In short
Ipswich Town’s build-up to a trip to Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, plus a debate on proposals to extend the EFL Championship playoffs and discussion of Ipswich’s new training-ground building.
Guests (hosts)
Stuart Watson and Alex Jones join Roscoe for match preview and football governance talk.
Guest backgrounds
Both are Ipswich-focused reporters/podcasters on the “Kings of Anglia” show (covering Town news, press conferences, and player profiles). Alex Jones also reports on signings and runs/appears on content pieces; Stuart Watson attends press conferences and relays injury/fitness updates.
Key claims
Ipswich are close to a fully fit squad; Ashley Young is back in training; Jenske Usta is fine after an ankle scare; Wes Burns is still recovering from an ACL and won’t be near matchday soon. Kieran McKenna stresses squad depth and substitute impact. Blackburn’s home form has been poor while away form has been strong.
Notable examples
Blackburn’s Watford win (1-0) and defensive reshuffle after McLaughlin’s red; Ipswich’s 5-0 win vs Sheffield United; Ipswich’s earlier cagey Ewood Park game with disallowed goals and a Chaplin winner; Ipswich’s promotion-season “sub goals” record. Predictions: Stuart 1-0 Hurst; Alex 2-0 Jadon Filagene.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOPreparing for Blackburn
1:16 to 2:00
Hosts discuss their excitement and feelings leading up to the Blackburn match.
“to get ready for our trip to Lancashire I'm joined by Stuart Watson and Alex Jones boys, hope you're doing well I'm going to start with you, Stuart Watson, as standard.”
Proposal for Championship Playoff Expansion
2:00 to 4:04
Discussion on the proposal to extend the Championship playoffs and its implications.
“Because this time last week, we were preparing for an underlight at Porton Road for Sheffield United.”
Debate on Playoff Structure and Fairness
4:04 to 13:02
A deep dive into the pros and cons of the proposed playoff structure and its potential impact.
“and maybe expand on what they want to do with it.”
Press Conference Insights
13:02 to 14:00
Discussion about the recent press conference and updates on Playford Road developments.
“And yeah, I think AJ did a piece with Kieran McKenna sort of talking about it.”
Playford Road Developments
14:00 to 16:03
Discussion about the ongoing construction and upgrades at Playford Road.
“You're jaunt up to Playford Road as standard.”
Darnell Furlong Profile
16:03 to 18:21
A discussion about Darnell Furlong’s career and recent interview.
“Because that was the cliche from players saying, oh, the training ground's amazing.”
Injury Updates and Squad Depth
18:21 to 22:50
Insights into player injuries and the depth of the Ipswich squad.
“what they're like as people, as talkers.”
Team Bonding and Spirit
22:50 to 24:56
The importance of team bonding and the upcoming Blackburn match.
“There will be periods where there's injuries.”
Previewing the Blackburn Match
24:56 to 28:00
A preview of the upcoming match against Blackburn, including analysis.
“So, but yeah, it's good that, you know, team are going to be able to bond, especially when there's a Friday night game.”
Ipswich's Tactical Analysis Against Blackburn
28:00 to 29:10
Analyzing Ipswich's approach and tactics ahead of the match against Blackburn.
“Knowing the technical quality that he has, it feels like he's quite a bit above Blackburn's level, personally.”
Show all 19 chapters
Player Connections and Debuts
29:10 to 30:40
Discussing player connections and potential debuts in the upcoming match.
“Sound the no easy games in the Championship.”
Starting XI Predictions and Analysis
30:40 to 32:50
Predictions and thoughts on the starting XI for the upcoming match.
“and like, yeah, I'm sure now he's seeing players come through and think, wow, you weren't even born when I made my debut, which is incredible.”
Review of Past Matches Against Blackburn
32:50 to 34:20
Recalling previous matches against Blackburn and their significance.
“against Preston, although now this team feels like they've gelled a little bit more.”
Expectations for the Upcoming Match
34:20 to 36:20
Setting expectations for the match against Blackburn based on current form.
“We're now starting to get to the point, though, that this team is gelling and we're starting to see a more streamlined Ipswich and Ipswich that Kieran McKenna wants and expects to see over time.”
Predictions and Score Forecasts
36:20 to 37:30
Sharing predictions and expected scores for the upcoming game.
“Well, that brings us then, boys, to predictions.”
Key Player Matchups to Watch
37:30 to 41:20
Identifying key matchups in the game that could influence the outcome.
“So I think he'd go there with a little bit of extra.”
Player Analysis: Ipswich vs Blackburn
42:01 to 42:52
Learn about key player matchups and how they might influence the game.
“It's taken his game to new levels, couple of goals this season.”
International Break News
42:53 to 44:15
Discussion about the upcoming merger of international breaks and its implications.
“Half the championship seem to have a player from Japan or Asia at the moment.”
Content Promotion and Offers
44:16 to 45:12
Highlights of current content and promotional offers available to listeners.
“We've got some press conference stuff up from yesterday.”
Transcript
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0:39Ross Halls:Hello everybody, it's me, Roscoe, and welcome to the latest edition of the Kings of Anglia, Itteristown podcast, sponsored by Star Dust Spirits and... Molecular. There we go. Which sounded a bit weird. But two local Suffolk companies. I'm trying my best to pronounce that as much as possible but I'm going to give myself some time but anyway, enough of that I hope you all had a good week ladies and gentlemen of course Hefe still in Spain enjoying Spanish food and beer and all that jazz but yeah, this is my fourth Coway podcast of the week flagship show to start the week Track the Girls Talk the Fan Social and now a podcast to get ready for our trip to Lancashire I'm joined by Stuart Watson and Alex Jones boys, hope you're doing well I'm going to start with you, Stuart Watson, as standard.
