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Crossover Special: Southampton image

Crossover Special: Southampton

S2425 E74 · Daily Fulham
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51 Plays21 days ago

Gavin is joined by Greg and Zak from the Daily Southampton podcast to discuss the Saints' managerial situation, Tyler Dibling's future and their chances of getting a result against Fulham.

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Transcript

Introduction and Match Preview

00:00:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hello and welcome back to today the Daily Fulham Podcast. This is your home of all things Fulham and today we continue our build up to the game on the weekend. It's the final opportunity for Southampton and Fulham to grab three points before Christmas.

Season Overview and Management Changes

00:00:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
And as promised today is our crossover episode. So it's my pleasure to introduce not one, but two Saints fans from the Daily Southampton team. We have Greg and we have Zach. Guys, it's been a bit of a turbulent week. Not a lot to shout about this season. How are you guys holding up?
00:00:39
Zak
Yeah, it's been it's been a weird one like I know that none of us really expected us to do to like sort of jump out and well apart from Greg who predicted us to finish 12th Most of us had very realistic sort of expectations of coming out and maybe being able to stay up from a relegation dogfight I don't think anybody thought we'd have five points after so long um and obviously the decision was finally taken probably slightly too late to get rid of Russell Martin on Sunday. And although it was slightly too late, by the sounds of it, the board also seemed surprised that they made that decision. And there is absolutely no plan in place. And everything's a bit chaotic.

Impact of Management Change on Performance

00:01:18
Zak
But after last night, the fact that we saw whether it was catharsisism or sort of um being unshackled from the system, whatever you want to call it,
00:01:29
Zak
We played a lot better and it was quite nice to see us not try and have 70% of the ball, but do nothing with it. I was, yeah, it was, it was all right. I feel like, how do you feel about it, Greg?
00:01:39
Zak
You were very much sort of as positive as me last night. You don't know if you're in this space.
00:01:42
Greg
Yeah, I'm still feeling it. it's It's a strange one where we're in this sort of weird limbo state where there's not even like a clear cut picture of where we're going next. Like the odds on the next managers just seems to be changing by the hour and they up and down. and um But it's kind of like a weird calm before the storm, right? Like we're going to do something and move forward.

Timing and Consequences of Management Decisions

00:02:09
Greg
But until that point, the pressure sort of off and that's kind of nice I think for the players and you know like they showed that yesterday by playing a lot more free a lot freely and um yeah put in a performance that we were happy enough with um I mean it's a tough sort of congested period for fixtures coming up now anyway so I don't know I don't know if that piles the pressure on or not to be honest it's a it's just sort of a strange
00:02:39
Greg
you notice that weird feeling that you get after Christmas where you don't know what day it is or where you are? It's like that but just in football terms and a couple of weeks earlier.
00:02:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, absolutely. 100% agree there. And it's like you mentioned it there, whether it might be too late.

Analysis of Russell Martin's Strategy

00:02:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
Are you both of the feeling that this should have happened earlier, the change of management and the nine points adrift now for someone to come in now, it is a tall order. 10 points. I guess you could make that with goal difference. Realistically, do you think this should have happened weeks ago?
00:03:11
Zak
i I'm kind of of, I understand why they kept him because there there was kind of an almost exception at that point that we're probably going to down go down.
00:03:22
Zak
And I think they've kind of always thought that we were going to go down and they were quite happy to have Russell Martin in the in place. And I think that they maybe took advantage of fans not being as disruptive until we lost to Chelsea, which was so bad that since then his position became untenable. I reckon if that noise hadn't happened, had we not been defeated so bad on such a weird occasion, I think he'd still be in charge because they seem to have sort of, that was where there, they'd like made their bed. They were going to lie in it. So I think on our opinions of whether or not he should have gone earlier, probably. Do I think that decision was ever going to really happen?

