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Episode 348: DEVESTATING LOSS TO OXFORD
16 Plays1 month ago
Southampton – Oxford play the role of the grinch in this Christmas special as they go ahead and steal christmas from right under our noses!
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Transcript
Introduction & Hosts Greeting
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.
00:00:22
Speaker
My name is Greg Elliott and as always today joined by my good friend and wonderful co-host Zach Ingo Finch.
00:00:28
Speaker
And mate, how you doing after watching 11 Saints players run around looking like they're as full as turkey as I am?
00:00:35
Speaker
Merry Christmas.
00:00:36
Speaker
Happy Boxing Day.
00:00:38
Speaker
Massive shout out to anybody who's listening
Southampton vs Coventry: Match Analysis
00:00:41
Speaker
to us.
00:00:41
Speaker
However, just what a waste of like two hours of my life.
00:00:49
Speaker
That's what I'm like.
00:00:50
Speaker
I wish I could be more cross about it, but genuinely like the main crux of the takeaway of that game that I've come away with after we discussed, we, you know, we had a bit of a pre-show chat beforehand because we've not spoken to each other since before Christmas.
00:01:04
Speaker
And one of the key things was like, what really well-thought, hard-won draw, which should have been a win, but we kind of let the players get away with it a little bit, against Coventry, is wasted because we cannot put a team that we have not played since 1996, a team that you predicted we would beat 6-0 to bed.
00:01:26
Speaker
And then when we struggled to do that,
00:01:28
Speaker
Because we were drawing, not swimming, drawing, they were like, oh, you know what we should do?
00:01:34
Speaker
We should take off one of our big, best creative outlets and another player that plays quite well.
00:01:40
Speaker
Let's put on a 35-year-old and let's play on a player who, and it's no disrespect to Jay Robinson, but is not an impact sub.
00:01:48
Speaker
And then maybe that will just sort it out.
00:01:53
Speaker
No, no, what would you?
00:01:56
Speaker
And then to have the excuse of, oh, well, you know, I just, you know, I don't really know much.
00:02:00
Speaker
They are a managerless team.
00:02:02
Speaker
They are like candidates for relegation.
00:02:07
Speaker
And this is no disrespect to Oxford.
00:02:09
Speaker
This is just the reality of the situation.
00:02:11
Speaker
And we just, I watched a Saints team of like six months ago.
00:02:16
Speaker
Like it was written in the stars.
00:02:17
Speaker
You could tell we were struggling.
00:02:18
Speaker
We had that.
00:02:19
Speaker
We were knocking on the door.
00:02:20
Speaker
We were, oh, is it going to go in?
00:02:21
Speaker
Is it going to go in?
00:02:22
Speaker
No, it wasn't.
00:02:22
Speaker
It was always fated that they were just going to take one chance.
00:02:25
Speaker
And with both chances, they basically had the whole game.
00:02:27
Speaker
They scored.
00:02:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:30
Speaker
Sorry.
00:02:31
Speaker
Sorry.
00:02:31
Speaker
That was, you asked, how am I?
00:02:34
Speaker
That was just the, just the tirade that's been in my brain, mate.
00:02:38
Speaker
So other than that, I'm really good.
00:02:39
Speaker
I hope you had a nice Christmas team.
00:02:42
Speaker
You're right, mate, though.
00:02:44
Speaker
I mean, you want to talk about the levels, and the Sky commentary went on and on about it, but at the end of the day, Oxford is a team who just about survived in the championship last year, otherwise had come up from League One.
00:02:57
Speaker
I mean, they can only afford three sides to their stadium.
00:03:03
Speaker
And again, I don't want it to come across as arrogance, because we've talked about how anyone can beat...
00:03:09
Speaker
anyone, right?
00:03:10
Speaker
And we even discussed about how, literally, the build-up to this game, we discussed about how, like, it could be a banana skin, because we could treat it, you know, like they have done, which is, well, it's the first in a big run of games, and, like, bringing Leo off to bring on, you know, because of the fact that the game wasn't done.
Defensive Lapses and Managerial Concerns
00:03:28
Speaker
You don't, you can't keep, I know that you want to keep another eye on the other game, but, like, we're not going to win if we take all, ugh.
