Transcript
DailySaintsPod: Hello and welcome back to the Daily Saints pod with Zak and Greg. My illustrious co -host has returned.
Greg: oh
DailySaintsPod: How you feeling, mate?
Greg: Uh... Mate, much better. i can I can move, I can speak. And, you know, because of that, I don't mind being on camera, but... Wow. when When life wipes you out.
Greg: Sure does wipe you out.
DailySaintsPod: look I offered straight away to like do the pod for you anyway, because I knew for a fact, like I've had food poisoning before. It really, really sucks considering, you know, we were, we were having, we had technical troubles trying to do the match review after Birmingham. after a kind of meh game anyway, managed to get that out. And then to have two hours later, you just be like... Wow, this is awful. Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: I feel for you, man. But you're back.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Obviously, as you're all aware, we were supposed to do a big, wonderful transfer roundup yesterday. Just didn't feel right doing it without you, mate.
Greg: Night!
DailySaintsPod: So obviously...
Greg: I enjoyed your profile on Zach Abbott, mate. It was good.
DailySaintsPod: Thanks! Appreciate that.
Greg: mean I learned a lot. uh And, you know, it's nice to know that we maybe have cover it right back as well. it's
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, that's that's one of the things I think a lot of people have missed, even though Tonda said it like straight up when he joined.
Greg: Huh?
DailySaintsPod: But hey -ho.
Greg: Hmm. another big physical profile in the team as well and that's important but Yeah, it's fine. It just means that we get plenty of time to digest the transfer window properly before we give our big opinions, presumably next week, because there's just no time to breathe other than game.
DailySaintsPod: Yep. No.
Greg: Right? just They come pick them fast.
DailySaintsPod: Game game game game game Yeah, it's the championship and that's why you know people are already talking about the windows you know being closed now and then people talking about... the various different positions of people in the table mean basically nothing this early on.
DailySaintsPod: You know, we we're not going to see an indicator until the sort of Christmassy time.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: And even then, we've we've seen the drop -off that's happened with some teams. cough Middlesbrough cough but don't say that too loudly They'll think it's bait.
Greg: Well, I mean... at Like... middle of December last year, Cholton were like up in playoff contention and in the end just about managed to not get relegated.
Greg: so
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, like to give Middlesbrough credit, they stayed.
Greg: The pace of the league comes at you hard, doesn't it? like
DailySaintsPod: right? Because they get to give Middlesbrough credit, they did stay up in that sort of top four.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: And on top of that, like, you know,
Greg: They managed to bottle two whole attempts at promotion after getting into the playoffs. say
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, okay, or not. Just tried not to be antagonistic, but there we are. Uh...
Greg: it
DailySaintsPod: There you go. Who else haven't I mugged off yet? Stoke, they finished the same place they always did after a really strong start to the season.
Greg: Mm.
DailySaintsPod: It's like... Hey, there you go. Right, who else have I... you know let's insult all of the new people that have come up speaking of new people coming up Lincoln City is who we're playing against, Greg. How much do you know about Lincoln City?
Greg: Yep. All right. I know that they got promoted from League One last year. that that might be That might be the end of the list, if I'm honest with you.
DailySaintsPod: Yep.
Greg: It's... That's really much where I'm at.
DailySaintsPod: i feel bad there were more jokes made at the expense of of Tottenham than them right because that was one of the things about them potentially going to Lincoln away LA LA
Greg: Hmm.
DailySaintsPod: And instead what you've had is somehow they stayed up by the skin of their teeth. rebuilt their entire team. at a cost of, I don't know, half a billion pounds or something ridiculous.
DailySaintsPod: And so far, all of that's gone completely tits up. You've got Richarlison that's completely ruined, you know, all of the transfer, a lot of transfer moves for everybody for Spurs. And all I'm doing this for is to show that I can punch up and not down. Uh...
DailySaintsPod: if your account is punching up. But yeah, obviously...
Greg: don't know I don't know if that's true, mate, but...
DailySaintsPod: Thank you
Greg: no I mean, look, I know that... they they've been on a bit of a rise right they've quite rapidly risen to this point. And they've had... some like solid structure put in place to get them to this point.
Greg: from from their their ownership and their structure. They've got... Co -head coaches. I know that. Which is a bit... A bit unusual, isn't it?
