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Episode 407: Football chat and Championship Roundup!
130 Plays10 days ago
Southampton – Another crazy weekend of championship action! And lots of other bits going on in the world of football to talk about in this bumper episode before we take a little international break of our own!
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Transcript
Introduction and Welcome
00:00:13
DailySaintsPod
Hello and welcome back to the Daily Saints pod. My name is Greg and as always today, join my my good friend and wonderful co-host, Zach. Mate, how are you doing?
International Break: Benefit or Hindrance?
00:00:26
Zak
Yeah, I'm not too bad, mate. International break has come a bit of a weird time, to be honest. So I'm kind of just like, oh, right. Okay, let's do football forever. But I think there's like been enough that's happened over this last weekend to at least continue talking for a while.
00:00:46
DailySaintsPod
it's a
00:00:47
Zak
Probably probably not on stream, right? I think we've we've come to the decision to like take a couple of days off. like We should be back next week sometimes. But we we don't have a lot of time off, if ever.
00:00:58
Zak
Realistically. Yeah.
00:00:59
DailySaintsPod
Well, that's the nature of a daily podcast, mate, and of the championship in general is that it all comes thick and fast. And you're right, the break has come at, I don't know, I can't really tell if it's like the best time for Saints or the worst time because on the one hand, we have played a lot of football recently.
00:01:21
DailySaintsPod
don't remember last time we didn't have a midweek game.
00:01:21
Zak
yes
00:01:26
DailySaintsPod
so So that break is huge and getting you know the rest and get some of those crucial players back. a couple of weeks with no pressure to push himself to get back to Leo might be you know exactly what is needed but also i mean it's it's tough tough momentum is on our side at the moment and so it it might be the kind of stopping force of that but don I don't know it's
00:01:54
Zak
guess We'll have to see.
00:01:55
DailySaintsPod
It's kind of regrouping time, right? Because after the international break, it's it's eight games till the end and that's it. It happens or it doesn't. So it's it's a, you know, a thick, fast run-in, right?
00:02:11
DailySaintsPod
There's no gaps. It's just...
00:02:13
Zak
joy enjoy your time off, this is the only time off you're getting is basically what it is for the players. And then, you know, not
00:02:18
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. Yeah.
Championship vs Premier League
00:02:18
Zak
just...
00:02:19
Zak
Obviously, we're going to talk about the Championship today, as we alluded to yesterday, but like, just just briefly at the beginning, mate, because obviously, you know, what what is what is happening in the Premier League?
00:02:30
Zak
Do we want to go back? No.
00:02:32
DailySaintsPod
Bye.
00:02:34
Zak
like I'm looking at i' looking it at the the Tideside Derby and just think the idea of like a mixed train or a mixed metro with Saints and Pompey fans on it is a terrifying prospect. where you know i don't think a line of like six police officers can separate the two teams. and That's no disrespect to whoever of those sides. You've got to feel bad if you're Newcastle, they right? Getting a double done over by your team, your rival team that got promoted for the playoffs not is not ideal. And then like you look away from that raging fire of that part of the weekend. You've got the Carabao Cup, where it's just like, you know, not technically the Premier League. You're like, oh, look, to the the first and second team in the Premier League are playing one another.
00:03:19
Zak
oh look, Arsenal bottled it again.
00:03:19
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:03:21
Zak
oh okay.
00:03:23
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:03:23
Zak
i like And then out the other window, you look at there's Spurs doing like a trophy parade for... And I'm like, that's weird. And when I actually text you like the picture, you were like, surely, surely that's not from today. I'm like, oh, Greg, it is. Oh,
Wembley Anecdote
00:03:41
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, right. Like, that was it, right? And like, quite by coincidence and not related to the cup final, I was in Wembley, right? I went to the Pixar experience with my family.
00:03:54
DailySaintsPod
So I stood outside Wembley Stadium on cup final day thinking... This was some poor planning by me. And, you know, and lot this is what happens when my wife says, pick a date.
00:04:07
DailySaintsPod
So...
00:04:08
Zak
Oh, mate, that's honestly, when you told me I was roaring.
00:04:09
DailySaintsPod
and over the door shit And it was like, I think messaged you like, man, the atmosphere atmosphere here is... Like, obviously, it's it's a bit electric because it's a cup final, but it's nothing like the playoff finals.
00:04:21
Zak
Nothing like playoffs, is it?
00:04:24
DailySaintsPod
It's just nowhere near the finals. And the the moment that I most enjoyed, I think, is we were leaving as most of the fans were coming in, to be fair.
00:04:34
Zak
hmm
00:04:34
DailySaintsPod
We we timed it quite well. So we're still at Wembley Park Station waiting for the train. And a whole trainload of fans got off and it was a mixture of city and Arsenal fans, as is the nature of traveling to a cup final.
00:04:46
DailySaintsPod
Uh, and they were all singing together. If you all, Hey man, United clap your hands. And, uh, wait, who says, there's no unity in football.
00:04:55
Zak
but You can always find another team to hate, right?
00:04:56
DailySaintsPod
Uh,
00:04:58
Zak
like thats That's always a thing that
Saints' Strategy Post-Break
00:04:59
Zak
will happen. But you've obviously got that, and as you said, the atmosphere a bit, sort of it seems more like a prelude to who's going to win the Premier League as opposed to anything else, right?
00:05:09
DailySaintsPod
yeah It's an interesting one because it's who do they take more seriously that week?
00:05:09
Zak
And and the the consequences for us, because I do still want to remember that we are a Saints podcast, is that obviously does this mean that Arsenal now go in harder on the FA Cup because they need at least a chance of winning something? Or do they completely ignore it and go full whack in the Premier League? I guess we'll find out.
00:05:26
Zak
how come
00:05:31
DailySaintsPod
Southampton at St. Mary's or Atletico Madrid? Yeah.
