Back to winning ways as Odegaard shows his importance
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The Athletic FC Podcast Network. The only way to score is, of course, to play with a handbrake off. Hello, I'm Ian Stone. This is Handbrake Off, the Arsenal podcast brought to you by The Athletic.

the Arsenal got back to winning ways on Saturday beating Nottingham Forest 3-0 at the Emirates to talk about that and look ahead to sporting in the Champions League on Tuesday I'm joined by Adrian Clarke and Amy Lawrence good morning hello morning good morning we're on the clock here because Amy's neighbours have got scaffolders coming alright so we have to move quick Adrian

Amy, is it possible for you to do quick answers? I don't know, to be honest with you. Now, let me think. Yeah, yeah, all right. Well, here's the thing, right? You may have seen a social clip of the Arsenal players on their way into training being asked for one quality they wish they had from a teammate. Can I just say, by the way, I thought this was weird, this whole... I mean...

What is this bloke? Who is this bloke hanging about the training ground? What would you like to be like someone else to people? Some of them looked happier to talk to than others, but I was a bit cringed with the whole thing. Kai Havertz, who is our centre forward, remember, asked for the defending quality of William Saliba, right?

I mean, that is exactly what Mikel wants, right? Your all-round player. Anyway, we were wondering if you could have a quality from another member of the handbrake team, what would you want? Amy, I'm going to go with you first. What would you want from someone? Well, I'd obviously really love Adrian's music taste. Boom. Sorry. I couldn't resist.

Yes. No, I thought it was only reasonable to take one from both of you. I know we're trying to do quick answers, but I wouldn't want to be accused of any sort of favouritism by, you know, there being a quality in one of you that the other one... But Adrian, are you a good sleeper? Because you strike me as someone who would be. Yeah, yeah. I sleep quite easy, yeah. I think I would...

Give you, you know, I would donate a couple of fingers to be able to have your sleeping capabilities. And Stoney, I mean, it has to be your giddy optimism. Yeah.

I suppose on the days where I'm feeling a bit down in the dumps, it would be nice to think that I could just switch on the Stoney button and see the sunshine. Lovely. Wouldn't that be nice? She sleeps well and she's optimistic. Can you imagine who that would be? LAUGHTER

Wow, that'd be quite something. How funny that you thought I slept well. Yeah, it's true. I don't really have any issues. You just have a calmness so you don't get too sort of hysterical about things. I mean, some people on this pod say. That's great though. I like that. Adrian, what about you? What would you like? Yeah, I haven't had long to think about this because, yeah, I sort of only just...

I realise. So I'm going to think on the hoof. I think it's nice to be nice about other people, isn't it? I like this. Stoney, I'd like to have your confidence in front of a crowd. I mean, I was quite in awe at the live show of you just going out there and winging it and being funny just for that sort of five minute warm up before we all came out. You weren't the slightest bit nervous. I'm not too nervous in front of crowds. I'm definitely not.

in the way that you are. So I'd love to have that quality. And for Amy, it's got to be the way with words, the calm, I don't know, eloquent way that Amy just explains stuff. That's why the listeners love listening to Amy, don't they? They're always going on about it. I'd love to have that quality. Nice. That was very nice, wasn't it? It's nice to be nice about people. You're absolutely right. Yeah, I thought about this and I thought, oh, God,

Do you know what? I'm all right, actually. Thanks. It's the way it should be. Honestly, guys, thank you, but I'm fine. Let's move on. I wouldn't mind some of Stoney's capacity to think that you're perfect. Wow.

That can't possibly imagine. That confidence. That confidence. If you're asking, if you're actually asking me, I mean, now I know Adrian's a good sleeper. That would be good. That would be really good. I mean, if there's enough to go around, I'd have a bit as well. I do have, I do have that enthusiasm as well. I don't, I don't have perhaps

quite that puppy-like enthusiasm almost that Adrian can sometimes have. But I am enthusiastic and optimistic. But yeah, a little bit more of that. Amy, yeah, the poetry. Definitely. And don't be embarrassed, Amy. Honestly, I mean, I can talk, right? You know that. And I have a way of delivering. But sometimes I'd like to take 10 minutes over a point as opposed to 15 seconds. LAUGHTER

Anyway, Arsenal 3, Nottingham Forest 0. Oh, so nice, wasn't it? Three goals, three points, clean sheet. Amy, it was a reset, wasn't it? I mean, we talked about this before the international break. Some of them stayed at home.

