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Episode 79: Crossover with Villa - Hopefully a better outing than Wednesday...
46 Plays16 days ago
Southampton – We go again! We march on! etc. etc....ok the enthusiasm is low for Saturday, but we might be surprised! We join the Daily Villa today to talk all about the game on Saturday
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts Introduction
00:00:01
Speaker
Every club. Every day. The Global Sports Podcast Network. Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Daily Villa podcast as part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. My name is Craig Burpersall and I'm delighted to be joined by Zach from our friends at the GSPN Southampton for a special crossover episode.
Premier League Preview: Aston Villa vs Southampton
00:00:23
Speaker
Today we look forward to the Sapties game where 7th place Aston Villa take on Southampton who are currently rooted to the bottom of the Premier League How are you doing today, Zach? Yeah, i'm doing I'm doing well, thanks Craig. It's a day what I can describe as probably the worst game of football I've seen in a long, long time. My co-host unfortunately isn't joining me today because yeah it was his birthday. Yesterday he's gotten sick off of the back of being out there in the rain.
00:00:52
Speaker
and now he can barely talk so I'm doing a lot better than him putting it that way but yeah still reading a little bit after getting home so late last night and knocking out a post-match review and waking up and being miserable at the scores and social media and all the likes so yeah just living, living, getting through it Yeah, it's been difficult, but I'm sure sure we'll survive in the sense of the football club will hopefully exist at the end of the season. Well, fingers crossed, and obviously it's the time of giving. So, finishes are coming faster, and now it's the Christmas period.
Recent Matches Recap: Villa and Southampton
00:01:30
Speaker
On Wednesday, Aston Villa were able to put a bad run of results to bed with a win against Brentford 3-1. Southampton, as Zach just alluded to on the other side, played against a confident, high-flying Chelsea and lost 5-1 at home and had Steven sent off. Was it just a bad day at the office, Zach, or did you get any positives from it?
00:01:52
Speaker
so it was and we We got into this game not really knowing how to feel about it because I think midweek kind of throws you off anyway, especially a midweek that's a probably an e-game. We ended up being about two or three minutes late to the stadium, so we got to miss the entirety of Amazon Prime's budget being blown on fireworks in the sky, which lit up the entirety of Southampton. So we started, you sort of get in, and as we got in, I watched the first goal roll in, and it was very much like, perfect, that's exactly what you want, a set piece goal.
00:02:21
Speaker
And then obviously we equalised pretty quickly. and that was That was really nice. It was like, oh great, this is this isn't what we expect. and then And then straight away, the second goal is another mistake. And it just kind of compounded from there at that point. But obviously the big turning point was Stevens getting sent off for a silly challenge. I say challenge, it wasn't a challenge. You should pull someone else's hair like it's a playground. Mad. Never seen anything like that before. but That was probably one of the most upsetting parts of the evening. And then we had some weird interruptions at one point. The ref disappeared down the tunnel. Everyone thought he was going for a whiz. Turns out, I think he just had a mic problem. And then about ah ah five, 10 minutes after that, we had a pitching vader who was just on the pitch for about five to 10 minutes. Our stewards spent extremely long time. I think he ended up getting taken off the pitch by a member of coach and stuff. And obviously, as soon as the game restarted, they cold part was good.
00:03:13
Speaker
And I think it must have just been everyone was tired, wet, switched off, didn't really know what was going
Player Performances and Game Interruptions
00:03:17
Speaker
on. And then obviously the fifth goal was just the next one. So there were some positives, not a lot. Some players did put shift in, cardboard computers played amazing as usual. Nathan Wood had his first sort of proper game at home, proper Premier League sort of game. And he played okay, didn't play the best, but he played a lot better than the rest of them.
00:03:38
Speaker
Manning played pretty solid, obviously see rebo Rebo scored. Archer had one of his best games. So like there were players in individual performances that were great. It was just as soon as that sort of red card happened, everything everything had to be defensively shored up. And we actually probably paid better for about 30 minutes. Not that And then it kind of sort of fizzled out after that. So yeah, it could be.