00:03:35
Speaker
It's just frustrating because I think everybody saw what was going to happen.
00:03:38
Speaker
Everybody saw it playing out like this.
00:03:41
Speaker
It's just frustrating.
00:03:42
Speaker
We should have gone out and demolished and we didn't.
00:03:43
Speaker
We waited to go a goal down before we suddenly put an effort in.
00:03:46
Speaker
Yes, it was nice to score from three kicks again and set pieces.
00:03:50
Speaker
Leo assisted that with the corner itself, but like...
00:03:54
Speaker
And it's just, it's like, you know, I know there was a talk at one point of a penalty shout, but it's just like, that shouldn't matter because we should have put this game to bed.
00:04:02
Speaker
They're a managerless team.
00:04:03
Speaker
We are a team that has hired a manager that went on an extremely good run with players that were scoring for fun, that had the, call it synergy, call it energy, call it flow, call it chi, whatever you want to call it.
00:04:17
Speaker
And I sat there today and I had to kind of neglect the family I was with to try and watch this because I obviously know I'm going to be reviewing it.
00:04:25
Speaker
And I'm sat there and I'm doing this Boxing Day quiz, sort of half not really paying attention to it because I'm watching this football.
00:04:31
Speaker
And I'm like, I just want to stop watching this because this is dire.
00:04:35
Speaker
It looks like, as you pointed out, mate, that the players also decided that...
00:04:39
Speaker
They were having Turkey, getting all the stuff in all the trillions, came out and went, oh, great, we've got football with Murray.
00:04:44
Speaker
And it did almost feel like watching a hungover Sunday League team that just didn't have the energy that we would expect from the team.
00:04:52
Speaker
It was just like... It was a Will-Steel game.
00:04:56
Speaker
Yeah, it was.
00:04:58
Speaker
It was a Will-Steel game.
00:05:00
Speaker
We completely reverted back to, oh, we're not fast and dynamic anymore.
00:05:05
Speaker
Actually, we're just going to pass it around.
00:05:07
Speaker
And, you know, Oxford played with that low block, which I know we have struggled with against in the past, but it was just so slow.
00:05:17
Speaker
You've got to learn to break that down.
00:05:19
Speaker
You can't just kick the ball sort of towards it and be like, well, that's not happening.
00:05:26
Speaker
I get it.
00:05:28
Speaker
And, I mean, the two observations I made specifically in the first half, I turned around and I said...
00:05:35
Speaker
I mean, I went to the Dell, the pub to watch it, which was nice with the whole family with a lovely meal and sat in the perfect line of the TV to sit and watch the game.
00:05:45
Speaker
It was a lovely day out and the food was fantastic.
00:05:48
Speaker
But I turn around, I'm like, why isn't anyone passing the ball to Tom Fellows?
00:05:54
Speaker
Like, I'm pretty sure his first touch of the ball was the free kick he won for the goal.
00:06:00
Speaker
Because, to be fair, I said that, and then he got the ball, and he won the free kick, and we scored from it.
00:06:05
Speaker
And I said, I told you we needed to pass the ball to him.
00:06:10
Speaker
Honestly, Eckert's come out and said that his fitness levels weren't there, but that doesn't mean, well, if he's playing on the pitch, pass the ball to the guy.
00:06:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:19
Speaker
It just wasn't... It just wasn't... It just felt like I wasn't watching the same team as like two or three.
00:06:26
Speaker
That's it, because we didn't seem to have that outlook down that side...
00:06:31
Speaker
we would try and go down the other side and we hit the same problem we had against Coventry where all of our output was going down that left-hand side and everyone was just marked out of the game.
00:06:41
Speaker
And so then everything is just sideways, backwards, sideways, backwards, back to Baz, who then almost got himself into trouble two or three times with this same like passing in about round the back energy.
00:06:54
Speaker
And,
00:06:54
Speaker
You know, you say it was a very Will Steele team performance, but actually a lot of it was some real... There was some real Russell Martin ball in there.
00:07:02
Speaker
Like, we nearly... And then Oxford.
00:07:06
Speaker
I mean, Oxford have clearly been looking at the stat sheet on Bozzunu.
00:07:09
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:07:10
Speaker
to see that he is the goalkeeper in the league who was letting the most goals from shots outside the box.
