How Barcelona Have Won LaLiga And What Is Happening With Arsenal | SI FC

Is this the Mbappe effect, 5 games in a row without him in the lineup, they win all those games, then he comes back in, and it's 2-1 to Mallorca.

I think Arteta very arrogant.

He took this game very simply as if it was a walkover, and he got punished.

How can you be one of the best coaches in the world when you've won 0?

This is where the good teams separate themselves and make themselves elite, or sometimes the good teams show that that's all they are.

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.

This is Sports Illustrated Football Club, your week.

show here on Sports Illustrated Easter Monday, but the show must go on because football never stops.

La Liga with a title race, FA Cup, and two stars in the building.

Lia Bozzii, Luca Aloo, hi guys, how are you?

I think 3 stars, man.

Give yourself some, some credit here, man.

The host of the most.

Come on MSN man.

Oh, MSN.

He's always, always on.

Always.

How are we guys?

I'm decent, man.

I'm, I'm good.

Decent weekend of football.

My team didn't even play, so I just had my feet kicked up on the sofa just watching from afar and having, having fun with the rest of the, of the teams.

Yeah, definitely.

What about you, Luca?

I'm still uh recovering from the Azzurri performance against Bosnia, so not so good.

I don't think I'll be good until the World Cup final whistle blows actually.

You didn't need to bring it up actually, but, but you asked how I felt, so.

I mean how, how, how therapy, sad can you realistically be though when it's the 3rd time in a row?

Like surely at some point, you know what it is, Liz, I think we have to talk about La Liga.

I don't think we have to talk about that again tomorrow, but it's a football show, you know, so we have to talk about all things, all things, you know what I mean?

Ali, what did you think of the Italian national team?

I mean, according to the heroes, right?

According to our football federation president, heroes of Zenica, uh, what do we think?

It's the consequence of what's happened in the 20 years in football in Italy, and if you don't change the way of doing things and keep thinking, oh, we are Italy just because of the name, just because of the stars on your jersey, it's not gonna change.

So, so you guys are free agents right now for the World Cup.

There you're up for recruitment .

So ladies and gentlemen, put your best pitches forward for Luca and, and Ali, they're more than happy to join you guys for the guys.

First of all, if you like us, and I'm sure you do.

Uh, like, subscribe, ring the bell, and let us know what team Luca and myself should support in this World Cup, and we, we, we're all might be beyond this World Cup as well too, maybe 2030 of the way it's gone.

He's on fire, he's on fire today.

Luca, you know what, I'm gonna start with you.

I'm gonna start with you, and we need to start from football.

And for football I mean Lamin Yamal, nutmeg, Trivella, pure football.

I was watching the game and I say, whoa, that's amazing, that's amazing.

I was so annoyed that I think it was Olmo that he passed was it Fermin that he didn't bury it because that would have been one of the best assists I'd seen in my life.

That nutmeg and then the first time Travella passed was beautiful and if you talk about.

Players with the Travella trait, right, if we want to go to FIFA terms, I think he's on the Mount Rushmore already in terms of top 4 guys I've seen with the.

So let's beat this Mount Rushmore.

Yeah, you got Quaresma for sure.

You got him, Lukita , you got Modric as well, of course.

And then I don't know who you put on the 4.

Salah has a very good Travelo over Amin.

No, no, I'm saying if you're putting a 44, yeah, 4, Salah.

It is good in that regard.

Travella, who, who really has that, I think, specialty, charisma is the face of it.

Charisma.

Is this guy used to shoot with his the outside of his team but we think about charisma.

Then Luca Modrich, Luca, yeah, the passing, he would rather pass the outside than move his left, yeah, and that sister to Rodrigo, yeah, that one's a classic.

There's, there's surely got to be someone else as well too, I think, I think Salah on the top of one.

Di Maria, I remember one he did Champions League Salah, he crosses it.

Dimario will do like through balls like passing in general.

It's Diario is quite good as well.

Dimar would rather Rabona with his left than with his right.

