European Super League & Four Years of Arteta | Arsecast

European Supreme Court ruling on the Super League, plus FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup (backed by Arsene Wenger), what it might mean for the game and the impact it could have on players and clubs with more and more games. We then take some time to reflect on Mikel Arteta’s four years in charge of Arsenal after he celebrated that anniversary this week, chatting about what he’s done and what there is still to do, with a quick but on the game against Liverpool this weekend.

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Hello and welcome to a brand new ARS blog arcast right here on AR blog.com how are you hope you’re well thank you very much indeed as always for being here we’re heading towards the end of December who will be top at Christmas we’ll find out on Saturday when Arsenal

Travel to anfield to take on Liverpool a win would mean we go into the Christmas period top of the table for all that that entails I think a draw keeps us there as well but I think if you asked any Arsenal fan what their ideal Christmas present would be they would

Isue all kinds of gifts all kind of deodorant sets and socks and whatever else for three points against Liverpool on Saturday that is a game we’ll talk about a little bit today but just to give you an idea of what’s coming over the next couple of days we’re going to

Put this out today Thursday tomorrow Friday we will have a Liverpool preview podcast for you over on patreon patreon.com ARS Blog the game of course is on Saturday night uh Saturday evening anyway and and on Christmas Eve no scrooging here when it comes to podcasts uh-uh we will have an arcast extra for

You on Christmas Eve so hopefully it is a very festive goodly morning and we can jingle our Bells all the way to the top of the table and fingers crossed we can stay there for the rest of the season for now though we have other things to talk about mik Etta’s foure anniversary

At Arsenal for one we’ll uh discuss the impact that he has had on this club since his arrival in December 2019 plus there’s been stuff this week about the uh European Super League also the FIFA Club World Cup the demands on players grow and grow and grow so those are the

Topics that we will delve into and with me to do that delighted to welcome back it is Andrew Allen hello Andrew hello there Merry Christmas Merry Christmas we’re certainly heading in the right direction it’s 21st of December and there is a big game coming up this weekend which we might touch on uh

Throughout this conversation Arsenal traveling to anfield of course to take on Liverpool and hoping to go into Christmas top of the table but let’s start elsewhere today and there was noise um around the super league and a decision that was made by the European court of justice um about the European

Super League uh ruling that the um UEFA and I think FIFA as well their guidelines their rules went against European law what what actual difference it makes I’m not quite sure I was reading a piece just uh before we came on uh from Miguel Delaney and the

Independent who says um the project can go ahead but it needs to get permission to get set up by UEFA um has much changed do you think or is this maybe the first little fracture in what’s going on in terms of the uh the people who Run the game like could we be

Heading for a PGA Tour live tour kind of scenario here where where clubs will play in their domestic leagues but you know in Europe they may choose a UA for competition or they may choose a Super League competition yeah I mean I guess in in theory that’s that’s possible I mean I I

Think judging by the reaction of supporters today there’s a sense of kind of Super League fatigue whereas there was a lot of you know anti- energy when it first came to to light a couple of years ago um I I I just don’t really see it getting off the ground certainly not

Getting off the ground anytime soon um obviously there’s all sorts of Hoops that they need to jump through to to to get it moving but also just watching the clubs one by one now coming out manchest United have released a statement saying that they’re committed to uafa we’ve

Seen a couple of the German clubs a couple of the other clubs I mean really it’s you know Florentino Perez may think he’s got ufer on the run but I’m not sure that anybody else necessarily feels that way at this point um I think for Perez this is all very very personal he

Seems to sort of think he’s some kind of footballing freedom fighter but I’m not sure that there’s that there’s that many people out there who are asking for them you know for him to to fight on their behalf um obviously he’s in it for Real Madrid obviously Real Madrid Barcelona

And Juventus who are the three clubs who kind of a little bit more stuck in with the the original Super League ideas are desperate for something that brings in the riches the Premier League clubs have and I just don’t see the Premier League clubs given the reaction that happened last time

Given that there’s a independent regulator coming in soon given the potential punishments that they basically agreed to off the back of you know last time which include things like a 30 point deduction and you know potential big fines I just don’t see the Premier League clubs involved well yeah

The Premier League released a statement this afternoon saying this is a significant ruling we will now fully examine its implications for the game the ruling does not endorse the so-called European Super League in inverted commas and the Premier League continues to reject any such concept which I think is a fairly clear

Message um you know from from the Premier League I mean when you look at the actual you know what they’re proposing you know a three tiered League system something that’s uh you know mirrored by the you know a proposal for the women’s game as well um I mean it it

It includes the kind of promotion and relegation that the original IDE did did not but when you actually dig a little deeper and realize that if you’re in the top tier you’d have to basically get relegated three times before you fall out of Europe and if you won your

Domestic league but weren’t actually already in the European stuff you’d start in the bottom League can have to climb back up um it still feels like quite a closed shop really and I don’t think that’s going to wash with a lot of fans around Europe um who’ll continue to

Want the idea that your team can progress through you know Merit I guess um even if it gives some semblance of that uh I think the big thing is I mean i’ I’ve seen there’s a you know in the the UK government have also released a statement and you know via the

