes, I've seen that too. I think that was the M Night Shalon movie. I, I'm on te

Jerrell 1:58

Oh,

Will 1:58

It's fine. It's

Jerrell 1:59

oh, chill, chill, chill

Will 2:01

the locations, bro.

Jerrell 2:02

locations. We got some new people out here. We got Manchester out there in the uk. I.

Will 2:08

I feel like we've had Manchester before.

Jerrell 2:10

They, I don't know, maybe it's, they were in another part of Manchester. I couldn't tell you. We had Doha, Qatar, Hillsborough, Kansas, and Athens, Greece.

Will 2:21

Nice.

Jerrell 2:22

They're, they're out here. They're supporting us. They want to watch us spiral into insanity as Arsenal

Will 2:30

What are you guys are,

Jerrell 2:31

to keep it together.

Will 2:32

Guys, guys, like we're still, we're still fine. It's fine.

Jerrell 2:36

We're still people.

Will 2:38

I

Jerrell 2:38

We're still people.

Will 2:40

Friday.

Jerrell 2:42

But yeah we did have FA cup, lots of fixtures. I think it was, what, 16 fixtures for the FA Cup. Now we're,

Will 2:50

yeah.

Jerrell 2:50

we're down to our Final 16 teams and. Some, some decent results. A lot went the way you expected to. I didn't think Aston Villa would lose to New Castle, but no.

Will 3:04

Town upset Burnley

Jerrell 3:06

Burnley, yes pickup said,

Will 3:08

one where it was just kind of Burnley top, top level gets upset. I think they were, were they at home? I

Jerrell 3:15

yes. Burnley was home, was at turf. More.

Will 3:17

Yeah. Yeah. So that, I think that was the biggest surprise result. Everything else, yeah. Newcastle three went over Aston Villa. Bit of an upset that kind of might have queued Newcastle's win later in the week as well, but we'll get there.

Jerrell 3:29

And Arsenal had a four oh result against Wi Wiggin Athletic and the Cinderella story. Macclesfield, they ended up losing to Brentford a one zero in what? It was pretty cl I think Macclesfield was playing in a way to get to penalties and brentford just couldn't find the back of the net for a long while. That was a, that was a pretty fun one to watch. I always like a good Cinderella story, so I'm just like, I, I'm pulling for Brentford, that gym teacher goalkeeper, I really wanted him to go far.

Will 3:57

You

Jerrell 3:57

But it wasn't to be.

Will 3:58

but the bees continue to be selfish.

Jerrell 4:01

Yep.

Will 4:01

continue

Jerrell 4:02

Continue. Yeah.

Will 4:04

it's fine. Yeah, outside of that Arsenal game was the only FA Cup game I got to kind of really watch. And I started feeling bad'cause it was four, nothing really quick. I think it was like 15 minutes of And then they just kind of leveled out. But. I recognized some of the faces that their players had, where they were just kinda like, what, what do you want me to do? I was like, I've seen that on Tuesdays. So yeah. All, all in all nothing, nothing as riveting as like Macs Field's first thing, we are professionals but yeah, can't wait for the next round of ties. Wolves, Liverpool, they're gonna be at home in, know, I, I'm not one to take light. Of wolves Newcastle, Manchester City as well. First time this laid into the season drill that two teams are on for the quad, and that just feels even more real after yesterday's result. So

Jerrell 4:50

Oh yeah.

Will 4:51

Yeah,

Jerrell 4:52

We will, we will arsenal play in Mansfield like you said, Manchester City, Newcastle. Rexam has made it this, I think this is for this Reham has ever made it in that fake cup. They'll play Chelsea host, they'll host Chelsea and Ham will take on Southampton, Sutherland's opponents, TBDI think there's, I don't, unless the opponent, what I'm looking at doesn't have it.

Will 5:14

Is there a replay being left? I don't, I don't believe they, I don't think they do replays anymore, so. Hmm.

Jerrell 5:21

Leads will play Norwich City and Westham will play Brentford. And I think that's for all the Premier League teams with a couple nods too. Some, some championship side teams. So

Will 5:32

a pending that March 3rd match. But

Jerrell 5:36

is that what it is? I think it's that one.

Will 5:38

it could be. Yeah.'cause was it Port Va, Bristol City? They're gonna be playing earlier in the week, the third. So it could have been a reschedule there.'cause I don't believe they played on this list of fixtures. So look at that. We're problem solving on the go.

Jerrell 5:51

on the fly. Yep, and that's what it is. It's Port Vale, Bristol.

Will 5:55

it's all jazz. It's all

Jerrell 5:56

Woo.

Will 5:57

winner, winner, that game, we'll face cinder. Then look at that, we're figuring things out. those match, those matched. Eight next round will be March 6th to the eighth that weekend or whatnot with that other fixture being played earlier in the week, March 3rd. So

Jerrell 6:11

Yeah,

Will 6:11

for that as we get to the quarterfinals of that competition.

Jerrell 6:15

here we go. Any favorites yet? Who you rooting for Will.