He might be on there as well too, but Yamal, I , I agree, man.

That's his specialty now.

You, you see him pull out that pass 34 times a game though.

Seriously, it's, it's automatic and Speaking of automatic, that's the, the, my favorite part about that entire sequence.

First of all, how he brings it out of the air, brilliant.

Then the meg is incredible.

But the fact that he doesn't even set himself right, he doesn't nutmeg him and then get it and then look up.

He nutmegs it, and then with his almost next touch, it's, it's, it's a perfect pass through on Gota Fermin.

I don't think people understand how difficult that is all to do in the space of 3 to 4 touches.

That's incredible.

No, he's incredible.

He's unbelievable.

And, and now.

Is La Liga close?

Yeah, I think so.

I think it was, I already thought Barcelona were gonna win it a couple of match days ago anyway, but with Real Madrid dropping points a couple of hours earlier, losing, Barcelona did the most professional thing that they could do and get over the line against Atleti, and granted it was a changed Atleti team because top 4 solidified for them anyway.

3rd, 4th, it won't make a difference, and Simone's focusing on the Champions League game, who he has to play against the same team in Barcelona.

But Barcelona played really well in my opinion.

And they got the job done, that was the, the, the main task.

Yeah, I mean, interesting uh pick in the lineup for Simeone.

He decided to rest both Julian Alvarez and Lukman, a lot of teenagers in the middle of the park.

Nico Gonzalez, interesting option as a left back.

I mean, to be honest with you, at the start, I was thinking wow, interesting option when he's on the opponent half, but then you have to defend.

I mean Yamal and, and he lasted 40 minutes.

You see, when I saw this guy just lift up his hands to stop the ball of his hands, I said this guy doesn't know where he is right now.

Like he, he, he got put in a, in a, in a spin cycle against Yamal.

Honestly, it was one of those moments where you look at a footballer and his face just says, I do not want to be here right now.

He didn't want to be there.

Yeah, he wanted no part of Yamal.

For me, the fact that he even lasted as long as he did before the red card was a miracle.

That is.

I mean, I understand why Simeone rotated the team, right?

He's got big games in the Champions League coming up.

The league, like you said, is, is over, but you put Nico Gonzalez on your mouth, man.

Come on, you have better luck putting Ola on your mouth.

Seriously, that's, that's criminal, man.

What was he expecting?

But you know it is, I feel sorry for any traditional fullback that's against De Marco last last season, he had to get a double team from, and we're talking about Nico Gonzalez, the winger, going left, the right winger playing left back.

Come on, come on, man.

It was always gonna be a recipe for this.

Now, now I have to ask, do you think we are gonna see Nico Gonzalez again in the tie in the Champions League tie?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no chance.

No, no, no, no.

But I mean, we saw the classic Barcelona because Atletico started with huge chances from Griezmann and then even finding the, the open, yeah, we, we was really easy.

I like him, by the way, Giuliano Simeon a good player.

Yeah, he's a good, honestly, I think he should like, I, I'm sure he's in the Argentine team, but I could see like a real use for him in that team as well too.

I think people will look at him as it nepotism, right?

He's Simeone's son, but this is my kind of nepotism .

He's actually a really good player.

Yeah, he's a good player, but I, I, I don't think that Delholo would never do that, because his love for Atletico Madrid's life.

I mean, it's more than the sun.

It might be.

He's close, probably.

Probably, probably, but at the same time it, it would mean exposing your son to, to a powerful dressing room because he's, if he's not up to the level, how do you do it?

But he's a good, he's a good player.

I really like Simeone.

He, he's kind of like Valverde in the versatility sense and how hard he works, him and Llorente.

And I think for Argentina he would do so much dirty work, especially with the amount of talent they have in the final third.

So I think he'd compliment everyone really well.

He could have a really good World Cup, to be honest.

And what do what do we think of Barcelona because this is the first game of a Of 3 games in 10 days, now there is the Champions League tie, and for me Atletico Madrid looked alive.

Oh yeah.