Independent and I mean it basically sounds like they’re just going to do everything they can to say no they’ll just kind of create legislation that means that you know this version of it whatever you know probably won’t be able to take off I mean it’s interesting what

You say about you know a Saudi Style live style kind of breakaway because you do get the feeling that that money is sitting there and they’re waiting and at some point money will talk I guess well yeah I mean the statement from Alexander sein who is the uh the head of UFA UFA

President he says we will not try to stop them they can create whatever they want I hope they start their top competition as soon as possible with two clubs football is not for sale like listen I’m no fan of the Super League conceptually or or certainly the

Way that it was foed upon fans and I know you feel very strongly about that and the way it you know came to pass was was quite unpleasant really and in in the grand scheme of things but it is you know there’s a sort of arrogance isn’t

There to the way that UEFA operate the way FIFA operate football is not for sale says Alexander sephin as we’re about to enter a new um uh what is it Champions League format coming in next year which you know increases the uh the amount of games that are being played

The only reason that’s being done is so they can charge more for TV rights um you know he’s been Part I yes of the the the club World Cup uh you know these these moves um you know to suggest that football is not for sale football is not for sale by you but

It’s okay for us is basically the message I get from that yeah I mean football is always for sale I mean it’s it’s perpetually in you know Cycles where more money is pouring in and coming from new sources and all the rest

Of it um yeah I mean it it I I think we shouldn’t be opposed to change you know I’m not standing here and going well you know you wait for the you know this is this is the people who should be running the game and they 100% of getting

Everything right and I think they’ve kind of held their hands up and said yeah we’re you know we’ve made mistakes in the past and whatnot um but I just don’t feel like I trust the clubs at the very top to be the ones who who are going to somehow sa

Football for everybody else I just you know as much as I love the idea of Arsenal potentially being one of those big clubs and having a big say I don’t feel like that’s a safe way for for football to operate it needs an independent sense of you know an

Authoritative body at the top but I mean yeah this idea that clubs will rule themselves that’s fine but not all clubs are going to be uh you know treated similarly true and and also you know I think there is something to discuss when it comes to you know the authority if

You like like FIFA let’s say their remit should be the good of the game somebody ought to operate in a way that that benefits football not just for the richest clubs or the richest Nations but but for everybody and I suppose they will argue that’s what they do but we

All understand the way FIFA operates and UFA as well there’s a sort of Monopoly over European clubs you know I would quite happily see FIFA torn down and rebuilt in a way which is more beneficial and which is fairer to everybody in terms of you know how the game operates distribution of the

Massive wealth that FIFA generates and all the rest of it but I don’t necessarily see any attempt by a Super League or another body um another organization they are absolutely and purely going to be out for profit because they’re not going to set themselves up well we’re here to save

Football uh-uh we’re here to get as much money as we can out of this competition that we have created um you know so it’s it’s a weird situation to be in where organizations who I don’t think operate within the best or don’t operate with the best interests of football and

Footballers and football fans at the heart when they should they genuinely should UFA and FIFA are now probably the best protection that the game has you know it’s it’s crazy yeah yeah I mean it really is I mean obviously there was no complete disregard for player

Welfare in this idea because it adds an extra layer of games in you know straight away um I mean I think if there was one interesting thing from The Proposal that’s come out it’s this idea of a kind of free platform that would allow you know supporters around the

World to to watch the matches without having you know a subscription fee now great sounds amazing but how the hell you know how the hell does that actually work I mean nothing in life is for free so I mean this idea that you’re going to just broadcast I mean that’s where all

The money comes from how I mean they think people are just going to have adverts and somehow you know big companies are going to advertise and you know a few kind of scrolling adverts per game is going to be able to to to keep this thing going I mean that’s just

That’s not nonsense really so they’re kind of you know I think what they’ve done is they pitched a couple of ideas that they think might win over supporters but really I I think once you dig a Little Deeper there’s so many questions that you have to ask about how

You know practic how it would work on a practical level um yeah I mean it’s it’s mad but look I I I think I think we’re going to get kind of 48 72 hours of noise around this now and I think it’s going to go quite quite quite quickly

Would be my take yeah because like you say Beyond Barcelona Real Madrid and Juventus who kind of stuck to their guns if that’s the way you want to put it or who are so invested in this thing working because of their own Financial situations the Premier League clubs have

Already signed their their agreements haven’t they not to do anything ever again and blah blah blah so I I don’t really know conceptually how this is is going to work but I do wonder if like I said I do wonder if it might just be the start of a fracture that could lead

Somewhere yeah it could do I mean it has just occurred to me obviously Juventus had a huge points deduction for you know nefarious what’s it you know going on Barcelona being investigated because of you know all sorts of stuff with referees and payments made to officials Real Madrid who sold their

Training ground to the local council at a vastly increased you know uh rate just so they could help fund you know their galactico era I mean these are these are clubs who suddenly want to have control of football and you think well do you trust them I don’t trust them no I don’t

I don’t trust anyone hard trust anyone but yeah yeah yeah I mean these guys in particular you’re not going to be going oh yeah we want to get into bed with you I mean also I just do we need more football like I love football and there’s there’s

