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Episode 99: Match Review Monday - Another defeat, this time Crystal Palace
66 Plays9 days ago
Southampton – Another defeat, and we looked a little out of steam, but are there still positives to take?
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Banter
00:00:10
Zak
Hello and welcome to the Daily Southampton, part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. I, as always, am Zach, Ingo, Finch, your host.
00:00:22
Zak
We've had a few days away.
00:00:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
You alright there mate?
00:00:24
Zak
yeah you Always joined by my co-host Gregory Elliott.
00:00:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's nearly in the rust.
00:00:29
Zak
ah Look, ah maybe maybe my brain is as twisted as the feet of our players, like the hands of yet another defeat
00:00:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
I thought
Southampton's Scoring Struggles
00:00:38
Zak
ah Well, I liked your example for the first game, mate.
00:00:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
it was alright.
00:00:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
We scored a goal. What more do you want?
00:00:47
Zak
We scored a goal was a highlight. It's going to be really nice when we get to see one another 100 years or however long it will be before we see a goal. I think you pulled out a random statue in the game when we were texting one another.
00:01:01
Zak
Was it the first goal in like 450 minutes of football?
00:01:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I heard it from Adam Blackmore on radium so and Radio Yeah, 450 minutes since we scored our last Premier League goal.
00:01:08
Zak
you
00:01:13
Zak
That is incredibly upsetting. ah so So, yeah, today was obviously the game against the Crystal Palace.
Match Review: Southampton vs. Crystal Palace
00:01:21
Zak
um It went about... It's not as well as we expected. Let's face it, we had a little bit more hope. I had a little bit more hope. Call it Festive Merryman, Christmas, whatever you want to call it. Just, you know,
00:01:36
Zak
we we kind of went in with a little bit more hope after the West Hand game ah that was dashed by, ah once again, the realisation that regardless of what manager we have, ah most of the Premier League teams are just better than us. That seemed to be what I think today. There was a lot of cutting edge quality and we'll talk about the first half and we'll talk about sort of the the controversial decision. um But as I summed it up in a tweet, which someone agreed with could be literally the entirety of our season,
00:02:04
Zak
was we had more than enough time to change the game.
Player Performance Debate: Carl Walker Peters
00:02:07
Zak
Just looked a bit toothless, which, like, that's just how I feel. And it's just every game we play.
00:02:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:02:14
Zak
um So we could be upset as we won.
00:02:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
well i mean one of the stats they pulled out on the commentary of the new version of the game I was watching ah was that at halftime the expected goals were like 1.0 something for Crystal Palace and 1.2 for Southampton, ah most of which would have come from the tap-in from the goal.
00:02:36
Zak
Yeah, I sort of had that.
00:02:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
But I will say that after that, bearing in mind that was at halftime, at the end of the game our expected goals 1.3 so it really tells you all you need to know about we had our goal and that was it.
00:02:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
this
00:02:55
Zak
Yeah, it's just, um again, they for me, it was that that Crystal Palace clicked into gear and and we were already at top gear at that point. And I think that it says a lot about the players that we have. And, you know, it's no disrespect. i'm I'm seeing sort of condemnation across the board on ah multiple players that I think really, really played really well. I'm seeing praise for players that probably didn't play that well. We've all got our different opinions, but, you know, there are people saying that Carl Walker Peters
00:03:26
Zak
was switched off and not paying attention. Yeah, as far as I could see, he was the one that A, produced the assist that you know got the goal into the box and is one of the only players that consistently is able to do that.
00:03:39
Zak
um We made very sort of
00:03:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, that's hard, right? As a fullback, it's a difficult position and to get into those attacking positions, I guess it does leave. But I mean, you've got three defenders and theoretically in this shape to to supposedly holding midfielders, although neither of the midfielders that we played in that midfield today, actually,
Lineup Analysis and Surprising Decisions
00:04:00
Zak
But yeah, so let's roll it back then so the to the lineup itself. So I was quite surprised. Siguara out, not really surprised after his error last game. And Brienne, who I was really surprised by, it but was very impressed with the amount of crosses he managed to get into the box in a couple of good strikes as well.
