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Night Edition available now. It's

0:24

three minutes past eight. Siobhan Aharon, good morning

0:26

to you. How are you?

0:27

Morning, Trips. I'm well. How are you? Yeah, pretty

0:29

good. A little bit concerned about... I know.

0:31

I knew you were going to say that. Yeah.

0:35

So a lot of people won't have seen this, right? The footage obviously

0:37

did the rounds on Irish football Twitter immediately

0:40

last night. Kate McKay was injured about 86 minutes

0:43

into the game. At that stage, it

0:45

looked like Arsenal were home and housed, and they were having

0:48

beaten now Bayern Munich 2-0 in the

0:50

second leg to win 2-1 on aggregate. How

0:53

bad was the challenge?

0:55

It was unfortunate

0:58

how it looked and I actually think I

1:00

was watching the game with Rusha, my

1:03

sister, and at that point I went,

1:05

oh, she actually looks like

1:07

she's struggling a little bit here. Now, we

1:09

were joking that, well, if we know Kate McCabe,

1:11

the way we know Kate McCabe, she loves

1:14

a little roll about the floor.

1:17

And then actually when we saw the replay, we thought,

1:19

oh no, she's actually really hurt here. And

1:22

I think that's the first time I've seen Kate go off

1:25

in a long, long time. And she

1:27

looked sore. You could tell that she

1:29

was struggling. And yeah, it

1:31

looks like a sore one. And

1:34

the challenge doesn't look good. But fingers

1:36

crossed she gets positive news today from her

1:38

scan.

1:39

Yeah, in fairness, she obviously

1:41

gets carried off the field.

1:43

And then later, there's a photograph

1:45

of her on Twitter. She's smiling with

1:48

the boots. We've got it up there now. She

1:50

is smiling and the boot is on and you're kind of hoping,

1:53

I mean, I know that the adrenaline after a victory like that,

1:55

because you're through to the semifinal of the Champions League.

1:58

So yeah, fingers.

2:00

She's actually all right. Yeah, I mean,

2:02

listen, massive night for

2:04

the Gunners getting through. And I

2:06

think you're right. I think adrenaline will probably

2:08

have seen Katie through last night and

2:11

smiling and having the crack. But

2:14

if I see another boot, honestly, ahead

2:17

of this World Cup, I'll just start pulling

2:19

my head out now. But I mean,

2:21

she when I saw the boot in the picture, I

2:23

thought, oh, that's not. I didn't expect to see

2:25

that. But

2:28

I know as much as you guys do. She was it

2:30

was sore last night. She did send message saying

2:33

it was very sore, but she will have a scanty day. And

2:35

then the club should give us an update in

2:37

due course. But fingers crossed, it's just

2:40

it's I mean, it looked sore. I saw a picture that

2:42

looked like a bad bruise and a

2:45

little cup. But sometimes I think that could cannot be better.

2:47

You know, instead of, you know, I want to

2:49

take a positive from that. But I'm

2:52

no doctor and and I don't know

2:54

how

2:55

she'll be. But I imagine this morning or

2:57

it will be pretty painful. Yeah, our amateur

2:59

doctors, most notably, column was like,

3:01

oh, it looked more like a contact injury

3:04

as opposed to ligaments. We're like, oh, good

3:06

man, physio, column. But actually,

3:08

you know, we've watched a lot of football. We've seen

3:10

a lot of these injuries and fingers crossed somebody was

3:12

comparing it to Evan Ferguson. Obviously

3:14

we had footage of him in a boot in the aftermath

3:16

of the Liverpool game and he was grand. So,

3:19

yeah, that's what we're

3:20

hoping for. And that's the thing. I

3:22

mean, I remember when when Russia had broke her foot

3:25

in Finland and that playoff game,

3:28

was the same kind of contact kind of thing like

3:30

the stud to the foot but actually when I saw the picture

3:32

of Katie's I thought oh that does look quite, it looked

3:34

sore you know she had a little car and a bruise

3:37

and I thought okay maybe that's more of a positive

3:39

thing to take from this but we

3:41

will see we will find out in due course fingers

3:43

crossed for her. Cathy, what kind of performance

3:45

was it before that because it looks like from all

3:47

the reports Katie McCabe was having an absolute stormer.