00:05:36
Zak
It depends, right? And as as I said, you've got you've got the Spurs thing where you didn't even believe it was real and then they get batted 3-0 at home.
00:05:45
DailySaintsPod
It's just so funny, man.
00:05:45
Zak
And like, I just don't know. I just can't help but harper back to our crossover with one of the Spurs lads last year saying that, well, we should be beating teams like Samaddon.
00:05:57
Zak
And now it's just going to be really nice to be like, well, you should definitely be beating teams like Lincoln City next year, right? It's just, oh, that is... it's just nice
00:06:05
DailySaintsPod
yeah But look you're right.
00:06:06
Zak
That is a
00:06:06
DailySaintsPod
To want to answer your question, mate, no. i I wish that we could have the joy of playing in the championship every year with the financial benefit of the Premier League.
00:06:19
Zak
a...
00:06:19
Zak
We're getting there. We're a couple of more Hollywood owners away from it all being the most entertaining league and like you know across the world.
00:06:28
DailySaintsPod
I don't want to go back to a world where VAR ruins my life.
00:06:32
Zak
oh
00:06:34
DailySaintsPod
Like like I looked at at Saturday and, you know, the sun was out and we went to St. Mary's and had a beautiful day. And then we, we kind of took our off the gas and cruised to victory.
00:06:42
Zak
Mm-hmm.
00:06:47
DailySaintsPod
I think it's safe to say and fair to say. And I'm like, look, you don't, you don't get days like that in the Premier League, right? There's no comfortable, even in the championship, it's it's a rare commodity, but they do not exist in the Premier League. every Every minute of it is hard fought for and you are, you know, because of the the current tactical style that is preferred across the entire league is you just get dominated out of games and Yeah, I don't know.
Financial Aspects of League Transitions
00:07:19
DailySaintsPod
it's Maybe it's just this old scar tissue that we've we've talked about.
00:07:21
Zak
Do you not feel that teams like Oxford United feel that way about playing in the championship, though, mate?
00:07:27
DailySaintsPod
yeah Yeah, well, maybe it's just the scar tissue from how awful last season was, right?
00:07:28
Zak
It's just...
00:07:34
DailySaintsPod
And, you know, a run of form that we're on at the moment, it's almost close enough to dangerous into to give you that tiny bit of hope. Like, and if we can play this well consistently, why couldn't this team give it a go in the Premier League?
00:07:49
DailySaintsPod
But it's just...
00:07:50
Zak
How many games were unbeaten under Russell Martin? Was it like 27, 24, 25?
00:07:52
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, it was 25. It was 25 unbeaten, yeah.
00:07:55
Zak
Yeah, go. So how many games did we win in the Premier League last season, Craig?
00:08:03
DailySaintsPod
to
00:08:08
Zak
One's against Everton, another against Innsbruck away.
00:08:08
DailySaintsPod
if Yeah.
00:08:12
Zak
Yeah, no, you're right.
00:08:12
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:08:14
Zak
And that's part of the problem. And, you know, maybe it's maybe they'll find solutions this time around. But the problem is is, maybe they will. Maybe we'll get there. And the most delusional thing of all, dear listeners, is not...
00:08:26
Zak
any of that. is Greg telling me that, well, how am I going to find time to go to Wembley three times this year? i was like, what are you talking about? And I realised that what he meant was the semi-final for the FA Cup, the final for the FA Cup, and obviously the play-off final.
00:08:41
Zak
And...
00:08:41
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:08:43
DailySaintsPod
It wasn't time. It was purely a financial concern when I'm like, look, I'm only really going to be able to afford one of these three trips.
00:08:51
Zak
No, I know, but like we we joke about your optimism at optimism and sometimes like a level of delusion. And then I can't joke about too much, mate, because there's still some planning going into that.
00:09:03
Zak
And you're putting some planning around the finances around it whilst you're in London on Caramel Cup final day that you didn't realise had taken place because you just put a punt at a random day to go to the Pixar experience.
00:09:15
Zak
And all of these could things combined why we're such good friends, mate.
00:09:18
DailySaintsPod
In my defense, when when I booked the Pixar experience, we were already long out of the Carabao Cup.
00:09:19
Zak
Yeah.
00:09:23
DailySaintsPod
like We hang about with that this season.
00:09:27
Zak
So, but yeah, I guess...
00:09:30
DailySaintsPod
it was is But yeah, look, three three trips to Wembley, it's just the wallet's going to take a hit. You've got to think about these things.
00:09:37
Zak
True, true. But yeah, I also, i don't know how I feel about it. Like, as you said, the financial rewards are really important. Obviously, every player will only keep the players that we like and we who want to play in the Premier League because that's one of the reasons they've joined us.
00:09:54
Zak
So, it is what it is. I guess it's what we'll we'll have to see what we'll see.
00:09:58
DailySaintsPod
heard an interesting angle on it as well, mate, because don't know if we didn't really talk about it after the game last week, but... But Norwich, their manager came out with the standard line that we've heard all season, right?
00:10:10
DailySaintsPod
Oh, but they're the cost of their squad and their parachute payments, which, you know, it's it's not even noteworthy at this point because everyone has said it.
00:10:14
Zak
yes.
00:10:19
DailySaintsPod
At least Oxford had the creativity to moan about our advertising boards instead. Yeah. But parachute payments are are kind of a thing that that is quite important. And if we go up this year and come back down, we we don't get any more, I think is the way it works, right? Because they pause it if you go up for a year and then you would like recommence your parachute payments when you go back down. And so next year will be our last year of parachute payments, either in the championship or if we come down from the Premier League.
00:10:58
DailySaintsPod
So we have to stay up to make it a financial success or stay down and definitely go up next year to re-trigger them anyway. don't know. That's a whole, like, 4D chess layer of financial thinking.
00:11:12
DailySaintsPod
that Like, the simple answer is get up and stay up, right?
00:11:14
Zak
Yeah, yeah you
00:11:16
DailySaintsPod
Like, there's no...
