Arsenal Q&A with Art de Roche
Our Arsenal writer Art de Roche will be here from 3pm UK time Friday (10am ET) to field your questions on Mikel Arteta's latest acquisitions, the tactics for the new campaign, Sunday's opening match away to Manchester United and anything else.
The Athletic UK Staff Aug. 15, 2025 12:28 am EDT
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Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Arteta hits back at criticism of Arsenal captain Odegaard
Mikel Arteta has slammed calls for Martin Odegaard to be stripped of the Arsenal captaincy by insisting there is "no question" the Norway midfielder is the right man to lead their Premier League title challenge. Former Arsenal skipper Tony Adams recently urged Arteta to give England midfielder Declan Rice the armband instead of Odegaard. But the Gunners boss mounted a strong defence of Odegaard's leadership qualities after revealing Arsenal's players had voted for him to be retained as captain. "My opinion is clear, and it's not just my opinion. It's all the staff and especially the players," Arteta told reporters on Friday. "I asked them to vote for the captain and I got the results yesterday. By a mile, by a big, big (margin), by 100 miles, everybody chose the same person, Martin Odegaard, which is the most clear sign that you can have. "It's how they feel about who has to be their captain, to defend, to improve, and win the matches that we want to win, so I think there is no question about that." Arsenal, who last won the English title in 2004, have finished as Premier League runners-up for the last three seasons and are without a trophy since the 2020 FA Cup. Their inability to last the pace in the title race has led to mounting questions about Arsenal's mental strength, with Odegaard among those in the firing line. Arsenal title winner Adams, quoted in the Irish Independent, said: "Every now and again as a manager, you have to put someone who reflects you, who reflects the football club, that you think can actually take you to the next level. "You've got someone in there who's going to play every game all season, that's going to encourage people to come in and lay the foundations of a title-winning team. "Declan Rice can do that, Odegaard can't. Come on Arteta, make him captain." But former Arsenal captain Arteta said he could talk about leadership "for hours" and had no doubts about Odegaard's ability to inspire his team-mates. "What matters the most is how these guys feel about who needs to lead them, how they feel comfortable, who is going to push them, who is going to give them support when it's happening," he said. Arsenal kick off their Premier League campaign with a trip to Manchester United on Sunday, then host newly-promoted Leeds before a difficult stretch that will see them play champions Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Newcastle. Arteta admits that run will provide early evidence of their potential in the title race. "Yes, especially with the consistency that we showed in the last three years, and now the margins, we know how small they are," he said. "We know that the competition has increased the level with recruitment, with another year together." Arteta confirmed close-season signings Viktor Gyokeres and Martin Zubimendi will be fit to play at Old Trafford on Sunday. smg/dmc
New York Times
14 minutes ago
- New York Times
Ranking the NBA's 40 best big men, plus schedule highlights
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. Today is the five-year anniversary of the first Play-In Game/Tournament result. The Blazers beat the Grizzlies to secure the final playoff spot in the Western Conference during the bubble. Soon the Play-In Tournament would morph into four teams playing for the last two playoff positions in each conference. While it can provide some exciting basketball, let's celebrate its main outcome, which has been limiting outright tanking down the stretch of each season. To the Play-In! 🥂 Who are the best big men in basketball? Oh, you know you love it! You know I love it. You know the internet is waiting for it? Everybody loves arbitrary rankings! I compile a list with super computers and random guessing, before resigning to 'this is good enough' as the criteria and mode of production. I throw together a couple of graphics via Canva. And the next thing you know, we've got some prime content before the season starts. Advertisement We're going to start ranking some positions! We'll eventually get to lead guards, shooting guards, wings and forwards. But today, we're harkening back to a time when big men ruled the NBA earth! We've taken all of the big men in the NBA and churned out a top-40 list. Some big men were left off this list, but we feel pretty confident you won't entirely hate this. There are seven tiers of big man for the 40 who made the cut. Let's dive in and see just how perfect this carefully curated list is! No offense to any other great big men in this league, but we should all be able to agree that Jokic is in his own tier. Sorry, Sixers fans, but Big Honey is by himself here. After that, I feel very confident putting all my chips in with Wemby as the second best big man in the league. Mostly, it's because I don't believe Embiid can sustain health enough to be the clear-cut number