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Daily Forest - Ep 79 - Ipswich Crossover as Forest look to cement their spot in 3rd!
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Mark joins Rob of the Daily Ipswich to preview the match tomorrow.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Crossover Announcement
00:00:01
Speaker
Every club. Every day. The Global Sports Podcast Network.
00:00:10
Speaker
Here we go. Hello and welcome back to the Daily Ipswich and the Daily Nottingham Forest. As it is a crossover today, um not not on the usual Thursday, on a Friday this week we swap the days around. But we're looking ahead to the clash at Portman Road on Saturday afternoon between Ipswich Town and Nottingham Forest.
00:00:29
Speaker
I'm in the blue corner, roten mya Rob Bins, for the use of those of you from the Nottingham Forest podcast who don't know me. I'm in the blue corner and in in the red corner we have got Mark Jarvis. How are you doing, mate?
00:00:40
Speaker
I'm all right, mate. I'm all right. It's nice
Ipswich Town Season Overview and Financial Discussion
00:00:42
Speaker
to be here. How are you? Yeah, i' I'm doing good. I'm sort of um at the point now where I'm just, I'm not putting pressure on any games now. It's just I'm going enjoy it.
00:00:52
Speaker
I think I've sort of accepted fate at this point. I think I'm just going to try and enjoy these last 10 games while I can and then With any luck, we'll get another season of it to enjoy next year. But I'm not fixing them all every weekend.
00:01:05
Speaker
I think you're in quite a good position, even if you do get relegated. Because I quite like you. Yeah, I suppose And I've been watching but watching a lot of you guys this season. I was saying, I'd actually quite like to sign your front four.
00:01:17
Speaker
Not that we can afford it, because they'll be like 50 million each. But then that's my point. If they're going to go in summer, you're going to make so much money on top of of, you know, because you spent wisely.
00:01:29
Speaker
He spent money, but he spent wisely because like Clark eventually, when he hits some form, will bring back a profit. Philogene will definitely bring back a profit. Hutchinson's going to be worth like probably nearly the same as Delap in summer because everyone will want him.
00:01:42
Speaker
So in that front four, you're probably going to get 200 million back or 150 million around that mark, depending on you know contracts and and who's got what. Because but most of them are new signings. Most of them will be on long contracts.
00:01:54
Speaker
And most of them probably expect Ipswich to be doing better than they are. so I think profit-wise, you'll look all right. And you'll also have the parachute payment. So you'll be ah loaded in summer. So, you know, you'll bounce back, I would imagine.
00:02:06
Speaker
But yeah, I think, you know, you've got a good front vo i think it's
Ipswich vs. Nottingham Forest Match Preview
00:02:09
Speaker
just the defence, mate. That's where it's falling apart. Yeah, problem that's probably been one of the main areas. And that's the fact we can't score goals. there's a lot of problems going on, but we'll park them for now. We'll get on to the Ipswich side of things later on.
00:02:22
Speaker
We're obviously going to talk about the game itself as well, as we always do. And of course, obviously, both of them both of our podcasts are brought to you by the Global Sports Podcast Network, the only place to get daily content from every Premier League team.
00:02:35
Speaker
Premier League wrap-ups in multiple languages and your women's football roundup as well. But part one of today's show, we're going to focus on Forest, you're the away side this weekend, heading to Portman Road for the first time in a few years, since it was a championship fixture.
00:02:51
Speaker
It's fixture I know well because one of my best mates is a Forest fan. So it's almost it's always a date to look out for in the calendar when we're with each other in the championship. And it was fairly even games back then. But say the games themselves have been even this time around this year, but on position in the table, we couldn't be much further apart. It's third bottom against third.
00:03:11
Speaker
and So I'll put it to put it into words for some of our listeners so we maybe we can pretend that If we scrape up this year like you've done a couple of years ago, maybe we'll be there in a few years. But how has this season been as a Forest fan?
Nottingham Forest Season Insights
00:03:24
Speaker
You're third in the table.
00:03:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah it's it's been it's been mad. I think we're starting we're starting to kind of believe it now. and we were saying at the start of the season, i made I thought we'd be about 14th, 15th, prediction-wise. was like, we'll improve on last season.
00:03:39
Speaker
We'll probably go a a place or two, maybe 14th. But I also feel like there's something about me that feels like we're gonna have a fluke season. We've got some decent players and if they gel this year, you know we might fluke it and get into the Conference League.
00:03:52
Speaker
That was my prediction at the start of the season. And everyone laughed and went, imagine it'd be amazing, wouldn't it? And now we're all going, oh, all right. Yeah, sound. ah Champions League would be great. I think we'd struggle in the Prem next season and if we've got Champions League. I think we'd we look tired now.
00:04:08
Speaker
It looks like we're about to run out steam, if I'm honest. Still playing well. Obviously beat City. and But we're kind of in and out, in and out, in and out. because i think the I'm glad we've had a week off.
