13 games unbeaten, but do Arsenal have enough to challenge?
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The only way to score is, of course, to play with a hand-break-off. Hello, I'm Ian Stone and this is Hand-Break-Off, the Arsenal podcast brought to you by The Athletic. So, on Saturday at tea time, or slightly after tea time, I think, Arsenal drew 1-1 with Brighton and Overalbion at the Amex Stadium to talk about that.

And look ahead to the Carabao Cup semi-final tomorrow. I'm joined by Adrian Clark and Amy Lawrence. Morning and Happy New Year to both of you, by the way. Happy New Year, Sturdy. Yeah. Let's make it a good one, shall we?

Let's make it a good one. How do we do that? That's a good question as well. You've had a bad start in the morning, to be honest, but it's okay. It's okay. Is it? Is it okay? I don't know. I'm just saying that. All right. Come on. Give me some of your stony optimism to improve my Monday morning blues. Do you

Do you know what? Dear listener, I've had an absolute stinker, so I'll spare you the details. But come on, Stoney, I need something. All right, well, let's do it in the podcast as we go. I'm sorry, did you want some sort of... I was just hoping for a witty aphorism or something. Some sort of motivational message. Give us a joke. Come on. Give us a joke.

Yeah, well, there's two. No, is the short answer to that. So I don't respond well. Sorry, I was in a good mood until you said give us a joke, to be honest with you. Comics don't, can I just say that? If you do meet me or any comedian and you find out they're a comedian, don't say give us a joke, all right? Please don't do that because we're not performing monkeys, even though we are, in fact, we

to perform in my case that's exactly what we do now by the way before we start talking about the game and the upcoming game tomorrow night Gabriel Martinelli came in at half time in the game at Brighton he became just the sixth non-European player to reach 200 appearances in all competitions for the Arsenal can you name the other five let's do it alternately Adrian you'd start and then we'll see if we can go from there okay yeah

Um, Gilberto Silva. Good one, of course. I can't believe I forgot him. I had these answers before and I forgot him and I feel terrible for forgetting him. But he was one of those players, wasn't he, that it was only when he wasn't in the team and we were shit and you went, well, what's happened to us? Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergam, anyway, good call, Gilberto Silva. Amy, what have you got?

Colo Torre. Yes, another one of those. Coolo, coolo, coolo. I love you. We're watching the darts. Colo Torre, good call. Adrian, back to you. All right, okay. I did an evening with him and Martin Kerr recently. It's got to be Lauren. It's got to be. What a defender. What a defender. A good bloke as well. Yeah, he's a decent fella. Phenomenally good guy. Really nice. And also, by the way, we went to some football dinner and

And Lauren, I think that was with you, Amy, wasn't it? I thought his glasses were really nice, by the way. I just noticed that. Okay, Kolo Toure, Gilberto Silva, Lauren. Amy, two more to get. Okay, well, they're the big three, I would have thought. They are. Both in the modern era. Modern era. The Wenger era, if you like.

It's in the Wenger era? Yes, not many players from outside of Europe played for Herbert Chapman 200 times. I will say that as a clue. As a clue, can we, I mean, by saying non-European, are there any continents we ought to bear in mind? Yeah, I mean, yes. Yes, there are. That's the answer I'm giving you. Thank you very much. Yes, there are continents. Go to Spain and go south.

Okay. All right. There you go. So. Right. I mean, it seems crazy to think that a player like this has got 200 appearances.

What about Ebuway? You know what? Good call. And you're right, Emmanuel Ebuway. 214 appearances to the Arsenal. Don't blame him. Which tells a story, all of it turns, doesn't it? It does, yeah. And we all love the song as well. Don't blame it on whoever. Blame it on Ebuway. And one more. One more, Adrian. Pressure. Pressure, yes. I've got two African players in my head. I can't decide who played the most.

It's either Emmanuel Adebayor or Alex Song, I think. What are you having? I reckon they played a similar amount of games. Yeah. Even though Adebayor kind of made maybe more of an impact, I reckon Alex Song stuck around a while, didn't he? So I'm going to go with the boy Song. Yeah, and Adrian nails it. Alex Song, 204 appearances for us. Kolo Turi, by the way, is the most, 326 appearances.

appearances Adebayor made 142 Arsenal appearances 62 goals for us well done I got three and I struggled with the other two with Ibui and Alex Song actually

But yeah, five players and now six with Gabriel Martínez. Yeah, yeah. Go on, Amy. No, ignore me. I'm thinking about people who you think might have done. But anyway, it's too boring. Let's crack on. Let's crack on. Brighton won. Well, let's crack on to something really fun to talk about, which is Brighton over Albion won. Arsenal won. Difficult night, really. Heavily rotated injuries, suspension, illness, injuries.