Will 6:19

know who I'm rooting for, but I mean, there's a lot of, there's a lot of big hitters still left there. Liverpool is still in it. Liverpool, it's, looks like they, that's gonna be one of their main focuses after outside of UCL, obviously they're still competing for those UCL spaces. Chelsea, Manchester City's there, Newcastle's there. Newcastle Souls had a really good week. Sunderland's been tough throughout the season. Brentford they're playing, they're, they're playing really well. They're sitting in European spots, so still a lot of good teams. And we always talk about the parody in the league where, you know, there's surprises that can be made every, every day. So yeah. Yeah, it looks like those, whatever the semi line's up to be is just gonna be big fixtures.

Jerrell 6:58

Very nice. It always I mean we'll get to it, but then we could jump over to Champions League. There were

Will 7:04

It's for

Jerrell 7:05

eight matches. Yeah. For the first leg.

Will 7:07

the layoff phase, leg one.

Jerrell 7:10

Let's

Will 7:11

always

Jerrell 7:11

go.

Will 7:11

that. Mouthful. It's just, let's rebrand it, please.

Jerrell 7:14

Gala Tasi five two over NTUs.

Will 7:17

Mm-hmm.

Jerrell 7:18

PSG gets the ball rolling against Monaco. That's a, that's a rivalry, right? It's the same league,

Will 7:23

yeah.

Jerrell 7:24

Three two for PSG.

Will 7:25

Yeah, PSG has been looking a little wobbly too over the last couple weeks. Then belly hit a injury in Desiree Deley. Bought them back early in the week. I think it was against rents, but yeah.

Jerrell 7:35

I am real Madrid beat Benca one zero. Also amid a racism scandal, which was pretty crazy as I watched that one live. I could just had it on the background. And Vinny score's goal, amazing goal. And. He gets a yellow card and I was super confused'cause I didn't think his celebration was anything excessive. And I'm also still like, why did he get the yellow card? And I forget the player's name.

Will 8:01

Press the

Jerrell 8:02

Tiani said slur and Vinny was trying to get the attention in the ref, but apparently there was not enough evidence to prove that something happened.

Will 8:10

Ben FKA died maintaining that he didn't call Esler Madrid side and Bape said in post game just like five, six times, he called him, out of his name. And that's kind of just kind of where it was elevated to. So while that's all getting sorted out, Jose Marino a lot of people which kind of took the same, oh, well I didn't hear anything, but regardless of what, there's no place for it in the game, obviously. And anyone who thinks otherwise probably fuck, fuck right off.'cause you know, soccer's a game for everyone. So.

Jerrell 8:38

Yeah. Doman takes down at Atlanta in the first leg, two zero, and then onto the Wednesday matches our L Premier team who is participating in the first round of the playoffs. New Castle, beat the brakes off of BU six one. It was not great. Bo Glint and the toothbrush supporters beat inter three one, and I don't know if you even check the scores on Club Ruge versus Athletico Madrid, but Athletico is up two zero at the half and then Club Rouge just stormed back to, to earn this draw three. Three. And.

Will 9:16

came back twice. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Jerrell 9:18

Yeah. And Lever Kuen finds two goals late over Olympiacos to take the advantage in this tie. So any, any of the, other than these matches that you caught outside of

Will 9:31

I did more

Jerrell 9:32

raw Madrid.

Will 9:32

kind of like a highlight package. I didn't even get to see the full rail Madrid game. It was like kind of pretty stagnant for the majority of it. But what I caught at, at least outside of Vinny, had a great goal. But. Now I kind of did, had to do a lot of it posting just since it's mid work week. But that bodo glint result, what a surprise. Inter

Jerrell 9:50

It's super surprising.

Will 9:52

last year and they're up three one, I mean, they're, they're headed to inter stadium, so I mean, there's still works to be done, but up to goals over, you know, the runner up in the competition last year is probably like one of the biggest results. in Bo Glimpse history, I imagine. But if you, if you're a Norwegian Bo Glimpse supporter and I'm wrong, please let me know. We didn't do our socials plug earlier, so we'll do it at then. But yeah, that club rug as well. Huge, huge result against the athletic. Athletic, continues to be up and down to beat the shit out of Barcelona. Can't stress that enough for nothing. A week, a week prior. And then they go on, they lost, I'm sorry, I'm looking at the wrong set of matches. They lost the hanno. The weekend. Three, nothing. So, Aico Madrid continues to confound against teams they should be beat. So,

Jerrell 10:38

I do wanna address the teams that Boda did beat so far this champions league to, to get to this spot.

Will 10:44

The Hall of Shame drill said.

Jerrell 10:46

Basically, yeah, so they beat Man City three one earlier in the Champions League and Athletico Madrid two one. So I guess is it really a surprise that they were able to score if and win against, against enter? Some will say, say no. So it's. It's incredible. This team played in the Europa, the Europa League last year, and they were bounced in the semi-finals by

Will 11:11

Was

Jerrell 11:12

Spurs.

Will 11:13

Oh, spurs.

Jerrell 11:14

Yep. They were bounced by the Spurs and to get a their first ever Champions League birth and really just show why they deserve to be here is nothing short of incredible. Like they have gone toe to toe with good teams and they've beat, like mainstays.

Will 11:29

Yeah, two goals and quick succession in the 61st and 64th minutes for them. But yeah, halfway home. Halfway home as someone who's seen, gone into enters cauldron hoping for as result. It's not, it's not easy, obviously. So it'll be a change of, you know atmosphere as well for them to deal with. So let's see if they can get the result through Benfica. Real Madrid still alive. PSG Monaco is still a lot to play for. I really think the only ties that are truly dead out is Newcastle, obviously. And then we have that gala out yesterday. NTUs Juventus has a lot of work to do at home. So, but besides that, all these games you could see a tie going, getting flipped one way or another.