00:04:19
Speaker
Because we had quite a few weeks where we had FA Cup midweek, Saturday game, midweek game on like a Tuesday, Friday game. know mean? And that you could tell it was like really starting to get to the players. um But having a full week off has probably done them good this week, I think.
00:04:34
Speaker
Difficult game though. Ipswich away is hard. And I think you saying earlier about the one team that we've struggled against this season is Ipswich in the Cup and in the league as well. And I think it's because you set up quite similar to us.
00:04:47
Speaker
And I think the difference between you and us this season has been the defence. We've probably had one of the best defences in the league. You've got probably one of the worst. But attacking-wise, if you look at our front four, Hudson, Odoi, Alanga, Gibbs, White and Wood, is terrifyingly dangerous. Most teams would would have those players and maybe in their squad on the bench, like the top six.
00:05:05
Speaker
But the rest of the Premier League would definitely utilise those players because they're good players. But your front four, you know Hutchinson, Philogene, De Lapp, which Is Hutchinson central now because of Smodic getting injured?
00:05:18
Speaker
He's been central most of the year, but now Nciso's fit again. I wonder if he might be
Relegation Battle and Ipswich's Challenges
00:05:22
Speaker
stuck out wide this weekend because Nciso was brilliant. Nciso as well. This is what I mean. Smodic's got injured and they're like, we need someone else and brought in Nciso.
00:05:31
Speaker
ah Your front four is well dangerous. And I think the issue is we're quite a counter-attack team. We play like very much built on defence and then break, and we've got good players.
00:05:42
Speaker
But I don't think your defence is strong enough to do that, and that's you're punished. And I think if you look at it, particularly with our two games, obviously they've both made the city ground, so it might be different on Saturday. But the two differences between those two games has just been, and across the season, our defence is better.
00:05:57
Speaker
We play the same game, but defensively you're not strong enough to do it, so you get punished every week. And that's that's as that's as harsh as the Premier League is. and when I think we're starting to see how big of a gap there is now between the Championship and the Premier League.
00:06:09
Speaker
I mean, you're at 17 points. I know Wolves wolves are close. They're on about 25. If you look beyond that, i think Everton and Man United are at the next two seasons and they're on like 33 points. They're miles away.
00:06:21
Speaker
Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, look at the league. There's six points between us and Wolves, but then Wolves from 17 to 16, which is West Ham, is 10 points. So that you say the gap between the bottom three and sort of that next chunk of like 14th to 16th, which in years gone by be the teams by this point in the season sort of nervously looking over their shoulder, hoping nobody goes on a run to bring them back in it.
00:06:47
Speaker
They're 15 to 20 points clear, that little bracket. Yeah. And literally Wolves is the little halfway point between the two almost, who maybe could slip in, but then they've got Cunha, who's one of the best forwards in the league. Yeah.
00:06:59
Speaker
As long as his suspension's over, he'll probably go and win them three games on his own and that'll be enough. That's the problem we've got there. but Well, I think my my worry for most of you lot is that, you know, you look at the teams who are above you, you've got Tottenham, Man United, West Ham, who are three essentially massive teams, should all be in Europe, right?
00:07:17
Speaker
And they're the three teams that you're chasing along with Everton, who again, you know, really should be up in the top half somewhere, especially with a new stadium next year and Moyes back in the helm as manager's done well. And essentially, like you're in a relegation battle with those four.
00:07:31
Speaker
If someone said to you when you got promoted, by the way, you're going up, but you're going to be in a relegation battle with West Ham, Man United and Tottenham, you'd have gone, oh, what? like And they're three teams that have not been great this season, but you also don't want to be in a battle with them because you know that they've got that next gear. And and it's only going to take, if if Man United, Tottenham and West Ham win at the weekend and maybe win the game after,
00:07:53
Speaker
I worry for your your season because if you're maybe like another 15, 20 points behind, your team is going to we can't catch that. And it's going to be season over with 10 games to go.
00:08:05
Speaker
you know what mean? Yeah, well, so I've already accepted that part. Wolves is the only one we've got. We've got half a chance of getting past. Everybody else will finish above us now. And like you said, it's always been that point.
00:08:16
Speaker
I've always thought, like early in the year, Palace are right down there as well. We're like, justant There was a spell of time where Palace were in the bottom three and we were out of it for a couple of weeks. And I said, and I came on the podcast as positive as I as i always am when we're in the bottom three.
00:08:32
Speaker
Yes, we're 17th, but Palace won't stay here. Palace are too good to be here. They'll kick into gear at some point. And lo and behold, they have now and they're one of the most informed teams in the league. But speaking of other sort of informed teams...
