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CROSSOVER WITH SOUTHAMPTON: Preview for Sunday's Action
24 Plays29 days ago
Louie and Michael are joined by Zak and Greg ahead of the weekend's action.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Crossover Episode
00:00:10
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Daily Southampton and the Daily Liverpool crossover episode for this week by the Global Sports Podcast Network. I'm joined today, my name's Gregory Elliott, I'm joined today by, as always, by my co-host Zach. How you doing Zach? Yeah, not too bad mate, not too bad. Looking forward to the return of real football, not looking forward to what the score line will inevitably be, but here we are.
00:00:31
Speaker
We've talked before, 15 points from these next five games.
Optimism for Liverpool's Weekend Match
00:00:34
Speaker
We're going to be alright. And ah joined from the Liverpool side of the Global Sports Podcast Network team by Louis. How you doing mate? You alright? I'm great. How are you? Yeah, um um' right I'm alright. I'm trying to feel optimistic coming into the weekend. It's just nice to have a football back. And Michael, how you doing mate? You alright?
00:00:51
Speaker
Yeah, I'm good.
Anticipation of Crossover Episode Themes
00:00:52
Speaker
I'm excited to talk about ah Liverpool playing their old B team, their old feeder club. So that'll be interesting to hear. Yeah, that's it. So, yeah, we we're a lovely crossover episode today. So we're going to we're going to talk to the card and talk about Liverpool and talk about Saints and I'm sure some predictions towards the end. So I guess let's let's start with our our visitors, Liverpool. I mean, it's it's a bit of a contentious fixture in my household. It's got to be said because ah my wife is a Liverpool fan. So it's ah it it could be a difficult weekend either way, ah truth be told. but sir
00:01:31
Speaker
I don't know. It's been a good season for you guys so far, right? Like, were you enjoying it? Were you expecting it to go as well with your manager change? but To be fair, like I like the the squad is the same. We didn't make any big sales. I didn't really make any big bit big signings. So I wasn't too ah worried about like how well we were going to be doing. I think I thought we were going to be like top four. Definitely. But no, I wasn't expecting to be five points clear by the November international breaker. Let's
Liverpool's Strong Season Performance
00:01:59
Speaker
just say that. But I think like you You guys are the easiest point of our hard run so far. like Since we played Arsenal, we've had quite a difficult run and we still have quite a difficult run after this. I think there's a chance that we might play the kids against you who in preparation for Real Madrid and Man City as our next two games. so but well We'll see what lineup slot brings out, but I think it will be a good game.
00:02:23
Speaker
Yeah, and so maybe a rotated side straight off the international break would be interesting. But I guess, Louis, do you think there's a chance that you're going to be looking past us and see that as a banana skin potentially, or is it just a gun deal?
00:02:39
Speaker
That's my fear. That is my fear. I'm way more pessimistic than Michael, I will say that because, you know, ah you you see you look at our previous seasons and you just see where we finished one point behind Man City and, you know, we slipped over a couple of very winnable banana skins earlier in the season. But I don't think we will because, you know, this is one of the first international breaks in a long time where Liverpool haven't been at the 12.30 kick-off on a Saturday noon, so it will be a nice extra day of rest for Liverpool. Maybe a couple of rotations with the hard fixtures coming up, but I don't think Liverpool are that naive to underestimate anyone in the Premier League, especially in his first season. Last time he came down to St Mary's was a rather explosive four-wall draw. Do you think there's going to be that many goals in it this time, or do you think it's going to be a bit more sharp shot from you guys?
