Well, hello everybody.

This is the Gary Neville podcast from the Emirates Stadium, which, bar a fair few stewards and some very excited leftover Aston Villa supporters, has gone very quiet and very empty very quickly because Gary was.

It would be an exaggeration to say the bubble has burst.

There are still only two points between the top three and the Premier League.

This has been for Arsenal and indeed for Liverpool, that a horribly anticlimactic day.

Yeah, really bad day.

Um, look, it can happen.

You can lose football matches, but you’re up against Perfection and I don’t know it’s probably the wrong time to reference it, but when Liverpool had City at the anfield and when Arsenal, I felt had City, a potential weak point in that game at the eard, I felt it needed to win, to move the mountain, because you can always lose a game like today.

Surprised at Liverpool, to be honest with you at home, against Crystal Palace, really surprised, although they’ve had a difficult week.

Um, this was a lot more difficult game for Arsenal today

And I thought they played really good.

The performance level was really good in the first half, but it feels like a little ominous, a bit inevitable.

The the sort of Manchester City Machine, Pep Guardiola machine, sort of Rises to the top with a few games left and uh, they’re going to be very, very difficult to stop.

I mean that’s an understatement.

Yeah, We we’ll start with Arsenal, because that’s the game we’ve just seen.

Um, since the final whistle blew a really gentle old chap, Lent over the defense behind us in, said to me: excuse me, Sir, nobody’s ever called me sir before.

Um, what do you think was wrong with Arsenal today?

And of course that’s a question I can ask you.

All I could offer was that maybe Liverpool losing and the sudden importance of it and all of that became inhibiting.

Yeah, I mean there are those factors.

What did the Liverpool defeat do to Arsenal before the game?

I said very early on-

I hope they’re not looking at that-

There was a couple of Arsenal fans around us when Liverpool, the finalist, went and they were sort of like going like this, and I thought, no, that that, that I would see that as a warning that you know this could be one of those mad days.

Make sure we’re not part of it.

That’s where I would have taken that Liverpool defeat if I was an Arsenal person in that dress room.

I’m not saying for one second.

The Arsenal players or coaching staff would have been down there going like this.

Liverpool have dropped points.

They would have been happy that their opponents have dropped points in a title race.

But I think it would have brought me extra Focus to think: Ang going minut, it could be one of those da days.

Um, and then, if you look at from a football perspective, I didn’t think there was.

I mean, of course there was something wrong, cuz they weren’t in N nil half time, but performance level was really good in the first half.

The football was Sensational that we saw down here.

Um, on were attacking this goal at the clock end.

They were scruffy in the last little bit.

You know, sacka, hitting the side netting, Jesus, you know, with that header at the back post, hitting the side netting, not putting it across goal, not making your runs right.

And I think that I love Jus as a player.

I absolutely love him because for me I just think of the, that sort of energy that he brings, that high press, that sort of endeavor.

I love that in Strikers.

But then there’s a level that comes where you think we got a graphic in the second half.

Didn’t we as to probably why we’ve seen Kai Hz play center forward for the last sort of, if you like, four or five, six weeks, because there’s more Precision, there’s a bit more sort of certainty, and I just felt that’s what Arsenal liked in that first half, just that precision and certainty.

They were imperfect in their final bit and the football was perfect, almost um, it was a really good performance.

I thought it was really good.

I said at Hard Times: see, I’m really enjoying the game.

Villa started to come back into it, as you would expect, after 15 minutes.

And the next bit about Arsenal is today, and I felt this as a coach when I was over in Spain, when you’re up against a master of a coach, a top coach, who can design a game of football, and he did this to allig of Sol Shire in that Europa League final.

He just designs a game of football and outcome, he almost sees it and he’s patient enough to sort of let it develop and his teams seem to have that ability to be able to follow it.

He’s a classic.

To nemry, I’ve said that when I, when he was here at Arsenal after I’d sort of, if you like, seen what he’ done in Spain, how he was thought of in Valencia, an absolute class act as a coach you know, in all the sort of top jobs that are mentioned.

Villa at this moment in time.

What he’s doing there is special, and I don’t want to take the gloss off this today.

But you see all these jobs that are available in the summer at Barcelona and Bayern Munich and Manchester United and Liverpool, and he doesn’t get mentioned, but actually you, he’s not available either.

He’s one of the best coaches in Europe, um, and just because of probably how He’s- maybe It’s- interpreted, he did here at Arsenal.

Obviously, coming after arson, Wenger left, but you know, arsenal were up against the coach with Knowhow today who imparts knowhow and knowledge on his team, and they fell for that in the second half.

And with the 20 minutes to go, 25 minutes to go, I thought: get georgino in Midfield, get Kor on at left back, get your best team out there and just gain some level of control in the game, because you’re going to get beat.

