The only way to score is, of course, to play with a handbreak-off.

Hello, I'm Ian Stone. This is Handbreak-off, the Arsenal podcast, brought to you by The Athletic,

to discuss the current psycho drama that is Arsenal Football Club. I'm joined this week

by the writers for the Athletic, Amy Lawrence, James McNicholas, and Art de Roche. Yes, like Mikhail Artetta,

we freshen things up a bit with a bit of youth.

This is not to say, of course, that Lee Dixon was in any way letting the side down,

but with a podcast coming thick and fast during the Christmas period,

we felt we needed some legs in the middle.

Hello, everyone.

Hello, mate.

Hiya.

Hello, nice to speak to you all.

Now, it's one year, as we all know, one year since Mikhail Arteeta was appointed as Arsenal manager and it's safe to say it's not been all plain sailing for him, the club or indeed the wider world. The athletics surveyed our readers and some of the bigger questions regarding Mikkel's reign and the answers are up on the website this morning. Some of them may surprise you. We'll get into that in a short while. Before we do that, our opening question for the panel is that, realistically, when Mikael got the job, where did you hope Arsenal would be a year on?

James, did you have 15th and hanging on for a draw at home against Southampton?

Not quite. No, not quite. I think if the question is what did I hope?

I think with a dose of realism, I and a heavy dose of optimism, I hope that Arsenal would

have kind of reclaimed their top six standing, shall we say.

You know, I wouldn't have gone as far probably as top four, anything like it,

but maybe sort of established themselves in the top six.

So we are a way off my expectations, but maybe I was, you know, caught up in myself.

Maybe I was too optimistic. I don't know.

Art, what about you, as you hope, caught up in myself. Maybe I was too optimistic. I don't know. Art, what about you?

...