Facts. Mind boggling he didnt get personal awards that year for fifa and thats because of his injury and kissing the world cup. If he played in 2002, france would have won the wc no doubt. They wouldnt have needed zidane. He was the oil for france and he made teams click. His greatest strength was he coyld churn out 7/10 games so easily and create assists. He was so humble and content being a team player for someone so good. Top top player. And ngl between him and lampard, they changed the game and how its played
Pires has 15 Prem goals 3 years on a row between 02-05 from midfield. Healthy amount of assists and a real playmaker. 1/3rd of the most deadly left flank in Orem history along with Cole and Henry.
RP7 was a masterful skillful winger.. a strikers dream for combination play coming from midfield. Him and Thierry complimented each other so well and had a telepathic like understanding of each other.. i remember the vast amount of goals they combined exquisitely for(1 touch play, 1-2s, flicks and through balls with the finishes to match). That Arsenal team with Thierry, Bergkamp, Pires, Vieira, Gilberto, Cole, Campbell, Toure + others was one of the best teams ever in World football. How they didnt win a champions league is a mystery.
Sadly when chelsea were playing arsenal in this era arsenal were on the decline and having to sell all the best players, a few years earlier the games would of been much different
D’Artagnan, Bobby P, my God what a player!! Thank you for the beautiful memories and the great times we all enjoyed, when we used to win the odd thing!
It’s interesting to see John say the teams today are better than his era. I agree about the mid table and bottom teams for sure. But in terms of the top clubs? The levels have massively dropped from his era. In his era there was prime inter, Barcelona, Milan, Juve, Man Utd, Chelsea, the list goes on. Look at those teams now. They are miles off where they used to be. City and Real Madrid are in their own league today. Back in Johns day you could name multiple teams
That doesn’t actually mean the level is lower though? You can have city and Madrid monopolizing leagues but still have teams below them at ridiculous quality…
I'm an arsenal fan and I was born in the 80s, so I've nostalgia for the Arsenal- United games of the late 90s and early 2000s, but if you go back and watch those games now, it's actually shocking how bad the quality was. The teams today would absolutely destroy them. And that's just from a technical standpoint. When you get to physical strength, distance run etc they're on another level today.
Also City won the league by two points last season so let's not go overboard on them being in their own league. Arsenal are catching up with them fast.
@Mart-B I'm the same generation as you and agree on the technical front, but the fact is back then the laws of the game allowed for a lot more of a physical battle, a lot of things that are seen as bad fouls today were just considered standard play back then, modern players wouldn't cope with that, whereas the better players from that era would have a field day in this one. Henry would be putting up Haaland like numbers if he wasn't constantly being kicked.
@@mrcloista7304 I don't disagree with that. As a sidepoint, and I know this is a tangent but it still annoys me, but we would've won a few more league titles under Wenger if the game was officiated then as it is now. The teams we ran into trouble with were the teams that kicked us off the park. The fact that we won as many games as we did all while playing beautiful football is a miracle
He was the next one behind Henry in terms of quality and consistency in that 2004 team. That gets overlooked for Dennis Bergkamp but Bergkamp of 2004 was not the Bergkamp of 99. Pires was our second best attacking player. He used to get double figures from the wing along with Ljungberg. Lauren, Pires, Campbell, Cole even Ljungberg dont get enough credit for being part of that team. I here people speak about Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira, occasionally Gilberto.
Henry did hold at some time the record for number of assists in season as well as goal for the EPL. Remember that he was a striker. Rooney, Alan Sharer are next to him before Ronaldo
I agree with Robert Pires 100% that VAR has destroyed the game of football and i said the exact thing in 2018 to my friends and workers that the introduction of VAR will kill the game and it ruined world cup 2018 and since then the game has gone to the ground. now players are relying on VAR NO PASSION.
Made me think about that UCL final substitution again. I thought with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been better for Alexandr Hleb to be sacrificed. Ljungberg could revert back to the right while Fabregas could play a slightly withdrawn ten behind Henry with Flamini still able to screen a back-four. 4-3-1-1 or 4-4-1 for solidity and managing distances with 10 men. Could still counter effectively if Barca had lost the ball high up as Pires, Cole and Henry had a good understanding on Barca's right side (Belletti, Giuly, Larsson); the source area of their comeback goal.