Tough away ground in the wind and sleet is what Jesse has written here. Although, you know, they should be okay, really. It's just weather. Adrian, I said to my son before the start of the game that I'd take a draw beforehand. It's not that I don't want to win every game. Of course I do. I didn't think we'd lose, by the way. We're pretty strong. We're on a very, very good run. Let's not forget, 13 unbeaten. But we got a lot of players out and it just...

Did it catch up with us, really, the fatigue, the illness, the rest of it in the second half? Yeah, it did. I think that it was a combination of two things, really. It was, we flagged. Obviously, we had a lot shorter rest than Brighton. We had a lot of key men out, and it definitely caught up with us. But also, I think you have to credit the opposition sometimes, because

And Fabian Herzl seized the moment, didn't he? In terms of changing things at half-time, go for two more attacking players, a bit more impetus, be more ambitious. Absolutely up in the ante when it came to work rate and aggression and belligerence. He really tore at us, or he got his players to tear at us, sensing...

what we're talking about, sensing weakness, sensing a bit of fatigue. And it worked. And yeah, I'm kind of with you, Stoney. I think when I saw the lineup and having watched the game, it's a point that you accept and you move on and you hope for fresher, more easier climbs because that was a tough game. And I'm telling you now,

There aren't many teams in the Premier League that would have not lost that second half against Brighton. They were at it. And as we're pointing out, we were very depleted. Yeah. Well, we've got some tough games coming up as well, by the way. We've got Newcastle and then we've got Man Utd, a revitalised Man Utd maybe, and Tottenham. Well, that might not be quite as tough. LAUGHTER

I know you're recording this, but it's fun to say it anyway. Amy, Mikel Arteta, on the other hand, said today was not about fatigue. It was about the simple things we have to do in ball possession to give chances and dominate the game in the right areas. Why is he saying that, Amy, when, I mean...

fatigue comes into it or does he just not want to admit it or what? Well, I think that if you say it to the players, then it gives them a bit more of a kind of as well. So I think it's actually sensible not to air that. At this point, sorry to interrupt, Damien, at this point, can I just say that we ran 117 kilometres, which is very much among the highest you'll see all season. It's five kilometres more than Brighton. Just putting that out there, we

you know, we ran. So maybe it's not, so maybe it's not about fatigue in the sense that it's not like we, we tailed off massively, but Brighton were just better in the second half. Amy, with all the rotation,

I mean, what did you make of the line-up? Because I thought the midfield looked pretty defensive. I mean, is that all we had, basically? And I'm not having a go at the players at all. Rice and Jorginho and Mourinho, these are really good footballers. But when we haven't got Martin Odegaard, and he did look pretty ill when he came on, we do lack a bit of creativity. Was it basically just we're down to bare bones a little bit? Oh, yeah.

Ross Blogg wrote a really good piece, I think the morning after the game, which chimed, where he talked about being affected by the things that you can't control and the things that you can control. And I think where Arsenal are right now, that really feels important because things like

It's like a Murphy's Law of a season, isn't it? You know, it feels a bit like everything that can go wrong will in terms of what you say, injuries, absences, having not as much rest as you want compared to other teams, you know, ridiculous decisions, et cetera, et cetera. It's not been a much feeling of a rub of the green throughout the entire campaign. There are things that are more difficult to control. But what you can control, I suppose, is the squad you put together to manage

confront what is going to be a demanding season. And I guess it's not without reason that there were people sitting there scratching their heads a bit and questioning, did Arsenal make the best of their resources to have the best possible window

last summer to help themselves? And indeed, are they going to do that in this January window? Are you saying that? They're in a bit of an emergency situation. Look, I'm always a bit reluctant to be too critical of transfer windows simply because I think that everybody who is making those decisions about who you target, who you can get, it's a tremendously, fiendishly complicated balancing act for

who you can get in, who's available, when, you know, there's so many moving parts. It's just not that straightforward. But I also think that after having had, you know, it felt to me like for the last few years, particularly in the summer, Arsenal really notably strengthened in those summer windows. You know, somebody would come in, whether it was the sort of Jason Jenko kind of acceleration of,

or whether it was Rice coming in or whether it was, you know, the sort of Ben White and that lot coming in, taking a next step. You know, there's been lots of really, really positive things that have gone on in that regard. However, we're sitting here in January and so far the three people who came in in the summer have not had a really important impact on the team yet.