3:49

Oh completely I mean the setup for

3:51

the Black Stania school was beautiful

3:53

like it was a classic Katie McCabe pinpoint

3:56

cross you couldn't help like you don't to

3:58

try hard to mess off that sort of cross. I

4:00

think Arsenal, not that they'll

4:02

be disappointed because obviously they went through, but

4:05

they probably should have scored a couple more goals.

4:07

Like they definitely had the opportunities. I

4:09

think for them, it

4:11

was a much more complete performance

4:13

than the week before in Bayern Munich

4:16

in that they were actually able to get goals,

4:18

which has always been something that they've struggled in these

4:21

Champions League games where they've put up a good performance,

4:23

but they haven't been able to score those goals. great

4:25

to see Frieda Madams score in as well.

4:28

She kind of had a bit of a strange

4:30

patch there where she was really, really good when

4:32

she came in after Miedema

4:34

getting their injuries and then tapered

4:37

off a little bit and is kind of coming back up on a high

4:39

now. The big thing for me after last

4:41

night is that I think it kind of leaves Arsenal

4:43

in the same position that Chelsea were last

4:45

week in that they had a big performance,

4:48

a great game, everyone was on a high but

4:50

lost a a couple of big players injuries. So like chances

4:53

are Katie, no matter what the injury is, isn't going to play

4:55

this weekend against City. Kim Little also went off

4:58

after 11 minutes and

5:00

that's probably going to be a big worry for them, Shaban.

5:03

Yeah, I mean, and they've got Manchester City and

5:05

Manchester City are fresh off to now

5:08

one over Chelsea and are just

5:10

on this brilliant form at this moment in

5:12

time. I

5:13

agree with you, Catherine, I don't know

5:16

how both of those players will be back

5:18

in the available this weekend. He's

5:21

going to have to turn it out his bench and they're going to have to dig

5:24

deep. The beauty of it is they're at Bournemouth.

5:27

They know that ground so well, they know that atmosphere

5:29

so well, they know what they have to do against Manchester

5:32

City. The thing is, in my personal

5:34

opinion, I think Manchester City can sometimes play the best

5:36

football and where Arsenal

5:38

have sometimes been lacking, especially

5:41

at this point in the season, Manchester

5:43

City are doing by the bucket load and that's

5:45

banging in the goals. So

5:48

they'll have their work cut out for

5:50

them this Sunday, but

5:53

fingers crossed they can get a win and see them push up that table

5:55

again. last night huge win and

5:58

and could almost be one of the highlights of this

6:00

season so far. It's kind of funny I think when you look

6:02

at the title race and obviously it's so close at

6:04

the moment and you look at every other

6:06

team. So you look at City, they have Bonnie Shaw,

6:08

you look at Ash United, they have

6:10

you know a Latoon, Alessia Russo,

6:13

you look at Chelsea, they have Sam

6:15

Kurt. They all have their kind

6:17

of defined goal scorers whereas

6:19

Arsenal don't really have that so much

6:21

this year. I know like Braxanias was supposed to be that player

6:24

but I mean I think last night they They have 14

6:27

shots and seven of those were on target, seven of those

6:29

were off target and that's probably a good

6:31

statistic for Arsenal this season in terms

6:33

of their shot ratio. They're very

6:36

good at getting the ball, holding the ball, but

6:38

they don't really have that like out and out

6:41

goal scoring ability in

6:43

the same way as the other teams. Is that something that you think

6:45

that's going to hamper them a little bit in this running? Because

6:47

I think they've city and then they've united

6:49

next and they still have another

6:51

big game left to play before the end of the season.

6:53

So like they have quite a difficult run in.