00:07:17
Speaker
Because they were just shooting on sight.
00:07:18
Speaker
And I'm like, one of these is going to go in in a minute.
00:07:21
Speaker
And then, you know, the ball bobbles in and we don't really clear it and we don't get out to the player.
00:07:26
Speaker
And then he puts a cross back in and we defensively header it.
00:07:29
Speaker
And then we still persist to not close down the player.
00:07:32
Speaker
And bang, they score.
00:07:34
Speaker
And I'm like, you could have seen that coming a mile off.
00:07:36
Speaker
Like, it was just...
00:07:38
Speaker
It just genuinely felt like nobody was really up for it.
00:07:41
Speaker
That's genuinely, it looked like everyone was tired, no one wanted to be there.
00:07:45
Speaker
I get it, right?
00:07:46
Speaker
I'm not back to work until next week, but I am back to work next week.
00:07:49
Speaker
And the Crimbo Limbo period is horrific for anyone that's doing work because, you know, you've got to pay attention.
00:07:54
Speaker
And I get that with football, it's tough and it's probably difficult.
00:07:57
Speaker
I mean, again, as we established pre-recorded, mate, I don't even know what day it is.
00:08:03
Speaker
This is true.
00:08:04
Speaker
Like, Greg started popping off about some actual, like, work stuff to me, and I didn't really clock it.
00:08:10
Speaker
And then he was like, well, this is going to go out, obviously, tomorrow or Monday.
00:08:13
Speaker
And I was like, Greg, it's Friday.
00:08:17
Speaker
We're recording on Friday.
00:08:18
Speaker
And he's like, oh, yeah, but the football's on.
00:08:21
Speaker
So just assume it's Sunday.
00:08:24
Speaker
You don't have a... And, like, that's how it is sometimes, right?
00:08:27
Speaker
And it kind of just...
00:08:29
Speaker
I think it was just frustrating because if you are a fan that has partook in the Boxing Day tradition, you've gone all the way to the away game, you'd expect something.
00:08:38
Speaker
Like, at least they got a goal to celebrate.
00:08:40
Speaker
But even the goal was one of those ones where we went, oh, no, we've conceded.
00:08:44
Speaker
Let's start playing now.
00:08:46
Speaker
And then after that, we just weren't able to do anything.
00:08:48
Speaker
And it's really disappointing to go from loss to draw and then we wanted to come back, get a statement win.
00:08:54
Speaker
And it's like...
00:08:56
Speaker
I don't know what terms Eckert's been hired on, right?
00:08:59
Speaker
I don't know what the expectation is this season.
00:09:02
Speaker
I assume it's still promotion.
00:09:04
Speaker
It's still what they're talking about.
00:09:06
Speaker
We cannot beat Oxford United on a promotion run after the amount of games we've had and the run that we're supposedly on.
00:09:13
Speaker
Like, what are we doing?
00:09:15
Speaker
And I don't want to go back to what it was like under Steele where we're talking about relegation.
00:09:20
Speaker
But you look at this game and you're just like, what are we doing?
00:09:23
Speaker
Like genuinely, what are we doing?
00:09:26
Speaker
Because all of the hard work that we, you know, we put in and all of this like run we built up is just being undone again, because it's a very saint thing to do.
00:09:35
Speaker
You put in a great performance and you get a draw against a Man City.
00:09:39
Speaker
And then next week you just lose to a promoted side.
00:09:41
Speaker
And that's genuinely the vibe it gave today.
00:09:44
Speaker
And I just don't know where the motivation was.
00:09:48
Speaker
And then obviously it doesn't help that then a lot of the criticism will go on the manager because of the man management.
00:09:54
Speaker
Because when we looked at the lineups, the lineup was perfect.
00:09:57
Speaker
The lineup is exactly what we would have picked, right?
00:10:00
Speaker
What we would consider to be our perfect lineup.
00:10:02
Speaker
And that just didn't play out on the field at all.
00:10:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:05
Speaker
Well, I've got maybe, I don't know if it's a counterpoint, but a further discussion point to add to that.
00:10:09
Speaker
I'm fine with that.
00:10:11
Speaker
But let's have a little break first and hear a message from our partners at Bionique.
