Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 90: Crossover with Fulham! image

Episode 90: Crossover with Fulham!

S2425 E90 · Daily Southampton
Avatar
0 Playsin 7 hours

Southampton – The busy festive period is well and truly underway, and next up, a trip to Fulham. We talk to Gavin from the Daily Fulham, mostly about our own troubles as of late!

Follow us on social media:

X - https://x.com/GSPNSouthampton/

Youtube -https://www.youtube.com/@gspnsouthampton

TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@gspnsouthampton

Instagram – https://www.instagtam.com/gspnsouthampton

Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/gspnsouthampton.bsky.social

Sponsors and Advertising

Zencastr

Built for quality - Designed for growth

A new era for creation is here.

The only complete audio + video platform to get best-in-class recording, intuitive editing, AI-powered growth features, and top-tier distribution tools — all in one place.

Get started for free!

We highly recommend it!

https://zencastr.com/?via=ken

Global Sports Podcast Network - Creating the world’s first network of 30-minute daily podcasts for the world’s biggest sporting export, the English Premier League.

For advertising and sponsorship details or to learn more about the scale and demographics of our audience – email Ken Davies, VP Business & Development at:

[email protected]

www.globalsportspodcastnetwork.com

Copyright | 2024 | Global Sports Podcast Network | All Rights Reserved

Recommended
Transcript

Introduction and Episode Setup

00:00:02
Speaker
Every club. Every day. The Global Sports Podcast Network. work Hello and welcome back to the Daily Fulham Podcast. This is your home of all things Fulham and today we continue our build up to the game on the weekend. It's the final opportunity for Southampton and Fulham to grab three points before Christmas.

Meet the Guests - Greg and Zach

00:00:21
Speaker
And as promised today is our crossover episode. So it's my pleasure to introduce not one but two Saints fans from the Daily Southampton team. We have Greg and we have Zach.

Southampton's Season Woes

00:00:31
Speaker
Guys, it's been a bit of a turbulent week. Not a lot to shout about this season. How are you guys holding up?
00:00:37
Speaker
Yeah, it's been it's been a weird one. like I know that none of us really expected us to do to like sort of jump out. and well Apart from Greg, who predicted us to finish 12th, most of us had very realistic sort of expectations of coming out and maybe being able to stay up from a relegation dogfight. I don't think anybody thought we'd have five points after so long.
00:00:58
Speaker
obviously the decision was finally taken probably slightly too late to get rid of Russell Martin on Sunday and although it was slightly too late by the sounds of it the board also seemed surprised that they made that decision and there is absolutely no plan in place and everything's a bit chaotic but after last night the fact that we saw whether it was catharsisism or sort of being unshackled from the system whatever you want to call it We played a lot better and it was quite nice to see us not try and have 70% of the ball, but do nothing with it. I was, yeah, it was, it was right. I feel like, how do you feel about it, Greg? You were very much sort of as positive as me last night. Yeah, I'm still feeling it.

Future of Southampton's Management

00:01:40
Speaker
It's, it's a strange one where we're in this sort of weird limbo state where there's not even like a clear cut picture of where we're going next. Like the odds on the next managers just seems to be changing by the hour.
00:01:53
Speaker
and they up and down and but it's it's kind of like a weird calm before the storm right like we're we're gonna do something and move forward but until that point the pressure sort of off and that's it's kind of nice i think for the players and you know like they showed that yesterday by playing a lot more free a lot of 3d and yeah put in a performance that we were happy enough with I mean, it's a tough sort of congested period for fixtures coming up now anyway. So I don't know if that piles the pressure on or not, to be honest. It's a just sort of a strange. Do you notice that weird feeling that you get after Christmas where you don't know what day but it is or where you are? It's like that, but just in football terms and a couple of weeks.
00:02:44
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. 100% agree there. And it's like you mentioned it there, whether it might be too late. Are you both of the feeling that this should have happened earlier, the change of management and the nine points adrift now for someone to come in now, it is a tall order. 10 points. I guess you could make that with goal difference. Realistically, do you think this should have happened weeks ago? i I'm kind of of, I understand why they kept to him because there, there was kind of an almost exception at that point.
00:03:12
Speaker
that we're probably going to doubt go down. And I think they've kind of always thought that we were going to go down and they were quite happy to have Russell Martin in the in place. And I think that they maybe took advantage of fans not being as disruptive until we lost to Chelsea, which was so bad that since then his position became untenable. I reckon if that noise hadn't happened, had we not been defeated so bad on such a weird occasion, I think he'd still be in charge because they seem to of sort of that was where they'd like made their bed. They were going to lie in it. So I think on our opinions of whether or not he should have gone earlier, yeah probably. Do I think that decision was ever going to really happen?