Jerrell 12:03

Definitely,

Will 12:04

Is there any that you have circled as a, you know, hey, if I had to put some money on it, this is the one

Jerrell 12:11

of, to, to, to win the club, to win.

Will 12:14

it through? Yeah. Alright. Well, to

Jerrell 12:15

Make it through.

Will 12:16

yeah.

Jerrell 12:17

Oh, come back. If you would've asked me this before, like the Bodo enter game and you were just like, oh yeah, Boto, or I, I would pick, enter to win all day. It's just I don't know, it's, it is a disrespect on Bodo. I, I guess you could say.

Will 12:32

I It's also being realistic with just the gap between these teams, resources, right. And,

Jerrell 12:36

yeah.

Will 12:38

Prestige to a lesser extent, but just enters like a fixture of Italian football. European football, they've made two finals over like the last. years. So it's just got, but a glin, like you said, it's their first champions league. So I mean

Jerrell 12:51

Yeah.

Will 12:52

the one that's easy, right? Mm-hmm.

Jerrell 12:54

Yeah. So maybe, maybe a Monaco could, could upset PSG. It's not a, a large margin to overcome, with. With Benfica traveling to the Bernabeu, it's just, it's really gonna be tough. And

Will 13:09

gonna be charged. Yeah. As

Jerrell 13:11

there's,

Will 13:11

like.

Jerrell 13:11

there's just so much going on there that they're gonna lose themselves in the plot.

Will 13:15

I think what Real Madrid is always looking for, it's almost like that Jordan thing. Just like just a slide or something. You know, in our conversations about'em, just what's gonna band all these individual talents together, all these personalities and things, and it looks like they might have, they've got, might have gotten their little spark. They're on a little bit of a streak there now. Top of the table in La Liga as Barcelona continues to break my fucking heart. So, and you know, those European nights, so yeah, they're gonna be at home. It's gonna be a raucous atmosphere and it's gonna be something tough for benfica to overcome realistically. So we'll see. We will, we'll, we'll see what happens, but yeah, I'd be, if real Madrid did go out, I'd be wildly surprised and Christian would probably blame us even talking about it right now.

Jerrell 13:57

Yep.

Will 13:58

But yeah, I,

Jerrell 13:59

Bad.

Will 13:59

wanna see if Bru can kind of capitalize on athletic Madrid's, top seat, sevy form. They're tied right now, but it would definitely be upset in my eyes if they were able to kind of flip the tie especially away, so,

Jerrell 14:13

Oh yeah, that'll be huge. That'd be huge. The, I guess I don't know how much momentum would carry over from coming back from being down two Oh. To, to earn that draw, but I'm,

Will 14:22

Two. Oh, then three, two. Yeah, yeah,

Jerrell 14:24

To just have that momentum, like you gotta be riding high and be like, we can do it. Like we can, we can beat this team

Will 14:30

yeah. I'm gonna have

Jerrell 14:31

we'll.

Will 14:31

set up my my goal watch live two, because I mean, I, at least statistically they played them relatively well. More possession more shots on goal, more shot shot attempts in general. So. Might be a game. I'm gonna have to e some time out to try to rewatch it, so get the full story of it. But from my commentary chair it looked like they might have had like a gotten the better of athletic go and had a, a little bit of bad luck that led to the draw. So we'll see how it goes. So that leg is gonna be Tuesday, Wednesday, so we should be able to get cover that when we come back next week. And then we're gonna have that draw on February. through the round of 16th drill. So we'll have an idea of like what teams could be. So we can touch on that a little bit next week as well. When we're getting there is UCL begins to heat up. Ooh,

Jerrell 15:14

Here we go. All right. All right. And the topic we really,

Will 15:20

Let

Jerrell 15:20

yeah,

Will 15:20

just, whew. Okay. Okay, okay. Okay, ready.

Jerrell 15:24

the topic we been stalling on and just really didn't wanna get to, and we could just end the pod right now.

Will 15:29

also said was re-listening to the pod yesterday morning, funny enough. And I literally was just like, I, I wish I told myself to clip it, but I literally was just like, wolves has the chance to do the funniest

Jerrell 15:41

Oh, oh.

Will 15:42

they didn't do the full funniest thing as a neutral, it's still pretty funny. Right. As an Arsenal fan it's terrible, but as a neutral. Yeah. Yeah. Ain't that some shit?

Jerrell 15:55

Of course what we're talking about is the rescheduled fixture of Arsenal and Wolves. Arsenal took a, took a two goal lead, 56 minutes in and then gave it back to the wolves. Wolves managed to score two goals in the second half. It was a two two draw. Arsenal collects one point. They stand at 58 points, five points clear of man city, and man city has, what's the expression, game in hand.

Will 16:21

Yeah, man, city has a game in hand. So the biggest thing is you know, Christian did some aggressive accounting to make it sound a little bit more doom and gloom. A couple match weeks ago when Arsenal got their initial result, they had a game in hand. They had about like a nine point lead, seven point lead, something like that. Manchester city. Now they're gonna have an opportunity this week to bring it down to two.