00:04:03
Speaker
It could have been worse, it could have been 9, and I think you know and most Southampton fans have sat at 9-0 at St Mary's at least once in the last couple of seasons, so it was alright that being 5 in the end.
00:04:15
Speaker
oh It's like you're due one of those 9-0 every year. It is. Kind of a quota, isn't it? I've seen them quite a few at Southampton. I do have one question based on what you said. and Does that mean the pitching bader was on the field more than Stevens? No, but he probably should have shot off on the fence a little bit better than Stevens did. No, I think i think he could have he was just having a laugh. He obviously had a bit too much to drink and it made an entertaining second half with for what was most, for most of us, a not very fun second half. But yeah, I think you probably, can' well, he certainly contributed more to the second half performance than Stephen's did. I think about him, he's probably tucked in bed already.
00:04:58
Speaker
which is a shame. Well, I think one of the positives that like we take away from that is the fact that, and I mentioned it on our own podcast recently, that I feel Chelsea are on the board lines of being title contenders.
Chelsea's Title Contention
00:05:12
Speaker
I think they've really sussed out their team now. They've got a good dominant, say, 22 players. If they can get rid of that deadwood that's past that, I think they've got a real good chance of pushing on for a city that's ageing that needs to change their team.
00:05:27
Speaker
a Liverpool team that, like let's mans let's be honest, will probably suffer a blip at some point and it will depend on how slot deals with that. So ive I see the fact that you came up, as I said, that against a very confident Chelsea Villa no two while after being humbled by them right before your game as well. So Chelsea are a real good team. On the other hand, from a Villa point of view this past week, I was very pleased to see a bad run of ah ah results put to end with a good performance as well. My question for you, Zach, is what do you think about Villa in general? We're obviously not having as strong of season as we did last year, and we struggled in recent weeks.
00:06:11
Speaker
Is this a game that Southampton feel that they could potentially get that upset? I think that the way that our team play and the the sort of what the manager tries to instill. Whether or not that's successful or not is that every single game is individual and that there is no such thing as an upset. Like we've tried to take the game to everybody, tried to take the game to City, to Arsenal, there's no weaker teams, there's no sort of, the mentality is that we will try and win no matter what. Doesn't ever cope that way at the moment, apart from that one cheeky win against Everton.
00:06:45
Speaker
But, you know, it's it's one of those things where I think they'll be up for it. I think that he will need a reaction. I think we've got players that have come back off suspension that will want to maybe write a few wrongs from the midweek. I think that, you know, we'll try and try and put a good game in. However, I also do think that, you know, if we if if you hadn't have won this game,
00:07:05
Speaker
the most Southampton thing to happen would be that you batter us 5-0 and we end up breaking that losing streak because we are very good at giving strikers. say you know Of all people yesterday, Jayden Sancho scored a goal. I completely forgot he even played in the UK. So it's one of those situations where so if I think that we might end up maybe getting you know sort of a ball draw off the back of it if if we're lucky. But but my opinion um dinner is considering the rough kind of seasons you had and to be in the position you are now,
00:07:34
Speaker
and as much as you're struggling within a little bit at the moment, some of the personnel, the quality that you have, and even a couple of years ago, losing your key man and still managing to recover. I've got a few friends that have been better fans for years and go up and down and up and down to buy me and stuff, but it's one of those things where I'm like, you are now an established Premier League team and you are now established and pushing and doing well in Europe.
00:08:00
Speaker
you know, ultimately, regardless of whether or not you've had a rough few games and rough starts this season, we we need to treat you with that level of respect and some players that, you know, we would love some talent. I feel like I say this to a lot of clubs, but there's a lot of talent that a lot of the clubs have in the Premier League where we were just like we we were killed for just one or two of the players that you've got, because that could make the difference of the way we play. Unfortunately, it's going to be real hard to recruit for Southampton at the moment. So, yeah, I've always um've always been the big big fans and I'm glad to see you guys doing well especially as a sort of opponent to the big six that we don't like to see do too well.