Ownership and Economic Priorities

00:03:56
Speaker
No. Am I glad it's happened now? Yes, but only because it's got so toxic. And in some of the replacements we're looking at, you know, we wanted to get rid of a manager because he was a championship quality manager.
00:04:09
Speaker
and like two of the leading favorites, our championship managers, Anna and Ethan Jones. so So it's a weird one. Like I think that it was the right decision overall. And I know that we've been a bit ambiguous about it because quite honestly, we don't we haven't known how to feel about it because we've had games where we've played well and maybe we could have done all right. But it does kind of feel after yesterday, whether you know whatever the reason, we played so much better and the squad looked so much happier.
00:05:10
Speaker
Did you sort of worry that this would unfold with the style of football that he implemented taking it from the championship in towards a Premier League? Maybe there was a bit of stubbornness and lack of want to change flexibility? Yeah, there was definitely some stubbornness and I think probably some arrogance in there as well. It was exactly that. It was a ah ah strict want to stick to plan A and the expectation that plan A was going to work eventually and it just never did. and then you know, towards the end of his time with RC, a beautiful soundbite where he's like, well, plan B just needs to look really similar to plan A and I just don't think you actually understand what plan B is. And yeah, it was just, it was sticking too much to his guns when we just needed, you know, the system that he wants to implement isn't
00:06:03
Speaker
is going to work if you've got good enough players and that's fine, but there are flaws to it and you just need to be just a little bit more dynamic. No one's ones expecting like a complete difference for us to suddenly become like a hoofball team or anything like that, but but just to change it up a little bit and have a bit of variety in the game instead of just making the same mistakes again and again and again.
00:06:29
Speaker
I'm in agreement. i I will point out that in our Room 101 episode, Greg, that you wanted to put Pep Guardiola into Room 101. And that is partly why. I don't think it's going to be quite a Vincent company style. He's going to go and get a job at Bayern Munich. But I do think that every team trying to play like a team that is now lost in 10 games in a row or whatever it is, wasn't really the best thing for football in general. And yeah, I just think ultimately his his own stubbornness killed him, but doesn't mean that We can't enjoy that we ended up at Wembley, but realistically, if we were that good, we wouldn't have had to have gone to Wembley to come back up, would we? Yeah. As far as the place has gone, I think it's quite interesting what you guys touched on. So the names that have been linked, managers in the Championship at the moment, likes to call us Corbran at West Brom and Danny Roll at Sheffield-Wente, who's done a good job, because I remember him taking over when they were struggling, looking at possibly getting relegated to League One. He steady the ship there. then They're now in the top half of the table.
00:07:27
Speaker
What do you think is the board's plan, the direction they're looking to go in? Are they looking to break the bank on a more glamour name, higher your profile name to give them a chance as hard as it is to stay in the Premier League? Or do they almost accept that this season they are going to go down and the plan is to rebuild, go straight back up and then get back to where they have been for so many years, which was an established Premier League team? I think that's what they want.
00:07:53
Speaker
However, I don't think that that has been their priority and that has been evident through their footballing decisions. and you know Arguably, they're going to have in three seasons potentially two relegations under