Jerrell 16:41

Two.

Will 16:41

Which I don't know if so facto to you, but it really does feel like the race is on if they're able to get the result this weekend, right? Some could say it's already been on, but a lot of results we touched on it last week. I don't know if you got how much of it you got to hear while you got to edit drill, but it feels like a lot of results over the last couple weeks. You could feel like a tide turning in the race. And hey, if it didn't feel like it before this fixture. While on the road was a big one there, you're up two. Oh. Against a team that's trying to, you know, is on Panda watch as I affectionately referred to. You're in control through the majority of the game, and then you blow a two goal lead to a team that has a one win 48 point gap on the table. Sh less than ideal to

Jerrell 17:27

Absolutely, especially when like you're first, first I wanna say, do, is this a two man race or is this a, is this a three man race? Do we bring Ashton Villa into this conversation now at 50 points?

Will 17:38

I, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna say it's impossible. I think Aston Village just kind of turns into their depth. I mean, hey, your eight points out, it's what, you know, game in hand. It's not impossible. Don't, don't, don't get me wrong. But they're gonna be juggling, you know, a couple competitions and. We'll see, when you look at like the goal differential between the teams, the class of the league is gonna be Arsal and Manchester City. I'm not gonna sell Villa Short because they've been playing well, but they've been looking a little, they're also kind of dealing with like, kind of the early year kind of doldrums or whatnot. You alluded to, they just got knocked out of the FA cup. They squeak by Villa, I mean squeak, squeak by Brighton, who's been struggling last week. Ty against Bird Myth. Loss against Brentford. Been the really, the extent of their slide they've been doing holding several, okay. Outside of like a loss, Saverton earlier in the season. But they're not firing the way that, you know, a top team, you expect a first place team. That being said, neither is Arsenal, but Arsenal also built, gave themselves that buffer. So, I mean, it's uphill battle. I won't say it's impossible, but for me it's Arsenal in Manchester City right now.

Jerrell 18:47

Yeah, so it's basically when, for Arsenal, if it just, now it feels like you've the, the, the games that you felt you were like, okay, these, these games would be acceptable draws like that doesn't exist anymore. It feels like it's, you gotta win out. You need three points every time.

Will 19:03

It, it is just that the opportunity was there to kind of tuck this away. Like there is a, there's a couple periods where it looked like we'd be 10 points, 11 points clear, and really just. Manchester City can't, you know, miss a step or Villa, can't miss a step. And could it be a thing? I think we dropped 11 points of our last eight fixtures. Just not what we're looking for. And I think it's the manner of how they lost to wolves, how they tied to Brentford a little bit, where it's just kind of like almost a little bit too in their shell. Obviously they struggle against load blocks, but Arsenal, one thing we hang their hat on is just, you know, the control they have in the game. And we've seen it backfire a couple times where it felt like almost, Hey, you're a two oh on wolves. Wolves is a team that you have to kill, know, respectfully to wolves. Wolves isn't as bad, I think, as their records shows. I think they've had, you know, a little a little bit of un unlikeness in their fixtures. They have been very stagnant offensively throughout the majority of the season. But I don't think they're as bad as I, I I thought Southampton was worse last year personally, but. You are up 2.0, I don't care if you're on the road, you gotta go kill the game. That's why we have you bring all the depth in. This is why you have all those pieces. And then you see, hey, they eke out like, you know, one goal there. And it really felt like we were in a shell weird mix up between Gabrielle and riot the end. That just kind of led to, you know, that half chance you need to score a goal, but. For me, 2 0 2 oh after 55 minutes that this game needed to be killed early. So that way we're not in this, you know, you're not contemplating this position.'cause now Manchester City, relative to like how they started earlier in the season, they smell blood in the water. We've seen them, you know, go from February on, maybe not this iteration of the team, but just, okay, we're just winning everything. We're taking everything. So the pressure's on Arsenal Arson needs to get it done. That being said, still top of the table still alive in four competitions, but. You know, the vibes are a little less immaculate than they were prior. And you know, it's game on, you know? No, no, no more excuses. So it starts with, you know, we tweeted, we texted about it. just like, Gerald's like, Hey, I'll take back, you know, a potential bottle if we kind of smack spurs and now Spurs has a chance to do the funniest thing to us. So. So after that, it'll be a week in between fixtures for Arsenal. But yeah, yeah, every game's huge. 11. 11 match days for them. 12 for Manchester City, Manchester City looking to get a result against Newcastle. So,

Jerrell 21:29

So was because I wasn't able to catch this game, I was

Will 21:32

Mm-hmm.

Jerrell 21:34

wasn't aware that it was happening, and that's on me. Was this a heavily rotated arsenal?

