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S1-E104 : A Visit to Europe!
4 Plays54 minutes ago
On todays episode of the Daily Arsenal Podcast, Josh takes us through our next opponenets, Dinamo Zagreb, as well as our potentail opportunities in The Champions League, and a little wander around the rest of the European Leagues!
Host : Josh Vince
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Transcript
Preview: Arsenal vs Dinamo Zagreb
00:00:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the Daily Arsenal Podcast brought to you as part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. It is Wednesday today on the Daily on the daily Arsenal Podcast and today we're going to have a little look at Europe seeing as Champions of League, Europa League and Conference League football is back this week. And it is, in fact, this evening, the Arsenal play at home against Dinamo Zagreb in their seventh Champions League game of the season. So what we want to do is have a little look at Dinamo Zagreb, our upcoming opponents, where they sit in their league, where they sit in the Champions League, their top goal score, and have a little bit of a discussion about sort of the dangers they pose. Then I'm going to quickly talk about potential ambitions for Europe. And then we're going to look at the other leagues.
00:00:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
around Europe as well, so sort of Syria, Bundesliga and La Liga in particular. So I'm your host Josh Vince, it's going to be a slightly shorter episode today just because schedules with everybody are incredibly tight considering it is January at the moment and um unfortunately Joshua Duncan's audio wasn't quite working for this recording so he will be back, just not going to be in this particular podcast. So Dinamo Zagreb, what can I tell you about Dinamo Zagreb? They are a Croatian team,
00:01:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
they're currently third in their league with one win in the last five domestic league games so they're going through a little bit of a tricky spell at the moment they're normally sort of right towards the top of the Croatian league but they've had a little bit of an up and down season so far but I mean one thing that you have to you have to give them and you have to say is that they are in the Champions League and no team in the Champions League is a pushover except for young boys Sorry, young boys. I don't think there's any young boys fans that listen to this podcast anyway, so we should be fine insulting them. So they're in the Champions League.
00:01:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
you can never write them off as a bad team. I mean, even in the Europa League, teams, I'd say 80% of the teams are very, very competitive teams. So it's never going to be an easy game in a Champions League. It's never going to be simple, dry cut, clear cut, anything like that.
Champions League Format Explained
00:02:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
In regards to the Champions League, just a quick sort of recap on the way that it works, because it's been a little while since we talked about it. And for those who might not be familiar with European football, it is a brand new system. So there's 30 Six, I want to check, 36 teams in a league table. One big league table. Those who finish between first and eighth automatically qualify for the round of 16. So that's the first knockout round. Those in between ninth and 24th will play a playoff leg. So ninth will get drawn against 24th, tenth against 23rd, 11th against 22nd and so on and so forth and they will play a playoff so they will play a two-legged fixture and whoever wins that will then go on to the round of 16 and then any teams from 25th and under down to 36 will not progress in the Champions League and I quite like it I think it's been rather dynamic rather than having a group stage where there's
00:03:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
you know four teams who play two legs against each other and it's just you know it's the best of that I find that a little bit stale whereas this has been you know each team plays eight games in the Champions League I know it's more games and we were a little bit worried about that start the season but it's kept it fresh and it means that teams like Leverkusen who you know they've been good domestically but you wouldn't put as being brilliant in Europe have been in the top eight, Villa in the top eight, Brest and Lille are in the top eight as well. Two French teams doing really, really well. And then the likes of Atleti, Madrid, Man City, struggling a little bit, including especially PSG. And Dino Zagreb are upcoming opponents from Croatia. They are 24th in this league table, which means that they are right on the cusp of not going any further in this competition.
00:03:54
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The team underneath them, by the way, Paris Saint-Germain, the best team in France, or so they like to consider themselves. um They actually play Manchester City on, so I'm recording this on Sunday, I think they play Manchester City on Tuesday or Wednesday, so that should be a really, really interesting game. and you know, as much as I don't like watching City win, particularly, oh no, they play, they play on Wednesday, play tonight. As much as I don't like seeing City win, it'll be really, really funny if PSG don't go any further in the competition. So, Dino Esagreb have a lot to play for.