Loads of it there’s so much football yeah but we don’t need I don’t think we actually need more um you know I don’t hear people going God I wish there was even more football on TV right now I mean football is is great it’s amazing

But in the same way you kind of you want to have a moment to rest and reflect and actually enjoy what’s happened previously you know if you just kind of straight from one season into the next you don’t actually have that opportunity to really bask in any successes you

Might have and all the rest of it straight away you’re back onto the you know oh god well we’ve got everything to lose again um and I like having a break in the summer you know I like being able to kind of down tools and go I’ve had

Enough football for a bit sure it gives you know you kind of then look forward to the new season but this idea that we just we’re just going to kind of yeah just have matches all the time all the time well I mean that’s it you know it’s

Um I think we’ve gone beyond the point of of no return um because football generates such massive amount of income that the more football there is the more income there is and the more um people who are involved in in that side of it can can benefit forward I mean we did

Have a question uh on our Discord uh for today uh from ranbo he said thoughts on the new club World Cup in 2025 and arson wenger’s defense of of the criticism God it’s it’s a 32 team tournament to be played every four years from 2025 um there are criticisms from uh fif

Pro the players union um over the increased workload on on players and you know like you said there is no break anymore players get a couple of weeks in the summer and then they’re back in preseason they’re off on preseason tours and and all the rest of it and look

We’ve been there and done that and they’re good fun but there is obviously an impact on players you know the best players never get any time off during the season because they’re playing Internationals uh whether they’re friendlies whether their qualifiers all the rest of it and arson vinger um

Countered the criticism by saying in Europe we’re lucky but it’s important We Make Football really Global as if it isn’t already and this creates another chance uh for clubs to progress this is the real Target it will give more opportunities to more players all over the world to compete at the highest

Level I accept the football calendar is a busy one but this is a competition that’s going to take place every four years and the rest period during the competition and afterwards has to be respected and when it comes to player welfare arson vinger says that um injury prevention because of improvements in

Medicine has increased dramatically he also says it is unrecognizable from what it used to be also VAR has helped with the protection of players as players know they cannot escape from making bad tackles that cause injury I mean as arson finger watched any Premier League football in the last

Six weeks where players are being allowed hit each other in or hit you know their opponents in the head without any significant sanction despite the fact that we have VAR and we have um you know all these replays which show these acts of violent conduct continuing to go

Dangerous violent conduct as well you know hitting people in the head is bad you know if you’re this is MMA podcast then hitting people in the head is is a good thing in football and in most walks of life hitting people in the head is very bad and very dangerous because most

Of the time when you get hit in the head you’re not expecting it at least if you’re standing there in a ring or an octagon with some gloves on you’re you’re open to the fact that somebody is going to hit you in the head not Snidely

Take you out from behind so um you know what do you make of aren’s justification for this competition that nobody needs or wants or has asked for ever I mean it’s just a FIFA power play really isn’t it it’s an attempt to kind of stamp their mark on a

Club game because they’re so well known for for what they do with the international World Cup and all the rest of that but um yeah it feels a bit of a land grab uh I mean I I haven’t even dug down into how you qualify for it I assume by

Winning you know European honors or you know Continental honors um but this idea that it gives players from around the world the opportunity to to play at the highest level sure maybe who expect who’s going to win this tournament it’s not going to be the team that comes from

Oceanana it’s not going to be the team that comes from the Far East I don’t think it’s going to end up being Real Madrid it’s going to end up being you know the big European clubs probably you know maybe once in a blue moon you might

Get a South American team that wins it but really I mean the reason those teams are strong is because their domestic leagues are strong that’s where the money is that’s where the players go this is just you know it’s just dressing it all up really isn’t it it’s it’s it’s kind of it’s

It’s the next step on from having friendly matches in the United States is to try and take something competitive there and obviously the European clubs they may have flirted with taking uh domestic football abroad uh you know we’ve seen it with a couple of the super cups and stuff in other countries

But I I think the idea of the 39th game or whatever it was that that used to happen in the Premier League is pretty much being put to bed I think the Premier League realizes it doesn’t need that but this is just a way round it create a new tournament that creates

Some sense of competition and then flog it to the highest bidder which in this instance it must have been you know the US I guess yeah well the US are hosting the uh the 25 2025 tournament so I think is that is it maybe linked to the fact that

Uh uh they’ve got the World Cup coming up because I vaguely remember them saying that the the confederations cup which was always seen as a kind of tester event wasn’t it for for whichever country was hosting the World Cup has kind of been shelved basically so FIFA

Has said we we’ll get rid of the confederations cup which in itself was a completely pointless tournament really that didn’t have any weight and instead they’re just going to jump in on the club game and try and create something that I guess probably generates a lot of

Money for them because there’ll be big TV contracts again that’s how you fund these things yeah um yeah I mean it it doesn’t it doesn’t really interest me at all I mean I assume they’re going to get rid of this current version of the club World Cup or whatever the city are

Playing in the the you know the ver the yeah modern version of the Intercontinental cup whatever it was um but no no no English football fan kind of hold you know particularly gives too much weight to this this idea that City are going to be crowned the best team in