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Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:10:38
Speaker
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00:10:45
Speaker
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00:10:46
Speaker
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00:10:49
Speaker
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00:10:52
Speaker
Okay, and we are back.
00:10:55
Speaker
So, yeah, you mentioned the starting lineup, and, I mean, two changes, and we talked about fellows, I think, being underutilized today, which is definitely one problem.
00:11:09
Speaker
Stephen's in for Quashy.
00:11:12
Speaker
Did
Lineup Choices and Player Performance
00:11:13
Speaker
him come in in...
00:11:15
Speaker
make the defence worse?
00:11:16
Speaker
Because that's what it kind of looked like.
00:11:19
Speaker
Maybe, but I also think, again, it's because we're putting Quash out against teams that we would consider to be stronger.
00:11:26
Speaker
And you said it yourself, mate, in the preview.
00:11:29
Speaker
I don't think there's anything that Stephens couldn't handle in this Oxford United team.
00:11:33
Speaker
And again, that might have been coming from a place of, I don't think, arrogance, but maybe misguided optimism.
00:11:40
Speaker
that clearly maybe wasn't the case because they, as you're right, obviously, even without a manager had somehow definitely paid attention to what we're doing and paid attention to the way we're playing and what they needed to do.
00:11:53
Speaker
But I wouldn't, as we've discussed before, I wouldn't be upset with either on the team sheet.
00:11:59
Speaker
And we went through that whole period where Stephens wasn't in the team under Will still.
00:12:03
Speaker
And then he came back in the team.
00:12:04
Speaker
And then we did have a big winning run, which contained both of those players.
00:12:09
Speaker
I just think that everybody didn't hugely seem up to it today.
00:12:12
Speaker
And I think that a lot of the substitutions really changed the game because, again, they're thinking about games coming up.
00:12:19
Speaker
But if you don't win the game that you're playing in now,
00:12:23
Speaker
You know, and this was my big worry about Eckert, as I told you this when we hired him.
00:12:27
Speaker
Like, clearly, he was talking about how he's sleeping at Staplewood, and he's preparing for every game with meticulous levels of detail.
00:12:34
Speaker
And what I think is actually happening now is that that is unsustainable, right?
00:12:38
Speaker
You can't do that forever, like, unless you're a Pep Guardiola.
00:12:41
Speaker
And then what happens?
00:12:42
Speaker
You split up with your wife, and you...
00:12:45
Speaker
not existing in reality.
00:12:47
Speaker
When you're talking about, what was it this week?
00:12:50
Speaker
Three games in literally four games in seven days or something stupid?
00:12:55
Speaker
Like a ridiculous turnaround.
00:12:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's just not, how can you...
00:13:01
Speaker
You can't do it, right?
00:13:03
Speaker
One of the other big problems is like, I know that this is wildly deviating from your point about whether or not I thought Steven Sikwashi was better.
00:13:11
Speaker
I think I'm really frustrated that we are the only team in the top 12 now
00:13:16
Speaker
that did not get a point out of the game they just took part in.
00:13:20
Speaker
So like Coventry won, Middlesbrough drew, you know, Derby drew, Stoke drew.
00:13:24
Speaker
We've now dropped down to 12th.
00:13:26
Speaker
To get back to 10th, where we started before these, you know, a game and a half ago, we're going to need to win the next game.
00:13:32
Speaker
Or otherwise that point gap is going to happen, right?
00:13:34
Speaker
Like that... It just feels like if...
00:13:39
Speaker
If the Coventry game was a point earned, right, it would have definitely felt like a draw out of this game was two points lost.
00:13:49
Speaker
Whereas a loss is like, it's just like, well, okay, well, we just gave up then, didn't we, towards the end?
00:13:56
Speaker
And it's just more embarrassing than anything else.
00:13:59
Speaker
It's frustrating.
00:14:00
Speaker
I'm incredibly frustrated.
00:14:02
Speaker
it's this was supposed to be you know we talk about make or break we talk about if this is a must game win game of the season it's getting to a point where if we want promotion if we even want to push for promotion it's getting to a point we need to start winning and not really and like that is the standard it feels like we've re-established that we've had a wobble and now we're still kind of like on the wobbling downwards trend maybe today is just a wobble
00:14:30
Speaker
But the things that we had as worries are starting to come into fruition, i.e.