1:26Ross Halls:You're looking at me a bit puzzled there. You're like, hmm, where's he going with this? How are you?
1:31Stuart Watson:No, I wasn't, actually. No, I enjoyed that. Very good intro. I enjoyed the molecular AI read there, or whatever we're calling it. Good work. I'm good, thank you, mate. Yeah, I'm looking forward to Blackburn. It's felt like a bit of a long wait, hasn't it, post Sheffield United, being on the Friday night. I think everyone's probably been counting down the sleeps till Town are next in action, excited about whether they can kick on. So, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
2:02Ross Halls:Because this time last week, we were preparing for an underlight at Porton Road for Sheffield United. But no, we're now preparing for a trip tomorrow to Lancashire. AJ, how are you, my friend? And also what I'm going to do in the future for our new sponsor. I'm maybe just going to reach out to different people and just ask them to send me a voice note So maybe some ex-pliers, some other pliers and just general people. Can you just send me the new sponsors thing just to help me out for future pods? Can you send me molecular? Yeah. Yeah. I like that. It was almost like I feel like you should have for the video thing just like actually tried to mouth the words as it was put out.
2:38So it just looked like it was you saying it. No, I'm good. Yeah. I like how for someone who complains about my moaning, the first thing you did on this podcast was talk about you having to do four in the space of a week. There's some people who have to go down the mines, you know, is what you told me on deadline day. So yeah, I'm good and it's an interesting point, isn't it, in terms of how we're feeling for this game. I'm kind of the same where going up to Preston off the back of a couple of patchy games and patchy results was a bit like, oh, not again, not this again. But now they've won and it's just a lift, isn't it?
3:14And you just feel like, right, I really want to see what they can do. So it's a whole different world, whole different environment and excited for it.
3:21Ross Halls:Although I've seen the weather forecast and it's going to be raining so I had to knit some of my mums to get some of my waterproof jackets and waterproof trousers because I had no idea where they were and then my mum said, oh they're at mine so I had to go and knit around hers yesterday to pick them up, get myself ready to battle the elements of Lancashire. But before we look into Blackburn I wanted to ask you guys a big question, a big discussion on the podcast because I don't know, it must have been you, AJ, or somebody asked here, McKenna, about the proposal to extend the Championship playoffs, which is bonkers.
3:58Ross Halls:But, you know, football, EFL and all that jazz, they always want to try to change things, don't they? Stu, your thoughts on this and maybe expand on what they want to do with it.
4:08Stuart Watson:So the plan, right, is to mimic what's done in the National League with an extension of the playoffs. So that will go down to spots seven and eight in the championship. And League One is the proposal. And League Two throughout the EFL. Then there's a qualifying playoff game between seven and eight. Is this right, Alex? No? Not quite. Not quite. So essentially it redoes the system a little bit. You have these one-off games that would be eighth against fourth. Sorry, not eighth again. Have I got that right? I'm trying to think how the numbers are done here. Is it eight against fifth and six against?
4:50Oh, my signal's coming out. Eight against fifth and six against seventh. Either way, the teams towards the lower end all have to play each other. There are four teams towards the bottom of that. So what does that become? Yeah, eight and five and six and seventh, doesn't it? So they will play each other. Eight against fifth and six against seventh. That will be over a one-off game, a bit like the National League. No two-legged games, one-off for that one. and then the winners of those two games go through to play second and third in a third and fourth in a traditional playoff. I'm getting all my numbers jumbled here.
5:21Either way, hopefully that made a bit of sense. You're essentially extending it down so that's how it kind of all moves down a little bit. So you'd have the teams that would be eight against fifth and six against seventh. There we go. Nailed it. Got it. So they play each other in a one-off game. the winners of that would then go through to play third and fourth over two legs and then it kind of just becomes a normal playoff system but it essentially means you have a playoff eliminator at the start a little bit different to the national league because all of the national league games are one-off games um it wouldn't be that because kind of the proper playoffs would still be over two legs um and this one's been put forward it was revealed by the athletic was put forward by um preston ceo is it uh peter risdale anyway who's kind of put this forward in the general kind of consensus and the feeling they've got from it is that championship clubs would be in favour of it because of course it gives clubs another another chance of promotion so um yeah it'll be interesting to see whether they go for it plenty of arguments for and against
6:23Ross Halls:yeah more games more games um but opportunities for other teams to who finish eighth they could potentially have got to play those games but a chance to get promoted still your thoughts on it
6:36Stuart Watson:um my my gut instinct my initial reaction was is this really necessary like you say it's just cramming more games into the calendar if you look at the championship last season i still think more than half the division still had something to play for going into like the last weekend didn't they it was there was a lot of teams that still could have made the playoffs going deep into the season so it's not like there's a ton of dead rubbers as it is I get it that they want to kind of keep that feeling of jeopardy going right the way through for every for every club um my fear is it's it's seen as an advantage for a team that finishes third or fourth by kind of skipping that first round of qualifiers but you could flip it on his head and you could have a team that finishes eighth and they're more kind of battle ready going into the latter stages of a playoff campaign while a team that's finished third or fourth and has maybe kind of had that playoff spot nailed down for a little while um isn't as prepared for those games as they could or should be um so mixed feelings on it really i think i can see why people are going to vote for it because every club's going to want to get a feeling of a better chance of going up but yeah i need to get my head around it a little bit more but gut feeling is it it's not for me i don't
8:00Ross Halls:know what do you think boys aj i'm going to give you another question this is not something they're going to do but in scotland obviously in the scottish premiership the team who finishes 11th they then get opportunity to play in a relegation like playoff don't they to take on the team who wins the playoffs in the double division i don't know if they'll ever bring max i think they did actually have that in the 80s I think I think Town played in a sort of relegation playoff in the 80s when they lost against Cholton um to like you know stay up and go down so that's another sort of thing I'm surprised they haven't maybe looked at again yeah I mean the Scottish system in general is mental this is kind of when you can go through and look at other European leagues where like they split the league in half halfway through and a lot of the yeah Belgium's that the obvious like really complex one there's a lot of examples of leagues that are just bizarre in how they work and Scotland, I guess, is the closest to home in that sense where you can finish in the top half of the table and even though you get fewer points than the team in 10th, you would still be in the top half.