6:56

Yeah, they've still got, I think they've still got Chelsea double

6:59

villa on the last game of the season. Yeah,

7:02

I completely agree with you. However, what I would

7:04

say is I feel that they've been hampered already by

7:06

this. And now I feel that we're starting to come good

7:09

ever so slightly. I think Stina Black's Dennis, is that

7:11

foreign for her? Possibly for her, starting

7:14

to find that little bit of confidence,

7:16

just starting to hit the ground running

7:18

again and just finding that confidence in front of goal. I

7:21

think Caitlin Ford, you know,

7:23

You can rely on her for a few goals. And

7:26

she's looked so brilliant this season. And

7:29

I can sometimes think, OK, just take Kaitlyn

7:32

into that strike position. And

7:34

you can rely on her for goals at Frieda Manham

7:36

when she has games like she has last night and she can

7:39

hit those rockets. You never know what you're going

7:41

to get. But the thing is, there's inconsistencies

7:43

there in that forward line from Arsenal.

7:47

And that's where the problems lie. You know, they're not getting

7:49

goals. they're without Viviana Medema and

7:51

Beth Meads where their goals were coming from.

7:53

So for me, I do have

7:56

to look and go. You give them that injury grace, especially

7:58

when you go up against in Manchester City. I went

8:00

to the North London Derby last week

8:02

and they were a perfect performance But I don't think you can look

8:04

at no disrespect look at spurs and say I

8:07

well, you know, you can really take Huge

8:10

positives in that performance because everyone's been taking

8:12

points off of Spurs Manchester City

8:14

are 14 games unbeaten now, you know

8:16

Arsenal are gonna have to really dig deep and

8:19

finish their chances every single

8:21

one of them they get You mentioned that

8:23

freedom, man. I'm rocket there Shaban I mean and

8:25

if I had my way we would just spend 20 minutes talking

8:27

about that goal and I'm just waiting for the athletic

8:29

to do or someone to do a deep dive on the intricacies

8:32

of every single move in the build up even the Leah

8:34

Williams and flick was just ridiculous.

8:36

Maybe it was the camera angle like just the satisfaction

8:39

of how it went in, but it was some goal.

8:41

Yeah, no, I mean, she does that. She

8:44

does that how many times? In fact, she's

8:46

a bit like Katie McCabe and the fact that she can just pull

8:48

off these worldies, you know, now and then. And

8:51

Katie nearly had one last night as well, didn't she?

8:53

She went off on that lovely little run down the left and

8:56

I thought, oh, and it just went wide of the post,

8:58

but you know, free the man in math thinks

9:00

had a good season. And as you mentioned there, she's

9:02

had this slight dip. But

9:05

when she's on form for me, she's just one

9:07

of the best, you know, and she's a big physical player

9:09

as well. Um, and yeah, that

9:11

goal was absolutely terrific. And then

9:13

also she had that beautiful moment. I think it was,

9:16

was it Palova crossed it in and

9:18

then free the man. I'm did that back

9:20

heel, you know, to Caitlin forwards and

9:22

Caitlin just, she should have just dinked over

9:24

the keeper, but she put it over the bar and I was just like,

9:26

oh my God, that would have been such a beautiful moment had

9:29

that come through. But it didn't.

9:31

But Freedom Animal had a great game last night. Whatever

9:33

it is those players took to the Emirates last

9:35

night, if they bring that, OK,

9:38

they might be missing, Kate McKee, they might be missing

9:40

Kim Little. If they bring that to Manchester City the weekend,

9:43

they've got it all. You know, on their day they can beat anyone. Is

9:46

this a bit of a surprise? Like in

9:48

the build up, people were saying, oh, they don't think they're

9:50

actually going to win the tournament

9:52

outright. But now you're in a semi-final, You've

9:54

got to be thinking, well why not?