The world now as a consequence of beating flin or whoever it is they’re playing I mean it’s it’s one of those games you know the the the European super Cup game that takes place um you know between the the winners of the it’s the Europa League Now isn’t it Europa

League and Champions League it used to be the UFA cup and and the European Cup and and the club World Cup game that goes on like like I’m aware of it every year but like it’s so far down my list of things I give a single about that I could not tell

You you know who who won it last year who won it the year before who’s won it the most times I presume It’s Real Madrid um who’ve won it the most times um you know and it’s not something that if Arsenal never wanted I would be upset

About I want us to win a Champions League badly because that’s a competition that has um you know been part of our lives and and all the rest of it but this these games they just really they don’t matter they’re just a little bit of a spectacle But ultimately

It’s not a trophy you grow up dreaming of winning you know it’s about your domestic League it’s about your European competitions and internationally obviously you want to win you know the World Cups and the um the European championships if that’s for if that’s relevant to you and from your part of

The world but these guys just I mean the other thing is I mean you’re holding it every four years I mean you either go in on it and do it or or or don’t but this idea that it’s going to be a kind of every four years teams may have won the

Trophy that qualifies them to it a couple of years before potentially yeah um you know it it doesn’t have that cycle of excitement that’s actually relevant you know you could almost be irrelevant by that point and still taking part in this tournament and I don’t think what you’re going to see is

That clubs are any more inclined to try and win this over winning the champions league for example you know if you win the Champions League one season and then go straight off and then find out that you’re beaten by some team that wasn’t in the Champions League but is in this I

Don’t know it just confuses things really yeah um I’ll be really curious because actually you know if Arsenal did something this season you know did win the league did go you know very well in in Europe there’s potential that we could actually be invited to it and i’

I’d be really curious to see how I feel about that once it gets going because I just feel like I think I think interested but not like you know in anything more you know than that you know I’d still want us winning the Premier League I’d still

Want us winning you know domestic honors first and foremost what would we be saying I I don’t quite understand or I haven’t really looked at how the qualification works but I guess it’s to do with winners of the champions league and European coefficients and maybe winners of domestic leagues and and all

That kind of stuff I don’t know if they’ve already got their teams lined up for the 25 uh 2025 tournament but like what would we be talking about in in the summer of 2025 if arsal were involved in that would it be like oo I hope arsal do

Well in this or is it like well this is not really ideal in terms of how you prepare for a new domestic season and hopefully a new season in whatever format the champions league is in at that point you know yeah I mean can you imagine that instead of a proper

Preseason what you’re getting is a team racing straight from a full 38 game domestic League calendar and all the Cup competitions and everything else straight into this and then they’re going to get three weeks break and then they’re going to start the Premier League again and you’re thinking great

Well we’re on the back foot when Burnley come to the Emirates on the first day of the season because our players are knackered yeah or injured because they they played Internationals until the middle of June yeah yeah I mean you’re going to need squads that

Are huge to be able to cope with that because it’s unfair to have a 25 player Squad and ask those guys to basically carry uh 80 90 games a season I think isn’t that something Mich Etta talked about a couple of weeks ago he was asked

About it at his press conference and I think he made the point that the increased demands on players you know will lead to the need for bigger squads and 25man Squad is is quite big as it is you know uh especially as each of those players is going to earn you know

Millions of pounds every year you know on a on a scale from quite many millions to lots of millions depending on how good they are clearly there might be an increase in income or or cash flow if you are involved in in these tournaments but the reality of basically

Playing 11 and A2 months of the year is going to lead to uh well more injuries or in order to avoid injury you’re going to have to have uh bigger squads with uh I suppose not as much drop off between uh certain areas of the squad as as

There might be right now where you have like a First Choice and then the sort of like a backup you’re going to essentially need two first choices in every position yeah and the thing is is that if you introduce that for the teams that are you know at the very highest level you

Have to introduce it for everyone and then that puts a massive Financial strain on other clubs further down the pecking order because they’re thinking well we’ve got to have a 35 40 man squad these are clubs who were barely you know barely making any money as it is um yeah

I mean who knows it just opens up a whole can of worms there I think um the the financial pressures and smaller clubs to to create eight squads that are capable of competing because you have that leeway or you Al you know or you just end up with the big teams have all

Of the best players and they even more entrench themselves because they’re able to afford you know squads that are competitive at a a much higher level yeah I mean I yeah who knows I mean I’m not saying that it’s going to happen you know straight away but you definitely

Get the feeling that they’ll push for for bigger squads at some point soon I mean it’s already happening isn’t it I mean um so yeah we’ll see I mean there’s there’s a lot going on um but it would also take I think with all of these

Changes it’s going to take a lot of time and everything will end up getting watered down bit by bit I we’ll see I think go on no I was going to say I mean I I obviously next season we’ve got a new format of the champions league

And when you look at it it’s it’s sort of a real head scratch of this Swiss uh league and not Swiss League um yeah the Swiss starve format of the competition where uh everybody’s in one giant league and all the rest of it and it just looks a bit complicated I wonder

