seven-day week? How does it all pan

out? It's usually six days.

So on a Monday morning, I record the Arsecast Extra with Andrew for Arseblog.

I've been doing that for, I don't know, over 10 years.

And when I joined The Athletic, I sort of stipulated, look, if I'm to join, I want to carry on doing this thing outside of it.

And they very kindly acceded to that.

So that's how I start my mornings.

in my

Mm-hmm.

Um, I think their, their, their strategy was to sort of keep it tight and try and hurt Arsenal on the counterattack in that first half.

And I actually think they did have moments, they did have opportunities.

I mean, the quality of, of Griezmann and Alvarez was really evident.

I thought what was tricky for them is that when they got into the second half and they were chasing a bit more and building some momentum, and I think they're a team that are really contingent on momentum, you know, they can kind of snowball at times, as they did in the second half of the first leg.

By that point, you know, you've got Alvarez coming off the pitch, you've got Griezmann's legs are going, and it sort of-- I feel like their, their true high-quality attacking threat players weren't on the pitch and able to affect the game in the stage where they really needed it.

Yeah.

You know, he's g- Mikel Arteta's got a position of enormous luxury.

Sure

... good and bad.

And that applies not just to this season, but previous seasons and... [sighs] That, that is the ride of being a football fan that we're all on, and it's not... [laughs] E-even if, if you step back and go, "Wow, you know, two years ago we were in the quarterfinals, and then we're in the semifinals, and now we're in the final" and it looks so linear and like such a, a straightforward graph, but your experience as a fan is never that.

Mm-hmm

...

I've never seen the stands that full 20 minutes before a game begins.

Um, and I've never heard noise quite like I did in those first few minutes, and I thought it was a, a gripping game.

You know, there's been a lot of talk about the two semifinals.

Arsenal?

... uh, it was...

Yeah, I was, I was just thinking about what James said about the, the nature of the game and I think Newcastle and Arsenal have produced some pretty attritional games, like, in recent years.

Like, they're both teams who are incredibly physical, and it, it, it can descend into, as James says, a bit of a rugby match.

Um, it was weird watching it in a bar because I didn't have any commentary.

I didn't really have crowd noise.

So I had a very sort of like individual experience of the game.

[laughs] We'll see.

It feels to me like there is something in that, and, and I'm curious, well, who is deciding it?

Yeah, I think it's really interesting.

I mean, Mikel Arteta takes a pretty active role in some of this build-up.

I mean, I think he did a voiceover for one of the videos that Arsenal showed, uh, that was kind of a quote from one of his recent press conferences, and he has appeared in videos before, before big games.

I remember the Paris Saint-Germain home leg.

He did, like, film something at pitch side urging the crowd to rally behind the team.

I mean, I-- One thing we have to say is thatThere's the kind of external messaging and the ins-internal messaging.

No pressure

... actually, I think the, the external factors are just way more influential in this, uh, in this landscape that we find ourself in now than they, than they maybe were before.

And that, by the way, I think is one of the interesting things about Arteta and Arsenal is that obviously they've been widely mocked for being serial runners-up.

Mm.

But actually, over a four-year period now, they've d- delivered incredibly consistent results.

Yeah.

Um, one thing I'm really interested to get, like your guys' opinion on is the man-to-man marking thing.

'Cause Arteta has been like adamant- Mm-hmm ... that if you wanna see a different style of football in the league, you need to get all the managers together and effectively abolish- [laughs] ... man-to-man marking.

See offer page for details.

Why do you think Arsenal are still struggling at, in attack, especially in the Champions League, where we've seen them play much better sometimes than we have in the Premier League?

Yeah.

I think typically in the Champions League teams have been a bit more open.

They've played with a bit more ambition than many of the teams Arsenal have encountered in the Premier League, and that has suited them.

You know, Arsenal have players like Victor Gyökeres, Gabriel Martinelli, who like to run into space, and that spaceHas to be present, has to be there.

I, I thought Leverkusen, they really collapsed into their shape effectively, and someone like Bukayo Saka, he did not have the best game individually, but there were many moments in the game where he was faced with not just two defenders, but sometimes three or four.

Leverkusen was forming a little quadrant on that left-hand side to stop Arsenal progressing down the right flank.

It really sets it up nicely for the Emirates, doesn't it? Um, to-- for Arsenal to try and win this and really grab this tie.

Have you seen any evidence of them enjoying themselves? I guess Leeds was probably a really good, uh, indication of that, in many respects.

Yeah, I thought that was a fantastic response to the Manchester United defeat.

Um, a really, really emphatic win at a ground where it can be challenging to go.

You know, they play a very physical style, and Arsenal matched them in that.

I, I, I think you look at the scenes at full time yesterday, it's interesting, i- in a title race or in a season like Arsenal, where you're competing on so many fronts, it is just sort of one game after another.