00:14:36
Speaker
we don't really have subs that can do anything other than see how a game already won.
00:14:40
Speaker
So if we've not won the game by that point, it doesn't feel like it's changing.
00:14:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:47
Speaker
Who's better?
00:14:48
Speaker
I don't know.
00:14:50
Speaker
I don't think it would have made a huge bit of difference because I genuinely don't think... I think that it was the entirety of the team that weren't really up to it today as opposed to an individual.
00:15:00
Speaker
You're right.
00:15:01
Speaker
And we called it coming into the game, make or break season, right?
00:15:04
Speaker
With all of these quick fixtures, it's both an opportunity to...
00:15:09
Speaker
write those gaps and climb up the table or to sink furiously into, you know, the quicksand of despair of the mid table of the championship.
00:15:18
Speaker
And I mean, so far we can see, we can see which way is more likely.
00:15:23
Speaker
If we, if we win, if we won all four of those games, right.
00:15:27
Speaker
you would have ended up with, so, 33 points, 37, 40, 43.
00:15:32
Speaker
We would end up, obviously, that's entirely decided on whether or not the teams above us got anything.
00:15:40
Speaker
But you would probably expect us at that point to be quite high up the playoff places.
00:15:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:44
Speaker
After losing to Oxford United, does it feel like that's going to be the case, right?
00:15:48
Speaker
Like Coventry... And then, only what, two days?
00:15:51
Speaker
Only two days to turn it round and go again to Birmingham.
00:15:54
Speaker
Like, it's...
00:15:56
Speaker
This is what I mean.
00:15:57
Speaker
If you get that win and you're riding high, you go into the next game and the preparation is probably slightly less important because you're at least going with the confidence.
00:16:05
Speaker
But, I mean, how can you take confidence after today's performance when it was just so...
00:16:11
Speaker
It was so lethargic, right?
00:16:13
Speaker
It was just literally, just like you say, like Saints of old, just casually passing it around.
00:16:19
Speaker
I don't know if it was, maybe they just underestimated Oxford and Oxford, you know, now they're free of the shackles of their old manager.
00:16:27
Speaker
And I know that they had just to their team coming into the game, you know, came and fought for it, but yeah,
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah, it's just a bit sad.
00:16:38
Speaker
Do you know what I will give you though, Greg?
00:16:40
Speaker
There is one positive to take out of it, and that's by Oxford winning, they have pushed Portsmouth into the relegation zone.
00:16:47
Speaker
Yeah, I did see the conspiracy theorists come out and say that that was in fact a deliberate ploy, but I'm not having any part of that.
00:16:53
Speaker
Yeah, but I don't think that's true.
00:16:55
Speaker
I think we all need whatever we need to justify a performance like that.
00:16:59
Speaker
And I think that what I'm more upset by than anything is just, it just felt like it was a waste of my time and it didn't feel like they were really trying to win the game from the get-go.
00:17:09
Speaker
It felt like every, it looked lethargic, it looked tired, it looked like everybody just wasn't quite up for it today.
00:17:17
Speaker
And that's why I'm not... Like, when you're saying, do you think that you could swap out X with Y?
00:17:21
Speaker
I think that we could have had some of the best players, you know, if we'd swapped out everybody.
00:17:26
Speaker
I don't really feel like there was anyone that I saw that really was a standout.
00:17:29
Speaker
I think Sienza tried, as he always does.
00:17:32
Speaker
You know, he was very, very close to scoring again, but he's just not... Somebody who's just, you know, hasn't been lucky with some of his shots.
00:17:39
Speaker
It's a concern, isn't it, though?
00:17:42
Speaker
After him coming off after 50 minutes again...
00:17:46
Speaker
like question marks over his fitness, this busy schedule being new to him.
00:17:51
Speaker
I mean, being so reliant on him to be that driving forward force.
00:17:56
Speaker
Well, we knew that after the first Millwall game, right?
00:18:00
Speaker
The first Millwall game we lost because basically we didn't have him in and Jay, it's not his fault, wasn't able to step into those shoes because he's very, very young and that's a lot of pressure.
00:18:11
Speaker
And that's why...
Transfer Window Needs and Future Strategy
00:18:13
Speaker
Maybe we talk about some potential returnees and how that might help us after a word from our partners at Zencaster.