Player Movements and Transfer Window

00:08:04
Speaker
their belt since they took charge. A lot of the ownership have done a lot of work around the stadium improving facilities. We've got a new pub that opened up the same day that Russell Martin got fired inside the stadium.
00:08:17
Speaker
they are looking with Southampton City Council to expand an entertainment zone around St Mary's. There is a lot of economic investment in areas that are very important to the business side, and it's almost like they have completely forgotten the football side. And the fact that they that when they fired him, they have not had a direct replacement or successor lined up, and they haven't even really been looking, I think speaks volumes to how they are going to approach going forward because I think they have written off the idea that we're going to stay up. But I do think that they know that they have to maybe try, they had to get someone else in. And now it will probably be whoever is most willing to deal with the situation at hand, because when January rolls around, we're probably going to lose some players. And we currently, unless some of the scouting targets were outside of Russell Martin's domain, don't have any players we want to bring in.
00:09:12
Speaker
I don't know how you feel about it, Greg, but I know you have similar thoughts on our ownership and what they do for the club and especially the football inside of things. Yeah, it's baffling, isn't it? Like how can you run a business and not again have a plan B? It's just, it feels like exactly the same problem. Like even wanting to stick with and trust Russell Martin through to the end of the season as an accepted decision, you'd still want to have a plan B.
00:09:41
Speaker
at least an idea of who you would want to approach in case, you know, you if he'd gone on a 10 game unbeaten run and then left to go and be Real Madrid's next manager because the star was that impressive, like we'd have been in the same situation. And obviously the way it's gone was always more likely, but just to not even have ah ah a short list is a bit baffling.
00:10:05
Speaker
And this just one final question with regards to the manager's situation. Obviously, we don't know at this stage who's going to come in. It might be someone from left field. I know you mentioned David Moyes as well, someone's experienced hand. He's been in charge of teams that have been in relegation fights and and succeeded, as well as also managing more successful clubs higher up in the table. But what do you think is the one most important thing that the new manager has to come in and has to address with the group of players that he has at his disposal?
00:10:35
Speaker
I think the the first quick win would be to sort the captaincy situation. like we' We're in a position where our captain Jack Stevens has been suspended for 43% of the season, which is just ridiculous. I feel like just addressing that instantly is a quick win to get everyone onside. And then it's just, yeah, just play with some something, put some fight in and Uh, job one is just get more points than Derby did, right? thus That's, that's got to be it. that That's the the first target. And we'll go from there. That is a horrible bar. yeah, I would, I would agree.

