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S1-E96 : A Solo rant about our EFL Semi Final
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On todays episode of the podcast, it's just Josh, as he reacts to the 2-0 defeat Arsenal suffered at home to Newcatle United in the EFL Semi Final Match. He brings the opinions of the other Daily Arsenal members, and has his own say on Arteta's tacitcs, and if we want to be taken seriously... what needs to change.
Host : Josh Vince
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Transcript
Introduction and Change of Plans
00:00:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hello and welcome to the Daily Arsenal Podcast, brought to you as part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. I'm your host today, Josh Vince, coming to you solo for just a quick little podcast on this Thursday afternoon. We were going to do a Manchester United crossover today, but we couldn't quite fit it in because everybody's schedules at the start of January is a bit chaotic. So we thought we'd bring you something at the very least. So that's why I'm coming to you with a very quick solo reaction to our EFL Cup loss.
Reaction to Arsenal's EFL Cup Loss
00:00:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
last night against Newcastle if they buy last night I mean of course on Tuesday you think as I'm recording this on Wednesday days always get muddled and daily artisan podcast when you're running these things so yeah talking a little bit about the game last night it's fair to say that the group chat was very very busy while Arsenal were playing Newcastle at the Emirates on Tuesday evening in the EFL Cup it wasn't the best evening for us let's be entirely honest I'm looking through the group chat right now and let's put it this way I can't share everything with you that was on there because we are a PG podcast
00:01:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
But, I mean, the main consensus that came from the discussion that was going on in our group chat at the very least, Rodney continuously saying, we need to bring Isaac in for us. Jamie, like going along with that, saying that he'd rather he'd be scoring for us than anybody else. 100 million or more, where was our offer last summer? He's only going to get more expensive. And Rodney, Rodney Hardman, he sent us a picture from the Emirates, he was in fact there. And I mean, we have to talk we have to talk about the game itself in actual detail
Arsenal's Inefficiency in Front of Goal
00:01:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
very briefly. I was i was doing i was hosting a quiz at the time, so ah somewhat blissfully, I didn't get to watch it. I didn't have to sit through the difficulty of the game. However, I have just watched the highlights. It's not like we didn't go without any chances at all in the game.
00:02:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
There were opportunities for Arsenal to get forward, to put the ball in the back of them there. I mean, I've got the statistics here and I'm pretty sure the corner count for Arsenal was pretty high. Corners, 11 corners. So we were making advanced runs. We had 23 shots on goal.
00:02:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
And I know people like, you know, Josh Duncan gets really annoyed with the stats because realistically they don't show anything. But it's a continual step that I keep bringing up and keeps being a problem. 23 shots, three on target. Three. Three out of 23. Well, I'm not great at maths. I can't do the percentage straight off the top of my head.
00:03:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
But three shots on target out of 23 is not good enough. We are not clinical enough.
Lineup Analysis and Newcastle's Tactics
00:03:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
We are not dangerous enough, and I'll be honest, yeah, it was an EFL Cup game, but it was a semi-final, and Arteta put a strong squad out. He didn't hold anything back. He put out Raya, Timba, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis Skelly, Erdegerd, Party Rice, Trossard, Havarts, Martinelli. Apart from Saka, that has been our starting lineup, our ideal lineup, potentially Moreno instead of Party, but it has been our main lineup.
00:03:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
And they weren't at it. They weren't good enough, quite frankly. Newcastle as well, they played a strong team. Don't get me wrong. You know, second string goalkeeper in goal in Dubravka. Sven Botman, still not their number one starter at centre back. Willock not always in the midfield for them either. Jacob Murphy is having a bit of a resurgence.
Defensive and Offensive Critiques
00:04:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
And with about a third of the possession as well, 30% possession,
00:04:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Newcastle had seven shots, four of which were on target and they converted two. And frankly, the thing that Arsenal, we can at least relatively hold our head up high about, especially in the last couple of seasons, is our defending. But my goodness me, the defending for the first goal was abhorrent. Ball played in from a free kick, long, lofted ball. It's knotted on. I think it was by Botman.
00:04:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
lands at the feet of, I think it was Murphy, I think, yeah, lands at the feet of Murphy, who just manages to, Saliba and Gabrielle come together, ignore it, and it rolls through, and Isaac has a very quick, simple finish. It's an impressive finish, still, wrong foot, roof of the net. Very simple finish, knocks it into the top corner. The defending was beyond shoddy. Beyond shoddy. It was shocking.
00:05:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
And Arsenal, yeah, we kept on hammering at the door. We kept on going at them. But it just wasn't happening. And this has been a consistent problem. And this isn't just soccer. This isn't just Saka being missing. This isn't just a problem there. This is a deeper problem that we have, which is in terms of the creativity, it's coming from set plays. And that is because Arteta's game plan at the moment seems to be horseshoeing teams into a position where we dominate the pitch. like I get it. When he came in defensively, Arsenal were shambles. Arsenal were shocking at defending when Arteta came in. And under Emery, we had one of our worst defensive records, I think, for the last 20 years under Emery. We were terrible defensively. He's come in and he's fixed that. He's got the best, probably, centre-back partnership in the country, arguably in Europe.
