558: Kings of Anglia: Wrapping up pre-season in Auxerre

0:00Ross Halls:Hello everybody, it's me Roscoe and welcome to the long-waited Kings of Anglia Itcherstown podcast. Sorry that we've not been bringing you an episode for a while, but we're here to bring you a special one because I'm here with Alex Jones. Bonjour my friend, we're currently in our hotel in France in... Oze? I'll give you that. Yeah, Oze. I've been struggling, haven't I, during this trip. It's a very easy name, but as you all know, I'm useless with just pronouncing things. But my friend, we're in a hotel room at just gone half 11 at night after the game. Another town win. We're going to discuss all things pre-season, transfers, injuries.

0:37Ross Halls:But how are you doing, my friend? Another young guns on tour. Yeah, good. This is late. I think we're both quite tired. And we're going to give it our best shot with this. We'll go back and quickly rewind on some things. Right, Auxerre. Auxerre. Yeah, there we go. There we go. This has been about five takes across the course of the trip. we arrived yesterday for contact we've probably done about 15 or 20 failed takes most of them were outside the stadium um we're not in a hotel room we're in the lobby we're in the little bar but it's where you have breakfast um so yeah i think we're both kind of running on empty a little bit but the last drops in the tank are going to go towards this we're going to deliver a top-end podcast talking all things up to town from this trip from the game today the 3-0 win and what's going to happen between now and the start of the championship season.

1:29Ross Halls:Yeah, it's mad to think Birmingham is not that far away now. That's the week. Unbelievable. Unbelievable championship season starts. Obviously, League 1 and League 2 started this weekend. But yeah, we were going to go to maybe more a picturesque place, but we couldn't really find it at half 11. It's pitch black. Yeah, pretty much. So we've just gone and it's very colourful in here. Not that you can see it. You can't see that, unfortunately. And audio listeners, you can't see that. But yeah, we're here to bring you the podcast. Let's just dive right deep into it, AJ, because Isherstown won another pre-season game.

2:03Ross Halls:We haven't recorded one, I think, since the... before the Aberdeen game. So we've had Aberdeen, which was a great win, also beat Cholton at Colchester, and now they've just beaten Orze, happy days, 3-0 today. We're going to discuss more about that game because obviously it's just happened. but Town have had a really good pre-season where do you want to start with what was there? Yeah, I mean the back of the whole, obviously the games that we've had so far I wasn't at either of them, you were at both you've done a lot of miles up at Aberdeen with that one that was a 3-1 win and then the 2-1 victory against I want to say Colchester at Charlton that was the wrong way around, Charlton at Colchester and then this one and it kind of feels like they've ramped up a little bit in a way kind of built through the difficulties of the game.

2:54They've had top-level games so far, and it's kind of pushed on to where we are at the moment, which is a Ligue 1 side. It's a different kind of test, a different kind of style. Some very good players in their squad, some recognisable names as well, a side that finished 11th last season. And I think we can be quite happy with what we've seen today, to be honest. I mean, that's kind of the main overview of it. when you look at the performance and boil it down was a 3-0 win kind of i don't want to say fair but was that kind of what the scoreline the performance suggests god i can't even talk did the performance reflect the scoreline not so sure but that that's not what mattered at the end of the day town had the quality above their opponents they took the chances that they had they kept a clean sheet and we saw some really good stuff today so i'm going to break down some of the main bits some of the key narratives and try and provide a little bit of information on uh some of the other kind of main stories that are flying around yeah i've just realized last time we did a podcast in person we