Whether they do or not in the next few months remains to be seen. Mourinho seems to be settling in a bit better. Calafuri has been hampered by injury. He's been slightly erratic just because he hasn't had consistency of game time, even though he's got qualities a lot of people are very keen on. And Raheem Sterling has obviously not managed to impact the team at all thus far. And when you look at where the squad is...

It just feels like we do everything possible to give, you know, another boost to take the team on again from where it was last season. So, yeah, I think we've got to look at lots and there's lots and lots of different things to play. But fundamentally, we're in the thick of it. There are games coming every second, it feels, you know, in four different competitions in January alone in front of us.

And it does feel a bit like Arsenal are going into that period running on fumes, which is a worry. And if I could dream of one thing for now and I miss it, and I miss it obviously for the players, not for me, but that's the winter break.

God, how this team could do with a winter break. You think about the Dubai effect of the last couple of seasons. Instead of the Dubai effect, we're talking about, what is it, 12 games in the next three and a half days or something? You know, it's a pretty extreme contrast. Yeah, quite. That being said, while our new signings maybe haven't had quite the impact we'd hoped for,

We have had some players coming through as well, one of whom, Ethan Waneri, yet again showed what a threat he is. And we don't know the extent of his injury. Mikel Arteta sounded pretty down afterwards. I think we've lost him. He was a bit bleak, I felt. But it's what he said. But lovely goal, Adrian, and lovely the way he works. And we just have to keep our fingers crossed for him.

Of course we do, yeah. No, definitely. It was a lovely goal. It was a beautifully constructed goal. It's something we do pretty well, but I'd like to see us do more often. If you remember, there was a Kai Havertz chance the other day at home, was it against Ipswich, where we moved the ball left.

on that occasion and had a little 3v2 and then we played him in on the inside and he runs down the channel and he almost scores. This was kind of the same on the right where we had Marino joined, who was the other player, was it Rice? Rice. Yeah, it was Rice and Marino. So it was two central midfielders really on the touchline dragging Brighton players wide

in order to open up a hole on the inside. And to his credit, Ethan Waneri saw the hole and absolutely drove into it. And yeah, he was played in nicely. And what I loved when he gets that chance is that there's no hesitation. You know, it was Salah-esque, Saka-esque, wasn't it? In the way that he thought, well, I'm scoring here. He's not looking for anyone else. He's not even thinking about it. You look about the chance, the big chance in the game,

between Liverpool Manchester United Xerxe you know he had a chance to do that and he passed it yeah and he passed it to Harry Maguire last kick of the game the on this occasion I know I know well yeah I'd like to it to have gone in though yeah but did you really think it would but anyway let's not but no I loved his non-hesitation and you know the keeper should save it of course he should but it's a really good goal it's a great moment for one area I

I did think at the time, I didn't realise he was injured because there was no sign of it. I did actually think that even though he'd scored, he'd struggled a little bit in the 1v1s against Estepinan and he'd overrun it quite a few times. And in those 1v1s, he wasn't as brilliant as we know he can be. And I thought it might have been a tactical change, but obviously it wasn't. And that's a shame. So yeah, hopefully he's all right. Yeah.

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I mean, Mikel Arteta said, I've never seen a decision like it in my career. I asked the boys if they have, and nobody has seen it before. When you look at the incident, the distance, the player, Jal Pedro touching the ball and Saliba touching the ball, you can see contact there. You know what? They showed it three times on Match of the Day, and I didn't see a huge amount of Saliba getting the ball. But yeah, maybe he got a bit of a touch. I mean...

It's a foul anywhere else on the pitch and I know we talk about Arsblog and that piece and the thing that he does with penalties I really like is that he said how would you feel if it happened the other end of the ground and my feeling is if that happened the other end of the ground I'd want a penalty. What do you think Amy? Erm

I just thought, oh God. I mean, right now you put it like that. Would you want it this way? I mean, let's be totally honest.