Before cheosi and everything else y'all need to know John Obi mikel grew up a GOONER and therefore was part and parcel of the Invincibles story as a fan, that's he knows no one else can be Invincible in the league, that throne belongs only to the mighty Arsenal
This guy just reminds me of the actor from white house down and others. Took me so long to even think of one film for some reason lol Could of googled him but i was trying so hard. And that film where hes a genius from inside prison
Idk about those guys and their questions they were all over the place the interruption😒I would’ve loved to get a more detailed interview from the gr8 Robert Pires
Take out the city treble from the conversation please because man utd and Arsenal didn’t have to spend billions of pounds to achive that. When Arsenal got unbeaten they spent 1 million pounds in the summer! If any other team manu,pool,city or chelasea went unbeaten everyone would raving about it,but because Arsenal have done it its like noting really under appreciated.
The standard now cannot be compared to the standard when Arsenal played with the unbeaten, now we have strong team now we have much clubs with different good players, we have lots of footballers from Brazil, Argentina more than before they now play more in the Premier league it will be hard to see a team that will play a whole 38 matches without a loss
Mikel was trying to say football and the players are better now but pires saying the opposite that players are not as good and i completely agree, not many pure gifted footballers anymore just a load of system players. Pep killed the game, players cant express themselves anymore its all about tactics and systems
It's all time and luck 1999 Arsenal lost to man u in fa cup, missed penalty [bergkamp] then we lost the league when we lost a game near the end of campaign 😬 should've won the fa cup and league in 1999 😢
I am no footballer, but I would definitely go for the treble, not even close for me. Getting knocked out of other competitions definitely helps with the unbeaten record. I think the comparison should be 100 point season vs unbeaten season. That's where perhaps unbeaten season wins and even that in my view is debatable.
This is a very wise point and I’ve always said as an Arsenal fan, to finish on 90 points unbeaten versus 100 points beaten few times. I’ve always said Arsenal should’ve made it to 100 points that season. We threw away leads late on away to Leicester, Bolton, Everton and Spurs (even if we did win the league), plus at home to Man United. Those 5 games seen out would’ve gotten us to 100 points.
@@Tom-ws2zx ... Really good to hear from you an Arsenal fan. I totally agree with you on everything. Invincible season is impressive 👏 no doubt, but a treble and even a 100pts season outweighs it in my view. In the past few seasons, 90pts won't have won the league. Liverpool lost the league with 97pts. However, 100pts like the invisible season has also been done only once in the EPL but historically, it is ALWAYS enough to win the league.
@@3plewconcepts Of course an Invincible season is immensely impressive and unique, but the following season Chelsea won the league on 95 points, only 15 goals conceded and an Anelka penalty away from matching our unbeaten achievement. Would you swap a few losses in the league and win it still, but win the Champions League too? Easy to say in retrospect of course, but I’d be inclined to go for the latter. Arsenal fans of course - myself being one - are right to gloat about going unbeaten, but there were flaws in that season some kinda forget, like losing those 5 leads. Pompey arguably should’ve beaten us both home and away too, the away fixture we dug in to get a draw but the home game that laughable dive by Pires lead to the penalty.
To be fair - Guardiola and Klopp have been fairly close to matching the invincibles. It’s crazy to think that Arsenals Invincibles would have finished 3rd in the 98 and 97 points season with City and Liverpool
Fallacy. If the Arsenal invincible team played those same City and Liverpool teams, they will definitely win the league. If City got 97 points, they will get higher. That’s how you compare.
obviously pires knows more than me but I disagree - they lost the title in the tunnel vs city - going for the draw, respecting them too much, win the game man youre good enough to beat them! can you imagine if they won that game what that wouldve done to them and city psychologically. And Rodri said the same thing.
Rubbish, Footballers are more athletic today but they are not more technical or skillful in any way. From the 1950s/60s/70s to the 2000s/maybe early 2010s the technical abilities were insane. Last 10 years there has been a drop in technical and skillful ability.
So John you would give up your Champions League medal to have been an invisible? Had Pires not dived v Portsmouth, Arsenal would have lost a league game.