3:56Ross Halls:did a nice little beach in austria or beach bar and now we're doing it in a very empty hotel lobby but um it's almost midnight here you know what we've traveled so should we give a bit of background as well we're in the podcast so we'll give a little bit background to our journey over here as well um from my part my alarm was set 3 45 a.m on friday morning got up met ross at the station we had a train just before five that got us inst pancras at six they started letting us through the euro star kind of about half six sat around there for just over an hour um having got through passports and everything got onto the euro star at eight um i think i slept for about 20 minutes which was kind of the tunnel part to go over to france that was it um and then we got in got through france we got in about 11 and traveled through france through through paris um to go to bercy the uh station there and then another hour 40 down we ran to make that train so all in all i think we didn't really run we just sort of like well we didn't run but we saw it and considering I was leaving 30 seconds after we got there it was kind of like okay well let's run that was kind of a bit of a run there there was a lot of traveling all in all given that we made quite a smooth run of it I think we were going for a good kind of 10 hours I slept pretty much from when we got into the hotel up until when we left to go to the game apart from for dinner yeah it's been fairly exhausting I feel like it's been a pre-season that's knocked the stuffing of us in a way and I really feel for you having done all the games it's a monumental effort but I feel like I'm kind of wrapping up the positive let's bring it back everybody but yeah obviously travel is very different to the last because obviously we've been flying but this time it's the Eurostar but yeah the game is where we sort of build up for it to be and just yeah Uzair's ground sort of sort of reminds you of a small maybe Notting Forest ground I think we mentioned maybe Trunmere's ground yeah similar vibes and it's just kind of nestled on the bank of the water very European isn't it yeah very because yeah people can drink beer in the stands people smoking everywhere obviously really like big boys in like security and there was armed guards as well I was like okay it's only friendly boys but you know it's just European football for you.

6:25Ross Halls:But yeah, just interesting to sort of cover a game in a different country again. You know, we've done Austria, we've done Germany, Scotland. But yeah, we'll get into the stories of the tour later on in the podcast, because I'm sure a lot of you guys are tuning in to talk about, or hear us talk about the game. So should we talk about the starting line-up quickly? Because that's always a big talking point. Who's going to be there? Who's not going to be there? Who starts? Because obviously this is the last starting line-up until the big kick-off. Yes, it is. and the expectation and also the reality was it's the strongest team the Ipswich can put out.

6:59I think there's probably one kind of question mark area for me when you look at who was available and that would have been right back. So I'll run through the team. Alex Palmer and Goal, right back was Ben Johnson for this one. The two centre-backs, Daro Shea, captain alongside Jacob Grease and then left back, it was Connor Townsend over Leith Davis. Leith Davis didn't travel. We'll come on to that one in a minute. and then it was Azul Matusiwa partnering Jack Taylor in midfield, Jadon Filagene on the left, Jack, not Taylor, Jack Clark on the right and then Smoddix in behind George Hurst, no Mari Hutchinson, he didn't travel either.

7:39When you look at the available players, if you had to name starting line-up, that's quite possibly the one that you'd have at St Andrews next week. So yeah, that was kind of the plan. this was pretty much as close to a dress rehearsal for Birmingham as you were going to get.

7:53Ross Halls:Yes, and we're going to get into some injuries, unfortunately, very shortly. But shall we talk about the first goal quickly? Because George Hurst has had an unbelievable pre-season. He's got the number nine on the back of his shirt. He's very happy about that. He obviously spoke about that already. And yeah, this was a fantastic goal because Jack Taylor, chef's kiss. I'm delighted for George Hurst for starters. I mean, this has been an exceptional pre-season, you said. He scored four goals across the four games. He's been really, really impressive. Full credit to him. And this has to be a huge season.

8:26This has to, in a way, kind of be George Hurst's breakout season. He has to be able to stay fit and he has to be able to score goals and contribute hopefully to a side that will get promoted to the Premier League. I think he's going to be the main man. I know that Town are going to try and get a striker, but that's what it feels like. And he's built off this really, really well. and this goal was, it kind of encapsulates his movement, I'd say, in the final third. It starts from the back and it's a two-pass goal, which is crazy. The way that they just absolutely carved through Ozea, it's Palmer's short ball out, just plays it to Jack Taylor, who turns, drives into a little bit of space, but doesn't really bring it forward that much.

9:07Ozea playing quite a high line at this point, not really paying attention to where George Hurst is, and the ball over the top. two exceptional bits here one to get it over everyone all of the defensively b to get the accuracy and the timing right to make sure that you weren't then going to play Hurst into an offside position exceptional from from Jack Taylor and I want to talk a bit about him uh later as well um but Hurst has to time it well as well and then also has a lot of work to do by bringing it down to the right really good touch takes it around the goalkeeper and it's a slick finish kind of into the side of the net.

9:44So yeah, his fourth goal, kind of quite a typical George Hurst goal, the way that he ran the finish, that was a really good way to start, given that it's kind of been a bit of a cagey, sluggish opening. It's kind of what you expect, maybe, but that set things to light a little bit.