00:04:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
one point against dropping out of the competition entirely. They've got two losses, two draws and two wins, but it is worth bearing in mind that their two victories were in fact against Slovan Bratislava and Red Bull Leipzig. Now both of those teams have something in common, they're sat right at the bottom of the Champions League table, they are out effectively at the Champions League,
00:04:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
with zero wins in six. They have lost six games each. So the two teams that Zagreb have managed to beat are the ones who are quite frankly the worst in the competition. I mean they haven't won a game, obviously they're the worst in the competition and in technical terms they can't qualify because it's eighth is currently the 24th and they have zero points and they would get six from two wins if they were to win two games so they can't qualify.
00:05:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
So, the Greb need to come out and show a good performance against Arsenal.
Arsenal's Strategy Against Dinamo Zagreb
00:05:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
And Arsenal at home, you'd think, a big advantage, but I mean... Manchester United played poorly. Aston Villa weren't fantastic either. So we can't get too excited, but realistically, there is a bit of hope in the sense that Zagreb have not been brilliant in Europe. They've had a couple of decent results, but the two big wins against the two teams who haven't won a single game means that there's probably something to cling on to. Their main threat really like is their top goal scorer currently, and that is Sandro Klenovich. Now he's a 25 year old Croatian, and there's a little bit of argument about who he was going to play for. I think there's some controversy that he might choose
00:05:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina. But um because obviously it actually does a lot of the estate, it's very diplomatically complicated, but he's come out and said he's going to play for Croatia. He's got 11 goals in all competitions so far. He's been described as the new Mario Mandžukic. So Mario Mandžukic, obviously, for those who are sort of, you know, under the age of 20 might not be as familiar. He was a fantastic, fantastic number nine, really strong, really pacey, i played at all levels of the game, i played for, he scored a bicycle kick against Real Madrid in the Champions League final for Juve.
00:06:22
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just before Ram Cristiano Ronaldo basically said hold my beer and did it better and then Real Madrid obviously went to go on and win that game. He is a very very good player and he bases his game with Fernando Torres operating with speed and power above anything else.
00:06:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
So he's probably the biggest concern that Arsenal will have, especially if Saliba is injured as long as he apparently is going to be. Like, Arteta seems quite concerned about William Saliba at the moment, which is something we definitely need to worry about. But yeah, so that's probably their big threat. Realistically, though, when it comes to Dino Moza Greb, I don't think Arsenal have too much to worry about. I think we should be able to dispatch them. I could see Arteta maybe even rotating things a little bit to try and keep things fresh in the league, because we're we're in a very comfortable position at the moment, Arsenal.
00:07:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah We're going to get onto that into the second section, but we're in a good position currently in the Champions League. So there is probably an opportunity to rotate against a slightly weaker European side. So I'm going to give my prediction for that one as a three. Should I go three now?
00:07:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
If Saliba's playing 3-0, but if he's still injured, I'm going to say 3-1. I think Arsenal will win convincingly and it'll be a nice comfortable game. Anyway, that's it for the first section, looking at Dino Moza Greb. When we come back in part two, I'm going to talk about our potential ambitions for Europe and what
Arsenal's Champions League Ambitions
00:07:31
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we should be aiming for. So we'll be back just after this message from Zencaster.
00:08:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
and welcome back to the daily arsenal podcast we're talking about the champions league and europe in general we've had a little look at dino as a grab sort of our opponents coming up this evening and then after that we only have one more nailed on fixture in the champions league i i mean we're definitely going to go through to the next stage whether it be in the playoffs or automatic qualification is yet to be seen. I'd be amazed if we don't automatically qualify because after Dino Moza Greb our next opponent will be Girona. Now Dino Moza Greb are in 24th in the Champions League table. Girona currently 30th with only one win. Now this is something that Girona and Dino Moza Greb have in common, they've both beaten Sloven Bratislava. So again, when it comes down to, we'll we'll do more of a deep dive on that next week, but when it comes to playing against Girona, I'm not worried. Like I can see us getting six points out of those two games, which brings us on to the next point, Arsenal in Europe, in terms of like where we stand right now.
