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"True Grit" ACN Pod 130
871 Plays7 months ago
What a week. Ffion joins Jon & Tom to chat Them, Wednesday, PNE and offer some run-in and POTS guarantees. 6 games to go for the finest football club in the world.
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Transcript
Introduction and Gritty Canaries' Success
00:00:21
Speaker
Welcome to the Uncome Knowledge Podcast, a grotesque guttural growl gushed from a growing number of canary groupies on a Saturday night as the gritty canaries ground out their seventh point with a gratifying week.
Crucial Games and Upcoming Schedule
00:00:32
Speaker
Fion, Jon and me look back on three huge games and a massive fortnight or so to come.
Ashley Barnes and Recent Victory
00:00:39
Speaker
Theon, we were just talking before we press record because we're waiting for Punt, who is late, to the time slot that he chose, about we seem to have found some grit. We're gritty canaries and we've not been gritty for a long time. We are gritty and this is what we said at the start of the season that we needed. And it has taken a little while, but it seems to be coming just at the right time. Obviously, we've got King's Shit House up front, Ashley Barnes. This is right, yeah.
00:01:08
Speaker
But yeah, it's sort of spreading through the team. I think the effect on the changing room he's having is working. And yeah, I think definitely the Preston game, that sort of gnarly one nil win didn't look like it was coming. Certainly not in the first half. We were probably a bit lucky to go in level at halftime. They hit the bar, I think basically the last kick of the ball in the first half.
00:01:35
Speaker
But then second half, I thought we really ground it out. And yeah, I had a look on the Preston message board after the game to see what they were saying. And they all seem to absolutely hate our team, which is great.
00:01:51
Speaker
That's usually a really good sign of, one, being gritty, and two, knowing that you've maybe not necessarily got away with one, but you've ground one out.
Defensive Issues and Key Performances
00:02:01
Speaker
I can bring in, live in real time, our punt correspondent who has managed to make his way to the north section, the north wing of punt manners, where his microphone is set up. We were just covering the fact that we're gritty and we haven't been gritty before.
00:02:20
Speaker
I think what I want to follow up with is there was a few people disappointed with throwing away a two-nil lead against Sheffield Wednesday. I think we lose that game in earlier this season. I think if you surrender two like-for-like goals in what was it, seven, eight minutes, I think you go on to then concede a third if you haven't got the grit that King Shithouse himself, Ashley Barnes, has kind of pushed throughout the team. What's a year on that?
00:02:44
Speaker
Oh, I didn't see the game in midweek on Tuesday. I wasn't able to watch it, but I have seen the goals back. Defensively, it's quite disappointing. There's no doubt about that. But I do like the point that you're making about resilience or fear might have been making about resilience because
00:03:02
Speaker
That has definitely formed part of the run that we've been on and the really, really good form at home that we've been on.
Sustainability and Playoff Qualification
00:03:10
Speaker
It hasn't all been plain sailing during home matches. It hasn't always been that Josh Sargent's been absolutely dominating defenses and scoring goals. We have been under the course at times. We have found that we've had to grind things out in midfield. The kind of axis of Kenny McLean and Marcelino Nunez is outstanding at the moment. I mean, I would think you would fail to pick
00:03:32
Speaker
to better central midfielders in terms of their form in the division. They've been amazing and Nunez especially has really come to the fore and has just offered a bit of, I don't know, obviously he gives you control in games when he's on the ball, but actually just the little fouls that he's starting to make, just the game intelligence that he seems to have garnered from being in the championship for a good while now.
00:04:00
Speaker
just means that we're full of streetwise players. And I know we've criticized the recruitment on this pod quite a lot in terms of, oh, look, there's too many 30-somethings and all the rest of it. But actually, when you get to this stage of the season, maybe that is the benefit. Maybe it is that you've got a Shane Duffy who's just going to rally the troops a little bit. You've got a Barnes who's just going to not necessarily chuck an elbow, but be a little bit more niddly than maybe an Alameda.