00:08:38
Speaker
It's very true and I'll be perfectly honest when I say an upset it's based on current form more than anything because I think one of the reasons we love the Premier League as much as we do is because anyone can win on any given day and that's what makes like the Super 6 prediction that we all play and everything like that extremely hard to win because there's always that one game that can be the the dagger in your side of you trying to win the pools or whatever that really stops you every single week and what when we came back from the international break we were struggling going into the international break with Villa and we were convinced that on the podcast that the palace game was going to be the one to right the wrongs and I don't know if it's a sense of
00:09:27
Speaker
an underwhelming game, if you will, that it's not like a game that we have to rise to our ultimate heights, like when we played the Bayern Munich, for example. But we really limped into that game. And I'll be honest, we wish we were lucky to get the point out of Crystal Palace, and Crystal Palace have struggled this season as well. So I have fears going into, say, like a Southampton game, because we have some players that really rise to the occasion when it's there, but The quote unquote about like the windy night and stoker during the week and stuff like that. Those are the solar games that worry me.
Team Struggles and Ownership Changes
00:10:02
Speaker
And we like that last season, we didn't have much worries. We really didn't. and We turned up to every game expecting to win. Confidence was high. And I know this winning against Brentford has done a lot to help us. I do not think though, it was the sole answer and we can go into Southampton expecting three points.
00:10:22
Speaker
we have to learn for it. So 100% agree. So my next question for you Zach is and this one's mainly for Villa fans because your own fans will have heard this sort of season but going into the season how did Southampton feel the season was going to go? Did you expect this type of struggle?
00:10:42
Speaker
I don't think we expected it to be this extreme. so son you know our ah Our Our podcast is is two people, two people wide, it's me and Greg. I am the pessimist, he is the optimist. He came in sort of picking picking and choosing where he thought we'd get points and had us finish in 12th, which is insane.
00:10:58
Speaker
I expected us to be in in the relegation season. I personally think we came up a little bit too early. you know ah ah Ultimately, we came up through through the playoffs and we finished fourth. We didn't finish you know in the top. If Leeds had absolutely bottled it, they would probably rightly have kept their squad and come up most likely stronger. Same with Leicester. Ipswich are a bit of a surprise, but they're they're they're proving their merit. I don't think we expected it to be this this bleak.
00:11:24
Speaker
I think is where I'm at, like five points from available, what, 42 and just the way we've lost some stuff. And I know that the vase played a part in some of those games, specifically Brighton and things like that. But, but also, yeah, I just, I think maybe we thought the recruitment would have been slightly better. so I think we run another illusion. It was going to be really, really hard to stay up. But then like we we did, you know, we got a statement signing in sort of Ramsdale. There was a little hope with the Lana coming back in.
00:11:52
Speaker
And there was there was quite a few sort of moments where it gives you the hope, and that's the problem with being a Saints fan. It's a tagline me and Greg always say, which is, is the hope that kills you. Because because we similar have those sort of similar games to you that you were talking about with.
00:12:05
Speaker
sort of like you really hope that that that they'll step up and and they the amount of times that we have a game where we're like, this is do or die time. And it feels like there's nothing at stake at the moment. um feels like it doesn't matter what the manager will do. He won't get fired. It feels like a lot of the players whose contracts are ending know that they're going to move on to somewhere brighter. And it feels like a lot of the players who are stuck here are probably going to hope to so kind of leave at the end of the season. And there are those that do try and fight. But the problem is, is when it's three out of 11,
00:12:32
Speaker
it's not good enough but I think a combination of things have meant that we kind of expected to be in a relegation battle but we're now resigned unfortunately to just being in a ah really hard place to to kind of deal with mentally as a fan even like you know um I'm not ceasing to get hold of what Greg is and you know dragging his poor kid to on his birthday reading his sort of little magazine with his birthday but wishes in the rain whilst we watch us get back at 5-1 at home to Chelsea and we're all singing singing about how we've got the ball because that seems to be the most important possessions that but yeah I think if you if you contrast the scenes of say when we beat West Brom in the pla like semi-final
00:13:12
Speaker
of play-offs and sort of go into Wembley and William Wembley to now. I think that we would have hoped it would have been at least somewhere in the middle and ah now it it does seem like it's about to turn very doom and gloomy less unless we we get a miracle and I don't even think if we win this weekend that would be the end of it because it would feel like a a sticky plaster but the the chances of us winning are also, I don't know, I don't want to do the percentages but quite late probably.
