YAMACast Episode 5 – the one where guests are WAY better than the host

It’s the interlull. A sad depressing time when there is really no football of consequence to speak of. Unless of course you fancy salivating over England versus San Marino.  And with the interlull news on Arsenal is relatively quiet.

The natives are fatted (for now). The wins against Bayern and Swansea have restored (for some) a modicum of pride and hope. And if you are objective enough you will take away something positive from the fact that Arsenal beat two very good sides, one of them the current cream of the crop in Europe.

There was a renewed focus on defense. Whether that’s a manager driven directive or one derived from the players taking accountability for themselves is up to anyone’s best guess. The point is the lads did alright. And if you want to call me an optimistic fool, I don’t buy into the narrative that Arsenal looked particularly jaded in either match.

Bayern were always going to get chances. They haven’t been such a dominating force in Europe this season by chance. They are that good. And even after the loss to Arsenal they have to be one of the odd on favourites to win the whole tournament this season. Swansea had zero shots on target on Saturday. ZERO. Just to be sure you got that let me stress this point actually let Michael Cox of Zonal Marking make the point for me:

“Swansea didn’t manage to record a single shot on target, despite their 619 passes. Indeed, Opta have been unable to find a more extreme example of possession without penetration, going back through seven years of Premier League matches.”

Swansea just to remind you before Saturday had lost at home only twice this season. United and Chelsea only walked out of the Liberty Stadium with a draw. The fact is Arsenal were determined in both matches to step up and be accounted.

What does it all mean? Maybe very little. The interlull probably comes at a bad time for it has the uncanny knack of being momentum sapping. It also allows opponents we are watching get healthy. But it could also mean a lot. Two successive clean sheets is impressive for a team that let more balls in then a female denizen of a red light district.  It can have a profound effect and strengthen a side that needs positivity to carry itself forward.

In a span of days where much isn’t going on that we’ll see in public there is still a lot to discuss and debate as you probably already guessed from the lead in here. And all of these topics and more I discuss with 3 guests.

That’s right, with nothing going on, I wanted to make sure we had enough for you all listen to digest and respond to. That’s why I was proud to sit down with 3 heavyweights of social media and journalism. First I sit down with none other than the Arseblogger himself.  Arseblog is the “granddaddy” of all Arsenal blogs. His blog and Arsecast are the standards by which all others are measured and we were happy to discuss the recent results and what it could all mean for Arsenal in the last 9 games.

After we wrap up with Arseblog, I was happy to invite back none other than Elliot Smith otherwise known as @YankeeGunner in the twittersphere. I originally had Elliot on so I wasn’t the only on the podcast with a dodgy accent but Elliot is as insightful as some of the best pundits out there and his perspective on all these issues is one I always enjoy hearing. It may be overkill on Elliot – he’s pimping himself across all of the podcasts but I don’t care his point of view is top drawer.

Finally, I am pleased to have John Cross from the Mirror on to wrap things up for us. John is currently covering the England set up before their international matches but he took a break to go over his perspective on the change we’ve seen and whether or not this squad can keep it up. He also gives us perspective on the looming summer market and what Arsenal might do.

I’m very thankful that all our guests could take the time to chat with me. I also wanted to give a shout out to everyone who has given us feedback via email and twitter and let us know what they like or dislike about the podcast. We’ve made some adjustments and hope you continue to tune in, subscribe or download.

Again thank you all for listening. I’m always reachable and read every comment I can.

Until our next Episode. . . Stay Goonerish!!!

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