00:04:28
Speaker
So yeah, I think we have got that resilience. I think that it bodes well going into playoff games, because that's where we're headed now. There's a one more win, and I think we're pretty much assuring for top six. So yeah, it all feels, because it all felt before as if it was temporary, and the bubble was going to burst, and we were talking about Wagner's teams being streaky. And look, that still might be the case. But it all feels a little bit more sustainable at the moment
Playoff Prospects and Competition
00:04:59
Speaker
was a very long streak. I mean, you know, the streakiness goes. I mean, we are now going back to the start of the year. Was it three defeats? One of those, we all has got that massive asterisk next to it in terms of borrow. I really think that the
00:05:14
Speaker
the personality, the persona of the team he's crafted. I mean, they were still just going back to Wednesday night. So was it Tuesday night? When have we played? It was Tuesday, a big pub. So that's right, because you were at the nest watching the women. So you were watching our city, just a different flavor.
00:05:33
Speaker
There was a real sense on social media afterwards that, you know, we've made negative substitutions and, you know, because we didn't kill the game, we should have kind of kept attacking and kept running at it and what have you. And I said at the time that if we win against Preston, which is obviously a big if then, because Preston go in for the playoffs themselves or were until we took that away from them.
00:05:54
Speaker
And then then all of a sudden you look at seven points from a week in which we probably all would have taken seven points we just probably would have assumed that the draw being against the scum or the draw being a Preston so and you know you you almost.
00:06:07
Speaker
I almost feel like maybe Wagner's also helped us in a similar way that we had to be patient with Farkas football. I wonder if Wagner's maybe, because he's managed to see out and ride out, they don't know what you're doing, we want Wagner out chance from earlier in the season, which now seem very far away, in my mind anyway.
00:06:27
Speaker
I wonder have we have we sort of learned to try and be a bit have a bit more context and a bit more perspective in thinking well actually this is a this is a marathon this is 46 games if we if we drop a couple of points against these people the freshness inside its legs might become really important when we needed to do 90 at deepdale
00:06:46
Speaker
Yeah, I think looking over the context of that week, seven points is a brilliant return. And after the Wednesday game, there was some talk. I think someone had done some stats on when we've had sort of two away games in a week or when we have an away game without a full week ahead of it. We had one of the worst records in the league for that, as well as having a pretty poor away record generally.
00:07:09
Speaker
So the fact that after that quick turnaround, and I guess I don't know if they stayed up in the week, but I see they came
Approach to Playoffs
00:07:16
Speaker
up and went down again. So two long journeys to dig out that clean tree at Preston is one of the biggest results of our season, I think, absolutely. And yeah, you've got to look at it in context now. We've got three games left on paper. I think we have the easiest three games left.
00:07:40
Speaker
in order to get the points we need compared to the teams behind us. This week has been absolutely massive. I feel more confident now going into the playoffs on the basis of the
00:07:55
Speaker
performances that we've now showing on that that we can we can dig it out a bit more away from home. Yeah. Well I think the context of those those two things are so important going into the playoffs where the one thing that's certain is if we go in the playoffs we will be playing away second.
00:08:16
Speaker
And I think in the Ipswich game and the Preston game, we have shown that if we're going to be under the kosh with hopefully a lead that we're defending, then actually we can probably just about see it out because a draw will be good enough if we win our away game. Or a narrow defeat will be good enough. Sorry, if we win our home game. Narrow defeat will be good enough if we win our home game comfortably.
00:08:41
Speaker
you do not want to be coming to Carroll Road if you are Leicester, Leeds, Scum, Saints, West Brom. Whoever you are in the playoffs, you do not want to be coming to one of the most informed stadiums at the moment based on our kind of consecutive wins and how brilliant we've been there. And if we can get a two-goal cushion, I fancy us to go to the King Power and do whatever that's called now. It's still called that pump.
00:09:11
Speaker
Lester Stadium. Yeah. Thanks. Well, I just got a day of the week wrong, so I'm not going to make an assumption. I've got a sponsorship deal. Right. So, yeah, the I really, I really wouldn't want to play us. Well, my question to you, pun, is looking at Tofion's point about our our run in the next two West Brom games are Lester and Sheffield Wednesday. And Sheffield Wednesday are not going to be down or up by then. So whilst the Preston game, their last game is a dead rubber from compared to us playing Birmingham, we don't know yet.
