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00:00:01
S1-E39 : Crossover Thursday! Arsenal VS Southampton!
15 Plays1 day ago
It's the crossover Thursday episode! And this week Josh is hosting Zack, one of the hosts of the Daily Southampton podcast, all as part of the Global Sports Podcast Network! The gents discuss the season so far, FIFA memories, regular visits and the game ahead!
Host : Josh Vince
Guest : Zack Ingoe-Finch (Daily Southampton Podcast on the Global Sports Podcast Network)
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Transcript
00:00:09
officialgspn
Hello and welcome to the Daily Arsenal and Daily Southampton Podcast. It's Thursday, which means it's time for a Global Sports Podcast Network crossover episode. And today I'm delighted to be joined by a member of the Southampton team. It is the one and only Zach Ingo Finch. Zach, big welcome to you. First of all, how are you doing on this perishingly cold day?
00:00:33
Zak
ah Perishingly cold is a pro is a very, very good way to put it. That's that's how I'm feeling at the moment. Feeling a bit of woe at my current sports team, but, you know, we're fighting through, we're fighting through.
00:00:45
Zak
Other than that, pretty positive, so...
00:00:45
officialgspn
Do you know what? i've i've we I've got some weird faith in Southampton, which we'll get to a little bit later.
00:00:51
Zak
That's what someone does.
00:00:51
officialgspn
um obviously well Obviously you're playing Bournemouth later today, right?
00:00:57
Zak
We are playing Bournemouth today.
00:00:57
officialgspn
it Yes, we're recording on a Monday.
00:00:59
officialgspn
um How are you feeling about the Bournemouth game?
00:01:00
Zak
We are.
00:01:02
Zak
who my My heart prediction was 2-1 and I'd love to see us finally get that win against the rival not rival as we refer to Bournemouth. That would be really, really nice. I could see it going 1-0 with both teams at the moment are really struggling to put anything together and score. um So I could see it easily being a dull draw at the end of it.
00:01:23
Zak
worse, nil, nil. But that's because we've got two top quality keepers on both ends of the pitch.
00:01:25
officialgspn
um
00:01:28
Zak
So yeah, we'll have to see how it goes. I'm quietly, quietly positive. Not as optimistic as my co-host Gregory. He's probably there like, yeah, now we've got a bathroom. But we'll have to see how that goes.
00:01:39
officialgspn
Don't worry, we have some blind optimists on the podcast as well on the Arsenal side. Esman, I'm talking to you, your blind optimism, guessing that we're going to win the league. Me and there's another Josh and our team, neither of us think we're going to win the league, although now Roger is gone.
00:01:54
officialgspn
There's a chance, but you never know.
00:01:54
Zak
yeah Yeah, never know.
00:01:56
officialgspn
But anyway, the first thing that I really wanted to ask you, Zach, was obviously we you're currently five games in, you're about to play your sixth tonight. um How are you feeling? or it You're sitting in 19th with one point minus seven goal difference.
00:02:10
officialgspn
ah It's been a tough start coming back up. How are you feeling about how the season's gone for you so far?
00:02:15
Zak
It's been, it has been a really, really tough start. And I think that anyone that expected anything less was crazy.
00:02:22
officialgspn
Hmm.
00:02:22
Zak
The quality of the league nowadays just isn't where it was a few years ago. And you know you just you can see that from how many teams are yet to win. um And I think that it's just been a really, really rough start for the style of football we play as well, because we're not able to get the goals away like we were in the championship.
00:02:39
officialgspn
Mm.
00:02:43
Zak
And a lot of silly sort of little mistakes and switch-off moments. you know like in the last couple of minutes against Ipswich and the reason that we are in the position we're in. If we'd knocked a few of the balls in the goal, as they say, you would actually, we would be significantly higher already. So I'm kind of, I'm not really surprised at where we are. I'm not hitting all panic buttons and saying we need to sack the manager. I know there's a lot of sort of that in the Saints sort of fan base at the moment. And I'm kind of like, guys, give it, just calm down. Just calm down.
00:03:14
officialgspn
We're still very early in the season, let's be honest, aren't we?
00:03:16
Zak
Yeah, 100%.
00:03:18
officialgspn
Incredibly early. And ah so I do commentating on the side. i do it for I do audio commentary. And the first game that I was given this season was, in fact, Southampton, Newcastle.
00:03:29
officialgspn
And i've i've always I've always had a weird soft spot for Southampton. I don't entirely know why. It might just be the players. It might be because I'm a Southerner and you know I live up north in Manchester and I get a lot of grief about it.
00:03:29
Zak
Interesting.
00:03:42
officialgspn
So anything that reminds me of the South is nice. But um I have to say I was actually really impressed with how the football style that Southampton are implementing.
00:03:52
officialgspn
I'm guessing a lot of that comes from the championship and the way that your manager right now Russell Martin was um implementing your style of play.