10:02Ross Halls:Yeah, I'm really pleased for George as well, because he's had his injury problems, but I think he's ready to lead that line and score the goals in the championship. So I hope he doesn't get injured. George, please don't. Stay fit. Please, please, please. And let's just go on to the second goal quickly. Good to see a set-piece goal. Jacob Greaves, boom, he's there. Makes it two. Jacob Greaves, boom, he's there. Love it. Yeah, this one comes as Jack Clark is fouled, kind of bringing the ball forward. He really got fouled, by the way. It was like a really or. It was quite a strong tackle, that. There's some big boys in that was there, team, actually, when you go through and look at it.

10:39and I think there's actually maybe they've done this on purpose I don't know how long ago this was scheduled but there's probably quite a few similarities to what a championship team would look like in terms of the physicality as well Jack Clark does get fouled but also does well to kind of buy the foul as you naturally have to with any of these kind of challenges and then it's Ashley Young who doesn't start the game we'll come on to in a bit why he was on the pitch but it's his free kick delivery that is spot on I thought he might have had a shot I don't know if you had thought that Yeah I did

11:10Ross Halls:When I take my pictures Definitely when a free kick's coming I'm ready for them to Unleash a shot To test the goalkeeper But no He went for a different way Yeah I think he probably caught Quite a few Also players out And me And Ross of course Get you in that team Town have worked on The set pieces In their walnut Actually Which is something I noticed When they were preparing For the game Is actually they Were doing Both corner and free kick deliveries attacking and defending so it was something that they started last season being quite good with where defensively they were excellent um offensively they were probably not as bad as we thought and then after that united game that weird game at old traffic tailed off massively didn't it so it's really good a see them practicing it and b see big jacob greaves get his head on one of them uh first time he's done that since anfield which was again same kind of goal um good positioning breaks through his marker 2-0 um doesn't feel like that's probably the right score line for how the game then or the half rather panned out was quite competitive and physical and town had moments they could have scored more but i think we'll say i kind of managed them at times quite well and had pinned them back at times as well but they took their chances and that's what you want to see at this stage very much so and um let's talk about a bad thing that happened in the first half as you sort of mentioned obviously Ashley Young coming on for Connor Townsend who um yeah just off the ball incident really um didn't look good sort of buckled his knee uh after the game we saw him like you know a bit of a I don't know what you call it brace uh that's the word um and yeah doesn't look good for him and obviously Leith Davis with his injury as well um is opportunity for him to come into the team but now we've got two left backs potentially injured.

13:01Ross Halls:Yeah, that's a concern that Town are looking They are injured not potentially injured. Yeah, Town are looking light in the fullback areas now and trying to figure out who goes where becomes quite difficult where you're looking at the left back situation obviously. Ashley Young came on he's someone that Kieran McKenna has spoken about as a right back. The Connor Towns then injury did not look good at all I would say. It was good he was able to limp off the pitch but it had Wes Burns vibes and it had Chiorg-Bene vibes and the fact it's a non-contact injury. There's no tackle in there. He just went down off the ball and his knee buckled.

13:39Yeah, I'm not overly optimistic about that one. And with Davis out, the kind of suggestion I've had before the game is that it was a very minor injury for Davis. So hopefully he'll be okay. You think about that and then you think about both the left side is being out and Harry Clark is going to be unavailable probably for the foreseeable with also a knee injury, a knee tendon injury, it's looking like a full-back at the moment. You've only really got two players until you then start moving centre-backs out.

14:09Ross Halls:Yeah, and obviously injuries are terrible at any time, but pre-season when you're sort of getting ready to get up to speed, you're a nice time off and you're coming ready for the season as well. It's not great. And we'll get on to it. Actually, let's talk about it. Jadon Fidigine, because in the second half, I mean, that was actually early, wasn't it? It was pretty early in the second half. and yeah, it was a weird one really, wasn't it? Yeah, initially I thought it had happened in the actual challenge itself, so it's a long ball up. Filagene goes to challenge big meaty centre-back Diamande for the ball.