And then when he got back, Mikel Arteta said this, I sense the great togetherness and desire to change the situation. What happened is that instead of 12, 13 players, we train with 19. This hasn't happened in six weeks. Suddenly you're like, wow, competitiveness raises the level, the quality, the understanding. Everything rises. That's what we need.

That is what we needed, right? A little reset where everyone came back and felt a bit better about themselves. I did wonder whether there'd been some kind of art installation of Dubai at the training ground over the last couple of weeks to kind of allow the players to sort of, you know, go and pretend that they were having that kind of special reset that has been so beneficial in the last couple of years. But it was interesting because when I turned up for the game, a couple of people were like, well, what do you think beforehand? And I just said...

Honestly, it can be the scruffiest, scrappiest, crappiest, dodgy win. And I'd take the three points. It just felt so massively important. But obviously the desire was to have the kind of game that makes everyone look at each other and remember how good they are. And that's what they delivered. And I think it's so pleasing to get the double bonus of the win. It being comprehensive, it

But in addition, the quality of some of the football, you know, didn't just sort of roll back a few weeks or whatever. It rolled back years at times. There were a few...

little twinkly moves where it was all one, two touch, you know, uptempo, rapid, creative, inventive, dazzling, didn't always come to goals. There was one, I think that ended up with a Gabriel Jesus curler that he called just a bit wide, but the, the, the minute or so that preceded that was sort of almost Vengable, you know, it was really, really good stuff. And yeah,

you felt like for the first time in a long time, the players really enjoyed themselves out on the pitch. And I think that's really helpful for the next chunk of games where the mission is to go on a good run and then let's take a breath at the next available opportunity, maybe in January or whatever, and see where we are. But yeah, playing well, feeling good about themselves. It was really, really useful afternoon.

Yeah, it's like we've felt quite a lot of the time in the last few years. Clarky, the tactics, the way that we played. I mean, I was reading about Forest and this high-intensity press and this pace on the flanks and how they play. But we...

just dominated them. Is it just? I mean, I know it's not just, but I'm asking this question. Is it just that we're better than them? Because we are better than them all over the pitch. Well, we were at the weekend, that's for sure. I mean, it was a drubbing, wasn't it? We completely outclassed them.

Yeah, I think the tactics, the team selection was maybe born out a little bit out of the style of Forrest. They're a counter-attacking team. Okay, so they weren't going to leave loads of space at the back for Martinelli to run in behind. They've got two big, you know, one massive centre-back and a good centre-back partnership. So I think they maybe thought, actually, Jesus' style. So that's why maybe Martinelli didn't start because they had deep line defence.

a bit of chaos against two sort of very solid centre-backs and Jorginho I think because he knew we'd have a lot of the ball and Forrest let us have a lot of it particularly in the first half I thought it was really good trust in the rest of the squad he's been accused of not trusting them hasn't he in the past and I think it lifted the guys that came in but yeah overall it was just a really assertive performance Amy's explained it really well

We were front foot dazzling. I described in commentary that it was Wenger-esque. Some of the football, you know, it reminded me of the days with Cazorla and Roziski and all of those guys popping the ball around. It was great to see. And in particular, Odegaard and Saka. Odegaard, Saka again. And still he goes on and finishes in style.

seeing those two in tandem again was was

It was a lot of fun to watch. I'm sure everyone went home feeling they got good value for money. Well, let's talk about Martin Odegaard then. Amy, is he the best player in his position in the world? I mean, he's come in. He's come back after this long layoff. He played against Chelsea and he got better through the 90 minutes against a very good team. And then this time, this Saturday, he absolutely ran the show. I mean, I'm not sure there's anyone on earth I'd have in that position instead of him. He just...

Really a complete player. Yeah, I wouldn't want to judge whether he was the best in the world. I don't have that breadth of global knowledge anymore, but he's certainly invaluable for Arsenal and the best possible option that we could imagine, I think, in the role that he's got. Just everything about him, what he, you know, his persona and personality on the pitch, as well as his technical quality and the way he plays,

has that dynamic energy that is such a, you know, it leads by example. I just feel like you watched him out there and in everything he did, he made everyone around him better. Like we all know how great Saka is, but that was a sort of Saka plus performance.