00:04:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
that's not their strength.
00:04:17
Zak
Didn't do anything, but at the same time, he's one of the more prolific goal scorers in our team, our £500,000 transfer from Luton.
00:04:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
Isn't that sad?
00:04:26
Zak
Very much so, mate. But, you know, in defence, it was pretty much the same Manning misses out, which, you know, is a bit of a shame. And by the time he came on, there was barely a chance for him to do anything, I think, you know, but especially where Kyle prefers to be on the right is it's bizarre to me that we keep putting him out on the left.
00:04:43
Zak
um Downs is out with an injury. So our two holding midfielders, we played with sort of a Rebo and and Maddie Fernandez, which was a bit she's a bit weird.
00:04:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah I mean neither of those players are holding mid filters yeah
00:04:56
Zak
No. Obviously, Arribo did his best for a little bit until he was swapped out for an actual holding midfielder who looked a lot more comfortable in that position, Ukechukwu. And obviously, Bati Fernandez did his best. I think he played really well considering once again tried to do anything. I think he's got a lot to do with work on delivery into the box and you can say that. But if you're going to make him the designator designated corner free kick, basically any set piece kicker whatsoever, then For the love of God, give him some lessons, because it seems to be once again, that's just a a problem that we have.
00:05:31
Zak
Obviously, Dibbling gets to start again, played well, got the goal.
00:05:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
here
00:05:36
Zak
Tall Paul got another start, but to be honest, after about 15 minutes, looked like the entire wind had been taken out of the poor man. Like goodness gracious, I've never seen a bloke look so tired in a football pitch.
00:05:47
Zak
And bear in mind, hes he's running around with significantly more, you know, more to carry around than most people. um just from how tall he is.
00:05:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:05:56
Zak
Before the game, Greg texts me, like, you know, wonderful little sort of bingo card of Paul Onewatchu of when he's going to get his first goal, random Onewatchu moments, which we had a couple of, to be
Paul Onewatchu's Impact and Game Strategy
00:06:05
Zak
fair. He had a couple of, like, sort of, you know, chest around in a couple of his hold-up moments.
00:06:11
Zak
But, yeah, it was just a bit sort of lineup-wise. Did it really did it surprise you that we didn't play a holding move? I can understand if we lost downs, but it's weird to me we didn't start Ugincho Kui.
00:06:23
Zak
considering.
00:06:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
um i mean i'm guessing it's a fitness thing right like he played basically all of boxing day and hasn't had a lot of minutes prior to that you know it's i guess it seemed at the time the sensible thing to not starting maybe with an eye to i don't know it's a strange one but clearly jerich thought that they would be sufficient in that area but just got overrun in the midfield and struggled to get the ball beyond that point of the pitch.
00:06:55
Zak
How did you feel about Armor Over Archer?
00:06:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
um Look we've talked about it before that he does a lot of the work off the ball that I think Djuric likes but it feels like tool pool at full fitness and archer running off him is the combination that's going to get us the goals but i mean adam armstrong at least had the good common sense to not try and score a goal and instead passed it to someone that could put the ball in the net so it's hard to say a bad word about him to be honest he he ran and he pressed and he he got the assist and yeah it is
00:07:23
Zak
is
00:07:26
Zak
Yeah, it it's not.
00:07:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah i feel like archer should feel really hard done by to have not got more minutes this in the last two games
00:07:39
Zak
Agreed. like line up Lineup was weird. um and i Whether you want to call it an experiment or not, I don't think it was hugely experimental other than the Medfield. Everything else kind of slotted into place.
00:07:51
Zak
Nicely, but I guess we'll go and talk about the first half after a word from our partners at the Sengcaster.