Spotlight on Tyler Diblin

00:11:13
Speaker
I think personally that their their first job is going to be to get through the January transfer window to try and keep as many of the players that we care about shift as many of the players that don't care about the club and potentially start scoring more.
00:11:28
Speaker
getting us into positions where we can score more. That already happened yesterday, significantly more. the The confidence of the team is that they were able to drive it forward, but there is still a almost panicked situation when we're in an opposition box. When an opponent is in our box, there is an absolute stunning fear of, oh my goodness, it's going to go in. But genuinely, we could have 11 men in the opposition box with only two defenders, and somehow they'll still manage to kind of sky-high it.
00:11:57
Speaker
So I think that's an incredibly important part is just finding ah ah i guess finding a way to win. Whether it doesn't matter how is I think one of the most important things, but the personnel is also going to be more impactful than people realize because with some of our star players like Kyle Walker Peters, his contract expires the end of the year. I very much doubt they're going to want to let him go for nothing. January's rolling around shortly. Probably be out the door then if I'm totally honest or You know, the the real hope is he signs another five-year contract with us. It's not happening. Interesting. So yeah, we've spoken in length there about the manager's situation. In part two, we will come on to some of the personnel, the players at Southampton. But for then, just a few words about our sponsors. Here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform.
00:12:51
Speaker
Zencaster came out the clear winner. With 4K video recording from your phone and the AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and r's, it's super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently. If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description to learn more about Zencaster.
00:13:10
Speaker
I want to talk to you about a young player that's making a bit of a name for himself. He's already attracted the lure of some of the bigger teams in the league. tyler dblin dbling sorry Is the hype real surrounding him?
00:13:25
Speaker
Yes and no. He's an absolutely fantastic player for us. um He's come through the academy. He rejected Chelsea to come back um play with us. there are Certainly elements of his game that he can improve on. Greg discussed quite a few of them yesterday in our post-match review of things that he felt he should have done a little bit better. But considering that he had barely played a game for us before and has sort of swung out straight into the first team and is now one of the first names on the team sheet, it's fantastic. And yeah, there's a lot of transfer hype building around it and potentially I'm kind of glad that there's so much of a focus on him
00:14:03
Speaker
there's some other sort of players, and Greg knows exactly who I'm talking about, what the focus isn't on, because if we lost him, it wouldn't be the end of the world. you know, he's a young player, he's got a whole career ahead of him. And the focus seems to be so much on him that maybe we could keep some of the others that we're really, but were with that are flying a little bit under the radar. But I think whenever you have sort of a young, like English player come through and and do what he's done,
00:14:29
Speaker
in such a short amount of time you are always going to have that sort of level of interest and you know luckily one of the people with an interest is Man United so he can easily bolt on an extra 50 million. So even if he does go hopefully we'll get a lot for him. He's such a fascinating player and he's so clearly a raw talent that's there and yeah we touched a bit last night about some of the parts of his game that aren't quite there yet but there they are getting better but just his willingness to drive forward with the ball and take players on without fear is his biggest asset and the rest will will inevitably fall into place but yeah with him rejecting Chelsea the hope is that he is a player with the attitude that he prefers to be this sort of slightly bigger fish in a slightly smaller pond rather than
00:15:28
Speaker
one of these players that's going to sort of get dropped into a big team and just become another one a number without anything sort of special about him but yeah yeah that and we really need to start wearing shin pads properly.
00:15:42
Speaker
just It seems to be the fashion now, isn't it, with Jack Greenish? He's obviously as he started the trend with his smallish in pads. But so just for people who who haven't seen so much of Tiger Diblin, what would you say are his greatest qualities? and there are Are there any players, maybe past the Phantom or current players in the Premier League or world football, that you would compare him to? It's an easy comparison for me because the ball sticks to his feet like glue. The ability to dribble, the ball is his key strength and it reminds me of a prime Adam Lallana.
00:16:11
Speaker
Just this he has the same sort of control over the ball where once he has that ball at his feet he he has full control of where it's going. Sometimes it's beautiful to watch. I'd say currently just his generally sort of football desire like he he wasn't phased by the jump and there's a lot of players you know who take a couple of years to adjust and we've got players that come from foreign leagues and take quite a long time to adjust the Premier League. he got He got put into a game and just jumped at the opportunity and it it doesn't seem to have phased him and if he can keep that sort of level of demeanor throughout his career and that level of sense of calm I think it'll be nothing but great for him and great for whoever
00:16:58
Speaker
He's playing his trade within years to come because you don't really get that a lot nowadays. A lot of players can buy into their own hype. You know, i'm I'm sure there's definitely going to be some level of, you know, if I was seeing compilation videos of me going up, I would probably get a little bit arrogant about it. But yeah, it's just the fact that, you know, that the jump seems to have completely unfazed him. And that's the worry from a Southampton perspective is like, you know, if he was to jump into a Champions League team and suddenly play in front of Real Madrid, I don't think it would phase him either.
00:17:26
Speaker
And I think it's that's that's really impressive because you know i mean I'm in my 30s, stuff still terrifies me. The idea that he sort of sort of jumped out, played his you know played ah in front of Manchester United and didn't really bat an eyelid. Yeah, it's just very, very impressive. And of course, Southampton have got great history as far as young players have got coming through their academy like Sigarrif Bale, Theo Walcott, Luke Shaw, Alex Oxley, Chamberlain, you definitely see him following in their footsteps at some point. Obviously, you got you guys are hoping it's going to be with Southampton.
00:17:56
Speaker
mean, if you do go down, did you see him staying?
00:18:00
Speaker
It's the awkward part of the question. It's the awkward question that we have to start thinking about, because again, like I'm, I think as I'm more the the pessimistic side of the podcast, Greg is far more the optimist again, predicted finish of 12th. And I'm very aware that, you know, we will probably lose quite a lot of talents and The fact that he's already rejected a big club before, admittedly, that was sort of in the youth. And one of the reasons being is because of the fact that he just didn't really like it at Chelsea. So it might be that he gets on somewhere else. It's the he will always have a big place in our