00:03:36
Speaker
I really just can't predict these things really. i i
Liverpool's Defensive Strengths and Predictions
00:03:39
Speaker
don't I do think Liverpool are a lot more defensive this season. The stats speak for themselves. We've had plenty of clean sheets and ah a lot of our play has been without the ball and then countering as well. So that I do think if it is going to be a goal fest, it would be probably in our favor. and you know Not to write Southampton off, but I just can't see us conceding more than one goal this weekend. but
00:04:08
Speaker
I do think we will be quite dangerous in our attack as we have been all season, you know, with the forwards that we have, you know, we've got Diaz, we've got Gackpo, Nunez and Salah all available. And I can see Zach's cringing a little bit at that. Yeah, it ah he's right. The last time we actually we played Greg wasn't just well, we the last time we played at St Mary's, it was for all. The last time we played in a team under Russell Martin, it was a 3-0 win where I recognise a couple of the starting line up, but let's face it, most of it at that point was just, you just sent the kids out against us and they won 3-0. And we were just happy, we only lost 3-0. I remember Russell Martin coming off the back of that and being like, well, you know, it's always hard to put Liverpool, I think we've shown a good account of ourselves. sort of like
00:04:50
Speaker
That's great. We really need a point at some point. and A good count of ourselves losing 3-0 is terrifying. And as you pointed out, your your squad's fairly changed. Our squad has changed quite a bit over the last couple
Southampton's Squad Challenges
00:05:02
Speaker
of years. So probably the 4-4 game was the last, I think it was the last game of the season.
00:05:06
Speaker
so we actually had quite a few players that are still here which is baffling because usually whenever I have these conversations it is well the last time we played we only have three players still at the club ah like yeah that's that's how much we've changed and and I think they you can't underestimate how good you've been because you're right oh we've had yeah like one signing here or there the the monumental shift of a manager and they're just winning everything and we're just we're just clinging on for dear life hoping to get a point here and there we managed to just about scrape a win against Everton which gave us ah the unbridled level of joy whereas last season like you know it's just yeah it's it's it's gonna be tough.
00:05:45
Speaker
You have a very strong attack. I'm very scared. Very upset. OK, well, to to bring it home, if you had a weak point in your team that we needed to attack, where would your biggest point of concern be? Let's go to you, Michael. I mean, we don't we don't want to give away any secrets. Of course not. But I think, well, there's a chance that Trent might be out in this game. So there's obviously, Connor Bradley is going to be playing on that right hand side if he is.
00:06:14
Speaker
like i think kind of Bradley is a superb ah right back but I think that there is a chance that maybe your left-hand side I mean you play with if you played a five back nowadays aren't you so like maybe that's not an area that you guys could attack just with what was it what's his name Manning running down running down the wing yeah um Bradley I think Bradley's winning that contest every day of the week I think maybe you could like do something.
Tactical and Injury Challenges for Southampton
00:06:42
Speaker
and you who's Who's going to be a goalkeeper? Because isn't Ramsdale injured as well? It'll be Alex McCarthy. We'll probably step in, I imagine, because Pazuni's still out. Pazuni and Ramsdale are both injured. So you've got McCarthy in goal, which is, I think long shots are going to be on for for this game. But i think I think like you guys have some very good players. I think Jawa Rebo.
00:07:06
Speaker
was very good at Rangers and I think he could be good. has Obviously I don't think he's been that good this season. You've got Adam Lallana who is the GOAT and is a great player but I think he's slightly over the hill and you've got Cameron Archer who could like in the future he could be good. Like I think he's got talent but like the fact that your strikers Cameron Archer and Armstrong have scored three goals between them is slightly worrying um and I think yeah there's not there's not many sort of weaknesses in our team that you could realistically exploit at this moment in time just wherelight we're playing with such confidence. Yeah it's definitely there's definitely some dread heading in you know our last game we we lost to walls and we managed zero shots on time so we're
00:07:54
Speaker
we're We're fighting hard for
Southampton's Scoring and Possession Struggles
00:07:56
Speaker
the optimism, it has to be said. It's fine, mate. We've had 71% of the ball. That's all that matters. I promise you, I'm not laughing at how bleak your team is. I'm just laughing at Zach's reaction.
00:08:07
Speaker
is every Every time you seem to open his mouth, he just looks depressed, looks down on his team. It is so difficult. That's the standard state of affair on the podcast. so it's yeah for but Greg is ever the optimist. like I've got a clip lined up for him saying we're going to get 15 points out of these games. so I'm looking forward to flat jale go in Yeah exactly. yeah Your next games are Liverpool, Brighton, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Tottenham and then you've got us again in the EFL Cup. Even Fulham, that's also a difficult game that's after that. West Ham, if they sack the manager they could have a new manager boost.