Ian, if there's any penalty decision, whatever goes on, you think, oh, if it's happened to you, you know, well, obviously you want to get it if it's going to benefit Arsenal. You want to not get it if it's going to benefit the other team. So I love it when people say that, but half the time they're not being really truthful because in the thick of the moment, you do look at things through the prism of your, you know, your colours. It just felt like yet another one of those peculiarities that,

that don't happen too often. Two other teams. And I thought there was a kind of weird sort of delay. He didn't seem to make the decision instantly. You know, when refs kind of flourish with big gestures, point straight to the spot. He kind of took a moment to think about it, which made me think, well, hang on, either you saw something or you didn't see something. It was slightly odd.

It was coming, Amy. He was wavering because the crowd were very intense. And I said on commentary, there's a decision coming. I just felt it. And I just felt that that atmosphere, the way that Brighton fans were on him,

about us you know let's go back to that one airy corner yellow card i mean come on referee we're arsenal we don't waste time in the first half of matches like well hang on a minute come on guys whether we're losing we take time over corners we take time over everything all the time all the time we take about a minute and a half overthrowing does it work

Well, what do you mean, does it work? Taking time over corners, does it work for us? Oh, no, no, no, no. I'm not saying... No, I'm not disagreeing there. I think it does work for us, but we do waste time. We do. I mean, anyone who's watching us...

Sorry? We weren't at that point. We weren't there, and I think it's just a cumulative thing, really. It should be. I think it's a stupid, stupid yellow card. It was a stupid yellow card. We've had more yellow cards for time waste than anyone else. That's because we take longer over our throw-ins and corners than anyone else. I mean, we just do. Does it work for us? Yes, it does. Yes, it does, but it wasn't taking off for the yellow card anyway, was it? He was taking off.

because he got injured. But yeah, Amy, do you think it's soft? Adrian, do you agree, by the way, with this penalty? I think it's a clash of heads. It's an accidental clash of heads. You're talking about split seconds. And for that reason, I thought it was pretty ludicrous. So yeah, using ludicrous, I'll probably go slightly more towards you, Stoney, on this and just say...

I completely sit on the fence and say I can see it both ways. I do think the fact that he got a touch on the ball was totally ignored by VAR because the speed of their check...

would hint to me that they didn't even think about it. They didn't even look at it, which is desperately disappointing. And I think it makes a small impact. That said, if it is a clash of feet inside the area, you've seen them given. I think it's a really unlucky penalty for us to concede in a season of very, very unlucky decisions. I was tarting things up, actually, because there was a stat that leapt off the page recently

This morning when I was looking through things and he said Arsenal failed to win four of their last nine Premier League games when leading at half-time. Okay, having won 22 consecutive matches prior to this run when we led at half-time. I thought, well, what are those games? Brighton at home, ludicrous red card. You've got City away, even more ludicrous red card. And then you've got Liverpool at home.

major depletion in the second half of that game through injury, major with Gabriel having to come off, but no controversy. And then you've got Brighton away, where there is an absolutely controversial decision. These are all marginal calls that didn't go our way.

We've lost eight points from those games. And those eight points would put us top of the league, two points clear, with Liverpool having a game in hand. That's the difference that these decisions do make. Yes, which brings us exactly to a key point about Arsenal. So we're living in these very fine margins, right? Where the slightest unpredictable happening can have a major impact.

If you're living on such fine margins, as is the case, is there not an argument that part of Arsenal's issues is we're leaving too much to chance by margins, by virtue of the fact that we're not scoring enough goals, there isn't enough attacking options, there isn't enough creativity, there isn't enough shots created and all those metrics where Arsenal are not anywhere near the top of any of those tables.

Compared to the last couple of seasons where there was a huge improvement in terms of cutting edge across every possible way you want to cut it up.

So if you go one-nil up at Brighton, as Arsenal did, and you can turn the screw a little bit and find that second one, maybe through a set-piece, maybe through that Marino one goes in, or maybe they're just not that knackered, or there's another player who can come on, or there's someone else who's on form who can be a bit more of a reliable goal scorer. And then, you know, it's academic, but it's very much easier to be a victim of these things

unlucky moments and calls because we're living on that knife edge of fine moments and not pulling away from teams which which they have done in the last couple seasons a bit better one other status or somewhere which which kind of really threw me slightly but I think it said something that nine of the the Premier League games Arsenal have scored either none or one

That's not winning the league numbers, is it? Well, can I come straight back at you there, Amy, and say 1-0 to the Arsenal? We've been like this before.