Whether you know the these new guys are kind of looking at that coming in and hoping that it doesn’t go down very well with supporters and they’re kind of sitting there waiting with you Alternatives waiting but I mean that that that sort of new Champions League

Format feels even if it was in the pipeline before the European Super League it feels like a reaction to that you you know you want a Super League okay here it is we’ll just modify the format of of the Champions League um you know which used to be a knockout

Competition between the champions of all the European leagues and you know of course over time it has changed and that’s the thing about the way things change is it’s not like right tomorrow we’re going to do this and this and this and this and this and everyone’s like

What it’s sort of like it’s incremental it’s drip drip it’s sort of you know modified and altered and then all of a sudden you look back and Go whoo this is very different from where we were yeah I mean obviously the the champions league did introduce at one point didn’t it a

Second group stage because they were trying to get more kind of games in there and that just ended up you know people weren’t interested it was just really tiresome um qualifying from one group to go into another group to play more you know it just became a bit too

Much and I think um they you know they reversed it actually so uh it’s possible that they may try this and realize that it’s not gone down well with supporters and and and end up falling back into some other format again we’ll see all right well let’s move on and this week

Was the fourth anniversary of Mich Etta’s appointment as as Arsenal manager December 20th uh 2019 when he took over and um a lot has happened it’s fair to say in in that time but I think what’s perhaps most striking about the situation or or where we are

Now when you look back on it and you look at what he said he was hoping to do or what he was going to do or the things that he wanted to implement at at the football club when you look back he’s basically done that yeah right across the board like he has

Been absolutely true to his word about what he expects from not just um his players but from everybody around him in terms of staff and and all the rest have you you know I think when you’re in it and you’re when you’re in it perhaps as much as we are and that we

We do it every day and so like you go to the game on a Saturday and then you don’t think about football again until next weekend or or you know the midweek game or whatever it is again you’re sort of embroiled in it all the way through

So you sort of live it experience it and all the rest but I did find it quite interesting going back to read and look at what he said uh you know in his first press conference and just go like he man had a plan he had a very very

Serious plan which he has implemented and it hasn’t been easy and you know there have been ups and downs but he has not deviated I don’t think in any way from what he said he was going to do four years ago I mean deeply impressive that to

Have that kind of foresight and then not just to be able to have the plan but to be able to implement it through the chaos yes and really it really was chaos I mean the Club was in a bit of a mess you know the tail end of the Arsen years the

The the unai situation you know all the stuff that was going on at boardroom level um you know this idea that we were going to have a a four person team that would somehow oversee how everything was going to run to come you know to pick up the

Pieces of all of that have a very clear plan and to drag those who wanted to come with him and to kick out those who didn’t want to come along the way it’s just I it’s deeply impressive it’s like a I mean if you did that in any business

You would be you know you’d be a superstar and to do it in the in The Madness of football um against the constant questioning of everything that you’re doing uh you really need to be quite stubborn um both you and Tim this week I think have written or in the last couple

Of days have written stuff looking back at what he said and it’s just I yeah I I can’t say I can’t say I thought he’d Implement everything but he has managed to pretty much do that and if we think that he was probably working to A Five-Year Plan and

We’re into year four you could imagine on that plan that year four he’d penciled in win the Premier League year five win the Champions League you know it was sort of first year we’re going to sort things out second year we’re going to get back into it third year we’re

Going to get into the Champions fourth you know that kind of flight markers and well we’re in the mix I mean you can’t you can’t make that happen just because you know you’ve got loads of other clubs who are trying to stop that from happening but we are we are

Very much in the mix in a way that I just did not see us being at one point um and yeah I mean as you said I mean after the first year he may easily have he may easily have been sacked so I think some credit has to go to the club

For also I think what they could see was that this guy was was implementing stuff and even though the results on the pitch weren’t necessarily showing they could see the culture within the club changing yeah I think that’s true I think the the resetting and rebuilding of the culture

At the club has been just so unbelievably impressive because you know things happen at football clubs and you know everyone I think tries to do their best well you know look at something like Manchester United now and you know they they make these decisions and you

Know from the outside we can look back and say well that that’s crazy you know what are they doing it’s very funny to see them like that and all the rest of it but you know ultimately there are people at that football club that want

That football club to to do well and to succeed but they just can’t do it at this moment in time um you know where we were the divisiveness after the the end of the arson vanger era the ill fit of of unai Amory and and I think

Perhaps um the way that the club was structured at that time didn’t really help Emory didn’t really help um the players didn’t help anybody um achieve what what this club wants to achieve and I think what what I what struck me most was you know we we talked about Arsenal

Being a kind of like a rock bottom this is you know awful this is you know the only way is up from here but where we fell to was eighth in the Premier League and there are clubs who would bite your hand off to finish eight one season

To aim for and sort of finish consistently in the European places lots of clubs would love to have that as their Baseline you know and that’s something I don’t think that that many clubs can achieve and then we as Arsenal fans are talking about well we need to

Get back to where we were we need to win things we need to win the Premier League it’s been too long and it has been I completely I completely get that but but there is a sort of privilege that comes with supporting a club who who has realistic Ambitions of winning the