two, and Wembanyama is going to get even better. Davis might have a chance of being higher if he'd stop fussing about playing center. Next part of the list might be controversial. Mostly, there are plenty of Sabonis people who will think he should be higher. I don't think he's bad by any means, but I do believe his lack of defense and inability to play with other big men lowers his ceiling. Also, it wouldn't shock me if Şengün ends up climbing this list quickly. Keeping Mobley out of the top 10 was legitimately tough, but he got the squeeze. I'm hoping he makes this look so stupid in the upcoming season. Zubac still feels super underrated to me, and some may quibble with how high Hartenstein is on this list, but he's phenomenal. Holmgren could also end up making his placement look stupid, but he has to remain healthy. Maybe Turner should be higher than Allen? Gafford could easily be higher than both of them. I've never been a big Vucevic guy, but his offense is still a tough matchup. And while some don't like the Raptors' payroll, I do not think Poeltl is a problem contributing to it. He's super underrated. Yes, I'm already buying the Hansen hype. No, I don't care if it takes a little bit for him to realize it. I'm going all in, and I believe he's a top-25 big man right away with his skill and size. I'm interested to see what Lively and Ware do this season, because they could easily vault themselves into the top-20. Last note for now: I'm still not certain Ayton will be someone JJ Redick likes coaching. Another franchise sold for over $4 billion 🏀 Cane you believe it? The Carolina Hurricanes' owner is purchasing the Blazers. $4.2 billion for the franchise. 🏀 Re-draft 2024! Sam Vecenie decided to re-draft last year's NBA Draft class. Zaccharie Risacher is not number one. 🎧 Top 100! 'The Basketball 100″ book is now also a podcast series, and it's asking the tough questions. Is Kyrie Irving the best number two ever? 🏀 Prodigal son? Kent Lacob is leaving his great job with the Warriors. Why is he leaving his dad's business? 📈 Rise to EuroLeague. Dubai basketball is having a moment. 'This is a story from a movie.' Porter is saying the quiet part out loud Did you know former Denver Nugget and current Brooklyn Net Michael Porter Jr. has a podcast? At this point, is there any player you'd be shocked to learn is also a podcaster? Almost everybody has a podcast these days, so a lot of the things said by current athletes can get lost in the noise. One interview that didn't get lost in the noise this week was MPJ jumping onto someone else's podcast and saying something alarming. This is what he said about potential gambling scandals: 'Think about it. If you can get all your homies rich by telling them, 'Yo, bet $10,000 on my under. This one game I'm gonna act like I got an injury and I'm gonna sit out. I'm gonna come out [of the game] after three minutes.' And they all get a little bag because you did it one game. Advertisement 'That is so not okay, but some people probably think like that. They come from nothing and all their homies have nothing. If I come out of the game after three minutes and y'all all hit on my under, we're all getting a little bag. Obviously my brother (Jontay Porter) went through his situation, Malik Beasley is going through a situation right now. Terry Rozier was in some hot water. But the whole sports gambling entity, bro, it's bad and it's only gonna get worse.' MPJ mentioned players getting death threats, and then said players can't win anymore because they're either messing up someone's under bet or over bet. He's not necessarily wrong. Sports gambling being more and more accessible now is going to make it a reality, whether the NBA is getting a cut of the gambling money from sponsors or not. And while some in my industry (myself included) may be uneasy with sports gambling being so embedded, the truth is that it also helps the economics of coverage, helping people make money across whatever the NBA touches. Full disclosure: We have a partnership with BetMGM! This stuff is everywhere. The NBA can't be happy about the messaging here, though. It's what so many people know and fear with the intertwining of gambling and the NBA. But we're in too deep now and it's something the league and federal authorities will just have to monitor as much as possible. Elsewhere, MPJ had this to say on a different platform, discussing vices like gambling for his brother: 'Everybody has different vices. Everybody has different things that they struggle with. That can go with people who struggle from alcohol, people that struggle with drugs. You know, for example, my brother struggled with gambling. My vice has always come in the form of women. And when I'm far from God, and I'm not in my word, l'm not praying, l'm not prioritizing Him, like that seems to be the place that the devil gets me, is in the space of women.' Advertisement This is honestly such a funny quote to me. Friends and I have laughed about it for days. We'll laugh about it for months, if not years. It's a hilarious pseudo-flex by Porter, just mentioning that he gets a lot of women. And you might be wondering, 'Zach, did you just create this section as a Trojan horse just to present this second MPJ quote?' Yes, yes I did. Keep an eye on these five (40?) games The NBA released