14:42When you see Diamande and Filagene stood next to each other, you will quickly realise that there's one winner from that duel. Jadon Filagene, no. I love Jadon Filagene. I really think there's something special in there, but there's certain areas he has to work on and i'd like to see him just bulk up a little bit to be honest um so yeah that that wasn't great that one um landed awkwardly and he tries to play on you can see he's limping a little bit and then he goes down physios come on um again another one where he's able to walk off with support from the physios but he's not able to put weight on that leg he was limping as we saw after the game as well um town are well stocked in those areas is kind of behind the striker, but suddenly you see him pull up and then there's transfer rumours regarding some of the others and then you're suddenly starting to lose key numbers in a really important area of the pitch.

15:39So for that to happen at this stage, it's not good. Yeah, we'll have to wait and see what the further assessment is, but Kieran McKenna's verdict was not ideal, I think.

15:49Ross Halls:Yeah, and the man who replaced him was one and only Nathan Brodhead, who got a lot of chance from the Town fans. We're going to get into the transfer rumours surrounding him and other players shortly. But let's talk about the final goal. Because I want to do a little segment actually on Ali Elhamadi. Because he's now scored three goals in pre-season in four games. Which is fantastic in terms of public games. What does the future hold for Ali, do you reckon? He's been linked to clubs potentially. But, you know, I'm sure he wants to sort of fight for his place. He was at Stoke last year on loan.

16:19Ross Halls:Did okay. Maybe did struggle a little bit. But what do you reckon? Yeah. I talked through the goal first, it was really, really good, this really well taken. All of his goals in this pre-season have been and I think when we spoke, when we had Stuart Molde, he spoke about, I think it was Darrell Murphy, he saw in a pre-season and he came back and looked at him and said, I think the phrase he used was, wow, what have they been feeding you? And obviously he went on score 27 goals and Ipswich ended up finishing in the playoffs that year, kind of a little bit against the odds I believe so the closest I think you can get to that and I know some people say George Hustle but I think it's Ali Alhamadie and instead of bulking up he shaved his head and you laugh but since he's done that he's really looked good and I know it's pre-season but yeah, taking his goals well and this was the latest in that collection he picks the ball up down the right he comes up against Sierra Alta who some people might remember from Watford the Chilean centre-back they sold him to Ousea this summer picks up the ball and just knocks it past him so knocks it one way he runs the other picks it up again in the box and then it's a low finish past the goalkeeper embarrassed Cyril it was such a nice goal so delighted for him with that what does the future hold for him there have been links to Luton don't think he's going to go there they've just announced Gerry Yates there have been links to Toulouse in France Ipswich aren't going to do anything while they don't have a striker.

17:51That's the first thing to say. I think he has to make a decision. The decision will be, I don't think he's going to be the second-choice striker. Next year, he will be the third. He will be the supporting striker, and he will have to work incredibly hard as we have little mosquitoes flying all around us. But there is something there for him. If he wants to stay and he wants to fight for his place, I think that he can be the third choice. So that would be really good, I think. I really like Ali I've always been really big on him And his physical profile Let's see But I'd like him to stay

18:27Ross Halls:Okay We'll find out And he just keeps smacking his head Doesn't he Smacking his head Every time he scores Yeah I think I've now got Yeah now three celebration pictures Of him just patting his head Just going yeah Never goal for me But yeah Any other business from the game Clean sheet Yeah You spoke to Alex Palmer after the game And I'm sure Like anybody You want a clean sheet To sort of get you ready For the season ahead Especially last year we didn't get many clean sheets. Yeah, it was actually, I mean, Kieran and Alex Palmer both asked both about it and I think probably it's something that gets overstated but when I looked at it and I thought they've conceded in all of the public games they've had, I think they've conceded in all of the friendly games that we know about full stop.

19:06And last year, the defensive form was really poor, even by the standards of a struggling Premier League side that wasn't good enough. so it's going to be important to kind of change the mentality. They've got back into a winning mentality. Now they need to get back into getting clean sheets because that's what's going to get them promoted out of this league. So really good that they were able to do that. Should we talk about some players that we like?

19:32Ross Halls:Or should we talk maybe about, as a whole, players that stood out in pre-season, you sort of staked their claim to be starters. So who would you like to start with? Jack Taylor, as you mentioned earlier. Why Jack Taylor has been a standout for pre-season? I think he's looked really sharp in the games that he's played. I think he's very well aware that he's got a point to prove because Ipswich are going to sign someone in this position. That is crystal clear now. They've already tried to do it with one player. Looks like they're falling short. They're going to push for another. We'll come on to him.