And what's the difference? Is it the fact that there are stupid decisions that go against us? There are... We're not as solid as we were back in the 80s and 90s? With respect, 1-0 to the Arsenal was 30 years ago. I know, but we won titles that way, Amy. Did we not? We did, but football was very different. Right, and we have to... In today's football, that is maybe more offensive, more technical, more...

hell for leather in a kind of creative way rather than a physical way. That's where I think perhaps there's a slight difference. Maybe, I don't think you, I'm not sure you can win a title with 1-0 to the Arsenal. Well, this is, I mean, really what I wanted to talk about in the second section here, basically, is that

whatever we think of the penalty and the injuries, and obviously it's grim at the moment, we didn't offer enough in the second half. There's not, you know, if Martin Erdegaard is not playing or he's not feeling well, there's not a lot going on creatively. We lost possession in the middle third 42 times. We were given the ball away and our dual winning rate was 49%. It was higher at Brentford. Um,

Adrian, a lot of the debate about Arsenal at the moment is that we're trying to control pretty much everything. But it only takes one little moment in each of those games you talked about. Trossard kicking the ball away when perhaps he shouldn't and then being a bit quick on the yellow card. Declan Rice doing the same thing. I mean, these things do happen in games. And if we're more attacking, if we're 2-3 up, it doesn't matter as much.

No, exactly. But, you know, there aren't many teams that have been two or three up at Brighton this season. Just put that out there. I'm not just talking about Brighton. No, I get it. I get it. It's either we get five or we get none or one, isn't it? That's how it feels at the moment. Whereas Liverpool seem to be churning out twos and threes every week. And even though they're considerably worse at the back than us,

They're getting the points because they're scoring twos and threes all the time. So, yeah, it's definitely a fair point that Amy makes. And we haven't been as brilliant going forward. You've just got to look at the personnel, haven't you? Martelli's only really come good of late. Same with Jesus. Havertz started the season excellently, has faded. Saka's injured.

Um, Erdogan was missing brilliant for a couple of games and now looks sort of a, a shadow of his, his top self. So, you know, the guys at the top end of the pitch, none of them have had consistently brilliant seasons. That said, I also think that, that, that attacking comes from the base, the base that's behind you. And, and in this game, um,

I genuinely feel that the timber yellow card or the timber suspension hurt us as much as anything at Brighton. Because had Thomas Partey played where Jorginho played, I don't think we lose as many of those duels. I think we are more in control of the game. I do think we handle that Brighton onslaught better because it was a very physical game. It was a real...

It was a proper throwback game. I quite enjoyed the intensity of it. I did. And that was not the kind of game that Jorginho will ever thrive in, I'm afraid. Not at this stage of his career. And that swapped Jorginho for Pate and have Timber right back.

I think we scramble a 1-0. I just do. Good point. But again, that's the fine margins. And is he not... I mean, surely Mikel is looking at Thomas Barty. Every time he goes at right back and comes out of midfield, we lose a bit of control because Thomas Barty has been playing very, very well. Is there not some way of finding some other...

solution and Amy you're shaking your head you're probably right it's the fourth choice right back it's a pretty unlucky position to be in well you have talked about cluster injuries in the past on this podcast and you're absolutely right when you lose a lot of players in the same position and you have to revamp as much as we have um

This season does feel so much like a grind. I mean, it really does. It's only January the... What is it? January the 6th. It feels like we've been going for about a year already. But it is...

We had two tough away games there. Brentford away, who've had a really stellar home record up until running into Nottingham Forest and us. And then Brighton away as well. Four points from those two games is a decent return, is it not, Adrian? Yeah. Do you want cheering up? Yeah.

Yeah, okay. I said that right at the beginning of the pod. I've been waiting for this moment. Adrian, tell us a joke. I asked the wrong guy. Come on, Adrian. I've got nothing in the joke front. I really haven't. Don't, Adrian. Don't even try, honestly. Honestly, I'll leave and never come back if you even consider doing that. Go on, Adrian.