00:09:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
We are third in the Champions League table. We're third in the Champions League table, which I still find kind of baffling. It is worth mentioning, however, that third to eighth, so the automatic qualifying points, are all on 13 points. So Arsenal, Bayern, Leverkusen, Aston Villa, Inter Milan, Brest and Lila are all on 13 points. So, you know, like,
00:09:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
We're doing well, but there's also a lot of teams are doing well. And then when it comes to the drops, the drop into the playoff zone, Dortmund, Munich, Atleti, AC Milan have 12, Atalanta Juve have 11, Benfica Monaco sporting final, the club Bruges has 10. So between third place,
00:09:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
and 19th place, there are three points. So I can't get two ahead of ourselves. However, Dino is a g grab and Girona is our last two games, I think are very, very favorable. I can see us getting six points. To be honest, I think a win would see us through to automatic promotion, which is what we want. We do not want to be in the playoffs. I would rather be knocked out realistically than go to the playoffs because it's an extra two games against a European side which means traveling in, you no I wouldn't rather us knock down, but I really don't want us to have to do an extra two legged round in the Champions League. It's actually quite interesting in the sense of the Champions League when the knockout round starts. So the playoff round starts in mid-February
00:10:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
for those teams who finished between 9th and 24th. However, if we were to finish in the top eight, the next Champions League game that we would have would be on the week of the 4th and the 5th of March. Now that's quite a bit of time to rest, recover, just playing playing Premier League games because we're out of both domestic cups at the moment, but also around about the time that a certain Bikaiosaka should be coming back,
00:10:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
So if we could then maybe make a run in the Champions League with Picayo, that would be lovely. So I can see us finishing inside the top eight and then not having to play any more European football till the start of March, which would, I think, be the absolute best. Well, I mean, it would be the best case scenario anyway, regardless. But it's a it's kind of a must scenario for Arsenal at the moment with the amount of injuries that we seem to be picking up. If we can get back to having a full fit team for the Champions League, that would be brilliant, because As I said a moment ago, we're out of both domestic cups, which is not good. It's not a good look for Arsenal, especially, you know, Kings of the FA Cup and all that. Oh, that made a nice ring. Sorry about that. And the Premier League, we talked about it on Monday, is looking less and less likely that we'll catch Liverpool. And in some ways as well, it looks kind of unlikely that we're even going to be second. Like there are teams Forest are going to be vying for second. City are definitely going to be coming back now as well. They're going to find a groove and start winning games. I've spoken to City fans who reckon they're going to finish second above us. so you know it's The Premier League is going to be incredibly difficult. Is there more hope for silverware in Europe? i I had a feeling at the start of this year we were going to have a good Champions League run.
00:12:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't know why. I didn't think we're going to win the league, but I thought we'd have a really, really good Champions League run. And if we can, and I mean, you know, I'm not a religious man, but goodness me, if we made the final, that would be an incredible achievement for this Arsenal side.
00:12:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
if we won it I would I'm not sure what I would do quite frankly I don't know if I'd have the sort of capabilities to comprehend or properly experience that moment but but yeah Champions League silverware could potentially be more attainable than Premier League but that's ah that's a huge jump we still got to get through these two games in terms of who I think will finish in the top eight with two games left Liverpool definitely will I mean, it's nailed on already unless, you know, unless they have an absolute shocker and lose the next two games, uh, by, you know, several goals. And then everyone in the top eight, who's currently there wins and Dortmund Munich and Atletico Madrid do and win well.
00:13:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
then Liverpool could potentially not finish in the top eight, but they're going to. They're gonna finish in the top eight. Barcelona are hitting a rough patch of form at the moment, but they have 15 points. They're three above ninth place. So they can afford to lose a game. I think they'll be in there. I think we will stay there. Inter Milan will stay there. I have a feeling that Bayern Munich are gonna sneak in. And I also have a feeling where a city of eight points. So they're five off of it.
00:13:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't think city will make the top eight. I'm going to say Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Leverkusen, Inter Milan, Brest. Villa and Bayern Munich. That's going to be my top eight. I mean, I'm awful when it comes to predictions. We all know this on the Daily Arsenal podcast, but that's my prediction. Anyway, we're going to stop now with the Champions League. We're going to take a little break, hear a message from our partners at the Global Sports Podcast Network. And when we come back, we're going to have just a very, very brief look at the leagues in Europe and how they're shaping up at the moment, because some of them have been fascinating. So we'll be back just after this message.