00:08:44
Speaker
Crystal Palace is probably the next game you're looking at getting points in. That's the thing, you say that. We we played we played bottom of the table and didn't manage a shot on target. so i can bear i guess it's all just I think you guys are bottom of the table now. but yeah yeah um yeah At that point we weren't. That whole like nice week.
00:09:01
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's it's very difficult for me to remain optimistic at the moment as a Saints fan. But I'm also still not one of the people that are immediately like, just get rid of the manager. I just i personally think we just come up too soon. but Yeah, I think Russell Martin has a definite future. I think you guys you guys are playing in like, you've got a lot of possession in games. Like even when you were playing Wolves, you had 71% possession.
00:09:23
Speaker
which is like insane for a newly promoted team to lose 2-0 and still have that much that much of the ball. There's something wrong there. I think that's more down to your strikers not scoring. But I think like like you've had a lot of possession all all through the all through the year. like Even against Newcastle yeah yeah on the first day of the season, you had 77% possession. like That's insane. I think i think when you're probably going to go down. like Let's just say that.
00:09:51
Speaker
ah you're right we're saying and that this isn't the total race decider that we're hoping for no but I think I think you're gonna get the money you're gonna reinvest like I think you you like you know you signed players like love you like before you obviously sent them off to Chelsea I think if you keep that that sort of approach with this parachute payments, I think you're going to be fine. And the way Russell Martin plays with some better players, you're going to be fine. But I think it's, you might get poached by a bigger team like company did, because it was a very similar approach in terms of play his way that he did in the championship and then. Yeah,
Hope from Young Southampton Talents
00:10:27
Speaker
there's a lot of discourse about him potentially sort of playing career mode and putting his philosophy above the team. but
00:10:35
Speaker
yeah it's it's an interesting one but realistically does us playing possession based football really play into your hands because You know, a lot of what I've seen from you guys is catching on the break at speed anyway, right? I think we're adaptable. We can play either way. And we've proven that constantly this season that we are comfortable both with and without the ball. We've got so much quality and we have got players coming back soon. I think I read somewhere that everyone's meant to be available for the Real Madrid match. You know, Harvey Elliott's back in training now. Trent, I don't think looked too serious. And I just really want to see Kieza play but otherwise.
00:11:12
Speaker
you know, our only signing. We don't even get to see him play. Other than Rio Ngo... What's his name? Rio Ngo Moha or something in the academy? Oh yeah, the kid that we signed from Chelsea, they were feeling a lot. Yeah, I mean... He looks... Have you seen him play? It's just ridiculous. He's insane. Him and Bentoak on the wings, everyone's gonna get rinsed. Oh, mate. Honestly, and Bentoak, what an international break he had with Scotland. Robertson as well, scoring a last-minute goal against Poland. You know, it's all looking confirmed. You guys could do with Bentoak.
00:11:43
Speaker
We could do a lot of things. We could but do a lot of players. Do you want us to send you us our academy? Well, it would be a nice exchange considering you had all of our best players over the last 10 years. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, never forget what's his name Ricky Lambert. What a baller. He came on his way.
00:12:07
Speaker
right Well that takes us nicely I guess to our first message from our partners over at Zencaster. So here at the Global Sports Podcast Network we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform and Zencaster came out the clear winner. With 4k video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically promotes all those ums and ahs 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.
00:12:37
Speaker
say yeah normally I guess at this point I'd ask sort of what we should be worried about from you guys and where the goal scoring threat comes from but maybe it's easier to ask don't you see scoring on Sunday Joe Gomez
00:12:54
Speaker
mean I think everyone's up for a goal. I think even Keller, I think he could get brought up on the corner at the end. He'd just pop it in. but yeah I think it'll be an interesting game. It'll be probably you guys would want to defend and keep the ball and stuff, but if you push up too high,
00:13:12
Speaker
I think Diaz, Nunez, Salah, Keizer if he's back, Gackpo, everyone. Sales are running in behind. I think you might get punished. so I think you've got to play your way, but not too too much your way.