Right, here we go. I don't know if you said that, Amy. I really feel quite hurt by that last exultation for Adrian. Anyway, go on, Adrian. What have you got for us? Right, something to cheer you up because, you know, I think this is something that not many people are talking about. And look, fixture list, don't wing your points. But, you know, it's for context. Okay, we have now played every team away from home between 4th and 15th.

We've got Forest and we've got Liverpool away. Everybody else, we've done them. Those tough, tough away games, the tricky ones, they're done. Okay, and we've got all those teams at home, which are, you know, we've got to still go out and win those games. Liverpool are

have got eight away games to come against the top 11. I'm just throwing it out there. No, no, no. Amy, how are you feeling? That's better than a joke. Are you cheered up? I mean, I looked at the same numbers you did and I worked out that Liverpool's running is 7% harder than ours.

7%? 7%. I mean, it's something like 7%. How did you reach that number? I basically added up the positions of the teams they've got to play away and added up the positions of the teams we've got to play away and they are 7% harder, all right? Yeah.

You're just going to have to trust me on that. But the truth is they are. I don't trust you on that, Stoney. I don't trust you. And by the way, the other thing, I don't know if this will cheer Amy up. I'll do the best I can. We are unbeaten in 13 games. The last defeat we suffered was 1-0 away at Inter Milan on the 6th of November, which feels like 100 years ago. The last league defeat was four days before that. I mean...

How much would you bite someone's arm off to be unbeaten in the next 13 games?

given it's in such a selection of different competitions. Where is it? I know. Well, the other thing to say about it, I think, Amy, you pointed out as well, we've got however many games in four competitions. We're still in four competitions. We're still in the league title race. We're still in the Carabao Cup, which we haven't been able to say for quite some time. FA Cup starts at a weekend and we're doing well in the Champions League.

For all the fact that I preferred, I do, and I have to say this now, I preferred the team from 22-23, the chaos of it, the newness of it. I absolutely loved it. This team might actually win something. Amy? I was talking to someone the other day, and sort of out of nowhere, they suddenly went, I've got a feeling about the Champions League. Yeah. And I was like, what? I wasn't quite on that same wavelength at that particular moment in time.

Post-Brighton. But, you know, and again, my kind of, my gut feeling on that is, you know, has Arsenal got enough match winners to, you know, to deal with those really, really unbelievably intense spotlight latter knockout games of the Champions League?

And they sort of threw back, look, Inter Milan and Chelsea won the Champions League on defences in the not-too-distant past. So it can be done. So I'll leave that with you as an attempt to cheer people up. I lied slightly, by the way. I forgot Man U. But Man U away. That's a trickiest one. But still, it's a big old difference.

between the two so yeah that's you know we hope we cheered you up as well listen we're going to have a break and after that we'll talk about Newcastle tomorrow night not an easy game either Ian Stone Amy Lawrence and Adrian Clark here on the Athletics Arsenal podcast and break off they get a hand break off and you can see that they are more free to play

So this is Handbrake Off, Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg tomorrow evening. Mikel Arteta said we're having to deal with a lot of issues with the squad, but the boys really want it. I really like reading this. We carry on going and on Tuesday we have a beautiful game, a semi-final, a beautiful game in front of our people, so bring the energy back and go for it. Amy, they're in good form at the moment, Newcastle. I mean, they look good against Tottenham, but

you know, they might have got a bit lucky with that handball, to be honest with you. Although I don't think that is handball, to be honest. They've won their last six in all competitions. This is going to be a tough game. I would be happy to just take a lead to St. James's, right? Yes, but I think Arsenal's record there is so unbeatable.

underwhelming that a good lead would be really helpful yeah 3-0 would be excellent but I just don't see us getting that sort of level if we do that would be absolutely marvellous of course but it just anything to make them come out at St James's is what I'm talking about

By the way, just on that handball you were talking about, the Newcastle one, I was on my way to a grassroots game at the time and listening to that on the radio. And the commentator explained the decision, you know, checking out the laws of the game and said something like, when it's an accidental handball by someone who doesn't actually put the ball in the back of the net, it was like there were so many sub clauses to the law.

that we were saying one of the kids in the car's brother is like a young referee. He does it, you know, to earn a few quid. And I know quite a few teenagers who are doing that. Good luck to them, by the way. I know. But I thought, how are they supposed to know if you're a kid refereeing a grassroots game?