00:04:02
Zak
Yeah, he he's done a fantastic job so far, and with when we when he took over, this we had no style of play. We had a season where we had three managers, one after another after another, and it went horrifically bad for us. We we managed, I think, a couple of draws, mainly losses. I think one of the wins was over,
00:04:24
Zak
Leicester that was a ah rolled in goal and somehow they didn't score. Same with Chelsea. I think the only good games I remember us having were against you and we still managed to throw a 3-1 lead away.
00:04:28
officialgspn
Hmm.
00:04:33
Zak
so So that's saying something.
00:04:37
officialgspn
ah
00:04:37
Zak
but but Yeah, know the the style of play has massively changed and I know that this sort of tippy-tappy play up from the back still worries a lot of supporters and sometimes they get it wrong but that that's just, I don't think our manager is going to change the way he wants to play and he's made that plainly clear and to be honest I quite like the balls and the guy because of that rather than sort of, you know, the last time the board sort of bowed to fan pressure we ended up with Nathan Jones for like, feels like two weeks but probably a bit longer.
00:04:42
officialgspn
Hmm.
00:05:04
officialgspn
Yeah, that was not good. but I was looking at some of the ah percentage of wins for your managers and Nathan Jones had not come out particularly well in that one.
00:05:13
Zak
No.
00:05:14
officialgspn
It's kind of like the anti Sam Allardyce of England, you know.
00:05:18
Zak
He managed to stop City from doing the quadruple that year. That was the only thing that I think anyone can hand to him.
00:05:25
officialgspn
And every single football fan in England other than cities would thank him for the rest of their lives to all that, because the amount of grief we'd get off of already pretty high and mighty city fans is incredible.
00:05:29
Zak
yeah
00:05:35
Zak
100%. 100%.
00:05:38
officialgspn
I mean, obviously you're leading back to the last time you were in the Premier League.
00:05:38
Zak
Hmm.
00:05:40
officialgspn
I mean, when you dropped down, that was a rough season. You finished last 25 points, six wins, minus 37 goal difference. But one thing I'll say about what I've seen of you this season is,
00:05:54
officialgspn
You've not really been dismantled in any of the games. There's been close fought things.
00:06:01
Zak
Yeah, ah'd I'd agree to that. with Especially, I think the only game we really sort of fell apart was Manchester United. And and that was after missing the penalty, you know, Arch has never scored or even i think he's never even tried a professional penalty.
00:06:07
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:06:14
Zak
So, you know, off the back of that, kind of mad that he took it, but, you know, the confidence dropped and a lot of our players are are big confidence players and you could just you can just see they kind of keeled over.
00:06:26
Zak
um I will also point out that that game was when Stevens got his red card and he's currently on a ban so he he might be back in contention for the game against you um but the same time since then we've kind of shored up with our pairing of Taylor Harbour Bellis and Jan Bedmorek at the back again and kind of stabilized things a little bit um so so some of it some
00:06:35
officialgspn
yeah
00:06:46
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:06:48
Zak
we We know how to defend like that. it's just Some of the quality we've come up against this season has really, really caused the team to struggle a little bit, and hopefully it's just remembering the basics in it, really.
00:06:59
officialgspn
Talking about confidence players, there's one player who I want to particularly mention, and this is mainly because of my obsession with Monfifa. um Adam Armstrong, right? The tiny rapid striker, who if you bought him on FIFA like four Fifas ago, could tear up any defense in the world.
00:07:17
officialgspn
um He had an incredible season last season. Does Saints fans trust him particularly? Because it doesn't seem like Martin is massively at the moment.
00:07:27
Zak
he's He's gone a bit anonymous this season, and I think ah a lot of us are disappointed in that because with us bringing Ben Brennan to Diaz in, he used to be his strike partner at Blackburn, they were hoping you know something magical might happen. I again think it potentially is a confidence issue. He didn't do that well in the Prem last time round to do what he did in the championship and then sort of take the step up.
00:07:50
Zak
he's kind of been dropped the last couple of games because he hasn't been able to to show that. He was almost at fault for the the the Ipswich goal um by not clearing his lines properly. If he'd got the ball out, we would have never ended up with that set piece.
00:08:02
Zak
you know, regardless of the set piece defending that ball would never ended up in the back and that we would have had our first one of the season.
00:08:02
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:08:07
Zak
So he's not exactly lighting himself, you know, in good favour. But he is a fantastic player. And I do hope that it's just a confidence thing. And once everything's the energy starts flowing within the team, he can hopefully come back in and sort of do what he did last season.
00:08:22
officialgspn
we have a similar situation with Martinelli at the moment like it's been a rough start for him but he's just netted for the first time against Leicester and that's kind of our hope as well that he'll start to pick it up. ah The last thing I wanted to ask you in this section in particular before we get on to looking at Southampton a bit more detail and where you think you can really hurt us um In terms of your initial predictions for how you were going to do so on the podcast, we did a whole prediction episode, ah sort of, you know, like winners top four top school school and all of that and obviously Southampton were in the relegation talk.