So do they need to change anything if they want to reach the semi-final?

I mean, do they, maybe, will they?

Almost definitely not, you know, with Barca, they're going to play the same game no matter who they play against, no matter who the players are out there, they live and die by their philosophy.

And it's taken them this far.

I keep, I, I actually checked the La Liga table yesterday, right?

And obviously the seven-point gap is no, no surprise.

But for all the talk we have about their defensive record, they've only conceded 1 goal more than, than Real Madrid, right?

So whatever they're doing is clearly working, and obviously they have a huge, uh, difference in terms of goals scored.

So I think, I think Barca just continue to do what they do.

Now it's always a Russian roulette with them because on one given day you give that, that team chances like Griezmann had in the first half, and it could be out.

The sight out of mind in the first half, but I just think when you have that firepower, it's not the, the worst kind of tactic to go with.

I wanna give a credit though to Joa Canalo because I thought he was maybe Barri Yamal, the man of the match .

I think his, his arrival in January from Saudi has actually been one that's kind of gone under the radar, and I think he's had games this season where his contributions have really been big.

I think in the Newcastle game away from home, his contribution right at the end to give it to Omo for his, the penalty that he won was big.

And then today, or.

Rather, this weekend, the way he sets up that Lewandowski goal almost entirely cutting out, cutting back in, firing from, from left back.

I think he's actually been a really, really good addition for Barca this year.

Yeah, I agree, and I think with Cancelo, he's such an offensive-minded fullback, and we were talking about La Mina Mao with the Travella trait.

I think Cancelo's one of the best fake shotters I've seen.

He's got a decent fullback, yeah, he has, but with his fake shot, he's mastered the fake shot as a fullback, and that last goal all came from him.

Lewandowski, right place, right time.

Did he mean it?

Probably not, but still, I think he might have.

You reckon?

I think, I think Lewa has done enough in his career to deserve the, the, the, the benefit of the doubt you could, you could, to be fair, because he is a top.

If it was anyone else, if that's, I don't know, Ferran, fair enough.

Loa, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

He's that much, yeah, yeah, he's a top level striker, but that came from Cancelo and he's been brilliant, yeah.

It's 300 goals under Hansi Flick for Barcelona, which is 100 games.

Did you see?

I think they, they hit 300 goals in the same amount of time as Enrique's MSN team did, and that's the greatest front three I've ever seen.

That tells you something about the way Hansi Flick coaches attack.

This guy for me is the best attacking manager in the game, maybe one of the best I've ever seen.

Every team he, he puts out, whether it was Bayern, uh, under his stewardship or this team, they just go out and look to kill you 6 goals every single game.

It's crazy.

I want to go with you at the beginning of the second half, Gerard Martin, red card, and then the, the VAR said, no, you know what, it's yellow, it's gonna stay on the pitch.

What do we think of it, Luca?

Oh, it's one of them where it could have gone either way, in the sense that he wins the ball.

OK, he gets the ball, but the follow through is a bad follow through, but at the same time he can't stop himself, it's just momentum, he didn't mean it.

Like you think about it.

He's just, he's going in strong.

How can you just say you , you think he could stop himself in that moment, I mean, he's going in strong.

He can't just kind of stop, you know, me, I'm, I have an engineering degree, right?

So let me, let me introduce myself into this conversation.

I took physics for a few years.

When the force of, of the collision is coming at such a velocity, coming from up as well too, through the foot or through the ball, the ball will slow down the trajectory, but it's still going to go through and make the initial, the, the, the, the subsequent collision.

There's nowhere else Gerald Martin can put his foot there, right?

He wins.

the ball cleanly as well too, but the follow-through is a natural follow-through.

So, I think he's lucky because in other leagues, I could see it being given.

The Premier League, I could definitely see that being given.

But I don't really blame the referee upon looking at it on VAR and thinking, also, is it a red card offense?

I think it's up for interpretation.

It looks really ugly because to be fair to the other player, he's lucky he didn't break his ankle.