20:04He's going to have real competition. There will be opportunities for Jack Taylor. He's also got a lone player who's come back who's also in his position as well. And fans, I think you'll know this, there's a core group of fans that are not sold on them at all and really aren't convinced. And I've been really happy with him in this pre-season. I think he's looked good in the games. I think Kieran McKenna's pleased with the work that he's put in on the training pitch. And this game today, I saw a little bit more of what I wanted from Jack Taylor, which is, you know, sometimes he looks fine. He almost always looks fine.

20:37He can kind of coast in games a little bit. Maybe that was just him at Premier League level. I don't think we saw a great deal of him well we haven't in the Nipswich shirt let's be honest full stop since he's joined and this was a game where we started to see a little bit of him like picking locks from deep he did that twice for George Hurst really good link up one which also ended up in the goal the second one he ended up flagged for offside really brilliant ball from deep that's kind of what Town are going to want from that left-sided midfielder and he's started to show some more of that and if he can do that I think there's a big role for him to play but fierce competition he was definitely one that stood out for me

21:14Ross Halls:Jack Clark's been I think he's got a bit of confidence as well last year he sort of did struggle a little bit in the Premier League at the back end of the Premier League campaign he was sort of getting into it and I thought this pre-season he's been really up there he's sort of been taking on players getting fouled a lot he's sort of I wouldn't say bulked up a little but he's sort of been in the gym yeah I'd say so yeah we're seeing a little bit more from him I think the X factor is still to come and hopefully it'll come in in the actual in the actual season. The real stuff. Yeah, the real stuff, exactly.

21:46But he's definitely got that bit of quality, doesn't he? And there's a big part for him to play, obviously now thin on numbers in the kind of attacking, well, thinner on numbers with Jadon Filagene. That's the big competition on the left side for him. So he's going to have something to prove and definitely we've seen bits of that in pre-season as well. I should touch on some others. just rapid fire george hurst don't need to say anymore excellent i'm really excited to see him ali the other one that we mentioned as well um quickly touch on on the new signings i suppose to be a good one i'm going to be honest i don't think we've seen much from cedric kit pro not

22:24Ross Halls:that's not a bad thing he just hasn't had to do anything really again i've only seen two of the the four friends you might be able to offer a bit more insight if you've seen things that we haven't noticed as the coffee machine goes off anything you've kind of seen from from kit pro Just once again, on the ball, he's just... Surprising. Yeah. Yeah, he's just calm, collective. Obviously, he's a big boy, so he'll be up there winning headers against championship strikers, I'm sure. But I'm sure, you know, if you've seen him at West Brom before, he's just... He can play with the ball, which is good.

22:57Ross Halls:So I think he'll be okay. And it's good competition for the centre-halves, because, yeah, you've got Wolfie there, Darroche, Jacob Greaves, so a good four centre-back unit there. If you've got Elkhorn Baggett, who most likely will go out on loan. I think so. Yeah, true. Cameron Humphries has impressed me as well, even for the games, because he started at Colchester alongside Finlay Barbrook, who is now a young midfielder. I thought they had a good two-unit there. That would be a good thing to ask is Cameron Humphries' role this year, because he had a great loan spell at Wickham, so we won't be sending him out on loan at League One.

23:30Ross Halls:Will he send him a loan to Championship lower down the table, maybe? Or does Kieran McKenna say no, he could become a starter here? an option? Yeah, I think it's difficult because you've kind of got two players who are, I'd say, probably at similar levels, albeit at different ages in their careers and there's going to be another one that comes in and that means that you're going to have a starter and a backup but that third choice, whoever that's going to be, isn't going to get a great deal of minutes. So then you're looking at do you want to loan them out? If you do, it has to be the right club.

24:02Wickham absolutely was and they really took their time to decide that Wickham was the place for him to be. Cam Humphries could have gone on loan a million and one times and they were so cautious with it and I think that's the best thing for him. I'm sure there'll be a championship club out there, I'm sure there'll be plenty that would like to have him. So yeah, one to watch but I think that's going to rely on a few more dominoes falling. Should we touch on Mattacy?