00:08:46
Speaker
Yeah, sorry. swear they get to like 20 games in and they've got like 14 points. Somehow they finish every season at like 45. I'm like, where did that come from?
00:08:56
Speaker
like It just blows my mind every year. But yeah, I think it'll be an interesting game on Saturday to to kind of round up the
Ipswich's Strategy Against Nottingham Forest
00:09:03
Speaker
waffle that I've said. think it'll be quite an attacking game. I think it'll be quite an exciting game to watch.
00:09:08
Speaker
And I think it'll be quite open as well. Because, you know, Forest have got to keep up the points to stay where they are. But, you know, you guys will be fighting with everything you've got. And I think... Kieran McKenna is probably just going to look at the Forest game as as one that is potentially winnable.
00:09:23
Speaker
And he's he's just going to say to his lads, go and get it. Because, you know, we've got to get the three points. And I think because of that, it will open the game up. And I think it could be really exciting to watch.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we've got to go and shock somebody, ultimately. And that's what this this game would fall in that category of. I mean, we sat and digested fixtures the other day and we thought all of our last three are winnable.
00:09:46
Speaker
Wolves at home is winnable, you probably need more than four wins to stay up. So then you've got to go and this week you've got Bournemouth away, next week we've still Arsenal, Chelsea, teams like that to play. that You've got to go and shock somebody and something's got to change, but it's quite a bad time to be playing, really.
00:10:03
Speaker
Well, yeah, we... Sorry, go. sorry No, go on. Yeah, no, it's it's it's not a bad time to be playing us, to be fair. We've got we've got a decent run, but we're a bit inconsistent at the minute. it And I think i think Portman Road be a difficult place for us to go.
00:10:16
Speaker
I think it's definitely, in terms of us getting Champions League, I think this is a banana skin, majorly. I think this is the one that we've got watch. I hope so. Yeah. Because you know the thing is, I think we're still kind of underdogging against the top teams like Man United, Man City, Arsenal.
00:10:33
Speaker
So we're you know we know we're up against it, so we're playing out of our skins against them. But you know we've we've struggled against teams that are kind of mid-table. And Portman Road's difficult ground to go to as well. One of my mates does the presenting for Ipswich Town TV.
00:10:47
Speaker
And ah you know a lot of about I know a lot about the club and it's a good ground. Yeah, it's interesting. We'll get on to our home form later in the show when we move on to the Ipswich side of things, but it's not very good.
00:10:58
Speaker
Everyone sort gives it a tough game to go, but we have had a lot of our points when you say ah the undergod aspect. say wolves wo I keep saying this every week, but Wolves away is like the one big game we've gone and got the win we should have got.
00:11:13
Speaker
Most of our wins and draws and that have come when we're under the under the radar. Our only home win is Chelsea. And then we've got like, you talk about the idea of getting up for the big as well.
00:11:24
Speaker
Yeah. say Up for the big games and not for the other ones. To that point, how how good a Villa we've drawn against them twice. Pulum have got some bigger results, including beating you the other week.
00:11:37
Speaker
And some other big ones like that that you probably wouldn't expect them to get. And we've got two points off them as well, the two games we've played. in there We seem to be in that category of we can just sort sneak results against these teams that don't do that. And I mean, even...
00:11:50
Speaker
Two weeks ago, we made each other in the Cup. I mean, yes, both teams made six or seven changes, but I think so. I mean, our squad was half or six of our stars or something was our League One team a couple of years ago. But even then, that went to penalties in 120 minutes.
00:12:06
Speaker
you could and You only managed to one past us, a team who struggles defensively. These sort of games that we tend to shock people. And not so we were quite hopeful for that Cup game going into it.
00:12:18
Speaker
because we looked at your fixtures around. Yeah, I honestly i honestly wasn't sure. I genuinely wasn't sure. And yeah, i think I think you took the lead, didn't you, originally?
00:12:30
Speaker
Yeah. And then we equalised. yeah Yeah. And then when you scored, i thought i I genuinely thought, you know what? That's it. That's it over. We're focusing on the Prem. I just, I don't know. I had a funny feeling about it.
00:12:41
Speaker
i've I've got quite a positive feeling about Portman Road. I don't know if it's just because I think it's going to be a good game or if I think it's going to be a good result. But I think it would be great to watch. and Talking on Bipswitch though, for you guys, let's say we've Forrest quite a good attacking team in terms of transitional.
00:12:58
Speaker
Where's the breakdown for you? Is it your cams, like Sam Morsi, Kajust, Phillips? Because, you know, I know quite a lot about Morsi. My dad's a Barnsley fan, so I've watched him quite a lot. And he's is tenacious. He's a bit
Midfield and Tactical Analysis for Ipswich
00:13:09
Speaker
naughty, but he's tenacious.