00:08:57
officialgspn
We did it after I watched the Newcastle game. And I actually advocated for Southampton. I thought they've got a good style of play. I like how they were doing things. They just need to put the goals away and they'll survive. I was the only one of the six of us who answered that, who thought you weren't gonna get relegated, admittedly.
00:09:09
Zak
yeah
00:09:11
officialgspn
um How did you see yourself faring going into the season?
00:09:17
Zak
ah Obviously, i've I've joined the network quite late on.
00:09:20
officialgspn
Hmm.
00:09:21
Zak
But obviously, I had discussions with Greg previously. And I sort of, hit him being the optimist is thinking from all of the board points on his board, he was like, wow, we obviously finish about 10th.
00:09:31
Zak
And I'm like, right?
00:09:32
officialgspn
10th!
00:09:33
Zak
I'm like, that that's optimistic. I would love to see us sort of scrape by. it's It's all about survival this first season. If we can stay in, we can hopefully do what Forest are starting to do a bit more now and become established. The issue we have, I think as you alluded to before, is we have a massive Premier League history. Our fans will not be happy with us just being 16th and scraping by. However, that history, like even even the last time we played you, three of our players are still at the club.
00:10:01
Zak
Pretty much everybody else is If you look at that last game, a lot of your start 11 are still still quite, you know, other than a few personal changes here and there, that shows you the sort of difference.
00:10:02
officialgspn
Wow. ah
00:10:12
officialgspn
Hey, we lost Granite Jaka.
00:10:13
Zak
ah True.
00:10:14
officialgspn
Thank you very much.
00:10:17
Zak
Bigger and brighter things, who knows?
00:10:19
officialgspn
yeah The thing is, I can't even disagree.
00:10:23
Zak
There you go.
00:10:24
officialgspn
Hey, at least Arsenal are linked with another unbeatables.
00:10:25
Zak
sorry
00:10:27
officialgspn
That's all I'll say.
00:10:28
Zak
This is this is also true, but I think so. I'm happy with us just scraping by the season at 16th and I don't I know that it will be a scrap to the last minute and I don't know that could obviously change if they decide to get rid of the manager midway through the season, but I also personally don't think that's going to happen.
00:10:33
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:10:45
officialgspn
I can't see it happening either. He's young. He's got he's got a lot of sort of intuition about him. He's clearly a good guy. He's clearly got the dressing room on side. As long as that maintains, I think they'll stick with him regardless of what happens because he's the sort of man to bounce you straight back up again, if need be.
00:11:00
officialgspn
So that's it for the first section. We're just gonna hear a quick message from our partners at ZenCursor and then we'll be back after the break having a bit of a deeper dive into Southampton themselves. We're back just after this.
00:11:41
Zak
Thank you.
00:11:58
officialgspn
And welcome back to this Thursday crossover episode between the Daily Arsenal and the Daily Southampton Podcast. We've talked a little bit about expectations for the season already, but now we want to do a little bit of a deeper dive into who, at least from the Arsenal perspective, our opponents really, really are. So from a Southampton perspective, who do you see as your key players being ah in that squad, the ones who have the potential to really hurt another team?
00:12:27
Zak
I would say Dibbling has made a massive impression so far this season um for his age and the fact that he seems to play as if he's been playing for 20 years already has absolutely no fear and has that confidence we really want. um He's been absolutely fantastic whether we keep him for the next six months hopefully a year. um who Who knows? I think me and Greg spoken about it previously. We were very lucky with the fact that he has already experienced going out of the door. ah He almost very nearly ended up at Chelsea, spent about a day there and then was one of the few people that have made the correct decision in my opinion to turn her back around and come back to the club. So, you know, he knows what it's like to leave and potentially not get those chances. You know, you've got him in his profile picture at the moment, he's got the manager.
00:13:15
Zak
So you can tell he's he's very at the moment, all about Southampton. But obviously, I think I said last time, the cynic, if he wants to say you put a couple of zeros at the end of a contract from a big club, what are you going to do? You know, it happened with some of our previous star boys. LaVia lasted one season with us and then not really done a lot since blessing.
00:13:33
Zak
but
00:13:33
officialgspn
Not really, no. Does that bring you some solace that he's not done an awful lot with Chelsea?
00:13:38
Zak
No, I never like to see, I think a lot of it's due to injury and I think I don't like to see the fact that a player like that, a talent like that missing out, as you know, the 55 million cushions that blow.
00:13:42
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:13:49
officialgspn
Yeah, it makes it slightly easier to take, just a touch.
00:13:50
Zak
Don't get me wrong.
00:13:53
Zak
ah hundred percent
00:13:53
officialgspn
i I was gutted that we didn't go in for him because I really rated Lavio.
00:13:55
Zak
100%. Agreed.
00:13:57
officialgspn
I think he's a quality player and woefully underutilized at Chelsea. and I had no idea that they they almost signed Ibling as well. Smart kid for an 18-year-old.
00:14:08
officialgspn
ah There's somebody else who I picked up on when I was commentating on your game. but ah Sugawara, the defensive player, I thought he was brilliant.
00:14:17
Zak
He is a bargain, absolute bargain.