Ask yourself why, because he's not being double marked because people have got to worry about Erdogan's runs as well. And Timber was popping up occasionally and made it, you know, an extra number out there and you've got those triangles going. And it was like, you couldn't afford to double mark Saka. So there's more space for him. There's more trust in things happening that are of a supreme high quality at high tempo. The technical quality, but the brains as well and the leadership is,

in kind of one package is just immense of such value. And I noticed a couple of things quite early on in the game. I think it was about 14 minutes. I made a note where there was a free kick or there was a little pause in play or whatever. And he sprinted over to the touchline and just had a quick word with Mikkel and then went back out. And I thought that was interesting because that concept where managers feel they have their

their brains out on the pitch, their heartbeat out on the pitch, the person that speaks for them and acts for them on the pitch. And that's Martin, you know, he was tremendous in this match. And you could see that every single department of the team has that extra layer of security because they know that they can find him. His ability to find space is brilliant. His ability to sort of

Spend time to his will, almost, where he makes space and time for himself in a way that you don't think that space and time exists. You know, he's done something amazing. It's a phenomenal bonus. But just that part, I'm not sure there's been such a thrilling and effective partnership for Arsenal yet.

as Saka and Odegaard in terms of their combination play since maybe, you know, I don't know.

Henri Pires. Pires and Henri, is that exactly what I was going to say there? And you can't say, you couldn't possibly compliment anyone more than that, I don't think. No, no. Adrian, I mean, Michel Arteta said, he said what Amy was saying there, Martin brings everybody together, and that, I think, includes the management as well. He has this capacity with and without the ball. He has this charisma, leadership, and that's why he's the captain. He has the intelligence to make everybody better and make everybody click. I mean...

I mean, the difference between the performance at Newcastle and Bournemouth and the one on Saturday was immense. And a lot of it was Martin Erdogan. Yeah, he just finds angles. He knits it together, the midfield, the attack. You know, without him, we just funneled it wide, didn't we? And too quickly in a way. And said, go on, go and do something to our wingers. And

And that did allow teams to double up. And Amy's absolutely right, especially with Martin leaning to the right. They can't. They just can't. So they're caught between two stalls because of the positions he takes up. And...

And yes, so many times where he got, whether it was him or via him, we were able to release Saka into a 1v1 against Moreno was amazing. And Saka certainly delivered on that score. Martin created six chances, made more passes inside the final third than anyone else, 35. He had a lot of touches in the box, which he didn't always do, did he? When he first came here.

A lot of his work was between the box and the halfway line. Well, he's getting in the danger zone now and probably should have scored one as well. He had nine touches in the box, some good dribbles. It was a phenomenal individual performance. Yeah, superb. I'm quite intrigued by his evolution into this sort of charismatic leader because I think charisma probably wasn't a word that people who knew Martin when he was young would have given to him.

I went over to Norway to his hometown a couple of years ago for the Athletic, which was really fascinating. You got a real sense and feel of like this sort of like his background, this small town boy who was just obsessed by football and was quite quiet. And obviously everything happened for him extremely young. But most of the people I spoke to, they didn't see that he was going to be a captain or a talker or a leader. That just wasn't part of his personality.

his package as a kid. And I wonder whether the route they had, this very unusual and quite complicated path of being 13 when you're kind of training with the first team, 15 when you're giving your debut, going off to Real Madrid as a very, very young lad, having a, you know, a heck of a spotlight and to grow up in really difficult circumstances personally. And

not getting masses of opportunity, going on loan, going on another loan, you know, et cetera, et cetera. Having to grow up as a human being through it being a very unusual set of circumstances for a young footballer. And I wonder whether that has kind of empowered him with these qualities that he has developed so that he is

more of a kind of vocal and charismatic leader than maybe people expected him to ever be. What do you think? Well, he's 25, but he's probably got the experience, life experience of someone in their 30s, hasn't he? In terms of where he's had to live, the things he's had to cope with, the pressures, etc. And I bet you he's never felt freer than he does right now and more confident.

in himself and that's because he knows he's the best player he knows he's he knows he's really important and he knows that his manager loves him to bits loves him and and and that is such an empowering thing for for any football if you know your gaffer loves you to bits it give you he's gonna give you that little bit of a spring in the step it's gonna make you want to take responsibility so yeah it's all come together beautifully for him but wouldn't that make some people take the piss

So isn't that also a reflection of his... Yeah, but he's obviously a very well-grounded person, isn't he? Yeah, I'd never say that he's got any... The manager loves you, you can get away with things. I think it could go either way, couldn't it? It could go that way. It could go that way. But Mikel Arteta, he's not the sort of person that Mikel Arteta would love. Mikel Arteta would love...