00:11:18
Zak
you're right. it's The whole thing is a nightmare. And it's not a nightmare that we all have to think too much about until we know we're definitely in the playoffs, mate. And you know I know that it does feel like we're not going to win, not going to lose, win every game. i know that's very much sort of my your impression of how it is, but you know it could all change very, very quickly.
00:11:38
Zak
And, yeah, but i just I just wanted to get your your take on it because looking at like what what the chaos is at the moment and you know just the absolute misery Spurs fans are going through it. So i imagine being stapled to the bottom of the table and getting the second worst points tally of all time and then tell but tell then tell us about, like, it must be really weird juxtaposition to go to like a Champions League game and then you know next week lose to Burnley or whatever.
00:12:03
Zak
But, you know, it's not really our our burden to bear.
00:12:05
DailySaintsPod
Look,
00:12:06
Zak
We don't have the luxury of that.
00:12:07
DailySaintsPod
look i yeah I don't know if it's a popular or shared opinion with most Saints fans, but my my opinion on it is that I would rather...
00:12:20
DailySaintsPod
win the FA Cup and not even make the playoffs, personally, than get promoted. and And I understand all of the the stuff around it, and I understand that it is still going to be preferable, probably, to be in the Premier League, and that's fine. But i a won't be too upset with another year in the Championship if it comes to pass, purely because of how...
00:12:49
DailySaintsPod
difficult we made this run in or how important we've left this run in to be, right? we We made the job hard enough for ourselves at the start of the season that that promotion is probably even at this point, I would say, still not the likely outcome.
FA Cup vs Premier League Promotion
00:13:19
DailySaintsPod
Best case scenario, we yeah we win every game, get automatic promotions, win the f FA Cup, everyone's a winner, right? Job's good. And the only person who's not happy with that is my wife who watches me pay out for three trips to Wembley, despite telling me we can only sort one.
00:13:25
Zak
Yeah.
00:13:36
DailySaintsPod
yeah
00:13:36
Zak
Yeah, well, it's the same wife who you had to chat a lot with about whether or not you renewed your season ticket and then just renewed it for you anyway. So she knows how much it means to you, mate.
00:13:42
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. The same wife who I have to shout out on the podcast because of its hilarity surprised our whole family by meeting us after the game on Saturday with, let's go and watch the hovercraft in Pompey. Like, great. Did you bring any of us church change into? I didn't think of that.
00:14:01
DailySaintsPod
Right.
00:14:04
DailySaintsPod
All of us in full match day attire.
00:14:08
Zak
Oh, that's very funny. Shout out to my mother-in-law who plays for the over 40 ladies walking football.
00:14:19
Zak
And i got to go and watch that on Sunday for Haven't on Waterlooville versus Bournemouth walking football. I had a great time and it did spark some discussions between me and you, Greg, about how much football touches everything.
00:14:32
Zak
Yeah.
00:14:33
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:14:34
Zak
all walks of life, like getting to watch it, you know, watch it in all its its wonderful glory across and up and down.
00:14:39
DailySaintsPod
All right.
00:14:40
Zak
And now it just brings everyone a little bit of joy. and And turmoil, depending on which team you support, obviously.
00:14:43
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, it's great. Yeah.
00:14:47
Zak
But it's it's really, really good.
00:14:49
DailySaintsPod
It blows my mind every time I take my son to his football training or to his football games, how many other games of football there are at every level, all around everywhere on the South Coast.
00:14:54
Zak
Mm-hmm.
00:15:00
DailySaintsPod
lot You get given an address for an away day and you'd like, where on earth is that? And then you're driving through some housing estate and you turn left and suddenly a field opens up and it's got 30 pitches on and all of them are full with people.
00:15:14
DailySaintsPod
and you're like, oh, it's just, it's really important. that that people get this mental and physical exercise in their life to to get through the rest of the
Championship Weekend Summary
00:15:24
DailySaintsPod
week and it's great.
00:15:25
Zak
You're right, I did have to look up where Bracknell was, intro, my bad.
00:15:25
DailySaintsPod
so but
00:15:32
DailySaintsPod
That's it. But look, speaking of of all of the good stuff in football, let's let's fire quickly through a weekend of championship action, mate.
00:15:42
Zak
That's entirely on me and definitely didn't prepare Greg for it.
00:15:46
DailySaintsPod
but as It's good, mate. This is why we have a daily podcast, because we have so much football to talk about. It just just flows from us because we love it so much.
00:15:57
Zak
For sure.
00:15:57
DailySaintsPod
we're going fire through, as always, mate, in reverse chronological alphabetical order, otherwise known as the list order on BBC, this time with the correct month, you'll be pleased to hear.
00:16:12
Zak
Greg popping off about a bad result that I clearly was aware wasn't an accurate result. It's fine, we're back on track now, mate.
00:16:19
DailySaintsPod
Back on track, it's all good. Friday night started off the weekend's action with a 3-1 win for Preston North End over Stoke City. it's I mean, both of those teams in a position in the league where there's still an outside chance of pushing on for for going upright, but really and truly...
00:16:43
Zak
or if the rest of the top six sort of drop out of the race right
00:16:46
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, really and truly, you would say probably safe and probably not going to push in for playoffs. I mean, I did see some analysis where your favorite, the Opta supercomputer, ran like a prediction over the percentage of league outcome likeliness based on the the last eight games and current position. And the only team in the league that had 0% chance of going up and 0% chance of going down was, I think, Norwich.
00:17:23
DailySaintsPod
Like...
00:17:24
Zak
Right?
00:17:25
DailySaintsPod
I don't know.
00:17:28
Zak
like me Slightly slightly a bizarre
00:17:32
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, like, it arguably and mathematically, everything is to play for and to fight for.
00:17:33
Zak
so calculation, that is.
00:17:38
Zak
Hmm.