Will 21:38

JLL missed our last podcast last week where we covered this extensively. I mean, Saka got the start. I think he ended up getting a late start. Start. I'm trying to remember off the top of my head. Yoko Desh was playing Marelli and more or less, not really. I mean, we sw pin Kaia got the start left back of that Zubie Rice Ode guard, I don't believe played in this one. He is still dealing with a knock that he picked up a week ago. so I mean, outside of that, you kind of had the players that you wanted in Yoko got to start you got Jay Zeus coming in late as they coming in late. Yeah. There's not really a good reason for it. It is just kind of like, just that killer touch. And obviously Arsenal's been struggling against lo blocks, but once you get those goals early and the, know, it's opened up, that's when you, that's when I miss a little bit of that 20, 22, 23 like directness that we had at a time and. I think Arteta is just kind of like, no, we have the depth and quality to choke out games. And it more often than not, hey, that last goal doesn't finish. It's okay. But that's two games we've had against wolves and one game we escaped with three points. Just awful last minute, one goal. And then this game we get, we get done up in reverse. It shouldn't come down to those fine mergers. It should be just kind of like, this is why we have the depth, this is why we have the quality, the momentum being top, and a 48 point gap on the table. This shit

Jerrell 22:59

Yeah, it,

Will 23:00

so.

Jerrell 23:01

I don't know. Anything can happen too, but it's, if you just look at the results outside of the Beford result, it's, that. It's, it's a road trip. And I know wolves is a road trip too, but Brentford is a different quality team compared to wolves. But you, you beat Sutherland three zero in your revenge game, a game that you, you drew a team you drew against earlier in the season. And then it's just take care of business against Leeds 4.0. And these aren't even teams sitting on allegation zone. Yeah, they're, they're, they're ascendant teams. But you, you. You put forth that quality and you score, you put seven goals on them and conceded none. And what is it like week over week where that doesn't translate?'cause it's like you played Sutherland, you beat up 3 0, 5 days later you're gonna play Brentford. And then it's oh, you, you're struggling for that first goal. And then like you, you don't know how to defend a, your great a set piece is, but apparently you don't know how to defend a set piece or a throw in. Then you go, then you go to.

Will 23:57

but Yes. Yeah.

Jerrell 23:58

Then you go to wig it and you're just like, alright, four. Oh, like literally before that, the 30 minute mark. And it's just okay, arsenal's back. It always just feels this arsenal takes a step back, blows out somebody, and then they step back again. And it's just like you have to keep your foot on the pedal and just like you're, you're top of the league, you top of the Champions league, like you're in contention for FA Cup, you're in contention for, for care about Cup. Like you need to beat these teams and yeah.

Will 24:25

what I'll do say to add a, a little bit of just kind of like, well, let's not fully, I'm not gonna kill myself yet. I know Christians are probably somewhere just like we're asked. This is the worst. But have conceived seven goals. This is from xg philosophy on X. Have conceded seven goals from chances under 0.05 xg this season. No Premier League size has been punished more by ultra low XG shots. There's a little bit I think, bad luck, but that's also over three years, us talking about it. Right. So yeah, it's a little bit, yes, we need to get the results. I think our teta needs to focus on just kind of right now. Hey, we're five point's clear right now. We're still in control. Arsenal's still in control of their destiny. They have a big game against, I have to go, I have to actually dive deep. So next week I'll be more prepared with just like fixture to fixture what we're looking like as we get, you know, our final runup into the season. I really need to get that power rankings from pre-season actually updated too. We'll do that too just so we can see how wrong we were about some things. But you're still top of the table. Yes. The pressure's up a little bit. You have goal differential on your side right now. You're that care about Cup Match March 22nd might tell us a lot about the season. I feel like, I feel like that might

Jerrell 25:35

Oh, for sure.

Will 25:36

you know, the result. That push is just kind of, because for me, I think Arsenal really just needs to, okay, what's the trophy that we kick off with? Okay, we achieve something for, you know, that momentum to be pushed on. We're not looking over, you're not looking over your shoulder. Oh, when's it gonna happen? Is it gonna happen under our. They, I think they need just something to grab onto, something to achieve, so that way you can propel them further. They're still, they still did great in UCL. Obviously they're not playing this week not in the playoff phase, and they're still alive in FA cup and they're, they have a match against Mansfield Town that you expect them to hit a semi. So, I mean, yes. Results have been a little wonky. But there's highs, there's lows every season. We saw Manchester City go through one earlier in the season. We've seen arsal for the most part, kind of manage, you know, injury marks We've seen. We just got Ben White back. OTA guard's been in and out of the lineup a lot of the season. We didn't have socket for a few months, so just despite all these things going on, we're still there, but this result. Almost like the Manchester United, we got done up by that result, by like two wonder goals, one by one by DGU. But it's just like, hey, yeah, the margins are thin and the room for mistakes. It's no longer there.'cause the one thing I don't wanna see is just that that league gets blown and we're just waiting, waiting on Manchester City to drop points. That's, that's not what this se season's supposed to be about. So you know, game on game.

Jerrell 26:58

Yeah, for sure. Sunday 1130 our time. It's the North London Derby against Tottenham Hot Spurs. What scoreline do you wanna see?

Will 27:08

Fucking 4 1

Jerrell 27:10

Four. One. Spurs are allowed to have one.

Will 27:13

They get one because we're, we're, well, yes, spurs is allowed to get one, but one off of just kind of like, just foot being put down on them and just kind of, maybe we get counter. I don't like to say just shut up. But yeah. I think it needs to be dominated.

Jerrell 27:28

Who gets the one, does he?

Will 27:30

Celebrates. Yeah. Yeah. Well, well, we'll see. Right. But you know, it's it's technically a road game even though it's in North London. So telling him, looking to end their slide a a little

Jerrell 27:44

Without Thomas Spring.