You know, I said it on commentary, didn’t say they were going to get beat, because you just don’t quite know what’s going to happen.

But my feeling was: this is dangerous.

Now this is dangerous.

You’ve got to grab back control this game because it’s going to come away from you, cuz Villa were getting better and what he did in the first half.

They dug in there and they defended resolutely and they were compact.

But the start of the second half he split his backline and if I was doing Monday Night Football tomorrow I’m not-

I’d be looking at the momentum shift in that one passing movement where they got out from the back there and Arsenal got a little bit desperate and the Midfield became empty.

And there Pathways into the front players and Watkins got on the half turn on.

I think it was celra on that Far Side once in the first five minutes I thought, oh, it’s changed and he’s got them playing.

He’s gone in there half time.

He said right now we’ve grown in the game in the last 50 minutes of the first half.

Now we’re going to go and play.

And God, they played in the second half.

So the reason that he got beat today?

Arsenal?

Yeah, You could Point towards many things, but they got, I think, in the end out thought by a fantastic coach who designed a performance and designed the outcome, and his team followed his sort of instruction.

It was a brilliant away performance.

So, to summarize, if I read you right, the difference between the first half and the second half had to do with Villa rather than Arsenal.

Look, there’s no doubt Arsenal had a big week, haven’t they?

You know?

You think there’s the other thing of of the Bayern Munich match, and we know around these big, what I call Giant sort of Champions League quarters, semi-finals, it just drains quite a little bit out of you.

And before the game I wasn’t surprised that Arsenal Dre in midweek.

I thought they may even get beat by Bayern Munich.

I think I thought they would get knocked out over the two legs

And I hope they don’t.

I hope they go through.

You know on, I think it’s Wednesday.

They play this week, don’t they?

Um?

But the Champions League, when you’re not used to it, you almost have.

It’s almost like an academic experience.

You almost have to sort of like fail your exams a few times before you’re able to a pass.

Um, and that’s how I felt Arsenal would be potentially against Bayer.

With their history and the sort of Kn, how and knowledge of this competition and their experience, as bad as they’ve been in the Bundesliga this season and even recently, they just have something about them in that competition.

And um, it didn’t surprise me in midweek and that they’ve got that then to come now and Villa Villa were out standing, he T tried to rotate it a little bit today, leaving georgino out, obviously for the game game in Munich in midweek.

Uh, Kor as well.

But I think that, looking at today, it’s a painful one that for Arsenal, cuz, I don’t know how then they recover.

You know, it’s a big question mark as to how they recover before Wednesday.

Now I’m not saying they won’t.

I hope they can.

It’s a cup competition, but the alliance is a fierce place and they’ll be going into it a little bit down.

But this is how.

This is what I wanted to see.

I wanted to see Arsenal.

12 months on.

We wanted to see Arsenal with Li in the team, with htz and rice, their big money signings in the team.

They’re still there.

They’re out there.

Now we see what this Arsenal is and what they’re made of.

Because they’re, they’re made up a lot stronger stuff than last season, but they’ve just today took a proper dig off off a good team.

And before we finish on them, given what you know now about our Tetra and about this Arsenal team, do you never mind the Bayern game?

But in Broad terms, do you trust them to recover from this?

Oh you, you have to trust them.

You have to.

I think they have to call upon last season’s experiences.

They weren’t in the Champions League last season, but they were in this position where they got beat in games, where they thought they would win, where they dropped points that people didn’t think they would.

And now it’s how you get back on the bike, because they’re not out of the title race.

It’s going to be tough because of Manchester city and what they are, but it’s how they recover.

You know you can finish second to this Manchester City team.

It’s how you finished second you last season.

We know how they finished second this season.

If they finish second or or even third, if Liverpool somehow get up there as well, then they’ve got to make sure they do it in a better way.

It’s no embarrassment by any stretch to sit here and say that you know they’ve had a difficult second half today.

I’m not sat here like I was last season, saying I’m witnessing a team crumbling.

I’m not.

That’s not what I’m saying here now.

I’m saying that they got.

I think they come up against a very, very shrewd team in that second half and they got found out a little bit.

But now it’s about how they get back on the bike and recover in the, in the games and the weeks ahead, because they’ve got do prove that to themselves.

Meletta, as a coach, has got to prove that he can gain the experience of the likes of Guardiola and Klopp and Unai Emy, who have been round the block.

He’s still a brand new coach, mikat, to doing a really good job, building a fantastic team here.

He’s well ahead of where I ever thought they would be in terms of sort of what he could achieve at Arsenal.

So I’m not sat in any way, shape or form, after one defeat, and saying that this is a real problem.

But I’m intrigued because now I want to see how they react.

They’re always going to lose a game.

They may even go out of the Champions League in midweek.