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, but at the same time... yeah everyone gets called a manager
Greg: Hmm.
DailySaintsPod: But most of our most you know managers aren't managers, right? That was one of the problems I think Maresca had at Chelsea. There were other places that... you know Manager doesn't mean the same thing.
DailySaintsPod: as head coach, as, you know, senior first team coach, all that kind of stuff. But it is is unusual.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: It isn't something you see very often, right?
Greg: Yeah. Look, you and I both work in a world of business where single points of failure or single points of success are are talked about frequently and so maybe
DailySaintsPod: like a management team.
Greg: maybe this is the future that they're seeing with co -head managers or co -head coaches or However, it's, It's unusual, but if it's going to work for them, then fair play.
Greg: god You can't knock it. I don't have a...
DailySaintsPod: Y -yeah?
Greg: problem with it per se, it's just...
DailySaintsPod: I mean, they got...
Greg: I thought it was noteworthy.
DailySaintsPod: Bye. It is definitely a thing that is is interesting and not something you see very, very regularly. And I find anything like that fascinating.
Greg: Amen.
DailySaintsPod: And it's it's like... one of the only few things Like... times you see anything that odd is when you get like the old the player manager in very sort of low league football, right? And that's that's especially prevalent with, you know, X.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: We don't have a really huge history with Lincoln City, Greg, as you can probably imagine, just being...
Greg: That might be another statement.
DailySaintsPod: different leagues apart.
Greg: If I would, it's me.
DailySaintsPod: Sorry?
Greg: but I mean, that that might be putting it lightly. in the
DailySaintsPod: What do you mean? 10 games won since the dawn of time, five games drawn, two games lost.
Greg: When was the last one of them in the league, mate?
DailySaintsPod: so History is on our side. When was the last one in the league? Well... Huh. Uh...
Greg: Peace out.
DailySaintsPod: 1961.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: We...
Greg: Well, I'm reading. even by my standards, who tends to hold historic fixtures in slightly higher regard than you. That. is fairly... you know, near the limit of a write -off, right?
Greg: it's but
DailySaintsPod: A goal from Terry Payne and two goals from George O 'Brien. So he did win 3 -0.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: You know? That's not too bad. But when do you think we last played them, you know? with excluding the league.
Greg: We played them in the Cup a couple of years ago, I seem to recall.
DailySaintsPod: We did. They were actually a win for Nathan Jones' Southampton team, right? that's that's how oh That was a weird time. Even more weird as going through the squad. So we won that game.
DailySaintsPod: Uh... 2 -0. Or 2 -1, sorry. We ended up having two goals from Che Adams. which, you know. remember Che Adams. And I started having a look through the starting lineup. we We had a little bit chat about this before we started. And I think the most fascinating thing is there are two members of the team that are still here from that starting lineup.
DailySaintsPod: One of them is James Ward -Prowse, who obviously... Went for like three seasons and came back. Right. The other is Samuel Ladozzi, which...
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: maybe just maybe indicates why the poor lad wants to you know get wanted to get a move on deadline day because you know when he's one of the only people still here
Greg: Hmm.
DailySaintsPod: after that length of period of time. And we know that he's probably not going to be starting week in, week out. And even in this game, he came on for Karl Walker -Peters as a substitute in the 63rd minute.
DailySaintsPod: You know, there's not really a huge amount of players that are 90 -minute footballers nowadays. but I can understand when I looked at the seam sheet and went, wow, yeah, no, you're right, 2022. Other notable...
DailySaintsPod: People in this lineup, Ainsley Maitland -Niles, who has just made his move to resolve the right back problem at Everton, apparently. At least that's how BBC Sport described it. I don't think any Everton fans will agree. Fascinating. Jaletta Carr, who went with Ainsley Maitland -Niles to Lyon.
DailySaintsPod: And I remember them getting dressed down in front of the ultras, which was fascinating.
Greg: Hmm.
DailySaintsPod: Gineppo was still in the squad. Theo Walcott was still playing football. One of the substitutes, Ibrahima Diallo, if anyone remembers him. So, yeah. My point here...
DailySaintsPod: is that we haven't played them long enough for any of it to matter.
Greg: No relevance to the game.
DailySaintsPod: Like, that that's the thing, right?