Zencastr Platform Features
00:07:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, 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 reviews all those ums and r's, it's super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently. If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description and learn more about Zencaster.
00:08:21
Zak
wow Well, let's talk about the first half, obviously, probably the preferable first half for the Saints fans. We literally seem to come out of,
Southampton's First Half and Initial Play
00:08:29
Zak
the you know, come out of the block chasing, as we seem to when we start these games off really, really well. Some really good play from Onalachu and Armstrong. We had a corner quite early on, four minutes in, which obviously led to nothing. um We had a couple of missed the ball here and there moments. and Obviously there was another auto-action moment, the one that I've i've marked down Greg at 11 minutes when he chested the ball down and held it up. And he was doing all of the things that, you know, everyone seems to completely love him for. And we we we started off so, so quick with so much pace. And might my worry was playing a team with the intensity and fitness of palaces, will we sustain this? And obviously the answer to that was no.
00:09:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah very much Yeah, I mean we started off well and almost caught them napping on us Got the goal from it great good start the perfect start and Yeah, almost from that point forward that's where the positivity and structure going forward fell apart I mean
00:09:35
Zak
Well, that's the thing, right? Well, to be fair, after we scored, they almost scored, Benreck got in with a couple of the fight divisive challenges.
00:09:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
We just had too much for us.
00:09:43
Zak
He obviously eventually got booked, but the amount of fouls that he compared, because that is insane, because they're, you know, and I will hold my hands up to any twenty Palace fans that like, you know, yeah, he should have probably got a booking much earlier.
00:09:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
In fact it took him until the 80th minute to get booked. It's nothing short of a miracle.
00:09:59
Zak
ah yeah so
00:10:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
It kind of went both ways though. There was one of their defenders who also should have been booked about four times and didn't, so I guess it's
Controversial VAR Decision and Team Mentality
00:10:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
kind of balancing out.
00:10:09
Zak
Yeah, i think I think that it was, I'm surprised if it took so long for cards to be shown, right?
00:10:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
I can't remember exactly which one it was either.
00:10:15
Zak
It seemed that you kind of wanted to let the game go a little bit, which I which i understand, but um yeah, I think ah no one was really, no one was happy with the refereeing really, but also it wasn't any of the most disastrous things I've ever seen.
00:10:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah there weren't any like clearly controversially bad calls i've seen some fans saying that the far decision to not overturn the palace goal from the corner was a joke but i want to make it incredibly clear that i don't want to live in a world where that's a foul like that's not the type of football i want to see
00:10:31
Zak
um
00:10:49
Zak
oh
00:10:52
Zak
Well, I think allow allow me allow me to to to do my right. As I already kind of alluded to in the first part, we we have these moments this season that we can look back on. And we seem to think it would make the blindest bit of difference. And I genuinely think that it is a good way to make us feel better about going down.
00:11:14
Zak
when we inevitably go down touch wood maybe not who knows but it is infuriating that like if you are going to drop your head at 30 minutes when there is another 60 maybe 70 minutes worth left of playing football and your manager, because this would be the second manager's done it, is going to talk about that decision afterwards as if it was the the key moment. It might be the key moment. But like once it's done and it's been it's done, you can't change the result at that point. You can't even go after the game has been finished. You can't go to the refereeing council and say, we would like to change the result of the best of this. It doesn't happen. To then just kind of drop heads a little bit is what frustrates me. And I don't think they necessarily did that this game. i think that
00:11:59
Zak
As I pointed out earlier, Palace clicked into gear and have another level of, you know, gear that we don't. And one of the things post-match that I'm very excited about, Juric saying, is that he apparently dbbling said he's a little bit stricter. and Bear in mind, they've had barely any training sessions as it is, is that hopefully that means that, you know, they're going to get up to a point where these players will manage more than 45 minutes without struggling to see out the game. Because if you're going to have, if they're going to play this level of football, they're going to need to be fit. And we can't have all of this sort of a striker or or our players disappearing after 40 minutes looking like they're absolutely knackered and you know i know i can say this here sat as you know a bloke who sits on his armchair a lot of the time and watches watches football but also i am not a professional athlete so if you are a professional athlete there's an expectation there's a fitness there
00:12:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, but I am an incredibly out of shape human beings, but I managed to drag myself around a football pitch twice a week. If you were paying me £50,000 a week, I think I'd manage 90 minutes.