its full schedule yesterday. Something I like to do every year is mark a lot of games down that I'm excited to see. Last year, we had about 35 games in the mix. This year? I had to cut it down to this list of 40, just to not make it an entire book. A sample: Western Conference finals preview? Nuggets at Thunder, 9:30 p.m. ET, Feb. 27, ESPN This is the matchup I'm looking forward to the most, and we get it at least four times this season. Denver and OKC have each won a championship in the last three seasons, and we assumed both are running the league for the foreseeable future when they were crowned champs. The Nuggets got cheap and let their depth go, then finally loaded back up with their bench and positions of concern after trading away our guy Michael Porter Jr. this summer. The Thunder had one of the most dominant seasons we'll ever see, have their entire roster intact and look even scarier. But last time, it took them seven games to take out Nikola Jokić and a weak supporting cast. With Denver reloaded, are the champs going to be able to keep beating them? KD in the desert: Houston Rockets at Phoenix Suns, 9:30 p.m. Nov. 24, Peacock This is a bit of a two-fer with Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks facing their old team, but this will primarily be about Kevin Durant coming back to Phoenix to face Devin Booker and his old team. They gave him the exit he wanted, but I'm guessing there won't be a gift basket of gratitude coming from him. He'll want to drop 40 and get a W. Eastern Conference measuring stick 1: Hawks at Magic, 7 p.m., Oct. 24, League Pass Both Orlando and Atlanta are looking to be the team that takes advantage of the wide-open East. They both have good young talent. They've both added key veterans. And both of these teams expect to have massive steps forward this season while jockeying for home-court advantage in the first round. Şengün versus Wemby: Rockets at Spurs, 7:30 p.m., Nov. 7, Prime Video Alperen Şengün and Victor Wembanyama have had some interesting battles in their two years. Wemby shut down Şengün a couple of times early last season, which was probably payback from a Wembanyama rookie-year showdown when Şengün had 45 points on the Spurs' franchise guy. Şengün has been trying to go through Wemby's chest every time they play, and Wemby is having to learn how to battle against that brawn. 1 versus 2: Spurs at Mavericks, 9:30 p.m. October 22, ESPN There wasn't debate about whether Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper should be picked first in this draft. This wasn't a Greg Oden-Kevin Durant or Derrick Rose-Michael Beasley situation. Still, getting the first and second picks together is often noteworthy, and the Mavs and Spurs is a fun matchup anyway. Advertisement One more reminder: Check out all of the games for more of the most interesting matchups. Even Jazz games made the cut! Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
New York Times
16 minutes ago
- New York Times
Dodgers-Padres rivalry weekend, along with lots of silly bat designs
The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic's MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox. Buckle up: The Padres and Dodgers are going head-to-head this weekend. Plus: Players Weekend is here, we have our Baseball Card of the Week and Ken points out that the best teams in baseball aren't the ones we expected. I'm Levi Weaver, welcoming back Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup! I know we already told you recently about the Padres overtaking the Dodgers for first place in the NL West by a game, but they're playing each other this weekend (and next weekend, too!) and I'm not sure there's a bigger story in the sport. This rivalry is a good one, even if just for pure baseball reasons. The Padres have made the playoffs three times since 2020. Twice, they were eliminated by the Dodgers. The Dodgers have won two World Series over that same period, but were eliminated by the Padres in the 2022 NLDS. Advertisement But it's not just on-field reasons. Last offseason, the Padres were a favorite to sign Roki Sasaki. He went to the Dodgers. Perhaps most importantly, these two teams do not care for one another. Remember all the hit-by-pitches over the last couple years? The Crying Kershaw meme? Remember last year's NLDS, when Manny Machado threw a ball toward the Dodgers dugout in an 'unsettling' fashion? Remember this June when the benches cleared multiple times in a series, concluding with the two managers yelling at each other over the melee? The Dodgers— built for utter and unquestionable domination — are struggling. The Padres lead the division by a game. This should be fun. Starts tonight at 10:10 p.m. ET on MLB Network. Identifying the best teams in baseball is typically not all that difficult. The question might cause an argument or two, but usually the choices are fairly obvious. This season? The answer depends on the month. Sometimes even the day. At various points in the first half, the Tigers, Cubs, Mets and Yankees were the talk of the sport. Then the Brewers went on an astonishing 51-16 run, blowing past the Cubs. The Blue Jays, striking out less than any team in the majors, took advantage of yet another midseason swoon by the Yankees. And the Phillies, after falling 6 1/2 games