You don't often get those moments to sort of exhale and say, "Look how far we've come," you know, "and look what's potentially ahead of us." And I thought that you saw a bit of that after they beat Chelsea.

There was this sense of communion between players and fans, and an acknowledgement of, you know, we are potentially on the, on the precipice of something really extraordinary and really fantastic.

Mm.

Great to see that the goals have been spread out, including a hat trick from Eberechi Eze.

Um, listen, that's exactly what Eze was brought in to do, really, to give them a kind of varied threat, uh, in the final third.

And it was really interesting hearing Mikel Arteta talk last night about how much of an asset it is that he's just prepared to take shots on that maybe other players wouldn't.

And I think if you look at two of Arsenal's, you know, most productive attackers, it's Trossard and Eze, and they both have a willingness to shoot off either foot, um, in a variety of situations.

The ball doesn't have to sit perfectly for them.

They can take it first time, they can take it when it's under their feet, they've got short back lift, and I think that's really brought a different degree of threat to Arsenal's front line.

Um, the set pieces thing, look, there is a value in it.

Let's see if Thomas Frank can actually graduate from the Brentford Thomas Frank.

Does a great defense come at the fact that maybe you lose a bit of creativity on the other side of the field?

Yeah, it's interesting that, isn't it? The balance between defense and attack, and I think that's...

You know, some of the commentary around Arteta has kind of suggested that his, his emphasis is more on sort of pragmatism, conservatism, than free-flowing attacking football.

I think there is a, a kernel of truth in that, although under him Arsenal have broken goal-scoring records in the past, so you got to be a bit careful there.

In the case of Gyokeres, I think he would have expected to score more frequently than he has.

There have been chances.

I mean, even against Palace, there's a corner, albeit another dead ball where he arrives at the back post and he's inches away from, from getting himself a goal there.

Is it just an adjustment period? Have you seen enough to think this is a guy that's gonna work well with this team if they create the chances for him?

I mean, this is obviously alluding to Ashley Cole going to Chelsea for the money, but I mean, it left an unsavory taste in the mouth of Arsenal fans, didn't it?

Definitely.

I mean, Arsenal fans were incredibly hurt by it, and I think you have to take into context the sort of wider situation with Chelsea.

I mean, Simon mentioned about the tanks rolling up on the lawn and firing 50-pound notes at Arsenal.

It wasn't just Ashley Cole they wanted to take.

I think Roman Abramovich was making inquiries after Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, probably others.

And Arsenal, encumbered by this stadium debt, probably saw themselves being replaced at the top of English football.

Was he hurt by this? Do we know if this one was one that really hit him? Because this is an academy boy, as we've mentioned at the top, someone we thought could be the captain of this club and you're just gonna keep him.

Why has this one been so difficult?

I think that really is the big question.

A- a- and certainly, I think the idea that Arsenal were in discussions with Thomas Partey about a new contract, something which Arsenal themselves have confirmed, by the way, via their official, official website.

Not only is it something we've established through our own reporting, but it's something they themselves have confirmed.

It's something a lot of supporters have struggled with, especially now understanding the full context of the series, uh, the situation, and the seriousness of the allegations which Thomas Partey, uh, faces.

Now, Arsenal obviously do have certain obligations to Thomas Partey.

He's an employee of theirs.

Um, and I mean, I sort of want to ask James again, really, like, how did, how did you feel knowing what you knew, um, and seeing him playing in, in the red of Arsenal?

An- and back in the '90s, Arsenal was getting criticized, you know, for- essentially for being boring to watch because they won so many of their games one to nil.

And Arsenal fans being what they are, you know, they turned that into a positive, and they, uh, dug their heels in and were proud of that identity.

They were gonna be the meanest, nastiest, toughest-to-breakdown team in the league and celebrate every one of those 1-nil to the Arsenal wins.

Uh, and they did that through songs.

(laughs)

(laughs) Uh, okay, I will give you a- I'll give you a blast.

So obviously, it's 1-nil to the Arsenal.

1-nil to the Arsenal.

I know three-nil is a lot, but just like Anfield, magical things happen at the Bernabeu, especially in the Champions League.

Yeah, I think almost any other team, any other club, uh, the Arsenal fans will be feeling like they're in the semifinal, right? After a performance that comprehensive, a win that comprehensive.

But with Real Madrid in the Champions League, you can never say never.

And there is a kind of magic effect that can happen at the Bernabeu.

And this is uncharted water for Arsenal.

You know, they, they only returned to the Champions League knockout stages last season.

They find themselves back here again.

If they do go to the Bernabeu now, what does that say for the confidence for this team moving forward e- and if they do get a result at the Bernabeu to move to the semifinals?