00:12:57
Zak
Yeah. And it's it's, it may be the motivations of struggle because you know, they already feel like they're down and I get it, but you've got this new manager coming in. You've got players here that are supposedly wanting to, you know, you do think you're even going to get in the shop window
Finishing Challenges and Mindset Issues
00:13:09
Zak
at this rate? Because if you're so hoping you're going to be playing in a, in a big league, you need to show that you're a good player. And I think that it is frustrating that when something bad happens to us,
00:13:21
Zak
The mentality drop, which has been now shown to be not just ah the manager in charge thing. It is really, really frustrating. Um, and yes, okay. Maybe there is a call in there for it being disallowed, but also does it really matter because directly after we had a, um, we had a corner, uh, we've had tons of set pieces. I think we must have ended. I don't know how many corners we ended the game with, but like that was at one point we'd had no goals from 78 corners. That is.
00:13:51
Zak
so far this season.
00:13:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's mental.
00:13:52
Zak
That is nuts. Now, maybe it would be better to invest in a set piece coach than a new player is necessary in January. ah maybe do Maybe a set piece coach just instead of you know a new pub um would be nice.
00:14:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
We had seven corners.
00:14:09
Zak
But you know afterwards, we we stuck it out until halftime. We had some really good Ramsdale save against Saar as one that sticks out. And then obviously another corner that was at the bicycle kick, but you know once again set piece Ends up in a goal, and it's just like we'll never learn frustrating And then there was also that other goal that I don't quite understand how it was kept out It was the one which came off the back heel of Kyle Walker Peters Just to stay out and it's like you know There's some luck in their our side as well because you know
00:14:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah oh yeah that was insane that's what I mean right because you go back to like the var decision and it changing the game but you know say what you like about it if you want to say it should have been chalked off I couldn't disagree more but fine but again it literally flipped off of Walker Peters Hill we had no clue where the ball was or it was going realistically that and anywhere else that's a goal so it's
00:15:10
Zak
but They just, you know, that they're struggling to finish chances this season, but they seem to be able to, they seem threatening in the final third in a way that we are.
00:15:21
Zak
And I think that we're starting to say that about, you know, nearly every team we're playing at the moment. And um and we're starting to realize it's maybe just a, it's an ingrained thing into this current Saints team about getting it in the goal in the end.
00:15:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:15:34
Zak
And that's why, you know, it's, it's no surprise to me that it's, it's fringe players that and not for players like Dibbling who just have confidence running through them besides that, you know, that are scoring the goals, right? You know, Breeze scored a few, Sugawara, it's like, and even Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who, you know, is a player that you could see by the end of that game was getting frustrated. But, you know, we just, we lost the battles in the key areas. And I don't think there's any shame to that. It's just frustrating because I kind of felt like as soon as they'd equalized,
00:16:08
Zak
were going to score again and win and as soon as they scored again didn't really feel like we were going to get back into it but yeah
00:16:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:16:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well I think I text you in about the 65th minute and say it doesn't feel like anything's coming here.
00:16:18
Zak
and that's the thing and from some from sort of the substitution point um we'll talk about the second half short after a break shortly but you know after the substitutions i stopped writing notes because i just knew nothing was going to happen because that just seems to be the way that it is nowadays um is the struggle of being a Saints fan, right? I don't know how... I don't know, it's it's nice it's not nice that we can sort of switch off at the end, right Greg? Do you agree?
