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Episode 349: Matchday Preview: Birmingham again!
13 Plays1 month ago
Southampton – With the games coming thick and fast in this Christmas period, we struggle to remember what day it is, but muster through and think about the game ahead.
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts' Welcome
00:00:05
Speaker
Your daily soccer podcast with the Global Sports Podcast Network.
00:00:15
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to the Daily Southampton, part of the Global Sports Podcast Network.
00:00:21
Speaker
My name is Greg Elliott and as always today, joined by my good friend and wonderful co-host, Zach Ingo Finch.
Post-Holiday Blues and Oxford Defeat
00:00:27
Speaker
How you doing, mate?
00:00:27
Speaker
You all right?
00:00:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's Crimbo Limbo.
00:00:31
Speaker
And as of this podcast, I'm back to work.
00:00:33
Speaker
And that's not great.
00:00:35
Speaker
And I'm real tired about it.
00:00:36
Speaker
And something, something, complain, complain.
00:00:40
Speaker
And I'm still mad about Oxford Day, mate.
00:00:43
Speaker
That's the problem, is I'm still cross that we lost at Oxford.
00:00:47
Speaker
I'm still, I thought I'd have managed to put myself into like a motivated mindset by this point.
00:00:55
Speaker
I'm just not quite there.
00:00:57
Speaker
You know?
00:00:57
Speaker
I don't know about you.
00:00:58
Speaker
No, no, look.
Upcoming Birmingham Match Preview
00:01:00
Speaker
I mean, I'm struggling at the moment, mate, because I am pillar to post in Christmas.
00:01:09
Speaker
I don't even know what day it is, mate.
00:01:11
Speaker
Like...
00:01:14
Speaker
So, it is frustrating, but I mean, I'm so far removed from heading to St Mary's New Year's Day and hopefully that we can, before then, pick up a win on the road against a team that...
00:01:29
Speaker
we'd be, oh, I wouldn't say comfortably, but, I mean, you know.
00:01:36
Speaker
They had a lot more chances to win that game.
00:01:37
Speaker
It's mad that we're playing them so quickly, considering it's, like, less than a month.
00:01:42
Speaker
So, like, oh, yeah, that game, you know, I know that that's just, like, the way teams have to play each other twice.
00:01:47
Speaker
It's just the way that these fixtures have fallen.
00:01:50
Speaker
It is very, like, there's literally been, what, like, three games in between before we played them again?
00:01:55
Speaker
It's kind of nuts.
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:57
Speaker
But it was, you know, it was a very, very good performance previously.
00:02:02
Speaker
You say it wasn't comfortable.
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, they scored.
00:02:04
Speaker
But realistically, it was more comfortable than the last couple of games we've had.
00:02:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:10
Speaker
More comfortable than the West Brom game as well.
00:02:12
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, it's interesting.
00:02:16
Speaker
It's hard to know how much playing an opposition, like twice that close in succession, who that benefits and for what reasons.
Team Preparation and Manager Support
00:02:27
Speaker
They're also much better at home and we are playing them at home.
00:02:30
Speaker
And that was a big talking point.
00:02:33
Speaker
them coming to us was that their away form was pretty dire.
00:02:37
Speaker
And they proved that by being not great, right?
00:02:39
Speaker
Like they did have plenty of chances.
00:02:41
Speaker
They just did a very, it was almost like a role reversal for the way that we played most of last season where, you know, there were a couple of chances that they had that they just blatantly missed.
00:02:50
Speaker
And had they taken them, it would have been, you know, evidently a much closer game.
00:02:54
Speaker
So, yeah, I kind of,
00:02:57
Speaker
it's hard to take heart in the fact that it's like, oh yeah, we go again because a loss, a draw and a loss.
00:03:04
Speaker
Have you, considering you've not paid any attention to anything in the last couple of days, did you see any of this stuff from Taylor Harbour-Bellis about the last game?
00:03:13
Speaker
I think I saw some of it in parts where it was just very much like, ah, we've got to get our heads back in it and go again, and we know we've got to do better.
00:03:22
Speaker
I think it was some of the stuff that was telling to me was, obviously, I was quite critical of the fact that I didn't think that...
00:03:30
Speaker
We were set up well, obviously substitutes didn't make as much of a impact as I guess Eckert wanted.
00:03:37
Speaker
And he even said that like Robinson's trying to work on part of his game to have more of an impact, which is great, but also kind of like...
00:03:47
Speaker
It is whatever, but I think the bit that stuck out to me was they were very, very sort of defending of Eckert, and he's like, the preparation was absolutely fine.