00:09:41
Speaker
They have got two promotion, relegation candidates that they are playing against who are going to be at the sharp end of decision making. So our next two games look an absolute cakewalk compared to that. So you've got to say that with only one point between us, okay, their goal difference is a bit better. So we probably do need to make up two points on them. I fancy us for fifth right now.
00:10:03
Speaker
Yeah, I wouldn't disagree with that.
Wagner's Tactics and Aggressive Playstyle
00:10:05
Speaker
And then it's Southampton in the playoffs, isn't it? And we talked about it before, but I think whoever we land in the playoffs now, the narrative around it, be it, you know, former managers, former players.
00:10:19
Speaker
you know, a Derby, whatever that looks like, you know, with the exception of Leicester, Sky Swartz are going to love it, you know, in terms of the build up and you know that it will get whipped into a frenzy and it will become about personalities. And I think the good thing with the Norwich squad at the minute is that they have
00:10:37
Speaker
They've been through a lot of adversity this season, but they've also had to kind of filter out quite a bit of external noise. I don't know, maybe that's Weber's mantra on the walls of colony is still there, you know, and they're still able to ignore it, even though, you know, they weren't able to ignore it earlier in the season, particularly well.
00:10:54
Speaker
But, you know, I think it's a good point. I think we have been through it. Yeah, it feels this season like we have had a season of narratives. Yeah. I feel like we can't mean we might need NCFC numbers, although this might be a tricky thing to research. But, you know, we can't have had a season where we faced so many X players, X managers. You know, there seems to have been every two or three weeks, there's a, oh, well, that one's important because of so and so. Do you know what I mean? And that's the nature of the championship to an extent. But
00:11:22
Speaker
I think, I think there's something in that I wanted to, I wanted to go back to,
Mixed Playoff Feelings and Reflection
00:11:28
Speaker
to you talking about, you know, I'd fancy Lester or I'd fancy Ipswich or I fancy Leeds. I agree with that statement. I didn't say I'd fancy Ipswich. All right. Okay. Yeah. I said, I said none of them would want to come to us. I'm, I'm quietly hoping that scum go up automatically. Second. Yeah. That's the best outcome. I guess.
00:11:50
Speaker
but it that all depends on Wagner's mindset doesn't it because we've seen it again say like Southampton at home or Leicester away where he his outlook was very much in a kind of
00:12:03
Speaker
He was pinning his formations and tactics and all of that on the opposition, whereas against Ipswich, and all right, Ipswich was a no-show for them, tactically, physically, I think almost. But we had no fear. We played on the front foot. We wanted to take possession of the football. We wanted to do things. We wanted to be aggressive in terms of our attacking output.
00:12:32
Speaker
I worry that he wouldn't do that against Leeds, that he wouldn't do that against Leicester, that he might not even do that against Southampton and that would be my concern going into all of this. I don't think we have anything to fear short of Wagner fearing it himself and I really hope I'm wrong on that and that we go in and it's
00:12:53
Speaker
It's the absolute opposite, because I think we can be anyone certainly you're right at Cara Road, we can be absolutely anyone. And then I would pick us if we do then get that result to be able to bring it home. But yeah, I think it's very much dependent on on that. And we talk about, you know, kind of narratives and and all the rest of it, it's
00:13:14
Speaker
I'm just, I'm not, you know, like I should be really excited about the playoffs. I just, I'm not looking forward to any of that because we haven't experienced it for so long. Have we play off football? You know, it's all, every time we've gone up, it's almost kind of been a canter winning it with sexy football. This is, this is the real sharp end where,
00:13:31
Speaker
And it's conflicted feelings, you know, because almost it's almost like, do you want to go up? And that sounds ridiculous. Well, Saturday was Saturday was as close. I was thinking this on Saturday. That was as close to a playoff game as we've had, you know, because it was it was so one team was effectively knocked out. You know, we wouldn't have been knocked out if we lost. But, you know, there was that consequence on the table in the Preston players. I felt
00:13:53
Speaker
played with that mentality. I don't think, sorry, I think you're right with regards to Wagner's mindset. If you think about how we've been successful and how the season's played out in this run from January to now,
00:14:08
Speaker
I actually think that Home First Away Second suits us, it suits our mindset, it suits where we're good, it suits the way that we're playing. Also, just to round off this, we're not being kind of flippant about the fact that there is someone with a game in hand in Hull, but their game in hand is against Coventry,
00:14:30
Speaker
So those two are going to, you feel almost by default, cancel each other out. You know, they can't both come after us. So it is only going to be, if there's a draw there, that really scuppers them both. So if one of those two win,
Team Dynamics and Tactical Decisions
00:14:44
Speaker
but I can't see us dropping more than two points in the last three games. What do you reckon, Phil?