Greg: That's it.
DailySaintsPod: Our squad almost entirely different.
Greg: Hmm.
DailySaintsPod: Their squad will certainly almost be different. it's hard to predict one based off of essentially Zero history whatsoever.
Greg: Yeah, but I mean, that that kind of... is is the story in itself right like these are Two clubs in very different... parts of their journey. and the expectations of the season.
Greg: a very different. Right? I'm sure that if you speak to any Lincoln City fan, they will tell you that their ambition this season is to not get relegated.
Greg: And. And we are hopefully. aiming for much higher heights than that. So... I mean... In that regard alone. it It is a game that we need to be...
Greg: Yo! there's no games that are easy in the championship to be clear but this is a game that we should expect to win
DailySaintsPod: Okay. We, we... We, we... we We should, but also like... that time we played oxford and we were like really really you know confident that we would win and It was a very, very sort of similar thing. It's the overconfidence, especially against a side that we consider to be smaller.
DailySaintsPod: can breed that kind of... you know, one nil loss basically is where I'm at and the things that I always kind of worry about.
Greg: Hmm.
DailySaintsPod: And, you know, They... I have this first time I've been in the second tier of English football in 65 years, Greg. So it's you know a big a big deal and there's there's going to be a little bit of hunger there.
DailySaintsPod: we've already started to see them you know I think I've picked up one already. We've already seen Bolton sort of pick up points as well. And as we pointed out, and you alluded to, anyone in the championship can beat anybody, right?
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: if we If we put our games to bed against Oxford... we you know we could have again the amount of times last season where we dropped a few points and that was that was literally the difference between us getting automatics and not
Greg: Mm.
DailySaintsPod: which I know is how numbers work, but it's like, if you were to... wind it back and pick one game and look at that one game. You really wish that, yeah, if you know we should be... Maybe. We should be, by our own expectations, picking up three points both times we play Lincoln this season, right?
DailySaintsPod: that's
Greg: Yeah, absolutely.
DailySaintsPod: that's just the reality of the situation
Greg: that That... That will be the expectation going into the game. That doesn't mean that it's going to be easy or a walkover by any stretch of the imagination. they're going to set out to make it difficult.
Greg: We're not exactly firing on all cylinders yet, really. I mean, we had a... Uh...
Greg: disjointed performance against Birmingham, I'd say. I could have...
DailySaintsPod: I think we had a tired performance against them.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Personally.
Greg: So... And... Yeah, you know, we're going to have... potentially new players feeding into the squad. for the first time after deadline day It's...
Greg: Yeah, it's not an easy one, and it's another away game. in quick succession right we know that that we didn't do particularly well last season where we had...
Greg: back -to -back away games, Tuesday, Saturday. It was a lot of travelling. It's not... Not easy. So... There are lots of... you know, tails to be cautious of. Like, it's not... Just a clear cut. Oh, we're going to absolutely smash them because...
Greg: you know they're also going to be knowing what they're coming up against they've been playing with a back five as well Which is also... Not something we're particularly good at breaking down historically. so There's lots. Lots of interest about it as to whether we're going to actually have enough to to do the job and get the job done.
DailySaintsPod: yeah I agree. There's also going to be a little bit of more fire in the belly for anyone that pays attention, but they've got a couple of ex -Portsmouth players in their lineup as well, which will create an interesting dynamic, whether or not we actually are paying that much attention to their squad to know that. uh
DailySaintsPod: That's one of the reasons that we sit and look through everybody right and before the games. but Yeah no, you're right. I think that... It's... yeah We just need to make sure we don't switch off. And I'm hoping that we can.
DailySaintsPod: Fire at least a little bit more. I'm hoping the extra day off will help them because I think it was just a fatigue. on transfer deadline day, as we as we discussed on that episode.
DailySaintsPod: the both mental and physical, right? The physical from the weekend that was quite intense. It was an amazing win, but they had to they kind of threw their lot in. We didn't step off. the gas the entirety of that game wasn't like we settled for three being like three one up and then just stopped uh we didn't do that we kept going and going and going and obviously the birmingham game
DailySaintsPod: it's an away game it's tough it's tuesday there's all this stuff going on you could probably tell like i imagine the energy in the room even through like you know tonda like We have a manager who gets caught up.