00:03:57
Speaker
It's us that let everybody down, which I think was quite interesting.
00:04:01
Speaker
So I don't know if we've had as much of a...
00:04:04
Speaker
sort of vermin defence when previous managers did wrong, right?
00:04:07
Speaker
Yeah, there were a couple of Russell Martin's favourites that would come out and be like, oh, Russell Martin's not the problem.
00:04:11
Speaker
It's actually just we're really bad at playing this style of football and then proven completely wrong at like Rangers.
00:04:18
Speaker
But I just found it very interesting that they came out to bat for him and, you know, I think, you know, hold my hands up that our last episode, like, you know, I was quite harsh.
Consistency Concerns
00:04:30
Speaker
I was quite...
00:04:32
Speaker
questioning of how sustainable the amount of work that the coaching staff are needing to do at the moment is you know it's possible and uh you know it seems like they specifically have almost realized that that would be a point of criticism and have jumped to his defense i guess that's nice but what i really want rather than having to discuss
00:04:55
Speaker
you know, talking points of what maybe one person said and what somebody else said is that if they just shut us up by actually winning again, because that's what I really want to see.
00:05:05
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that is the thing, right?
00:05:07
Speaker
Football is, with the league as it is and how it comes so thick and fast, that is the best way they can do their talking.
00:05:15
Speaker
And it will be interesting to see how we try and bounce back, like you say, against the Birmingham team who, I mean, looking at their form, are much better at
Game Stats and Birmingham's Home Advantage
00:05:23
Speaker
home.
00:05:23
Speaker
Their last five games at home, although their last two games at home have been a draw against Derby and a draw against Charlton.
00:05:29
Speaker
So maybe that form is on the slip.
00:05:32
Speaker
But prior to that, wins to Watford, Norwich and Millwall.
00:05:37
Speaker
But overall, their form, you know, across the board, not great.
00:05:43
Speaker
Three losses away from home with those two home draws thrown in.
00:05:48
Speaker
One of those when we beat them 3-1 as recently as that.
00:05:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:53
Speaker
They should be there for the taking, really.
00:05:57
Speaker
I felt that way more against Oxford than anybody.
00:06:01
Speaker
And we had what we considered mainly to be our best 11.
00:06:07
Speaker
And it didn't pay off.
00:06:08
Speaker
And it's been two days.
00:06:10
Speaker
It's not been a long period of time for them to rest and recover before they need to go out on the road again.
00:06:18
Speaker
So yeah, it's just, I don't know, like we should on paper and then we keep being taught otherwise.
00:06:24
Speaker
Like I can't, I just can't help but feel like the last three games being a loss, a draw, a loss.
00:06:27
Speaker
If we won those three games, we'd be third.
00:06:29
Speaker
That's the difference it makes.
00:06:31
Speaker
And that's the, that's the worry I have is that if they stick into this sort of like downfall and negative mentality, I'm just so, I think I've become like so immune to,
00:06:43
Speaker
to a lot of this sort of, yeah, we need to go back out there and do it again after two seasons of just every time we hear that.
00:06:53
Speaker
It's usually followed by a one-all draw is the best they can muster.
00:06:57
Speaker
I don't think that's the case with us at the moment.
00:06:59
Speaker
And Birmingham haven't been in great form and we should be looking to take advantage of it.
00:07:04
Speaker
I just want to make sure that
00:07:06
Speaker
what we see tomorrow night isn't going to be the lethargy we saw on Boxing Day, right?
00:07:12
Speaker
I really hope that that was just, we're really, really tired.
00:07:16
Speaker
Christmas has been busy.
00:07:18
Speaker
Like, we were still opening presents this morning.
00:07:20
Speaker
Maybe one or two of us is hung over.
00:07:22
Speaker
Like, I don't want to, you know, I don't
Promotion Prospects
00:07:24
Speaker
know.
00:07:24
Speaker
I think that's,
00:07:26
Speaker
having a go at the integrity of the sportsmen.
00:07:28
Speaker
I'm sure none of them were in a state, but you can tell that having a little bit of a break in between how busy it's been sometimes is almost detrimental.
00:07:38
Speaker
At this level, even the...
00:07:43
Speaker
like little bit of mental sharpness you might lose by just feeling like disheartened that you have to travel to Oxford on Boxing Day and presumably actually traveled on Christmas Day, right?
00:07:56
Speaker
So you're sort of missing out.
00:07:58
Speaker
So that's not dig at Oxford.
00:07:59
Speaker
To travel anywhere is sort of the point I'm getting at.
00:08:02
Speaker
But, you know, that is probably almost enough to cause that.