00:13:11
Speaker
And the kind of player that you you want in that midfield. But, you know, is Phillips living up to his expectation? Is is this Kajust guy as good as he's meant to be coming in from, you know, other leagues? Or is it just that, you know, the back four is essentially championship standard and they just can't keep up?
00:13:26
Speaker
It's a mixture of things, really. And um you know what? I'm going to do that horrible podcast trait and I'm going to throw to a break. I'm going to answer your question when we come back.
00:13:37
Speaker
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00:13:49
Speaker
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00:14:01
Speaker
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00:14:11
Speaker
Don't settle for off-the-shelf solutions made for just anybody. Get what's right for you right now. There we go. We are back for the second part of today's crossover episode for with the Daily Ipswich and the Daily Nottingham Forest. We've covered Forest in part one, and I rudely cut off your question to throw to an ad break as we're going to focus on the Ipswich side of things now.
00:14:33
Speaker
So to answer your question about sort of where it breaks down It is the midfield for me because we've got some good players in there, but Coyou State is the only one like ball-carrying midfielder we've got to like link the team between the defence and those four up the top end of the pitch.
00:14:55
Speaker
If you don't have him, you have somebody else who has to come all the way back. and That's the problem because he's the only one we've got. We some reason didn't go and address that in January.
00:15:06
Speaker
And because he works he works his socks off, he puts in some good shift pretty much every week, he gets tired and he comes off 70, 75 minutes. And that's why we finish games badly, because he comes off and nobody else fills that role.
00:15:20
Speaker
And then that that's like, we struggle as a team who's supposed to try sit in and hit on the break with pace, which the way we try and play a lot of the time. When he comes off the pitch, we look like we don't know how to do it. And that's the issue for me. The midfield gets overrun.
00:15:35
Speaker
more weeks than it doesn't. I mean, I look at games like Tottenham where we didn't play badly at all. We lost 4-1 at home and we were just, the midfield was near enough non-existent for the majority of the game that Spurs would just pick the ball up, be able to bring it forward and then suddenly spread out wide have got a chance.
00:15:52
Speaker
Whereas we, these sort of battles that Morsi and Phillips are both, they're so similar that I really don't like when they play together because there's no variety in there.
00:16:04
Speaker
And so they've both been very up and down. mean, Morsi start the season fantastically, then sort of start to feel it bit. And we're hoping it's sort of turned back the other way now because he played the whole 120 minutes against you in the cup.
00:16:19
Speaker
And that's the best game he's had in a long time. And then he's had a full rest against Palace because he's getting on a bit now and just played 120 minutes on the Monday night before the Saturday. I'm hoping with that rest and that confidence in that game that he can kick on a bit now. Well, then Phillips as well has had a a lot of good shifts recently before he got his latest knock that he's had loads of.
00:16:40
Speaker
He started to sort of turn a corner and be a bit more consistent because he'd been very up and down. He's like, always always go back to one from September, October time where he had his probably, what I'd still say is arguably his best game for the club this season against Villa. We drew 2-2 at Portman Road and then he had his worst game for the club the week later and we lost 4-1 at West and That pretty much sums him up, really. There's been no consistency, but until the recent knock, he started to turn that around. Then he came back against Palace and wasn't bad again.
00:17:12
Speaker
They're both, so I'm hoping, finding a little bit of form. but so it's My issue is when they play together, they're just far too similar and we get overrun. to under That's the long-winded answer to your question. Is there not somebody else who can step? Because I feel like one of the issues is, you know, when Hutchinson plays centrally, he kind of is like your Morgan Gibbs white player. But I don't know if you have anyone who plays that kind of floating creator.
00:17:34
Speaker
but So if you look at like, you know, Jack Clark maybe could be an option to do it as well, if you're going to put Hutch out wide. But, you know, with that in CISO, with Schmodix, like, you know, even if you look at like, you know, the likes of,
00:17:49
Speaker
you know, the wingers, like they are all either like sevens or like kind of like nines just dropping off the lap. They're not really that deeper kind of play. You haven't got that person who's like your creator in midfield. Like you need kind of like, trying to think of like an Andrea Perlo kind of character or like,
00:18:08
Speaker
Ollie Norwood used to be great at it for Sheffield gen United. said He would just sit in the middle, turn, and just find the pass and just ping it out. And I feel like you haven't you've got like two like engines, two tanks who will tackle, and then there's like a gap, and then there's like three wing wizards.
00:18:24
Speaker
But it doesn't create a cohesive five. And then you know the three are quite flat. You need runners to go in behind with the lap as well. Look at me. I mean, Kieran McKenna knows a lot more than I do, obviously. But but I think...
00:18:36
Speaker
it's It's a lot harder said than done, but it seems like you know there must be a fix. i mean what I don't know if you've got any good backup left-backs, but I'd try to leave Davis out in midfield. Because like creatively, he's brilliant. Connor Townsend has come in for a few games recently. Davis has had some illness problems and some in little knocks here and there.