00:14:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
And welcome back to the final part of this Wild Card Wednesday
Serie A Highlights: Napoli & Juventus
00:14:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
episode. I'm your host, Josh Vince. ah We've had a little look at Dino Moza Greb, our opponents tonight, and sort of potential ambitions that Arsenal can have for Europe. But now it's time to look at the other leagues around the continent, starting off with Serie A. Now Serie A has been my favourite league to dip in and out of um over the course of this season because it has been chaos. It's been pure chaotic energy and I love that. Also, my manager at work is a UVE fan. He's Italian. So, you know, I naturally get told a lot about what's going on in Serie A as well. Last time I think we spoke to you, Atalanta were riding high in first place. That has all changed now. Napoli have found an incredibly rich vein of form. ah You know, they've also, I mean, they've just sold Curio Scalia, of course, to Paris Saint-Germain, but they've hit a really good
00:15:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
runner form. They played 21 games, won 16. They're 50 points currently, like which is a remarkable record for 21 games played. It's a really, really good setting that they're setting themselves on. Intermalana second, they have a game in hand as well on 45, and then Atalanta sit in third with 43. I think the big surprise is that Fiorentina have massively dropped off. Fiorentina were the surprise package. Oh, excuse me.
00:16:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
They were the surprise package this season. They were sitting in second for a considerable amount of time, but are now dropped off into sixth. And I'm looking at their form right now, going backwards from their most recent game. Draw, loss, loss, draw, loss, loss. It does not look good because I don't think.
00:16:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
they've lost, I think they've lost one game before that run. They've lost five overall. So in the last six games they've played, they've lost four of the five games that they've lost all season. So if you're on Tina struggling a little bit, and they were absolutely flying, Moisakine I think it was, who was scoring freely for them. One of the sort of underrated bits of ah ah sort of what would you call it, ah news ah quizzical knowledge from Syria currently is Yuvei, the old lady sort of, arguably one of the biggest teams historically in Italy and sort of controversially for many reasons. UVA sit in fifth place having not lost a single game.
00:17:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
They're currently unbeaten, Juve, or Drawve, as my manager calls them, because they have won eight and drawn 13 games. And often it's from winning positions, they draw they draw these games, they get into winning positions, and then they just drop it and lose it all. So Juve, Serie A still showing some real, real excitement, Atalanta seven points off Napoli at the moment. But ah honestly, the way that this league has shaped up so far this year, that could all chop and change.
00:17:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
Next up, I'm going to look at the Bundesliga and bad news, Harry Kane could win a trophy. There you go, said it. It'd be a disaster. I mean, realistically, actually, before the next World Cup, if Harry Kane got into the vein of winning trophies, that would be lovely, because it'd be lovely for England to bring it home, especially from the USA would be awesome. In fact, I'm going to try and get out to the... I've never been to the USA before. I'm going to try and get out for that World Cup. Just got to save all my pennies. But yes, Bayern Munich are currently first.
00:18:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
with Bayern Leverkusen underneath them in second, ah so four points behind, and then Eintracht Frankfurt. Again, a little bit of a surprise team who have come up through the ranks this season. They're sitting in third, but admittedly they are nine points off of Bayern
Bundesliga Highlights: Bayern & Kane
00:18:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
Munich. So it's a bit of a two horse race at the moment between Munich and Leverkusen.
00:18:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Harry Kane is the top goal scorer. I mean there's there's no massive surprise there 16 goals for Harry Kane. Next up was Omama Mooch who I believe has just signed for Manchester City. He had 15 goals so I can't believe they sold him even for 50 million like it just it beggars belief quite frankly and that and he was playing for was he playing for Frankfurt? He was playing for Frankfurt. So Frankfurt who were in third just lost their big striker like that's a That's a really stupid move, I'll be honest with you. If I was them, I'd refuse to sell him until the summer because they need all the firepower they can get. They've made a great Champions League run at the moment. They need to be pushing for that. And with their main striker, they've got to, absolutely. ah Towards the bottom of the the table, though, I think the most incredible story story is St. Pauli. Now, St. Pauli came up from this Vaita Bundesliga last year and their manager, in fact,
00:19:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hursler went off to Brighton and Everyone had them pegged to go down. They're 14th currently. They're actually in safety. Don't get me wrong 17 points from 18 games not good, but they're actually Surviving currently and if Sir Paulie can survive in this league. I will be absolutely amazed I also know there's a podcast with a certain Ryan Hun on it who would be over the moon if they survived too. Moving on from the Bundesliga, the La Liga table, Spain, and the big story here, Basse's drop-off in form.