Arteta's Strategies and Attacking Challenges
00:05:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
And he's shored up the wings wing backs. They're still not perfect, but he's shored them up. And he's built the entire team around having a strong defensive structure.
00:06:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
which is great, it's fantastic, but it's not scoring goals. And there seems to be even more caution this year. So much more nervousness about playing the ball forward, about trying to attack on the counter with speed and intensity because we are one of the slowest teams in build up. My word. When we have an opportunity to break, we don't have the fastest attack in the world.
00:06:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
Granted, however, we got one of the fastest players in the Premier League, Martinelli, on that left wing. Do we utilize him? No. And when we do utilize him, he is... I know I praise him constantly and I love him. But if I watch him recycling possession on the edge of the box one more time, I might rip my beard out.
00:06:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
because it's it's just infuriating. He gets into positions where he can attack the byline, and this is another thing with Arteta. Now that he's got this horseshoe-shaped defensive structure, where we are defending by pinning teams in and holding them in and attacking formation, what it's kind of meaning that there are in effectively a very compact 10 men behind the ball, often 11 for the opposition team, all cramped in a very tight space, probably about 20 yards up,
00:07:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
all 11 of their players, all 10 of their outfield players in that spot. So finding a ball through is so difficult, which is why Erdogan is such an important player, but we can't rely on him to make magic out of nothing and to force a ball through somewhere where there is no gap. Or the other option is to go wide and get either Martinelli, Saka, Timber or Callifuri to knock the ball against somebody and knock it out for a corner and try and score with a corner.
00:07:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's not how you win a title. That's not how you win a cup. Like, we got beaten 2-0 at home in a semi-final.
Moments of Frustration and Missed Opportunities
00:07:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's not good. I know I'm not the biggest optimist in the sense of Arsenal are going to win things. I know I don't often say that, but that was not good. It was disappointing from the outset. And then antony's goal ah Anthony Gordon's goal, you know, shot comes in, Raya saves it, but doesn't deal with it particularly well. The rebound comes out to Gordon, he knocks it home.
00:08:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
Simple, simple, beats timber to the ball, easily. It's just, again, I feel bad ranting this much because we're in a semi-final and we're second in the league. I shouldn't be this angry. But I think it it feels like there's a stagnation happening in a team where we had such high hopes at the start of this season. Such high hopes. Oh, and then, go this way.
00:08:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
if i If we weren't a PG show, I would paste Joshua Duncan's voice note about Kai Havertz everywhere, because that opportunity towards the end of the game, I have been defending Kai Havertz to the hilt, but my good god, I could have scored this goal. The ball deflects and bounces up in the air. He has no one around him, and it falls perfectly for him.
00:09:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
He's four, five yards out from goal. He goes to head the ball, and somehow, somehow, it hits the space between, it basically sits in between his neck and his shoulder. He goes to head it sort of, but instead just, it hits the very empty space where his shoulder is, riding up his neck and the side of the head. Hits there, and just bobbles out of play.
00:09:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
The easiest header to connect with. He had time. He could watch it. He could see it. Does he connect with it? Does he? Does he hell? It was not good enough. And we had so many corners. Saliba heading over. Gabrielle heading it over. Timba heading it over. No one was on their game.
00:10:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
A lot of people are saying Arteta needs to win something this season. I mean, I don't like the two-leg system in semi-finals. I think it's unnecessary, especially with the amount of games that we play these days. I mean, thank goodness we have it in this sense, because 2-0 down at home is not good, but science has got to change.
Newcastle's Clinical Performance
00:10:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
We've got to spend some money. I know we don't have any money, apparently. There's reports now coming out that Arsenal have got no money to spend in January.
00:10:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
So it just feels a bit frustrating and a bit fruitless. you know Fair play to Newcastle. you know ah come I can moan about Arsenal a lot because it's an Arsenal podcast, but fair play to Newcastle. They were clinical, they were good. Isaac is a phenomenal player. They need to keep hold of him for as long as it's humanely possible.
00:10:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
We're going to take a quick break.
Need for Player Replacements
00:10:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
We're going to hear a message from our partners at Zencaster. We're only going to do two parts today because um just because of tightness of schedules. When we come back, I'm going to talk about potential replacements that we need to make because it's getting to the point where we could slide into a relevance unless we make some real changes. So we'll be back just after this message from Zencaster.
00:11:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
um Welcome back to the Daily Arsenal podcast. It is Thursday the 9th of January 2025.
Evaluating Martinelli and Attacking Options
00:11:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
I just went on probably one of the bigger, angrier rants that I've ever gone on looking at Arsenal's 2-0 defeat at home to Newcastle in the EFL semi-cup, first leg. I talked earlier about are Teta's tactics really limiting our offensive opportunities?
00:12:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
we We pin teams into a horseshoe. There's not much space in behind, in around. There's not huge amounts of space for like decent runs. He's he's making it secure, well, seemingly making it secure defensively. We still lost 2-0 at home. But there are players who do not soak it. And I can't believe I'm gonna say this. I think Martinelli's time might be up. I remember when we brought him in.