00:17:39
DailySaintsPod
But realistically, a solid win for Preston. They went 1-0 behind early doors and then yeah just switched it on and and ran over Stoke.
00:17:50
DailySaintsPod
But...
00:17:50
Zak
Before that, they'd have four losses on the bounce and a draw. Stoke had finally got back to winning ways before picking up a loss.
00:17:54
DailySaintsPod
own
00:17:57
Zak
And it's just, considering both teams were quite up there in the playoff spots very early in the season. And I still think back, you know, Preston will stick in my mind for a long time now due to the fact that that was a game I went to where, obviously, straight after Wilsfield was fired.
00:18:12
Zak
So, but you know, kind of surprised that...
00:18:12
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:18:16
Zak
like They managed to kind of step back and beat Stoke, who, again, also were flying high early in the season and had a game against us that was significantly more competitive than we expected it to be.
00:18:29
Zak
And yeah, just kind of falling down a little bit, aren't they?
00:18:33
DailySaintsPod
but let's start This is the thing where the argument that other teams have been making in all season for us about the depth of squad and the cost of squad kind of does come into play because because it's it's a busy league, right?
00:18:33
Zak
Ultimately.
00:18:41
Zak
know.
00:18:45
DailySaintsPod
There's lots of games we rely on, lots of players. it and takes we talk about how we are on like the two or three players away from an absolute disaster. but But, you know, other teams have that same problem where, you know, it's it's a lot games to come. So you can start off great and still fall down with just any level of fitness concerns, right? Like, it's... The games are hard and they come real fast. So...
00:19:14
Zak
Yes.
00:19:16
DailySaintsPod
Speaking of which, mate, a hard-fought draw of the early kickoff on Saturday. Blackburn, nil, Middlesbrough, nil. Middlesbrough dropping key points as they kind of continue to do.
00:19:29
Zak
yes
00:19:32
DailySaintsPod
They kind of are on, I would say, a downward turn. Mm-hmm.
00:19:37
Zak
Wow, they've just been dithering a bit, right? Like, that's a really good, useful point for Blackburn, who are definitely in amongst the relegation candidates, at least on form, they seem to be doing slightly better.
00:19:50
Zak
I reckon they're probably going just scrape out the side of it, right? Like, Pompey are the ones that are properly capitulating.
00:19:55
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, I mean, it's... it's Yeah, Blackburn are are doing their best to push out, right? They've had a really quite good run of quite a few points, right?
00:20:06
DailySaintsPod
They've got a win, a couple of draws. They're trying, but... Hmm.
00:20:10
Zak
It's more so if you know that you need to push over the line to get that second place secured, you'd expect them to do more of it. But this is also the same Middlesbrough that up until they played us, right, that they hadn't scored in like a bunch of games. So they've been very they've been very up and down and they're like good moments have really kept them in the position they're in.
00:20:29
Zak
But now, unfortunately, they're having a bad moment during a time where they really don't want to be.
00:20:35
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, 71% possession for Middlesbrough, 12 shots, three of which were on target, a 1.5 xG.
00:20:41
Zak
means nothing but we've we've had we've had so much possession we've done nothing with it
00:20:43
DailySaintsPod
But yeah, the the important stat, mate, is zero goals scored, but at least zero goals conceded. But, but you know, it's the the sort of downturn in form and the sort of result that makes you think maybe playoffs isn't all we're fighting for.
00:21:02
DailySaintsPod
then I'm not saying it's likely. i'm not saying it's not saying it's chief bull. I'm not saying it's likely, but there is a universe where where second place is not all that far away. right So just just bear that in mind in three or four weeks' time when we really understand how important the running is. Yeah.
00:21:25
DailySaintsPod
Uh, next up on the early kickoffs, uh, Derby County getting a one nil win over Birmingham city. don't know if you saw any of this on social media, mate, but the Birmingham city fans are not happy. They have had enough. They are done with their owners and there were lots of chance of getting out of our club.
00:21:48
DailySaintsPod
Uh,
00:21:49
Zak
it.
00:21:53
Zak
see So they they went down. They've come straight back up. They look pretty solid. But because there seemed to be an expectation that they would get promotion, despite being mid-table, they're super angry. And I feel like it's recent form's definitely had something to do with it.
00:22:10
Zak
But, like, you know, 14 wins, 14 losses, 11 draws for a team that have just been newly promoted. Like, Charlton would kill for those stats, right? Like, it just seems a bit...
00:22:22
Zak
I don't know. I can understand it because we have been in those positions and when we're losing a lot and then picking up a win and then not kind of getting from there, you know, we've done exactly the same. I just feel like tempering expectations is difficult to do, but probably something that maybe they should do a little bit more.
00:22:41
Zak
I don't know.
00:22:41
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:22:42
Zak
I don't know. Obviously, Derby, a team that, you know, our former boss at GSPN, one of our former bosses at GSPN, telling us that Derby are absolutely terrible.
00:22:53
Zak
And now they're like literally sat two places below us, only three points below us, you know.
00:22:57
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a dream season compared to, I think, what they're expecting.
00:22:58
Zak
Yeah.
00:23:01
DailySaintsPod
Look, at least some of Birmingham's discontent will probably come from the state of the performance because three shots, none on target with a 0.15 XG.
00:23:09
Zak
Yeah.
00:23:14
DailySaintsPod
Whilst I know that XG, like you said in the last game, doesn't really mean a lot. One, when it's that low, is very reflective of being absolutely rubbish, right?
00:23:26
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. thank you
00:23:26
Zak
Yeah, i think I think if you i understand why when you watch an absolutely abysmal performance to go with abysmal form, it's a bit different, right?
00:23:35
Zak
Like we've we've been there too. We just learned to laugh at it. Because what else do you do when you're like 5-0 down against Chelsea at 9pm on like a Wednesday afternoon or whatever?