But at the same time too, I don't think that was the intention, and I think the initial winning of the ball has to count for something .

First of all, Lia Bozzidi, masterclass, ladies and gentlemen, thank you.

Thank you.

But I, I'm an electrical engineer, you know, a part-time job.

I want to say there was a similar episode in La Liga this weekend, I guess, and the outcome was the same.

It was, it was, uh, overturned the red card, or no, yeah, no, no, he did, they didn't give the red card.

Oh, they didn't, OK, so.

There, there, there is consistency.

There's yeah, there's inconsistency even no, no, no, no, there's consistency, a red there wasn't a red either, so, so fair enough, probab probably in Serie A would have been yeah, it would have been.

I could see in the prem as well too that definitely being given, but I always have an issue with those because I just think if you win the ball initially, does that not count for something?

It does, but I think also like by the laws of the game, if you go in overly aggressively, there's still a nature that he can er distinguish a red card.

I, I hear that, but then what are we gonna, are we gonna tell players not to go in half, because then even then if you don't go in full force, you probably injure yourself.

No, I agree, but I think from a referee's perspective they're still thinking, well, if he goes in overly aggressive, trying to like potentially trying to endanger the opponent, even if he gets the ball, there still could be a potential.

That's, that's only from like a referee perspective.

But I agree he won the ball, it's kind of, can't really do much about it.

Yeah.

So I don't know, I, I'm not mad that it got overturned, to be honest.

And now we are 7 points clear on top of, of La Liga table because Atletic uh because Real Madrid lost.

And, and 4 against the the El Pirata Mauric 19th goal in La Liga season right behind Kylian Mbappe.

Uh, Arbelo decided to rest Vinicius Junior and Mbappe had a couple of big chances in the first half, massive chances, but Real Madrid looked distracted.

Probably, are they gonna go for the Champions League?

Well, they'll have to try, but I don't think they'll win it.

Is this the Mbappe effect?

55 games in a row without him in the lineup, they win all those games, then he comes back in and it's 2-1 to my workout.

You love that conclusion.

Hm, I'm, hey, I'm just observing.

For me, I'm just observing here, guys.

I'm, I'm, I'm looking at the, I'm looking at the, the numbers in front of me.

That's an interesting statistic for me.

The thing is with Mbappe as well, right, is like the goal, a lot of the goals came at the start of the season, which is obviously good to put yourself forward and on the front line to win all trophies, but I think from February onwards, that's when you want your main players to be scoring big goals in big games, knockout stage games in the Champions League, crunch time games in the league and.

He's not really delivered, I know he's had an injury yet, but over the last few years he hasn't really delivered it.

He's preserving himself for the World Cup?

Oh.

If you want to give that every player that excuse, yeah, every player is preserving themselves for the World Cup.

I guess Salah is preserving himself for the World Cup by that logic.

No, I just think it's weird cause Mbappe, I find that in 2026, his game is so different to what it was a few years ago where I felt at one point he was the most devastating 1 vs 1 player at one point.

His runs in behind.

I think his game has evolved and for me, not for the better since he's joined Real Madrid.

But one thing that has been so consistent is his finishing, right?

He has become a lethal goalscorer.

This game he's had opportunities that 9 times out of 10 I would bet my, my house on Kylian Mbappe to score.

So it was really odd to see it was good goalkeeping as well too.

Let's not take anything away from the Mallorca goalkeeper, but you would think on any given day Mbappe leaves with at least 1 goal in this kind of game.

So it was a little bizarre.

Thanks God you didn't bet your, your house.

Yeah, I have, I have a nice bed to sleep in tonight, so thank you, thank you.

If we do a comparison, uh, between the 1st 11 games of Xabi Alonso and Abeloa, Xabi Alonso 30 points, just 1 defeat, Abeloa 24 and 3 defeats.

So, uh, Gareth Bale, for example, said recently, I'm not surprised that Alonso's been sacked because when you're at Real Madrid you need to manage men, but actually.