DailySaintsPod: in his his day job sometimes. When we're in meetings and we're talking, can actively tell when someone is not fully present. right and that's no disrespect that's just because he's spinning 100 plates at a time however uh you know tonda for somebody that is usually fully committed is also going to be constantly having conversations about what's going on Uh,
DailySaintsPod: And that's going to rub off on the players. And, you know, I think they did try their best and ultimately it was just a game that... you know ended in a draw and kind of deservedly so. But...
DailySaintsPod: You'd like to think even with the disjointedness, even with the fact we've not quite started firing yet. that we're going to go into this game And, you know, win because...
Greg: Hmm.
DailySaintsPod: I think that that's a lot of what the people, you know, so quite some great opportunities for for some for some maybe lone players, Greg, you know?
Greg: Mm. Yeah. certainly uh it's gonna be look it's also the early kickoff right and if you no matter how football much you follow football, there's the golden rule is you don't you know back an early kick -off.
Greg: I mean Gandhi himself said so, so it must be true.
DailySaintsPod: And that is why you never get any information just off of ChatGPT.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: or any of your models.
Greg: Peace.
DailySaintsPod: And to be clear, It's fine. You can use stuff to supplement research, but just make sure you verify it. Sorry, the historian person came out of you there. No, no. Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: it's just Bye. i I think that... we should be trying to win this comfortably with any team we put out.
Greg: Absolutely.
DailySaintsPod: And I don't want to be ultimately disrespectful, but that is what. We expect. And you're like, I don't back the early kickoff. I don't. I don't really think the time of day massively matters.
DailySaintsPod: You know, we went through the whole of last season being like, well, yeah, midweek games, we're just bad at. And then we kept winning all of our midweek games. And then it was like, well, you know, first game back of the season.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: And unfortunately, you were proven right there. But then last season, we did win it. so Again, you can just you know roll some dice with it. so So let's start rolling some dice and guessing the lineup, Greg, shall we?
Greg: all Alright then, let's do it. Daniel Pretzel being goal.
DailySaintsPod: Oh, are you sure?
Greg: Thank you, Timmy.
DailySaintsPod: According to the the entirety of of at least... the Twitter feed of the podcast. Shouldn't Ramsdale be back in goal now?
Greg: No.
DailySaintsPod: Prince has had a dodgy performance.
Greg: It's... the It's...
DailySaintsPod: It's contrarian.
Greg: It's been very clear.
DailySaintsPod: It's contrarians.
Greg: The... Peretz is the first choice goalkeeper and George Long will be our second choice goalkeeper. And I think I saw somewhere that we signed Jamie Jones to be our third choice goalkeeper.
DailySaintsPod: it so It was like just randomly after the game on... On Tuesday, I was like, by the way, Jamie Jones. And like it kind of feels like a fever dream because he was somebody that I consistently forgot last time.
Greg: like that. And we came to the... mutual termination of Juan Larios' contract, right?
DailySaintsPod: Yes, though it was both.
Greg: lucus
DailySaintsPod: Juan Larios, which makes sense because as much as it would be lovely to see him again, we just never were and we all knew it.
Greg: step
DailySaintsPod: I hope he goes on to have a good career.
Greg: And look. Which whichever conspiracy theory you want to feed into. right Whether it's... that Ramsdale has an appearance bonus in his contract that means if he plays another league game, we owe money to Arsenal. Whether it's the the appearance bonus in his contract means we just don't want to pay him that much money per match.
Greg: or whether it's none of the above. right? Tonda has very clearly stated from the beginning. Peretz is number one, George Long is number two. that's not going to change. and look if if all of the windows close and Ramsdale still here it's gonna make for a very interesting situation But I still don't think that it changes Tonda's plans.
DailySaintsPod: Oi!
Greg: Certainly not as recently as tomorrow.
DailySaintsPod: Someone... Someone made the fascinating point that, you know... When we had this happen with Lumley, and Alex McCarthy and Bazunu and basically Lumley was supposed to play second and then McCarthy was meant to, you know, be the third choice goalkeeper and sort of just be the senior member of the team. And then when Bazunu got injured...