00:23:40
DailySaintsPod
yeah
00:23:47
Zak
So, yeah, but fair play to John Eustace and Derby, right? Like, you know, absolutely killer season and probably a good place for Brereton Diaz to end up, considering he seems to be well-liked there and seems to properly be playing his football best football there, to be honest.
00:23:51
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:24:01
DailySaintsPod
Not 0% chance that they end up in the playoffs either, mate. Just hanging on in there.
00:24:04
Zak
No.
00:24:05
DailySaintsPod
Only three points behind us, like you say say. anything can happen with the games to come.
00:24:08
Zak
Sorry, though.
00:24:11
DailySaintsPod
So... but I think they'll just be happy to even be in the conversation.
00:24:15
Zak
Yeah, true.
00:24:16
DailySaintsPod
fair enough. And in the last early kickoff from Saturday, Ipswich won Millwall one. Now, I don't know how you feel about it, mate, or if you're even looking that far up the table from us. I've heard both things said.
00:24:37
DailySaintsPod
that either of those teams winning might have been better for us or a draw would have been a good result. I kind of feel like a draw is the best possible result for us. What do you think?
00:24:47
Zak
Yeah. Is it because the idea that they go into second means we've got to play against Middlesbrough? Because I feel like any of the teams that are in a playoff situation is going to be completely different to, you know...
00:24:59
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, I kind of think if if one of those teams had lost, they'd have been on 66 points and meant that we would have you know only been the three points behind, I guess, overtaking them and heading up into what fourth instead of sixth.
00:25:11
Zak
if either team had lost surely if they're on 69 points they'd have been on 68 so I don't think it would have made much of a difference
00:25:18
DailySaintsPod
No, you're right. My maths is terrible.
00:25:20
Zak
yeah For the man who does all the mathematics on the show, mate. But like i think like I think I understand the point a little bit. And like you know kind of most people would expect Dipswich to be up there by now.
00:25:30
Zak
I feel like it was a show it was a showing of the championship on terrestrial TV, right? It was on ITV.
00:25:37
DailySaintsPod
sir Yeah, thing
00:25:38
Zak
So I guess it pick it showed two goals. So i think that's probably an important thing. But I'm kind of happy with them both having a draw. It doesn't really bother me who we end up playing. If we get to a point where we have to do playoffs, it's going to be any any opponent we have in front of us will be probably as as motivated as us to go up. Yeah.
00:25:57
DailySaintsPod
yeah I think it keeps, like I said earlier, I think it keeps genuinely as high as second technically within reach like we're only eight points behind Middlesbrough now and that's only like a Saturday Wednesday Saturday away from turning around right and though that means that the other three teams between us have to also not win all of those games in that fixture period but it's it's not out of the question you know like it's
00:26:14
Zak
Yeah.
00:26:27
Zak
right
00:26:28
DailySaintsPod
It's still unlikely, but it's, I don't know, just the way we're playing. Maybe, maybe, just maybe.
00:26:37
Zak
Just maybe.
00:26:37
DailySaintsPod
But like say, the eternal optimist in me coming through there.
Current Championship Standings and Strategies
00:26:41
DailySaintsPod
Right. Moving in to the three o'clock kickoffs then. Bristol City, nil. West Bromwich Albion won a huge three points for the baggies.
00:26:53
Zak
Mm-hmm.
00:26:54
DailySaintsPod
Really not good for our counterparts down the road. Pushing them three points clear of Portsmouth, four points clear of the drop zone of Leicester.
00:27:05
DailySaintsPod
And of course, Oxford, who who we lost to. just I mean, the upward turning form of West Brom since we played them makes that draw look a lot better than it felt at the time, doesn't it?
00:27:21
Zak
Yeah, I could also say the same for a few games this week, to be honest. There's a lot of teams that we've played against where you kind of go, oh, we should have absolutely battered them. And then you look and you're like, actually, we're not doing too bad. Like, speaking could of the later game against Coventry, right, where like they've gone immediately back to Witted Ways.
00:27:40
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:27:40
Zak
But yeah, really good, obviously, for West Brom.
00:27:42
Zak
Really good for your family that I know have obviously got West Brom fans in it. and generally good for us because it kind of keeps Portsmouth down the bottom, but it depends, mate. It's one of those things where if we stay in the championship, we'd want Portsmouth there to be able to have a South Coast derby against. If we get promoted and they go down, it's a non-entity for us, right?
00:28:03
DailySaintsPod
Oh, look, it for me, it's a win-win. the The possibility of another South Coast derby is fantastic, but Pompey getting relegated is still really funny. I don't know. i don't this
00:28:13
Zak
You're right.
00:28:13
DailySaintsPod
I can take joy from all of those situations. It's its fine. Right, next up, Charlton, Neil, Norwich, one.
00:28:22
DailySaintsPod
Charlton, like said earlier, after a a really solid start to the season, really falling off and not not fully out of the way of that bottom of the table pile, if we're being honest.
00:28:35
Zak
That's all right.
00:28:36
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:28:36
Zak
At least Nathan Jones is handling it well and not having meltdowns over, not having his hands shaped or whatever.
00:28:44
Zak
You're aware of this, Greg, aren't you? Where he basically threw a bit of a paddy because Philip Clamont shook his hand, but shook his hand last.
00:28:46
DailySaintsPod
I did, yeah.
00:28:50
Zak
because and and there's like his And then like all of the all of the clips that I've seen is just him, like a you know admittedly, different situation, like playoff final and stuff, but him like collapsing to the floor and rolling around and that all that, rather than
00:28:51
DailySaintsPod
Oh, the wrong time, yeah.
00:29:05
Zak
actually going over and shaking the manager's hand. It's just it's just so... like You can understand that... I think it's one of the reasons that he's such a prominent character, right? is that like The stuff that people blame, as you pointed out, advertised boardings, right?
00:29:19
Zak
Spending power.
00:29:19
DailySaintsPod
yeah.