the sub, the myriad sub clauses now in it. It seems like the laws of the game just are getting more and more and more like something happens and we think, Oh yes, we'll, we'll add that little, we are the experimental. We are the, the experiment, aren't we really with Arsenal? They try it with Arsenal. And if people go, that's a good decision, they do it with everyone else, don't they? But they did it this time with Tottenham and long may that continue. I mean, I,

Adrian, how do we stop them? How do we stop them, by the way, at Newcastle? Because they've got a pretty potent attack. Anthony Gordon looks useful. Isak, well, we know about him. We've talked about him quite a lot. They've got some players. Yeah, they're really good. I commentated on that game, Spurs v Newcastle. That's a busy day. So that was, yeah, that was interesting. The first half, they were very good.

second half less so I think well first and foremost their strength is their midfield completely you know that midfield three is brilliant Tenali Grimrash and Joe Linton really abrasive really hard to play against and they do well against us Grimrash is suspended

It's great news. Absolutely fantastic news. I didn't know that. That is excellent. See, I'm putting smiles on faces here. Adrian, you are bringing the joy this morning. Thank you. So too is Fabian Scheer, who missed the game against Spurs. And Sven Botman made his first appearance after a cruciate injury against Spurs, and he looked very rusty. So there's two positives. I think how you beat them is more a case of, obviously...

The wingers are very dangerous, Gordon and Murphy, and they supply good ammunition for Isak. So I think our full-backs are going to have to be really on it and wary on the counter-attacks. And the transitions, you've got to avoid turnovers. And now we didn't do that brilliantly against Brighton, who sort of rushed us and out-muscled us at times. When we're playing through, we've got to be really careful because...

I think they're one of the best teams in the country at winning the ball and then creating a chance from it. So let's not get caught.

too often inside our own half and yeah and if we get there back four we can we can win the game we can put the tie to bed actually in that first game potentially yeah which is what I was sort of talking about Amy the Carabao Cup I mean we talked about winning a trophy it would make such a difference to the vibe around the team would it not uh just just when you said that I'd

My mind wouldn't say skipped because I had rather a long way to go, but words slowly all the way back to 1987 and winning the Littlewoods competition. Charlie Nick. Charlie Nick.

who put the ball in the scouser's net twice. Twice. That's right. That was such a great day. Such a lovely day. The way that winning goal dribbled within. Right in front of us. It was beautiful, wasn't it? That was the first time I ever went to Wembley. And seeing that, I don't know, it meant the world. So I'm just not having it that...

it's not worth winning. To me, it really is. I think it could be really fantastic for this team as a launchpad to deepen their self-belief and their confidence that they

be the winners that they feel they deserve to be with the hard work they're putting in. And Jesse, our producer, has put a line in the notes saying, if you could only win one out of this game in the United FA Cup third round on Sunday, which would you take? No one has to answer that, all right? No one. Well, except it's a two-leg semi-final, so I think that's a kind of

Sorry, Jesse, I'm going to pull you up on that. I think if you're saying, do you want to win the semi-final, the round, or win the FA Cup third round, that I would accept as a question, but not just the first leg. No, so we'll say... Can we get clarity on that? We'll lose the first leg of the semi-final, beat United, and then win the second leg of the semi-final and go through. The cup compos are massive for us this year, and there's no way that we can...

toss one aside. There's just no way. They're not going to, are they? They're not going to. They're all enormous games. Yeah, exactly. We need that silverware. And one more question to each of you. The transfer window has now opened. Do you know what? I know what you're going to say.

But anyway, James and I, and me as well, we're quite pessimistic about our chances of signing anyone when we talk the other day. Can we have a bit more optimism? I'm not looking at you, Amy. There's no way. You're not feeling optimistic this morning. But Adrian, do you think we're going to sign anyone? Sincerely hope we do. Yeah. Like I just, I just think it's needed.

And you've got to react to what's happening at the moment with the Saka injury, with all the problems at fullback and whatnot. I just think, and let's be honest, we've just talked about it in the last five minutes. We're in all the cup competitions. We're in the mix for the league still. Even though it's a long shot, we are still in the mix. I've talked about the fixtures. It is still there for us.