00:14:50
Speaker
Yeah, I'd agree with that. Certainly it looks, I think to be honest, Birmingham could be safe by that final day now because having beaten Coventry on Saturday, which is a great result, they've now got Rotherham and Huddersfield and you'd say you're looking at three points from Rotherham there and Huddersfield's the six-pointer that it hinges on. Well done, Dave Carrollham.
00:15:11
Speaker
To your point about the playoffs, it's really got echoes for me of 2002 when we sort of stormed in right at the end as the form team played wolves who had done a Leicester and completely fallen off from a high lead. And then we got the 3-1 lead at home, not undeserved, I don't think in that game. I think we came from behind them.
00:15:36
Speaker
and deserved to have that lead and then had to absolutely batter the Molyneux but again ground it out and yeah I could see that sort of scenario again and I think that's how it will have to be. We'd have to take a lead into the away leg and then batten down the hatches I think.
00:15:55
Speaker
Well, quick mention for Gabi Sara getting into the midfield of the year or team of the year in a midfield position in the EFL Awards earlier this week. Johnny Rowe, Werther mentioned that whilst he was runner-up to the Leeds lad for the young player of the season,
00:16:12
Speaker
The fact that we've got him, you know, freshly coming off the bench on Saturday and now hopefully poised for, you know, the running and the playoffs. Do you risk him, John, on Saturday from the start? Or do you just go with what's been working and bring him on from the bench again, feeling like if we don't need him, let's just give him 20 minutes?
00:16:36
Speaker
I saw this debate on the Pinkham podcast. It was like, where the hell would you accommodate him right now in terms of if you're going to bring him straight back in the side? Because wherever you look, you know, if it's out on the right and Gabi Sarah then goes back into the middle, you have to then move Nunez or McLean out the side. I don't think that's feasible or fair right now. Borja Science has
00:17:01
Speaker
I don't know, arguably he's probably the one that you'd say would drop out. Do you really want to do that at the moment? Given that, you know, his work rate, Wagner seems to now have him moulded into the type of winger, certainly going backwards that he needs.
Starting Lineup Challenges
00:17:15
Speaker
Going forwards, I think, maybe held onto the ball a little bit too long. But actually, you know, a lot of wingers do that. So let's not, you know, given his finishing from the edge of the box, let's not winch too much about that.
00:17:25
Speaker
So maybe it is actually Barnes that you drop out and then put Sarah in the 10. But again, as much as I've been a massive critic of Barnes this season,
00:17:36
Speaker
I don't think that would be fair based on the last four or five games. So it's really hard. I think that he is amazing as a bench option. And probably if we give him 20, 30, 40 minutes, kind of in the two or three games coming up, then suddenly he's ready to start games in championship playoff football, which is a bonus for everyone.
00:17:58
Speaker
Sorry? I don't think you can drop science. I don't think you can drop any of them though right now.
Bristol City Match Preview
00:18:03
Speaker
That's the difficulty and that's, you know, we have been, it's not like when Josh Sargent came back when it was like, right, well, we need him because we've been playing like, you know, absolute toilet for so long that, you know, maybe he'll change our fortunes.