00:14:17
officialgspn
i think
00:14:20
Zak
I do not know how we paid more than 10 million for him but or less than, we paid less than 10 mil for him. And I think that's crazy.
00:14:25
officialgspn
less than 10 mil
00:14:26
Zak
Cause yeah, um it was, it was unbelievable signing cause he's, he has been fantastic. Like we dropped Kyle Walker Peters last game to keep him in because we needed to shore up our defense a little bit.
00:14:38
Zak
And he got in over Kyle Walker Peters. He was arguably probably one of our best players last season, ah been one of the most important players to, to keep at the club. ah But he's kind of come in, you know, he's I think he's he's our top go score a alongside dipling at the moment, which says it all.
00:14:53
officialgspn
They are joint top, yeah.
00:14:56
Zak
However, you know, a tacky minded player, but he is absolutely fantastic. And you can tell tell he loves the club. And you can see he immediately had a kinship when he came in with one of our old saints, my Yoshida, a Japanese international as well.
00:15:11
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:15:11
Zak
He was like, oh, they'll love you there. And he just says, oh I really want to play well, do well for the club. um So many moons for he is one that's flown under a lot of people's radar and I'm kind of hoping to keep it that way Before someone else naps him up, but he he's a fantastic player. I think he's he's got the ability to do a lot for us
00:15:30
officialgspn
Eddu, if you're listening, you can get him on the cheap in January. Get in there.
00:15:35
Zak
ah
00:15:36
officialgspn
There's another, there's also, ah well, I was looking back at the last time we played you in the last season, two draws, which was pretty, I mean, fantastic from your perspective, three all and one all.
00:15:47
officialgspn
And one of the goal scorers in the three all was Theo Walcott, obviously, but I wanted to bring up another ex Arsenal player.
00:15:50
Zak
Yours.
00:15:53
officialgspn
um There's a lot of discussion on the podcast about what should happen to Aaron Ramsdale and because we love him. we Arsenal fans love him. like He's such a brilliant personality. I'm happy he went to a club like Southampton. I think he'll really flourish. How did you see the signing when it was first announced and how do you think he's fared?
00:16:15
Zak
I thought it was nuts, to be honest. like He was there at the the playoff final dressed as Hagrid, because he was there to support yeah that's a sport David Brooks. We probably thought, as a club, even that day, that is the closest we're ever going to have to our Graham Stell in the team.
00:16:29
Zak
So I think it's an absolutely unbelievable signing. We were we were kind of stunned, to be honest. We thought, surely, this isn't... you know if you For real, because the rumours were knocking around for ages, but then even last minute, I think there were their were talks of going to Bournemouth, and we kind of just thought,
00:16:43
officialgspn
ah Newcastle all sorts.
00:16:45
Zak
Yeah, all ah all over the shop and then and then once once that got done, we we're we're thrilled and i'm so I'm still absolutely thrilled.
00:16:45
officialgspn
Yeah, yeah.
00:16:52
Zak
I could see him being a future club captain potential. The way he shouts and commands the defence is so... It's so important, I think, for a team like ours that is struggling to have those players that are willing to kick them up the arse a little bit.
00:17:04
Zak
And he is doing he is doing that so far.
00:17:04
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:17:07
Zak
And I don't think that a lot of his performances have really been his fault. A lot of them have been ridiculous set pieces. And I think that him conceding seven is not, you know, if you compare it to how many he's actually saved and how much of an effort he's put in so far this season.
00:17:21
Zak
i don't I think he's been absolutely fantastic and I only think he's going to be better. I think we would have shipped a lot more um if he hadn't been in goal, put it that way.
00:17:29
officialgspn
Yeah, I mean, he saved 70% of the shots he's faced. is The XG against him is nine, and he's only conceded seven. like And it's a bit like the Ipswich situation. If you hadn't had that set piece in the first place, because Armstrong would have cleared his lines, but also that deflection, he was actually, I was i was literally just watching the highlights before we started, he was on course to saving that, but that deflection just took it away from him. So he's he's such a good goalkeeper, and he's calmed down a lot.
00:17:57
officialgspn
as well he's a lot more level-headed since he's I think basically since Arteta kicked him up the arse and brought Raya in instead which I mean it's worked quite well this season but we weren't happy about it last season at all no and
00:18:05
Zak
Yeah. No, I don't think anyone, looking looking from the outside in, um it seemed a bit of a strange thing to have two keepers on on the go, but it's worked out quite well for you in the end, to be perfectly honest. and you know
00:18:20
officialgspn
and for you guys you've got a quality keeper and and also
00:18:23
Zak
hundred percent
00:18:24
officialgspn
I mean, how much did he go for?
00:18:24
Zak
100%.
00:18:25
officialgspn
is Was it 25?
00:18:26
Zak
I think it was club record, it was about 25. But for us, the fact that it says a lot about Southampton, that we broke our club record at 25 million for a player.
00:18:28
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:18:35
officialgspn
Well, if you want a fun stat, um we've never sold anybody for over 35.