00:13:41
Speaker
One of the things that surprised me about Southampton is because you see it from say like a like sort of but a Leicester for example and other teams like a Leeds that have come up and everything. It's a case of that Southampton has been here and done it before. It's not like a Luton for example, they came up, they tried their best and everything. but they got engulfed by the situation and in the beginning it was like amazing oh we're going to Manchester City oh wow Liverpool's next and and so on it was like an experience but as I say Southampton have been here and done it before has there been like major turnover in the background staff where like the experience wouldn't be there
00:14:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's one of my favorite things, sort of stats to pull out usually is how many players in the last Premier League game we played against the club are still actually at the club. And I think that if you look at the season we last went down, we had three managers in very, very quick succession. We had Hasnudil, he went off the, you know, sort of really bad run of results, which looking at it now is farcical. We ended up having, and looking to be new manager of whole Reuben Celes for a little bit and in between that sandwich right in between was Nathan Jones, a championship manager who created more sound bites than I think results for us.
00:15:02
Speaker
and the outpouring against him was kind of crazy and then obviously we got relegated and then they they brought Martin in but that season we got relegated we also got new ownership by a little team a little bunch of guys called Sports Republic who who didn't really know what they were doing, put us insulated there, got us relegated, didn't hire a good enough manager and haven't really managed to get a good staff manager yet. And they sort of brought Russell Martin in from Swansea to try to get us through the championship and have completely doubled down on that decision, regardless of whether or not a lot of fans are trying to, you know, say, we should get a root fan history or to be honest, who's going to want to pick up the project at this point? ah ah And they seem to be far more focused from a from a background perspective of robottic running a multi-club project. So there's another club in Turkey that they run. And it seems like we are we are a money making machine. And I don't think that that bothered
00:15:54
Speaker
well at least it seems that way they don't seem that bothered and it's kind of so from a fans perspective you're right there is this expectation that we are a Premier League club and we should be a Premier League club but I just you look at the ownership and you're like it doesn't seem to sort of match up with the fans and maybe we should at this point be making more noise about that but it's it's very sort of it's it's weird how quick we've been including myself to be honest on how We just accepted mediocrity because we have gone down and come straight back up, but it it feels like the squad, the the stadium, the background, everything is just completely, completely different, which is bizarre. yeah, you're right. There is a there's a history there, but there's always feel like I'm supporting a different club. So who I was supporting three, four years ago.
00:16:40
Speaker
and There's not a lot we can do. And as a Villa fan, I know far too well about that. Before we had the current ownership, we had Dr. Tony, we had Randy Lerner. We had a bunch of people that came in that had their own ideas. Like Randy Lerner was one of the worst things that ever happened to Villa because as soon as his American football franchise started,
00:17:03
Speaker
echoing money. He took all the money out of Villa and threw it at that and we suffered for years and then obviously we were saved by the current ownership that came in and now with the exception of our argument over ticket prices it's all been on the up and up to be perfectly honest and speaking of Villa we've obviously just as I said we just we just got a win this past weekend but that is one win now out of nine games Is there a part of you that wished you played us last week when our confidence was absolutely shut? No, because again, from a Southampton perspective, the most Southampton thing to do would be to allow you to build that confidence up. The the the thing that I'm latching onto right now is the thing that you've also pointed out, which is
00:17:52
Speaker
that kind of worry about not switching off just a little bit and people just assuming because of our position that we can't play good football because on our day we can. The problem is it usually only lasts about 30 minutes and then something will happen and then everything will go wrong. if it can happen for longer than 90 minutes you get a result like we got against Brighton who was second when we played them, they expected to batter us about 4-0.