00:16:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think it's gross, it's horrible. I would rather that I felt like there was something coming from the game, even if that doesn't come. I hate feeling defeated ah so early. And you know I was looking at the bench and thinking, who's coming on and off that bench and making an impact? And the answer was, I just don't see it happening.
00:17:08
Zak
Indeed. Right, so we will discuss the second half and most of the substitutions ah after a word from our partners at the 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.
00:17:39
Zak
And we're back. So second second half, Greg, that was where we really started to go downhill. Why do you think Jura get didn't take off a Rebo at halftime.
Second Half Struggles and Defensive Issues
00:17:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
don't know. I don't know if he was giving him a chance to show that he could play a position that isn't his natural position.
00:17:52
Zak
That was such a weird decision.
00:17:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
i I just don't know. It felt like the obvious change to make it half time and to then go on to make it so close after half time.
00:18:07
Zak
Well, we'd had a corner just before that ended up almost being a goal for for Crystal Palace, sorry, because like they they jumped on it immediately, which is one of those things where our terrible distribution comes into play again, and our terrible set pieces ah came into play again. And I'm thinking at that point, maybe he just saw, right, I've had enough of this. We need to defensively shore up, um which is incredible, because less than a minute or so later, obviously, Crystal Palace scored with you know off the back of a set piece.
00:18:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's baffling.
00:18:36
Zak
um which, you know, it was, to be fair, quite an incredible goal as they scored an absolute, you know, that's just a four and four, I think, playing against us, you know, and another player like son who, whenever they play against Atlanta, just score.
00:18:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:18:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah that's nuts yeah I mean I've seen people try and blame the goal on Fernandez but I don't really see what else he could have done he just hid it
00:18:57
Zak
He tried, he tried to get it away. It couldn't get, it didn't quite get away. I mean,
00:19:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
low hard and through people and it was a beautiful strike what can you do about that yeah
00:19:04
Zak
we you go You go back a couple of weeks ago, we wouldn't have even tried to clear it. We'd have tried to keep it in the box to play it out. At least we're trying to get rid of it now. where There are some dangerous situations today that were resolved. you know Crystal Palace were all over us, but lets let's face it, they only scored two goals, and that was mainly off the back of set pieces. they They had the opportunity to score more. We actually defended, I think, all right. Our problem is is like once we were two that once we we they'd scored two goals, we just didn't look like we were scoring again.
00:19:34
Zak
Um, and you know, there were a couple of times where they had sort of, uh, they, they had like the sort of bull flash across in front of our goal and almost have tappins. Um, and then, yeah, not really a lot. We had a, an incredible piece of play from Fernandez, a 63 minutes. Can't quote the car. No, I do remember what that was. So that's when he basically took on the entire team on his own and went for goal. And that was, that was a solid piece, piece of play. Um, and after that, we, we finally had substitutions, which, you know,
00:20:05
Zak
of, in my opinion, kind of ended the game, which was Armstrong and Onoachi off Archer and Suleiman are on because Archer had no service for the rest of the game.
00:20:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:20:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah well the like the problem is i think the commentators put it best that tool pool was our outlet for the entirety of that game and archer is just not winning that aerial battle and because that's not what his strengths are um so to whip them both off is is i mean i guess is what it is because tool pool was so clearly flagging so what can you do but and then sunamana did
00:20:21
Zak
Yeah. No. Exactly. And that's not a bad thing. a Again, it's, it's
00:20:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
you know exactly what you'd expect at this point and what we've seen from him every time that he's been on the pitch absolutely nothing so I don't get it
00:20:50
Zak
Well, this is the thing, right? like In my head, it's because you're you're going to bring on a really fast, pacey winger to to feed the ball through to Archer quickly. But again, like i just I just don't know if it's a combination of him clearly not wanting to be here,
00:21:05
Zak
But also i'm I'm struggling to understand why he gets minutes. Like at this rate, Meritor Diaz take it over. to I don't know. it's But this is ah also part of the problem.
