YAMACAST S2E4: the one without any umlauts

The interlull is over. And with it our self imposed hiatus as well as a clear look forward to some proper football this weekend.

It’s sure a more enjoyable time to an Arsenal supporter right now. For intents and purposes things look to be on the up and up. The signing of Mesut Özil hopefully has hearalded the start of the era we were all promised when we were told about the building of the Emirates Stadium.

The hope is that Özil is just the first of a few more key signings that finally return Arsenal to bonafide title contenders. Right now however, it at least gives an added boost to the team and supporters. Sure, he wasn’t exactly what we needed but as we’ve said in previous pieces, when a player of Özil’s quality is presented to you – you don’t turn it down. Arsenal made the deal and they have one of the top 10 if not top 5 players in Europe in their squad. Additionally, they’ve added that World Class quality to the side that many argued wasn’t there last season.

In the podcast this week, Tom and I explore just exactly what the signing of Mesut Özil could mean to Arsenal. Both of us are still surprised we signed him and I as discuss with Tom, my feelings post-Tottenham was that we weren’t going to sign someone. That Arsenal was going to try and prove as point with the players they had.

Well, to ours and everyone else’s surprise, we landed the biggest fish of the English transfer market this summer.  With that signing comes so much potential. And this is exactly what we discuss.

After Tom and I wrap up. I had the pleasure of sitting down with author/journalist Richard Evans. Richard is the author of “The Wenger Code: will it survive the age of the oligarch?”

The Wenger Code takes a look at a recent time frame in Arsenal’s history, specifically it looks back at the 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 seasons.  It looks at exactly what makes Arsene stand out as the manager and one who seems to, until now have swam against the tide of modern football.

Richard and I pay specific focus to areas of interest in the book that I found fascinating. First, we discuss Chapter 2 of his book which lays out in detail many cases where Arsenal over time have been their own worst enemy. When called upon can a team that had so much talent remember when its key stars were called upon to elevate the club and failed. Rather than losing outright at key moments, Arsenal have contrived over and over to be their own executioner.

Moving on and more fitting with the current feelings around the club and the transfer dealings – Richard and discuss Chapter 7 of his book; which looks at Wenger’s financial dealings prior to busting the bank this past Monday.

We hope you enjoy this LONG edition of  the podcast. Thanks once again for your continued support. Until next time Stay Goonerish!!!

All episodes of the YAMACAST can be accessed on iTunes via the following link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/you-are-my-arsenal-yamacast/id615279052