9:56

Do you know what? work closely

9:59

with the UWCA. and

10:01

I have seen some outstanding

10:03

performances and it's

10:06

it's

10:07

tournament cup football always

10:10

changes things but Arsenal surprised

10:12

me that last night and I think if they could if

10:14

they get Wolfsburg a PSG whoever that may be

10:16

will find out their fate tonight

10:19

it's gonna be it's gonna be a huge game

10:21

you know we know what Wolfsburg can do some people are

10:23

tipping them as the winners of the competition this time

10:25

round PSG have

10:27

been very very good but they're still not there

10:30

just yet. So I don't know what's the kind

10:32

of side of that draw. You know, I would say if they can get

10:34

PSG, they can make it to final and I look and

10:36

go, wow, what a season, what a season

10:38

for Arsenal. And I don't know where they go in the league from here.

10:41

You know, the league is so tight at this

10:43

moment in time, but as we've mentioned,

10:45

you know, Chelsea, okay, they've dropped the points once again,

10:47

and that shocks me. And

10:49

Chelsea will be putting everything in their game against

10:52

Lyon tonight that they might have tired legs

10:54

at the weekend once again, and they might further drop

10:56

points. But Arsenal have got a

10:58

city, you know, and I look and go if they can, if they

11:00

can put all the focus into the

11:02

Champions League, get a final, you

11:05

know, it would be huge competition, but it would be a

11:07

huge moment for that squad. They've already picked up

11:09

one piece of silverware. They've got the buzz for

11:11

it. They're a good squad, you

11:13

know, they've got a good manager, they've got it all, you know,

11:15

Arsenal do have it all. Okay, we've

11:18

mentioned earlier on the lacking in goals, but I

11:20

think they have so much to offer and it's a great team. And

11:22

imagine, just imagine they get to Eindhoven.

11:25

I mean, what an incredible site that would be. Yeah,

11:27

and imagine that like Katie

11:30

Taylor was linked

11:32

with a move away. It could be one of those great ironies

11:34

where she ends up staying and they win this

11:37

and it's the cementing of a great relationship.

11:39

It could be. I mean, it absolutely could

11:42

be. You know, those moments when in silverware

11:44

will change anybody's, you know, thoughts

11:46

and make them feel where they want to be. You

11:49

can imagine that. We'll wait and see what

11:51

comes at that point in time. And if anything

11:54

else materializes come

11:56

the summer. But, you know, Katie's,

11:58

she's got a lot to focus on.

12:00

You know, I do think I look at

12:02

being close to some of these players and

12:04

they're looking go, there's a hell of a lot on them, you

12:07

know, to win each

12:09

game, to climb back up the table, to

12:11

stay fit, to focus on a World

12:14

Cup. And

12:15

you guys, I want to be full Irish, right?

12:18

I'll say that right now. But the fact that Ruch

12:20

and I were speaking about this last night watching

12:22

the game, she'd watch back the Republic of

12:24

Ireland, the national anthem. And

12:26

she's just like, imagine this in Sydney,

12:29

this moment, you know, playing against

12:31

Australia, this national anthem. And I think,

12:34

wow, like all these players are

12:36

fighting to get on that plane, you know, to be

12:38

there in Virpo squad. And, you

12:40

know, then moments like last night, Katie

12:42

picking up that knock, you just, you feel

12:45

for them, you know, you feel for them. They really, they're

12:47

really giving it everything that they've got. There's a lot on

12:49

them. And I just want them to focus

12:51

on being

12:52

the best that they can be without putting too much

12:54

pressure on themselves. But,

12:57

you know, we're wanting them to win Champions Leagues

12:59

and climb their way back up the table and go to

13:01

the World Cup and get out the group. You know, it's a

13:03

lot on these players. And

13:07

I just want to take a lot of, I think,

13:10

therapy to be ready for

13:13

those big, big moments. It's kind of interesting,

13:15

you're saying, about like, what

13:17

would this mean for, like, Katie in the

13:19

summer? But I think, like, generally this, I think this

13:21

is the sort of week that Arsenal will look

13:23

back as like defining on their season,

13:25

depending on how it goes. Because at the moment, like they're

13:28

in a semifinal for the Champions League, technically

13:30

still in that race in the top

13:33

four. And they have to play City.