Premier League because most of the clubs in the Premier League do not have that and there is an inherent privilege that comes with it and I think artetta understands that or understood that that that there is um we’re in a very special position that 95% of football fans will

Never have that uh possibility in their football supporting lives you know if you win on a Saturday you know that might be as good as you get if you’re supporting a club um you know down the leagues or from your loow local town or Hometown or whatever it might be but as

Arsenal as a football club that you know has the resources and has the history and has the tradition of of being able to challenge for the premier league title I think what he fundamentally understood was that in order to respect that privilege you’ve got to put in the

Work and you’ve got to put in the the dedication and you can’t Swan about and you can’t just turn up and you can’t pick and choose your games and you can’t be 99% one day and 80% another day he wants you to be 100% all of the time

Because that is the only way that you can actually respect that privilege properly yeah I mean thing is we went from being a club that expected to challenge for the title to a club that was happy to finish in the top four and the moment you settle for finishing in

The top four standards drop because you’re accepting that you’re not going to be the best and I think artetta from the get-go said we have to compete at the top that sets the standards that tells everybody this is where we have to be we won’t accept seven out of 10

Performances in training we won’t accept you know occasionally losing away from home against a big team you know actually what you’ve got to do is get everybody believing again I have to say towards the end of the the venger era obviously during Uni’s time that I kind

Of got to the point where I just I didn’t start Seasons thinking arsenal were going to win the league anymore and that’s quite that was quite depressing whereas in the space of three years we’ve got to a situation where what four years that you know this year I

Genuinely believed and I think the squad was was there and it’s been created and set up with with winning the league in mind what I would say is you Absol absolutely cannot rest on your laurels from here um we’re in a good place now but arteta is absolutely Central to

Everything as far as I’m concerned you know he’s the guy who’s driving the train if he goes what happens and I think the club has to be massively ready for that moment because at some point he’s he’s going to go but you can’t just allow everything to fall

Apart of the of the back of that you need to have everything in place ready waiting you need to have everybody in the club on the same line ready to basically pick up the pieces and I just that’s the bit that I kind of want to

See from you know I want to know and trust that the club and everybody behind arteta is is kind of capable of being in that position because you know he’s not going to be around forever I think that’s true you know um it is a bit sort

Of like uh I don’t know what it’s like uh you’re sort of looking for the worst case scenario a little bit but you know I I know what you’re saying absolutely I I do know what you’re saying but maybe this is one of those things where it’s really difficult to actually

Prepare for that when you have somebody as singular as Mich artetta has been at Arsenal like where do you go from there I don’t know I mean there’s always good managers and good coaches and and things like that and you would hope that you know lessons will have been learned

About you know processes and and how you make decisions and how you how you recruit not just players obviously but at but you know executive level or manager level and and all the rest of it but I do think that um you know people had worries didn’t they when he became

Manager oh we’re going back to the same thing again where all the power is in one man like it was under arson Banger and I don’t think it’s quite that I think he’s obviously a very powerful figure at Arsenal a very influential figure at Arsenal but I think there

There have been put in place enough structures and and other people around that it’s not just well one man is responsible for pretty much everything that goes on in football I think there are there there is some demarcation in that sense yeah I think I think the

Other thing I’m trying to get at really is building the connection between the players and the fans and just putting the fans at the center of everything has been a vital part of his success and at no point should the club forget that that the fans have played a massive role

In driving this forward and the club has to continue to respect the supporters and has to continue putting the fans at the center of everything because if the fans are on board it’s going to make life easier for whoever is in charge and I I just yeah I just hope they remember

That I don’t want them resting on their Loyals I don’t want them you know oh we had a season of the ash Burton Army in the crowd and the atmosphere got really really good and we’re just like great we we we’ve completed you know having a good atmosphere it doesn’t work like

That it’s got to be an ongoing kind of process and uh yeah I mean they should be looking into any which way they can to keep this going and I hope they are you know uh you know there are signs that there there are some good people

Working at the club who have the club’s best intentions at heart and who I think respect the fans in a way that maybe the fans weren’t respected previously um I think artetta more than anyone has respect for the fans and that’s why he’s so desperate to to to you know bring

Success um to the club and I’m I honestly last year was a bonus season right we didn’t expect anything to to play out the way it was this season I really want to win and I you know I’ll be so happy if he achieves it because

For all the work he’s done he he deserves it and I think we deserve it as well I mean it is the next step though isn’t it I think that would be something that that that he says like he I love the fact that that we have a

Competitive team and I think you know the objective part of your brain says if you are a club that can compete that Can Go the Distance you know to April May and be in the mix for the title and hopefully go far in Europe and all those kinds of things but you’re

Beaten by another very good football team because that’s what happens in football that’s to me far preferable than swanning around eighth place or or you know whatever else of course it is but I think what you’ve said about what artetta wants and what he demands and

What he’s looking for from this job and for this football club is the success the trophies the the thing I think that fans connect with more than anything is Success like to talk to anyone of a certain age and they’ll talk to you all day long about um 1994 and winning the

Uh European Cup winners cup or winning the league at whiteart lane or winning the league at Old Trafford or you know FA Cup wins uh that that people have experienced over the last number of years you know those successes those titles anfield 89 of course and you know