Challenges in Management Transition

00:04:03
Zak
No. Am I glad it's happened now? Yes, but only because it's got so toxic and in some of the replacements we're looking at, you know, we wanted to get rid of a manager because he was a championship quality manager and like two of the leading favorites, our championship managers, Allah and Ethan Jones. So.
00:04:22
Zak
It's a weird, it's a weird one. Like I think that it was the right decision overall. Um, and I know that we've been a bit ambiguous about it because quite honestly, we don't, we haven't known how to feel about it because we've had games where we've played well and maybe we could have done all right, but it does kind of feel after yesterday, whether, you know, whatever the reason.
00:04:41
Zak
we played so much better and the squad looked so much happier. So if it was true that he'd sort of lost part of the dressing room, whether that be only in a footballing sense, as opposed to personal wise, then at that point, you know, it was the right decision.
00:04:55
Zak
So if it had happened earlier, maybe we'd have a couple more points in the board, but also we'd have a couple more points in the board if the referees didn't, you know, screw us over a couple of times.

Critique of Strategy and Comparison to Other Managers

00:05:04
Zak
I don't think it would make a difference whether whether we stay up or not, mind you, that if you feel the same Greg,
00:05:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'll come to you first on this, Greg, and Zach, you can chime in as well. What ultimately do you think were the shortcomings of Russell Martin? Why he didn't succeed? And is it... Did you sort of worry that this would unfold with the style of football that he implemented, taking it from the Championship in towards the Premier League? Maybe there was a bit of stubbornness and lack of want to change flexibility?
00:05:31
Greg
Yeah, there was definitely some stubbornness and I think probably some arrogance in there as well. um It was exactly that. It was a ah strict want to stick to plan A and the expectation that plan A was going to work eventually and um it just never did. And then, you know, towards the end of his time with RC, a beautiful soundbite where he's like, well, plan B just needs to look really similar to plan A. And I just don't think you actually understand what a plan B is.
00:06:01
Greg
Um, and yeah, it was just, it was sticking too much to his guns. Um, when we just needed, you know, the system that he wants to implement isn't, is going to work if you've got good enough players and that's fine, but there are flaws to it and you just need to be just a little bit more dynamic.

Board Decisions and Future Preparations

00:06:22
Greg
No one's, no one's expecting like a complete difference for us to suddenly become like a hoof ball team or anything like that. But, but just to.
00:06:31
Greg
change it up a little bit and have a bit of variety in the game instead of just making the same mistakes again and again and again.
00:06:41
Zak
I'm in agreement. i I will point out that in our Room 101 episode, Greg, that you wanted to put Pep Guardiola into Room 101.
00:06:48
Greg
Yeah.
00:06:49
Zak
And that is partly why. um I don't think it's going to be quite a Vincent company style.
00:06:51
Greg
Yeah. 100%.
00:06:53
Zak
He's going to go and get a job at Bayern Munich. But I do think that every team trying to play like a team that is now lost in 10 games in a row or whatever it is wasn't really the best thing for football in general.
00:07:06
Zak
And yeah, I just think ultimately his his own stubbornness killed him. But it doesn't mean that We can't enjoy that we ended up at Wembley, but realistically, if we were that good, we wouldn't have had to have gone to Wembley to come back up, would we?
00:07:19
Greg
Yeah.
00:07:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
as far As far as a place in the score, I think it's what is quite interesting, what you guys touched on. So the names that have been linked, managers in the championship at the moment, likes to call us Corbran at West Brom and Danny Roll at Sheffield Wenta, who's done a good job, because I remember him taking over when they were struggling, looking, looking at possibly getting relegated to leave when he steady the ship there, then they're now in the top half of the table. But what do you think is the board's plan, the direction they're looking to go in? Are they looking to break the bank on a more glamour name, higher your profile name to give them a chance as hard as it is to stay in the Premier League or do they almost accept that this season they are going to go down and the plan is to rebuild, go straight back up and then get back to where they have been for so many years which was an established Premier League team.
00:08:06
Zak
I think that's what they want. um However, I don't think that that has been their priority and that has been evident through their footballing decisions.