13:35

They have United coming up. However, that semifinal

13:37

goes. If they don't

13:39

make it past the semifinal or even if they make it final,

13:42

don't win. If they don't make top three, how

13:45

are they going to hold on to like a certain level

13:47

of player or how are they going to attract the certain

13:49

level of player? Like, as I was saying earlier, in terms

13:51

of them maybe not having that out and out striker

13:54

in the way that a lot of other teams do

13:56

or have that very established can get

13:58

the goals, get the...

14:00

dirty goals that maybe your

14:02

team is down but they strike in

14:04

the ball. And

14:06

for me, this is going to be the most

14:08

interesting part of Arsenal's season in terms

14:11

of the players they're able to keep. You know, like

14:13

Minima's contract was only a year extension.

14:16

There's a lot of other players whose contracts are

14:18

coming up for a renewal. There's a

14:20

lot of players in the league, like the Alessio Russo,

14:22

who Arsenal were interested in in January,

14:24

who are also up for contract

14:27

renewals in the summer, who they might want to try and

14:29

attract in. And this could very

14:31

quickly go from, okay,

14:32

we're in a title race, we're also in

14:35

the Champions League race, to our season

14:37

amounts to a league cup and nothing

14:39

else. I know, I know. Listen,

14:42

you're seeing all the things I think we've been, I've been

14:45

thinking about in my head, you know, the last 24 hours

14:47

anyway, and Bayern are a good team.

14:50

And last night I was thinking, well, if they don't get through, you know,

14:53

Bayern are solid and you can never underestimate the

14:55

Germans, you know, they're, they're so experienced

14:57

and they get the job done. Well, Arsenal were the better

14:59

team last night. And Jodice Ervel had done a press

15:02

conference last weekend

15:02

and he did say on their day, on our

15:05

day, we can be anyone. And they can, and they've

15:07

actually shown that at several times

15:09

now this season. I mean, I was at the 20 Cup

15:11

final at Selhurst Park.

15:14

You know, they

15:15

wiped the floor with Chelsea, you know, and

15:17

I would never have said that even at the beginning

15:19

of this season when Arsenal had Viviena Mirbim

15:22

Bethmead, I was looking and going, there was something about Chelsea.

15:24

But listen, they have their own mountains to climb as well.

15:27

they're wanting to progress in the Champions League. They're wanting

15:29

to win the league. They're looking for another domestic

15:31

quadruple or whatever that was. They got a couple of seasons

15:33

ago. Everyone's doing their own

15:35

thing. And Manchester City are just on

15:37

this run. Manchester United have

15:40

surprised everyone. Aston Villa

15:42

are even doing bits as well. I mean, I don't think they close

15:44

the gap and get to fourth. But, you know, the

15:46

league is just strengthening and strengthening and strengthening.

15:50

And then you get to these competitions like the Champions

15:52

League, like the Connie Cup and those moments for

15:54

for for more silverware. Now

15:57

they've got that buzz from the chronic cut final, now

15:59

they know that they...

16:00

beat Chelsea,

16:01

I think it can go right down to the wire till

16:03

the end of the season, you know, to those games that

16:06

second last game, that last game of the season,

16:09

it's one of the most exciting title

16:11

races we've had in the WSL. It

16:13

keeps it so much more exciting for fans and

16:15

for anybody wanting to get involved and

16:18

support women's football because you've not just got Chelsea

16:20

Arsenal, you know, it's changing all of the time.

16:23

You've got all these teams now just improving and strengthening

16:25

and catching up and that's for me

16:27

what makes the summer even more exciting. Are

16:29

Arsenal going to nick a Les Eruso? Is she

16:31

going to come? Will Chelsea get

16:33

in a bidding war for that? What will Katie McCabe do? There's

16:35

just so much more to focus on now and

16:38

I think that's what's the beauty of this league. It's just

16:40

only going one way now. And, you

16:42

know, Arsenal are important in this league. So,

16:44

so important.