00:29:20
Zak
It's like all the stuff that Nathan Jones complains about. it's just like the weirdest stuff. It's kind like... None of it's only just like normal. i don' I guess what is normal, it's hard to define.
00:29:31
Zak
But, either way, another result that showed that, you know, Norwich got there early, scored early, and that could have been us, like, the other day.
00:29:38
DailySaintsPod
yeah.
00:29:40
Zak
But it wasn't.
00:29:40
DailySaintsPod
yeah.
00:29:41
Zak
So, good stuff.
00:29:43
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, and look, the the picture tells that they they almost dominated Charlton, right? 60% possession, 17 shots, 5 on target.
00:29:52
Zak
Mate, Norwich's form has been win win, win, win, loss, win, which is exactly the same as Coventry's, which is win, win, win, loss, win.
00:29:52
DailySaintsPod
You know...
00:29:55
DailySaintsPod
and They were the most informed team in the league coming up to the point we played them. So putting them away, even with the the sort of level of discomfort we did, is a great result.
00:30:09
DailySaintsPod
And...
00:30:10
Zak
Yes.
00:30:11
DailySaintsPod
I mean, look, they are... I don't think... I mean, I can't remember if it was, though, them in the Octostats, but it feels like... I mean, nine points off of us in sixth.
00:30:21
DailySaintsPod
Maybe it's out of reach, but who knows? It's a crazy league. Next up, Hull City 3, Sheffield Wednesday 1.
00:30:32
DailySaintsPod
Wednesday taking a 1-0 lead in this, and then...
00:30:36
Zak
For like literally a minute, but it must be devastating.
00:30:38
DailySaintsPod
Yeah... Yeah, man, I wanted Sheffield to win so bad, but for selfish reasons, because I think the whole dropping points would also benefit us, right?
00:30:42
Zak
that man Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:52
DailySaintsPod
So it's look, what can you say about Sheffield Wednesday that we haven't said already on the show?
00:30:53
Zak
yeah
00:30:59
Zak
Please all championship reviews and review of our game against Sheffield Wednesday.
00:31:01
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, they're still showing up. They're still trying and credit to every single player in that team for that in the the situation that they have been given and the hand they have been dealt.
00:31:15
DailySaintsPod
What more is there to it? Hull, of course. Spotty form at the moment. Few wins, few losses. Another one that are in this like spotty form in the playoff places above us that...
00:31:28
DailySaintsPod
I mean, Middlesbrough, spotty form. Ipswich, okay, doing pretty well. But drawing with Millwall and dropping points. Millwall with a loss and a draw.
00:31:39
Zak
What hearing and is we need to win every single one of our remaining games, Greg, and not have any silly little draws like we've had in the run-up, right?
00:31:42
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:31:45
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, well, look, if we win every single one of our games, we guarantee playoffs are maybe better is where we're at, right?
00:31:45
Zak
Oh.
00:31:52
DailySaintsPod
The position we're in. so It's well and truly within our hands, for sure. Right, next up, the most interesting game of the weekend, I think, as QPR put six past Pompey, and Pompey did at least score one, I suppose.
00:32:05
Zak
oh
00:32:14
DailySaintsPod
But is that actually a bonus? I don't know. Consolation is...
00:32:17
Zak
I think combination of threatened relegation, poor finances, their manager probably not happy with the fact that he got he's not had as much reinforcements as he wants, being shouted at.
00:32:32
Zak
by everybody. think like, you know, one of their team came over, he's the guy that like signed from Derby who scored against us is like the only one they kind of really like at the moment. You've got a striker that they obviously sold and replaced people and now they've got a striker that is unable to score either.
00:32:50
Zak
and There's just so much to kind of like try and do, but it's it's kind of funny. It's like weird, right? Because that's happened with QPR. It's happened the upper other way round to QPR, like what, twice this season?
00:33:00
Zak
And now they seem to have put it on somebody else.
00:33:01
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. I mean, it wasn't...
00:33:04
Zak
Yes.
00:33:15
Zak
Yes.
00:33:15
DailySaintsPod
like Like to put it in perspective with stats alone, qpard scored six goals.
00:33:20
DailySaintsPod
They only had nine shots. So sees it's crazy. It's like one of those freak days at the office. You know, Pompey, to their credit, managed 20 shots.
00:33:32
DailySaintsPod
But it's...
00:33:34
Zak
as it Again, it's some difficult.
00:33:39
DailySaintsPod
That doesn't matter if you concede in six, does it?
00:33:39
Zak
Yeah, I'm just,
00:33:41
DailySaintsPod
You can you can have 400 shots coming to one goal if you've already conceded three in 28 minutes and go from bad to worse there.
00:33:52
DailySaintsPod
some Some pressure on their manager, guess, off the back of that.
00:33:57
Zak
you know.
00:33:57
DailySaintsPod
I don't know. Don't know if anything will come of it, but look like you say, kind of don't mind if Pompey stay up and we get another South Coast derby if we don't go up.
00:34:08
DailySaintsPod
Also really funny if Pompey get relegated, but that scoreline in particular definitely got cheers around St. Mary's when it was shown quite prominently on the big screen next to our result.
00:34:20
Zak
Kids.
00:34:20
DailySaintsPod
Good job, Saints admins, as always. Right, next up, Sheffield United 1, Wrexham 2. Wrexham were 1-0 down at halftime and turned it around with their second-half performance.
00:34:37
DailySaintsPod
to, you know, get the points back, keep up there, put the pressure on on us, I suppose. It's not really a two-horse race, but they're definitely are our closest contender to to be worried about currently, right?
00:34:52
DailySaintsPod
So... Hmm.
00:34:53
Zak
Yeah, damaging for Sheffield United. Obviously, came back once Chris Wilder came back, took a while to run into form, got into form, and I've just fallen out of again. And, you know, again, considering they were the ones that the supercomputer said had, like, the 70% chance of winning the league, was baffling.