In Bayern Munich they may.

But then how are you next weekend?

How are you the you know?

How are you the weekend after in that North London Derby?

Big weeks ahead for Arsenal.

Lots to look at, lots to be interested in.

Um, and yeah, they’re further than they were head where they were last season.

But now it’s going to be all eyes on them in the next week or two.

Okay

Well, what about Liverpool?

I know you watched most of the game.

I’m afraid I didn’t, so

I can’t ask you in detail, but from your perspective, what was the The Narrative of their day?

I mean Liverpool.

I think I think he’s a worst result, a worse result than this one.

Just because they’re playing against Crystal Palace, they missed chances, but then Palace had chances.

Well, Allison made one of the best saves.

You’ll ever see.

Um, I think, if I’m being honest with you again, if you look at the repol, no one expected Liverpool to be anywhere near where.

I never expect Liverpool to be anywhere near where they are.

If you said Liverpool will be two points off Manchester City with five, six games to go, i’ be like no chance.

This is a Monumental achievement.

I think this season for Jurgen Club to be where they are they’ve been.

I said it before the international break.

I think a few Liverpool fans had a go up M. I felt like they were hanging on and know it just felt like they were s hanging on for Day Life on this emotion.

It’s Ks last season.

And then, when they went out of the Fa Cup to man united, there was this narrative that oh, the Fa Cup’s gone now.

So now we can concentrate on Europe and the league and then they said we can con.

You know, we’re proten out of the Europa League.

Now we can concentrate on the league.

It’s it’s not.

It’s not happening like that.

But that’s still.

Think that Jurgen Klopp is getting the very best out of this Liverpool team and this Liverpool Squad and that what we’re now seeing is probably what they are and that he’s over.

They’ve overachieved to this point.

Now they could still gather that emotion.

They could go to Atlanta and do something ridiculous, knowing them.

That’s the way they are in Europe.

Um, but it just feels to me like now they were the team out of the three.

When you looked at them- performance-wise- City and Arsenal- I felt watching them were better teams and that Liverpool would sort of come back in games or they’d make substitutions or they would be sort of, if you like, get something out of nothing.

That I felt as though they were playing in moments, a little bit, and they’ve got this world- class Center back and great goalkeeper who hasn’t been there for a few weeks.

But just you felt with Liverpool.

It wasn’t as, uh, smooth when you were watching them.

I think Arsenal have looked really smooth in the last couple of months and then City have started to look really smooth, as they always do, whereas Liverpool, you felt, were always the scruffier one of the three, and yet they were hanging in there and there was sort of this emotion.

That’s what you were calling upon the the Anfield crowd, Jurgen clubs last season, sort of the five Strikers that they’ve got and the goals that they can bring on and the changes Off the Bench, and you were relying upon things that weren’t, if you like, as good of performance levels as Arsenal and um and and city.

But you calling upon other things, other factors, um, but it’s maybe just in this last couple of weeks- become a little bit tough for them.

Uh, and that’s how I feel about Liverpool.

But again, if you said to me at the start of the season, this is more than par, by the way, on the day of the Masters sort of last round, this is more than par for Liverpool.

Where they are- um, I think this is this is par for Arsenal.

This is where I think we thought they would be at the start of the season, after the large investment.

Um, and but Liverpool, and more, because I don’t think anybody expected them to be so close to City at this time of the season, so a difficult day for them today, a really disappointing day.

The crowd felt a bit flat watching it on the screens- that we’ve got here.

Um, and yeah, bad day for them, and there may be a bit of a reality check that you know.

The Fa Cup’s gone, maybe Europe’s gone, and maybe the Premier League title’s gone, and Jurgen Ks last season’s going to potentially end with the caravel cup.

But they’ve got two.

They’ve only got two points behind city.

They’re likely to be concentrating just on the Premier League and that, and they can be dangerous because they have got that something in them.

Klopp’s got something in him.

That can Garner a response, and they’ll be the ones that have beaten City in this last five or six years.

So yeah, they’re still it, but there’s just a a feeling that they’re sort of careering along the road a little bit at the moment.

And listen, this is a silly hypothetical question, really.

But if you were them, given where they are in that European tie, would you be going to Italy this Thursday saying: come on, guys, let’s have one of our Miracle nights, let’s really go for it and refind ourselves and launch the rest of the season off off that.

Or would you be thinking: okay, of course we’ll go and compete, but from next Sunday at Fulham, we win six in a row to the end of the Premier League season.

I I don’t think they can do anything other than treat that game on Thursday night with full, 100% attention.

I don’t think they can, particularly after what’s happened today, because there’s another Factor that’s come in.

They’ve got to get their form back.

They’ve got to get back into winning ways.

They’ve got to get back to momentum.

So they’ve got to swing the momentum somehow going out on Thursday.