DailySaintsPod: we were all surprised that McCarthy Just got. called up immediately and was playing that day and we're like that's weird wasn't he even not in the squad and obviously that probably hacked off Lumley quite a bit. And I think we showed that later on because then he came into the squad and was like, yeah, I'm here to prove myself. I want to be an England goalkeeper.
DailySaintsPod: And. It didn't. produce an England goalkeeper display. Just leave it at that. and But the point is is that like as much as what that that was what was said when when push came to shove...
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: You know, when if we have an injury to Perez.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Who do you think is going to, you know? Who do you think is going to come in?
Greg: if If we get an injury to Peretz, then that's something that's definitely up for debate. But but as it stands, Peretz will start.
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, no, exactly. And i think I think that... a lot of the people going like, oh, should we not play Ramsdale? It's just like, contrarian
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Debating. Right, it's, Peretz is going to start.
Greg: No, if we were going to play Ramsdale and had an interest in including Ramsdale and squad, we would have done so before this point.
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, he wouldn't he wouldn't have, you know, he he wouldn't be...
Greg: Right. Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: like in a lot of the stands in the preseason friendlies and stuff right like it's kind of where i'm at any any who so so the goalkeeper situation which we haven't had to talk about for months
Greg: Yeah.
Greg: Yeah. Exactly.
Greg: It's back baby!
DailySaintsPod: We're moving swiftly on.
Greg: Yeah. Okay.
DailySaintsPod: Right back. James Bree, perfect. Left back, Ryan Manning, perfect.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Center backs, Greg.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Do we start the new one?
Greg: actual discussion. Here we go.
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, here we go.
DailySaintsPod: Do we? well How do you feel?
Greg: I think... depending on fitness levels and fatigue levels. I think that... We've seen from Tondo that messing with centre -back... pairings is not really something he does.
Greg: takes too lightly so i think we'll probably see
DailySaintsPod: I can't agree. He shoved a Schlott er beck in the instant he signed him, removed Jack Stephens, and they just started pulling it with Wood.
Greg: Yeah, that's different. uh
DailySaintsPod: Why? Why is that different?
Greg: I think we'll see Schlotterbeck and Wood start.
DailySaintsPod: Interesting. I think that maybe Abbott might make an appearance just because I think that they promised him game time.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: And I think that why we we don't you're right, we don't really mess around with centre -back pairings. But that also, we don't tend to really bring on defensive subs unless... either injury or tiredness, right? So I think that we we might end up starting with both Abbott and Schlotterbeck.
DailySaintsPod: That's no disrespect to Wood. I think he's been great. I just think that they want to you know probably rest him as well. You don't want him to pick up an injury on top of the fact that... you know He's played two games this week already. Schlotterbeck has two.
Greg: Yeah, I just... I don't know if like a combined total of what, maybe six training sessions between the two of them. is...
Greg: is going to give Tonda enough confidence in them to to be that pair. Like i I could see Schlotterbeck.
DailySaintsPod: Interesting.
Greg: Knott starting and Abbott starting alongside Wood. Or maybe Stephens. But I would expect it to be one of the new signings and one of the players who have not been in the transfer window.
DailySaintsPod: Fascinating.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Because we're going to have to try and technically play all of them and if he's meant to be the Taylor Harwood -Bellis replacement.
Greg: Yeah. but also like you know we've got a couple of weeks now we've got uh obviously we've got game tuesday game saturday and then we've got a week and we've got a big long international break so It's...
Greg: It's not outside the realms to see that. Coming up, I just don't know if... like literally day dot. three days after you know the the youngsters signed if that's when we throw him in that way.
DailySaintsPod: chucking him into...
Greg: but But I think you're wrong.
DailySaintsPod: a premier like a FA Cup. semi -final at Wembley. gets chucked into Europa League. Seems like the kind of his the kind of thing that he would do, put it that way.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Well, I guess we'll see. I just found it fascinating that You know, it's completely fine to shove Schlotter back in, but not... for Zach.
Greg: I think it's fine to shove either of them in I don't think you'd shove them both in
DailySaintsPod: Right.
Greg: is what I'm saying, right?
DailySaintsPod: that' That's what you see, yeah.
Greg: like Yeah, like like I could see Schlotterbeck rotating for Abbott and Abbott starting, but I wouldn't expect to see Schlotterbeck and Abbott start together.