9:01It's really odd. The promotion relegation thing you mentioned, Scotland do it. I think the top-tier league that do it, the most Germany, they're the ones who have that system as well. I don't think that would work at all in England because the gap between the Premier League and the Championship is huge. So if you're having a team that would finish 16th in the Premier League, going up against the fourth place team in England, sorry, in the Championship rather, the gap is massive. That's such a hard comparison to make. And going into a one-off game, I don't think that would be overly fair, knowing how big it is between the Premier League and the Championship, as we've seen.
9:41So that for me wouldn't be a runner personally. looking at then the eliminator idea that's been put forward um i like it from an entertainment sense that's the biggest thing i mean of course it gives teams kind of who've been on the periphery for a while and trying to find a way to bridge the gap in a league that is notoriously hard to do that parachute payments it would give them a better opportunity a mill wall a west brom for example who missed out in the last couple of years um borough another team um bristol city I know they made it in last year, but previous examples like that, who are just outside, Blackburn again, another one, just outside, but haven't been able to just be able to push in.
10:23So it would do good in that sense. It would do good from an entertainment perspective because having new teams come in, for example, I love Bristol City being in the playoffs last year. I thought that was great because it's different to Sheffield United going back up and a new face, that kind of thing. And more games as always. Yeah, exactly, they did. but it's still giving teams those opportunities I like and that's good. But on the flip side, more games than entertainment, more games is something that we are concerned about as well within football. We're looking at a World Cup year and we're looking at multiple tournaments and competing on so many fronts.
10:59The championship fixture list is congested enough as it is. Then adding in international football and things like that, it becomes really difficult. Even adding on another couple of games towards the end of the season into a playoff campaign, that's really, really difficult knowing how short the turnaround could be. The other thing that I would point out is, is it fair? There's already a debate about it being fair or not, is it, where the third-place team can lose in the playoffs to the team that finished sixth and there could be a sizable gap between those two. And you're saying, well, come on, we got 90 points in this season.
11:31We've just lost to a team that's got 68 or 65 or something like that. You extend it down and all of a sudden you're a team that finished third and just over two games that you play, everything that you have can go to a team that's finished 30, 35 points in multiple places below you. It's great for entertainment, but then are you jeopardising how fair the division is? Depends how you want to see it. If you're looking at it from an entertainment perspective, this is 100 % the way to go about it. But I think there's other factors to bring in. And truthfully, to be unconclusive, I don't really know how I feel about it.
12:07Stuart Watson:If you're not good enough to finish in the top quarter of a division over 46 games, then really you don't deserve the shot going up, is my feeling. Too many games as it is. I think we're at saturation point. We're starting to see kickback from players and managers with increasing volume year on year now, aren't we? More games, I think, than the quality of games then goes down. I know it's a squad game now and there's plenty of chance for rotation. But, yeah, I know things change in football. There was a time where we didn't have playoffs. And I think everyone now over a period of time can't, you know, is in agreement that they've been better.
12:51Stuart Watson:The entertainment and the spectacle has been better for it. But, yeah, not for me, I think, the more I think about it.
13:00Ross Halls:most likely as well the teams who do plan that eliminator they normally lose anyway because in scotland i know the record of say the teams who go in those sort of playoff games they normally lose them because obviously the team who are in the scottish premiership it's the same in england
13:14Stuart Watson:ross i did some stats on it recently and for all the talk there is some high profile examples of teams that have been right down there midway through the season had a late charge got into sixth carried that momentum and and gone up i think blackpool were an example of that under holloway years ago there are some others but in general it tends to be a team that finishes third or fourth that wins the playoffs um so i would say it was very unlikely that a team who finishes seventh or eighth could go on to win them um so is it necessary then as a result of that probably not
13:50Ross Halls:No, but I thought it was a nice little debate to have. And yeah, I think AJ did a piece with Kieran McKenna sort of talking about it. So check that out online, ladies and gentlemen. But yeah, I want to also ask you boys, you had the press conference yesterday. You're jaunt up to Playford Road as standard. I can imagine, you know, the building works, you know, getting bigger and bigger there, boys.
14:14Stuart Watson:Not really been able to see it, to be honest, Ross, because it's sort of obviously at the back end of the site. So for those that know Playford Road, you've got where you now sort of park over at the Bent Lane end, which is still a bit of rubble that needs a bit of work sorting out on that end of things. And then you go over to the main site and where the press conferences are in the sort of porter cabins just behind the main building. and then the main building, the new main building, is going to be right at the very sort of back left over where some of the 21s games, people might have watched those over the years and it's all kind of going up behind a fairly large partition wall at the moment.