00:18:16
Speaker
We've been playing pretty well and picking up lots of points. So there is no reason to bring him straight back into the lineup. The only reason, the way to use him is as we used him on Saturday, is right, it's 0-0, 25 minutes to go, chuck him on, and then suddenly the whole complexion of the game changes because he's up against tired legs. He looked like him and he was gliding past players like they weren't even there, probably because they were tired.
00:18:42
Speaker
but equally because he's a massively talented footballer that possibly won't be at this football club next season because his ceiling is stupidly high. So yeah, I think we drip him in and keep the lads who have got us where we are, we keep them in the team and he's a pretty decent option to have off the bench, eh?
00:19:05
Speaker
Well, Bristol City are the opponents on Saturday and they are on a decent run in having not lost in five. They've also had a couple of really notable victories, putting five past Blackburn and beating Leicester. So, you know, they're 12th and they're only, you know, they're not in the playoff conversation because they've kind of left a good run of form until a bit late to be involved in it, being about 12 points a drift as they are.
00:19:30
Speaker
They're clearly no mugs, and we don't want to overlook them. I think on the important thing, and this is where I wonder if he might tweak the formation slightly. I wonder if he does drop someone like Nunez.
00:19:47
Speaker
out for for Johnny Rowe and have Rowan Sainz running at them and try and get get ahead and try and really hit them with a lot of tempo early in the game on Saturday because I feel like first goal is going to be really important too because the atmosphere is going to be rocking it's going to be superb on Saturday so you almost you almost want to capitalize on that and blow them away early in the first half
00:20:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting about the atmosphere, because having been at Preston on Saturday, obviously, you know, great massive celebrations at the end, but what we didn't have and what we haven't had so far this season is any sort of singing about promotion. No one's done a big EIEIO yet, you know, which you think every other promotion campaign, that's... I'm just wondering if maybe that we need to... Saturday will be the day we'll get that sort of, oh, we're in the playoffs now. It's sort of...
00:20:40
Speaker
And it just doesn't feel to me yet like one of those seasons where you get the sort of promotion vibe. But yeah, I agree. I think Saturday will be a great atmosphere. I'm probably with John that I would stick from the start with the
00:20:57
Speaker
with a team that's been getting the results at home.
Home Advantage Strategies
00:21:01
Speaker
And that's mainly because I think Rowe just looked so sharp when he came on at Preston. He just absolutely terrified their defenders running at them. Obviously they were tiring by then and it was him that completely changed the game, also changed the atmosphere.
00:21:17
Speaker
That was when it was sort of lulling to a nil-nil a bit and it just lifted the atmosphere, lifted the team. And I think that sort of secret weapon is something very valuable to have. So I wouldn't be surprised if we went either route, but I think I'd be keeping him on the bench and easing him in a bit like that.
00:21:35
Speaker
I think it would be absolutely criminal to drop the news at the moment, given... Oh, yeah, I agree. I can see it happening. I think he's been our best player for probably the best part of two months. He's been phenomenal. Yeah. So no, no, thank you.
00:21:52
Speaker
No, I wouldn't go as far as saying he's been the best player of the last two months, but I just wanted to put it out there as an option for... My only concern with Bristol City is the form that they themselves are in, and the fact that it's a free hit. We haven't really had party people
00:22:12
Speaker
status very often because we've either been relegated and humiliated or we've been the ones, you know, having an EIIO season. So to me, we've not really got to play that role, but I do know that it can be fun to have an away day where it's a free hit like that. And they can play, you know, try new styles and try new things for next season. And maybe that's an element of what we're seeing with their form recently, the fact that they're playing so kind of footloose and fancy free.
00:22:38
Speaker
But yeah, I would go with the same team because of the message that it sends to their players. I think Nunez has been brilliant dropping in between the centre backs and getting us moving.