Board's Priorities: Economics vs Football

00:08:14
Zak
And, you know, arguably they're going to have in three seasons, potentially two relegations under their belt since they took charge. um A lot of the ownership have done a lot of work around the stadium, improving facilities. We've got a new pub that opened up the same day that Rosamond got fired inside the stadium.
00:08:32
Zak
They are looking with Southampton City Council to expand an entertainment zone around St Mary's. There is a lot of economic investment in areas that are very important to the business side, and it's almost like they have completely forgotten the football side. And the fact that they that when they fired him, they have not had a direct replacement or successor lined up, and they haven't even really been looking, I think speaks volumes to how they are going to approach going forward because I think they have written off the idea that we're going to stay up. But I do think that they know that they have to maybe try, they had to get someone else in. And now it will probably be whoever is most willing to deal with the situation at hand, because when January rolls around, we're probably going to lose some players. And we currently, unless some of the scouting targets were outside of Russell Martin's domain, don't have any players we want to bring in.
00:09:27
Zak
I don't know how you feel about it, Greg, but I know you have similar thoughts on our ownership and what they do for the club and especially the football inside of things.
00:09:35
Greg
Yeah, it's baffling, isn't it? Like, how can you run a business and not, again, have a plan B? It's just, it feels ah like exactly the same problem. Like, even wanting to stick with and trust Russell Martin through to the end of the season as an accepted decision, you'd still want to have a plan B, at least an idea of who you would want to approach in case, you know, you if he'd gone on a 10 game unbeaten run and then left to go and be Real Madrid's next manager because the star was that impressive like we'd have been in the same situation um and obviously the way it's gone was always more likely but just to not even have ah a short list is a bit baffling.
00:10:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
And this just one final question with regards to the manager's situation. Obviously, we don't know at this stage who's going to come in. It might be someone

Immediate Goals for New Management

00:10:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
from left field. I know you mentioned David Moyes as well, someone's experienced hand. He's been in beenning charge of teams that have been in relegation fights and and succeeded as well as also managing more successful clubs higher up in the table. But what do you think is the one most important thing that the new manager has to come in and has to address with the group of players that he has at his disposal?
00:10:54
Greg
I think the the first quick win would be to sort the captaincy situation. Like we we're in a position where our captain Jack Stevens has been suspended for 43% of the season, which is just ridiculous. I feel like just addressing that instantly is a quick win to get everyone on side. And then it's just, yeah, just play with some, something, put some fight in and ah Job one is just get more points than Darby did, right? thus ah go be that That's That's the first target and we go from there
00:11:31
Zak
That is a horrible bar. Um, yeah, I would, I would agree. I think personally that their their first job is going to be to get through the January transfer window, to try and keep as many of the players that we care about shift as many of the players that don't care about the club and potentially start scoring more, getting us into positions where we can score more. That already happened yesterday, significantly more than the confidence of the team is that.
00:11:57
Zak
They were able to drive it forward, but there is still a almost panicked situation when we're in an opposition box. When an opponent is in our box, there is an absolute stunning fear of, Oh my goodness, it's going to go in. But genuinely we could have 11 men in the opposition box with only two defenders and somehow they'll still manage to kind of sky high it. So I think that's an incredibly important part is just