00:18:59
Speaker
And he's like somebody who we... we didn't really sort question the signing off because we thought, well, obviously he's coming as a backup, but he's in his early 30s. He's come up from the championship.
00:19:10
Speaker
What role has he got to play? And then the last few weeks, he's sort of come in and he's played really well every time. I mean, the the cup game, again, to go back to that, that considering he was up against Hudson, I think Hudson-Odoi on the right, or Rolanga, either or, but he's done so well considering what threat they are. i mean,
00:19:31
Speaker
I'll mention that again later probably, but we tend to deal with your wide players fairly well. but I thought he was fantastic in that cup game. He's had a few games where he's been forced to come in and he has he just doesn't have that same threat. like he's never He plays well, but he's never going to displace Davis because he doesn't offer that same threat going forward. but I suppose you never considered the idea of pumping Davis forward and playing both of them, but you never know. It might work, but...
00:19:56
Speaker
Yeah. but imagine it Imagine if you had Kajust and then Davis next to him. ah That would be pretty naughty, to be fair, holding midfield. Yeah. To be fair, we did say we said yesterday that, on our preview episode, that we're sort of at the point now where we might as well try something. I think we're mentioned we were saying like playing Hurst and Dallap together and just risking that when one of them then has to go off that you've got no strikers on the bench because that's all we've got. But so what we're at that point now where...
00:20:24
Speaker
We've got nothing to lose in a way, but everything to lose in another way because the gap's six points at the moment. So you're sort of like, well, we've got to make something happen because it's in Wolves' hands.
00:20:36
Speaker
So maybe we try something, it might work pretty well. If you did the Eagles and Wolves lost, you're fine. Yeah, exactly. That's what i said. It's all worth a go for that reason. But then the opposite way is if you try something and it blows up in your face, then the gap gets to nine points, then we won't overturn that.
00:20:55
Speaker
Yeah, if you lose, that goes to nine points. Yeah, well, if you lose and it goes to nine points you didn't try something, you're like, well, you know, we kind of, we didn't even give it a go. Whereas if you throw everything on the, always think I live my life in the way of like sensibly, but like if you leave everything out there, if you leave it all in the room, if it doesn't go your way,
00:21:17
Speaker
I mean, it's easier for me to say because an actor, but if you leave everything like on the line, if it doesn't happen for you, what in whatever scenario it is, you couldn't have done anything more. so I'm like, cool, I've got no regrets.
00:21:28
Speaker
Whereas if you lose and it's nine points you're like, well, we could have tried something, you's that you're not going to look back on it.
Podcasting Insights and Sponsorship
00:21:35
Speaker
We'll see. I reckon we should play the second advert and then do lineups. do you think? Yeah, good idea. We're getting good at this podcast stuff, haven't we? Look at this going through nearly whole season, merging together and everything, but As Mark said, we're going to have a quick break now from one of the sponsors and then we'll be looking into the game itself and the team news after this. Here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform and Zencaster came out the clear winner.
00:22:00
Speaker
With 4K video recording from your phone and AI editing automatically removes all those ums and ahs, it's super easy to start podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently.
00:22:10
Speaker
If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description to learn more about Zencaster. Boom. And we are back for the final part of today's show. And we're going to lineups first straight away. We're go to cover Forrest first because at time of recording, Nuno has done his press conference and Kieran McKenna hasn't.
00:22:33
Speaker
So we've got a lot more openness for what we know about Forrest. And one of the other big things with you guys this year, being able to keep your success is that injuries have been kept to a minimum. It's something people keep saying about Liverpool as well, why they're flying so high compared to Arsenal.
00:22:50
Speaker
But yeah you've not had sort of extended spells of absence of
Nottingham Forest's Season and Lineup Consistency
00:22:53
Speaker
outplayers. And Nuno said today that apart from your backup goalkeeper, Miguel, you've got fully fit squad to choose from. So that that's a good and fantastic position to be in later on. But we also know he's a manager, he doesn't like to make changes. So well what do you expect from a line-up?
00:23:12
Speaker
Well, I think it's a massive positive from Forrest this season because we, I mean, I think they've probably seen online from reading some of the fans' comments. We've been so frustrated over the last few years. We've had kind of five or six years in a row in the championship.
00:23:25
Speaker
We'd be like second at Christmas, like consistently every year. And we'd always finish like sixth or seventh with without just getting to the playoffs and then mess it up or we'd miss out. And like there was one season where, i don't know if you remember, it was probably four five years ago.
00:23:38
Speaker
It was at the British Sambalonga era, right? We had a Sambalonga, Jack Hobbs, Chris Cohen, Andy Reid, somebody at another centre-half was Kelvin Wilson. But there was like five or six of our starting championship line-up.