Key Players' Importance
00:22:50
Speaker
I also think that if you've got Duffy at the back,
00:22:53
Speaker
I think you need Nunez because Duffy's distribution is obviously so limited in comparison to most of the other players at the football club. It's not what he's bought for, it's not what he's in the team to do. And you saw against Ipswich that when someone has a really good game plan to say your only way out is going to be through Duffy,
00:23:17
Speaker
turnover of possession that way comes you know we saw it and that that looked in the first 15-20 minutes of the Ipswich game like that was the that was the plan the plan was the you know we're gonna press everyone really really closely the only person who's gonna be allowed the ball at his feet is Duffy and oh look we've got the ball back
Derby Game Reflection
00:23:33
Speaker
And I'm not technically adept enough to know what we changed to prevent that being an issue. To be honest, it might be as simple as the goal after 30 odd minutes that kind of changed the plan from Ipswich's point of view. But that looked like the most obvious route to Ipswich scoring. I do think we should touch on that because the last time we potted was obviously pre-scum and then it's been three games in quick succession after that.
00:23:57
Speaker
I ended the previous pod with a bit of positivity, which I often like to do, but it did sort of dawn on me as I was wrapping up last time out.
00:24:06
Speaker
that actually what if actually we do play really well and what actually if they don't turn up and it will be an amazing party. Fionn, that was a special derby. That was a really, really good, unexpected, incredible feeling and the last time that many people stayed behind at the end of a game was basically you were talking end of season parade
00:24:31
Speaker
on a promotion day. I can't remember so few empty seats at full time plus four plus, you know, you're talking five, 10 minutes afterwards. It was something special, wasn't it?
00:24:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think the tone for the day was sort of set early on, really, because obviously before the gowers, I was very nervous about it and not really looking forward to it. And then we turned up in the city about, I don't know, half ten, a couple of hours before kickoff, and everywhere was absolutely rammed. The sun was out, yellow shirts everywhere outside all the pubs. You could hear the singing from the pubs, from, you know, the other side of the river, whatever. And, you know, it's not been like that for a long time.
00:25:13
Speaker
I just thought, oh, we might have a mirror, because it just felt like everyone was so up for it. And then that carried into the ground. I thought the atmosphere was certainly the best since Man City in 2019, which is my previous sort of benchmark for my era.
Rivalry and Historical Context
00:25:28
Speaker
and yeah I just saw everyone played their part and yeah it was absolutely fantastic day. I mean the whole stuff with the Ipswich fans after about room is about 400 tickets being given away I mean it's quite funny but I thought that their atmosphere was quite poor given the circumstances maybe
00:25:48
Speaker
maybe that's nerves which is perhaps understandable but I think we really capitalized on that. We sort of let them know early on that they weren't making any noise and it sort of sent them back into their shells and yeah I think everyone did themselves credit and if we can replicate that in the playoffs certainly that will be a massive thing.
00:26:08
Speaker
I think it's a, it was an, it was an interesting thing that sort of caught fire that, you know, the light secure and dire and other ex people and people involved with the club were given kind of a percentage of the allocation, 15%, 20%. We've had Coventry three nil down with about 500 people there making unreal noise in that way. And this is a ridiculous excuse. Like there's, you know, you don't need
00:26:32
Speaker
Carrow Road is not a big cavernous bowl where it's difficult to get an atmosphere going. If you've got two or three hundred people at the back of that section standing up and giving it some, it's loud and it can be disruptive. They bottled it. The fans bottled it. The players bottled it. The occasion was way too big for them. They played.
00:26:48
Speaker
just from the first 20 minutes, the what, eight, nine passes played just purely out of play. Just like over hit passes, simple balls, just miscontrolled or hammered out of play. And that's tension. You know, that's, that's, that's tension that's been too amped up, too hyped up. And I think it's the reason that they blew their lines in the first game. When we weren't, we would go in there in a far worse framing line as we were this time around.
00:27:12
Speaker
I think a calmer team who are not so amped up around this is the reason Detra for all of the people in the stands and all we've been hearing for weeks is whatever you do beat them. I think that the longer this getting towards 15 years run goes, it means loads to both sets of fans. I think one of the reasons that I was so nervous going into the game is
00:27:38
Speaker
is almost you're aware of how huge it is for them. And you almost feel like we've now, almost like having a two nil lead is a dangerous score line. We've got this 15 years now to protect and you're not losing one
Victory Significance and Implications
00:27:51
Speaker
game. You're losing that huge breadth of things that we still got to crow over. And punt, it's why I feel like as long as it's not as champions, if they go up behind Leeds or they go up behind Leicester,
00:28:09
Speaker
Part of me thinks that it's funny that even in the season they get promotion, they still don't manage to beat us. The alternative is they go, they finish third and we finish fifth. And we play whoever beats them in the, you know, we play West Brom in the playoff final. I just don't want to, I don't want to have to go through that, those nerves of the playoffs are nervy enough. If it doesn't also involve, Oh no. What if this is the game where they, where they do it?