Player Development: Tyler Diblin's Potential

00:12:21
Zak
fine. I guess finding a way to win whether it doesn't matter how.
00:12:25
Zak
is I think one of the most important things, but the personnel is also going to be more impactful than people realise because with some of our star players like Kyle Walker Peters, his contract expires the end of the year. I very much doubt they're going to want to let him go for nothing. January's rolling around shortly. He'll probably be out the door then if I'm totally honest. Or, you know, the the real hope is he signs another five year contract with us. It's not happening.
00:12:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
Interesting. So yeah, we've spoken in length there about the manager's situation. In part two, we will come on to some of the personnel, the players at Southampton. But for then, just a few words about our sponsors. Here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform.
00:13:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Zencaster came out the clear winner. 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 that sounds great and is delivered efficiently. If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description to learn more about Zencaster.
00:13:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
I want to talk to you about a young player that's making a bit of a name for himself. He's already attracted the lure of some of the bigger teams in the league. tyler dblin dbling sorry Is the hype real surrounding him?
00:13:49
Zak
Yes and no. He's an absolutely fantastic player for us. um He's come through the academy. He rejected Chelsea to come back um and play with us. There are certainly elements of his game that he can improve on. Greg discussed quite a few of them yesterday in our post-match review of things that he felt he should have done a little bit better. But considering that he had barely played a game for us before and has kind of sort of swung out straight into the first team and is now one of the first names on the team sheet is fantastic and yeah there's a lot of transfer hype building around it and potentially I'm kind of glad that there's so much of a focus on him there's some other sort of players and Greg knows exactly who I'm talking about what the focus isn't on because if we lost him it wouldn't be the end of the world um and you know he's a young player he's got a whole career ahead of him um and the focus seems to be so much on him that maybe we could keep some of the others that we're really
00:14:46
Zak
but were with that are flying a little bit under the radar. But I think whenever you have sort of a young like English player come through and and do what he's done in such a short amount of time, you are always going to have that sort of level of interest.
00:15:01
Zak
And and you know luckily, one of the people with an interest is Man United, so he can easily bolt on an extra 50 million.
00:15:09
Greg
yeah
00:15:10
Zak
So even if he does go, hopefully we'll get yeah a lot of money for him.
00:15:12
Greg
He's such a fascinating player um and he's so so clearly a raw talent that's there um and yeah we we touched a bit last night about um some of the parts of his game that aren't quite there yet but they are getting better but just his willingness to drive forward with the ball and take players on without fear is his biggest asset and the rest will will inevitably fall into place. But um yeah, with him rejecting Chelsea, the hope is that he is a player with the attitude that he prefers to be this sort of slightly bigger fish in a slightly smaller pond rather than one of these players that's going to sort of get dropped into a big team and just become another one, a number without anything sort of special about him. But yeah, yeah that and really needs to start wearing shin pads properly.
00:16:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
It seems to be the fashion now, isn't it?
00:16:09
Greg
just
00:16:12
Greg
yeah
00:16:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
With Jack Eilish, he's obviously started the trend with his smallish imparts. But just for people who haven't seen so much of Tyler Diblin, what would you say are his greatest qualities? Are there any players, maybe past the Phantom or current players in the Premier League or world football, that you would compare him to?
00:16:28
Greg
It's an easy comparison for me because the ball sticks to his feet like glue. The ability to dribble the ball is his key strength and it's like reminds me of a prime Adam Lallana.
00:16:39
Greg
Just this he has the same sort of control over the ball where once he has that ball at his feet, he he has full control of where it's going. um Sometimes it's beautiful to watch.
00:16:52
Zak
I'd say currently just his generally sort of football desire, like he he wasn't phased by the jump and there's a lot of players, you know, who take a couple of years to adjust and we've got players that come from foreign leagues and take ah quite a long time to adjust the Premier League. he got He got put into a game and just jumped at the opportunity and it doesn't seem to have phased him. And if he can keep that sort of level of demeanor throughout his career and that level of sense of calm, I think it will be nothing but great for him and great for whoever he's playing his trade within years to come, because you don't really get that a lot nowadays. A lot of players can buy into their own hype. Um, you know, im I'm sure there's definitely going to be some level of, you know, if I was seeing compilation videos of me going up, I would probably get a little bit arrogant about it.
00:17:43
Zak
But yeah, it's just the fact that, you know, the, the jump seems to have completely unfazed him. And that's the worry for him. So that perspective is like, you know, if he was to jump into a champions league team and suddenly play in front of Real Madrid, I don't think it would phase him either. And, um, yeah, I think it's, that's, that's really impressive because, you know, I'm in, I'm in my thirties stuff still terrifies me. The idea that he sort of sort of jumped out, played his, you know, played up in front of Manchester United and didn't really bat an eyelid. Yes. It's just very, very imp impressive.
00:18:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
And of course, Southampton have got great history as far as young players have got coming through their academy, like say Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Luke Shaw, Alex Oxley, Chamberlain, you definitely see him following in their footsteps at some point. Obviously you but you guys are hoping it's going to be with Southampton, but um I mean, if you do go down, do you see him staying?
00:18:32
Zak
awkward part of the question this awkward question we have to start thinking about because there's again like I'm I think as I'm more the the pessimistic side of the podcast Greg is far more the optimist again predicted finish of 12th just like that sink in um and I'm very aware that you know we will probably lose quite a lot of talents