00:23:52
Speaker
All like, it was, and different players each year, but there'd be four or five at the starting 11 and two or three of the bench out for like four months. And it would happen every year and we were like, why?
00:24:03
Speaker
And the season, we just do that every year. And I think that's something that Nuno's addressed when he's coming. I think he's done really well fitness-wise, injury-wise. He just seems to have his head really screwed on, really like level-headed.
00:24:14
Speaker
And you know the difference with Forrest and Wolves compared to Tottenham and teams in Saudi Arabia is that they've gone, right, you've got some time, show us what you can do, build something. And if it's terrible, you're fired. But he's had that time, like he did at Wolves, to build a brand, build a product, and people are buying into it.
00:24:30
Speaker
And I think it makes a massive difference. And, you know, whatever they're doing on the training ground, whatever they've changed is working because people aren't getting injured. But having said that, we have been lucky. There was a few weeks where Anderson got a knock, Gives White got a knock, and it was like watching a whole different team.
00:24:43
Speaker
It is crazy how important those players are. mental Like, you know, with without Gibbs-White, I think Gibbs-White and Anderson were both missing for the Arsenal away game. And we got 3-0. And when I got... us We got hammered, mate. Like, hammered.
00:24:59
Speaker
Like, it was only 3-0, but I think we had one shot. Like, you know what I mean? it was the The difference was outrageous. But I think he'll probably stick with the Man City line-up. I reckon. Yeah.
00:25:12
Speaker
He might give Yates a chance because he scored against you in the cup and we need someone who's a bit gutsy to go up against Morsi in midfield. But I think it'll probably be Selzingo, same back for Ina, Milenkovic, Murillo and Williams at the back, big Nico.
00:25:27
Speaker
Then Dominguez and Anderson as the kind of like holding... pivots, similar formation to you guys. And then Alanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi and Wood would be the four. I would imagine he'll stick with that.
00:25:40
Speaker
and But i think the other thing this season, you know, why Forest has been so so successful, you saw it in the Fergie era, you saw it, you know, back in when Mourinho was in charge. And like, i mean, Guardiola is just like a whole like special miracle in himself. He's anomaly.
00:25:55
Speaker
But generally, teams that are consistent with their line-up, like Palace, consistency every single week and you see how much of a difference it makes because they get that cohesion. But i reckon that's how how we'll probably line up.
00:26:09
Speaker
My big question for you is who's right back? Because I still can't figure out who actually is good at right back for you. Well, so that if he's fit, again, it's Twan Zaby, but we are a club that gives nothing away, even to our own supporters when it comes to injuries. So am...
00:26:27
Speaker
but i am I've given up on trying to find out now where Twanze, he obviously came off at half-time in that cup game and he was rested. He missed Palace completely. But so for all I know, he could be out for the season. It's the same chance he's back this week.
00:26:44
Speaker
They give nothing away. Sometimes players' names just appear. Even the weekend just gone yeah there against Palace. There was no rumour about Unciso being back until like late Friday night and then he's in the starting line-up on Saturday.
00:26:58
Speaker
It wasn't mentioned in a press conference or anything. It's just the way the way we do things. So I'm hoping he's back fit, but say I've got no idea on his timeframe. But we stuck O'Shea there against Palace and actually kind of worked.
00:27:12
Speaker
But this is the thing. Interesting. Go back to your point about cohesion and keeping consistent squads with when you're allowed to. We make so many changes. like we will consistently make two or three changes every week. Like there'll be minimum.
00:27:25
Speaker
We were saying yesterday, we don't, we were trying to work out how we name the same back four slash back five for two games in a row all season. And it's something we always like, we sometimes obviously it's enforced, but sometimes I feel like we just make changes for the sake of making changes. like we'll change one centre back and a back foot and a back five.
00:27:44
Speaker
When like, do you really need to do that? And that's that's where my well I think part of the reason we go wrong is, especially defensively, is that we haven't nailed down that consistent back four that can build the relationships and get together. And that's actually why I think the Cup game went well.
00:27:59
Speaker
Because it was three out four of our lead one back four who have played together for two years. And we look fairly solid for majority of the game. And I think that's probably yeah the lesson from that why. but So I'd like to think we go with the same back four against Palace because it worked quite well. Like,
00:28:15
Speaker
Goal was very well taken, but ultimately it was a ricochet which could have gone anywhere and it happened to fall to Sar's feet and he'd done the rest. We were unlucky, really. Palace, bar a couple saves from Palmer, didn't create too much. I'd like to think we'd go the same again, but it wouldn't be very Ipswich this season to name an unchanged back four. but I think it probably will be the same two in midfield again.