00:18:42
Zak
That's nuts!
00:18:43
officialgspn
Alex Oxlade Chamberlain.
00:18:45
Zak
Wow! Wow!
00:18:45
officialgspn
He is our highest sale ever.
00:18:49
Zak
That really is a start, isn't it?
00:18:50
officialgspn
yeah it's so When you said 55 for Lavio, I was just there thinking, oh god, no.
00:18:56
Zak
Yeah, we've we've been...
00:18:57
officialgspn
I've got to break this one up.
00:18:59
Zak
we've been We've been quite lucky with that, and you know, 75 for VVD, so we've've we're good at we're we're a good selling club.
00:19:03
officialgspn
Oh god, yeah. Yeah, you've done all right. You've done all right, haven't you?
00:19:05
Zak
Put it that way.
00:19:06
officialgspn
You're much better than we are. Let's put it that way. So how do you think as a team you're likely to hurt Arsenal the most coming into this game?
00:19:18
Zak
If we do what we need to do and we do it properly, you've got the likes of Lallana, Dibling, Fernandez.
00:19:23
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:19:25
Zak
I think that if they if we finally get a goal off, I'm hoping the floodgates will open and that will build the confidence because a vast majority of our attacks, they sort of seem to get to the box and it just kind of breaks down.
00:19:32
officialgspn
yeah
00:19:40
Zak
And they all sort of seem to panic and then it goes skywards. Or alternatively, when we do get sort of one on one situations, you know, people like Archie will just just miss out, run out of room, just not getting into the right positions.
00:19:52
Zak
But I think we've got some players that, you know, have fallen under the radar. Fernandez is another one I've not mentioned, but but he is somebody as well that you know if if he plays this game right, we that is where I think we could take you by surprise.
00:20:03
officialgspn
Okay. Milan has been good.
00:20:03
Zak
And Lalana has really surprised us as well with just the...
00:20:07
Zak
we We all were a bit sort of like, oh, all right, this feels very football manager bringing in a play for nostalgia last minute.
00:20:13
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:20:15
Zak
And I'm happy to put my hands up and say I was wrong um because you know the past that he played through to Diblin for that Last going since was just just phenomenal. And if he can, I think that that's the problem is a lot of, there's a lot of underestimating of some of our players.
00:20:27
Zak
It's just when they turn it on, but it's, it's the, it's then it's getting them to turn that on.
00:20:32
officialgspn
yeah
00:20:33
Zak
So, so that, that's why, that's why I feel, and I feel as long as we, if we, I don't think if we play with two attacking midfielders like we did. ah Last game, we'll see how it goes with Knight at Bournemouth instead of two holding.
00:20:45
Zak
It depends whether they go... I don't see why we wouldn't. A vast majority of us probably of probably see the Arsenal game as a free hit. If we get something out of their happy days, we're probably likely to lose, as I think, probably the consensus across the board if we don't.
00:20:52
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:21:00
Zak
But again, you've said this weird there's weird voodoo in the background of how many draws and how many times we've in recent times. like I'm also thinking about that game, Boxing Day, Kuka Martina scoring most ridiculous goal I think I've ever seen.
00:21:12
officialgspn
Yeah, we don't need to bring it up.
00:21:12
Zak
which other
00:21:13
officialgspn
That's fine. but and We don't want to go too far back in history. But and I mean, you've got a point. this So we've in the prem, we've paid 48 times against each other. Arsenal have won 25 of them.
00:21:24
officialgspn
So history definitely favors Arsenal. But there's been 15 draws, which is a huge amount of draws. You're a bit of a bogey team for Arsenal in that sense. the The only thing I would say at the moment with your season at the moment There's one I was I always do up to Josh here.
00:21:40
officialgspn
I always do quite an intense stat breakdown.
00:21:41
Zak
Ah.
00:21:43
officialgspn
Your shots to goal ratio is currently 0.03.
00:21:48
Zak
That says it all. That says it all for the time being. And I think some of the some of the fan base will probably think it's maybe to do with, you know, we we're missing Che Adams.
00:21:51
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:21:58
Zak
he He left on a freeze, kind of ripping up in Serie A for Torino right now.
00:21:59
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:22:02
Zak
um Obviously, we've we've replaced him quite a bit. We've also got people we've not really seen ourselves, which could be you know sort of secret weapons. Maxwell Cornay has obviously come into the side on loan last minute against West Ham.
00:22:13
Zak
He's not really played a lot recently. It'll be interesting to see what he could do.
00:22:15
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:22:17
Zak
so yes it's But the the draw thing is kind of crazy. like I even remember my wedding day, which is 23rd of November 2019. If my wife's listening, I do remember. um that was That was a tool draw as well against Arsenal.
00:22:30
officialgspn
Yeah. right
00:22:31
Zak
And I remember that specifically because all of my family were watching it. It is kind of a crazy sort of stats in the background about how well we've done against it.
00:22:36
officialgspn
this
00:22:43
Zak
It must be for you whenever we play, you just see points dropped as opposed to a point gained.