DailySaintsPod: So if you saw him, you'd expect Stephens.
Greg: Yet.
DailySaintsPod: Gets.
Greg: although That being the long -term plan. is potentially what I could see. Sorry.
DailySaintsPod: Okay, well, we haven't had a presser to my knowledge yet. uh if would
Greg: I believe it's scheduled for Friday morning.
DailySaintsPod: Perfect. Absolutely worst time for us to try and record. I'm going to make an assumption though, Greg, that somehow Casper Yander still isn't fit enough to start. So...
Greg: Yeah. I mean, he's been out long enough now right that even if he is fit enough to be in the squad, he probably isn't fit enough to start. Right?
DailySaintsPod: I'd agree with that. Yeah. Probably, I think, you know, he's going to have to be worked back into the squad. So I'm going to give it up for James Ward- Prowse and Flynn Downes.
Greg: Hmm.
DailySaintsPod: But I wouldn't be surprised if it's Flynn Downes and Cam Bragg. And I wouldn't be upset about it either. I just think that actually, in a similar sense to where we got to last season, I don't think I'd mind any of them.
DailySaintsPod: any of the three being in the middle, and four when Yanda's back.
Greg: Yeah. Yeah, interestingly, going for a start for Ward- Prowse, I mean... Yeah, I could see it he's looked really solid when he's come on.
DailySaintsPod: He doesn't look like an ageing 30 -year -old player. And remember, where he you made the point that his fitness was always high at Saints, right?
Greg: see But then he he was...
DailySaintsPod: He played basically every minute of football he could.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: And the only reason that it's happened is's not happened elsewhere is because he wasn't picked, as opposed to not wanting to play.
Greg: Yeah, he was.
Greg: He was always an engine willing to play every minute, so it doesn't surprise me. And in every interview where anyone talks about him ever in the entirety of history, they always talk about the consummate professional he is. So it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that he, despite not...
Greg: actively being picked or playing has kept his fitness at that level. So great. You're right. that Does mean maybe, yeah, we get a start.
Greg: again I don't know. Maybe the sticking with the if it ain't broke of of Bragg and Flynn. but Yeah, i wouldn't you're right. I wouldn't be unhappy with... any combination of those names. so It's a win -win as far as I'm concerned.
DailySaintsPod: Exactly that. So moving up. how How do you think that our attacking options are going to line up? Are you going to give fellows another chance to get a start? after Matsuki. Matsuki had a very good substitute appearance, but I think that's probably why.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: because he wasn't starting.
Greg: Uh... I wouldn't be surprised to see Matsuki start this. is Knowing that it's a game... where they're going to play five at the back. So there might not be as much space in the wings and thinking that we might be trying to play a bit more centrally and a bit more. Direct.
Greg: that That kind of leads more to Matsuki's strengths anyway. Right?
DailySaintsPod: slightly more of a bruiser right as opposed to as opposed to quick quick
Greg: Because he's not. Yeah, he's not like a... A natural winger. Like. Tom Fellows whilst he's still effective from back. that side. But... gives that more rotational option.
Greg: sort of closer to an inside forward rather than a wide wigger. So I wouldn't be surprised to see Matsuki get the start. Obviously, Finnazaz. Probably Leo because...
Greg: you know, if he's fit, we play him. Although if he was going to be rested just for a game, maybe this would be it.
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking, if I'm so totally honest.
DailySaintsPod: I don't know whether or not. The problem is, is who would start over him now? Because obviously, at this point, you'd think Dobbin.
Greg: Robin?
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, you'd think Dobbin. Previously, I might have said a Edozie.
Greg: Hmm.
DailySaintsPod: I just don't i don't know how...
Greg: Well, that would be interesting.
DailySaintsPod: They're going to reconcile that, right?
Greg: Maybe we do see a Edozie get a start. and But, I mean, you talked before about, like, putting players under pressure and nothing really sparks pressure. Then, all right, you want player minutes.
Greg: Off you go. Here's your big chance. And I don't know if that's actually conducive to success or not.
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, I also need... Bye.
Greg: But...
DailySaintsPod: I don't think that's how do they'd want to do it either, because again, like the it's the needs of the many over the needs of the few, right?