If you go back um all through the years the moment Ms um that really really stick with fans as a collective are those successes and I think that is is you know beyond the like I want to win every football game if we win every football game we will win something at

The end of the season Beyond just the the competitive nature of of the sport itself and and what you’re looking for as professional athletes and professional footballers you know I think his his real uh desire is to you know to stand there maybe at Islington town hall and hold up a trophy and

There’s 200,000 250,000 however many people on upper Street you know cheering and singing and enjoying that sort of collective uh success together because those are those are the memories that remain they’re they’re sort of immortal aren’t they yeah I mean that’s the Legacy right that’s that’s when you

Write yourself into the history books because it’s this is all well and good but if Arsenal end up coming second third fourth fifth you know over the course of the next six or seven seasons even if we’re competitive ultimately he’ll go down as a guy who did a good

Job but not a great job yeah even though we know in the moment what he’s done has been very very impressive but it has to be you have to win trophies and then suddenly you are you’re the man and he could go down as one of the greats if he

Can get over the line a couple of times you know because I think where he’s come from he’s had to yeah pick up the pieces as as as kind of arson did a little bit as well you know he was kind of picking up the pieces and however butt Jackman

In the you know in the 20s and 30s had to kind of come into a club George grahe you know people have talked about the the sort of similarities between George grahe and mich Etta in that they were former players they came in and they were you know ruthless and and stone

Cold in their decision- making and you know I think I think you know this season and next season are are going to be absolutely fascinating because I’m not saying it’s easy to go from eth to Fifth and it’s certainly not easy to go from fifth to Second and certainly not

In the way that we did it last season but you know the final push to go from runner up one season to title winner The Following season is whoa that is some traffic outside your place what was that that was like a F-15 bummer or something holy yeah but but bikes yeah but

You know that push to get that extra five points six points that extra 1% 2% whatever it might be that might require the most ruthlessness and stone coldness uh of all time right oh yeah 100% I mean you know Manchester City can afford to have periods where they might get a

Transfer wrong or something I don’t think we can do that I I mean we haven’t actually mentioned the fact that the club have really backed him with money or the kronies are really backed him with money I’ve been I’ve been their biggest critics but they have given him

The resource he needs to buy the players he wants to work a system that he’s you know positive will make the the difference between us coming fourth and coming first so I give credit to them as well I’ve completely gone off the point that you were just uh we were just

Talking about making that final step and and what what he is willing to do to make that happen in terms of how he builds his Squad maybe we’re seeing something of that in the in the Ry Ram situation this season where it’s like you know thank you you got us this far

Maybe in our minds the difference between Ryan and ramsdale is not that great maybe it’s the same for michar Teta where he thinks well it’s not huge it’s not a massive golf it’s not like going from um you know from Rock Bottom uh to to the very top or anything like

That but it might just be he feels the 2% or 3% that he needs to to win us uh a few extra points in a season which might be the differ between second and first yeah I mean I think the towards the tail end of last season he was asked about

Whether there were new things that he wanted to try and he said absolutely but I can’t do it now because we’re right in the middle of you know chasing a title and I think in the summer with some of the recruitment particularly with Timber

Uh I think what we were going to see was going to be an evolution of the way we play and I think we have seen an evolution this idea of Arsenal being more in control of games um but I think what’s exciting is that there’s probably

More things he wants to explore and we have to remember he’s only been a coach for the four years that he’s actually uh been with us so he’s learning along the way as well and I’m excited to see you know the the potent you the potential

Kind of for him to kind of explore new things that we haven’t even thought of um you know I think that’s that’s really really exciting and I think he’s yeah he’s learning I think he knows he’s made mistakes along the way I think we can

All point to some of those you know the the bad buys I think there have been moments maybe in the Press where he’s kind of done things that he probably shouldn’t have done um you know I’m I’m not entirely I mean this actually leads us a little bit to the anfield thing I

Think in the past when he’s made a big deal about things actually it’s ended up backfiring we’ve probably placed too much emphasis on them like the Outfield atmosphere uh and the way that he tried to sort of prepare the players with the the speakers and the speakers all that I

Know I get it it’s it’s a kind of gimmick as an idea it was something but really what’s happened is you’ve on to the Press have latched onto it they’ve seen it and they now think that this is you know something they have to ask Arsenal about every time they go to

Anfield you know all the big atmosphere and all the rest of it the Liverpool fans now think that they’ve got this thing over us because they’re going to create the bigger atmosphere and you know the little learning things that I think he’ll pick up he’s picked up

Probably over the over the you the last couple of years yeah so yeah I mean it’s look it’s just really exciting and just I mean just so much better than it was a few years ago of course miserable yeah it really was miserable and like when

You actually as you say we we’re in it every day you can’t really Escape that and it just kind of becomes a little bit overwhelming and sad so to have the excitement back I have to say huge thank you to M listening so far so good and of

Course he’s listening I’m sure you know what else what else would he be doing with this time friend of friend of the podcast anyway friend of the site you know we’ve been we’ve been there we’ve been there I suspect though in the next couple of days he might have you know

