Arsenal_AM_Episode_11_You can do it Arsenal!!!!!

Arsenal take on Newcastle with the chance to put a 3 point lead on title rivals and take back top spot. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Good morning on Monday. Exciting times, nervous times, stressful times, and it's a 5 30 kickoff, so it's gonna feel like a long one. So the boss gave some updates. Saka and Califor Fury will be back in the squad, and Timber is not in it for today. So who starts, who plays, and what risks do we take given everything that's coming in the next month? I personally don't start Saka, and it's not injury related, it's actually Newcastle related, and I'll go into that in a little while. Uh Cal Fury probably starts on the bench, I think, with a view to playing on the in the Champions League semi-final. I don't know if that's Tuesday or Wednesday, I think it's Tuesday. But I think the team will be Raya White, Saliba, Bigaby, Kinkapie, Rice Mendy, Odegaard, on the left that you'll have Eze up top, you'll have how Havertz, and on the right, I think it's gonna be Matoueke. I my preference would actually be Max Dowman because I don't think anyone would expect it. I think he will give us a a sense of the unexpected, and it would be a huge risk and a huge ask. But if you had Matweke and you had Saka on the bench, it just gives you another option, and it gives Newcastle something they're probably not expecting. They're probably expecting him in the latter half of the second half if they have him at all. But again, that's the boss boss's skull, that's why he makes a big bucks. On the Newcastle side, they are missing Gordon, Livermento, and they're without Jollington due to suspension. And I was looking at their team from midweek against um Bournemouth where they lost. And we had I'm just having a another look here. Again, had Dan Burn was on Defermental went off injured. So again, my reason for not starting Saka would be is actually Big Dan Burn. I can't remember a time when Saka has had the better of that battle. He may have scored the all goal here or there, but a lot of Saka's game does rely on him being able to be a bit more physical with the defender, and Dan Burn seems to have been very effective against him. I hate it, it's really horrible to see. And would I put Max Dowman up against a a Dan Burn? In all likelihood, I don't think I would want to, but I just think the unexpected might be something useful to us. In terms of Newcastle's form, it's not great. There's not a great vibe from around the club. Again, you know, a lot of their fans have already checked out, and I would love their players to do the same. However, the battle that we have had with them over the last three or four seasons probably means that it's gonna be a battle, and we will hopefully come out at the right side of it. Again, the win is the most important thing. I don't care if it's one nil, it would be great if it was bigger, but one nil is enough. Obviously, we're all eager to get goals and build goal difference uh in case it goes down to that. I don't think we probably can can do that here in this one. We have two games before City play, so it's two wins, and if we have the ability to build up a goal difference, great. But it's better to get the six points than chasing for six points and goal difference and give up goals at the other end. We also have to be mindful of us going to play in Madrid, so there will be physical games, there will be a physical toll, and Newcastle are a physical team, so we have to manage that, and at some point during the game, I would consider some variations. This is me personally, um, I think in the state of the game, taking off Zub Mendi at half time and allowing Odegaard to drop deeper, maybe move essay more central, bringing on Trossard or Martinelli on the left-hand side would be something I would also consider, but not with Max on the pitch. I think if Max is on the pitch, you want Odegaard as close as possible to him as a safety net, a guidance. Again, we saw Odegaard with Martinelli the last uh last weekend telling him where he should go, where he should pressure. So I think having that around a max would be very useful for Max. But again, that's just me. I would like to see some legs saved in Rice and Zuber Mendy where possible. I don't see it happening, but that's my uh my my wish list. My fear with a lot of things and a lot of guys coming back is we have Joe Willock, whom who's probably gets some game time tomorrow, and we also have Aaron Ramsay coming back, and I dread keepers coming back to the Emirates just because they have that game where you know they've they feel there's something to prove, and Aaron Ramsay is very good when he has something to prove, so I'm hoping I'm wrong, um but I just really don't want Aaron Ramsay to have one of those games where you go, yeah, that's the one I didn't want. In terms of the mindset of the game, I have some queries I w I suppose going around. Is Arteta gonna fire the fire the guys up like it's early season? You know, go out, show them you're the better team and dominate them or is he gonna send them out going eke out the win? The win is the most important thing, don't make any mistakes. I think those two adaptions or approaches are going to define the game we see. We obviously want to see Arsenal go for it, and I think if they start brightly, score early, put the pressure on Newcastle, we can put them to the sword. We've had some good results against them where we've put up two threes. I think we need to see that mentality, even if we don't get the goals, we need to see the mentality of we're gonna go and get them and put them in their place. We are a better team, we are a bigger squad. We have everything we need. Could do with a few fitter players, but we have everything, and I just think this is where the coaching team need to provide the players with the freedom to go and to go and win, to go and express themselves and dominate. Essentially we need to send them out as if they're gonna You can do it! You can do it Yeah, so I think we need to have a the belief and to give the players the belief and the confidence to go and play. And Arteta has shown he can do that, and he's also shown his frustration in recent weeks, and I wonder is that because he's telling them to go and play, and mentally the guys are so afraid that they're unable to play. I don't know, only they know that really on on the inside, but Martin Odegaard does play, you know, you given the ball he will drive on, he's not the guy to to hold back, he does deliver on what the manager asks of him from everything that we've seen. He's a manager's guy on the pitch, and having him on the pitch to drive that can only be a good thing, it can only be a good thing, and I would definitely like to see Arsenal taking more shots from in around the edge of the box. I think Newcastle will be very strong defensively, they're always a good side, so I think getting Ezra, Odegaard, Saka, Madawike, whomever, onto the ball in around the edge of the box, and being willing to take the shots changes the dynamic of what's expected. I think everyone knows we don't take enough of those shots, and where those shots do come it's a trossard or an edge. Um so I'm hoping to see something like that, but it's just a hope rather than anything else. If anyone wants to get in touch with with the uh pod, here are the handles. If you want to get in touch with the show, you can get me on Instagram at Arsenal underscore am underscore pod, and you can get me on BSky at freddylj.bsky.social So yeah, in terms of what the game offers, I think it offers us an opportunity to put ourselves back on top to put the Man City game behind us and to give us the opportunity to believe again, and I think it's a wonderful opportunity to have. So with that, I suppose I'll have a look around at a few of the other games that are coming up in the fixtures. Forrest put uh more distance between themselves and relegation fought fodder hotspur, so that was good to see. I think probably at 39 points, that's them safe, but again, still a few few games to go. Uh Fulham Villa, probably nothing of substance, Palace and Liverpool. Again, you'd expect Liverpool to get points there. West Ham and Everton. I think that'll be a tough one. You would hope for West Ham to get a result, but you also want to keep Everton having something to play for with Men City coming up. Um, ideally, a draw there, and uh Wolves to beat beat Spurs would be excellent. And then Monday you have United and Brentford in what's little more than a dead rubber. Obviously, you have Chelsea Leeds and Man City playing in the cup, so hopefully all those games can go to extra time and they tire tire themselves out massively, but yeah, Man City don't have have a game for a week, so they've plenty of time to recover, so it doesn't really make much of a difference. I'd probably like them to go through to the cup final just because it's an extra game, and the more games they have to play, the better at this stage. I think it's definitely time for us to take the step. To believe in taking the step. Getting back on top is the first step on that, and I think we do that. I still believe we win the league, and it's terrifying. Until tomorrow, guys. Come on, the gunners.