So let's not let the moment pass us by is my take on it. Let's react to where we're at and where we're at is that the squad needs bodies. And I think we need, we need at least one, probably two players to supplement us this month. And I want them to come in now. Yeah. Today. So like we've got such a busy month, like let's not waste time. Let's get out there and get it done. Whether we're able to do it. I don't know, but.

But come on, this is the time. This is the time to invest, in my opinion. When we're in competitions. Amy, anything to add? I'm just thinking, I wonder if there's a sort of psychological benefit for the club as a whole in the aftermath of Eddie's departure to show that they can go and do some business without him. I think that could be really...

just all round helpful as well. Because you just don't want to have that narrative of like, oh, look, you know, they had to deal with Eddie's departure and they couldn't even sign a player in January when they desperately needed strengthening. I think it would lift everybody, like structurally across the whole club to do a, you know, potentially interesting bit of business. The question is finding someone who can hit the ground running.

There's no point in bringing someone in who's a bit of a gamble. And I don't know what options are on that front. But, you know, there are certain players that you think, oh, they might be available, but would they be in the right mind frame or the right levels of fitness to come straight in and like, bang, have an impact?

Brian Mbayebo, I really like the look of him. I'd love to see him. You're not going to get him now, are you? Listen, I don't know. I actually don't know. It's one of those where you've got to use your muscle, haven't you? And go to these smaller clubs. We're the Arsenal. We're in four competitions. That's what we did with Trossard, wasn't it? We basically went in there. We unsettled Trossard. Trossard fell out on the manager. The deal got done. Because he wanted to come and join the Arsenal and

And, you know, players that play outside of these big six clubs want to join the Arsenal. They've got a chance to win the Champions League this season or win trophies. There's not a player out there outside the big six that wouldn't be interested. It's just, you know, how much it costs and what we can do with it. But, you know, I would love to see us try and I think we should try.

Yeah, well, I'm sure they're on the lookout. Let's have a song to finish. Amy, is it happy talk, is it? What have you got for us, Amy? Only happy when it rains, is that what it is? Oh, very good. It's a great song. Well, I... All right, then. I think this is, you know, we've got two huge cup games afoot.

uh and i think we've got to go for it so i'm just going to go for moby and go yeah i'm sure we will be amazing i did have other options they're a bit less optimistic but because you said that good good finally i'm rubbing off it's taking a while isn't it um adrian what about you well i knocked on the door of chat gpt this morning i thought why not i went tell me songs about not holding back and giving your all in the moment a

You have not got one off of AI. It's an AI version. Go on then, what have you... What did it come up with? Well, the one I've picked out is a powerful anthem about surviving and thriving despite hardships. It's about...

It sounds absolutely terrible. Is it the eye of the tiger? No, it's... I will survive, is it? It's Sia, I'm Alive. Now, I like this song. It's not a bad song. It's a good song. She talks about I'm still breathing before saying, you know, I'm alive. And you're going out there and grabbing the moment. And we are still breathing despite all the stuff that's happened. We're still breathing. We're still alive in the hunt for all these trophies. So let's, you know, let's attack it. I'll survive.

You know, whenever people ask old Jewish men how they are, they always say, I'm still breathing. So, yes, we are though, aren't we? We are. I'm still alive, by the way. Pearl Jam would also fit in that particular thinking. I have gone, because of all these different positional changes, I've gone for Radiohead, everything in its right place, right? Yeah.

which obviously is Radiohead, so it's depressing, but it's the sentiment. We need everything in its right place. We need Thomas Partey back at the base and midfield. We need Julian Timber in his right place. We need players back where they're meant to be playing. Who knew the most depressing song choice would come from Ian Stone? LAUGHTER

Well, anyone who's lived with a comedian for longer than five minutes would know that that's how it works. Um, I'm saying it in a positive way though. You understand. Uh, uh, that's it for this edition of hand break off. Um,

Thanks to Adrian. Thanks to Amy. Thanks to Jesse, our producer. And thanks for listening. And Happy New Year to you lot, if I haven't said it to you before. I think I have, but it doesn't matter. That's the last time we will say it, by the way. I think tomorrow's the cut-off day, is it not?

I believe. The 7% chance of saying happy new year in the next few hours. 7% better run in than Liverpool. Is that enough to overhaul nine points? I think it might be. Anyway, thanks for listening and we'll speak to you after Newcastle. Ta-ra.