16:45

Can we just go back to that moment where you're sitting

16:48

on the couch watching the anthem? Because everybody's been remarking

16:50

about it. I think it was Elisa Lam did the anthem?

16:52

Yeah. She was amazing. Like, absolutely amazing. And

16:55

they should just book her for the anthem. Book her for Sydney.

16:57

Do you know what I mean? Not a bad idea.

16:59

I feel I'm not playing. I'd say she'd be delighted. So

17:03

sometimes the players love that stuff, but

17:05

sometimes they can feel like, ooh, I

17:07

recognise now. So obviously it sounds

17:09

a little bit like Rish's wrestling with that at the moment,

17:12

the importance of it, but also just

17:14

leaning in and enjoying it. How do you, how

17:17

do they all make sure that it's

17:20

just a positive as opposed to pressure? Because

17:22

like, I don't know, if you ever, the

17:24

best bit of advice I ever got was like a wedding

17:27

speech. want you to succeed? Everybody

17:29

watching the match wants this team to just succeed and

17:32

enjoy it. How do we make sure that they

17:33

feel that? Do you

17:36

know Rusha's, for

17:38

me she's one of the most measured in

17:40

our head, the way she thinks, the way she tries

17:42

to better her thinking, the way she works on mindfulness

17:45

is so important and I think it's because maybe she's

17:47

a smidge older, she's been through the mill in

17:49

injuries, she was out of the WSL

17:52

and had to find a way back in. She's had I've

17:54

had a rough run of luck, Risha,

17:57

so I like how she focuses and how

17:59

can I be better. how can I make sure that I'm thinking

18:01

the best possible thoughts to better

18:04

my experience? You know,

18:06

she speaks about the Ukraine game that Ireland had

18:08

in that play-off where they nearly got to the Euros.

18:11

And she remembers, she recalls everyone

18:13

being so nervous that day. She's like, we

18:16

weren't ever used to being in

18:18

this experience. We've never been this close. And

18:21

everybody was on

18:24

the edge. You know, we weren't prepared

18:26

for going into that game for the nerves, for the pressure

18:28

for knowing that we were one game away from the Euros.

18:30

We'd never been there before. Emma Byrne, who

18:33

I heard on the show earlier on, or, you

18:35

know, she had been in that position with her squad at the time.

18:37

They were close to getting a playoff or dead to get a

18:39

playoff. And she said

18:42

how that

18:43

now she looks at that moment

18:45

and the game against Scotland and the

18:47

actual playoff for the World Cup. Ireland were ready.

18:50

You know, that they had, they had dealt with those nerves

18:52

before. They knew the job that they had

18:54

to do. They knew the occasion and it

18:57

was having that experience of losing a

18:59

game in that high pressure moment that's helped

19:01

them get to this point now. And

19:03

I think that's just such a

19:05

great way of thinking. You know, the fact that you

19:07

don't lose, you learn. You know, they've learned so much from

19:09

that experience. They've got

19:12

through the play off. Now they're going to go to World Cup and

19:14

they're going to open it. And this is to be the

19:16

most watched sporting event I think in history.

19:18

And I look and go this beautiful country

19:21

with so many incredible sports stars are

19:24

going to open up the World Cup and just

19:26

set an example for so many and hopefully

19:29

touch with my sister and Katie will be there

19:31

and all of their friends and Vida and

19:33

it's just going to be this beautiful occasion that everybody

19:36

enjoys and just savors that moment and go, God, we've

19:38

done it. You know, we've done it. We've made it here. Now

19:40

let's just be the vengefully

19:41

solid and just try and get a couple of goals and be

19:44

Australian and get to the group. You know, it's going to be so hard,

19:46

but enjoy it. Do you know what? It made me forget

19:48

that we actually had to play a match after all that. I was

19:50

like transporting myself to Australia at

19:52

the moment of hearing the national anthem. I was getting the

19:54

goosebumps and then I was like, oh yeah, we actually have to play Australia.