00:08:07
Speaker
And, you know, like you say, it was really just a case of,
00:08:11
Speaker
Oxford seemed to want it more and if, you know, it takes a bit of that seeping in over that period.
00:08:16
Speaker
So, I mean, hopefully, I mean, it's another trip away, which, I mean, we've really been dealt a shorthand, it has to be said, with two away games in three days.
00:08:26
Speaker
four days after Christmas.
00:08:29
Speaker
Even so, like our last home game, we would have taken that draw against Coventry any day of the week.
00:08:34
Speaker
But I think it's just the nature of which and how it happened was not great, right?
00:08:39
Speaker
I still think they probably would have gone on to beat us had one of their guys not decided to make a really, really dumb decision.
00:08:49
Speaker
And it's frustrating.
00:08:51
Speaker
And I think the players were probably frustrated they didn't capitalise on it.
00:08:54
Speaker
But as great as that was around it, having two losses to sides that are very low down the table, admittedly, sides that are in a state of flux, right?
00:09:03
Speaker
Norwich have a new manager, are playing slightly different.
00:09:06
Speaker
Oxford had no manager.
00:09:08
Speaker
I don't know if that allowed them to play with a little bit more freedom.
00:09:11
Speaker
I can't say that we did a huge amount of research into Oxford United beforehand because, again, falling around Christmas means that it's not...
00:09:21
Speaker
It's just not been like our priorities.
00:09:24
Speaker
We'll hold our hands up.
00:09:25
Speaker
And again, maybe we overestimated by saying, yeah, we're going to batter them 6-0 because we've been in a good spate of form.
00:09:32
Speaker
But more than knocking the players' confidence, mate, I think what the loss did is knock my confidence, which is why maybe I should just stop whinging about it and try and put myself into a positive mindset that maybe we're going to do something good this game, at least.
00:09:48
Speaker
Well, let's see if my little AI summary of the game agrees with you, either with the positivity or otherwise.
00:09:58
Speaker
It says the home advantage is probably going to be key here because Birmingham's home win rate is around 55% with an average home XG of nearly two goals.
00:10:10
Speaker
Whereas Southampton's away win rate is 25%.
00:10:15
Speaker
So not great.
00:10:16
Speaker
It says that over two and a half goals is a common outcome with 69% of the games in their historic data hitting that.
Player Fitness and Lineup Strategy
00:10:24
Speaker
And that the safe bet to go with would be Birmingham city to win over two and a half goals and both teams to score.
00:10:35
Speaker
And, you know, if you chuck Flynn Downs to get a yellow card into that bet builder, I'm sure that that seems viable, I suppose.
00:10:46
Speaker
It's not great reading, is it?
00:10:49
Speaker
To be honest, I wasn't expecting it to be that poor.
00:10:52
Speaker
It's put a bit of a dampener on my mood.
00:10:56
Speaker
I was horrifically wrong.
00:10:57
Speaker
We had been on 39 points and been in third.
00:11:00
Speaker
Not 30, whatever I said, three.
00:11:03
Speaker
33 points would pass 10th.
00:11:04
Speaker
No, sorry, 11th.
00:11:07
Speaker
We just did that weird part of the year.
00:11:10
Speaker
Sorry.
00:11:11
Speaker
I do want to make sure I correct myself, but...
00:11:13
Speaker
Yeah, like the AI spiel is kind of right.
00:11:17
Speaker
I think that home form will be key.
00:11:20
Speaker
I don't think that, you know, they haven't had a good run of games since they played us, right, basically.
00:11:26
Speaker
It's just so we can take solace in that.
00:11:29
Speaker
It's just that we are also very well known for breaking streaks, right?
00:11:33
Speaker
So if they've had a bad run of games, they could come up against us and potentially get a good game.
00:11:39
Speaker
But it just depends how, I guess, how much the players are up for it.
00:11:44
Speaker
is where I'm at.
00:11:45
Speaker
Like, there's just no other, no other sentiment to it in my mind than that.
00:11:49
Speaker
Because I know that on our day, we've shown how, how like positive we can be.
00:11:56
Speaker
But,
00:11:57
Speaker
we seem to have sort of fallen back into that, like, wobble, right?
00:12:02
Speaker
Is it a wobble?
00:12:03
Speaker
Are you worried it's going to be long-term?
00:12:05
Speaker
Because clearly I'm far more doom and gloom than you about everything in general.
00:12:11
Speaker
I don't know, mate.
00:12:12
Speaker
I feel like it's...
00:12:15
Speaker
it's really a hard one to read.
00:12:17
Speaker
I think that the substitutions were a bit strange and oddly timed and didn't help.