00:28:37
Speaker
Maybe Morsi for Phillips because Phillips has just come back. I don't know how fit he is and obviously we know what he's like for the last three years that he will play two games of football and then get injured for a month and then he'll come back and play two games of football and get injured for another month that he's on that cycle so they might want to rest him and obviously Mors he played fantastic in that cup game I think the front four will be unchanged because again we didn't score but
Ipswich's Attacking Strategy and Player Roles
00:29:00
Speaker
we were making chances which for the first part of the problem solved the only question would be Hutchinson back in for one of Clark and Philogene to me and unless and again unless and Cisos tweak something and would have to drop to the bench to make sure but
00:29:14
Speaker
I want to keep him at least in the other two. I don't know if he necessarily better completely, but he was the sharpest player on the pitch against Palace for us.
00:29:26
Speaker
He was at the heart of everything. like He was pressing with a bit of intensity that we haven't had in a lot of games. he was He's not afraid to shoot, which is the key thing for us. like We had 15 shots against Palace. That's one of our highest in the season.
00:29:39
Speaker
and I think he had about four of them. and he didn't even play the whole game, that he's not scared to just have a pop when he gets the ball. out There's one, he snatched the ball back himself, sat down gay, and just shot from like the angles, rubbish, but he had no one in the box. We just had a go.
00:29:54
Speaker
Whereas I think most of our squad lacking in confidence would have been in that position and gone, all right, no one in the box. I'll turn and pass backwards and we'll see if we can recycle it. He just had a go and won a corner.
00:30:05
Speaker
yeah Then, he just doesn't have much fear about him. So I'd like to see him start again, but ah so I want to see at least nine, ah ideally the whole 11 if we can, but because it was wasn't a bad performance is what I lost. But you've got to have nine, sort of ten nine, ten players from that Palace game for me if you're on a realistic chance here.
00:30:25
Speaker
You've got to be lining up the same because it did work well. Like I say, another day, that ball ricochets two yards further away and lands on Wolfenden's boot and he hooks it away. But it just happened to land on Saar's boot and he's a good enough player to turn, produce a burst of pace and a good finish that...
00:30:40
Speaker
ah and um It was an outrageous goller on it. Yeah. That's what mean. that He's one of the few players, like him, Eze, Dallap maybe on our side, the sort players that if the ball fell to in that place, you could see the same result. that Even Palace, they're a good team, Palace, but like I think of Kamada who was on the pitch at the time and Ketty. I don't think they do that if they're broke the same way. It's just yeah that element of it was unlucky, but like Overall Palace, we played well, so I'd like to see a similar XI, but it's been the Ipswich thing this year to make three or four changes week on week and then wonder why it's not clicking together and people aren't communicating properly. But I'm hoping we stop that trend now. but say we're
00:31:24
Speaker
Most of our injuries now, they're either out for the season, so we know they're not coming back, or they're back soon. So we're sort of getting to the point of close enough to a fully fit squad that we don't we shouldn't have to rotate all the time.
00:31:36
Speaker
yeah Yeah, and Greenwich is back as well. Big play to help back. yeah so It's just so hard to know of our line-ups week on week that they've just come out the blue. Like, it's like I say, Davis has had his knocks, normally like nailed on starter, but he's had knocks recently. We haven't known. We've just seen the team come out and he's on the bench or he's not in the squad completely.
00:31:56
Speaker
Then it's just like panic. oh know what's how How bad is it? What's happened? is it Is it a one-weeker? Is he out for the season? The club never give us anything, so trying to predict lineups on a Friday podcast are an absolute nightmare. But something I want to talk to you about quickly before we wrap up today's show is something we spoke in depth about this week on our pod.
00:32:18
Speaker
We're trying to pick apart the reasons why Forrest seemed to, maybe not struggle, we have beat us both times, but look uncomfortable against Zipswich, whereas there have been a lot of teams who find us fairly easy to play against.
00:32:31
Speaker
that i But where I think it comes down to is we know how good your wingers are and our makeshift fullback, they're both games we've played here. We've had one, one of the starting fullbacks out and the other one playing.
00:32:45
Speaker
And yet we kept the wingers fairly quiet. I mean, Alanga, credit to him, was very good in that cup game, but Hudson-Odoi was quiet and both of them quiet in the league game. i think it was shot of Silva who ended up winning the penalty and he actually caused more a threat when he came off a bench than the starting two. But yeah from a Forrest point of view that,
00:33:03
Speaker
That's a point I've been making all week. Is that one you'd sort of agree with? Maybe is that part of the reason why? Why do you think you might struggle a bit more against us than perhaps you should? Yeah, I think think it it is a reason for sure. But I think the thing, like i was saying earlier in the podcast, I think for me, it comes down to the fact that, you know, we we've been very good at being the underdog for two or three years. And, you know, we've played the underdog very well and realised that actually we are good enough to compete with the teams at the top the season and have have deserved a lot of the victories we've got. we've got lucky in a few.