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: like The goal is promotion.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Unfortunately, you know everyone that's in the team is going to play a part towards that. but regards to specifically the adosi situation it's a horrible situation do we resolve it by giving him Game time, cool. Okay, if he starts and he scores or he creates, you know, a fantastic assist or anything like that and he proves that he should also be in week out.
DailySaintsPod: that excellent and uh If I was Dobbin, I'd be worried at that point.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: But... I just don't see it happening. Do you know what I mean?
Greg: I love you. No, for me, it'll either be Scienza or Dobbin. And then up front, I think we start Mubama.
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, I just think because of you were right about Larin, I just think he looked really leggy for a lot of that previous game.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: I think he was a couple of seconds off everything. I think he was just tired. And that is obviously... why a lot of people have raised questions around the the sort of the amount of forwards we've decided to send out on loan, but also...
DailySaintsPod: If for example, we had Cam Archer here. or Damian Downs here. and they were started. Right. this weekend had imagine the uproar like archer i think would get away with it a little bit more but people would still be kind of like
Greg: Mm. Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: confused and it wouldn't really fit the system we're going for.
Greg: Well that's... That's the other thing, right?
DailySaintsPod: and
Greg: Because this is a game where potentially speaking if we get an early goal That... there is possibilities for the kind of floodgates to open because because the game will potentially open up a bit more because because Lincoln will have to. right If they want to go out and get a result.
Greg: and And that's the sort of game where... you know Mboma can put all of those questions to rest if he comes on and scores a 20 minute hat trick Right. like oh no it's alright we're good he was just it was just settling in and and now we're going to be happy right it's exactly the sort of of game where he has that opportunity I've seen some talk that
Greg: He's kind of a different profile player to Larry in a lot of ways in that he's not so strong with the hold -up But he likes to run in behind more which which is yeah Fairly true. but The quality of...
Greg: creator we have behind the the front line now with Azaz and with Leo and with Dobbin. and and with fellow Zamatsky, like we should we should be able to adapt enough to to put the right kind of ball to his feet, you would hope.
Greg: Right?
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Well, yeah, I think that pretty much clears it up. And I think there is still some question marks over some of the specific positions just because of you know everything that's happened this week.
Greg: Hmm.
DailySaintsPod: fitness levels, who we expected to see stay and who didn't. you know
Greg: And just how many midweek... games straight into... weekend games we have had in succession already right this is like a cursed side effect of that.
DailySaintsPod: Yeah.
Greg: Horrific. extended international break that we're going to have to put up with. in a few weeks time. It just means that we've had this like horrible run of fixtures.
DailySaintsPod: Ugh.
Greg: that just have been non -stop. and before the window has finished. It's just... baffling. just insanity from the EFL.
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, well, you know, what's the what's the phrase? Money talks, right?
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: that's the long and short of it
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: So... Absolutely crazy things just happening in general in football. you know we had We had one man try and kidnap an entire World Cup this year. So... Yeah, but that's pretty much where we're at.
DailySaintsPod: So obviously the million dollar question, Greg, unless you've got your AI spiel to read out ready. is what you reckon the score prediction is going to be. I really like this new format of me asking you first.
Greg: Yeah, it it really puts me under the cosh. It... Uh...
DailySaintsPod: It's like...
Greg: The AI prediction you'll be unsurprised to hear has Southampton edging a 2 -1 win.
DailySaintsPod: 200...
DailySaintsPod: Fuck.
DailySaintsPod: I'm shocked. I'm devastated that we didn't get to read the spiel of...
Greg: hit
DailySaintsPod: it predicting the same result that it always predicts regardless of opponent
Greg: Beep. Yes. Ugh, it's really good. Uh, look, I'm... I don't know. I fancy it's going to go one of two ways, right? It's either going to be a horrible game.
Greg: that Lincoln do an incredible job of staving us off. and try to fight back and catch us on the counter and maybe come close a couple of times and and then it you know could be one of those ones where it's like are we actually gonna get the goal at any point and then we sneak one nil or it could be one of those ones where you think that coming in then we nab the early goal and then it opens up a bit so
Greg: Tending towards the optimistic side to what I'd prefer to see, let's go for a 3 -0 win.
DailySaintsPod: Interesting. They've kept clean sheets in their their last two games.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: so three deals you know quite a lot Uh...