Celebrating Young Talents

00:18:39
Speaker
in our squad. Right. And you've seen what happens to a lot of ex Southampton players. Some have gone on to be an Adam Lallana or a Virgil van Dyck. But for every Virgil van Dyck and Adam Lallana, you've got a
00:18:50
Speaker
ah ah Danny Ings or most recently you know James Ward-Prowse who after years of being our our captain, freak specialist, extremely well-loved at the club, went to West Ham and a year later is on loan at Nottingham Forest and ah ah you know I think he's probably having an all alright season there, like it's not like Forest is doing bad but also the fact that you know it's it's always a risk, you don't know how it's going to turn out but you know I think that if the prospect of Premier League football is dangled in front of him then I think he will go for it. It just depends whether or not it's regular because I think the difference being with us is that it will probably always be regular. So it's it's always going to be, it's always a fear we'll lose our players, but being a Southampton fan, that is part of the fun. It's just.
00:19:32
Speaker
at least we can usually get a big pile of money from, i.e. Romeo Lavia. I'm going to counter that and I think that the future of Tyler Diblin is that in 2035 he'll be retiring as a one-club man with Southampton with the all-time Premier League goalscore and record.
00:19:51
Speaker
See, so there's a fine line between optimism and deluded. scrap like look I said exclusive, guys, when you come back in 11 years and the time that they've been gone on to break Alan Shearer's record, you heard he had hit it first. and On a bit more positive note, not talking about players leaving, and um someone someone who's actually made their England debut score for England is Taylor Howard Bellis. I guess the Southampton community must be extremely proud of that.
00:20:18
Speaker
Yeah, very much so. And he's, a I think when we talk about players potentially coming and going, he's someone in my mind who I see as a future Saints captain, regardless of where we are. It really seems to enjoy being at the and playing for the badge. And it's good to see him go on to success. He's in the international team. He sort of struggled a bit at the start of the season to find his footing with the step up to the Premier League. But I think has done a really good job since then of proving himself as a real talent at this level. Agreed. I think he he found his his home with us and, know, Burnley the season before was going to probably want to be one of the journey journey men of City. I think that he was him being able to find a home, like obviously part of what was so great about that play of final win for him is because of our promotion to the Premier League, it made his his transfer
00:21:12
Speaker
Transfer confirmed. And that I think that you could see how excited he was to realise that he was part of the club. And for being a fan of Southampton, we're so used to people, you know, even saying in press conferences that, you know, they're really excited to play, especially in the the years gone by the Premier League, not play you for the club. He seems to really, really care. And, you know, and you can see that he's hurt when we lose. And there are some players that you can genuinely tell aren't interested. So for yeah him to get his England debut and and do what he he did in front of his father-in-law as well. And his father-in-law's team was very, very funny. And I think we're all we're all really glad to have him here. And there have been games where he's not played his best, like a lot of players this season, but I think he's at the light to have at the club personally. Yeah. And he's always the first of all of the players over to the fans. Win, lose, draw, good performance, bad performance. He's there, you know, for
00:22:10
Speaker
showing his full range of emotion.

Southampton vs Fulham Preview

00:22:12
Speaker
It's ah open to see and yeah clearly puts his all in every single game. Yeah, definitely. and Before we round things off, look at some key battles on the pitch, give our score predictions. I just want to give a shout out to GSPN. The Global Sports Podcast Network is changing the face of football podcasts. With dedicated daily content for every Premier League team, women's football, fantasy football and a daily Premier League rapid broadcast in five different languages, it's your one-stop shop for your daily football fix. Find GSPN wherever you find your usual podcasts.
00:22:45
Speaker
Well guys, I am going to give you some calls for encouragement for Southampton possibly getting the result on the weekend. First of all, you're playing away from home and and we know what you've been like in the last two home games, shipping five goals against Chelsea and Spurs. Well, shipping five goals and a half against Spurs. But for them, they do come into this game actually one defeat in eight, so they are playing well. The last four games they've come unscathed against top teams Arsenal, Liverpool, Brighton and Spurs but there is a but. The last game they played against a team in this sort of position, a team that hadn't won away from home all season was Wolves and they lost that game for one and another cause for encouragement
00:23:28
Speaker
They've taken the lead in 13 games this season and they've only won six. So there you have it. i've I've painted a picture for Southampton fans to to gloss over and relish the for the prospect of going to a craving cottage on Sunday and getting a result. What do you think is realistic? Can they get a result?
00:23:46
Speaker
it's going to be really hard for us to preview it because like we didn't really know how it was going to go Wednesday because we have absolutely no idea what the team sheet was going to be. The team sheet ended up being very similar to a lot of our team sheets so far this season but the style of football was you know the same but also very very different. I think we could be up for it though. I think that the the players you know have a point to prove to whoever's coming in at this point and I think that you know Although we played against a heavily rotated Liverpool, we we scored yesterday. We looked like we were going to score right up into the end. I think you know we could at least give it a good go. Obviously the last time we we played Fulham, Fulham beat us, but then also Mitrovic was playing for Fulham at that point. So it's been a hot minute. So yeah, I i personally think that um could see ah I could see us winning. and that's that Greg knows that's going to be optimistic for me. And I would say something exciting like 3-2. That's where I'm at.
00:24:41
Speaker
ah think we're goingnna do i think I think we're going to do it, Greg. I think we're finally going to get a win, maybe. And then we'll see if my predictions end up going completely down the toilet and then I never predict a win again. I think you're right. I think there's a chance that we are have more to prove in this game. I guess