00:22:47
officialgspn
Oh, it's terrifying. Yeah, it's a genuinely nerve wracking event coming up against Southampton. But on that point, we're going to take a little bit of a break. And when we come back, we're going to talk Arsenal and the dangers that the the Gunners have.
00:22:59
Zak
yeah
00:23:00
officialgspn
Oh, yes, we'll be back just after this.
00:23:39
officialgspn
And welcome back to the final part of the Arsenal Southampton crossover episode here on the Global Sports Podcast Network. We've talked a bit about the history, we've talked a bit about Southampton's season, we talked a bit about them as a team and now it's time to talk.
00:23:49
Zak
Nice.
00:23:53
officialgspn
the big boys. Now I'm joking. Now it's time to talk Arsenal. So Arsenal, last time out we drew four, no we didn't draw, we beat Leicester, goodness me, four-two at home. We almost drew two. I think my memory stops at 90 minutes and I've just locked down and sad. It was a very, very close drawn thing. Obviously they came up as well.
00:24:16
officialgspn
Where do you see when you look at the Arsenal squad? I'm not sure how much of it you've watched or if any, but when you look at Arsenal squad, where do you see the real danger coming from at the moment?
00:24:26
Zak
ah we We are really struggling with set pieces and I think that anything, yeah, this is this is the problem, right?
00:24:31
officialgspn
Yes!
00:24:34
officialgspn
it
00:24:35
Zak
We've got we got quite a short squad as well and we're really not doing doing well at, I don't know, yeah ive we had a set-piece coach, I think he left middle of last season.
00:24:36
officialgspn
but
00:24:48
officialgspn
move.
00:24:48
Zak
So we just haven't really, we're just still not clearing our lines, not doing the basics, not keeping a man out.
00:24:56
Zak
And obviously, that is a that is a terrifying prospect for us. And on top of that, it's just the sheer quality, um I think, of your squad like across across the board. you know haat you know you Even you bringing in Sterling, I know there's been a point of contention for Arsenal fans, but it's one of those things where you're like, man, we would love a Sterling.
00:25:17
Zak
That'd be amazing. That'd be like a keynote signing. Whereas you guys, you see it as like, oh, it seems a bit weird. We brought him in. Other than Arteta, maybe you'd like him a little bit.
00:25:23
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:25:25
Zak
but I think on top of that, um I think it's just the mentality. is is And I know that sounds a bit of a cop-out answer, and but it but it is one of those things where, you know, you go in up 2-0, gets to half-time.
00:25:38
Zak
So I watched the game the other day. I missed the two goals from Leicester. I was dragged out on a ah walk, which I wasn't too happy about, but I did manage to get back just in time for the end to watch both of both of the other.
00:25:41
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:25:49
Zak
But it's the fact that it's that fighting right through to the end, right?
00:25:51
officialgspn
yeah
00:25:52
Zak
And and it's one of, and and you know, other than that, not really the only time you've really dropped points this season, the draws have both been off the back of very like sort of middle of the game red cards.
00:26:02
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:26:03
Zak
And that that wouldn't, I don't think you would have dropped those points if it wasn't for that happening. um So it's it's it's kind of just looking at a team of fantastic players, ah you know, and it's kind of, ah we're all kind of, where can they hurt us from?
00:26:17
Zak
You could probably hurt us from everywhere. Really depends how switched on we are on the day. ah But set pieces is my my biggest fear.
00:26:24
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:26:24
Zak
Um, and it's, it's the fact that we play such a high line and you've got that kind of speed to through, to get behind us. And then that's kind of it. The only, only advantage I guess we've got is we've, we've got one of your old goalkeepers who's going to know who, who's going to go where, what positions they're going to get into.
00:26:32
officialgspn
Yes. yeah
00:26:39
Zak
That might be a saving grace for us, but, um, it's, yeah, it's a scary prospect. You know, you might think of us as a bogey team, but you you know, it's solidly a top four club for, for most other teams you you watch.
00:26:50
Zak
And it is a very much like a whore. Great, Arsenal, I'm sure that's going to be fine.
00:26:55
officialgspn
Zach, you've got to come on the Arsenal pod more. You're sweating lyrical about the team we love.
00:26:59
Zak
yeah
00:27:01
officialgspn
We've got to get we got to get some sound bites from Mason. Whenever we're feeling down, we'll just get one of those little sound bites. We'll just play it as a little extra. Just like, oh, you're a brilliant team. Everyone would be screaming, we could hurt us anywhere.
00:27:13
Zak
it's It's one of those things though, I think so i think it's ah it's a different experience being sort of a fan of a top four club and that the expectation
00:27:18
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:27:20
Zak
especially being sort of, we have just come back up, but there is already expectation in Southampton's fan base because of the Premier League history.
00:27:27
officialgspn
Really? is it Is there that much?
00:27:27
Zak
But yeah, there seems to be sort of the vibe of like, well, we need to set the manager now, survival is the most important thing. We were an established club and you sort of look around and I'm like, There are about three players here that played in the Premier League, one of which is Adam Lallana, who has been gone for almost a decade.