00:28:35
Speaker
Yeah. And what if it's at Ipswich, sorry, at Wembley, that Ipswich, you know, kind of could do it. That would be almost inconceivable that that would be the place that they'd end the who do it. You're right.
00:28:48
Speaker
it is massively important now because of what it means to them. It's almost like for us, not that I'm ever nonchalant about it, but it's almost like it is normal. I have two children and the eldest of which is about to do, I've said this before, but is about to do a GCSEs and she was about six months old when they last beat us. That is quite frankly ridiculous. There will be lots of other things, lots of other water that's passed.
00:29:14
Speaker
under the bridge since they last beat us. And every time we play them, I'm almost looking for, I don't know, anything, like some little superstition that I've done or haven't done to make sure that we continue beating them, because it
Playoff Tensions and Expectations
00:29:32
Speaker
shouldn't happen. And I don't know if it's ever, this will be one for NCFC numbers, I don't know if there's ever been a,
00:29:39
Speaker
a run of this length and maybe in terms of years because of the fact that we were in different divisions, maybe there has been, but actually in terms of this amount of games, we've played it, which quite a lot. I don't know if it's like 14 games or something ridiculous. We played them a lot and they haven't really got that close to us at all throughout any of this. I said this on Twitter after the game and then someone quickly put me back in my box and said, actually,
00:30:08
Speaker
although the scoreline was 1-0, it hasn't felt as dominant probably across the whole 15 years. And then someone said, I don't know, actually, what about the season that we beat them 5-1 and 4-1, which of course was massively dominant. But actually in terms of the control that we had in the game, in terms of their attacking output, the atmosphere, you know, everything, it just felt
00:30:29
Speaker
And it didn't feel like it up until the day, but as Feon, you've just said, just felt like it was Norwich's day and nothing else was ever really going to spoil. And it was magnificent. And atmosphere-wise, as I said on the preview pod for the Ipswich, it was the first Derby that both of my kids have gone to. And you could just tell, I mean, Izzy was at the Man City game where it was phenomenal.
00:30:54
Speaker
But you could just tell that, you know, for them, they were almost wide eyed and like, this has gone up a completely different level. And I almost got turned to them and I was like, yeah, this is what the football is like when it's really, really good. You know, and actually, it's quite unfortunate that for the first half of the season, this was your, you know, your first season as a season ticket holder. But actually, when Carrow Road is jumping, when everyone is together,
Players' Form and Confidence
00:31:17
Speaker
it can be a magnificent place to watch football. And it just was for the full 9,500 minutes, however long it was from, you know, the banner being unfurled to, you know, just a wall of noise for 90 minutes. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Yeah. The banner was superb. Fantastic work to our volunteers and supporters. Coming up with the kernel of an idea that Ben then, you know, took into an illustration and then... Well done, Colonel Fionn. Yeah.
00:31:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's not one of your most used nicknames, but we'll go with it from now on. So yeah, I want to just sort of finish with kind of some obviously guarantees of what's happening. I think the next game coming up is the one that I'm most worried about in terms of us not picking up points. It's the only one I think we can draw. You know, I still don't think we'll lose it, but I just think we've got too many goals and there's some too confident about it. But this is a championship and I think it can happen, etc, etc.
00:32:11
Speaker
Theon, can I have a guaranteed score line and a guaranteed score for Saturday please?
00:32:17
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, it's true that Bristol City are on a pretty strong run, but my sort of thinking is that we've sort of got the momentum and they don't really have anything to play for.
Match Predictions and Key Players
00:32:32
Speaker
So I'm going with a 2-1 home win. The scorers are going to be Josh Sargent because he hasn't scored for at least one game, so he's G1. It's a drought. It's a drought. It's a drought. And Johnny Rowe off the bench, as we've discussed.