00:35:00
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:35:07
Zak
And Wrexham seemed to, as I said, at the beginning of the season, I'm quite glad that's come into fruition, is the fact they've kind of grown into the season, right? The players grown into themselves. You've got Windhouse playing really, really well for them with much of the probably disdain of former...
00:35:17
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:35:22
Zak
Sheffield Wednesday, but also him having that extra bit of spice playing for Sheffield Wednesday, got a goal for his former side whilst playing for Wrexham. So yeah, good stuff. It's just, yeah, hopefully they don't do too well, right?
00:35:37
Zak
But again, it's kind of like, it's all in our hands.
00:35:37
DailySaintsPod
yeah
00:35:39
Zak
This is what I'm kind of like, the results around us shouldn't matter as much. We should be able to, you know, deal with ourselves.
00:35:43
DailySaintsPod
No, but it does keep the pressure on, right? Them continuing to pick up the points makes it tight, whereas they dropped points in the week and and gave us that window to just pull slightly ahead early.
00:35:47
Zak
Yes.
00:35:55
DailySaintsPod
And yeah.
00:35:57
Zak
I would also like to remind everybody that Jay Rodriguez does still play football and does still play football for Wrexham.
00:35:58
DailySaintsPod
it
00:36:08
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, came on for eight, for what?
00:36:12
Zak
He came on a 90-second minute.
00:36:12
DailySaintsPod
30 seconds stoppage time?
00:36:13
Zak
like He probably came on for 30 seconds.
00:36:13
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:36:15
Zak
he's He's there to wind down the clock. And Danny Ings didn't come on for Sheffield United at tool So again...
00:36:19
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:36:23
Zak
Like, if you told me at the beginning of the season, you can have Danny Ings or you can have this bloke called Karl Lahren, be like, you're insane, obviously, Danny Ings. And now i'm like, oh, maybe I shouldn't be a football scout, bro.
Wrexham's Comeback Victory
00:36:33
Zak
Luckily, I never made it my career.
00:36:37
Zak
He's now saying, going to start. But yeah, sometimes, you know, it's funny how things work out, isn't it?
00:36:40
DailySaintsPod
it.
00:36:42
DailySaintsPod
It really is. it really is When you look back at how we were even as many as 14 games ago, mate. That's... Right, two more games to go. Well, technically three, but we're not going to cover Southampton versus Oxford. If you want to hear how we feel about that, go back and listen to yesterday's episode. It covered it in length and in detail, but safe to say we were pretty pleased with it.
00:37:07
DailySaintsPod
Next up, Watford nil, Leicester City nil.
00:37:14
Zak
Not good for Watford who is supposed to be che still chasing promotion under Will Stewart's brother.
00:37:15
DailySaintsPod
I mean...
00:37:18
DailySaintsPod
not good for Leicester who are doing the best to pull themselves out of, I mean, the trouble they find themselves in, right?
00:37:20
Zak
Not good for Leicester who... Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:26
DailySaintsPod
It's, uh...
00:37:27
Zak
Dakar missing a penalty after spending a vast majority of the time of this season, like criticised because he's not, his goal scoring just isn't there for what they expected. But I think that if you're Watford, you're really, really annoyed because that's just going to feel like points dropped. If you're Leicester, it's like, well, great.
00:37:44
Zak
We basically threw away the chance to win a game. And yeah, and then you're looking at the bottom of that table and yeah, okay. yeah It was one of those things where it's looking more likely at the moment that Leicester have enough in them to pit Portsmouth, right? Like, if they can get a win and Portsmouth can only pick up a draw...
00:38:00
DailySaintsPod
I don't know, man. like Leicester have just not looked all it good at all, especially since that points deduction specifically. It's like it's taken the wind out of them completely.
00:38:09
Zak
Yeah, exactly. It's like a psychological...
00:38:13
DailySaintsPod
and I mean...
00:38:15
Zak
But I think the financial losses and everything that's going on behind the scenes at Pompey is going to take the wind of the sales more, right?
00:38:17
DailySaintsPod
move
00:38:20
Zak
And you've got Oxford United they just trying their best and, you know, had again, had a bit of a better spell of form before they came getting those stars. Wednesday already relegated, so doesn't it's there's a non-entity. I don't know. like i feel I feel like if you're Watford, that game is a wasted opportunity. If you're Leicester...
00:38:37
Zak
yeah It's frustrating, but I genuinely expect to see them finish like 21st, probably, which is still nuts.
00:38:45
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:38:45
Zak
You wouldn't have even thought that, even with the points deduction.
00:38:47
DailySaintsPod
I mean, if they do go down, would it be the first time ever we've had like back-to-back years where teams who got relegated to the championship from the Premier League instantly also went down to League One?
00:38:48
Zak
I'd be glad that the points deduction they had is what it is.
00:39:00
DailySaintsPod
I don't know. I'd have to look into that to be sure. But seems unlikely that that's occurred very often.
00:39:03
Zak
don't know, but I can't remember if...
00:39:06
DailySaintsPod
so
00:39:07
Zak
like, you know, the only other people that have won the Premier League that haven't really had a presence in there for a long time since then has been Blackburn, right? And Leicester now will probably join that group.
00:39:14
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:39:18
Zak
And, you know, I don't know necessarily what they have in common. I just remember that, you know, there's a lot of Leicester players that were playing that year that are now dotted about major elite clubs and none of them with Leicester. But don't worry, they still have Vestergaard.
00:39:34
Zak
And currently Joe Arepo, who... Yeah.
00:39:37
DailySaintsPod
yeah
00:39:38
Zak
sure Short plays for them.
00:39:40
DailySaintsPod
I don't think that Joe Rebo has quite been the difference maker that, I don't know, that they wanted. that the
00:39:47
Zak
I feel like he's not picking up a contract from them at the end of the season, put it that way.
00:39:48
DailySaintsPod
don't know.
