YAMACast 12: the one that almost wasn’t

This was quite literally, the podcast “that didn’t want to happen.” I was quite proactive on this epside – originally. I had the guests scheduled ahead of time, knew the format I wanted and exactly what topics I wanted to cover. What could go wrong? Right?

Well, with scheduling issues, illness, late work nights and technical difficulties, it almost was if some greater power was afoot to make this – not happen. Well, I was not going to be deterred. I got the guests booked, and finally got time to sit down for an hour and record  a great discussion with three very knowledgable people. Again, everything seemed in place. The round table went off without a hitch, except for some minor noise disturbances I was hearing on during the discussions. Nothing much I thought but a slight annoyance.

That was until I got to editing it all together. Sheesh, what I thought was small was prevalent and throughout the entire hour long discussion. Now, as you are all aware as evidenced by my putting this together, I am no editing or sound-maestro. I was worried I had lost the whole discussion. In the end after some reading up on Lynda.com I got the audio to a point where the audio-deficiencies weren’t so pronounced. Whew. You’ll still notice them. So I will apologies ahead of time for anything related to that. This summer will be used to find ways to make the podcast better from a production standpoint than this year. Onwards and updwards right?

So what about the guests? Well all three you are familiar with as they’ve been here before. One was here just last week.  The discussion covered everything from the end of the season match against Newcastle to where we hoped Arsenal might be a year from now if we were all gathered discussing the Gunners again.

We’ve said it, it was an up and down season. A season of hits and misses and one where Arsenal were at best inconsistent but still managed to once again eek out a slot in the top 4. The hopes are that we see the signs and seriously look to making sure that history doesn’t have a way of repeating itself as it has over the last two seasons.  With so much change happening in the Premier League, there is a real opportunity to make significant improvement to closing the gap between 1 and 4 and widening it between the top 4 chasers like Spurs and Everton. But it really is up to Arsenal and their new found prosperity.

We also look back at whom we were most disappointed with and whom we thought had breakout seasons. Consensus was that Captain Thomas Vermaelen was the one player we were all disappointed in especially given his known talent and the way we’ve seen him play before. Whether it’s injuries or the weight of the captaincy, TV5 is no longer a sure thing in this line up, especially given the performance of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny to close out the season.

Whereas Vermaelen was our consensus disappointment, overall we felt that Per Mertesacker was the standout this season. For the most part he exuded a calming and controlled influence in the back 4 especially in the run in to secure top 4. He may not be the fastest but he is so sound in positional play and reading of the game that he was a tough nut to crack.  I will admit to  singing the praises of Laurent Koscielny who even though he didn’t get a full runin for the league until after the Tottenham loss, he was just as steady and calm as his German partner. Together they locked down the back line and in the last game of the season, Laurent Koscielny simply wouldn’t be beaten and would let Arsenal be beaten. He was a one man wrecking crew on all fronts.

Finally, while this may be our last regular season podcast, we will have some special summer episodes coming out. The first is right around the corner on 8 June. If all goes well, we are going to be broadcasting the podcast “LIVE” from Fado’s Pub in Philadelphia. What’s so significant about that you ask? Well, at the same time in London at the Gunners Pub, the crew from the Steve’s Bald Collective Podcast will doing the same thing and we’ll be linked in together effectively doing the two podcasts jointly.

It should be a lot of phone with contests and discussions and I’ll also have prizes (scarves, posters, and possibly shirt or two) courtesy of Angelo’s Soccer Corner. So if you are in the Philadelphia or London area, drop by Fado’s or The Gunner’s Pub at 11AM EST 16.00 BST or GMT whatever it is and join us.

Until then. . . stay goonerish!