Someone who is grounded and Martin Erdegaard-like. Exactly, yeah. The work ethic that he has. The other thing, of course, is the connection with Bukayo Saka. Bukayo was quite brilliant at the weekend. And that goal, I mean, oh my God. When he took the shot and where he put the shot, he's a joy to watch when he's like that. And he...

Adrian, you're talking about Martin Odegaard feeling free. When he's on the pitch, Bukayo Saka feels free as well, partly because he hasn't got two or three players in front of him every time he gets the ball. But just generally, he knows if he makes a run, he'll be found. And if he pops the ball inside, he knows he'll get it back. Yeah, he just looks so strong now, doesn't he? He marries that power with the brilliant technique. That's...

that goal was amazing because you know when you're running sort of sideways across the box so then sort of get your foot to an angle where you've got to come back across isn't easy at all and to generate the power he did because he only beat the keeper really with power and

I thought it was a pretty phenomenal strike. Adrian, you know what's interesting? You know what's interesting is I was watching Match of the Day on Saturday night and there were some great goals. They finished with Bukayo's goal because I think people who know, know how good a goal that was. I mean, it was just astonishing. More than double our attacks went down the right and they did down the left. So again, I think that's a,

sort of symbol of what Saka and Erdogan I guess bring to the team we were quite obvious in our attempts to feed him the ball but

But it worked. Yeah, again, those two were easy nine out of tens, weren't they? It was great. I mean, he is getting stronger, isn't he, Bukayo? As you can see, he's just getting more... He's just getting better. And we all thought he was brilliant anyway. But now he just seems to be growing. Well, I think there's a feeling about when he gets himself somewhere where there might be a shooting opportunity where...

it kind of reminds you a little bit of Arian Robin, where people know what he's going to do. Yeah. And they're sort of powerless to do anything about it. And once Bakayo started dribbling across the face of goal, you just knew he was just looking for that angle, that little bit of space where he could get the shot away and there wasn't a defender's leg or something in the way.

There's that great kind of welling excitement of like, when's he going to pull the trigger? And you know it's coming. And it's a hell of a thing to be able to deliver on that front, as he has done this season on quite a number of occasions. And also he's setting a hell of a pace on the assists front. I found myself wondering how many assists he might have had had we had a killer centre forward.

And he's already on track with that. We've not even scored that many goals this season, really, in the league. So he is so fundamental. On the Saka assist, obviously on the face of it, it goes down as Bakayo's assist for Thomas Partey. Just a simple sort of pass back towards him. Odegaard's run. Yeah, really liked it because it was so intelligent because he knew that Thomas was behind him. He drags a couple of players with him and it just...

What that run did, it just bought Thomas the time to take a touch and measure the shot. And boy, did he measure it. So, yeah, those two had a part to play in that goal as well. Sturdy. Another splendid Arsenal goal. And this time, it's the 17-year-old substitute, Ethan Wanyeri. Arsenal have been outstanding.

goals from all areas and that really is the icing on the cake. Shall we talk about Ethan Wainieri? Oh, nuts. And Amy, you wrote...

about how it's quite difficult when Bukayo Saka and Martin Oerdegaard have been doing what they're doing to come on and make an impression. Ethan Wainieri, he was on for four minutes before he scored, linked up with Raheem Sterling. But before that, he'd done a step over and a curling shot that just went past the post. I mean, look, obviously partly it's to do with how young he is, the fact that he's our academy talent. We've had him for a long time and he's one of our own.

But the guy's, I mean, phenomenal. And the potential of someone, especially with the manager he's got, surrounded by the players he's got. You know, he's got Martin Erdegaard to play with every week. He makes everyone better. That includes Ethan Wainieri.