00:12:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
four or five years ago it must have been and he had we brought him in as an 18 year old from brazil eddie was a big part of it he had so much potential so much speed so much pace so much energy i don't know obviously he had the big injury last year i don't know what happened to him in terms of his confidence because it's not there He scored goals. He used to be able to knock in comfortable finishes with his right foot curling around the keeper to the ah to to the far post or even in the near post going straight on constantly. And it's gone. It's gone from his game. And I think, I don't know if we need to sell him, but I think we need a better player there.
Team Structure and Improvement Areas
00:13:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Now I've said it.
00:13:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
He was my player to watch this season and halfway through the season I'm saying we need a better player in his position. God that's really got me down actually thinking like that as well. Havert, he's not going to lead the line of a Premier League winning side. Josh is right.
00:13:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
He is not a striker who's going to bag you 20 goals a season. It's not going to happen. And he's a been great for us. He's done bits. He holds up play well. I think he'd actually work better potentially in a two striker situation, sitting just a little bit deeper, just behind another striker.
00:14:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
And Leandro Trossard, I could talk about Leandro Trossard for a very, very, very long time. um His pace is gone. His finishing is gone. His concentration is gone. His ability to see passes and pull them off has gone. I don't see the point in him. Honestly, I think we can get a better replacement. I really, really do. I mean, like I can't remember who said it in the group chat yesterday. I think it might have been Rodney.
00:14:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
I mentioned, whilst Zach is out, we need a whole new front three. I think you might be right. I think the back line is still solid. Obviously it's still injury strewn and everything, but timber, Saliba, Gabrielle and Califiori is a really, really good back four. Midfield is party up to it still. I don't know. Rice has been madly off the boil as well. I mean, we're definitely not going to sell rice.
00:15:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
Erdogan's been struggling, but I mean, is he is he even fit? Is he actually fit yet? You know, he's only just come back. Is he actually fit? We don't, we don't, we don't know.
Midfield Challenges and Creative Needs
00:15:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's as simple as that. We don't know if he's really fit or not. We need, Wanyeri is good, but again, he's injured now for a few weeks and also he's not ready. He's not ready to take that responsibility on his needs from Wanyeri. We need, we need attacking flair.
00:15:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
We need good attacking midfield options. We need someone who's going to drive through that midfield, someone who's quicker on the quicker on the ball than Marino, someone who's more offensively astute than Declan Rice, and someone who's less afraid to move forward than Gabriel Martinelli. I think that left side is costing us, because if you look at the if you look at the analysis, I can't remember who did the analysis exactly, but there was something published on the Athletic the other day.
00:15:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
um Arsenal are the top team for attacking down the right hand side about 50% of our attacks come down the right and then it's a split of like 1320 down the middle that's the most in the Premier League so that right side is getting so much defensive attention the left side has become a bit languid and is struggling definitely with Marino has not found his click there yet He hasn't done. He linked up quite well with Ranieri on the right-hand side the other day. That was quite good. But on the left, it's not working with him and Martinelli. He's not getting much game time either. I think he might be injured too, potentially. Martinelli cannot keep this run up. i I'd rather see him play down the middle, Martinelli. Give him more chances one-on-one and give him a chance to stretch the play. If we're not going to go and buy a quick striker, play Martinelli down the middle. Do not play him on the left-hand side.
00:16:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I think, God, I think this is the weirdly, the angriest I've been for a podcast in terms of the state that the team is in since we actually started the Daily Arsenal podcast. You know, EFL, semi-cup final defeat at home. It's a bit embarrassing. And there's another thing we wanted to raise as well, actually. This was going around in the group chat. Fans leaving the stadium early.
Fan Support and Stadium Atmosphere
00:17:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
It is so hard to get tickets at the Emirates. I mean, I definitely won't ever get it because I live in Manchester, but I know all of the boys who run the podcast with us down south in London, try and get tickets on the regular, and they struggle. They struggle to get the tickets like nobody else's business. And what did half the stadium do last night because we were losing 2-0?
00:17:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
Rodney sent us a picture, at 70 minutes, the stadium was emptying.
00:17:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
You have the right, of course, to leave if you want, leave if you have to, but to leave when your team are too nailed down, when you've had to wait for so long to get a ticket, and there are so many people who would give so much to get a ticket, just think about it, yeah?
00:18:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
because if I had the opportunity to go to London, I would have killed to have that ticket and I would have stayed every second I could because it is a rare treat for so many people to get to the Emirates. Arsenal is a global club with a global family. If you are lucky enough to be in that stadium, stay until the bloody end. Have the decency to just stay and enjoy the moment that so many other people can't.
00:18:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Anyway, wow. ah that way yeah That was a really negative podcast there. I'm really sorry. That was like 19 minutes of anger. um Thank you very much for listening to the Daily Arsenal podcast. I hope you have a lovely day and feel better than I did during this rant. We'll be back tomorrow, hopefully with a crossover with the Manchester United episode before our fixture with them in the FA Cup.
00:19:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
on Sunday. But until then, I've been your host, Josh Vins. Thank you ever so much for listening. Have a wonderful day. And of course, goodbye.