Team Strategies and Challenges Ahead

00:25:03
Speaker
the hope is that Fulham almost look past us to the rest of a very busy football period.
00:25:11
Speaker
and with our little bit more urgency and little bit more fight, that comes good. I don't think it's going to be as high scoring as 3-2, but maybe sneak a 1-0 win. I'll take that. I mean, I'd take anything. and like sorry You spoke about it there. You weren't sure going into the midweek, how about cup game, ah what side was going to be selected given the situation you're in with the interim manager. Are you expecting any changes from that game coming into this one?
00:25:36
Speaker
Probably. There were definitely some players that came on a sub that staked their claim to to potentially start at the weekend. The only thing that I would say is that there is still seems to be a misunderstanding as to who's going to be in charge. I think they're doing a lot of interviews tomorrow, so I very much doubt that someone will be in charge Sunday, but also stranger things have happened in football. So if we have someone different, i think that if I think it will probably end up being similar just because apparently the players had some sort of say with the interim manager as to who was going up and who was who was going to play. And I think it will probably be a similar situation. I imagine that's why we had so many substitutions because everyone wanted to get their sort of chance to shine. and But I can't imagine it being hugely rotated. Adam Armstrong might come back in after suspension. I don't know who you think will come in, Greg, to be perfectly honest. Yeah, I don't know. We might see Walker Peters back if that was a knock. We
00:26:34
Speaker
I'd still want to see Arnachu and Archer played together, so I'm hopeful that that's something we'll see, but I don't know. Downs went off with a knock and didn't really set the world alights, but midfield is an area that we're particularly light in, so I don't know. I don't know if there'll be anyone to bringing in place of him to be honest. So it really depends on injuries as well and stuff, right? Cause obviously pre went off with a little bit of a nickel as well. So we might end up with cigar right back if Kyle isn't available. So yeah, I think, I think that would be the only thing that really changes stuff up. I was really hoping the Lana would start as well, just because, you know, he, he acts as a sort of leader on the field, almost a captain, if you will. And I think with downs going out, maybe we know we we put a few more forward centric midfielders in place, especially with the way that
00:27:25
Speaker
we've started to play now. Again, nothing drastically different. But when i when I tell you that every single goal kick that went up, despite the fact that most of them immediately landed into the feet of a Liverpool player, got ah ah got a round of applause, that was definitely a thing that happened. I guess the other key change as well is we were hopeful that Ramsdale will be back between the sticks.
00:27:47
Speaker
Yeah. Can I just ask you, I mean, you mentioned it briefly that his name Adam Armstrong, from the outside, he looks like one of these strikers that every time he's in the championship, he rips it up, scores a lot of goals, but when he gets the opportunity in the Premier League, he can't seem to translate that form. It seems a level too high for him. Is that a fair criticism, a fair observation, or would you feel like under a different manager, he can go on a goal scoring spirit in this division? I think that that's exactly right. I think that's exactly what we've seen from him.
00:28:14
Speaker
I was hopeful that it was a case that we hadn't seen embedded into a team and previously in the Premier League. But yeah, he really has struggled again this year. Still think that he probably has a part to play for us. But for me, I see that more as sort of a rotational role and sort of a some fresh legs off the bench. I'd much prefer Archer in that position.
00:28:42
Speaker
to Armstrong. I don't know about you Zach. I'm in agreement as I said I think I could see him coming back in just because he's been one of the sort of primary players in recent times and is one of the more vocal ones after the manager went and the only reason I think he wasn't involved yesterday realistically was because of the suspension but yeah I'm i'm in agreement you know you've hit the nail on the head really he's he's taken another step up we hoped it would take a little bit of time. And then he's you know scored two or three goals, one of which being a penalty, one of which being off the back of a penalty. But in comparison to sort of, you know, as much as Cameron Archer hasn't had a lot of chances so far this season, he's scored three goals, which is the most for us for our strikers at this point. and So but yeah, I just think that he considering he was what, like the the top scorer last season for the championship and then sort of kind of peered out this season and and
