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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is an Irish Independent Podcast. Now, welcome. Some football for you. We have Damien Delaney on the way as with an FA Cup weekend upon us, Arsenal can rest easy once again. They are seven points clear of Manchester City who dropped points at home to Nottingham Forest and then Arsenal who didn't have a shot in target for about 87 minutes of the game at the Amex Stadium were 1-0 winners.
So they are seven points clear, seven points clear
admittedly City have a game in hand but once again it's in Arsenal's hands are they unravelling though Damien Delaney is not so sure all is well with Arsenal that is on the way happy to say Ronan Mullins here Ronan hello hi Joe and Will Slattery hello hi Joe what's happening everyone been a while since the three of us were together Ronan was gallivanting a.k.a.
Chapter 2: What key moments defined Arsenal's recent match against Brighton?
working from Munich, but gallivanting. So it's good to see you. Nice of you to come in the office. Living my best life in snow-swept Munich. I saw the cooks. Let's save this for bits and bobs. I was a big Cooks guy back in the... At the time.
Chapter 3: How did Manchester City perform against Nottingham Forest?
It's a deep cut for... But our Bits and Bobs listeners will remember myself and Joe trying to refresh Will's memory of who the Cooks were and what they sang. She moves in her own way. Is that the Cooks? Yeah, but Joe came back with Naive, which is his favourite Cooks song. I don't know if it is my favourite, but it's their big... One of their big hits, I would say. I'll play it in Bits and Bobs.
I have it on my phone. So, well, Fabian Herzler... Not a fan of Arsenal. The Cougs? Oh. Only one team tried to play football. So like we... Is he being too naive? Said there, Bukayo Saka with a lucky goal. I mean, the keeper made a mistake.
Chapter 4: What were the main criticisms of Arsenal's playing style?
You literally took a sip. You're like the Kermit the Frog meme in Real Life there. Was he being naive when you took a sip of your special Colombian coffee? You don't let anyone touch it in the office. I'd say it'd be more like John Dorian in Scrubs, you know. Trying to get back on track here. Sorry, I completely interrupted, but I had to tell the listeners what Ronan just did.
Ronan made a joke there by saying, were they being too naive in case you missed that? No, it was the Kermit the Frog flourish he put on it with the coffee cup that had to be brought to the listeners' attention. Which he made with his one-person cafetiere in front of us. Look how missed I am. I'm like the centrepiece of the whole thing. Swear to God, I would have taken a hit of coffee.
Yeah, between Joe's ergonomic man cave on his side of the office and Ronan's special like Colombian coffee, you know, plunging. I'm the only person who sits in a kind of a Spartan desk just focused on his task. This is Bids and Bobs, Harry. This is a Sky-sponsored podcast. Oh, actually it is. Hang on. Our football coverage is sponsored by Sky Sports with Sky and Sky Sports and Sky Sports Extra.
You can watch every live Premier League match across the season. Spurs Crystal Palace tonight. That's a big one. It's getting a little worrying for them. I mean, I think they'll be fine. They're one point above relegation. I know. But, you know, some big names to come back. It's live on TNT Sports. Get Sky Sports and Sports Extra on Sky or stream them with now.
As I was saying, Fabian Hertzler, the Brighton manager, was disgusted with what he saw from the prospective champions last night. This is not football. And so, you know, time wasting. Brighton at 60% possession. They had three times the number of passes in the final third. Like I said, Arsenal after, you know, Saka's goal, 87 minutes with just one shot on target.
This is not football, screamed Fabian Hertzler. The time wasting. So here he is speaking post-match. I love the effort from my boys.
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Chapter 5: Why is Michael Carrick's management style under scrutiny at Manchester United?
I think there was only one team who tried to play football today and therefore I'm proud how they did it. And there are different kinds of winning. So if they win the Premier League, no one will ask how they win the Premier League. I think you can really feel that... They want to do everything now to win this game and in the end it's about the rules.
So if the Premier League, if the referee allow everything, then it's difficult. Then they make their own rules. So at the moment I have the feeling they are doing their own rules no matter how they are playing. So that's why I think it's difficult to judge that. Overall, like I said, I will never be that kind of manager who tries to win in that way.
Chapter 6: What were the standout performances in the Newcastle vs. Manchester United match?
I want to develop players. I want my players to keep improving and keep playing football on the pitch. In the end, of course, every team will manage and waste time. But I think there has to be a limit and the limit has to be set by the Premier League. The limit has to be set by the referees. At the moment, they just can do what they want.
I made my point before the game and I stick to it and everyone else can judge it on his own so I'm not sure if I would ask now everyone here in the room did he really enjoy this football game I'm sure maybe one raises his arm because he's a big Arsenal fan I will never be that kind of manager never When he's saying what he talked about before the game, he had talked time wasting before the game.
And later on, he said, you play like a 60 minute bowling play time against other teams. And then when it's Arsenal, it's down to 50 minutes. You know, he was asked that at one stage, like, should the referees do more? And he says, tricky. Do you really want to send the goalkeeper off with two yellow cards for time wasting? Not really. So it's hard for the referees. It's all evil Arsenal's fault.
What do you make of his contention? No one asks how you win the Premier League anymore. I could sometimes say, oh, you get the same Premier League medal, whether you play one way or the other way. But if Arsenal do go on to win the league in this exact fashion, I do feel like their legacy will be maybe this. People will be one of the first things people think of.