00:13:28
Speaker
I mean the thing is that I can see happening is Southampton will just sit back with their five at the back and just hope and pray and that they can cling on for a nil-nil as long as possible and then it will take like 20 minutes into the first half, we'll score and then the get game plan will go out the window. That's genuinely what I see happening.
00:13:47
Speaker
I just but think that would be very popular with the home crowd. They're a pretty impatient bunch at times. So I think that they're going to want us to go out on the front foot and try and do something.
00:14:00
Speaker
We tend to be able to start fast. So I could definitely see us sort of catching you sleeping a little bit and getting an early goal before we then, you know, turn around and get wake up the beast, poke the bear a bit too early, probably. And, uh, and stuff like that. It could end up like that, where we, uh, we, we start not even the city game, like even the arsenal game, where we talked about how we played really well. We did play very, very well. We got a goal.
00:14:25
Speaker
And the problem was at that point, then all it takes is the equality of Liverpool to overtake. And then it will be, oh, well, it was 3-1 and we lost, but we went down fighting. That's going to keep us up. All those points on the board with ah our one goal. I get that. But if you're trying to play with intensity, you are playing against the team with the most intensity, probably in world football at the moment. Liverpool, you know, our players just do not stop running. It's, it's ah the only thing I can say in your favor as well is you should be pleased that this isn't at Anfield if you're trying to play with intensity because I mean at St Mary's you know you've got the home crowd on your side but as soon as we've seen so many times this season if it's at Anfield and it's a loud atmosphere
00:15:08
Speaker
the game plan just goes out the ri window and just run into your half. So that won't happen today and I do think that a lot of the tempo of the game will be decided in the first half an hour like you mentioned. But I do want to touch on um Taylor Harwood-Bellis as well because i was at the I was at Wembley and I saw him score his first goal coming off the bench on his debut. Is that the sort of motivation that he might need as well, especially with such a sort of young leader in that back line?
00:15:39
Speaker
he He is, I think, one of our top goal scorers for the season. Pretty sure he's scored a lot of but lot of the Carabao Cup games he's scored. I think he's he is a fantastic player, and I think his leadership quality is, I can see him being a future captain. I'd like it to be for us, realistically. I don't see him living here forever.
00:15:55
Speaker
You can see that you know he he's really happy and proud of himself. ah Russell might have even joked about how Ryan Manning helped him a little bit. Get that goal by just being a bit bit rubbish for Ireland. In a similar sense to him with Ricky Lava at one point.
00:16:10
Speaker
so yeah he i think he is somebody that at the start of the season he wasn't playing and then Jack Stevens obviously had his little bit of a meltdown at Man U and then he got back into the side and has been pretty much a solid starter for Mian, you Greg, right? ah Yeah, I don't see anyone displacing him from the team. I think he's consistently one of the the better players in moving the ball forward in an otherwise somewhat passive approach normally as well. He'll find that piercing ball even if it ends up coming back to him in the long run.
00:16:44
Speaker
Yeah, my worry with, I think my worry in general is that he's going to come off the back of that performance with a ton of confidence and he's going to go out of, out of, you know, start, run out. And then I don't want that confidence to be completely stripped away from him by losing a large amount again. and And that seems to be like we keep trying to sort of start our season after almost every game. And then we got our win on Everton and started to try to start the season again. And it just seems,
00:17:11
Speaker
Every single game is like this and I'm really glad for the lads that have had good international breaks. I would love it to turn into a positive momentum. I just worry that it's not going to with our run coming up. I don't know how you feel Greg, probably slightly more optimistic than me.