Rooney was the best player to ever play in the PL. No one likes to admit this because Henry and others looked more silky on the eye, but to be killing teams at the age of 16 onwards, unthinkable!
lies, winning the treble overweight unbeaten record any day anytime. I am not a player but as a fan, i will want my team to win the treble than go unbeaten, i dont care how to win it, but i prefer treble, nothing to think. Yes it is hard to break the record, but nothing changes. But three trophies and still have champions league, wow. You think Arsenal fans wont trade the invincible for a champions league trophy if possible, dey play. I think Mikel said this because Pires is been invited. I think so.
Wouldn’t trade the invincible trophy for shit pal. That’s why it’s still not been achieved 😂 Pep is desperate to do it but can’t Liverpool tried but failed the great United couldn’t do it and neither could fewest goals conceded ever Chelsea (15 goals! All season) put respect on the invincibles.
2 teams have done the treble in the league it’s good for the fans and club but the moment you go undefeated it makes everyone around want to beat you or even get a result.Mentally it kills teams before any football has been kicked then you see guys like Vieira in the Tunnel and “Iceman”Bergkamp.Look at Lehmann and guys over 6ft1 in every position.
Henry is 6,2 Vieira is 6,4 Bergkamp is 6,2 Pires is 6,1 Sol Campbell is 6,3 Gilberto is 6,0 Lauren is 6,1 Ashley Cole is 5,9-5,10 Lehmann is 6,2-6,3 Kolo Toure is 6,1 Freddie is 6,0
Robert Pires is one of the most underrated players in the history of the EPL. his season 2001/2002 was up there with Zidane. unbelievable
Facts. Mind boggling he didnt get personal awards that year for fifa and thats because of his injury and kissing the world cup. If he played in 2002, france would have won the wc no doubt. They wouldnt have needed zidane. He was the oil for france and he made teams click. His greatest strength was he coyld churn out 7/10 games so easily and create assists. He was so humble and content being a team player for someone so good. Top top player. And ngl between him and lampard, they changed the game and how its played
Lol, no it wasn't.
Unless he's gonna be a part of the hosts, 26 minutes is too short a time to watch Robert Pires as a guest on a podcast.
This hardly qualifies as a podcast
Honestly way too short
Robert Pires was a Rolls Royce of a player he was technically brilliant and just a great player to watch one of my all time favourites.
How can you get a legend like that and have him for just 30 mins!
As a non footballer, you’d easily pick the treble, but as a professional footballer going unbeaten in the Premier League is ridiculous
All footballers would pick titles.
As a footballer I’d rather pick the treble
Pires has 15 Prem goals 3 years on a row between 02-05 from midfield. Healthy amount of assists and a real playmaker. 1/3rd of the most deadly left flank in Orem history along with Cole and Henry.
The unbeaten run continued up to 49 games in the premier league in the next season. That's a record too.
Obi Mikel is another confirmation that a generation of African Chelsea fans are just disgruntled ex Arsenal fans who switched sides lol
100% correct. Most of my friends in mid 2000's join Chelsea from Arsenal
True and they will be supporting City soon 😂
Mikel is a total muppet
That makes sense. They are plastic, just like Chelsea.
Sir Alex Ferguson himself conceded that the Arsenal Invincible team was the greatest ever in the Premier League. Check the records!!
where?
In his autobiography and in his interview when Arsene left.
Well, the Prem has changed and improved a lot since then.
RP7 was a masterful skillful winger.. a strikers dream for combination play coming from midfield.
Him and Thierry complimented each other so well and had a telepathic like understanding of each other.. i remember the vast amount of goals they combined exquisitely for(1 touch play, 1-2s, flicks and through balls with the finishes to match).
That Arsenal team with Thierry, Bergkamp, Pires, Vieira, Gilberto, Cole, Campbell, Toure + others was one of the best teams ever in World football. How they didnt win a champions league is a mystery.
my fave Arsenal player of all time.
I get it
I see you are a person of refined and excellent taste.
Really 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔?
The Invincible Robert Pirez
Pires. It's in the title ffs.
Florentino Perez
These trips down memory lane are timeless
Sadly when chelsea were playing arsenal in this era arsenal were on the decline and having to sell all the best players, a few years earlier the games would of been much different
The time is too short for Robert please next time let the time be longer ❤
Great to see legend Robert Obi nice one
D’Artagnan, Bobby P, my God what a player!! Thank you for the beautiful memories and the great times we all enjoyed, when we used to win the odd thing!