Southampton's Legacy of Developing Talent

00:18:52
Zak
and the fact that he's already rejected a big club before admittedly that was sort of in the youth and one of the reasons being is because of the fact that um he just didn't really like it at Chelsea, so it might be that he gets on somewhere else. it's the He will always have a big place in our in our squad, right? um And you've seen what happens to a lot of ex-Sal Hampton players. Some have gone on to be an Adam Lallana or a Virgil van Dijk, but for every Virgil van Dijk and Adam Lallana, you've got a
00:19:22
Zak
ah Danny Ings, or most recently, you know, James Ward-Prowse, who after years of being our our captain, freaking specialist, extremely well-loved at the club, went to West Ham and a year later is on loan at Nottingham Forest. And, ah you know, I think he's probably having an all right season there, like it's not like Forest doing bad, but also the fact that, you know, it's, it's always a risk. You don't know how it's going to turn out. But, you know, I think that if the prospect of Premier League football is dangled in front of him,
00:19:50
Zak
then I think he will go for it. It just depends whether or not it's regular because I think the difference being with us is that it will probably always be regular. So it's it's always going to be, it's always a fear we'll lose our players. But being a Southampton fan, that is part of the fun. It's just at least we can usually get a big pile of money from, i.e. Romeo Lavia.
00:20:10
Greg
I'm going to counter that and I think that ah the future of Tyler Diblin is that in 2035 he'll be retiring as a one club man with Southampton with the all-time Premier League goalscore and record.
00:20:24
Zak
See, so there's a fine line between optimism and deluded. yeah Greg likes to stand on that one.
00:20:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's an exclusive, guys. When you come back in 11 years and Tyler Diblin's gone on to break Alan Shearer's record, you know where you heard it heard it first.
00:20:36
Greg
You heard it here first.
00:20:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
and On a bit more positive positive note, not talking about players leaving, um someone who's actually made their England debut score for England is Taylor Howard Bellis. I guess the Southampton community must be extremely proud of that.
00:20:53
Greg
Yeah, very much so. And he's, a I think when we talk about players potentially coming and going, he's someone in my mind who I see as a future Saints captain, regardless of where we are. um It really seems to enjoy being at the club ah and playing for the badge. And it's good to see him go on to success. He's ah in the international team. He sort of struggled a bit at the start of the season to find his footing with the step up to the Premier League. But I think as has done a really good job.
00:21:23
Greg
since then of proving himself as a real talent at this level.
00:21:29
Zak
agreed. I think he, he found his, his home with us and, um, you know, it's been barely the season before was going to probably want to be one of the journey journeymen of city. Um, so I think that he was him and being able to find a home, like obviously part of what was so great about that play of final win for him is because of our promotions, the premier league, it made his truck, his transfer or transfer confirmed. And that I think that you could see how excited he was to realize that he was part of the club and for but being a fan of Southampton we're so used to people you know even saying in press conferences that you know they're really excited to play especially in the years gone by the Premier League not play for the club he seems to really really care and um you know and you can see that he's hurt when we lose and there are some players that you can genuinely tell aren't interested um so for yeah him to get
00:22:19
Zak
his England debut and and do what he did in front of his father-in-law