19:57

And then you just play the

20:00

We could just cut it off after the national

20:02

add-ons and just be like, what a great moment. Let's

20:04

end it there. In

20:06

fairness

20:06

there, Anthem is also pretty good. And

20:09

how is Reisha's injury at the moment? She's

20:12

good. She's really, really good. She's still got a

20:14

bit of wrap round her knee, but she's

20:16

back on the pitch, you know, fingers crossed. She

20:18

makes it to the squad this weekend. They're playing Chelsea,

20:20

asking her to have Chelsea. Again,

20:23

asking her to have this great season and I look at her and go, look at her

20:25

and go, God, it's a shame. You know, you've been injured so

20:27

much of it, yet your team's flying,

20:29

but again, she's positive. You know, she's really positive.

20:32

She's hoping that she's gonna get to Vira Pao's camp because

20:34

they go to America, I think, on Monday. Don't

20:37

they? They go to Texas on Monday. So

20:39

fingers crossed she makes it to that. And fingers crossed,

20:41

again, she focuses on what's ahead and what's in

20:43

her control, and that is a World Cup. And

20:47

the opportunity to be there for Ireland, I think, is just

20:49

everything she could ever dream of. So she's

20:52

doing really well. She's recovered nicely and she's

20:54

in good spirits. I'm

20:55

always really interested in that whole evolution

20:57

of players embrace

20:59

of sports psychology and you're talking about mindfulness there.

21:01

Are the squad getting helped, you know, or is

21:03

it an individual thing more that people go

21:06

through?

21:06

I believe they have the option

21:09

to access sports psychiatrists. I believe

21:11

in sports psychologists, I believe that they are there

21:13

on hand to help them. I hope so

21:15

too because

21:17

it's such an important thing. You know, we're

21:20

always listening to podcasts and high performance

21:22

podcasts and you know, the amount of sports

21:24

stars who say, you

21:26

know, that they needed that help and guidance to train

21:29

their brain. You know, they've got the first bodies that they've

21:31

both trained and focused

21:34

athletes, but the brains, the most powerful

21:36

muscle, you know, if you're not in control of that, you're in trouble.

21:39

So it's to strengthen that and to be prepared and

21:41

to think the right thoughts going into high pressure situation

21:44

like that. I hope it's a hope that they're all getting

21:46

it. them maximising on it because it's one

21:48

of the most important skills that you can

21:50

have.

21:51

Yeah, well it's a great image of you guys sitting

21:53

watching the anthem and watching it back and going, that's

21:55

going to be something that we get to experience.

21:57

So, yeah, brilliant to have you I'll be with you this morning,

21:59

Chavon.