It won't be like, oh, they ended the drought playing football. It was good. It'll be like, oh, geez, remember that Arsenal league title win. I think I think that's actually I don't actually agree with them. I think I think I agree with you. And I feel like it's becoming more pronounced by the month at the moment.
I don't think back in November even, or even December, I don't think Arsenal were being talked about this way. But, you know, as they break the Premier League all-time record for goals from corners, games like last night. Yeah, I do think that reputation is starting to stick to them now in a very significant way. I think this will be always associated with, oh, that Arsenal team. Yeah.
Yeah, and the Arsenal fans are leaning into it because they've sang 1-0 to the Arsenal for decades. Like it was the George Graham advent. And back then it was just, oh, Arsenal are boring. But now there's data to back it up. Like Opta had it. Arsenal took 30 minutes and 51 seconds to restart play last night. So that's just them. That's not even Brighton's restarts.
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Chapter 7: How did Liverpool's performance against Wolves reflect their season struggles?
So he's talking about a 60 minute ball and play time. Arsenal have already taken away 33% of the overall time. And that's not including Brighton's own. That is shocking. That is a crazy statistic. And that's from... 30 minutes! And 51 seconds. As soon as Arsenal scored, they started doing it, by the way. So it wasn't like the last 25 minutes of the game.
It was from... And Herzl and Arteta were going at it. like in their technical areas I'm talking Saka scored early on this was going on for the whole game it was putrid stuff but if I was an Arsenal fan I'd be like I actually don't care like I can see two sides of Will's argument like if I was an Arsenal fan I'll take it any which way but all Premier League's
aren't equal as we've seen with slot like slot isn't even getting credit for the league he just won at that scene as a Jurgen Klopp overspill yeah so slot could get sacked as the reigning league champion like that's on the table well let's hear from Mikel Arteta then because Fabian young Herzler's comments were put to him What a surprise. Would you like to expand on that? No.
You just go back to the previous games and you will find a lot of comments like this always.
do you feel like I love my players that's what that's the highlight I love my players we love our players and I love the way we compete another thing that I've heard me say there's only one team here that tries to play football today is that unfair because at the end of the day it's my victory point next question that's annoying that the journalist didn't stick the landing on that final question because I would have been interested to hear how is David Roy how is he because he was down three times in that game is he going to be alright for the Champions League should you have taken him off
Yeah. What was with the music? What was going on there? I don't know. Cause it was in the press conference. Like, so maybe come out of the boom box. Yeah. Maybe it's the dressing room. It doesn't really feel like would Brighton be pumping the tunes? No. Like where Arsenal, maybe Arsenal were like city on two points. Maybe they were at the managers. Managers just walked out.
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of Liverpool's current form for their Champions League hopes?
Let's get the music on. It probably was Arsenal. Is their time wasting increasing because they're getting closer to the finish line and getting more nervous? Is that why the November comparison you made there? Because back then people were talking about how they were compact and resolute and stout, but it wasn't like, oh, but it's so much time wasting.
I feel like, as you said, they scored when 1-0 up and it's like batting down the hatches. But it's unlike we talk about why golf is so difficult is you can't run out the clock. Like Arsenal still need to accumulate points, but there is a sense that we just need to fall over the line here. Yes. Whereas, you know, they don't have to necessarily go and win it now. They've done that.
They've done the quote unquote hard part by building a lead of any sort. Now they just have to match City, who are also faltering. And there's a very interesting thing about them as well is with other champions in this situation, you would say it's the sign of a really good team to win playing ugly. That's not been attached to this Arsenal effort. Because they never win playing pretty. Ever.
It's always ugly. Yeah. Incidentally, by the way, we'll come on to Liverpool later on, but just Arne Slott, did you see his comments before the Newcastle game? He is very much in the Fabian Herzler camp. He's asked about this Premier League season and the football he's seen. Do I like it? My football heart does not like it. If you ask me about football, I think of Barcelona 10, 15 years ago.
He says the Premier League is, quote, no longer a joy to watch. And he is disparaging of the emphasis on set pieces this season. And again, the stats bear that out. So if you take from 2017 through to last season. the number of set-piece goals excluding penalties is always 19% to 22%. It's always kind of around the 20% mark.
It was 20% last year, for instance, whereas, to be fair, it has jumped to just shy of 28% this year. So it's close to a, like, 50% leap in set-piece goals. So, you know, we're not just imagining this. Arsenal with their 16 goals from corners, a joint record already. So Arne Slott, not enjoying the Premier League. Are you guys enjoying the Premier League this year?
What you're watching on an average Super Sunday, an average evening, is it markedly down for you? Drama wise, I've enjoyed it. But now I'm just thinking about the football, I suppose not as much as maybe previous years. Like the title race alone, like Arsenal City are not vintage title challengers. So that kind of tells you, tells a story about the overall quality to some degree.
Like you have like four teams scrapping for the top four or five, but they're all losing most of the time. It's like a slow bicycle race there as well. So generally it's a pretty low quality season, I think would be my sense. I don't know.
Yeah, there's an expanding middle there where there's a lot of teams of equal measure and even the Champions League race could yet prove to be very interesting where teams are vying, but that doesn't equate to quality on the pitch. I feel like the standard of play has gone way down and yet they're very well set for Europe.
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