Liverpool's Upcoming Fixtures and Strategy for Southampton
00:17:26
Speaker
Yeah, though I think that Liverpool are going to look straight past us and um slip up and we're going to get 15 points in the next five games. And then, you know, those three points are going to push us towards our title run. I'm telling you, it's where we kickstart our season and give ourselves all the confidence. That's the way we've got to go in and believe. but I mean, in this next run, I think like you can definitely get points off Tottenham and Aston Villa. like Both aren't on the top of their game, and especially if you guys can have people to run in behind of Tottenham in particular. Because when they don't have Van de Ven, they they need to drop a bit deeper and they're just not. So like there's ways that you can get out the one two at least two of the five teams that are coming up. But I think it's just you need to approach the games. Liverpool are. where We're one of the most informed teams in the league, I think. like
00:18:15
Speaker
ah Any team would struggle to come up against us. So I think almost your players kind of need to be reminded of that and kind of look on to Brighton or look on to Chelsea and be like, we can actually get something out of it. Obviously now this is going to age like milk if if you do do a smashing grab, but but yeah.
00:18:35
Speaker
I think that's the hardest thing because I definitely think that Russell Martin has it in him to get our players believing that we can beat you and it's you're right it's recovering from that sort of mental state if and when that you know doesn't occur that's going to be the real challenge but said about if we can run in behind but really I think that's actually been one of our biggest challenges this season is that we sort of seem to have this anomaly where we have a striker that's good at running in behind who we keep trying to cross the ball to and then we have a six foot seven striker who when we bring on the pitch we keep trying to play the ball to his feet and it doesn't
00:19:10
Speaker
It doesn't make sense to me why we can't play to the striker's strengths who we have on the pitch. It's it's a bit baffling. Can you understand why people want, like majority of Saints fans want Russell Martin out?
00:19:24
Speaker
Yeah, 100% because the the problem the problem is is that they seem to think that we're going to get somebody else in and then that's going to resolve the problem. And I just think that a vast majority of it is the quality. I think that a lot of our players are playing beyond what their capabilities would be under other managers, in my opinion. And that is partly due to his my management style, the influence he has.
00:19:42
Speaker
in the dressing room the kind of the way that he wants and the way that he wants everyone to fight and then it gets annoyed with them when they don't and it's it's visible like i don't think any manager goes into managing a club and expects their players to get no shots on target in 90 minutes like it i just i just don't believe that that is how anyone wants them to play football but the problem is is that like people have quite short memories and people have come up, they we had the joy at Wembley, it was an incredible day.
Southampton's Past Successes and Fan Expectations
00:20:05
Speaker
like we've We've come back up and then a lot of Southampton fans, you know even myself included to a little bit, like we do a lot of episodes on 2014 and 2016 when we had the Wonder Years, and we had people like Van Dijk in our back line, which is nuts if you think about it. like Little old Southampton kept him for for longer than we should have um i had him put it that way.
00:20:22
Speaker
And and the the thing is, is that there there is that legacy there that means that they think that is where we should be in the football table and we should continue to kind of try to go for sixth and eighth. And then you look at how competitive the league has been this year. And it's like we are, they are trying their best. We're just not as good as we want to be. And I think that swapping them out doesn't make a bit difference because we did that. We got rid of Hassenhutl and we brought in Nathan Jones, which again was absolute comedy gold for pretty much everyone, even us included. and so The sound bites alone will keep me and Greg laughing for the next decade.
00:20:53
Speaker
Yeah, but that that's, you know, Nathan Jones moving straight on. We ended up having Ruben Sellers that tried to kind of like revive Hassan Hootlebull. And that didn't work out too well either. Like we won what? Two games? One of which was against a really sub-par Chelsea who was really having their own struggles in that season. And then there was also that winning against Leicester where I don't know how we kept Leicester out of the goal. But like,
00:21:15
Speaker
that That whole season we just completely capitulated and everything changed and that was part of them making really, really rash decisions. They they don't want to make rash decisions again and as much as I think everyone's mad and thinks well the time's come, well what are you going to do now? Sack him in January and hope everything's better? i wouldn't be so like I think that a lot of the the earlier sort of plans would be working if the signings that we got in summer, all of them worked out.