22:00

Thanks a million as always. Thanks for having me. Have

22:02

a good day guys. She's been a her and give us her thoughts on The

22:05

Arsenal game last night. You're obviously an Arsenal

22:07

supporter are you feeling comfortable confident

22:09

that they're gonna go on and win this thing now or

22:11

is This just a bit where you have your

22:13

hopes dashed again Kathleen

22:15

I don't know Emma

22:17

Byrne has been saying since like the start of the

22:19

season that Arsenal are gonna win the Champions League and

22:22

I Have laughed at her many

22:24

the time when she has said this she seems to know the

22:26

game She does she does know the game but

22:28

I just they've burned me so

22:30

many times before and especially after the

22:33

Injuries and the kind of patch they went through

22:35

where like they had such a good

22:37

run of form so many clean sheets like

22:40

Banging in the goals and then they took this massive

22:42

dip and it looked like they weren't going

22:44

to even make

22:45

the Champions League Places never mind actually go

22:47

on to win the Champions League I think Shabana's

22:49

right and what she says it kind of depends on who

22:53

they get for the next round my preference

22:55

would probably be PSG over Valsberg

22:58

and we've had a lot of battles with Valsberg

23:01

over the years, which we haven't come out on top of

23:03

and I think

23:04

PSG are a little

23:06

bit more flaky as a side and I think

23:09

the They're a lot less physical

23:11

than Valsberg and I think that would probably suit our

23:13

smell a little bit more So

23:16

I'm conflicted at the moment in that I

23:18

think we possibly could do something in the Champions League

23:20

but I'm concerned that they're not going

23:23

to make the top three in the league and not making

23:26

Champions League for next year would be really

23:28

disastrous for Arsenal I think at this stage

23:30

because there are a lot of good players on

23:32

the market and they're not going to come to Arsenal unless

23:35

They

23:35

know they're playing Champions League football

23:38

money money out of itself when he cures everything does

23:40

talk Jonas Eudeville was referencing the Emirates being

23:42

like it there's a realistic vision now that this could

23:44

be the to the home ground for this team,

23:47

like 20,000 fans there last night, but when he

23:49

took over that probably seemed

23:51

fanciful as an idea, but now all of a sudden

23:53

you're like, well, yeah. Yeah. Yeah,

23:55

no, it definitely could. I mean, I think probably

23:58

more realistic is the, You know, you think.

24:00

like a North London Derby or something there and

24:02

there's like 40,000. It's definitely like I've done

24:04

Champions League nights. I was there when they played Barcelona

24:07

and there was maybe like 12 to 14,000 I think and I'm probably

24:12

of the opinion that unless you're getting like

24:14

that 30, 40,000 in somewhere like the Emirates.

24:17

It gets lost. It gets a little bit lost and

24:19

like it it still was cool to see the team

24:21

there but I would probably rather them

24:23

find somewhere that's like a halfway

24:25

house between Bournwood that's like a couple of thousand

24:28

and the Emirates, which is like a couple

24:30

of tens of thousands. I'm like, why can't we have a, you

24:33

know, a ground that's like 20,000 that you can sell out

24:35

every weekend or you can nearly sell out every

24:37

weekend and then do the massive

24:39

stuff at the Emirates and.

24:41

It's London. There has to be a stadium that would

24:43

be suitable. I mean, obviously you wanted to be close enough to

24:45

where the fan base is. Well, I mean, like Bournemouth is in the middle

24:47

of nowhere. It's literally, it's so

24:50

difficult to get to. So anything could

24:52

be better than that.

24:53

Can I just ask you about the squad? Are

24:55

we expecting any

24:58

ringers to be coming in at this stage? This is

25:01

the last squad really where there's an opportunity for somebody

25:03

who we haven't heard of that they've been working

25:05

feverishly to get a passport for who comes

25:07

in and they get a look at pre-world

25:09

cup. Are you expecting any of that or is the

25:11

squad basically the squad?

25:13

So the only ones that have kind of

25:15

come out, John Fallon reported back

25:17

when the team were in Spain that

25:20

Megan Finnegan, the Everton defender And

25:22

Sophie Whitehouse, who's the Louis goalkeeper,

25:25

were going to come into the squad for this camp.

25:28

Those are the only ones I've heard of. Apart from that,

25:30

there hasn't been any rumblings of other players

25:33

coming in. I think it's interesting, again, that

25:35

they're all defensive players, seems to be wherever

25:38

your pal's mind is at the moment. I'm

25:42

not expecting any massive surprises. I'll

25:44

be interested to see now that the, like,

25:47

women's Premier Division is back up and running if

25:50

there'll be any more inclusions from

25:52

that. I don't know if

25:54

there will be at this stage. I think

25:57

I wasn't particularly impressed with Abby Larkin

25:59

in the and the last camp, but

26:01

she still is very young. I mean, she's only 17 and

26:04

I think for me it seemed

26:06

like she was brought into that camp to

26:09

almost give her the experience of being in the

26:11

national team setting and give her some game time

26:14

in that and kind of make

26:16

it a little less daunting for future years. Anja

26:19

Gorman is obviously one of the big shouts from the

26:21

league as well. So that would probably be the

26:23

thing I'd be most interested to see more so than

26:26

do they actually fly anyone in that we haven't heard

26:28

of before, unless it's some big name and then we're

26:30

all going crazy tomorrow being like can you be k-boo?

26:33

Who cares? 29 minutes

26:35

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