00:21:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
that's baffling isn't it what did you think three weeks ago you'd be saying well we're giving parent Diaz minutes over anyone let alone I
00:21:15
Zak
like
00:21:19
Zak
Yeah, but in my head, you should be bringing back a Dozy from Anderlecht and we should have never sent him off alone. I don't think he was a bad player for us most of the last season.
00:21:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
agree
00:21:27
Zak
and I find it very strange we sent him off to currently a a Champions League squad to say what you want about them. That's where they're sitting in comparison to us. Um, so yeah, we kind of, I, again, I put it out, i but I have no idea why we refuse to play them together. And then we had kind of a a foul from Taylor, Harvard bellies, which was ah soft, but you know, it was, it was what it was. It resulted in a good effort for crystal palace, but it was deflected in the end. Um, and then like, yeah, there were a couple of sort of frustration that we finally sort of started seeing the cards after one card had come out.
00:22:01
Zak
It's a card for card for Ben Wreck, and then the 85th minute where, again, nothing hugely had happened in that 20-minute spell. It was nothing really for me to write down. Then we ended up with, obviously, Lelana and Manning on Karl Walker Peters and dipling off. Karl Walker Peters doing probably our best creator, then off. Manning tried.
00:22:20
Zak
uh, dibbling then off because, you know, they're trying to manage his minutes, but I think, you know, what the 85 in comparison to 90 isn't much of a difference. And then Lalana came out of, and I found some of the words interesting that Jura could spoken about, um, that he was, it was like having an assistant manager already at the club.
00:22:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:22:37
Zak
Um, like fair. So that was,
00:22:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah I get it he's an experienced head and that's always going to be his role at the club and ah in in a way I'm glad that Girot is seeing him that way um you know he's going to make these cameo appearances off the bench probably the most we can expect from him hopefully he can bring some quality in those moments but yeah I don't know
00:22:59
Zak
So yeah, obviously, I know we discussed the lineup and we're now working front to back, but there's not really much else to say. The game was lost at that point. The game's over. It's another zero points on the board towards our desperate struggle to stay, to try and beat Darby's point record, because let's face it, that's what we're fighting for.
00:23:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's got to be the target, yeah.
00:23:22
Zak
That's what we're fighting for at this point.
00:23:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'm sure our last away win was Leeds.
00:23:24
Zak
ah
00:23:27
Zak
Right. Thanks. um Armill Bellacottcha was on the bench today ah so obviously lots of discussion ah behind the scenes talking about how we're going to need him hopefully he's going to play he's got to work himself back into the squad which was you know I think everyone's sort of seen what my thoughts are I kind of find it I kind of find it baffling because Jorix was talking about watching him play two years ago and I'm like well yeah but since then he's not played a lot after two years but I'm happy that if he can come back in
00:23:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, interesting.
00:23:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
but can't jane
00:23:57
Zak
put in a performance and doesn't have a horrible attitude, what what have we got to lose? We've got nothing to lose at this point. ah Really, really be awful for him to have the entire two seasons that he spent at Southampton being relegation fights.
00:24:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah Well, yeah.
00:24:11
Zak
But then sometimes that's what you sign up for. um
00:24:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I don't know.
00:24:15
Zak
so
00:24:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
I mean, like, like all of our players, I hope that he makes his way back into the squad, comes good and becomes the saving grace of the team. But I'm not convinced that I believe it will see it.
00:24:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
And yeah, but I guess what's most interesting to me that I thought was actually that Jack Stevens has served his suspension now and is technically back available for selection.
00:24:30
Zak
Agreed.
00:24:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
And ABK makes it on the bench before him.
00:24:39
Zak
Yeah. The only injury concern supposedly was Flynn Downs and obviously long term we've got where we small bones and Russ Stewart. So is is Jack Stevens supposedly quote unquote injured or?