00:21:38
Speaker
We've had some signings in summer that have worked out really well, like Matisse Fernandez, incredible player. But there's a lot of players that have come through that haven't done that well, right? Like, we'd expect four from Koop Kornay, we'd expect more from Iga Chukwu, like all the kind of players we got, like players we got on loan sort of last minute. And then obviously now we've got Ramsdale out even longer, so happy days. I just, I don't know if firing him responds, like firing him resolves any problems other than making everyone feel better. And the last time Sports Republic caved to that pressure, we ended up again with with Nathan Jones. I will, I will ask you under Russell Martin, do you think there is a slight lack of ambition? Is that what that because I think that's what's frustrating Southampton fans the most. I think the fact that straight away, and after Ruud van Nistroy went out of sort of the the man you job, they're like, baby, we should get Ruud van Nistroy.
Financial Constraints Impacting Southampton
00:22:26
Speaker
And I think that it's there's not a lack of ambition. It's about being realistic, especially with the way that like football clubs are going can just go under the drop of a hat nowadays. We do not have that level of money to keep
00:22:36
Speaker
us in the position that a lot of the other clubs are at. I think they've got a specific plan and they said that they're with we're not far off and I think from a fan's perspective and especially like So you guys have been have been a you know fan of a big team, and like the the level of ambition is and the expectation should be there. We have also had like that taste of glory, and I think that a lot of fans would love to return back there. But realistically, like we came up this season early, in my opinion. we We won in the playoffs, the best way to do it, but we still won one of the top three teams. Leeds just had a really bad day. If Leeds had had their day, we'd still be plowing our trade down low. and
00:23:11
Speaker
I yeah just think that we are they are trying their best and they don't want to just upset the apple car and I don't think that we can pay to have you know a Graham Potter or anyone like that like they can make amount of money Chelsea play to like pay to get him and then we're like yeah we could pay his wages I'm like mate we can barely pay the wages of most of our players I think We had a wage cap and they finally broke it just for Ramsdale. But other than that, you know a vast majority of players that we wanted to get, people like Liam Delappe, one of the reasons we probably didn't end up getting them is because they don't want to pay the money. And it's not to do the ambition, it's to do with the survival of the football club itself.
00:23:44
Speaker
It's a different question if all of a sudden we have owners that come in with billions of pounds in reserves, right? Then then then the situation is different. But we I think they want everybody realistically is now getting to the point where they're Russell Martin out, but also are starting to understand, well, maybe the problem is Sports Republic and they're the owners. I'm like, well, yeah, pretty much. But, the the you know, Catherine Lieber, who was a gal in that lot, didn't want the club anymore. They sold it to the first people that were willing to buy it. They probably shouldn't considering, like, all of our sponsors are just crypto people. Hate it.
00:24:14
Speaker
But I just, I can understand the criticisms. I just think that the problem is, is that my, my perspective on all of this is slightly grounded more in realism and how much it costs to get rid of a manager, how much it costs to pay for really, really good players. And I think they're doing the best with a bad situation. I just think that if this would also be a completely different conversation, if Cameron Archer had just knocked in a few more of those pools, then all of a sudden people would be like, he's a genius. Look at him. He's amazing. Got 71 possession in the Premier League and he got three goals. Incredible.
00:24:44
Speaker
So some of it's the players as well, ultimately. yeah of course i mean we've had a house one We've had a similar situation in terms of the owners not wanting to... kind of put their hand in their pockets and pay for stuff. Like we've, FSG have had like a model of being sustainable. um And I think that does frustrate a lot of the fans. But I think the, your glory, your like kind of best era of recent times was when you were buying like a Manet or a Van Dyke for cheap and then shipping them off to, in those examples, off to Liverpool for big money. Like you got 70 million for Van Dyke, that was a tidy profit and that helped you buy more.