And we see on the screen, this is what Real Madrid did in Spain.

That's insane.

In Spain since 2008, 2009.

But even like when they won the three-peat, for example, they only won the league once, like they've always, I think in when it comes to La Liga over consistency over a 38 game stretch, Madrid have always struggled more than Barcelona.

I think it's the knockout stage games when they're.

World class level players rose up in the big occasions, that's always prevailed for them.

They almost got that European heritage.

It's kind of like Juventus in the sense that Juventus are more dominant in the league than AC Milan, but AC Milan are much more consistent in Europe in terms of winning the trophies.

It's a really weird dynamic, and it's hard to put my finger on it, to be honest.

Uh let me say this though, in, in the 2000s, or the 2010s rather, the way Messi.

Almost decided La Liga on his own was unbelievable because there were times even when you could say Madrid were struggling where they've had a better team than Barca.

Barca, there were times under Valverde.

I'm looking at in the last years under Enrique, their team was, was starting to decline and Messi just seems to win them so many points across the 38 game season.

One thing that's, that's interesting though is this, this, this dynamic between Madrid and Barca where Madrid have undergone now what, 3 galacto eras you can say .

Barca have almost seemed like the underdogs in it, and yet they come away winning more La Liga titles.

It happened in the initial galactico phase when Ronaldinho basically usurped the Zidane Figu R9 thing.

It happened with the Cristiano era where he only won 2 league titles in however many years, and it's happening now.

They've signed Kylian Mbappe and La Mina Mao is about to win two La Liga titles on his head.

That is.

Mental.

Exactly, if, if, if Barcelona wins, uh, Lamin, 1818 years old, overtake Cristiano winning 3 La Liga titles already.

That's mental.

That is a crazy start.

La Massa versus the Machine and La Massa's gonna win again.

I think La Massia is the common denominator here because both galactico defeating errors came from Barcelona's produce from the academy and it's, it's a ridiculous feat and it's always a number 10, Dinho Messi ML and that legacy is strong.

Ansufatti, a bit of a purple.

It's OK, it's a strong legacy, but I was gonna say as well on Mbappe, the difference between like him and Lamin is like for me, Mbappe now, I agree with what Lee has said, his game has changed so much.

Mbappe can only change the game with his goals.

I feel like he's dropped off a lot in his playmaking, his 1 vs 1 ability, whereas Lamin, look at the performance against Atletico, he hit the post, he didn't score a goal.

He didn't even, he didn't assist, but the impact he has on the game for his dribbling, for his passing range, his creativity, his ability to receive the ball from deep, beat man, just his vision and understanding of the game is.

So far clear of killing Mbappe's, for example, it almost is like that Messi, Ronaldo dynamic where Messi, when Ronaldo became a goal scorer and that was how he was affecting the game.

But granted his effect was a lot stronger than Mbappe's cos his goal to game record was just ridiculous.

But Messi could affect the game in a multitude of ways, sort of like Lamine.

But I think Lamine, if we're being hypocritical, his finishing maybe needs to be a bit refined even in this game, to be fair, he had a big opportunity, but he's very young, and so that will come that's, that's the scariest part about Yamal.

I find him to be so.

So elite in so many different facets, the only thing you can pinpoint is something that with most players gets better as you age, which is the finishing, which is the killer instinct.

So when you're talking about a player this complete in so many different areas that has one thing he needs to improve on, and he's 18 years old, I'm scared for football for the next 15 years because this kid is set to dominate if he's not already.

If you stay focused, but the, the good thing about Lam Yamal guys, when you watch him play, I mean, even us probably, you want to.

To go out and play football.

That, that's the, that's what I think too, he's the best on the eye as well.

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's beautiful.

Uh, is there any chance, Luca, that Real Madrid will manage to reduce the gap before they're facing Barcelona on the 10th of May?

I, I just see, I don't, they might reduce it, Ireland, but I, I don't see a world in which they really compete with Barca till the end of the season, and I was actually gonna ask you guys a question.