00:24:56
Zak
do we just stop talking about him or is, you know, Jurek looked at a guy that's had two red cards supposedly the club captain and gone absolutely not, not touching a barge ball. We don't know. It's difficult. Like we don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but you can start to see the relationships he's forming with different people. And you know, Bedmorex been solidly captain pretty much since he's come in, you know, and again, it's it's difficult to judge on a rain of so far, what to two, two games and a like a week and a bit that week being over Christmas yeah like if we're lucky I think it's I think it's like the West Ham loss there was so much optimism positivity
00:25:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah two games in four days right they've probably had a total of maybe three days on the training pitch max and one of them would have been a recovery day I'd have thought so yeah I horrible time to have to take over as manager to be honest
00:25:46
Zak
And this game, I think there's a lot to pick the po they pick the side apart on. And, you know, there wasn't, it wasn't all terrible for a long spell at the beginning. We felt like we were in it, but there's a lot sort of, he's able to see live and pick up on.
00:25:59
Zak
And again, like I just harker back to dibbling saying he's a lot stricter. And I can only hope that that's a positive thing to try and instill a mentality to pop a fight, I guess.
00:26:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:26:14
Zak
because it's it's difficult to see where we are, so difficult to see where we are now after the highs of sort of last year. And again, we did our boxing episodes and we can look back over our last couple of boxing days and you know, the five nil win against onesie last year in the championship is like, is night and day.
00:26:29
Zak
The type of football I guess is going to become night and day, but yeah, it's just, um, I think everyone's worried for the club, right?
00:26:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
it's going to be really interesting to see how he builds upon this because now like we've had these two fixtures where he's had effectively no time really apart from and minimal time here and there as well as having to deal with players who aren't at their peak of fitness through a busy schedule of games he now has an actual week on the training pitch you know that plenty of recovery time everyone you would hope to be back to to fitness and to strength not having to think about rotating because there's no midweek game afterwards you know it's it's one week until our next league game then one week until the cup game and then another week until our league game so we've got time between the fixtures to sort it out
00:27:24
Zak
We're going to start thinking about what we're going to put in all these podcasts, mate.
00:27:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
i know We can have a nice preview, review, preview, review.
00:27:29
Zak
For so long now, we've just had so much just match after match after match after match. And then we had our manager being fired and all that jazz.
00:27:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:27:37
Zak
So yeah, it's going to be it's going to be weird to get back to some sort of quote unquote normality.
00:27:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:27:43
Zak
Yeah, I'm hoping the same. I guess that's the most optimistic note I can leave on because ultimately we lost 2-1 and it wasn't it wasn't great. We scored a goal. There we go.
00:27:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah and so it was still slightly better than watching us play under us on height by a long shot so let's call it a work in progress
00:27:54
Zak
We can all sing it. We scored a goal. Oh, it was better than watching us give it a B5 one because we passed it back to Ramsdale like four or five times. Work in progress, it is i just like that the build up to the wins to be more draws than just solid losses. um But unfortunately, that is not the way that it's going.
00:28:20
Zak
We will have to see what will happen going forward. But as always, thank you for joining me, Craig.
00:28:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Always a pleasure.
00:28:27
Zak
Thank you for joining us, wonderful listeners. We are available on all of the social media platforms, Twitter slash X, because we still call it Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, TikTok, all of that fun stuff.
00:28:40
Zak
We try to post twice daily. usually shouting out the podcast, usually asking some questions, usually posting funny clips of me saying something dumb, Greg laughing, or vice versa. Maybe it'll be the bit where I messed up the intro, who knows?
00:28:54
Zak
ah
00:28:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
Remember that time when I predicted 15 points before Christmas and we're still on 6 overall?
00:28:59
Zak
ah That was fun to post on Christmas, mate, I'm not gonna lie. Anywho, it's been a pleasure, as always, and we will see you in the next one.
00:29:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
but