00:02Hi.
00:04Martin's had a brilliant start to the season.
00:06I think last season, by his own emissions,
00:08he would say that he struggled to hit his usual high standards.
00:12What have you seen that's changed in him over the summer and this season
00:15and why do you think he's sort of back to his best?
00:18His feet are unavailable.
00:20That's the baseline.
00:22If you feel unavailable, you have a chance to perform.
00:25Last season he had too many incidents
00:27where he didn't allow him to have any consistency.
00:30And for a player like Martin,
00:32the relationship that he has around him is extremely important.
00:36So I'm very, very pleased with what I've seen in the first few weeks.
00:40We know he can maintain and improve that level.
00:42That relationship on the pitch as well,
00:45we've seen him sort of working with Bukayo and Ben,
00:50that sort of triangle on the right hand side was so impressive in the 23-24 season.
00:54Do you feel like that's something you can rely on more now?
00:56And how important is it to how all three of those players fit together?
01:02I think it's the whole team.
01:03I think the more relationship, the more unpredictability we have,
01:08and the stronger those relationships are, the better.
01:10Because when one park closes another one will open
01:14and we have to be able to identify what opponent is trying to do
01:20to just attack some other weak areas that they will leave
01:23if they want to protect some others.
01:25Is that right?
01:26I'm Carl.
01:27In recent seasons, Richard Garland has often said the word
01:30self-sustainability in terms of the full finances
01:32of obviously money going up, money coming in.
01:35A clearing area is the amount of sales.
01:38Of course, record sales are obviously changed
01:39and it's probably changed since Mark's amigos in a couple of days.
01:42In terms of sales and that needs to be self-sustainable,
01:46have you been told or is there a kind of direction
01:48that needs to get out going toward the end of the window?
01:54Well, those quotes from Rich, so probably the question is more for Rich.
01:58That's what we are trying to get as a club,
02:01but the balance has to be right
02:03and there are areas that we have to improve to hit those numbers
02:08and if it's not with sales because maybe we don't want –
02:11we have to sell what we want to sell as well, not just to sell.
02:15And then we want to sell as well, we have to be very careful
02:18because some of the assets after maybe they grow
02:20and we still want them, you know.
02:22So maybe we can grow in other areas across the club as well.
02:25And commercially we've done incredible.
02:27The fan base that we have incredible,
02:29our mass revenue is incredible.
02:31And there are other ways to grow and that's the club's strategy,
02:34but we want to improve in all of them obviously
02:36because it's going to give us a bigger room to be stronger financially.
02:40A lot of questions today have been on the attacking area,
02:42the front line with obviously various names,
02:44particularly one in particular,
02:46without repeating that.
02:47In general terms, obviously you've got Guti Okerez,
02:49he's not been on the club for long as it last season.
02:53In terms of that, what do you think that's like for him to kind of –
02:58that there will be that hunger for another striker?
03:01What are your thoughts of it in general at this point?
03:03That's the expectation and the level that we have created at the club.
03:09The expectation always has to be better and it always has to be more.
03:14And that's ambition.
03:16I think that comes from the desire of each individual,
03:18his fan, his support, each of us to get better.
03:22But let's acknowledge again the incredible players that we have already.
03:27Sam from the Guardian.
03:28Hi.
03:29On Aspen Miller, they also had an amazing season last season.
03:34Have you been surprised that they have sold quite so many of their best players this summer?
03:43Well, I don't know.
03:44I think each club will have their own strategy.
03:46I think the way they have operated and the results that they got are incredible.
03:51I think they deserve huge credit for what they've done over the last few years.
03:55And I'm sure they are really clever.
03:58They have some very, very smart people in this football club.
04:00They are really well-operated.
04:02And I'm sure that they are very clear what they want to do.
04:06Uno, I've kind of rebuilt before.
04:09Do you feel that his skills as a manager will not be too set back?
04:15I mean, his skills as a manager is unquestionable for anybody in the clubs that he's been.
04:20He has always excelled the expectations that he has, which is a massive quality.
04:25I think that's a good question.
04:25OK, we'll do the last two.
04:27First we'll go to Gary, then to Ryan.
04:29Go ahead.
04:30If everyone sticks at the end of the next month, depending on whether you get someone
04:34or not, you could have 20-odd players.
04:39So each week you may have to leave someone out of the squad on the match stage.
04:44Do you think the players are ready for that conversation?
04:46Because it's one thing being on the fence.
04:48It's one thing going to the game from a hotel and being told you're not going to be part of
04:52the squad.
04:54Yeah, that's what I've been begging the Premier League.
04:57You know, we can extend those numbers just for the welfare of the players,
05:01which is the most important thing, because I think every squad needs more than 20 outfield players,
05:05ideally, to sustain the level of demands, games, international games that we have.
05:11But these are the rules, and within the rules we have to play.
05:14Otherwise, we will play tennis, you know.
05:15You are guaranteed that tomorrow you're going to play and you don't like yourself.
05:20Unfortunately, the next day you have to play again, you know.
05:23So we need to take it naturally.
05:25Obviously, we need to be very close to the players to explain those situations in the right way,
05:30for everybody to feel important, because they will be.
05:33And all the clubs, because I've done research with all the top clubs in Europe,
05:37we are not different to anybody.
05:39Most of them, 90% of them, they have more players than us.
05:42So we are going to have to deal with that.
05:45If you raise it in the Premier League,
05:47is there a group of managers who you've kind of gone forward to the Premier League?
05:51Do you think maybe they'll be willing to change the rules?
05:53Yeah, but I think more than for anybody, I think the question has to be to the players.
05:57What do they want?
05:59If they raise their hands and say,
06:09be part of the squad on match day?
06:12Because that's the way that they can fulfil themselves.
06:14Otherwise, you have to tell somebody,
06:16you're not even part of this match day.
06:18And that's really, really tough.
06:20It doesn't help anybody.
06:21It doesn't have the club.
06:22It doesn't have the evaluation of the play.
06:24It doesn't feel the player that feels part of something.
06:28It's, in my opinion, a real issue that has a really, really simple solution.
06:33Finally, we go to Ryan.
06:34Hi, Mikel.
06:35A few of us spoke to Bakayo after the commentary game,
06:38and it was really clear just how driven he is this season.
06:41He's obviously starting the season in good form.
06:44What have you noticed about him since he's come back?
06:46Because at the World Cup, obviously, it was a frustrating period for him,
06:49that he seems to be really keen to put that behind him and just kick on.
06:54Yes, because we had an excellent season as a team.
06:59But he knows that he can do much more than what he did last year
07:02in a lot of aspects.
07:04And that's the players that we want,
07:05that they are not satisfied that they want much more.
07:08And Bakayo certainly looks with a real edge this season.
07:13And obviously, it was the PFA Awards earlier.
07:15We've become so used to seeing Bakayo alongside the likes of Salim.
07:21He wasn't there.
07:22Obviously, you won the title last season.
07:24But how good is that in a way that you feel you can get more out of Bakayo this season
07:29and you're already champions last year?
07:32Well, it tells you how strong the team was
07:34and to have half of the team there representing the club.
07:37It's a really proud moment.
07:39And it tells you the story of the season as well,
07:41that we had some of our best attacking players out for five and six months
07:45and we still managed to accomplish what we did,
07:48which is huge credit to the rest of the boys.
07:50Thanks, everyone.
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