behind the Mets on June 12, benefited from New York's rotation going from the league's best to one of its worst. An even more astonishing reversal occurred in the NL West, where on July 3 the Padres trailed the Dodgers by nine games. In a span of 41 days, including the All-Star break, the Padres gained 10 games, claiming the division lead. During that period, Padres general manager A.J. Preller also addressed every one of his team's needs at the trade deadline, deepening his offense by adding Ramón Laureano, Ryan O'Hearn and Freddy Fermin and making the league's best bullpen even better with his stunning acquisition of Mason Miller. Advertisement Finally, the Astros zipped to the AL West lead despite losing designated hitter Yordan Alvarez in early May and at one point carrying 18 players on the injured list, including eight starting pitchers. On July 10, their lead over the Mariners was seven games. But the Astros, too, suddenly face a major battle, trying to stave off a Mariners club that bulked up at the deadline with their additions of first baseman Josh Naylor, third baseman Eugenio Suárez and reliever Caleb Ferguson. So, which teams are the best in the sport? Don't ask me, I'm the knucklehead who picked the Rangers and Braves to meet in the World Series. In fairness, the Braves had the second-highest odds to reach the Series, behind only the Dodgers, according to Fangraphs' preseason estimates. But that's the beauty of baseball, right? It can be rather unpredictable. And heaven knows what awaits in October. From 2017-19, in correlation with the Little League World Series, MLB started an event called Players Weekend, which originally allowed players to choose nicknames to put on the backs of their jerseys (with mixed results). When the pandemic shortened the 2020 season, Players Weekend was scuttled, and the league just sorta forgot to bring it back over the next few years. But in 2024, the fun was back. This year, there aren't any nicknames on the jerseys, but players will have their numbers on their caps (meh) and will be allowed to wear custom cleats (OK, I'm listening) and custom bats. Caleb Mezzy has a sneak peak of a few of the best bat designs, which range from avocados, cheesesteaks and hamburgers to cartoon characters and geographic hat-tips — including George Springer's Hartford Whalers bat (!!) I'm all for the weekend to encourage players to express their individuality, showcase some artists, and pay homage to Little League baseball. But — going back to our first story — it is going to be so funny if the benches clear and the next guy to the plate is hitting with, like, a SpongeBob Squarepants bat. Players Weekend will wrap on Sunday, with the Mariners and Mets facing off in Williamsport, PA. I'm a sucker for the basically worthless 1988 Topps series, because it was not only my introduction to baseball cards, but my introduction to the sport — my dad bought me a pack, and the rest is history. I don't have a cool story about meeting Valenzuela as a kid and having him sign this card — that didn't happen. I found it at an estate sale earlier this year. It was one of the items listed in the promotional photo, and I decided to check it out. It was the right move. For $10, I got this one, plus three other signed Valenzuela cards (1989 Topps, 1990 Upper Deck, 1991 Donruss) and about a dozen other autographs in a ziplock bag of roughly 100 junk wax-era cards. What a deal! Valenzuela passed away last October, three days before the start of the World Series in which the Dodgers would win their first (full season) championship since … 1988. For the first time in more than a week, a Mets starter (Kodai Senga) completed five innings. The Mets still lost, thanks to an uncharacteristic meltdown by the bullpen. Speaking of the Mets and starting pitchers, Tim Britton has a profile on prospect Nolan McLean, who is set to make his big-league debut this weekend. Advertisement The Giants have been extremely bad at home lately. Grant Brisbee gives us context on just how bad. (It's bad.) Two stories on stars returning to teams out of contention: Pablo López explains why he wants to return to the mound this year, and David O'Brien discusses the recently hot Braves getting Ronald Acuña Jr. and Chris Sale back in a lost year. The MLB broadcast-rights saga seems like it will never end. The latest: The league is in negotiations with Netflix, ESPN, Apple TV and NBC for various national broadcasts, including playoff games. A fellow writer sent me a text with a small correction to yesterday's newsletter: the 1924 World Series was won by the Washington Senators, not the Nationals. As it turns out … we're kinda both right! Brewers win-streak counter: Milwaukee had the night off ahead of ahead of a weekend series in Cincinnati. A fun note from our Reds writer C. Trent Rosecrans: The Reds are the only team in the league that hasn't been swept yet this year. The Brewers are on a 12-game winning streak. Also, Tyler Kepner's 'Sliders' column features Brewers rookie Isaac Collins this week. On the pods: On Rates & Barrels, DVR, Eno and Trevor consider the Phillies' claim to the title of 'best team in baseball.' Most-clicked in our last newsletter: A story from March on New Era's latest hat blunder. 📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