Promotion Hopes and Lower-Ranked Team Challenges
00:12:24
Speaker
Like you say, we clearly weren't 100% up for it for one reason or another, and there are so many ifs and buts as to what that could possibly have been.
00:12:34
Speaker
It's just a case of get through.
00:12:38
Speaker
I think if we could push through and get, I mean, maybe even a point against the team,
00:12:45
Speaker
as good at home as Birmingham and push on and beat Millwall at home, which, you know, is the team that, the first team we, that, that beat Tonda record's unit, right?
00:12:57
Speaker
That, that should be enough to spur us on and to kick on into another like good run.
00:13:03
Speaker
It's just a case of like getting through this really like tough period of games because of how fast they come.
00:13:10
Speaker
I just don't think the point cuts it.
00:13:12
Speaker
This is my problem is that we talked about how crucial this period of time was going to be as to separating the top of the table at the bottom.
00:13:19
Speaker
And like, they're clearly not happy as to where we are in the table.
00:13:23
Speaker
I think I already made a pretty, you know, pretty aggressive point about the fact that the standards they're trying to live up to are their own standards, right?
00:13:31
Speaker
So when it comes to whether or not we should just be able to get a point, I just don't think that's enough with where
Realistic Promotion Chances
00:13:39
Speaker
we want to be.
00:13:40
Speaker
If they're still genuinely aiming for promotion, we shouldn't be happy with just a point, especially against a team that arguably is, again, not to mug anyone off, but they came up from League One, man.
00:13:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:57
Speaker
I know that they've recruited pretty well, and I know that they're one of the teams that we expect to do better because of all the sort of the building they've been able to do with the funds that they've had, etc., etc.
00:14:11
Speaker
But I just feel like after the drop points over the last couple of games...
00:14:16
Speaker
it needs to be a win to show we're back on track for this promotion drive.
00:14:19
Speaker
And that was just a wobble because, you know, I don't know.
00:14:23
Speaker
It's difficult.
00:14:24
Speaker
Do you genuinely, where do you, I know that you've got a persona, like opinion of the, I always need to be positive.
00:14:34
Speaker
Where do you think our chances for promotion are, at least from automatics?
00:14:38
Speaker
Automatics, I think, do you think are out of the question at this point, genuinely?
00:14:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:43
Speaker
I don't think anything is out of the question.
00:14:46
Speaker
I think it's highly unlikely that we're going up in the automatics.
00:14:51
Speaker
I think the playoffs are still perfectly feasible.
00:14:54
Speaker
Perfectly achievable.
00:14:56
Speaker
I don't know if I want that, Greg.
00:14:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think this is the problem.
00:15:03
Speaker
Even if we want to get to that point now, we need to start showing more intent.
00:15:09
Speaker
And I'm hoping Boxing Day was just a one-off, but
00:15:13
Speaker
I also hope Norwich would be a one-off.
00:15:15
Speaker
And, you know, eight wins, seven draws, eight losses for a team that want to try and get promoted.
00:15:21
Speaker
Like Coventry City may have won 15 games.
00:15:24
Speaker
Yeah, that's crazy.
00:15:25
Speaker
Do you see what I mean?
00:15:26
Speaker
Crazy comparison.
00:15:27
Speaker
The disparity is wide.
00:15:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:32
Speaker
Maybe I'm just being a bit too negative, but...
00:15:34
Speaker
Right, mate, we are at risk of making our show lopsided, so let's take a little break.
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Tactical Shifts and Fitness Concerns
00:16:23
Speaker
Okay, mate.
00:16:24
Speaker
And we are back.
00:16:26
Speaker
Right.
00:16:28
Speaker
The last couple of weeks, this has been a pretty difficult segment to fill out.
00:16:33
Speaker
And I wanted to change tact just a little bit, right?
00:16:36
Speaker
Because I think you're right in what you say, that our first XI that started on Boxing Day against Oxford is probably our first choice XI, right?
00:16:48
Speaker
That is what I would think is our strongest team.
00:16:51
Speaker
I think.
00:16:52
Speaker
I would hear an argument for Quasi and Steven swapping around, and that's fine.
00:16:57
Speaker
Other than that, that's, you know, one of those two 11s is what you want out.
00:17:02
Speaker
Bearing in mind the quick turnaround of games, who, where are our points of concern fitness-wise from that 11?
Player Readiness and Lineup Changes
00:17:11
Speaker
Who's not starting against Birmingham because they're not going to be fit enough?
00:17:19
Speaker
Probably Fellowes still, because whatever knock they said that Fellowes picked up and they tried to get him ready for a couple of games ago, and then he obviously didn't go work out against Norwich, right?