00:29:36
Speaker
It'll be interesting to see what what comes January. I think he'll probably be one of the ones to stick around, but yeah, I don't see him being the focal point of the team as much as he was in the championship. And just finally, I just want to get your final thoughts on this full and team. What do you think the strengths of the team are and what do you think the weaknesses are, if there are any that Southampton might be able to exploit?
00:29:58
Speaker
It's a difficult one, right? It's almost like, so you've got like Smith throw and sort of ah the, what I would consider to be, you've taken a lot of players, sort of what I would consider to be like B-teamy players from the top, but have managed to do something fantastic with them. And, you know, ultimately we can come into this game going, oh, it's Fulham, but you're you're sitting eight.
00:30:22
Speaker
And I think that you have a ah good chance to punish us if you if you do it. it's It's one of those, i'll I'll hold my hands up. And when when I was younger, full of one of the clark clubs that you sort of were were just didn't really enter my radar much. and But you have gone on similar to sort of wolves, although it's that's like chalk and cheese at the moment to establish yourself as a Premier League side, building something over time. And yeah, it's I just think that that's where we can get damaged from anywhere at the moment. It's really hard for us to answer the question because every single time we're asked, it's like, where can you see us conceding? Who do you think will have the opportunity? And the problem is, is that Jade and Sancho scored against us at Chelsea, and we didn't even realise Jade and Sancho were still in English football.
00:31:05
Speaker
so So the answer is, where can we be hurt? Well, if we decide to kick the ball directly to you, any of your outfield players? yeah If you've got any strikers who are in a poor runner form and haven't scored in 20 to 30 games, then it's probably their opportunity to shine. and We seem to be the team that breaks those streaks frequently.
00:31:25
Speaker
Maybe that'd be a message from Marco Silva. Bring Carlos Venizius back into the fold, who hasn't kicked the ball in about a year. He might score in this particular game. so that That's what that that definitely a thing. I kid you not, every time we have had, we are always breaking records. None of them are as of positive Southampton records, but that way. Yeah, so Zach, you're going for a 3-2, Southampton and Greg, you're going for 1-0. Right, I'm going to...
00:31:50
Speaker
I'm going to predict for them to win two now. I'm not predicting anything crazy like fours and fives and sixes given to Vampton's. At the back and then the last couple of games, I feel that the players probably will have a bit more ah ah motivation, no new managers coming in around the corner. It gives an opportunity to possibly fringe players to stake their claim, get into that first team, get into that start on 11 when that manager does come in. I think for them at home, I think They will have learnt lessons from that walls game. There was a wake-up call, a bit of a reality check and the subsequent results for them have been really good and we've seen on their day there can be a match for any team in this division. So as long as they're not complacent, play to their levels and I think they will come out with the victors on this occasion. Any final thoughts heading into this one then guys? Yeah, the the thing is is that you you have players like Oobi and Jimenez and people like that who as again have come from other clubs that
00:32:42
Speaker
yeah I swear, it's even is Greg one of the ones that always scores against us because it's like Tottenham, when we play against Spurs, we always know that Sun is going to score. And where there are many, many players that like, we when we play against them, it's one of those ones that, is he going to score against us? And I know that it might have been back in the day when he was more of a Wolves player, but he is one name that I always remember racking up goals against us. So yeah, as much as my optimistic 3-2 is here, I could also see 2-0 as very, very realistic. yeah's tough My closing thought is that actually, i from a more neutral perspective, it's nice to see Fulham doing so well this year and I hope it continues, Sunday excluded, and continue to have a ah ah successful season. It'd be nice to see them go onward and upward and maybe challenge for one of those European spots.
00:33:33
Speaker
here, here. And on that note, that'll draw things to a close for this special crossover episode with the Daily Southampton team. Be sure to check out Greg and Zach on the Daily Southampton podcast. That'll do it for today. We'll catch you on the next one.