00:27:44
Zak
like so so but But that doesn't stop the people that have been going day in, day out for the last couple of years that sort of saw relegation as a blip. Whereas the rest of us have seen, well, we've gone through four managers in that time.
00:27:53
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:27:56
Zak
so And I think that with with you, it's that the sort of striving for perfection, it's this this the sort of fine margins. It's a game like winning against us could be the difference between you winning the Premier League.
00:28:07
Zak
That's how fine your margins have been.
00:28:07
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:28:09
Zak
And on top of that, you've got continental battles that we don't really need to worry about. But we do like a cup run that seems to drag us out in a little bit. It seems to be the case. But yeah, from sort of the outside looking in, it is almost all an intimidation.
00:28:23
Zak
You do have some absolutely fantastic players. And I think that you can get so tied up with forgetting that, you know, until you come and go, excellent. Now watch us win 3-0 or something and put you to shame.
00:28:36
Zak
It's not going to happen.
00:28:36
officialgspn
Come on now.
00:28:37
Zak
It's not gonna happen, but I have to be the optimistic for Greg.
00:28:39
officialgspn
Thing is, I have i have genuine terror that it could. I mean, that with there are a few injury problems for Arsenal as well. I mean, obviously in terms of, ah like you're alluding to there, Arsenal in terms of the positioning of the club is in a much stronger position than Southampton is and probably has better depth.
00:28:56
officialgspn
But, I mean, two of our key midfielders are still out. There's still no out of guard. And there has been a struggle making creativity without him. Also, it looks like we might have a problem at left back, too.
00:29:07
officialgspn
So Ben White looks like he's injured, so Timber will be playing it right back. And then Callifiori is possibly not going to be playing, and he's had a cracking start to his time at Arsenal. So there's a good chance he'll be Kivio playing at left back.
00:29:19
officialgspn
So if you've got some pace on that right hand side, I think Dibbling plays mostly on the right, doesn't he?
00:29:23
Zak
Dibbling does mainly mainly play on the right, so you know getting getting him in behind, if he if he does alright, it's difficult managing his minutes, being 18, so if you don't want him to go out, and I don't know if you've seen, there's an ongoing joke about the size of his shin pads, but there is a worry that one small crunch could sort of end his season.
00:29:25
officialgspn
Let's see.
00:29:31
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:29:40
officialgspn
Oh, my name.
00:29:42
Zak
They've got some very small shin pads, if you get a chance, Avagandas, but
00:29:45
officialgspn
I'm going to be Googling immediately after we finish this.
00:29:48
Zak
So, ah so so like yeah, I think that that could be that could be really good for us. and you know so same we've we've We've got tons of options.
00:30:00
Zak
Axel Kornet probably wants to play there. And then we've also got little players that we bring on. we we do We're very good at substitutions. It will be the thing that I always say to Russell Martin.
00:30:06
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:30:08
Zak
He he kind of subs very, very well. It used to be a problem we always had. where we'd bring on sort of maybe like for like or or even if it's not like for like it wouldn't be in fact that was probably what killed the game the last time we played Arsenal we we we took off about three or four players and then you know we it was three three all of a sudden because those players were clearly not ready to have the game that was brought to them and I think you know little players like Ryan Fraser who you wouldn't expect him to be as quick as he is for the size that he is but he can be like a bullet up that left hand side
00:30:25
officialgspn
yeah
00:30:37
officialgspn
Fraser has got pace on him. He definitely has pace to his game.
00:30:40
Zak
played very, very well for us last season and it came on as a sort of super sub. And so if we can kind of get in behind that and and the guys can do, you know, can can utilize their pace. It's a shame we don't have Solomano fit.
00:30:52
Zak
um He's been out for all of this season so far um because, you know, he was the fastest player in the World Cup and that's going back a bit now.
00:30:52
officialgspn
yeah
00:31:00
Zak
And he hasn't really showed his quality, but like, you know, if we can whip some put some things in behind there, you know, but both play high lines. I have to see how it goes, but I'm
00:31:09
officialgspn
I think it, it could be a really good game. It could be a really entertaining fix. It's a shame. It's a three o'clock kickoff. I'll have to find some totally legal, legitimate way of watching it.
00:31:17
Zak
Same, 100 percent, 100 percent.
00:31:18
officialgspn
Uh, yes. Um, also there's a chance that Raya still isn't a hundred percent. So you might not be facing off against the best goalkeeper in the world in the premier league. Sorry.
00:31:28
officialgspn
Um, last few things, because I'm aware that we're running a little bit over here. Last few things. Uh, do you think there's going to be any surprise selections in the squad or do you imagine it will be very similar to the way you've been lining up so far?
00:31:39
Zak
i I can't see any surprise selections, if I'm totally honest. um I could see Kyle Walker-Peters coming in for Siguarra, depending, just because of managing against Siguarra's minutes, plus Kyle Walker-Peters, X, Spurs, you know, player, he's probably got that fire in him to do well against Arsenal.