He's electrifying. But you mentioned Odegaard, and that's maybe the most interesting thing of all, because that's probably his natural position. So you say he's got Odegaard to play with, but theoretically he plays instead of him. He came on for him. And I think there is a bigger picture query as to how you play them together. And I'm going to look at you, Adrian, and ask what your opinion would be on this. I mean...

I don't think it's a comparable situation at all. But like when you look at, say, Cole Palmer coming through and people were like, oh, well, he plays where Phil Foden plays, so we don't need them both. You know, I'm not suggesting that Arsenal is going to get to a situation where

And, you know, Nwuneri, his future is in a situation that's difficult because he plays in Urdegaard's position, because there has to be a way of accommodating both of them on the pitch at the same time at certain points. Because he does justify increasing number of game time. I'm glad that Mikel is managing that game time. He made a point of that in the brick analogy with the cement was really good and really important that everybody takes a breath and acknowledges that.

you know, when he's as good as he is and the impact that he's having and the fact that he's

He's not a striker, but he's scored every start he's made this season for club and country. He's got six and six for England's under-19s and he's got three and two in the Carabao Cup. And then he's got goals when he's been coming on as a sub and made an impression. So, yeah, over to you, Adrian. How do we play them together? Yeah, look, it's a 4-1-4-1, isn't it? That's what you have to do. It's one of Rice, Mourinho and Partey at the base and

with Waneri and Marta. I don't see him as a wide guy. I mean, he could probably fill in for Saka, I think, actually. You know, looking at the way he did that step over on Murillo and left him for dead. You know, if you put that 10 yards wider up against a fullback, he could absolutely do that. We might have our answer to the Saka back up there, maybe ahead of Sterling, which we thought might be the answer. He could do that, but...

I think in terms of starts, I wouldn't mind seeing, and I'm sure we will at some point, Saka, Erdegaard, Waneri, and sort of Martinelli or Trossard across that attacking midfield behind a striker. In the short term, I think he'd be more than happy to get 10, 15 here and there. And it just eases the load on Erdegaard, doesn't it? So it keeps him a bit fresher maybe for the business end of this season. A

I love him. Minutes per goal in all competitions. Martinelli, 376. Sterling, 340. Saka, 252.

Havertz, 2-0-3. Waniere, 59.4. I know a lot of the goals came in the Carabao Cup against lower league opposition, but still, it's impressive. Yeah, we'll talk more, I imagine, about Ethan Waniere, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard at some point. There was a lot of rotation. Adrian, how did you feel, by the way, when you saw the team sheet? I mean, Jorginho and Mourinho in for Rice and Partey.

Ben White, obviously, was injured, but Timber went to right back. Calafiori came in. Trossard and Jesus in for Martinelli and Havertz. I mean, obviously, we've got sporting tomorrow, and it's a big chance for us tomorrow night, and we'll talk about that. But were you concerned before I got... I saw a bit of concern on social media. Yeah, no, my first reaction actually was, oh, Arteta's confident. That's how I read it, because it was all about trusting the other guys, but...

and saying, do you know what? You lot can win this without Declan, without Kai. It's not going to be a problem. And obviously it wasn't. Jorginho got involved. I thought he did fine. I thought he did well. Obviously, slight surprise he came off at halftime. I don't know what the issue was. Yellow card, wasn't it? It was a yellow card. It wasn't even a foul, was it? No.

I thought the yellow cast was so harsh in that first half, but Amy was sat in front of me. I think we had a little moan at halftime between us. Four fouls, three yellows. He did calm down a bit, the ref, in the second half. There were a couple of moments when he could have done and he didn't. So I think he realised. What I would say as well is that Thomas Partey deserves credit for his second half performance. I thought he was pretty much perfect.

I mean, the numbers tell you he was actually. He won all of his tackles, only misplaced one pass, scored a great goal and he was all over the pitch. So yeah, that was a sub that really worked and

My Arsenal analysed piece that will be on the website today. I sort of look at where they had the ball, the two of them. It's really interesting. Jorginho had the ball mainly in the opposition half quite high. Thomas Partey, most of his passes were from quite deep inside his own half. And what I think that did was it just took Forest players away from Odegaard, from Saka, from Gabriel Jesus. It opened up the pitch a little bit.

And it certainly worked. So, yeah, it was fantastic. And, I mean, Mika Marino, good performance. I mean, it's a good performance all round. We can pick out individual players, I suppose, Amy, but in the end...