00:25:21
Speaker
young players who were really cheap or from academies like Lavia and then sell them on for big money and kind of rinse and repeat. That's one of the best ways of sustaining as a smaller club. On your Lavia like point though, that was because we had the head of recruitment from City came over to us yeah and then literally less than a year later it got poached. and ilthough we had a really good director of football who's now been poached over to Man United. So this is the other problem is that you start to do well. Like I think the only club that seems to be doing it sustainably at the moment is Brighton. And that that was a bigger problem is that if all of the people that are scouting all of these players have been taken by the clubs, you try and like, it's like trying to replicate the formula, but not quite knowing the recipe. So instead of like Manet, you end up with Musa Genepo. And if you don't know who Musa Genepo is, that's precisely my point.
00:26:04
Speaker
And the reason we had that little bit of glimpse again is because of the fact that, yeah, we we both bought half of Cities Academy. Taylor Harvard-Bellis was a city player. yeah Zunu was a city player. Lavia was a city player. Adoze, who's currently out on loan, a city player. And that was because they went, oh, I'll pick my favorite players and I'll see the ones that we can actually get into a side that if we give them Premier League football in a year's time, they'll come and stay. And that's what some of them have done. And, you know, Shay Charles is another one, although he's currently out on loan. So I think it's just trying to, like,
00:26:34
Speaker
trying to rebuild that formula is going to be difficult, especially where nowadays I think that those club like bigger clubs are wise to that. I think the only time we've ever had it go the other way was Tyler Dippling, who's been a sensation for us this season, turned down Chelsea to come back to us after spending one day in their training ground. And it's a good thing, because if not, he would be one of the 30 players on loan in like the Bulgarian League or whatever. chelsea But like, let's face it, they've got a squad of about 1000 senior players. So yeah yeah, I have some strong opinions, clearly.
00:27:05
Speaker
Greg, do you want to get a word in a choice before I end up completely dominating? It is an interesting one, but you're right. I think it's a similar model from our owners looking for this sustainability in business. And I think it's always going to be business first and football success second.
Club Priorities: Business vs. Football Success
00:27:22
Speaker
And whether that's good enough for our fan base for a long period of time or not, I don't know. But, you know, we've used a lot of the money that we gained coming up in the Premier League to make improvements around the stadium that have been long overdue.
00:27:33
Speaker
And I think that that's very telling that the the owners were very prepared for a for a brief trip up in the Premier League and and to head back down, but maybe not quite as in a horrifying way as it's gone so far, to be honest. I mean, you're still taking points from from teams and you're not you're still giving it a good go. Even if you do go down, you've got a young enough squad to kind of build upon it. And that was kind of the idea for like,
00:27:59
Speaker
likes of like Burnley or Bournemouth when they went down they kind of reinvested and kind of brought in players who could do a job in the Premier and now they're flying so I think if you if you have that sort of foresight I think Russell Martin could do a job if you give him years rather than a few games but yeah I understand the frustration and in the short term. And his favourite catchphrase is it's part of the process and you've got to trust it and stick with it.
00:28:24
Speaker
it's just how long that patience lasts that we uh I guess reeks of our tetta doesn't it reeks of it and you don't want to reek of our tetta no I guess that takes us uh into our next uh break so with a message from our partner from global sports podcast network The Global Sports Podcast Network is changing the face of football podcasting with dedicated daily content for every Premier League team, women's football, fantasy football and a daily Premier League wrap up broadcasted in five different languages. This is your one stop shop for your daily football fix. Find GSPN wherever you find your usual podcasts. Okay, so to sort of head us off to a close, I guess we'll head into the final segment and
00:29:06
Speaker
Probably a bit of a scary segment for us, Zach, as we start thinking about predictions and score predictions for the weekend. Scary for you. I'm already resigned to our faces. I'll throw it over to ah to you first, Louis. What do you but you see the score line finishing up on on Sunday? Oh my god, I hate predicting matches, but but I'm gonna say... and I'm gonna say 2-0, Liverpool.
00:29:31
Speaker
I, you know, ah Zach's probably going to take that very nicely. Yeah, very much so. I'm fine with that.
Match Predictions for Liverpool vs. Southampton
00:29:37
Speaker
Alright. I'm alright with it as well. Just as long as Lip will get the three points and I think they will.