00:31:50
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:31:56
officialgspn
Oh, Zach, we were getting on so well and he had to bring up them.
00:31:56
Zak
They always sort of...
00:32:00
officialgspn
Oh, right.
00:32:00
Zak
It's all right, they've only...
00:32:01
officialgspn
That's that is's my prediction, all of a sudden.
00:32:04
Zak
it's It's fine, anyone could have done the 3-0 team night at the other day. If anyone else, it probably would have been five to be fair.
00:32:11
officialgspn
but
00:32:12
Zak
That's probably a bit harsh on the Tottenham fans, but...
00:32:12
officialgspn
But you know, I actually have to admit I really enjoyed that. I don't know what it is. The universal united hatred is one thing that brings us all together.
00:32:24
Zak
ah they They're gunning for Diblin at the moment, so we're not too happy with them, with them you know, our side.
00:32:29
officialgspn
Diblink doesn't want to go down to a worst club though.
00:32:29
Zak
But yeah... Well, he wants to play, don't he, for starters?
00:32:32
officialgspn
No. Yeah.
00:32:35
Zak
yeah But but yeah i don't i don't really um other than that, I don't really see us making any sort of crazy selections. I don't think that he's going to sort of take his foot off the gas with with the team.
00:32:47
Zak
ah you know The cynic in me says, well, you know give some of the the more regulars some you know time off and swap them out for some of them. But I just don't think we can do that.
00:32:54
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:32:56
Zak
It is our survival at stake. So I think that we'll probably go guns blazing. So yeah I don't really see any massive surprises. But it will be interesting to see who goes on the left. or who goes on the right, sorry, whether it'll be Kyle or Yuki, or we you know we switch out our current defensive sort of keeping Charlie Taylor at the left and go for two quite attacking full backs.
00:33:06
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:33:19
Zak
That's kind of, yeah, nothing too exciting, but it will be an exciting game, I think.
00:33:20
officialgspn
Yeah, nothing too drastic. Yeah, nothing too drastic. And hey, I mean, Ramsdale is going to have been, like you said, coaching them all week on our set pieces from when he was ah when he was with us last season. So the last question to ask you prediction, score prediction. We've got to do it. It's it's part and parcel of these crossovers. I have to ask you, you like you can give me two. You can give me a heart in your head if you want.
00:33:45
Zak
Oh, perfect. but heart My head is exactly what I'd like to give. um Right, so the cynic, the head part of me is just going to go two in a last. and like Again, I don't i don't really, just just because of how easily we've been carved up when it comes to set pieces and how well
00:34:02
officialgspn
Yeah.
00:34:03
Zak
you guys set up you know if if we even if we play really really well i can see us switching off for at least one or two moments and those will be the two moments the goals come in my heart doesn't even say i win but heart wants to say one all so if carl carl walker peters 100 would end up scoring and then obviously we'll concede from a set pace because that is currently the south hampton way um
00:34:11
officialgspn
Well.
00:34:23
officialgspn
Yeah, and the Arsenal way, scoring as well.
00:34:23
Zak
but
00:34:26
officialgspn
That's the only way we can do without Erdogan. Joel, I'm going to go. I was going to go respectful before you mentioned Carwalker Peters. No, no, no. I'll still go with what I thought.
00:34:37
officialgspn
I think you're going to score. I i have a feeling that you're going to, if you play Bournemouth tonight, I think you could get a couple in that game and I think you'd get some confidence in your team. Then you come to Arsenal, like you say, kind of a free hit, kind of play how you want to play.
00:34:51
officialgspn
I can see 3-2. 3-2 to Arsenal.
00:34:55
Zak
I could see it, I could see that.
00:34:57
officialgspn
Yeah. ah Dibbling, getting one. I kind of hope that you can get gets one as well, because I really liked it watching that game.
00:35:04
Zak
It's Benry, very good player.
00:35:06
officialgspn
And um yeah, and you know what, just as revenge for Carl Walker, Peter's three Ramsdale own goals, there you go.
00:35:06
Zak
no No one notice him, please.
00:35:14
Zak
Perfect, wonderful.
00:35:15
officialgspn
Well, I think that's it from both the Daily Arsenal and Southampton. Goodness me, Southampton podcasts. Thank you very much for listening. And remember, if you like what you heard, or For that fact, you didn't like what you heard, then let us know.
00:35:28
officialgspn
Also, we can't stress this enough. Spread the podcast. GSPN is dedicated to bringing you daily football news across the whole Premier League. So follow and share us everywhere.
00:35:39
officialgspn
I've been your host, Josh Vince. They were Zach, Ingo Finch. Zach, thank you so much for coming on by the way. It's been a pleasure having you on today.
00:35:46
Zak
It's been great. I've really, really enjoyed myself. It's been been fun chat. Thanks very much.
00:35:50
officialgspn
as i I'm looking forward to when we meet up next time. And this was the Arsenal Southampton crossover. Have a brilliant day, everybody. Goodbye.