Good to see u legend Robert Pires
actually perfect length for a interview, watching this in one breath. I wish some of the interviews were shorter
Absolutely love every minute of this podcast.
The Elegant Frenchman ❤, Henry made me support Arsenal, Pires made me fall in love with arsenal❤
Robert Pires was an amazing player for our team.
He was part of our Invisbles twenty years ago.
I miss that football then.
Great episode. Enjoyed it from the beginning to the end.
Mourinho is an always be a punk, he was beefing Arsenal when they had no money and chelsea bought everyone.
Yeah, he's a proper slag-bag.
It’s interesting to see John say the teams today are better than his era. I agree about the mid table and bottom teams for sure. But in terms of the top clubs? The levels have massively dropped from his era. In his era there was prime inter, Barcelona, Milan, Juve, Man Utd, Chelsea, the list goes on. Look at those teams now. They are miles off where they used to be.
City and Real Madrid are in their own league today. Back in Johns day you could name multiple teams
That doesn’t actually mean the level is lower though? You can have city and Madrid monopolizing leagues but still have teams below them at ridiculous quality…
I'm an arsenal fan and I was born in the 80s, so I've nostalgia for the Arsenal- United games of the late 90s and early 2000s, but if you go back and watch those games now, it's actually shocking how bad the quality was. The teams today would absolutely destroy them. And that's just from a technical standpoint. When you get to physical strength, distance run etc they're on another level today.
Also City won the league by two points last season so let's not go overboard on them being in their own league. Arsenal are catching up with them fast.
@Mart-B I'm the same generation as you and agree on the technical front, but the fact is back then the laws of the game allowed for a lot more of a physical battle, a lot of things that are seen as bad fouls today were just considered standard play back then, modern players wouldn't cope with that, whereas the better players from that era would have a field day in this one. Henry would be putting up Haaland like numbers if he wasn't constantly being kicked.
@@mrcloista7304 I don't disagree with that. As a sidepoint, and I know this is a tangent but it still annoys me, but we would've won a few more league titles under Wenger if the game was officiated then as it is now. The teams we ran into trouble with were the teams that kicked us off the park. The fact that we won as many games as we did all while playing beautiful football is a miracle
The invincible 🎉❤
Bobby pires what a player
He was the next one behind Henry in terms of quality and consistency in that 2004 team. That gets overlooked for Dennis Bergkamp but Bergkamp of 2004 was not the Bergkamp of 99. Pires was our second best attacking player. He used to get double figures from the wing along with Ljungberg.
Lauren, Pires, Campbell, Cole even Ljungberg dont get enough credit for being part of that team. I here people speak about Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira, occasionally Gilberto.
Henry did hold at some time the record for number of assists in season as well as goal for the EPL. Remember that he was a striker. Rooney, Alan Sharer are next to him before Ronaldo
Invincible Pires.
Nice one Mikel ❤
Good interview. Should have also aksed about that France generation of 98-06 and of course Zizou
How can you bring such a legend and you ONLY Have less than 30mins Obi,Obi c'mon Man....we want BANGERS 1hr + when you bring SUCH A legend again 💯💯💯💯
Totally agree with pirez when he says football was gone soft
This time is too short oo Mikel and Chris
One thing you guys missed out on asking was about antonio reyes (rip) you should have talked about this guys
Nice section… why so short though 🙄 Well done guys 👍🏽👍🏽
INVINCIBLE
I agree with Robert Pires 100% that VAR has destroyed the game of football and i said the exact thing in 2018 to my friends and workers that the introduction of VAR will kill the game and it ruined world cup 2018 and since then the game has gone to the ground. now players are relying on VAR NO PASSION.
John Obi Mikel interviewing an Arsenal legend...oh we need a Chelsea legend next. Maybe someone like Bison aka Michael Essien or Claude Makelele
All his guests are quality tbh.I am sure those 2 will come soon.
Desaily?
Nice best podcast ever with the biggest names!
Why is it so short????🥺
That's what she said
I know TH14 was the best, but Robert Pires is my favourite football player of all time. Saka is coming really close, though.