Predictions for Southampton vs Fulham

00:22:23
Zak
as well. And his father-in-law's team was very, very funny. And I think we were we're all really glad to have him here.
00:22:26
Greg
Yeah.
00:22:30
Zak
And there have been games where he's not played his best, like a lot of players this season, but I think he's at the light top of the club personally.
00:22:38
Greg
Yeah. And he's always the first of all of the players over to the fans, win, lose, draw, good performance, bad performance. He's there, you know, for showing his full range of emotion. Um, it's ah open to see and yeah.
00:22:55
Greg
clearly puts his all in every single game.
00:22:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, definitely. and Before we round things off, look at some key battles on the pitch, give our score predictions. I just want to give a shout out to GSPN. The Global Sports Podcast Network is changing the face of football podcasts. With dedicated daily content for every Premier League team, women's football, fantasy football, and a daily Premier League rapid broadcast in five different languages, it's your one-stop shop for your daily football fix. Find GSPN wherever you find your usual podcasts.
00:23:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well guys, I am going to give you some calls for encouragement for Southampton possibly getting a result on the weekend. First of all, you're playing away from home and um we know what you've been like in the last two home games. Shipping five goals against Chelsea and Spurs. Well, shipping five goals and a half against Spurs. But for them, they do come into this game actually one defeat and eight, so they are playing well. The last four games they've come unscathed against top teams Arsenal, Liverpool, Brighton and Spurs but there is a but. The last game they played against a team in this sort of position, a team that hadn't won away from home all season was Wolves and they lost that game 4-1 and another cause for encouragement
00:24:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
They've taken the lead in 13 games this season and they've only won six. So there you have it. i've I've painted a picture for Southampton fans to to gloss over and ah relish the for the prospect of going to a craving cottage on Sunday and getting a result. What do you think is realistic? Can they get a result?
00:24:28
Zak
it's going to be really hard for us to preview it because like we didn't really know how it was going to go Wednesday because we have absolutely no idea what the team sheet was going to be. The team sheet ended up being very similar to a lot of our team sheets so far this season, but the style of football was, you know, the same, but also very, very different. I think we could be up for it though. I think that the the players, you know, have a point to prove to whoever's coming in at this point. Um, and I think that, you know,
00:24:55
Zak
Although we played against a heavily rotated Liverpool, we scored yesterday. We looked like we were going to score right up until the end. um And I think, you know, we could at least give it a good go. Obviously the last time we we played Fulham, Fulham beat us, but then also Mitrovic was playing for Fulham at that point. So it's been a hot minute. So yeah, I i personally think that um i could see I could see us winning. um and that's that ah Greg knows that's going to be optimistic for me. And I would say something exciting like 3-2. That's where I'm at.
00:25:25
Zak
think we're goingnna do i think we' I think we're do it, Greg. I think we're finally going to get a win, maybe. And then we'll see if my predictions end up going completely down the toilet, and then I never predict a win again.
00:25:38
Greg
I think you're right. I think there's a chance that we are have more to prove in this game. I guess the hope is that Fulham almost look past us to the rest of a very busy football period um and with our little bit more urgency and little bit more fight,
00:26:00
Greg
ah that comes good. I don't think it's going to be as high scoring as 3-2, but ah maybe sneak a 1-0 win. I'll take that.