It comes back to what we said at the start. If everyone's fit, or most people are fit, and there's a bit of competitiveness and everything's working in training, we'll see more performances like that? Look, he's still adapting. And I think incrementally, there's more positive things happening as he's getting more accustomed to how Arsenal play and what's expected of him. So...

And also, like everybody else, he benefits from Martin being back in the team. So, yeah, lots of good stuff. And I think the games are, the schedule is so relentless coming up. Everybody's going to be needed and everybody's got to find that enthusiasm to be playing their best football. I think there's just hopefully more and more good stuff to come from him. By the way, Stoney, do you know you call him Mourinho?

Do you know what? I do sometimes. And we need to come up with some sort of kind of mental, we need to retrain your brain. Okay. Okay. You know what? That's a fair point. And I will try not to call him, uh, Jose Marino. Yeah. Marino. You're right. Instead of like, it's not the, it's me. It's Marino. So focus on the me and then maybe you'll be all right. Marino. We,

We had this with that French team. What was it? Reims. Reims. Reims. That's tough. Marino, by the way, Marino, you can't hurry him. He refuses to be rushed in possession. And I think that's a quality. There's going to be some moments this year when we think, oh, no, don't lose it there.

And he does. He comes away with it because he has that thing. He draws people in, doesn't he? And he seems to be able to turn away. Yeah, looking forward to seeing him develop and hopefully getting Tommy back soon as well because I think a bit of cover, it would be nice, wouldn't it really? Because we know Ben White's out for a little while. Anyway, we'll have a little break and then we'll talk about sporting tomorrow.

They get a handbrake off and you can see that they are more free to play. Ian Stone, Amy Lawrence and Adrian Clarke here on the Arsenal podcast handbrake off for the Athletic. The Arsenal head to Lisbon.

to face Sporting on Tuesday. Ruben Amorim, of course, is now at Manchester United. So they're under the management of Jao Pereira. Did I get that right, Amy? That's all right. It's all right, is it? Okay. You are the... I was going to say pedant, but I won't say pedant because I was getting it wrong.

But you're the monitor when it comes to pronunciation. Anyway, he was the manager of the reserve side. This is not an easy game. Amy, they won 6-0 on the weekend. They beat Man City 4-1. Although that game should have been 3-4 to Man City before half-time. But suddenly it changed.

and then they looked special. He was planning for this, wasn't he, Mikel, in the way that he left players on the bench? He knows this is a huge game because after this, we've got three very winnable games and we can go through in the top eight. But get a result here. You say three very winnable games. I think...

Well, two winnable games. Girona and Dinamo Zagreb are struggling and not expected to do too well in this competition. Monaco at home? Monaco are third in the table of the Champions League. Yes, it's at home, but Arsenal's grouping in this Champions League, and I think everyone thought it was quite decent when the draw came out, but they've got two of the top three in Sporting and Monaco.

They've got four of the top five in terms as well. And they've got four of the top 10 after Atlanta are currently ninth. So it's quite a bunch of the teams that are doing very well so far in this new Champions League format. And I think sporting away looks like probably the hardest of the lot. So this is a real serious test for Arsenal. I think I'd be...

I just want to keep the momentum after Forest, really aware of being on a good run. And I do think it will be tough to win, but I'd be very, very satisfied with a decent draw over there. And then I think you...

Look at the next three games and if they can all be three wins, if Arsenal can take care of Monaco, I think that should be enough for the top eight. Should be enough. And Reismar, Talani and Havertz are going to start, aren't they, Adrian? One would imagine, amongst others. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, it was good sort of squad management from Mikel. So yeah, the team will be freshened up nicely. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see...

how they play isn't it obviously with their manager going I would imagine the style would still be the same this sort of 3-4-2-1 3-4-3 and we know all about them because we played them a couple of years ago didn't we it was 2-2 there one all at our place and they beat us on pens and

And they gave us a lot of problems in both those games, I thought. They were good. They were really good. Really, really smart team. Good in midfield in terms of the way they win the ball and then transition. They got that guy who scored from near the halfway line, Pedro Goncalves. He's a real talent. It's not just Victor Yocarez up front. And Yocarez, by the way...

is really electric. We've used that term about Arsenal on the show, but he really is when he runs the channel. So when we go forward, I think we're going to have to go forward with a little bit of caution in this game because what they will do is they'll go bang and they'll hit you down the sides with runs for Jokeres, who basically is already on the move before anyone's seen that they're going to win the ball back. He's a very good striker.