00:32:45
Speaker
our car road will go ballistic with that. Like that. What about you, punterlicious? I'm never really that confident going into games and I'm super confident going into this one. So that probably bodes badly, doesn't it? I'm going to, I'm going to go full Tom Parsley and say four nil. And I think that Ashley Barnes will get a brace.
00:33:07
Speaker
I'd like that. I'd like that. Will he, will he celebrate by swearing at the park? He's quite like, I don't know. I don't know if I've mentioned this on the pod before, but he got quite angry when Norwich had scored a goal and someone didn't pass it to him and they shot instead. And I was like, he's quite an angry man, isn't he? Bless him. Maybe that's why he's got banned from all the race courses.
00:33:26
Speaker
because he's shouting at the horses. You won but I had you to win by three lengths. I don't know if shouting at horses works. Right, I'm gonna go with 5-1. We haven't had like a bonkers score line like that at Carrow Road for a long time. So we had that 4-2, didn't we?
00:33:49
Speaker
What did I want to say? I'd rather him 5-0 as well, I don't mean. Oh, we had a, yeah, we had, yeah, okay, yeah, okay. We forgot about that. That was a good game. Yeah, so we have had one recently. Let's have another one. But 5-1, I do think they'll get one. Although, I want to also shout out Angus Gunn for a week in which he was superb. The Ipswich game in particular,
00:34:11
Speaker
They are not a small team and he came and claimed. And I know he dropped one on Saturday, which didn't amount to anything. But he has been a superb pair of hands over that really important three game run. So I think he deserves a shower just because he didn't come up in conversation early today. But I'm going 5-1. I think they will nick one. I wonder if they nick one a little bit early and it gets a little bit nervy.
00:34:36
Speaker
and then it becomes a bit of a possession. I love the idea of Johnny Rowe coming off the bench and scoring. I'm going Sargent Hatrick to make up for his abysmal run of form of not scoring for a few days. Any final thoughts from you, Punt, as we head into this crucial final three games?
00:34:57
Speaker
I like your shout out for Angus Gunn. I just put it to you two guys as well because I've been thinking about this now and I don't, voting must be open.
Player of the Season Contenders
00:35:06
Speaker
Gunny, Barry Butler, I mean, he's not my pick, but he's got to be top three now, right? Nailed on top three for me, yeah. In fact, I think he's cemented in the third position for me. And I'm presuming you're going Kenny 1, Gabby 2. Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:23
Speaker
I've voted Gabby but I think it's between him and Kenny first and second and then yeah I think Angus would be well deserved to be in there as well. I think voting closes today speaking on Monday so no more chances for anyone to get their way in. Well I haven't voted yet so I'm now going to go and vote Gabby and then I take it you just get one pick.
00:35:43
Speaker
Well, I get six or seven, but I mean, you know, special dispensation and Kenny's a shoe in them. Lots of VPNs and stuff. I haven't voted. I haven't actually got around to vote. So if Kenny is fourth by one position, I'll be I'll be disappointed. Yeah, I think it's great. You always find it in a promotion season when you don't have team Ibuki.
00:36:05
Speaker
that you can make a really good case for several. But yeah, if the top three are anything other than those three, I'd be mightily surprised.
Final Thoughts and Future Episodes
00:36:13
Speaker
And I wouldn't have any problem with any of the three of them lifting the Barry Butler. I don't think anyone could really complain if any of the three of them were hoisting that trophy come. I guess it will be the penultimate game, won't it? Because the final game's away. Can you imagine how hard it would have been if Johnny Rowe and Sarge stayed fit all season?
00:36:34
Speaker
They'd have to do like, they'd have to do multiple trophies. That'd be the only, but then we'd also, we'd also have the league title. We'd also have the league title. This is true. Anyway, speaking of which, look forward to Saturday. Enjoy the guaranteed goals and goal scores we've predicted. Sorry, guaranteed. And we'll see you again probably once more for a pre-playoff pod buildup of some kind. All right, there you go.