00:18:21
Speaker
Yeah, all right, let's have that.
00:18:23
Speaker
Unless I've ranted so much I've forgotten we have had two breaks.
00:18:28
Speaker
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00:18:36
Speaker
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00:18:47
Speaker
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00:18:54
Speaker
All right, mate, and we are back.
00:18:56
Speaker
So, look.
00:18:58
Speaker
The thing that's going to get thrown about and quoted is Johan Sporz coming out in the Echo and saying, we don't need a lot in January.
00:19:08
Speaker
Yeah, we didn't even get to this bit.
00:19:11
Speaker
That doesn't quite ring true, does it?
00:19:13
Speaker
Like...
00:19:15
Speaker
Unless a dozy comes back, mate, and suddenly plays like an absolute baller, and all of a sudden Ross Stewart's knees just are fixed and fused together forever.
00:19:25
Speaker
He's back in training.
00:19:27
Speaker
Yeah, but until... This is the big problem we had when a lot of people just went, oh, we need to play Joe Eribo.
00:19:33
Speaker
And then we saw what happened with that.
00:19:35
Speaker
It didn't play out the way we wanted it to play out, right?
00:19:38
Speaker
We've supposedly got wing-backs on the way that might help with the fact that, you know, Fellows has got injured and not quite back yet, instead of playing Wellington, which we did the other game.
00:19:47
Speaker
But I just... It's the... When the current XI...
00:19:53
Speaker
Our firing and the strong attacking football we started with is incredible to watch.
00:20:00
Speaker
It's wonderful to watch.
00:20:00
Speaker
And that's the performance we wanted, right?
00:20:02
Speaker
We wanted the performance we had against Charlton today.
00:20:05
Speaker
And the problem is, is when they're not,
00:20:07
Speaker
then you need to try and find solutions.
00:20:10
Speaker
The issue is at the moment, as you're rightly saying, mate, is that there are no real solutions elsewhere.
00:20:16
Speaker
And whenever we've had issues with people being out for fitness or like that Millwall game, it's not paid off for us either, which is incredibly... It's such a delicate...
00:20:26
Speaker
stack of cards.
00:20:27
Speaker
And the idea that the guy that's running the show is turned around and going, we don't need anything.
00:20:31
Speaker
We don't need another goalkeeper, despite the fact this is a thing that we've been talking about since before Ramsdale even left.
00:20:37
Speaker
We don't need any more attacking support, despite the fact that you can see we need some more attacking support instead of consistently relying on, like, essentially kids to bail us out.
00:20:48
Speaker
It's a worrying thing to hear them say, but surely they have the same eyes that we do.
00:20:53
Speaker
And we do need to trust that, like they have done with Azaz and Sienza and stuff, they'll be able to identify targets.
00:21:00
Speaker
And maybe, and what I think we're all secretly hoping, is it's just Bluster.
00:21:04
Speaker
The reason he's saying that we're not going to be going all out in January is because people know that we have money and they're probably going to ask for more money.
00:21:11
Speaker
LAUGHTER
00:21:12
Speaker
Like, maybe it's all a master plan.
00:21:14
Speaker
Maybe I'm just delusional.
00:21:16
Speaker
Probably a little bit of that.
00:21:17
Speaker
But you're right.
00:21:18
Speaker
It's really worrying that, like, we just need, like, an extra... You know, it doesn't matter when people talk about our bench and how strong it is.
00:21:25
Speaker
What they actually are talking about is how much money is on our bench.
00:21:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:29
Speaker
Does it matter that Archer costs £15 million if he's scored two goals all season?
00:21:32
Speaker
No.
00:21:33
Speaker
It doesn't matter.
00:21:34
Speaker
I mean, what was your...
00:21:37
Speaker
instant reaction when they brought Archer on the pitch.
00:21:40
Speaker
Is that... Yeah.
00:21:42
Speaker
You inspired that he was going to go on and score the winning goal and take control of the game?
00:21:49
Speaker
No, I expected... Because Arnie... Because Arnie touched it in disbelief and went, well, that's that then.
00:21:54
Speaker
So...
00:21:56
Speaker
But then again, it was almost, you know, it's not as crazy as the Stevens thing.