Made me think about that UCL final substitution again. I thought with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been better for Alexandr Hleb to be sacrificed. Ljungberg could revert back to the right while Fabregas could play a slightly withdrawn ten behind Henry with Flamini still able to screen a back-four. 4-3-1-1 or 4-4-1 for solidity and managing distances with 10 men. Could still counter effectively if Barca had lost the ball high up as Pires, Cole and Henry had a good understanding on Barca's right side (Belletti, Giuly, Larsson); the source area of their comeback goal.
Before cheosi and everything else y'all need to know John Obi mikel grew up a GOONER and therefore was part and parcel of the Invincibles story as a fan, that's he knows no one else can be Invincible in the league, that throne belongs only to the mighty Arsenal
Next season after Chelsea almost did it only loosing one game
@@reginald6451Nearly never milked a cow.😂
@@CrazyInsanelikeafox Chelsea 2005 Liverpool recently went 38 games lost 1 invisibles isn’t that impressive with 12 draws tbh
@@reginald6451then do it.
@@reginald6451they lost tho 😅, what are you waffling
This guy just reminds me of the actor from white house down and others. Took me so long to even think of one film for some reason lol
Could of googled him but i was trying so hard.
And that film where hes a genius from inside prison
Idk about those guys and their questions they were all over the place the interruption😒I would’ve loved to get a more detailed interview from the gr8 Robert Pires
Take out the city treble from the conversation please because man utd and Arsenal didn’t have to spend billions of pounds to achive that. When Arsenal got unbeaten they spent 1 million pounds in the summer! If any other team manu,pool,city or chelasea went unbeaten everyone would raving about it,but because Arsenal have done it its like noting really under appreciated.
The standard now cannot be compared to the standard when Arsenal played with the unbeaten, now we have strong team now we have much clubs with different good players, we have lots of footballers from Brazil, Argentina more than before they now play more in the Premier league it will be hard to see a team that will play a whole 38 matches without a loss
Mikel was trying to say football and the players are better now but pires saying the opposite that players are not as good and i completely agree, not many pure gifted footballers anymore just a load of system players. Pep killed the game, players cant express themselves anymore its all about tactics and systems
Caraca, áudio em português também??? Kkkkkkkkkk showwww
It's all time and luck 1999 Arsenal lost to man u in fa cup, missed penalty [bergkamp] then we lost the league when we lost a game near the end of campaign 😬 should've won the fa cup and league in 1999 😢
I am no footballer, but I would definitely go for the treble, not even close for me. Getting knocked out of other competitions definitely helps with the unbeaten record. I think the comparison should be 100 point season vs unbeaten season. That's where perhaps unbeaten season wins and even that in my view is debatable.
This is a very wise point and I’ve always said as an Arsenal fan, to finish on 90 points unbeaten versus 100 points beaten few times.
I’ve always said Arsenal should’ve made it to 100 points that season. We threw away leads late on away to Leicester, Bolton, Everton and Spurs (even if we did win the league), plus at home to Man United. Those 5 games seen out would’ve gotten us to 100 points.
@@Tom-ws2zx ... Really good to hear from you an Arsenal fan. I totally agree with you on everything. Invincible season is impressive 👏 no doubt, but a treble and even a 100pts season outweighs it in my view. In the past few seasons, 90pts won't have won the league. Liverpool lost the league with 97pts. However, 100pts like the invisible season has also been done only once in the EPL but historically, it is ALWAYS enough to win the league.
@@3plewconcepts Of course an Invincible season is immensely impressive and unique, but the following season Chelsea won the league on 95 points, only 15 goals conceded and an Anelka penalty away from matching our unbeaten achievement.
Would you swap a few losses in the league and win it still, but win the Champions League too? Easy to say in retrospect of course, but I’d be inclined to go for the latter. Arsenal fans of course - myself being one - are right to gloat about going unbeaten, but there were flaws in that season some kinda forget, like losing those 5 leads. Pompey arguably should’ve beaten us both home and away too, the away fixture we dug in to get a draw but the home game that laughable dive by Pires lead to the penalty.
❤❤❤
Honestly what didn’t help Arsene was Mourinho had better players. It’s simply.
Big ups to the legend More greese to your elbow
💥💯
Robert Pires chat for 30 minutes way way too short REALLY!!!!!!!!!
Mickel, explain this well to the kids and their Debruyne’s « system player » infatuation 😂 Henry was a god in the prem.