Adam Armstrong's Premier League Challenges

00:26:07
Greg
I mean, I'd take anything.
00:26:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
and za Sorry, you you spoke about it there. You weren't sure going went into the midweek. How about cup game? ah What side was going to be selected given the situation or in with the interim manager? Are you expecting any changes from that game coming into this one?
00:26:22
Zak
but Probably. There was definitely some players that came on a sub so that staked their claim um to to potentially start at the weekend. The only thing I would say is that there is still seems to be a misunderstanding as to who's going to be in charge. I think they're doing a lot of interviews tomorrow, so I very much doubt that someone will be in charge Sunday, but also stranger things have happened in football.
00:26:43
Zak
So if we have someone different, I think that if I think it will probably end up being similar just because apparently the players had some sort of say with the interim manager as to who was going up and who was who was going to play. And I think it will probably be a similar situation. I imagine that's why we had so many substitutions because everyone wanted to get their sort of chance to shine. But I can't imagine it being hugely rotated. Adam Armstrong might come back in after the suspension.
00:27:09
Zak
I don't know who you think will come in, Greg, to be perfectly honest.
00:27:13
Greg
yeah I don't know we might see Walker Peters back if that was a knock. um we ah I'd still want to see Arnachu and Archer played together ah so I'm hopeful that that's something we'll see but I don't know. ah Downs went off with a knock and didn't really set the world alights but but midfield is an area that we're particularly light in so I don't know I don't know if there'd be anyone to bringing in place of him to be honest. so
00:27:44
Zak
It really depends on injuries as well and stuff, right? Because obviously Brie went off with a little bit of a nickel as well, so we might end up with Seguar at right back if Kyle isn't available. So yeah, i think I think that would be the only thing that really changes stuff up.
00:27:56
Zak
I was really hoping Lalana would start as well, just because you know he he acts as a sort of leader on the field, almost a captain, if you will.
00:28:05
Greg
ah
00:28:05
Zak
And I think with downskirt out, maybe we know we we put a few more forward-centric midfielders in place, especially with the way that we've started to play now. Again, nothing drastically different, but when i when I tell you that every single goal kick that went up, despite the fact that most of them immediately landed into the feet of a Liverpool player, ah got got a round of applause, that was definitely a thing that happened.
00:28:28
Greg
I guess the other key change as well is we we're hopeful that Ramsdale will be back between the sticks.
00:28:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. ah Can I just ask you, I mean, you mentioned it briefly that his name Adam Armstrong. From the outside, he looks like one of these strikers that every time he's in the championship, he rips it up, scores a lot of goals. But when he gets the opportunity in the Premier League, he can't seem to translate that form. It seems a level too high for him. Is that a fair criticism, a fair observation? Or do you feel like under a different manager, he can go on a goal scoring spirit in this division?
00:29:01
Greg
I think that that's exactly right. I think that's exactly what we've seen from him. Um, I was hopeful that it was the case that we hadn't seen embedded into a team and previously in the Premier League, but, um, yeah, he really has struggled again, uh, this year. Um, still think that he probably has a part to play for us. Um, but for me, I see that more as sort of a rotational role and sort of a,
00:29:30
Greg
some fresh legs off the bench. I'd much prefer Archer in that position to Armstrong. I don't know about you Zach.
00:29:38
Zak
um I'm in agreement as I said I think I could see him coming back in just because he's been one of the sort of primary players in recent times and is one of the more vocal ones after the manager went and the only reason I think he wasn't involved yesterday realistically was because of the suspension but yeah i'm I'm in agreement you know you've hit the nail on the head really he's he's taken another step up we hoped it would take a little bit of time and then he's you know scored two or three goals one of which being the penalty one of which being off the back of the penalty but in comparison to sort of you know as much as Cameron Archer hasn't had a lot of chances so far this season, he's scored three goals, which is the most for our strikers at this point. So, but yeah, I just think that he, considering he was what, like the the top scorer last season for the championship and then sort of kind of peered out this season. And, um, it'll be interesting to see well what comes January. Um, I think he'll probably be one of the ones to stick around, but yeah, I don't see him being the
00:30:39
Zak
focal point of the team as much as he was in the championship
00:30:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
And just finally, I just want to get your final thoughts on this full and