15:02Stuart Watson:Kieran McKenna sort of talked about, you know, they can see the cranes poking up above that while they're training and they can hear the work going on and over time they'll start to see that building sort of rise above the walls. So they've tried to keep the sort of disruption to a minimum to the first team players and staff. But it's exciting now that it's all starting to come together. And I think the plan is obviously for it to be open and functional for the start of next season. And it's, yeah, it's a significant spend, multi-million pound spend. And, yeah, long overdue, I think. The training facilities have kind of, you know, at one stage, when was it, sort of 90s, when the last major revamp of the training ground would have been seen as state-of-the-art back then.
15:49Stuart Watson:But times change and, you know, a bit like the stadium, it's needed a bit of TLC and updating. And, you know, it's another sign of the club moving at a pace off the pitch as well as hopefully on it.
16:02Ross Halls:Yeah, definitely. Because that was the cliche from players saying, oh, the training ground's amazing. But I'm sure there's some players who come here and go, I've been at this club, this club, and they've got a better training ground. But now, hopefully, when it is fully done, they'll go, wow, this is as good as Maynard and all that jazz, Chelsea and all that. So, like Leicester's amazing. Leicester's – even Norwich, to be fair to them, they've got a decent set-up for their training ground. So, yeah, Hurtown hopefully will be back amongst the best very shortly. AJ, you spoke to Darnow Furlong.
16:37Ross Halls:No. No, Furlong? Why don't you call him Furlong? Where's the O? It's a U. Darnell Furlong, anyway. You spoke to him. How was he? Yeah, he was good. I mean, the good thing with this, I'm going to use this as an opportunity to plug something because that's what we like to do. I wrote a profile piece on Darnell Furlong. Sorry, Russ. Earlier this week, looking at kind of his career so far, his dad was obviously a good level player. He had quite a few different clubs. He knows what it's like to move clubs as well. Looking at his career, some of his strengths, some of his likes and hobbies. He's a big F1 fan, things like that.
17:21So go check that out. We've got that one up. We've done that for every signing, I believe, that Ipswich made over the summer. I think we've now done every single one of them. I hope so, at least. It was good to speak to him and have that basis to ask some pretty good questions, I'd like to think and then kind of dig into what he's like and what he'll bring. I mean, we've seen a bit of it so far and it's kind of what you see is what you get. He likes the defensive side of things, but he's also kind of quite comfortable in doing different roles. Spoke a little bit about the West Brom link, of course.
17:54The fact that West Brom's pretty much their entire back line from the last few years are all playing Ipswich now. Spoke a bit about the long throw. So, yeah, plenty of different bits that we got to ask him about, settling into life at Ipswich, a new group, obviously his dad and the relationship there and everything that's kind of helped him with this move as well. So, yeah, really good to talk to him. Good that the club have allowed us the opportunity to talk to some of the new signings as well. I think it's a real positive to be able to kind of see what they're like as people, as talkers. And, yeah, I think sometimes with footballers, it can help kind of put a human element onto it, doesn't it?
18:33So it was really good to have that with Darnell Furlong and it was good to talk to him.
18:36Ross Halls:Yeah, he's going to use that long throw in, I think, at Blackburn. I think we're going to need that because obviously at Sheffield United, we didn't really see it, did we? He did it against Blackburn on the opening day. That was the, this was what Stu told me, which set up the question quite nicely. It was his long throw that actually led to the winning goal for West Brom against Blackburn. um donald did get sent off in that game right in deep in stoppage time so if he can do the first part but not the second part we'll be in business at ewood park uh tomorrow yeah i'm not yeah sorry
19:11Stuart Watson:sorry to go no sorry mate to interrupt as i'm not sure you know we asked alex asked him about the long throw and whether it's in kieran mckenna's plans and he was fairly non-committal in terms of And, well, you know, it's something in my armoury. Some managers like to use it, some don't. Well, you know, if the manager here wants me to use it, I will. But it's not, you know, it doesn't sound like it's been, unless that's a major red herring trying to sort of go into this game. They're not trying to sort of highlight it to the opposition. But, yeah, I mean, we've seen it from time to time, haven't we, from Ipswich players during the McKenna era?
19:49Stuart Watson:but it sounds like Furlong has got a proper long throw compared to others that we've seen. Do you remember Jonas Knudsen's? That wasn't great, was it? Who else are we at? Jens, last season. Yeah, Jens. But yeah, I think this Furlong one is a bit more of a bullet, a proper throw-in. So yeah, whether it will be deployed at Blackburn, I'm not so sure.
20:14Ross Halls:Which I'll see. What I was going to say, it's funny that we've got a few players who have now gone to an away club the second time this season because obviously Cappie C McAteer did that for Leicester to go to Preston. Obviously, he went to Preston on his debut and we lost obviously furlong. I don't know why I can't say it. Stupid. Well, I said it right this time. Obviously, he's now going to Blackburn twice this season. So, I don't know if there's anybody else. I don't think we've signed any other Championship players, have we? But yeah, he's got to now go up to Lancashire once again, Darnell.
20:46Ross Halls:So, yeah, and hopefully we'll see that long throw. But Stu, you spoke to Kieran McKenna. What's the talking points? What's the big things he sort of mentioned? I know there's a Wes Burns update and a few other bits.
20:57Stuart Watson:Yeah, injury-wise, fitness-wise, it's pretty much a fully fit squad now. Ashley Young missed out on the Sheffield United game with a bit of muscle tightness. Wasn't specified what, but he's back in training this week. Jenske Usta came off looked like, to me, like he was holding his knee when he went down in that Sheffield United game, which is always a bit of a sharp intake of breath, given we know he's managing a knee issue, but we were told post-match that he'd just rolled his ankle and Kieran McKenna told us he's been fine and trained this week, so that's great. Harry Clarke is back to training now, which means Ipswich have four right-backs vying for a slot.