00:22:00
Speaker
But again, like, you can see what he's planning to do.
00:22:02
Speaker
He's like, right, let's try and get another attacking player on the field.
00:22:05
Speaker
Let's try and, you know, let's try and move everything up.
00:22:08
Speaker
But again, like, swapping out Downs, who was, yeah, okay.
00:22:12
Speaker
The only thing we got right so far, mate, is that Downs was going to get yellow carded.
00:22:15
Speaker
And to be fair, safest Burton football, like, 90% of the time it's paying out.
00:22:19
Speaker
To be fair, I don't...
00:22:20
Speaker
I was going to say, I don't think that he even got booked because of the challenge.
00:22:24
Speaker
I think he talked his way into that booking by arguing the way he did.
00:22:27
Speaker
What, by slamming the ground?
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah, but also at this point, it's the only way he's going to get time off, right?
00:22:33
Speaker
So make sure he gets to the point where it's suspended.
00:22:36
Speaker
And again, but like bringing on Romelu, you know, we all know that Romelu isn't probably quite there yet.
00:22:41
Speaker
And, you know, he needs a bit more time still to settle in.
00:22:44
Speaker
You've got sort of Robinson coming on.
00:22:47
Speaker
And then obviously taking off Asaz, who, yeah, okay, hadn't had a great game either.
00:22:50
Speaker
But it doesn't feel...
00:22:54
Speaker
It doesn't feel like, you know, maybe take off one of the centre-backs and push everything forward.
00:22:59
Speaker
It didn't really feel like it was going in for the throw.
00:23:02
Speaker
It's, oh, we need to try and score a goal.
00:23:04
Speaker
Azaz looks tired.
00:23:05
Speaker
Let's put on the other attacking player we have.
00:23:08
Speaker
And again, part of that is due to the personality he's got.
00:23:11
Speaker
He doesn't have a huge amount to go through.
00:23:13
Speaker
You know, Archer's... Fraser's already on the pitch at this point.
00:23:18
Speaker
Robinson's already on the pitch.
00:23:19
Speaker
What are you going to do?
00:23:20
Speaker
There's Bragg, who isn't going to exactly...
00:23:22
Speaker
do what they wanted to do or Wellington who isn't exactly going to do what they want to either and they've already swapped them out for Fraser.
00:23:27
Speaker
It just kind of felt like he didn't really know what to do and doesn't have the tool in his toolbox to win those games.
00:23:34
Speaker
And again, it wasn't a problem when we were putting the first half to bet.
00:23:39
Speaker
but we're not doing that now, right?
00:23:42
Speaker
And again, football's fickle, right?
00:23:44
Speaker
We were talking about how incredible it was and the amazing run we went on.
00:23:47
Speaker
Before, we were talking about how it was the worst season we've had since last season.
00:23:51
Speaker
And maybe we'll be talking in two days' time about an absolutely incredible game that we have at Birmingham that we beat them and it's great.
00:24:00
Speaker
But the reality of today is that I feel like it was a waste of my time watching.
00:24:06
Speaker
I feel like nobody was really up for it.
00:24:09
Speaker
I think the manager got the substitutions wrong and fair play to Oxford United.
00:24:15
Speaker
We can eat our words that our ludicrous 5-0, 6-5-0 predictions were wildly off because they beat us once before in a pre-season friendly 2-0 late and so they beat us by two... They scored two goals against us in an actual professional match.
00:24:35
Speaker
Indeed.
00:24:38
Speaker
In an effort to try and finish on somewhat of a positive note.
00:24:42
Speaker
I mean, it's going to have to be from you, mate.
00:24:45
Speaker
I'm still angry and bitter, but then what's new?
00:24:48
Speaker
One player who did look well up for it and really caught my eye today...
00:24:54
Speaker
in a way that he doesn't normally, was Caspiander.
00:24:59
Speaker
I know I say normally the work he does off the ball is immense, and he sort of does the work that no one likes to give credit for.
00:25:06
Speaker
But actually, his movement with the ball and dragging the team forward, especially after Sienzo went off, was really good.
00:25:14
Speaker
I think he was probably our best player today by some margin.
00:25:18
Speaker
So...