00:18:15
Speaker
and it ended up being a draw. Which, arguably, if the off you know the the goal that you know was supposedly interfered with or counted, could have been 2-1. Probably would have ended 2-2. But that's one of those situations where you know that's that's when we're taken for granted. So I reckon, hey, yeah how do you play us the void of confidence? We'd have gone in with confidence, and you'd end up just completely destroying us. So I actually am glad we're playing you when we are.
00:18:44
Speaker
And also if we played, played you as our last game, it would be the same as what we played against Chelsea, where half of our players were missing. We're still going to have a few people missing, but we should, you know, hopefully have a bit more of a chance, he says, crossing his fingers and toes and everything inside. that Speaking of starting lineups, we will discuss those after a short break with Zencaster.
00:19:10
Speaker
Here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform. Zencaster came out a clear winner. With 4K video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs, it's super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently. If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description to learn more about Zencaster.
00:19:40
Speaker
Welcome back.
Lineup Expectations and Strategy Discussion
00:19:41
Speaker
Syphanton will be without Stevens, Ramsdale, Lallana, Baznou, Bednarik, Onach, Stewart Smallbone. This seems to be a long list of absences. How do you expect Syphanton to line up this weekend?
00:19:58
Speaker
It's going to be difficult because we've either got our third or fourth choice goalkeeper. It really depends on who who's deciding to step up on the day, which the style of football we've played play already has shown that having our third or fourth choice goalkeeper and goal is a problem and ah any goal we sort of give away is usually a gift. Pressure isn't till I think tomorrow, but we've got hope that maybe Bed and Rec will be back for injury. Same with all of that too. But the problem with that is that we were also told they would be available for the game on Wednesday. won. So who knows at this point? I think you know there's
00:20:37
Speaker
likes to keep some information to his chest, maybe to get the opposition to waste time looking at players that aren't going to be there. Injuries of of yeah, that's a little bit, like I think losing Ramsdale has been but awful because of the way we play. Pazuni's been out now, I think he he's been out since the championship. He had a really nasty ACL tear.
00:20:54
Speaker
And Stuart's another long-term one where apparently he's not going to be back to next year. um So So yes, I couldn't see it being who at all the suspendees from Wednesday will probably come back in. So you'll probably end up having Flynn Downs back. We'll probably end up having Taylor HarwoodBellis back. I don't imagine that like Tall Paul might be on the bench. I think that, you know, I don't think he'll start him. I think being Greg would like to see him start.
00:21:22
Speaker
because we would really like to see what it is to put two strikers on the field at the same time. It's been a while since we've seen that. And if Mednarek has to swap out for Wood, I think Wood put a good shift in Wednesday and probably can step in. But yeah, we're probably not not anything too dramatically different to what our normal lineup would be. But I think it's starting to show that our depth is not great. And I think that Wednesday, if anything, prove that our recruitment has been patchy, if like, you know, patchy at best. Dibbling will be back, which will be nice because he's been an absolute revelation for us this season, having an 18 year old homegrown star who has essentially been like probably our best transfer and was just out of the academy. Keeping that saints tradition of us actually having homegrown talent.
00:22:14
Speaker
So yeah, that's yeah but that's what I'd expect to see at the weekend. I don't expect to see anything too surprising, but there's also a day or two where people can get injured and considering no one really expected Ramsdale to be out for two months. It's kind of just a techy, let's hope that that doesn't happen, but it can do at the end. I have to ask you, because you you mentioned the wine reply, I think was the quote you you used.
00:22:41
Speaker
One thing that I've noticed from say family feels like a week to week basis is the amount of mistakes that are happening when playing out from the back. Yeah. And one thing that I really don't understand as someone that coaches at a very much lower level, just with youth players and everything, I feel it's, it's getting to the point now where teams have to play this way because it's the in wide apply. And I don't understand the need where teams and I I'll include Villa in this as well. The amount of times.
00:23:13
Speaker
We've struggled, we're playing out from the back this season in costed, sloppy goals. I don't understand this logic where we have to play this way. Do Saints fans feel the same sort of frustrations? Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. If you, if you, if you sit at St Mary's and you, and you watch us put a pass back to our keeper and then our keeper fluffs it and you can see they didn't want to play like me and Greg were close enough yesterday to see Steven's have an argument by a goalkeeper at the time.