21:37Stuart Watson:Obviously, it looks like Furlong is the man in pole position for that at the moment, fitting given he's an F1 fanatic, which leaves only Wes Burns now as the only available player. And he's coming to the latter stages of his recovery from that ACL injury he suffered at Anfield in late January. It's going to be a little bit of time, I think, before we see him anywhere near a matchday squad. He's kind of out training on the grass on his own. Plan is all being well in the next few weeks. He can start sort of joining in slowly with the team and build him up from there. obviously no pressure on sort of getting him back too soon because Ipswich have got right wing options now in McIntyre and Valet Aghelli but what it all means is Kieran McKenna has a power pack squad and some real selection headaches I think that was highlighted by the five players that came on against Paul Sheffield United last time out we had Nunez coming on in midfield then we had Aghelli, Schmodix, Jack Clark and even Azon all stepping off the bench.
Read the full transcript
22:42Stuart Watson:So, yeah, a lot of chat at the press conference yesterday about keeping players happy, reminding them that it's a marathon, not a sprint. It's relentless in the championship. There will be periods where there's injuries. And a reminder also that substitutes have a big, big role to play and how he's highlighted some of the stats from Ipswich's last two promotion season, goals from substitutes at Ipswich Town being right up there across Europe in terms of what Ipswich Town did over those two seasons. Jack Clark's got two and two off the bench and Kieran McKenna has reminded them that it's not just about the starters, but it's about the finishes as well.
23:22Ross Halls:Yeah, that's a big thing now in football as well, is the finishes. You're not a sub-a-shoot, you're our finisher. So you're not on the bench, we're not dropped you, you're our finisher, which is very interesting. But yeah, can't wait to see Wes Burns back. That's going to be an amazing return. I don't know, when we find he's on the bench for the first time and just when he comes on, that's going to be, I hope he's at Portland Road, that roar of the crowd, you know, seeing Wes Burns back is going to be incredible. So I'm looking forward to that.
23:49Stuart Watson:He had an important role to play off the pitch last weekend, actually. I asked Kieran McKenna, he talked a lot about the training has been really high quality this week. Obviously, this is the first time that he's properly been able to get his teeth into this new group because so many of them went away on international duty. so he talked about the standard in training being really good they're starting to work on the patterns of play I think the club put out a clip this week which showed a lot of that trademark wingers cutting the ball back from the byline but off the pitch as well I asked him have they done any kind of team bonding have they managed to kind of get together as a group and he said Wes Burns was in charge of that last weekend they they went off somewhere on Saturday he said you'd have to ask Wes what they got up to I imagine there's um maybe it was some team bonding of the nocturnal activity I don't know but um uh yeah if they got together and had a few beers that that's great because um you know they need to get that together and let's go in that that uh that real team spirit that um you know epitomized the the last group that we all knew and loved so that's good yeah
24:51Ross Halls:definitely because I know there's a lot of fans out there saying oh we've got a team of individuals um hopefully no with it that big win and hopefully we can go on a little run here we can then that togetherness will be brought in. So, but yeah, it's good that, you know, team are going to be able to bond, especially when there's a Friday night game. You've got the weekend. You can sort of, yeah, celebrate the win on Saturday and you can relax on Sunday and then get ready for the week ahead. But yeah, AJ, shall we segue then onto the trip to Blackburn, our second trip to Lancashire already in the space of a month.
25:23Ross Halls:The last trip wasn't too good. 1-0 defeat at Preston. Blackburn Rovers, who are a sort of similar team to us in terms of their start to the season, although they've won their two games out of the five games. Obviously, won 1-0 at Watford last weekend. Just your overview of Blackburn as a whole as their start to the season? Weird. Really weird. Why are they so poor at home and actually quite good away? Don't quite understand it. A bit of a bizarre quote. It's a small sample size, isn't it? But you look at the games they've played and how they've performed and then compare it to what they've done on the road.
26:01It's looking chalk and cheese early doors. I mean, their home game so far, they played a cup game against Bradford, was the first one. They lost that 2-1. Rotated team can be excused. They had the game against Birmingham after that. I have no clue how Birmingham won it, but they did. Two late, late goals for that one. And then they lost to Norwich at home in their last home game. But that defeat was sandwiched in between a 3-0 win at Hull, which is pretty impressive. I know Hull are poor at the moment, but you've still got to give them credit for that. And then they go to Watford, who I think have been...
26:34I've liked what Watford have done so far, and I thought they'd win that game. And Blackburn showed up and played really, really well. And that's a Blackburn team who... I think their deadline went very much kind of against the plan where they didn't have lots of depth at centre-back. And then they sold Dominic Highham to Wrexham, which left them with very little. McLaughlin got a red card in that game against Norwich, which left them basically having to do a totally new centre-back partnership against Watford. They went with Hayden Carter and Scott Warton, not Adam Warton, Scott Warton. As the two, they came in, they played really, really well and kept a clean sheet.
27:12So the challenge for Blackburn now will be to win games at home, where I think there is a little bit of kind of pressure, possibly even a little bit of toxicity against the ownership as well. We know that all is not overly well off the field at Blackburn with some of the issues there and the way that the Venkis are running them. But you look at the squad and there's clear qualities there. I'd imagine the back line could revert to a little bit more of what we saw with McLaughlin coming in. There's good wide players in Hedges and Morishita, the Japanese winger who looks quite sharp. Ahashi, another Japanese attacker, has a goal and an assist to his name.