Barca could potentially do another Centurion season if they win all their games left, they could get 100 points.

Do you think it's possible?

You say that and it's so crazy cause when I looked at Barca this year.

I thought wow, it doesn't feel like they're as good as last season, right?

Like last year they felt so much better and yet they're actually probably on pace to finish with more points than they did last year.

They could hit 100.

That's insane for me.

It depends on, on Champions League.

It's like if they manage to reach the semi-final in the Champions League, I, I would say you get distracted.

And we saw it, we saw it, now I'm gonna take a plane.

I'm gonna bring you back to this island, and we saw it, Canada water, yeah, exactly.

I'm gonna bring you back to this island because there was an upset in the FA Cup, Arsenal, in the space of two weeks.

I mean we went from quadruple to double, we will see what happened to Saint Mary's Lia.

Where do you even start, man?

Where do you even start this season, man.

I want to start off by saying, The English mainstream media and us as well too, because we contribute to it, we need to stop this quadruple talk every year.

Any team in January time that's in 4 competitions, which happens a lot, by the way, right, if you're the best team in the league, more often than not, you're going to be around December, January time to be in the competitions.

We gotta stop in the quadruple talk.

It's not gonna happen.

It's, it's genuine 2 teams have done the treble.

That was already incredible as is.

The quadruple is not happening like to be.

That consistent and have that much depth to compete all season long on four different fronts, it does, it doesn't register with me, especially in the prime as well.

100%.

And Arsenal, I'm sorry, they don't have the quality and depth.

They have a lot of players that can come in and do a job, but they don't have an 11 that can come in and just play any random game, and it's showed in this game.

I think personally, and it might be hindsight speaking here, it might be easy for me to say no.

The decision to basically play your complete second squad in an FA Cup quarterfinal.

I know, OK, I know Southampton are in the second division.

I think they're unbeaten in 2026.

They're on a crazy good run under their new manager.

To go in with a potential semifinal at Wembley at stake for me shows that he didn't take this game seriously enough.

I don't think so.

Like, and I look at a lot of these players who have been in and out of the team.

Some of them have been completely out of the, out of the light all season long to basically throw them all in and expect a performance which they didn't get whatsoever.

I felt it was either naive or arrogant from Arteta.

No, I, I think the second, I was about to say I think Arteta's a very pompous manager.

He's very arrogant considering he's won absolutely nothing relevant in his life.

And I think he's a good, no, no, it's the truth, let's just say it as it is.

No, cause I wanna, no, no, I'll be honest, I've had enough of Arteta.

I'll tell you why, because I hear everyone say, a lot of people say he's the best coach in the world, he's one of the best coaches.

How can you be one of the best coaches in the world when you've won nothing?

That's my, that's.

My response to that Italian mentality.

Last year, were any Liverpool fans claiming Slott was the best manager in the world?

No, cause they got a bit more sense.

But when I hear Arteta's the best coach in the world, I say, what has he won?

What skin in the game does he have right now to be considered number 123?

I, for me, he's not there.

And I think Arteta is very arrogant .

He took this game very simply as if it was a walkover, and he got punished.

And I think he deserves it as a manager.

I, I.

That's a say through.

I do not, I don't like someone put the, the ether ball over that, that's incredible.

I don't like Arteta, man, at all.

OK, OK, I, I agree with you, Lia, when, when, when you say we should stop the quadruple, I mean now because it's not gonna happen, but if we saw historically people winning treble.

Our people used to win in the previous season.

Oh yeah, especially that's another thing too, to go from not winning anything to winning all four go from nothing to, yeah, you gotta, you gotta crawl.

Yeah, you gotta, you gotta learn to crawl before you can walk and walk before you run.

To make his point, it's like start from the FA Cup.

Well, that, that, that's one thing I want to say here, right?

I think people, especially when you haven't won anything.

You can't just put your nose up at any silverware.

This is why I said after the Carabao Cup final , yes, the Carabao Cup in terms of the overall landscape of football is the least valuable trophy you can win in England.