00:23:41
Speaker
around what was going on because obviously he wanted so check out stephen to Steven just saying you know we have to play back out from the back that's how even you know he's getting shouted at every time he does that because none of us want to see it because the problem is is that I don't think we've got the quality to play the way that Russell Martin wants to play and his kind of philosophy seems to have been well this is what got us here and I'm like oh it didn't there was a couple of times we we lost quite heavily in the championship because of exactly the same reasons and you give Premier League players an inch and they will take a mile and you saw that yesterday with you know Lumley gave two or three clear goals straight to to Chelsea and yeah it's not something we really enjoy and the problem is is that it was it was okay when we would see a result from it
00:24:29
Speaker
But we're not. And we can play well for 80 minutes. And it's it's exactly what I was saying earlier. The sound bits are, well, we're playing 30 minutes really good here. But then so three silly mistakes are what lost us the game. and like But those silly mistakes are really consistent. So I don't understand why we wouldn't try and change it. And at this point, you can't work out if it's because Russell Martin doesn't know how to coach any other way, which apparently he does, because that's been questioned to before. Arrogance about how he wants to play.
00:24:58
Speaker
Or also, he always said he'd live by the sword, die by the sword. It's just a reluctance to kind of throw everything away and try again. and that The only reason that I can see that he's not willing to change is that he can't see that his job's a threat.
00:25:13
Speaker
because I feel like if you're getting to the point where it's desperation and something isn't working and every single week it's the same mistakes in waking week out, surely at that point you'd go right with something easy to change. that's just That's not even football, that's just logic. But it doesn't seem to be something we're we're willing to do. And I'm thinking it's just like he's waiting for a moment where all of a sudden it clicks into gear and maybe he thought the personnel we brought in in September would help do that.
00:25:37
Speaker
but they haven't and what is left is a championship side that we're able to do it but still you know lost 1-0 to like Rotherham at one point last season so who knows but it's very it's very upsetting and I don't think anyone really enjoys it and you know people consider it to just be death by stupidity you just watch a pass go right past your goalkeeper and then and then it all and and it's it's been sort of we've been bailed out but yeah i think we have the highest amount of like individual mistakes that have led to goals and i just don't see that changing and i don't think anyone's really happy watching it because it's hard to watch week in week out i'm not gonna lie
00:26:18
Speaker
because I don't understand the logic because like it was the same with Vincent Kompany when he was at Burnley the previous season. He he lived and, you say as you said, lived and died by the sword. He played the same way, he came up, you had a good time, now you're back in the championship.
00:26:32
Speaker
So I don't understand that logic of not bending. I'm not saying completely f throw away all your principles, but at least play to your strengths, at least play to understanding where it's going wrong. Like, even though it's not exactly going exactly according to plan, I like Mr. Mikkel Ateta at the moment at Arsenal. He's got a strong quality team, but he's understanding that he can't necessarily play like City if he wants to beat City. Sometimes he's got to sit in deep. Sometimes when there's a red card, he's got to park the bus. like I didn't think a couple of years ago I'd be saying these things about Mikalateta but I think he's growing in the game of understanding. He's not getting it right all the time at the moment, he's still a pretty young coach but I feel like he's understanding where players and I'll even say Unai Emery at times has done this as well where there's only a plan A, there's no plan B.
00:27:24
Speaker
And if that doesn't work, then well what's next? So I would feel that as a Southampton fan, because I look at these highlights, I'm like, I just don't understand why these keep happening. It's not just Southampton, see it the villa too. But it really does frustrate me. And I imagine, obviously, if I'm frustrated as a neutral watching Southampton, I'm going to be brutal being a science fan. So On the contrast for Villa, I'll talk about the starting lineup.
Game Predictions
00:27:56
Speaker
I feel we'll see Martin is in goal. We were, he was in doubt before the Brentford game was in pain. We had potentially heard he broke his hand, but seems to be okay. He played very well against Brentford. So no problems there. I would imagine back four will consist of Cash, Kanza and Dean.