27:48And then the big threat sinking in the car yesterday. Sammy Smoddocks is going to want to score against Blackburn, isn't he? He'd be desperate to that. How desperate would Todd Cantwell be to score against Ipswich? Obviously, former Norwich man, he captains Blackburn now. Knowing the technical quality that he has, it feels like he's quite a bit above Blackburn's level, personally. Having seen him linked to top Premier League sides in the past, hasn't really worked out the last few years for him, and now he finds himself at Blackburn. But there's the kind of quality that they've got there. under Ismail they're quite direct they're quite physical and aggressive but they've got that technical quality to also kind of break you down in the final third too
28:29Ross Halls:It's funny I think Norwich fans hate Todd Cantwell now so it's like you know but then obviously that Norwich connection I'm sure he will be the pattern line villain going into this game but I'm sure Sammy Smoddix will be looking forward to his first trip to Ewood Park since he obviously joined town. Also got George Hurst Factor who had a loan spell there didn't do so great so I'm putting him down straight away, boy, before you say it, I'm putting him down as the first goal scorer. Boom. But Stu, how are you feeling for this one?
28:56Stuart Watson:Well, I think ultimately Ipswich have to back themselves wherever they go at the moment. And, you know, there's some feel-good factor from the result and from, you know, as I've just said, a good week on the training pitch by all accounts. Sound the no easy games in the Championship. Klaxon, Blackburn certainly fall into that bracket. their form dropped off a little bit when John Eustace left them for Derby in February but they finished the season really well as Alex says Valerian Ishmael has a reputation of his sides being quite intense, quite high energy in your face, direct Kieran McKenna is of the opinion that maybe he's adapted a little bit over time so I'm not quite sure whether they're the stereotypical Valerian Ishmael side but I'm sure there'll be elements to that.
29:46Stuart Watson:Their recruitment's been really interesting. They've signed, they've gone into the European market. They've signed quite a few from the Belgian league. Could be a home debut for Andre Goodjohnson, son of Ida, which always makes me feel old when you've been starting to see sons of players that you remember watching. But yeah, I'll go back to it. Ipswich with the squad, with the options that we've been discussing. We'll go into every game this season. believing they can win, home and away, whoever they face. And that has to be the case going into this one.
30:20Ross Halls:Yeah, I know you said about how you make that you feel old when you see a son of an ex-player play. I'm sure actually young, sort of similar, where he goes, oh yeah, I played against your dad, or I played against your dad. Yeah. So I know that happens a lot. And obviously, yeah, actually young son is now at the club, mainly for the UN21s. But yeah, I must just feel, you know, when you see players, even like James Milner, like James Milner is still going in the Premier League. and like, yeah, I'm sure now he's seeing players come through and think, wow, you weren't even born when I made my debut, which is incredible.
30:50Ross Halls:But yeah, that's what football is all about. Let's talk then, we won't go too in depth about the starting XI because still you've got a piece that's going online. You're predicting starting XI. What's the score so far? Have you got it correct yet?
31:03Stuart Watson:I think the last game, Sheffield United, was the first time I got it on the nose. Other times I've been one or two out on the other occasions so far. No great surprise, I may as well say. Unchanged, I don't think anyone will be too surprised to hear that after a 5-0 win. There was probably one position that gave me pause for thought and that was in the number 10 role and that is because the other option, of course, is Sammy Schmodix who scored, I think, 33 goals across all competitions for Blackburn in that Golden Boot winning season before Ipswich went and prized him away for£9 million. he'll be itching to get back on that Ewood Park pitch.
31:46Stuart Watson:I don't know what he'd be like if he scored, how respectful his celebrations would be. Yeah, I would imagine it would be an element of respect towards Blackburn, but also kind of enjoying the moment and enjoying scoring goals. My feeling is it will be Chubarak Pomegain because I think he's talked about a disruptive pre-season at Ajax now trying to get a bit of rhythm and match robustness into him. And I think, you know, they'll want to go with him again just to try and keep working on some of that chemistry in the team. And it will probably be Schmodix off the bench with some of the others that we've mentioned as well.
32:24Ross Halls:Yeah, talk about Sammy Schmodix, if he scores. I think it depends on the moment. If it's like a late winner and you just can't help yourself, you're going to, aren't you? I think, I don't know, if it's just a consolation. Well, hopefully not a consolation. Hopefully, you know, if it's just a goal, that's just an equaliser or to make it 3-0 or something, I'm sure we'll just go, yeah, calm down. But it just depends on the situation when it goes in. So we shall see. AJ, I'm sure Town have learnt their lessons from the low block against Preston, although now this team feels like they've gelled a little bit more.
32:55Ross Halls:Now they've had more time on the training pitch. So, yeah, but it's going to be somewhat a sort of similar game at Blackburn as I try to get through my words there. Yeah. Yeah. hopefully a slightly, I don't want to say easier but a different game to the last trip to Ewood Park which was pretty cagey and not great to watch I think I haven't even got the numbers up from memory but what I remember from that one was Ipswich should have had a penalty where Nathan Brodick gets pulled by the scruff of his neck to the floor and then there's I think three disallowed goals that Blackburn had in that game.