La Liga Update: Barcelona's Struggles
00:19:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Barcelona were first and they were riding high but now sit in third place, seven points behind Real Madrid. I don't follow Barcelona that closely. obviously
00:20:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
their problems with Danny Olmo and finances are well known throughout the world but I'm not seeing what's happened to their form but they've dropped off a lot in the last six games they've only won one game ah sitting there with 39 points currently Real Madrid, however, have started really hitting a rich vein of form. They're first with 46 points, closely followed by their ah that um capital rivals, Atletico Madrid. So the top three is who you would expect, just not necessarily in the order you would expect us to have seen at the start of this season, because Barcelona were just on an absolute
00:20:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
Flyer and weirdly when you look at the top goal scorers, the two top goal scorers who have 27 goals between them are both Barca players. Robin Lewandowski was 16 and Raffina with 11. Next up is Mbappe from Madrid and then Vinicius Juniors, I think, sixth. So, you know, it's It's quite remarkable the sudden change of fortune that Barcelona have had. aces been It's been a real surprise. I didn't realise it had changed that rapidly since I last looked. Also, quite shockingly, Valencia are currently in a relegation scrap. Now, reentcia Valencia are
00:21:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
Obviously, they had a horrific situation earlier this year with the floods, which was truly atrocious. But the team being in 19th place was 16 points from 20 games. That's not what you expect Valencia to be. You normally expect to see Valencia towards the top, not obviously challenging for the title, but towards the top, challenging for Champions League, Europa League places. Instead, Mallorca have taken their place. Mallorca have almost come from nowhere. Sossa your dad in seventh, not having the best year. Girona, who were brilliant last year, but obviously got ripped of all their players.
00:21:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
in 8th. So yeah, the fact that Valencia are down in the bottom bottom section there is a real surprise to see actually. So if, I mean, we can have a very quick look at Ligue 1, PSG atop, what a surprise. 46 points, Olympic Marseille, 2nd or 36, Lille, 3rd. Lille, probably doing better in the Champions League than they are realistically in the domestic league, but you know, it's it's exactly what you expect to see from the French league. It's probably, I mean, the Bundesliga was called a farmer's league for a long time, admittedly because Bayern Munich won everything all the time, but Ligue 1 is just where competition goes to die at the moment. so
00:22:13
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And then, I mean, you know what, to hell with it. Let's look at our table. We've done all the other European ones.
Premier League Focus: Man City and Tottenham
00:22:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
We'll look at our table as things stand and look at the big stories. Manchester City are back in the top four, and I think they're just going to continue to push. I'll be honest, I think they'll hit a real good vein of form. Newcastle in fifth after their defeat ah um against Bournemouth. What a game that was, by the way. We talked about it on the Monday episode. And then the likes of Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton all in the relegation zone. It's really sad to see Ipswich got dominated.
00:22:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
against Manchester City. I really want to see them survive. um What is great though, Ipswich Town at 18th with 16 points. So that's that's the edge of the relegation zone. Tottenham Hotspur are 15th with 24 points. They're eight points off the relegation zone. Tottenham Hotspur, eight points off relegation.
00:23:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
And on that happy note, we're gonna end it. I've been your host, Josh Vince. Thank you so much for listening. i Apologies, it's a slightly shorter one today and it's a solo one. But like I say, we have incredibly busy schedules at the moment, considering it's January. So thank you all for listening. We really appreciate it. As always, share the pod around, give us a five-star rating wherever you can, and we'll be back tomorrow. Until then, I've been Josh. Thank you very much for listening and goodbye.