00:28:18
Speaker
And I wouldn't be surprised if Mingz is catching the team for this this game because he played extremely well against Brentford, picking up a man in the match support. It sounds a little harsh because Torres has played really well this season.
00:28:32
Speaker
with the exception of the Chelsea game. He had a rough game in the Chelsea game, but it wasn't enough to be dropped. But we've got such competitive first positions now. If you bring someone in and they do a good job, just like you were saying about a few of your players did a great shift the week, it's very hard to put them straight back on the bench. So I wouldn't be surprised to see things. I think because of the type of game it is, and I'm not saying we're looking down on Southampton,
00:29:00
Speaker
but I think he will give an opportunity to Philogene. I think Bayley has had a good stretch of time. He hasn't performed as well as we know he can. And he's also, when I say a lot of stretch of time, there's a lot of stretch on those legs. So I think that could be a potential one as kind of that protection for a manager. Yes, you're not playing well, but I'm not dropping you. I'm giving you a little rest. So to give Philogene an opportunity to impress.
00:29:27
Speaker
I would imagine Tillamans and Kamara will start in the middle but that's another one that's doubtful for me as well. Tillamans has not been performing as well in recent weeks. He's been one of those players on this podcast that we've highlighted greatly because of how much he's improved since he joined the club and has been a quote unquote starter since we since he's found that form but recent weeks he's struggled and I think his legs might be tired so I wouldn't be surprised to see Barkley jump in there as well. Still too early to bring Ramsey back, he's still injured so I would expect to see him again on the left. The only other doubt that I would say is because of an interview that I heard with Emery the other day where he said he's ready to put Wendia in the starting lineup
00:30:17
Speaker
in exchange for Morgan Rogers over the Christmas season just to give him some breaks because Morgan Rogers has been ever present for the villa since the start of the season and performed exceptionally well against Brentford this past week. The only criticism I would have is that new haircut. and That was absolutely atrocious, but forgive him his young lad. And then I would expect to see what comes up front. so Zach, based on the 11 that I've kind of predicted, is there any concerns that you have for Southampton, like who's going to cause some damage? Or on the flip side, is there any areas that you think Southampton could look to exploit? At the moment, it's any opposition we play, I'm terrified of. but Because the thing is, is that again, if you've got anyone
00:31:06
Speaker
anyone that's hungry for a goal and anyone that's upfront that is able to exploit a mistake, that is unfortunately where most of the goals have come from. We have seen some strange goal scorers against us in recent sort of weeks. And and that's because, but you know, we'll see having a player like Ollie Watkins, you know, you guys, you guys do amazing. T-Limmons has always been a personal favorite of mine. I used to sign them up early on football manager. I have a weird affiliations for Andalik, the ball clubs, mainly because I went to go and see them play it like 2013 in Belgium. he's always a player that I've followed his career and obviously plays really, really well for you guys as well. So those are sort of the main, the main things that I am scared of because you were just able to, you will be able to find ways to get past us. And that is the problem. But ah ah if we can find enough space, we can get, we get sort of,
00:31:59
Speaker
people like Mattius Fernandez up front and we can actually get some crosses in. We've been looking more dangerous. Our problem is, is the final third, once we get around a box, we give everyone far too much time and space to be able to come in and sort of, you know, with the sort of people that means and the sort of, with the goalkeeper that you have, it's just, where we, we, I struggle to see us doing anything other than maybe a goal which and if if we do it will have to be really well worked and well planned because vast majority of our goals have kind of come off almost by accident or have been penalties so it's one of those things where I think it just shows the contrast and the differences you know you have such a level of swab that the fact you're able to talk about swapping out really good players for other really good players is something that we just haven't been able to experience you know like when we're
00:32:50
Speaker
It's something about, I think, I summed it up in our podcast a while ago when when we were talking about like the Arsenal bench and the players that they were able to bring up. And in comparison to like, you know, when you're bringing on, you know, if you've got like Gabriel Jesus and stuff like that, and you've got us bring it on.