Will 27:45

Arsal, they Far without'em. But yeah, we'll, we'll see what, what's, we'll, we'll see what happens, but, you know Arsenal's been doing pretty well in this matchup the last bit, so I can't wait to watch it. But damn near must win at this point.

Jerrell 27:58

This is, yeah, this is how it feels.

Will 28:00

kinda runway, essentially.

Jerrell 28:02

I've been seeing it on social media, mostly on the gunner's, Reddit but a lot of supporters. I don't know. Arsenal's an interesting thing because it's like a lot of other supporters hate Arsenal fans because there's an arrogance about us to where you haven't won anything. Why do you talk so much shit? And why do you think you're owed so much? And then you're in the Gunnar Subreddit and they're just like, oh, if we win the Kara about Cup and then that's the only trophy we win. This, this seasons of wash, like disregarding the fact that you haven't won any hardware in the past five years, where do you stand on that? Where I guess what is, what are you willing to accept for Arsenal this year

Will 28:46

As far as like achievement.

Jerrell 28:48

as far as hardware or achievement? Yeah.

Will 28:50

I mean, I think you, you need to build on that UCL run regardless, like a round of 16 isn't gonna, especially after last year's, like semi-final run. I think you have to ideally UCL at least semi-final. But outside of that, you need to, you need to win the league. I think the league has to be won. Care about Cup will be in like a nice notch, but. Just an FA cup and then, you know, a burnout in the EPL and not doing well in the UCL isn't gonna be enough. I, I feel like, I feel like you need a combination of two trophies, whether that's car about or, you know, a deep UCL run something. But the, I, the Premier League just has to get done. I feel like if it doesn't get done this year, it's just kind of like, you know, I could look at depth a few years. Okay. Liverpool ran with it last year, but. This team is built to win trophies now. And the longer it takes to actually achieve that, the more that that doubt, doubt and uncertainty goes into your project. So, I, for me, premier League or UCL need one of the two need to be won for this project, but. I don't know if care about FA Cup is enough. If you have a heartbreaking, you know, hey, we're top of, you're top of the table. I think since like match day six

Jerrell 30:02

It's been a while. Yeah.

Will 30:03

So I'm just kinda like, I don't see a version of this season unless we win three trophies outside of it that not winning the Premier League ends. Okay. You know, it has to be either UCL, premier League and then one of the others. So, especially considering care about Cup. If we don't win the league, it's, I'm assuming it's Manchester City that does it again to us. So I'm just kind of like

Jerrell 30:29

a team that's been like, they're rebuilding. They're retooling, and

Will 30:33

a transition year, it looks like. Once again, I feel like we said this so many times

Jerrell 30:37

every year.

Will 30:38

that Guardia is actually gonna be out at the end of the season or whatnot. But it is just, they are in transition. They had a bad run of form, whatnot. And I don't even feel like they're fully realized for what they're trying to do in that project outside of all the investment they have. But yeah, I need the league, you know, I'm even Stevens about a lot of stuff, but I, you need the league UCL, you never know what's gonna happen. Care about I, you know, you want that trophy regardless, since it's, especially since it's a final against Manchester City. But. It's not enough on its own. You, you, we need the league. You be, you controlled it for half the season, you need to finish the job. I

Jerrell 31:13

Fair enough.

Will 31:13

to support a team that has a reputation for having the Yep. Ll It's not fun. It's not fucking fun. That shit becomes real

Jerrell 31:20

Can't say that out loud.

Will 31:22

yeah.

Jerrell 31:23

All right. This Saturday.

Will 31:25

what would you settle for trophy

Jerrell 31:27

What would I snow for?

Will 31:28

Okay for you?

Jerrell 31:29

I guess as a supporter of teams that have just broken my heart for my entire life with the Panthers and the Hurricanes and Orlando City and just everything like that. I just I wanna know what it feels like to just win something, just something. Then that's just where, that's just where I'm at.

Will 31:48

No, that's fair.

Jerrell 31:48

Yeah. Yeah. But that's just where I'm at, where I'm just like, oh yeah, it's gonna be super, it'd be super sweet if they beat Man City in the car about Cup.'cause that's a big deal. I, I dare say like one arrival as of recent history, but, just, just gimme some hardware. Just like I wanna feel joy, even if it's like for the couple days and then it's,

Will 32:12

Yeah. Yeah.

Jerrell 32:13

yeah.

Will 32:13

of the day. Yeah. All trophies matter, but I don't think I can handle another, just I can't

Jerrell 32:17

Second, second place. Yeah. No,

Will 32:20

was like, I can see it this year. I don't. It, it gotta get done, man. I, I, I don't

Jerrell 32:26

it is like for, for the past three years, it's just been like we don't have a nine, we don't have depth. There's always excuses. Like last year's oh, our league was already cooked when Declan Rice got sent off against Brighton and like the first game of the season. And then.

Will 32:42

could smack the fuck out, but yeah.

Jerrell 32:44

cards were an issue last year and games that, like we, they should have walked away with three points and then Arsal not being able to finish games last year because of the mounting injuries. So I, I, I get that. And that is that's just, it's more of like a nightmare that just keeps fucking reoccurring. It's just like, when, when are we gonna be good enough kind of thing.

Will 33:01

I,

Jerrell 33:01

And,

Will 33:02

if it's not this year, then it's, then the questions start, it's, it, it's more about arteta at that point. That's where the

Jerrell 33:08

yeah.