33:39Ultimately, it's Connor Chaplin who scores the winner. And that was actually a decisive game, one of the real decisive games in the promotion running, given that it was Good Friday and Eaps, which I think were the only team kind of in that cluster at the top to win the match that they were playing. Hopefully a little bit different. Hopefully it's not going to be one of those where we see three disallowed goals and you're all kind of on the edge of your seat stuff. I'd like to see Ipswich go up to Ewood Park and just be quite comfortable. I'm not saying I want another 5-0 scoreline, but you have to look at the gap in quality to an extent.
34:15And it's not as simple as that. Blackburn have good players. Blackburn will play in a way that will try and limit Ipswich as well. We're now starting to get to the point, though, that this team is gelling and we're starting to see a more streamlined Ipswich and Ipswich that Kieran McKenna wants and expects to see over time. it won't be perfect immediately but we now need to see oh hang on this attack is worth x amount of million this defense is worth x amount of million there has to be a clear kind of gap in my mind and um hopefully with that it should be able to get this one done in a slightly easier way than the last time they went up to to ewood park but i'd be absolutely delighted with the
34:58Stuart Watson:same again to be honest talk of kind of doing things more comfortably makes me slightly uncomfortable if I'm honest because you know it's easy to start feeling that way after a 5-0 win but there are going to be a lot of occasions in this championship season especially away from home long trips where they're going to have to roll their sleeves up and bite down and grind out a 1-0 or even 0-0s. I want to see some clean sheets. I think conceded some really poor goals in those opening few games, but in general, I thought, you know, limited the opposition to few chances. And if you said, do you want to see them improve upon the attacking side or the defensive side?
35:42Stuart Watson:I just, I want the defensive side to be consistent now. And that promotion season, the results that stick in our mind are, for example, the 4-3 against Blackburn at home in the early stages of the season and some of those, you know, those topsy-turvy games where Ipswich outscored the opposition. But the ones that really got it over the line, the ones that made Ipswich a team that got promoted automatically were those gritty running towards adversity matches. And maybe this might have to be one of those. Yeah, stay in the game, be defensively solid, and then hopefully that quality, that strength and depth can get you over the line.
36:24Ross Halls:Well, that brings us then, boys, to predictions. I'm going to say stop the count because I'm currently leading the way in the leaderboard with five points. Hefe's on four. AJ and Stu are reporters on the ground, a third and fourth. Come on, boys, all out.
36:40Stuart Watson:I think there needs to be a, never mind stop the count, a recount because I think you drew up some new rules at the start of this season about the point scoring system and then promptly got it wrong after the opening weekend in terms of assigning points for first goal scorers. So I don't even know if you've managed to update that or if that's indeed correct, Ross. We'll have to go back through the archives.
37:02Ross Halls:Oh, dearie me. Maybe, yeah, redo the count. So who got the first goal scorer right one week? Did you see?
37:11Stuart Watson:I don't know, mate.
37:14Ross Halls:I'll look back but as it stands I'm currently leading so I'll take that right now that could easily change this weekend but your prediction then Stu what are you going for, are you going for a town win and a clean sheet?
37:31Stuart Watson:Yes yes I am I'm going to say I'm going to say 1-0 to Ipswich first goal scorer
37:45Stuart Watson:let's say like you I've got a feeling about George Hurst he seems to always get a little bit of extra motivation he's someone that I think needs to kind of feel slighted in some way gets a little bit of extra out of him a bit like and then I took that personally it's one of those he went to Blackburn that was in the first half of the season before he came to Ipswich on loan in League One and he went to Blackburn in the Championship and didn't get many minutes, was kind of mainly used as a sub, wasn't he? So I think he'd go there with a little bit of extra. And he knows that he's got Azon breathing down his neck now.
38:25Stuart Watson:And he's also off the back of scoring, albeit a scruffy goal, his first open play goal of the season. Was so close to getting a second with that tight offside. So I'll go with George Hurst.
38:34Ross Halls:Did he score, I'm just quickly looking, in the game, in the 4-3, did he score in that game against Blackburn? I think he was getting a bit of, I want to say pelters from the Blackburn away, but I know there was a few little boos or little things. Do you want to have a quick look? He did. He scored the, so that game's Sigurdsson put Blackburn one, sorry, it was 1-1 at that point. Harry Clark scored the opener, then Broadhead 2-1, then Hurst 3-1 and a Clark home goal for 3-2, Spoddix 3-3 and Luongo to win it with that famous strike. Yeah, because I think I remember first actually celebrating in front of the Blackburn fans, I think he went that way so yeah, he's got one over them already at Portman Road
39:20Stuart Watson:He would have been injured, wouldn't he for the return game to Ewood Park because he'd done his knee on Boxing Day by that point, hadn't he? So, first time back at Ewood Park since his loan spell I think it's only Leif Davis that remains from that team if my memory serves me correctly, that was when Leif Davis was quite badly ill with the flu and I think he got an assist. That was his record-breaking assist that day in that Blackburn game and had to come off in the second half and Kieran McKenna sort of talked afterwards about how he was struggling to breathe at times on that pitch. That really sort of typified the spirit and the togetherness and that fighting mentality of that team to really sort of push themselves, didn't it, that day?
40:01Ross Halls:Running towards adversity in all that jazz as well and the club's matcher so yeah so 1-0 from Stuart Watson 1-0 with George Hurst scoring the goal I want to go 2-1 George Hurst first goal scorer I think Town will go 2-0 up but it won't be easy and Blackburn will pull one back it'll be a tight just like us just going please don't equalise Blackburn but they'll go on to win 2-1 to make it back-to-back wins AJ your prediction my friend going 2-0 had 2-0 in my minds all week. Essentially, I've got a formula in my head of how this is going to go, but picking out the individuals is quite difficult, where I think one of the front four will score.