Very sharp player. So, yeah, it's a tough old game. Really tough. But we'll get chances for sure. I think both teams almost certainly score. But, yeah, can we come out on the right side of it? I've just realised Sporting was the team we were playing when William Saliba got injured in that game two years ago, right? That was the one. And Tommy as well, when he got done by that dummy and we lost the two of them on the same night. Yeah. So, sorry to...

I know the Portuguese league is a lot easier, but they've had a perfect start. They've had 11 out of 11 wins. In the Champions League, they've won three and drawn one. That was away at PSV. This team are very, very confident coming into the game. I think we'll have a lot of the ball and it's how we use it. I think we'll have a lot of the ball

I was really enthused by how we used the ball against Inter without Urdegaard for much of that game. I think, yeah, we played like we did in the second half against Inter and

I think we can win this game. Let's have a song to finish. Amy, what have you got for us? And by the way, Amy, Amy, before you... Amy, if you go on Blue Sky, every day, Amy is putting a song out, right? And it's lovely. It's a lovely thing. We know how much you love your music. It's a commitment, though, isn't it? It's a big old commitment, Amy. Are there any regrets? None at all. Do you know what? I sometimes wonder...

If it's a type of madness, but a type of madness I embrace, but I hear music in my head a lot. Like I don't need to hear it coming out of a device or something like that. I hear it inside my own head when there's no music in the atmosphere. I feel like you should be lying on a couch here at this point. I should be going, when did this start? No, it's great. Tell us about your childhood. I love it. I can't remember the name of the show. There was a program or some sort of...

American sitcom where one of the characters used to have somebody would say something and it would spark a song in their head. That's a terrible habit as well that I have where, you know, if somebody says a word and there's an association, I'll just like, but anyway, yeah, I've enjoyed doing that and I don't regret it.

Because there's always songs going on in there. So just thought of that one today for whatever reason. So here you go. No, I love it. I think it's a nice thing to do. It's a really lovely thing. So your song choice, Amy, hit me baby one more time with your song choice, Amy. You bastard, I'm going to have that in my head all day. I am choosing a song for Ethan, Cameo, because he is the king of the cameo.

And word up, because come on. Oh, listening to it the other day, I love that tune. Yeah, it's a tune. You don't see cod pieces enough. No, no. To be honest. Love that. Adrian, what about you? It's a great song. Yeah, mine is one that I'd never sort of heard it before. I wanted a song with bright in it, because...

I thought we were really bright. If I was to use one word, it would be brightness for the performance at the weekend, mainly because of Erdegaard coming in, I think. But there's a song by Loomis and The Lust, who are an American band. I'd never heard of them before, but it's quite a catchy little song, actually. It's called Bright Red Chords. And I thought that sort of fits nicely because the chords were spot on, weren't they, in terms of our play at the weekend. And there's a little bit of red in there as well. So yeah, Bright Red Chords by Loomis and The Lust. ♪

So jam.

Glad you didn't choose Bright Eyes by Simon Carpenter. Just one of the most depressing songs. It is quite depressing. Yeah, I was aware of that. We will all be hearing it in the next month at Christmas, won't we? I mean, it'll turn up again. Yeah, also, by the way, Bright Red Chords. I thought you were talking about a pair of trousers from it. But no, you weren't. No. I'm having Connection by Elastica. Don't understand.

Good old punk tune. And just talking about Bukayo and Bukayo Seker and Martin Erdegaard and the way they play together, that connection, that telepathy that they have on the pitch. Just love to see it. So that's what I'm going for. That's it for this hand break off. Thanks to Amy Lawrence and Adrian Clark. And thanks to Jay, our producer, who's back.

I mean, we did actually talk this week about whether he could come back. And I said, obviously, I think the pod has moved on a little bit, to be honest with you. And you're not sure of a regular starting place. And he said, oh, no, the Zinchenko producers. Exactly the same point that I said. Jay is back looking after us. Thanks, Jay. And thanks for listening. And enjoy the Champions League tomorrow. Ta-ra.