00:33:34
Speaker
But we've deserved a lot of them. And I think we've realised that we can compete up there. But I think Upswich play quite similar to us in the sense, like I was saying earlier, that you know you are quite a counter-attacking team. I mean, some of your counter-attacks have been unbelievable that you haven't scored. And i've been, how have you missed that?
00:33:48
Speaker
I mean, that's another thing in the Premier League, got to take chances. But I think that's where Forrests struggle. Forrests struggle against low blocks because we're a counter-attacking team. And we find it hard to break teams down.
00:33:59
Speaker
And I think it
Match Predictions and Expectations
00:34:00
Speaker
then comes down to a shootout, you know, who scores first wins, basically. And that that to me is what is probably more of an issue. But I think if you keep the wingers quiet, you know, we we do play a lot through that front three and behind Wood, you know. So if you keep them quiet, it's difficult to think of between the lines. So, yeah, you might be right.
00:34:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think that might be a part of the part of the reason. But I never know. I'm hoping that we can sort of frustrate you again and maybe this time we'll tip it the other way. But... To wrap up then, score predictions, we've got to do them.
00:34:29
Speaker
Again, I'll give you the honours first, as you should be the more confident one out of the two of If you review yesterday, know yeah I'm not very confident. ah think I think it'll be a good game. I think.
00:34:44
Speaker
I'd love it. I mean, I'd love to get the three points, obviously, but I'd also be more than happy to watch three-all on match of the day. That would be great if it was end-to-end, like goals flying in. That would be great to watch. It'd be a nightmare as a fan watching the goals go in, but it'd be a great game to watch.
00:35:01
Speaker
But I think we'll probably edge it. I think it just depends on who takes the chances better. I think probably two on Forest because I think you'll score. but yeah escarable mobile food yeah I think it. I think I'm going take it back to a point you made way back in part one that we're fairly similar, but our defence can't live up to the way we try and play. And I'm going to go back to that. I'm going to take your most recent game against City as an example.
00:35:34
Speaker
Stayed in the game, nicked it 1-0. We don't have that game in our locker. I've said that all year. like I compare us to the likes of Wolves. and teams like that um and to other teams when they were down there at the time is that you can see them going and grinding out a shock result either home or away just defending them for their lives and having a goal like I did it when we went to the Emirates we played Everton went there the week before played like defended fantastically got nil-nil draw we went and done the exact same tried to play the exact same foray and we just let a poor one in and that's my problem I think that you're very good at those sort of
00:36:12
Speaker
hold firm 1-0s where you don't have to play at 100% and we're not. So for that reason, still have some prediction I went for yesterday was Forrester nick it 1-0 in an even game. And I think, again, I say we have to shock people, but for me, this is a game where I can't see it happening.
00:36:31
Speaker
I can see it more likely when we've got Stamford Bridge in a couple of weeks. That's more the sort of one I think we might nab that surprise win late in the season. But yeah it's a cliche for this time of the year, isn't it?
00:36:42
Speaker
In the running, you want to play teams who have got nothing to play for. You don't want to play teams who are chasing something, especially those down the bottom, scrapping for their lives. So I'm hoping we give that cliche, it's reason, and then we start picking up some results now find it hard for people. But I don't think we will this game. I just think Forrester are a bit too strong at the moment. so So unfortunately, I can't bring the positivity on this side of things. i always like to try and predict a draw, at least, on these crossover ones, but I can't do it this week.
00:37:11
Speaker
Got to stay positive. I think well think we'll get the three points. But like I said, it could be a banana skin, so it could go either way. Yeah, i so i said for me, it's just a home form as well. I said it earlier, we've got one win at home all year. Well, two in all competitions and one was Bristol Rovers.
00:37:27
Speaker
And then you said the other one if the one is Chelsea, randomly. and So, I mean, that's that's where the hope is to me. That up and underdog games we play better than games of expectation, or even Spurs, that we should we should be underdogs in that one.
00:37:41
Speaker
but they also felt like a bit of expectation because they they've been they've been off it this year. And I think that's why. I think had Spurs been flying like they were last year at one point, and if they were in the top four and coming to that game and played the same way, I feel like, in a weird way, I feel like we'd have had more chance of getting results. So maybe the underdog thing will come into play and we can get another positive result at home that we are absolutely craving. But we'll see how it plays out.
Episode Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:38:08
Speaker
And that'll wrap us up for today as well. The end of a very fun little crossover episode here, say on a Friday this week instead of a Thursday. Make sure you check out both podcasts. Obviously, any of you from the Daily Nottingham Forest come and check us out of the Daily Ipswich and any of our listeners, make sure you go and check out the Daily Nottingham Forest with Mark and the boys as well.
00:38:30
Speaker
That is it for today's episode. We will both be back on our respective podcast next week and we start with reviews of the game. And until then, we will see you later. Every Club...
00:38:44
Speaker
The Global Sports Podcast Network.