Have a look at Chelsea’s record against us before the Russian Mafia Money hit the Premiership COYG❤️❤️👏👏💥💥👍👍
That CL game at Highbury must be the first time they beat us in ages
Unbeaten vs The Treble?
It was The Treble before Man City did it. Now that they have, it’s not as special or unique anymore
I would have watched this if it wasnt sponsored by a betting company. So many have suffered due to the greed of the gambling industry.
“Bayer munchen” 😂
Var is like cctv in publics
To be fair - Guardiola and Klopp have been fairly close to matching the invincibles. It’s crazy to think that Arsenals Invincibles would have finished 3rd in the 98 and 97 points season with City and Liverpool
Fallacy.
If the Arsenal invincible team played those same City and Liverpool teams, they will definitely win the league. If City got 97 points, they will get higher.
That’s how you compare.
@kitz 1232 no mathematical sense in what you say
@@sammutasha7938I think the quality of teams back then was gravy
But so was Arsenal's, our bench was weak af. You can't have it both ways@@Ayodeji_Talks_Footy
@@Pflows it was literally just based on the fact that the Invincible’s got 89 points compared to the 97pts to Liverpool and 98pts to City
That’s it
obviously pires knows more than me but I disagree - they lost the title in the tunnel vs city - going for the draw, respecting them too much, win the game man youre good enough to beat them! can you imagine if they won that game what that wouldve done to them and city psychologically. And Rodri said the same thing.
Only conceding 15 goals an entire season...beat that
Who did that, Chelsea ?
Easy. Buy a bunch of world class defenders from an open chequebook and play division 3 football by parking the bus every game.
Only one team has gone a season unbeaten in the prem. 2 teams gave done the treble.
👍
Rubbish, Footballers are more athletic today but they are not more technical or skillful in any way. From the 1950s/60s/70s to the 2000s/maybe early 2010s the technical abilities were insane. Last 10 years there has been a drop in technical and skillful ability.
4:17. Obi has been shot. 😆. He had the gun to his head and he still didn’t give an answer! 🤣🤣. Took him too long. Dead. 💀
First to view react and comment
Cool story bro🎉
Pires getting paid per minute?
Why cross the legs and take up so much space
So John you would give up your Champions League medal to have been an invisible?
Had Pires not dived v Portsmouth, Arsenal would have lost a league game.
He's got his wife's jeans on the sock
Every league top team loses, guys relax 😂😂
Pires is great but mikel and the other guy are terrible at this
The specialist in failure 🤣
He struggles with English
Rooney was the best player to ever play in the PL. No one likes to admit this because Henry and others looked more silky on the eye, but to be killing teams at the age of 16 onwards, unthinkable!
You worst for efootball pires
Him with beard needs glass water his voice isn't working 💦
2 minutes in "Robert Pires was not blessed with pace"..... sure...
Treble is the biggest achievement.... also stop hyping premier league who r these " all best player in the world r un premier league"
lies, winning the treble overweight unbeaten record any day anytime. I am not a player but as a fan, i will want my team to win the treble than go unbeaten, i dont care how to win it, but i prefer treble, nothing to think.
Yes it is hard to break the record, but nothing changes. But three trophies and still have champions league, wow. You think Arsenal fans wont trade the invincible for a champions league trophy if possible, dey play.
I think Mikel said this because Pires is been invited. I think so.
Wouldn’t trade the invincible trophy for shit pal. That’s why it’s still not been achieved 😂
Pep is desperate to do it but can’t Liverpool tried but failed the great United couldn’t do it and neither could fewest goals conceded ever Chelsea (15 goals! All season) put respect on the invincibles.
2 teams have done the treble in the league it’s good for the fans and club but the moment you go undefeated it makes everyone around want to beat you or even get a result.Mentally it kills teams before any football has been kicked then you see guys like Vieira in the Tunnel and “Iceman”Bergkamp.Look at Lehmann and guys over 6ft1 in every position.
Henry is 6,2
Vieira is 6,4
Bergkamp is 6,2
Pires is 6,1
Sol Campbell is 6,3
Gilberto is 6,0
Lauren is 6,1
Ashley Cole is 5,9-5,10
Lehmann is 6,2-6,3
Kolo Toure is 6,1
Freddie is 6,0
Lying git he did touch the ball with that penalty😂just watched it his studs scrapped the top of the ball and moved it slightly.