00:25:20
Speaker
I also think that's something that it will be interesting as we've discussed before, what's going to happen when Shea Charles is back.
00:25:26
Speaker
Because I think that will give a midfield option that isn't kind of just having to try and like sit back a bit because you can't rely on Romay to do that work really.
00:25:34
Speaker
And you'll see like, that's not really what Damned is and that's not really not what Romay does.
00:25:39
Speaker
But if you've got Shea Charles as well along, I'd love to see Shea Charles with Yander both fit, both absolutely raring to go.
00:25:46
Speaker
And maybe we'll get a chance to see that coming, coming up.
00:25:48
Speaker
But yeah,
00:25:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's just... I feel like, you know, I guess Taylor Harbour-Bellis had a good game.
00:25:54
Speaker
He scored again.
00:25:55
Speaker
He's becoming... I'm wondering how long he's... Probably a couple of goals off of Armstrong, but at this rate... Yeah, well, I mean, look, credit where credit's due.
00:26:02
Speaker
Armstrong's still the top scoring player in the overall league, 11 goals, so... This is true.
00:26:09
Speaker
It's just... I just...
00:26:11
Speaker
They are the ones that have set this expectation.
00:26:14
Speaker
All of the players that joined us in the summer talk about promotion.
00:26:17
Speaker
They're still talking about promotion.
00:26:18
Speaker
Eker has been hired and talked about promotion.
00:26:21
Speaker
They are the ones that are telling us that they think they should be promoted.
00:26:25
Speaker
They're the ones that are telling us they are underperforming.
00:26:28
Speaker
Then perform better because that is what you are expecting us to think of you.
00:26:34
Speaker
If everyone came out and went, this season might be a write-off, lads.
00:26:37
Speaker
I know that's not what you want to hear.
00:26:38
Speaker
But like, you wouldn't have us being as annoyed because you kind of expect that.
00:26:43
Speaker
But then, you know, we go on this big run and we start to like build momentum and we, you know, it hypes everyone back up.
00:26:48
Speaker
So to then have it kind of like drop off a cliff again, it's just very, it's very saints, mate, isn't it?
00:26:56
Speaker
But what is also very Saints is we come back and get a 4-0 win on Monday because that's what we did against Charleston when all of us were expecting Nathan Jones to beat us.
00:27:04
Speaker
So, swings and roundabouts, isn't it?
00:27:06
Speaker
It's just, I just really wish they didn't ruin my boxing day a little bit.
00:27:10
Speaker
I wanted to have more hype off the back of Boxing Day, but alas.
00:27:15
Speaker
Alas, indeed.
00:27:17
Speaker
But look...
Listener Engagement and Social Media
00:27:18
Speaker
In Tonda's words, the good thing is we've now only got three days until we get a chance to put it right.
00:27:25
Speaker
So that is sure one way of looking at it.
00:27:31
Speaker
I worry.
00:27:33
Speaker
That's a very real still slash Russell Martin quote, isn't it?
00:27:37
Speaker
Now, look, that is all that we have got time for today.
00:27:42
Speaker
Thank you very much, Zach, for joining me.
00:27:45
Speaker
Thank you, mate.
00:27:46
Speaker
And thank you, everyone, for listening.
00:27:50
Speaker
Let us know your thoughts on the game.
00:27:54
Speaker
on the socials, in the comments.
00:27:55
Speaker
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00:27:56
Speaker
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00:28:08
Speaker
Just hit us up.
00:28:09
Speaker
We love hearing from you.
00:28:11
Speaker
We will be back to preview...
00:28:14
Speaker
Did you say Monday's game?
00:28:15
Speaker
There's another game at some point in this festive period.
00:28:20
Speaker
Who knows?
00:28:22
Speaker
You know what they say, Greg.
00:28:24
Speaker
Things can only get better.
00:28:26
Speaker
So we will be back at some point to look forward to that.
00:28:31
Speaker
But until then, have a wonderful continuation of the festive period.
00:28:37
Speaker
Weekend, maybe.
00:28:38
Speaker
Who knows?
00:28:39
Speaker
And we will be back then.
00:28:42
Speaker
See you then, guys.
00:28:48
Speaker
your daily soccer podcast with the Global Sports Podcast Network.
00:28:55
Speaker
Merry Crimbo Limbo!