00:17:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:29
Speaker
And he's only sort of managed 60 each time, and they're very aware that he's not quite there.
00:17:34
Speaker
That is one of the points of concern.
00:17:36
Speaker
I wouldn't be surprised if he swapped out, especially if it's just like a two-day turnaround.
00:17:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:40
Speaker
So that's probably definitely one spot.
00:17:43
Speaker
Who would you bring in for him?
00:17:45
Speaker
Jay Robinson?
00:17:48
Speaker
Ryan Fraser?
00:17:49
Speaker
For fellows?
00:17:50
Speaker
Probably not Robinson.
00:17:52
Speaker
I wouldn't really... Maybe Fraser?
00:17:56
Speaker
I was surprised at how well Wellington did in that position.
00:17:59
Speaker
Obviously not...
00:18:01
Speaker
I think he did a good job.
00:18:02
Speaker
He did actually better than I expected him to do.
00:18:06
Speaker
Much better than I expected.
00:18:08
Speaker
A sort of left-back playing in that more, to be honest, right-winger role than anything else.
00:18:13
Speaker
But again, it's a bit of a not-ideal solution, right?
00:18:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:18
Speaker
Well, I mean, if you're going to do it, right, at least...
00:18:22
Speaker
The other side of that coin is if you know Fellows only has, you know, half an hour to 45 minutes in him because of fitness, doing it that way round, that is impact off the bench is what you're looking for.
00:18:35
Speaker
And you would hope that he'd be in a position to make it coming on, right?
00:18:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:41
Speaker
So I guess that's only my big area of concern.
00:18:45
Speaker
We've not really heard about anybody else.
00:18:48
Speaker
I mean, we've seen Quasi come in for Stevens basically every other midweek game.
00:18:55
Speaker
That makes logical sense just from a fitness point of view.
00:18:58
Speaker
I don't know if that's a fitness point of view.
00:19:00
Speaker
A lot of the times it's because of the type of opposition.
00:19:03
Speaker
I wouldn't be surprised if we kind of do the same against Birmingham, you know, just because of what happened the other day.
00:19:11
Speaker
I could see him coming in and I wouldn't have a problem with either.
00:19:14
Speaker
I think a lot of people criticized Stevens.
00:19:17
Speaker
And though, to be honest, the vast majority of the criticism I've seen since Friday has been mainly aimed towards Baz.
00:19:23
Speaker
We've done the goalkeeper conversation, what, a thousand times.
00:19:27
Speaker
It's become an ongoing joke.
00:19:29
Speaker
And I don't think it's, I don't think that we're going to swap out for McCarthy because I don't think McCarthy's a better keeper.
00:19:34
Speaker
So it's the only other conversation potentially to have.
00:19:40
Speaker
But yeah, I wouldn't be happy to see either, but I think the two-day turnaround would be quite a lot.
00:19:47
Speaker
So I'd expect to see Gwashi in that, to be honest.
00:19:49
Speaker
Yeah.
Player Management and Fitness Duties
00:19:51
Speaker
We heard after the match on Boxing Day from Tonda that the pace of the schedule is new to Sienza, and that is the reason that he was brought off so early and he's struggling for fitness.
00:20:06
Speaker
with these quick turnaround games as well, are we concerned that he maybe doesn't start either?
00:20:12
Speaker
Are we looking to flip the book maybe and have, I don't know, say Wellington on instead of Fellows and Robinson on instead of Sienza and then swap it around and have Sienza and Fellows coming off the bench?
00:20:28
Speaker
Which sounds... I mean, on paper, that sounds pretty formidable.
00:20:31
Speaker
Yeah, but...
00:20:34
Speaker
If we're struggling to see off games as they go on, we're struggling to win games as we go on.
00:20:41
Speaker
What seems to be the echo playbook of wins so far has literally been we go out and demolish a team really early on and then have to try and game manage the game.
00:20:50
Speaker
Every time he's tried to win a game late, it's not paid off for him.
00:20:54
Speaker
I also think that it was less about the fact that he started and more about the fact as to why he's brought him off early.
00:21:02
Speaker
I don't think he wants him to be an impact player, so I can imagine him not being the first name on the team sheet still.
00:21:08
Speaker
Like, yeah, okay, he's accepted that the...
00:21:12
Speaker
the pace of the league is different to what he's used to.
00:21:16
Speaker
But also, I don't really like that as an excuse for, we brought these players in knowing what the championship was going to be like.
00:21:24
Speaker
They brought these players in that they knew and expected to be in first-team positions.