24:28Ross Halls:Yes, because he had another moment in this game I'll have to where he sort of lost the ball and obviously Azor sort of counter-attacked and he scored. He called Azor. Azor, yeah. We've had this now. He's been calling Ozea Azor and I'm trying to figure out if Ross is calling them Azor as in Matasiwa or like the Azores. I think it is. It's all just blending into one now. But yeah, it'd be interesting if we ever come here again. Probably not. No, just Matasiwa, thoughts on him. oh my god yeah um i think we see kind of flashes of really good stuff um the stuff that you want to be the sam morsey replacement actually the aspects where he'll be better than morsey and we've seen some of that he's on the ball work at times is excellent he's off the ball work times like a little pit bull which is really good he's just tenacious and aggressive and he chases and i really like that side of it um just needs to be a bit sharper at times and it's only like one or two moments a game but there are times where he just wants a little bit too much time on the ball it's one of the things i noticed from watching clips him in france is that sometimes he holds on to it for too long and more often than not he does he ends up making it work and he can have that turn into a chance or at least he works and finds the space but then there are times we've seen that in pre-season and that will be with rustiness in there as well as he's trying to get up to speed and then adapt to new things where he's been hounded off the ball and the opposition have created a really solid goal scoring opportunity it happened in Linz happened here yeah that is definitely an aspect and that is something that makes me a little bit nervous going into the start of the season because he's got a colossal role to play he is the Sam Morsey replacement and he's going to need to hit the ground running and at the moment hasn't been confirmed yet but Daro Shea has been wearing the Cameras armband throughout pre-season um he's been solid as well hasn't he in pre-season once again hasn't got much to do really hasn't had much to do but he seems he's gonna be the man I'm sure we'll find an announcement at some point yeah I'd imagine there'll be something more formal on that I could Kieran McKenna will do his press conference on Wednesday I could see that being the opportunity to make a formal announcement on that he will be the captain let's come on let's be honest um I would say I know that Kieran McKenna hasn't officially made a decision on that, but I would say that probably that's been nailed on since Sam Moorsey left the club in terms of his pre-season performances.

27:00I think he's been fine. I think that it's good that they've grown the partnership with Jacob Greaves, and then that's going to be, it should be a top-level one for this division. So, yeah, when I say fine, that makes it sound like there's been some bad stuff. There's not been any bad stuff. There just hasn't been that much to do. there hasn't been that much good stuff either. That's not his fault. He's done what he needed to do. He will get tested week in, week out in the Championship. And I'd back him and Greaves to be, I'll say it, I think they could easily be, could be the best centre-back partnership in the division.

27:35Ross Halls:Oh, I love that. Ashley Young, just another touch on another signing. He could potentially start a left-back maybe at Birmingham because of the injuries potentially. Yeah, yeah, he could. I mean, at the moment, there are two full-backs and that's Ashley Young and Johnson. And those are the only options there. So looking thin on the ground, obviously it's good that Greaves can come and shift over and Dara O'Shea can come and play right back if needed. But at the moment, I'd say that's the way it's looking. Hopefully, Leith Davis' injury isn't that bad, but I'm a little bit touchy and concerned about Connor Townsend, that's for sure.

28:11And it's not the kind of area that you then want to be pushed into the transfer market when you're already concerned about squad numbers and trying to keep to the 25.

28:20Ross Halls:Shall we put a pin on it there, my friend, on the game? But shall we quickly just talk about covering a game in France? Because, yeah, as we said before, I experienced Austria and Germany and stuff like that. But yeah, France, you've been using some of your French, you know, just basic stuff. It was interesting trying to get into the ground, knowing where to go. I had to then find out where to get a bib and other bits and bobs. but yeah the press box were you happy with it? good wifi which is always nice it was a decent enough set up we could have done with a proper press lounge with a bit of food or something like that we had to hunt down a pizza place afterwards that Ross found many Napoli in the title we'll come on to that Ross I think I've burnt my tongue on that pizza it really honestly I could just feel like a burning sensation on my tongue dramatic but yeah it's been good it's been something a little bit different I love the ultras the fans behind the gold I posted a video on Twitter if you want to go watch I don't know they had a blue action sort of flag I think maybe it's just like a fan sort of website you can just get that flag but it was very similar proper continental style they have the guy at the front who's topless and has like I don't think he had a megaphone it's that kind of thing he might have done and he's getting them all to jump and time and all that kind of stuff.