I get that.

It's not as valuable as a Prem, Champions League, or even an FA Cup, but it's still silverware.

And for me, every trophy is an opportunity and every time you don't win one, it's an opportunity missed.

That Carabao Cup, especially cause you went to the final, was a huge opportunity.

And instead, what I heard from some Arsenal fans, not all of them, but what I heard from some of them was that, oh, well, I'll take losing the Carabao Cup cause we Of the FA Cup and there's no God-given right to win the FA Cup.

You couldn't even win the Carabao Cup.

And now it looks like exactly if they win the Premier League, it's a great season, but the historic teams, the teams that get all the plaudits are the ones that like City, for example, Premier League plus a Carabao Cup, or plus an FA Cup, plus a Champions League.

Those are the teams that we really, really remember, and that's not the term I know about Arsenal because if they win the Prem, it's great.

They're in history, but I don't think they're in any position to be putting out second elevens in the FA Cup quarterfinal.

For me, that was arrogant from Artata.

Since he loves this that much, what he needs to do now, what he needs to do, mentally , how, because now the, the pressure is gonna be even higher, you know, you have Champions League and people are expecting you to win the Premier League.

How do you deal mentally with this situation?

I, I honestly think this Arsenal team and Arteta will struggle mentally because I think when it comes to winning and getting over the line, you need that winning DNA, you need that mindset within the squad.

And I look at this Arsenal team and it's quite young.

Who are the winners in this team?

Like Jesus.

Jesus has won a lot in his past.

He's not a starter and he's finished, by the way.

This game for Jesus for me was the farewell from Arsenal, uh, from, for a lot of these guys, but Jesus in particular.

I like Jesus.

I think he's been a great player in England.

He cannot do it no more at this level anymore, at the elite level.

No, no, no.

He won't start a game for the rest of the season.

I think, I think, I think most of these guys, if you look at this 11, I thought Dalman was really, really good.

I thought he was the one player, he was the one player.

Me that really show, maybe Norgaard as well too, but if you look at it, only Gabriel will be starting games for Arsenal from now on .

None of these guys are basically all bar maybe Havertz because his competition is Jocarez.

The rest of them have all completely played themselves out of the starting 11 for the season based on this game.

Yeah, so Arteta will get his 1st 11 back and compete on all fronts, rightfully so, right, but I think getting over the line, it's all a mental thing, Alan.

I think in February, sort of February onwards, it's all about crunch time, it's all about.

Approaching games in a, in a specific manner, something that City have been able to do over the last 5 to 6 to 7, even years.

Something that Barcelona are able to do, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, the top level clubs that are used to winning, and that is instilled from a winning manager and something that Pep has instilled in his players over the last 10, well, 10 years since he's been there.

And Arteta for me.

I just don't think he has that winning DNA.

I think that Carabao Cup would have changed a lot.

That would have given Arsenal so much more going into the rest of the season, and I don't know, I just think he's thrown it away a bit in these last two games, I really do.

Are now the supporters because you talk about the environment, you, you thought you said we should stop talking about quadruple, but then there are a fan base expecting us to win it all.

I don't think Arsenal fans were the ones pushing the quadruple talk as much.

I think some of them, of course, you have delusional.

Fans and every fan base, but I don't actually think they were the ones pushing the narrative.

I think it comes from the media who, who want to just create the story about, well, could this team do something that's never happened before?

Well, guys, it's never happened before because it's damn near impossible.

That's the, that's the reality of the situation here.

So if you, if you talk about Arsenal fans.

I think naturally they're desperate for success.

They are, they're starving for silverware.

And if you give them a Premier League at the end of the season, they're going to finish their plate, lick it clean, right?

It's not, they're not gonna, they'll forget about the Carabao Cup.

But now it's really a case of finishing what you started.

They've done brilliantly for 8 to 9 months.

Our Tata has has mentioned that a few times.

What we've done is beautiful over the last 9 months, but the 9 months.

Don't matter if you don't finish it up in crunch time.