Will 33:09

go. It's like, so the resources I've been put in. got the buy-in from, you know, all in. And that's when it's just gonna turn into, so just what's gonna be different next year on that team outside of like, okay, we do another transfer outlay, but like position to position the, the team's well covered I injuries obviously withstanding every team's dealing with injuries, but the team's well covered last year. Lee got ran away with Liverpool, did a great job, you know you know, getting their points early and honestly it just never, it was, we were more waiting for an opportunity to see if they'd slip enough for the leagues to become like actual charge year before there was some depth stuff, I think for Arsenals then that kind of showed like how they kind of burned up. But this year I'm just kinda like, yeah, you're missing some of your main guys sometimes. But also I can point to a couple fixtures where it's just kinda like. These points shouldn't have been dropped, these points shouldn't have been dropped. But who knows, maybe we to go off on a five game winter streak, it shit's rosy. Again, I think we just got too hype over December. and you know, this is what, this is what happens, but every team's gonna go through highs and lows. And now the job is just to write the course and kind of on just like, hey, well the reason that we can go through, you know, this drop in form and whatnot, is the work we did early and the work we did early while still performing in different competitions or whatnot. So I think. game Sunday will be huge and then the week off after you know, getting things in peace. So I think it's time for that Dubai trip again. That was a big moment two years ago.

Jerrell 34:35

That's injured his hamstring.

Will 34:37

No, we'll be, he will be all right. It won't happen again. Match 8 27. You mentioned Ty, him spur spurs are Arsenal. What else is going on?

Jerrell 34:45

Yep. So we have match day 27. This weekend we'll have Ashton Villa traveling to Leeds. B Brentford will take on Brighton b Brentford trying to in a position where they can, they have European aspirations now. A team that was set up to be relegated with the departure of Thomas Frank and all their talent getting gutted is now sitting pretty at seven. So they're in a situation where. Every game matters as well. Chelsea and Burnley, west Ham verse Bournemouth. Man City's gonna play Newcastle. Maybe Newcastle carry some of that momentum from FA Cup and hey, does, does Arsenal a solid, not a ham Forest verse liver pool, crystal Palace and Woes and Sutherland take on Poland. I'll be, I don't know about you, but that man, city, Newcastle game is, is just as important.

Will 35:33

And Everton, Manchester United too. But yeah, that's that man said Newcastle, please ride that high. But outside of that that West Ham Burn Smith game and Ham first Liverpool games will be big as well. West Ham, trying to. Get out of the drop. Still gonna be down on gold differential, most likely re regardless of how the results go. But that's looking tighter to Spurs as well. They could be in a little bit of a relegation battle. Westham gets a win. They're sitting at Twain nine points right now, so they need a result. This North London Derby almost as bad as Arsenal does, or

Jerrell 36:05

Yeah. So

Will 36:05

all

Jerrell 36:06

that is something I do wanna bring up too with Thomas Frank being fired. And the Spurs just kind of like, the Spurs are bad, right? Like it's not even, can we make an excuse for them? They're just this.

Will 36:18

they're wildly injured. I, we talked about it a little bit last

Jerrell 36:22

Because that was the same situation last year too.

Will 36:24

I mean, yeah. I, I think they have had, I think there's just structural issues as far as like, you know, like from their like management level down. But they also do have like a ridiculous amount of injuries. There's quality on that squad. But you rarely get to see all of the quality on the field at the same time. It feels like, so I mean, yeah. I mean, they're, they're bad and they're sitting 17th and, you know, every team's gonna be dealing with injuries and I'm not gonna have a sob story for them because, hey, you have financial resources that a lot of other teams don't. But there, there's just, there's just, there's pieces there that are really tantalizing from my viewpoint. When, like you're talking about players like destiny, oggi, maybe not the best player to start with. Lucas Berg Balls Young. Muhammad Kuru is Mattel, which obvious Simonon Christian Romero, Wayne's not getting a red, Pedro Poro, Mickey Van Devin. And it's just kind of like they just haven't put a good product on the field. And whether that's. Just injuries, whether it's ambition from the board, whether it's, you know, coaching styles, contributing to injuries. I thought Ange was a good coach, but he did play like a very physical, demanding game of football. Thomas Frank completely lost his, lost his squad. That didn't help, but it's just with thumb, it's just like, yeah. Teams are always managing and kind of juggling these things, but with them, it's. It's, they seem to be juggling a lot more. Like we're, we're talking about Arsenal. It's not me, you know, homering or anything like that. Arsenal's just like, Hey, we need to put these games away. Hey, we have depth, we have a good system. Whatever. These narrow margins are fucking killing us though, end of the day, you know. But with Spurs, I'm just looking for identity,

Jerrell 38:05

Yeah. Yeah.

Will 38:06

players there. There's an idea there. There's something you wanna see, but year to year, what? Two years ago I said, I was like, I think they're good enough to be a top three team.

Jerrell 38:15

I think,

Will 38:15

that was

Jerrell 38:16

I think both the past two seasons that we've done our power rankings, we've put spurs in at least the top five and look what they've done to us.