00:29:42
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's also a chance that we maybe go up two, three, and then kind of take our foot off the gas, maybe just keep the ball a little bit more. Yeah. So I think, oh, like, rest a few players, take Salah off early, something like that. Or it could be that we got three nil and then Salah can taste blood and wants to score seven. So then he just kind of goes for it. so I think it could either be a blowout or it could be kind of.
00:30:08
Speaker
Two or three? I think we'll probably do our usual of, you know, making hard work of them in the first half and then in the second half, just completely close it out. That's what we always do. We always make the first half look like a proper contest. That's what we do with Brighton when we let them score first. And then, you know, we all saw what happened in the second half. Yeah. Well, I think I think that we would take that honestly as a, as almost a win. Zach, as the pessimist of our show, how do you see it?
00:30:37
Speaker
I know that and know that you can never predict the loss mate, it just isn't in your nature. But I'll say 3-1, I feel like it's got similar vibes to we'll we'll try our best, yes, we'll play probably better than we expected to, because we always seem to do that against the bigger teams for some bizarre reason. Never never when it counts, always when it's we need to put on a show. Who knows, maybe Solomano will get another two goals to go with his tally of the two goals he scored last time around.
00:31:02
Speaker
A player we all thought would tear up this Championship, but yeah, I'd say 3-1. So that's kind of how I feel. I feel like they'll be a dominated 3-0 and we might peg one back or alternatively we'll score first and then the the collapse after will come. And that's just it. I think it's just the quality of Liverpool. We'll see us, we'll see us put to the sword a little bit. I think that's the my only concern. You're right. I haven't predicted anything other than a Saints win all season and subsequently have only been right once, but yeah.
00:31:32
Speaker
No, you're right. I can't do it. I think we're going to win 2-1. I think think we're going to score first, probably in the first 20 minutes. I think that we'll probably then concede a really stupid goal almost immediately afterwards. And I think it'll be a really cagey affair where we stick 10 men behind the ball and really dig in. And then probably one of our defenders will bail us out in the last minute with a goal because our strikers can't score anyway. That's how I see it playing out.
00:32:03
Speaker
I just want to say I was gutted when Cameron Archer missed his penalty against United. that i I was watching that thinking, God, Ramsdale looks good. Surely maybe Saints can get something here. And then, you know, now in my short-lived time as a Saints fan, I felt your pain. Yeah. And I'm glad I don't have to put up with that every week. I'm a little bit optimistic that having McCarthy in goal will lose some of the confidence in playing the ball out from the back that our defender seemed to have.
00:32:33
Speaker
So hopefully it will push us that sort of 10, 15 yards further up the pitch and maybe we'll get some shots away at least this week. That's that's really, I think what we're all hoping for. Yeah, a shot on target realistically is an improvement. So we'll take that. If that's what we're going for.
00:32:53
Speaker
and quite well I guess on that optimistic bombshell. That's just about all we've talked the time for. So thank you very much for joining me, guys. It's been a great day. This is a depressing podcast, isn't it? That's it. I have to press it up people they have a optimis twice more this season as well. Maybe even thrice if we get you in the FA Cup. That's it. But hopefully things will be brighter by the time we meet you next and we'll be in a a much nicer position higher up the table.
00:33:21
Speaker
especially if my predictions ring true and we get 15 points from these next five games, we'll be ah we'll be meeting each other in a title contenders podcast in no time, right? so I am entirely based on emotions and vibes and as you can see the current emotions and vibes of being at the bottom of the table sucks. Maybe in the future we might get just above above the relegation zone and you'll see a much brighter side to me. You've seen like a couple of good guys, I feel sorry for you. Honestly, by the next time we do a crossover you could very well have the leaks sealed up, right? So it could be a very different talking point from then. I hope so. I'm not getting ahead of myself, but I appreciate your kind words there, sir. Anyway, thank you very much for joining me, guys. You've been listening to the Daily Southampton and the Daily Liverpool crossover episode, always our favourite episode of the week. And we will see you next time.