And like Lucas said, this is the most difficult part of the season to manage because now you have all these competitions coming left and right.

You have the Champions League knockouts as well too to focus on.

This is where the good teams separate themselves and make themselves elite, or sometimes the good teams show that that's all there are.

OK, good team, you mentioned also Mbappe and a good player.

Switching uh the mindset in March, Erling Garland, Manchester City, playoff mode, playoff mode, I like that.

That's a, that's a, that's a good intro.

I like that as well.

No, Holland is incredible man, incredible, I think.

He's just a machine, he's a robot, he's able to switch it on whenever he wants, and that's what top level world class strikers do, and he was brilliant in this game .

I do think though the Liverpool defending definitely assisted him assisted him a lot on the goals, um, but yeah, he, he was phenomenal, but like Liverpool's defense, it was, it was scandalous in this game, Male.

It was one of the worst defensive performances I've seen all season.

The first goal, Van Dijk giving away the penalty in a sloppy way.

The second goal, the way he pulled off Konate, brilliant movement, but come on, you have to stay tight to him.

And the third goal just summarizes everything.

Wrong.

The amount of time and space Harlan had to just take a touch in the box, no pressure.

The worst one was was O'Reilly's run from his own half bypassing Soboa, who watched him walk by him, and then Joe Gomez as well too, I believe it was watching him run past him as well too.

This is a left back coming all the way from his own side of the pitch and running past the entire team, and no one could be bothered to stop him.

That for me shows a team that all season long has been pathetic defensively.

I agree this was the worst we've seen all year, but also a team for me that suggests they don't believe in this manager anymore.

I think these guys have fully stopped playing for Arnestla.

I, I don't know how you can defend the way you do in this game .

The minute they go down one goal, heads drop.

That tells me a team that doesn't believe in what their manager's saying anymore.

Is Xabi Alonso the good man to start a new cycle?

Look , I think Xabi Alonso is one that's wanted and liked by Liverpool fans and naturally used to play for them.

He's a very good player for Liverpool, successful, so I think sometimes in these sort of scenarios you want someone that knows the ambience of the club, knows it well, and I think Xabi Alonso could be a good transition manager, but I just think the main thing is getting rid of Salot.

Xabi Alonso would definitely be an upgrade for me.

Yeah, I mean, if you listen to the fans, that's who they want as well too.

Half of them left after 60 minutes.

The other half were chanting Xabi Alonso.

So I think that's the most damning thing right now is not only have the players stopped believing in the manager, the fans have as well too.

And I almost think that's the final like death wish for a manager.

When your fans, your matchgoing fans, especially Liverpool fans who are so proud and so supportive of their own, for them to, to almost.

lose faith in you as well too is really damning.

And I think it comes from not only the fact that they're losing games, but also the way they approach games as well too.

Liverpool fans over the last 10 years have been accustomed to a certain way of playing under Jurgen Klopp, which I think resonates with the club itself.

That high intensity, high fervor.

It, it is Liverpool.

Klopp and his identity meshed so well with the Liverpool supporters.

Arnold Slott's football last season was, was good when it was working.

But the problem of Arnasla as a manager is that his football, when it's losing, is, is horrible to watch, especially for Liverpool fans.

It's slow.

It's lethargic.

There's no energy to it.

And as a fan, it's very difficult, I believe, to really get behind the team that shows that little intensity.

And then when the players are now arguing with the fans at the end of the game as well too, like Dominic Sobbosla, it's, it's a really toxic atmosphere around Liverpool at the moment.

And even like Chucky swapping shirts with Acade.

Oh my God, this is embarrassing.

What is Eketike doing though?

A lot of people's attention was on Shirky.

Why is Ekiti swapping it's more on Eketiki, but come on, this is embarrassing stuff.

It encapsulates everything that's wrong at the minute.

Probably they need to reset everything.

Guys, thank you very much and thanks for being with us.

I remind you once again, like, subscribe, ring the bell, let us know what kind of team we need to support in the World Cup and see you next time.