40:42It will be one of those games where Town are going to have to try and manage Blackburn, then across that after taking the lead early-ish in the first half. Blackburn run their socks off, get a bit knackered, on come the super subs, and one of those comes on to find a bit of space and kill off the game. contrary to what I told Stu in the car my first goal scorer is going to be Jadon Villagin, I'm going to stick with it because hey, he scored three last time out and I like the idea of him running quite an inexperienced young right back in Ryan Alebiosu there you go, nailed it and I think that will work quite well just finding a few gaps there and then I'm going to go and I know I said I'd say Sindra, so it's come off the bench to wrap it up.
41:28But I'm feeling a bit of Ivan Azon, you know. Now, this is sat here right now, him off the bench, bullet header, wraps it up 2-0. But yeah, 2-0 win with Jadon Filagene to score the first goal.
41:40Ross Halls:Oh, so three points across the board for us three. Stu, any other business as we prepare for our trip to Lancashire?
41:50Stuart Watson:Yeah, there's a few key battles in there that jump off the page. We've talked about Todd Cantwell. He's an unlikely captain, really, for them. He's not the sort of shouty leader type, but by all accounts, he's really sort of flourished with the responsibility of the armband. It's taken his game to new levels, couple of goals this season. So I think Azor Matasiwa has a really big job sort of swamping him, snuffing out his threat, stopping him getting into spaces. Hopefully he can do that because he was outstanding against Sheffield United. and then that sort of Ipswich left v Blackburn's right I think is quite an important part of this game Alex just mentioned Alibi Ossou speaking to one of the Blackburn reporters this week he's probably been the pick of their summer signings thus far from what they've said so yeah him and the Japanese winger Morishita who scored his first goal in the Watford win last weekend up against Leif Davis and Jadon Filagene who dovetailed quite nicely I think that's quite an interesting battle, that one.
42:53Stuart Watson:Could be definitive.
42:56Ross Halls:One day, Tal, come on. Sign a Japanese player. It'll just be fun. You've got all that Japanese.
43:01Stuart Watson:Half the championship seem to have a player from Japan or Asia at the moment. That seems to be a market that they're all working in.
43:09Ross Halls:Yeah, very much so. They're not too bad as well. They're not rubbish. They're actually pretty good, these Japanese players. It's going to be interesting to see them in action. AJ, anything from you? We found out there's not going to be sandwiches anymore at Blackburn. There's actually food for us media. That could be part of your rating. Blackburn may move up the leaderboard. They might because they were very low down on that bit that I did in the championship season, which was actually an article. We actually wrote an article for that. I hope they'll be a little bit higher up. Just a little quick news roundup bit.
43:47I like the international break story. I don't think we've spoken about that on the pod. Are they going to merge the international breaks from next year? We're going to have September and October into one. God, that's going to annoy people. We're going to have a three-week break from league action, whatever division Ipswich are in next season. Well, unless they get relegated, but I don't think that's going to happen. Premier League or Champions... Don't make that face. Premier League and Championship, three-week international break, end of September through to October. Plug a few little bits. I've mentioned the profile.
44:19We've got some press conference stuff up from yesterday. We've got the, Stu's done the ACPOM bit, talking about the Ajax bomb squad being in the hotels and kind of sneaking around when everything was kind of trying to be hidden ahead of his move to Ipswich with all the Birmingham stuff up in the air. You've had a look at the strikers to play for Ipswich and Blackburn as well. That one's live. I think it's worth mentioning before the outro as well. We've got an offer on at the moment. Another one. £5 for five months. takes you through to the January transfer window roughly. Again, good opportunity if you're not signed up to kind of get a taste of what we're doing, all of the content that we provide.
44:58And yeah, go onto the website and you can have easy access to get signed up for five pounds for five months.
45:06Ross Halls:Yeah, get involved, ladies and gentlemen. And there's competitions as well. There's always competitions we bring you as well. So get involved in that. But yeah, Stu, chance now to plug the sponsors. Stardust Spirit. Use the code K-A-W-A to get 20 % off on your next order. And... No, not going to play. Wasn't I playing?
45:28Stuart Watson:Give it a try, mate. Molecular.
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46:08Stuart Watson:Could make a little Christmas gift, couldn't it? Just a little stocking filler for someone. quite a good dad present maybe for some of the younger listeners that are not quite sure what to get your dad and also yeah some cleaning products
46:25Ross Halls:for your car but yeah we've got some good codes and yeah two local separate companies supporting the podcast so check them out and yeah boys thanks for joining me as standard heapy I think will be back in the hot seat next week after he's holly bobs as Stu loves in Spain no no no I won't do that again he's gone he's gone he's gone but no thanks for listening ladies gentlemen enjoy the game if you're going safe travels if not follow Game of Us we'll be there me Stuart and AJ bring you our normal stick and yeah follow us on all our socials Kings of Anglia and we'll speak to you next time bye for now
47:15Thank you.
47:47Let's go.
48:16Thank you.
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From the publisher
The boys start by debating the new proposition to extend the play-off places in the Championship. Is it the right move, or is it too much?
Then it’s onto the big match at Ewood Park, where Town will aim to earn back-to-back wins after putting Sheffield United to the sword.
There’s also a chat about the other news stories of the week, while Ross continues to struggle with the name of our new sponsor.
Kings of Anglia is sponsored by Stardust Spirits. Get 20% OFF with promo code KOA at https://www.stardustspirits.co.uk/
Introducing our new sponsors at Molecular! Get 10% OFF with promo code KOA10 at https://www.molecular-uk.com/
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