00:33:05
Speaker
Paul Oduatu, who most people don't know and have only known recently because of the game he had against Liverpool, where he seems to turn into prime Lionel Messi for five minutes. Other than that, the only hu like thing that you'll find on YouTube is a highlight reel of his three goals at, I want to say, Genki was up, which are probably one of the worst hat-tricks I've ever seen. But, you know, and some of them are up for the focus this year, but like, yeah, I just think that my problem coming up against nearly any club at the moment is just that I think that you were able to exploit us from all places. and that And that is the issue is that it is, but mainly it is going to be probably the fact that we are going to have a goalkeeper who is going to be primed to make a mistake and you you pass a ball like that to Watkins and Watkins for the goal, simple as that. So yeah, it's a fun, terrifying prospect. I have to sort out my FBL for the weekend as well.
00:33:58
Speaker
Yeah, and from a Villa point of view, I feel a high press will do us well to try and force those errors that I mentioned out of the back of Southampton.
00:34:09
Speaker
i think I think that will be the title of the type when it comes to it. If Southampton can bypass that initial press, if you will, I think your guys will stand more of a shot. I do think that if we go into this expecting to win, we could always be suffered because like you mentioned about Southampton, I feel Villa have been very generous with' with teams. Oh, you need some points. Here you go.
00:34:36
Speaker
If you haven't scored away from home this season, congratulations. And we've we've also showed this season as well, not in the Champions League surprisingly, but in the Premier League, our lack of ability to be able to keep that clean sheet. So at the moment, if we need to so tie up that back line, and that's again, we couldn't create keep the clean sheet against Brentford, despite it being comfortable for long periods of the game.
00:35:02
Speaker
a very often off the off the runner play when they scored so that's going to be really interesting we are going to take a short break right now zack and when we come back we're going to talk about those dreaded predictions we're go ask you to put your money where him out
00:35:20
Speaker
The Global Sports Podcast Network is changing the face of football podcasts. We have dedicated daily content for every Premier League team Women's football, fantasy football and a daily Premier League wrap-up broadcast in five different languages. It's your one-stop shop for your daily football fix. Find GSPN wherever you find your usual podcasts. Welcome back. We've been talking about Villa and our upcoming match with Southampton. And as I say, now is the time for those dreaded predictions. So Zach, I'm going to put it on you first as our guest today.
00:35:58
Speaker
How do you think the game is going to plan out and what's your prediction? ah see It's a difficult one. Greg is usually optimistic. He'd probably say something ridiculous like 5-0. Pretty sure he thought we were going to win the other day as well. I'm pretty sure I actually said we might end up being in Chelsea if we if that those fringe players wanted to put a shift in. But alas, it went a completely other completely different way. I reckon it will be a ball draw. I think we'll maybe the overconfidence for a Brent Frugal show and we'll be able to score potentially early on or alternatively hit you directly after. We will concede because like you we we've just not been able to keep a clean sheet so that's why I think if they can shut up shop and actually try and keep out mistakes we'll be so focused on that we won't score other than maybe the one. However we will also concede because that is unfortunately just part and parcel of being a Saints fan at this point.
00:36:54
Speaker
that's that's where I'm at. That's that is a positive prediction for me. that's but what It's funny because I'm along the la same sort of lines because my heart is telling me we're going to go out and do that. One performance every villa fan has been craving for that dominant three nil four nil victory. Like my heart tells me that but my brain isn't telling me that.
00:37:18
Speaker
so I think we're going to narrowly get the win with a 2-1. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a light goal that we ended up picking up in order to get that win. I know every win counts and everything, but we are looking for that one performance where we can say, yes, we're back at our best. So fingers crossed from a villa point of view, that's what I'm looking for. so Well, that's about it. All we've had in time for the Daddy Villa podcast. Thank you very much, Zach, for joining us from GSP and Southampton. We wish you the best of luck, Zach, for the rest of the season, after Saturday, of course. Be sure to get in search across all our socials that you can find in our podcast description. This has been the Global Sports Podcast production. Thank you for listening and up the villa.
00:38:09
Speaker
Every club.
00:38:12
Speaker
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