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: OI!
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: I'm you know, Where are your goals coming from? You already said Mubama hat -trick, so I feel like you need to unpack that now.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Money where your mouth is and all that.
Greg: Yeah, absolutely. Just yet all three of them in like really quick succession. By like minute nine, we'll be 3 -0 up. and just be on absolute cruise control for the rest of the match.
DailySaintsPod: Shell shock.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: I think...
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: I think we're still... We've still got a... goal that we will concede. and a silly goal. I still think we'll win. So unfortunately, I also do actually think 2 -1. And again, like you've got... A lot of physicality there. You've got, you know, I don't know how much it means to some of them. There's quite there's quite a few ex -Portsmouth players in Lincoln. They're going to know what we're about. And obviously...
DailySaintsPod: I just think that, yeah. I think they'll probably at least pip us once. There's going to be loads of controversy. There'll be everybody having a meltdown. How are we 1 -0 down against Lincoln? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then we'll win 2 -1.
DailySaintsPod: But I think that... The... we've we've done it more than once before where we unpredict, we, we you know, Fight. don't predict properly I...
DailySaintsPod: We think appointment's going to be significantly weaker. They're not. We get pipped by him and then suddenly we turn it on. because we have that ability to turn it on. We have that ability to, if the starting lineup is what we say it's going to be.
DailySaintsPod: uh with you know a little bit of more rotation than normal all of a sudden we'd be able to get you know we're going to be it's that story where like they were able to bring on carl larin and sienza
Greg: and Well, that's the thing, right?
DailySaintsPod: So.
Greg: Like you say that their last two games were clean sheets, but also those games were against Bolton and Blackburn and with the greatest of respect. Bye. That's not where we want to be aiming.
Greg: right so you would hope like Also, Pompey scored three past them.
DailySaintsPod: Yeah.
Greg: If I'd have seen that before I made my prediction, maybe we'd have been in the sixes and sevens. like
DailySaintsPod: Look.
Greg: Peace.
DailySaintsPod: let's lets let's Let's agree with the stupid robot for once and and see if that pans out for me.
Greg: it
DailySaintsPod: Maybe maybe I'll get a single... prediction right on Funalysis.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Images. I hope you're putting in to your one all of the predictions you make. So at the end of the season, when you have like a 0 % accuracy, it's going to be great.
Greg: Oh yeah, of course. Bye. I'm nothing if not consistent, like consistently delusional. is is really where I'm at.
DailySaintsPod: Oh yeah, this is true.
Greg: uh
DailySaintsPod: The fact it took you, what, like nine months to start predicting losses during the Premier League season?
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Good times.
Greg: And even then, I think I only actually predicted it once. so Peace.
DailySaintsPod: Perfect. I think
Greg: This is going to be the game, guys, where we really just it all clicks together and we actually manage to get a win. We're going to be the banana skin.
DailySaintsPod: You're right!
Greg: but
DailySaintsPod: The way we had to try and get ourselves through recording every week for another loss was, well, well what if for like 20 minutes we can turn it on and then just not concede a goal?
Greg: a
DailySaintsPod: Because we were going to talk about performances in terms of... 15 minutes of a analysis because the rest of it was just Cack. Uh...
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Yeah, anywho, I think that's about all we've got time for. It's a pleasure to have you back, mate.
Greg: That's it, mate.
DailySaintsPod: I look forward to watching the game. It's gonna be good. Safe travels to all those that are going up.
Greg: Yeah.
DailySaintsPod: Oh damn, I genuinely can't point out where it is on a map. that's also a problem that I have.
Greg: Oh, man, it's got to be up. Everything's up. I'm sorry.
DailySaintsPod: It's not No, it's bleak.
Greg: o you Twelve! All right.
DailySaintsPod: It's not even still.
Greg: That's the exception that proves the rule.
DailySaintsPod: okay well Let's wrap this up, Zak.
Greg: Peace.
DailySaintsPod: Facebook, Twitter. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. With, uh... We managed to put... blue sky
DailySaintsPod: Let us know what your score prediction is. Have a wonderful Saturday. Remember, it's the Ali kickoff. And we will see you to talk about the result regardless.
DailySaintsPod: of what happens? Thank you BYE!
Greg: Come on, you Saints.