Will 38:25

mean, you know, so, and this last, I think they're like, they've won of the last 17, they've won or something like that, or something ridiculous. I forgot what I had on the dock last week, sorry. But. There, there's, there's enough there that they might be cursed. might be, there's too much talent there that they just might be, they just might be the, they might be cursed and that's okay. Us on Sundays. So,

Jerrell 38:52

chances of the spurs getting relegated this season.

Will 38:56

Higher than I would've predicted to start the season. Let's call it.'cause they have the buffer, they have Ingham Force and they have West Ham. anytime I believe in West Ham, they start losing. So I'm gonna give Spurs right now, a 15% chance to get relegated, which is still pretty high. I think that's a

Jerrell 39:13

Five points.

Will 39:14

Yeah.

Jerrell 39:15

Five points in Westham.

Will 39:16

So, but you know, let's see. Westham Burn, burn myth has been pretty solid, but it is technically a road game and, you know, they, anyone can get got week to week. But I think West, I mean obviously, you know, just, you know, basic analysis. I think Westham needs to win to really, really turn up the pressure they've charged back over the last couple weeks. I think they won three of their last five and got a draw on another result. But, yep. Everyone's favorite team in Ches. The strand lifts.

Jerrell 39:43

Yeah. Yeah, he does.

Will 39:45

it's, it's gonna be tough. I think it's, I think it's, I think if Westham can get that window, then that creates enough chaos that Yeah, maybe Liverpool fold. I mean, maybe spurs fold, Maybe ham force is not even, Forres is a fucking too. So we'll see.

Jerrell 40:01

Cool. Cool.

Will 40:02

Right now it's forres. I'm gonna, I'm gonna say

Jerrell 40:05

forest.

Will 40:06

so I

Jerrell 40:06

Forest, what relegated.

Will 40:07

Yeah, but that's,

Jerrell 40:09

Can't you? You just can't.

Will 40:11

I west him. Yeah.

Jerrell 40:13

can't.

Will 40:14

I, they're not, it's

Jerrell 40:17

But we also going down right?

Will 40:20

bro, if wolves pull it out, I might fucking get a tat I might get the fucking just milk, like I think wolves is cooked. Which is probably why arson dropped points indirectly, but I think wolves is pro, they're, if wolves is fucked, I'm gonna call it. I'm gonna call it.

Jerrell 40:36

It's done.

Will 40:37

It's been a Yeah.

Jerrell 40:39

Burnley. Burnley can still make it out, but unlikely.

Will 40:43

They're not fully cooked, but they're like, they're almost at temperature. Like you, they're about to be plated like.

Jerrell 40:49

And they play. Who again? Chelsea. Oh yeah. I got all work to do. I

Will 40:53

Chelsea's

Jerrell 40:54

got.

Will 40:54

one of those teams where it's just kind of just like but it just kind of shows the quality in the league,

Jerrell 40:58

They just had a draw and it's what the fuck's happening again?

Will 41:01

Yeah. I think everyone has trust issues in the league and that's okay too, you know,

Jerrell 41:07

That's all right, man. City's about to get that draw.

Will 41:11

Well, well we just jinxed it,

Jerrell 41:12

Yeah.

Will 41:14

Anything you wanna touch on? Anything else you wanna touch on, on the match, match day before we go on?

Jerrell 41:18

No, no, nope. Just excited for these matches. We have our socials, the Football Fellows on Instagram on x on Blue Sky website, the football fellows.com.

Will 41:28

Ski us,

Jerrell 41:30

I guess I.

Will 41:31

ski us, skied all over us.

Jerrell 41:34

Please, no. Next week we will cover match day 27 and we'll talk about the UCL playoffs and how that, how that shook out. Yeah. Fuck Ben fca. I honestly, I hope real injured wins.

Will 41:47

That's crazy.

Jerrell 41:48

Is it They're racist.

Will 41:50

I, I mean,

Jerrell 41:53

I.

Will 41:53

I mean, there's a nuanced discussion to be had about, you know, what's going on. I think racism as a whole in European soccer, well, throughout the world,

Jerrell 42:02

Oh, definitely.

Will 42:02

is as issue, but in soccer or whatnot, you see it. Spanish countries, English, whatever. So a player on Benfica. If he did say it, then you know the people there know what happened, obviously, and if he did say it, you know, I hope that the full brunt of whatnot. But I also believe that just kind of, just like if there's one player on the team that has those views, that it, it, it. It doesn't necessarily mean the whole team has the same issues, but regardless of what, there's no place for it. And see, God damnit, they gave him the fucking rallying cry. Look, even Gerald's rooting for rail fucking Madrid. That's fucking crazy. It's fine. here we go. Here we go. Yeah. Oh, ch Rail Madrid. Two and three years. I can hear it already. I fucking hate it.

Jerrell 42:47

Christian will be back in two weeks. I think He won't be back next week, right?

Will 42:52

he can talk, talk to us about how great Rail Madrid is. Yes.

Jerrell 42:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Will 42:56

we'll, we'll, we'll catch him when we can. Maybe I'll be here next week too.

Jerrell 43:00

I'll just be speaking into the void.

Will 43:02

Yeah,

Jerrell 43:03

All right. Well that's, that's been it. That's been US episode 64. Another perfect pod. Everything's gonna be fine.

Will 43:10

this is fun. But

Jerrell 43:12

Everything's gonna be fine. Bye.

Will 43:14

Bye. Bye.