00:21:29
Speaker
And I don't think they maybe quite predicted the level of impact that he was going to have.
00:21:34
Speaker
But...
00:21:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:35
Speaker
The idea of sort of, oh, well, you know, it's new to him.
00:21:38
Speaker
I'm like, it might be new to him, but clearly, I don't think he wants to come off as early every game.
00:21:43
Speaker
This is Konda wanting to protect him to make sure that he's available for every game.
00:21:47
Speaker
So, yeah, especially because he's... Well, should you throw him off so early and then if you were then not going to start him this game?
00:21:53
Speaker
That would be insane to me, personally, but...
00:21:55
Speaker
He's also a player who gets kicked a lot, right?
00:21:59
Speaker
It's just through the nature of how he plays.
00:22:02
Speaker
If you have chimpads like Diblin, at this point he wouldn't have shins left or right.
00:22:07
Speaker
And of course, but again, he's not a player that looks like he wants to really not be on the field just because they're kind of worried.
00:22:18
Speaker
It's the duty of care versus the...
00:22:21
Speaker
like versus the desire of the player, right?
00:22:23
Speaker
We've seen this before with lots of players where they try and play for an injury and then they end up actually injuring themselves longer term.
00:22:29
Speaker
Like I genuinely think a lot of Luke Shaw's problems at Man United are down to Mourinho criticising him for not playing injured, which is insane to me that probably then had a massive, you know, that's a whole question for a different podcast to be perfectly
Team Depth and Transfer Speculation
00:22:43
Speaker
honest.
00:22:43
Speaker
But in regards specifically to this situation, it's the fact that like,
00:22:49
Speaker
They can't play 90 minutes apparently, no matter what, because of the pace and the level.
00:22:53
Speaker
Fine.
00:22:55
Speaker
Bringing him off like 10, 15 minutes earlier because we've got a big running of games...
00:23:01
Speaker
like, fine, I guess I get that if we were winning and also if they'd done that previously and this was all part of the plan.
00:23:08
Speaker
Because it doesn't look like this is something they've talked about, that you are only getting 60 minutes today every single time.
00:23:16
Speaker
So it did feel a little bit more of...
00:23:20
Speaker
an excuse and an explanation than anything else.
00:23:22
Speaker
Not that there's any excuse or explanation to give us really.
00:23:25
Speaker
It's however they want to manage the players.
00:23:28
Speaker
But I, to actually answer your question, no, I don't see him not starting.
00:23:32
Speaker
I just think that, you know, okay, he might come off early a little bit later because they need him for later.
00:23:38
Speaker
But, you know, I just hope that it was a lesson that you actually need to, like, see out games.
00:23:44
Speaker
And if that meant that he wasn't able to start this game, but we'd actually beaten Oxford United, I'd probably be happier.
00:23:51
Speaker
And I probably think most of the players would be happier.
00:23:53
Speaker
And then that 15, 10 minutes of fitness in the bag wouldn't, you know, really matter.
00:23:59
Speaker
It wouldn't be as much of a problem.
00:24:00
Speaker
Again, it's the... January is going to be important because as much as they say they don't need to recruit or replace, like...
00:24:08
Speaker
We need something else there.
00:24:09
Speaker
Like, we can't just coach Jay Robinson into being the perfect 30-minute subs.
00:24:13
Speaker
Maybe we can.
00:24:14
Speaker
Maybe that is their plan long-term.
00:24:16
Speaker
But, like, you know, you've got a dozy supposedly coming back to fitness.
00:24:19
Speaker
But I genuinely think we just need, like, a little bit.
00:24:22
Speaker
You know, you don't need to revamp the entire squad again.
00:24:25
Speaker
I do think we need, you know, someone there that can... We just need a bit of depth, a bit of promising depth.
Press Conferences and Game Readiness
00:24:33
Speaker
Yeah, but depth that isn't just like a bunch of players that are still here that want to leave or players that have forgotten that they're even here.
00:24:41
Speaker
Like, that's the problem.
00:24:42
Speaker
And I'm not mainly pointing out Joe Reba.
00:24:44
Speaker
It's not really his fault.
00:24:46
Speaker
You know, he could have...
00:24:48
Speaker
not, you know, clearly tried to get a move in the summer, it didn't work out.
00:24:51
Speaker
But like, it does mean we've still got a bunch of players on the books that we would have clearly wanted gone by the summer that didn't go.
00:24:57
Speaker
And that's meant that we don't have probably the strength of depth that we would have wanted.
00:25:01
Speaker
And as we've also discussed multiple times, people talk about how strong our bench is in terms of monetary value.