You know, with a whimper playing a weeken team is not going to get their season back on track, it’s not not.

I think that they’ve got to go there on Thursday night and think of a famous night.

That’s to get something sort of going, to get sort of a momentum shift.

I think they’ve got a goal there, particularly after.

If they’d won today and they were in there with City, you might think: well, maybe there’s a little bit of a, but not now, not now.

If that thought ever was there in Jurgen Klopp’s mind, it would have gone.

He will go there on Thursday night thinking of a night, a special night, and that we’ve got to go there and get this season back on track quickly, because you know this last week’s been a tough one.

We shouldn’t, then, without talking about Manchester City.

They are top of the league and nobody expected anything other than a home win against Luton.

But I guess they gave Rodri his rest, didn’t?

They Kovic came in and scored a Blinder.

I mean it’s all going swimmingly.

Yeah, smooth ex, they’re on for a treble.

Um, this is a very, very big week for Manchester City.

This is if, if the treble is going to go, this is the week that I think it’s.

If it’s going to go, it’s the one it’s most likely to go, I think in the Real Madrid, a real Madrid, and then I think Chelsea, in the Fa cups.

Just I don’t know why, I think it’s a little bit tricky.

Uh, just Chelsea.

Just you know, they’ve got some players that can cause a problem and I don’t think they’ll be phased by it.

Um, and, and yeah, this is a big week for City.

But if they come through this week, these weeks always came every single season.

They always came every single season, where you can be in three competitions or out of three competitions.

When you get to April and you’re in the Champions League and you’re in the Fa Cup and you’re in the league, you’re in those particular sort of moments in the season whereby a great week and you feel like you can go on forever, a bad week, and you’re out of everything.

And that’s where we’re at.

It’s in the balance, and they know that they’ve been here before.

But that was a massive weekend for Manchester City in terms of their confidence, because even if you’re a great side, that have won three titles and the treble holders and Premier League tie holders, you still get that lift from what’s happened today with Arsenal and Liverpool.

And I said, said in the second half, that Pep Guardiola will be sat at home like mutle.

That’s the best description I could think of him, just like thinking- you know what I mean.

He’s so experienced.

Um, and it’s a big week, big big week for City, but you know they, they know what they’re doing.

They, they have real experience, class Rhythm, a manager who is got an unbelievable winning mentality.

Uh, and it’s now difficult to stop, very difficult to stop.

And just finally, in the context of the Fa Cup semi finals, Manchester United, I mean their season depends on next weekend, really doesn’t it?

And I don’t know whether you want to talk about what you saw at Bournemouth yesterday, but they’ve got a game against the championship team, Mark Robbins, lovely story, lovely narrative around that game and they’ve kind of got to win that.

Oh yeah,

They have to win next weekend.

I mean the season would be completely over if they didn’t do.

And you know, Eric Tenh Har, I think, has got to look at this season now as being a season whereby he could finish his first two seasons at Manchester United with two trophies in the bank, one in each season, and obviously he still got a chance of that.

And that should never be sniffed at, because, you know, in Years Gone by, he always said: win a trophy a season and you you’re okay.

Um, and I think that there’s nothing left to say about some of the league performances that witnessing and some of the things that we’re watching, the tweets and the likes and the body line, all that stuff.

We’ve said it so many times before, there’s no point in going over that again.

But what we can say is that Eric Tenh Hard’s future is Lar now dependent upon that Fa Cup because the performance levels in the league have gone.

They, they’re like this.

They’re not going to change now we what we’re seeing from Manchester United, what we’re going to get for the rest of the season.

The players have almost in some ways I think, almost Switched Off.

It feels like in the league, away from home.

At times at home they turn it on because they have to, because there 75,000 people there who won’t allow them to sort of get away with it.

But away from home it

Just

I mean the man, United fans as well last night.

They seem to be you at the game, were you?

They seem to be honestly, they never stop away from home and just something.

They’re watching some real stuff and they they just keep going and going and they never stop.

They never turn on the team, they never turn on the manager.

They’re amazing, absolutely amazing, and they being dealt some right G. but the Fa Cup is everything.

The Fa Cup is everything.

And that’s next weekend two cup semifinals.

And on Sky Sports we’ll see Arsenal at wolves on Saturday evening and Liverpool at Fulham on Sunday.

And that’s where the title RAC is out.

Still two points between three of them.

Thanks, Gary. who do City play next weekend cup semifinal?

Oh they have, course, yeah.

So there’s a chance for them to go back top.

But Aral and Liverpool got two tricky little games, haven’t they?

Horrible little games, aren’t they full of wolves and they’ve just lost home games.

I know every game looks tough sometimes when you lose a game.

That’s the way it is.

But anyway, hey, we are where we are.

Great stuff, Gary, thank you.