Fulham's Team Analysis and Outlook

00:30:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
team. What do you think the strengths of the team are and what do you think the weaknesses are if there are any that Southampton might be able to exploit?
00:31:01
Zak
difficult one right it's almost like so you've got like smith row and sort of
00:31:07
Zak
the, what I would consider to be, you've taken a lot of players, sort of what I would consider to be like B teamy players from the top, but have managed to do something fantastic with them. And, you know, ultimately we can come into this game going, Oh, it's full of them, but you're you're sitting eight.
00:31:24
Zak
And I think that you have a ah good chance to punish us if you if you do it. It's one of those... i'll I'll hold my hands up and when when I was younger, full of one of the flight clubs that you didn't really enter my radar much, um but you have gone on similar to sort of Wolves, although it's that's like chalk and cheese at the moment, to establish yourself as a Premier League side, building something over time.
00:31:46
Zak
And yeah, I just think that that's where we can get damaged from anywhere at the moment. It's really hard for us to answer the question because every single time we're asked, it's like, where can you see us conceding? Who do you think will have the opportunity? And the problem is, is that Jade and Sancho scored against us at Chelsea. And we didn't even realize Jade and Sancho were still in English football. So the answer is, where can we be hurt? Well, if we decide to kick the ball directly to you, any of your outfield players,
00:32:14
Greg
yeah If you've got any strikers who are in a poor runner form and haven't scored in sort of 20 to 30 games, then it's probably their opportunity to shine. and We seem to be the team that breaks those streaks frequently.
00:32:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
Maybe that'd be a message from Michael Silver. Bring Carlos Venicius back into the fold who hasn't kicked the ball in about a year. He might score in this particular game.
00:32:35
Zak
but That's what thatford that definitely a thing. I kid you not, every time we have had, we are always breaking records.
00:32:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah,
00:32:42
Zak
None of them are as of positive Southampton records. for
00:32:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah so Zach, you're going for a 3-2, so Adam and Greg, you're going for 1-0.
00:32:51
Greg
Yep.
00:32:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right, I'm gonna... I'm going to predict for them to win two now. I'm not predicting anything crazy like fours and fives and sixes given to Vampton's. At the back and then the last couple of games, I feel that the players probably will have a bit bit more ah motivation knowing that a new manager is coming in around the corner. It gives an opportunity to possibly fringe players to stake their claim, get into that first team, get into that starting level when that manager does come in. ah But I think for them at home, I think They will have learnt lessons from that walls game. It was a wake-up call, a bit of a reality check and the subsequent results for them have been really good and we've seen on their day there can be a match for any team in this division. So as long as they're not complacent, play to their levels and I think they will come out with the victors on this occasion. Any final thoughts heading into this one then guys?
00:33:39
Zak
Yeah, the the thing is, is that you you have players like Oobi and Jimenez and people like that who, as again, have come from other clubs that... I swear, is Jimenez Greg one of the ones that always scores against us? Because it's like Tottenham, when we play against Spurs, we always know that Sun is going to score.
00:33:57
Zak
And where there are many, many players that like we, when we play against them, it's one of those ones that, is he going to score against us? And I know that it might've been back in the day when he was more of a wolves player, but he is one name that I always remember racking up goals against us.
00:34:10
Zak
So yeah, as much as my optimistic three two is here, I could also see two nil as very, very realistic tough.
00:34:16
Greg
Yeah. ah My closing thought is that actually, i from a more neutral perspective, it's nice to see Fulham doing so well this year and I hope it continues, ah Sunday day excluded, and they continue to have a ah

Closing Remarks and Podcast Promotion

00:34:33
Greg
successful season. It'd be nice to see them go onward and upward and maybe challenge for one of those European spots.
00:34:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
here here and on that note that'll draw things to a close for this special crossover episode with the Daily Southampton team. Be sure to check out Greg and Zach on the Daily Southampton podcast That'll do it for today. We'll catch you on the next one.