00:25:08
Speaker
It just doesn't feel like, you know, taking off Sienza, for example, putting on an archer, it doesn't really...
00:25:12
Speaker
We do a lot.
00:25:13
Speaker
We just need to find someone, I guess, to offer something a bit different.
00:25:16
Speaker
Maybe it'll be different when Charles and Stewart and everybody's back fit.
00:25:20
Speaker
I'd still like to see potentially something from Matsuki at some point.
00:25:24
Speaker
Mainly because of the fact that Eckert pointed out he's working really hard and trying desperately to be in the team and just yet never puts him in it.
00:25:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's baffling.
00:25:31
Speaker
I mean, he had that quality earlier in the season.
00:25:34
Speaker
He kind of just disappeared into obscurity.
00:25:36
Speaker
So, I don't know.
00:25:38
Speaker
I don't know.
00:25:39
Speaker
All right, mate.
00:25:40
Speaker
I think that we've done as good job as we can as dragging an entire segment out of, yes, start that same 11, please.
00:25:47
Speaker
Yeah, well, there's also the whole, like, is there going to be a press conference?
00:25:51
Speaker
Wouldn't be surprised if there's one tomorrow in the morning.
00:25:54
Speaker
Probably not.
00:25:55
Speaker
I mean, surely they've travelled by now and it's much harder to do a press conference after you've travelled, right?
00:26:03
Speaker
Yeah, it's just, I just don't, I just, it'll be what it'll be, we'll have to figure out, but I just, I think I'm still like, I find the whole, oh, it's a new schedule for Leo, just a bit like, it's not like, you know, multiple tiers of different type of football, the idea of lots of football to a player that wants to play football all the time.
Zencaster Promo
00:26:24
Speaker
For me, saying that that's like a new schedule that's tough is a bit like... Lots of very physically intense football for a player that is not scared of getting involved in the physical side of the game and gets kicked more than anyone I have seen recently, right?
00:26:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:42
Speaker
Yeah, but maybe you're right.
00:26:44
Speaker
I'm probably wrong.
00:26:46
Speaker
That's usually how this podcast goes.
00:26:48
Speaker
Apart from when it comes to score predictions, which you are horrifically out at this point.
00:26:53
Speaker
If I started tallying the amount of goals you were off by, it would be in the hundreds, but there we are.
00:26:57
Speaker
Oh, it's upsetting, yeah.
00:27:00
Speaker
Right, speaking of school predictions, let's move on to that.
00:27:04
Speaker
But first, let's have a little break and a message from our partners at Zencaster.
00:27:09
Speaker
Here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform, and Zencaster came out the clear winner.
00:27:17
Speaker
With 4K video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs, it's super easy to start a podcast.
00:27:25
Speaker
It sounds great and is delivered efficiently.
00:27:28
Speaker
If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description and learn more about Zencaster.
00:27:34
Speaker
All right, mate.
Score Predictions
00:27:35
Speaker
And we are back.
00:27:36
Speaker
So the AI spiel suggests a home win for Birmingham with, you know, at least three goals in it.
00:27:43
Speaker
How are you feeling?
00:27:45
Speaker
What do you think it's going to be?
00:27:47
Speaker
So contrary to my extremely depressing opinion through the whole of it, going through the various different, you know,
00:27:55
Speaker
stuff that I don't usually do, like probabilities or that kind of stuff.
00:27:58
Speaker
And considering they haven't won any of their, like, final league games of the year in the last seven calendar years, right?
00:28:08
Speaker
That matters.
00:28:09
Speaker
That's a stat that's relevant.
00:28:10
Speaker
They failed to score in each of their last five.
00:28:15
Speaker
They conceded three-plus goals against us every time we've played them in the last three games, the last three league games.
00:28:22
Speaker
although they haven't ever lost four games in a row to us before.
00:28:27
Speaker
I'm going to go, Greg.
00:28:29
Speaker
with 3-0 just because of mathematics and probability, which probably means that I am off my rocker considering all I've done this game is go, all I've done this today is stamp my feet, be annoyed at how the game was against Oxford United, ramble incoherently because I'm tired and then give you the most like out of pocket answer you probably didn't expect from me today based entirely off of like vibes and potentially some probability.
00:28:56
Speaker
So yeah, 3-0.
00:28:56
Speaker
I'm not expecting that at all, wait.
00:28:59
Speaker
Fair enough.
00:28:59
Speaker
I don't think I was coming from, I don't know, one from my thunk three.
00:29:02
Speaker
That'd be nice.
00:29:03
Speaker
So I think it'd be nice for a defender not to score.
00:29:04
Speaker
There you go.