More important fish to fry uh when it comes to this game against Liverpool I I mean I I don’t want to go too deep into it because we will be talking about it uh tomorrow on on patreon as we do our our usual Premier League preview podcast

But you know in a season where we’ve beaten Manchester City for the first time under Michel Etta it’s not like we haven’t beaten Liverpool we have but we haven’t beaten Liverpool away for quite some time um it feels like if this is going to be the

Season if this is going to be the time where we find that extra one 2% those extra few points that might get us to the title this game could be one of those where people look back on and say ah that was that was a moment for this

Arsenal team it does feel like that kind of game to me yeah 100% I mean I think last year beating them at home was was a massive because it it felt like we were announcing ourselves on the big stage you know they had a bit of a hex over us

For a while so to overcome that was a was a big St the one thing we haven’t done yet is is go to City or go to Liverpool under arteta and win um and the best Arsenal sides have managed to do that you know wins at Liverpool tend to mark very a

Very important stake in the season right it’s Stak in the ground sorry um you know we we did it with the 2002 team didn’t we uh memorably when Lumberg scored and that felt like an absolutely massive game round about the same time of season wasn’t it I mean if we can if

We can get something from the game I think um it will be absolutely huge um the last year we were so close and there’s so much to learn from that game this idea of kind of racing into it going up losing ourselves a little bit and and falling apart because it proved

To be very very damaging you know that result got in our head a bit you know we had the West hwn we had the Southampton and everything fell apart I feel like everything we’ve done this season is gearing up to games like this the control element right you know just we

Don’t need to go gung-ho we don’t need to win 4-0 what we need is to to strangle the game what’s frustrating so far I guess is that in the previous 5:30 Saturday kickoffs we’ve lost one nil to Newcastle lost one nil to Aston Villa Third Time Lucky well hopefully yeah I mean it’s

There is some extra Edge though I think in a crowd for a 5:30 Saturday game because people have been in the pub longer there’s atmosphere they want to go for you a bit more you know if this was a a 12:30 Saturday I mean obviously we’ve been battered by them at 12:30 on

The Saturday as well we’ been battered in every single time time a lot you know slot that going but um yeah I mean it was interesting seeing obviously klopp this week talking about wanting more of an atmosphere from the the Liverpool fans I think he realizes that Arsenal

Are good and that he needs the supporters on board it’s there’s a measure of paying respect I think to Arsenal here um they’ve they’ve opened this new stand and it sounds like everyone’s complaining about the atmosphere since I mean it’s it’s it’s weird it’s two games

In a week and and both of them sound like they’ve been quite um yeah dry occasions so we got to counter that somehow um you know they’re going to go for us but the best way we can do that is have lots of the ball you know if we

Have lots of the ball I think the Liverpool fans will get frustrated then we need to be clinical which is something we’ve struggled with a little bit but we we we have goal scorers yeah yeah yeah I think we’ve got the the the potential to go there and win for the

First time I just went back to have a look since September 2012 yeah the um it was the drb game wasn’t it when he ran the show in Midfield goals from Podolski andaz so it’s overdue I think it’s fair to say it’s overdue decade yeah fingers

Crossed all right well look uh like I said we’ll talk a bit more about that game uh tomorrow on patreon for our patreon members for now though we’ll leave there Andrew as ever thank you very much and Merry Christmas Merry Christmas and to everyone listening yeah

Look forward to seeing some of you at the stadium over the coming weeks thank you very much indeed to Andrew you can find him on Twitter he is at a Allenport a Allenport and of course doing stuff over on our blog news so I think that is

Just about that for this week’s show we talked about Mich artetta we talked about the four years that he’s been in charge we’ve talked about the many and varied positive things that he has done for the football club but I think one of my Favorite Things is the fact that he’s

Developed a you know in recent times a little bit of a vocal tick you know which can happen when you’re around people they speak in a certain way you pick up uh little sayings bit of the accent inflections that kind of thing and mich Etta dropping in in it every

Now and again just never fails to raise a smile you’re going to always be better in life it that’s not possible it’s like in the game I give the lineup then we don’t win and I say would you do the same one yeah easy in so so let’s hope that the next four

Years of michar tet’s tenure at Arsenal are absolutely filled with both trophies and inits I am 100% here for all of that please do join us on patreon tomorrow as we look ahead to the Liverpool game patreon.com blog it’s a little over a five or a month you get to support

Everything that we do on the site as well as getting bonus exclusive content every single week so if you fancy it it is patreon.com ARS blog we will as I said have an ARS cast extra for everybody free to the World on Christmas Eve so join myself and James for that

Keep fingers crossed that it’s as good as we all want it to be and we can go on and enjoy our Christmases and all the rest uh with three points in the bag so let’s leave it there thank you very much indeed as always for listening uh we

Will catch you on the next one folks until then cheers Bye-bye He coming up this weekend on the U FIFA complete Universal National trophy 72 teams playing 72 games in 72 hours all playing for the biggest prize in football that nobody gives a about coverage starts at 3 a.m. join presenter Richard keys with expert punditry from Joey Barton John Terry and AI genas con

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