00:39:52
Zak
you post
00:39:52
DailySaintsPod
Didn't even make the bench in this game, by the way. So, yeah.
00:39:56
Zak
He did.
00:39:56
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:39:57
Zak
hes He's got incredibly low scores by him.
00:39:59
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was was on the bench. He's only played 10 minutes.
00:40:02
Zak
mom Came on for 10 minutes, came on for skip, so it was a bit of person to come on for.
00:40:04
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:40:08
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:40:09
Zak
But either way, again, sort of similar similar sort of appearances for us, right? Very much sort bit part and not really making the difference that he last year.
00:40:16
DailySaintsPod
Hard to get, halum hard to bring yourself up only king given that as well. It's not a really club all-play really.
00:40:22
Zak
Yeah, and like i think I think the thing with the Rebo is like you know when when you've got like your triumvirate of players and mates that you're playing football with, right? when he was Him and Paul and Suleiman are all very, very pally-pally, and then they kind of all leave and you're left on your own. It's probably a bit isolating. And so, yeah, like we've discussed all this before, but it's just a weird game, a result neither of them want, and going to feel like a massive missed opportunity for Leicester. If they'd actually just scored the penalty, he probably would have won them the game.
00:40:52
Zak
Anywho, on to the last game, which I've already kind of alluded to.
00:40:52
DailySaintsPod
eight On to the last game. Yeah. Coventry 3-0 Swansea. nil
00:40:58
Zak
Okay.
00:40:59
DailySaintsPod
Coventry back, like you say, to their standard form, I guess, for most of the season, to be honest.
00:41:03
Zak
Yep.
00:41:05
DailySaintsPod
Just winning reasonably comfortably. Thomas Sassanity putting them in front with a penalty. And then Grimes and Sakamoto following up all goals in the first half.
00:41:16
DailySaintsPod
To be honest, the stats paint the picture a picture of pretty even game. with sort of chances both ways. But Swansea just not able to put any of those chances away.
00:41:27
DailySaintsPod
And I mean, don't really think there's any shame in Swansea losing to a team as in form as Coventry.
00:41:33
Zak
We expected to, to be honest, didn't we?
00:41:34
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. Yeah.
00:41:35
Zak
And like I think it's difficult for them as well because obviously Matt Grimes, they've had been for a long time. And then, if you remember rightly, we really struggled to sign him. We wanted sign for years. I think Russell Martin wanted to take him along with Manning and all the rest of them that he wanted to take from Swansea, right?
00:41:49
DailySaintsPod
yeah
00:41:50
Zak
And, you know, so that's got to be... It'll be quite difficult for you know fans to deal with. It it just just feels like a lifetime ago you since Snoop Doggy Dogg was bringing down the house, right? And I'm going to keep making that joke forever because like if you're going to turn yourself into a banner club, which we have done on multiple occasions, you're going to have to deal with the consequences of it. LAUGHTER
00:42:09
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. Look, Swansea now sit in 14th on 52 points, which is still that sign a kind of same limbo area, right? Whereas I guess mathematically could still either go up or go down, but realistically...
00:42:22
Zak
it's it's the predictions that we made at the beginning of the season of the mid-table clubs have ended up mid-table, right?
00:42:23
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:42:26
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:42:27
Zak
Like, no offence to them all, but sort of like your QPRs, your Prestons, your Stokes, they've all kind of ended up where we expected them to. I'm surprised we've ended up where we've expected to. And it's almost weird that like the role reversal of like us and Leicester, where we could have, that could been us, right?
00:42:43
Zak
If we carried on that continued run of form, you know, we don't know what players could have moved on during January and we don't know what could have happened. and And instead, you're looking at former Premier League champions currently fighting out. with Little old Oxford United and Portsmouth to stay you know in that bottom two. Because let's face it, the bottom three doesn't really count when one of the teams has already been relegated.
00:43:07
DailySaintsPod
Indeed.
00:43:07
Zak
Wild.
00:43:09
DailySaintsPod
And that...
00:43:09
Zak
Crazy, crazy way to lead off before the international break, mate, isn't it?
00:43:12
DailySaintsPod
That's it. That brings us to an end. That's it for for our championship roundup. And like I say, eight games left, eight to a big, important championship games.
00:43:24
DailySaintsPod
This is it. This is the kind of last chance for all of the teams to mentally prepare themselves, try and get into that zone, try and push themselves on and picture and feel like what those eight games are going to be like because uh you know after this break it's it's not going to stop right it's it's going to come and come and come and come and if we do win and go to the fa cup semi-finals it's going to throw even more fixtures into the mix and then you know we've got trips to wembley to plan for all of it and we'll have uh additional fixtures for playoffs thrown in it's just going to be chaos and
00:44:05
DailySaintsPod
Uh, it is going to be, the reason we love it, mate.
00:44:05
Zak
Okay. Mm-hmm.
00:44:10
DailySaintsPod
That's what it's going to be. It's going to every day. Something is going to be happening and, uh, we're going to be here cover all. I can't wait. And, uh, Like I say, we're going to do the same thing. We're going to take the rest of this week and get ourselves back ready for those run of games and get ourselves into the zone, ready to cover the run in all of its glory. We will be back sometime next week to talk all things Saints and all things Championship and all things football.
00:44:40
DailySaintsPod
But until then, everyone, thank you so much for joining us. Let us know in the comments, on the socials, how you're feeling and how you will be preparing yourself four for the most exciting part of the season as it all comes to a head. We are at Daily Saints Pod absolutely everywhere. X, Blue Sky, tip TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, everywhere. Hit us up.
00:45:06
DailySaintsPod
Let us know. And while you're there, why not give us a like or a subscribe or go and listen to some of our other episodes that stay as true as today as ever before. There's one about why Pep Guardiola ruined football, which is particularly pressing the day after they won the Carabao Cup.
00:45:27
DailySaintsPod
But until next week, everyone, enjoy the international break. Have a wonderful week. We will see you all then.