00:29:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:07
Speaker
All right.
00:29:08
Speaker
I don't think we'll keep a clean sheet.
00:29:10
Speaker
I think that's far too optimistic.
00:29:11
Speaker
I think three one.
00:29:14
Speaker
Okay, interesting.
00:29:15
Speaker
I think, yeah, look, same score as the reverse fixture.
00:29:19
Speaker
Same story.
00:29:21
Speaker
Azaz, Armour, and let's have a Fellows goal for good measure.
00:29:24
Speaker
Oh, and of course, you can't not predict a game without Fellows scoring.
00:29:28
Speaker
You're never going to see it, but it's nice that you still think of it.
00:29:31
Speaker
Look, he's much better at assists, and that's fine, but his goals come in at some point.
00:29:36
Speaker
It's going to happen.
00:29:38
Speaker
And what's important is that when it happens, I will have predicted it through sheer law of averages.
Closing Remarks and Listener Engagement
00:29:46
Speaker
on Fellows is going to score a goal because I said it was going to happen.
00:29:50
Speaker
And we can clip it up and everyone goes, well, I didn't expect a goal from Fellows.
00:29:53
Speaker
Well, this one guy definitely did.
00:29:58
Speaker
As long as you don't super cut the rest of the predictions before that, that's fine, right?
00:30:04
Speaker
Again, I just don't think we can come back after the 6-0 against Oxford United.
00:30:08
Speaker
I think that was peak.
00:30:09
Speaker
We can't
00:30:11
Speaker
We both got so overconfident going into that game.
00:30:15
Speaker
And we got punished for it severely.
00:30:19
Speaker
And it's resulted in me being this rambling, tired piece of mess that whatever today's podcast has been.
00:30:24
Speaker
Well, that's how it works, mate, is that our score predictions have, in fact, a direct bearing on the result of the game.
00:30:31
Speaker
Like, you've got to do it not to affect it too negatively.
00:30:37
Speaker
The universe, if that was the case...
00:30:40
Speaker
The whole of last season should have been slightly better.
00:30:44
Speaker
Or we can start predicting wins for Wolves as well and see if they finally happen for them.
00:30:49
Speaker
Oh, dear.
00:30:53
Speaker
Well, there you go.
00:30:53
Speaker
So this is what you get.
00:30:56
Speaker
At least, look, where I'm at is that you're getting some mid-season content.
00:31:01
Speaker
Much to the absolute dismay of my wife, mixed season,
00:31:06
Speaker
Christmas Limbo is that she's now run out of all of her like podcasts, YouTube videos and content to consume during this Christmas Limbo period of time.
00:31:16
Speaker
We are still producing content for you wonderful people, even if, and I'll apologize for being as incoherent as I have been today, it has been off our rocker.
00:31:28
Speaker
That's just our trademark at the moment, mate.
00:31:32
Speaker
That's where we're at.
00:31:33
Speaker
That's our image.
00:31:34
Speaker
I'm really sorry.
00:31:36
Speaker
I know, but sometimes, Greg, I feel a bit of guilt about we should carry ourselves with slightly more perfectionism.
00:31:41
Speaker
Not a lot more.
00:31:42
Speaker
Just slightly more.
00:31:44
Speaker
And today, it's felt like my brain's leaked out of my ears a little bit.
00:31:48
Speaker
And I'm just really hoping that there's something fun to talk about after Birmingham tomorrow.
00:31:53
Speaker
That's where I'm at.
00:31:54
Speaker
I look forward to it.
00:31:56
Speaker
Well, that is all we have got time for today.
00:31:59
Speaker
Thank you, Zach, for joining me.
00:32:01
Speaker
And thank you, everyone, for listening.
00:32:04
Speaker
Let us know your score predictions in the comments or on the socials.
00:32:08
Speaker
We are GSPN Southampton, absolutely everywhere.
00:32:11
Speaker
We are on Facebook, TikTok, X, Instagram, YouTube, Blue Sky.
00:32:16
Speaker
You name it, we're on it.
00:32:17
Speaker
Look us up.
00:32:18
Speaker
We love hearing from you.
00:32:20
Speaker
Zach will be back after the game tomorrow to talk about whatever happens, be it good, be it bad, be it ugly.
00:32:28
Speaker
He will be here to talk about it.
00:32:30
Speaker
But until then, thank you very much for listening, everyone.
00:32:34
Speaker
We'll see you then.
00:32:35
Speaker
And come on, you Saints.
00:32:41
Speaker
Your daily soccer podcast with the Global Sports Podcast Network.
00:32:47
Speaker
Thanks for listening.