574: Kings of Anglia: A point at Ashton Gate - and now an eye on the big one…

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0:57Hello, everybody. It's me, Roscoe, and welcome to the latest episode of the Kings of Anglia, Itcherstown podcast. We are fresh off our trip from Bristol City. I'm here with Stuart Watson, Alex Jones, and of course, the podcast is sponsored by Stardust Spirits, and I can just about say it these days, Molek Ular. Sort of, yeah? Yeah, I think I've got nods, got a similar approval there from Stuart Watson my friend how are you?

1:24Stuart Watson:I'm fine thank you for introducing me and we're getting there with Molecular. Love that my friend love that um I also went a bit mad for breakfast this morning I just kept going squash um Alex Jones you enjoyed that how are you? I'm good yeah enjoyed it interesting you did that about 10 times my favorite bit was then when we were waiting to meet down in the lobby of the hotel to leave um it was nice and quiet i was just me and the receptionist sat behind the desk and you just came down you looked me dead in the eyes and just went squash and i understood it and i don't think she really did and probably thought there was something wrong with you but it was good fun yeah um i then gave my card to her and said yeah can i check out please um and then yeah that's the only time i'll ever see Yeah, so the only reason why I said squash is basically there was squash at breakfast.

2:16I just went squash. But yeah, we've just got back to our homes after the trip to Brussels City. Salute to all the town fans listening who would have done it, I'm sure, in the day. And they got home in the early hours and were at work. So a big salute to you. But we obviously had work after the game. We got into our hotels probably at midnight. And then we did some other bits and bobs. And now we're here to bring you a podcast, hopefully in full, where the audio is fine. because we know we had issues on the Monday's pod. I'm going to just clarify, it was not my fault. Okay. I know there's a few people saying, oh, maybe Roscoe didn't save it properly.

2:52No, it's basically the system we use just didn't work properly. So hopefully this will be audio dreamland for you, everybody. Hopefully it will be nice and clear as we break down Towne's latest game, which was a 1-1 draw against Bristol City. Stuart Watson and Alex Jones We're all there To watch it in the flesh Where do you want to start? We're going to hear from Kieran McKenna Alex Palmer as well Maybe actually yeah We're going to hear from Kieran McKenna first of all And then we'll discuss The big talking points So over to you K-Dog

3:27Stuart Watson:Kieran's verdict on that as a point Is it a performance please? Yeah hard fought point I think performance in the game Had different spells to it really I thought we started really well and pose herself in the game with real confidence, real authority. So we're really pleased with that. That was one of our big targets for tonight. Then they've executed really well on a set play. We've got one or two details wrong. And that really came against, I think, the context of the start of the game. And then that changed the whole momentum really in the stadium. And, of course, got them really up. They had a couple of big sort of transition moments after that.

4:08and we battled to get control of the game and break them down but there was always that sort of transition threat throughout the game. I think from that point to work our way back to get the draw, well-worked move for the penalty, a couple of other well-worked moves, I think there's positives to take. The players really stuck at it. Spirit was good, worked hard for it. Certainly could have controlled it a little bit better in the second half in terms of controlling some of the transition moments. but to be fair to them they're very good at that so when you give them that early goal and sort of ignite their team in the stadium then it was always going to be tough so yeah we'll take the positives certainly the goal and the set play is a frustrating one and we need to work really really hard to improve that moment but other than that yeah we made what was going to be a tough night really tough so from that position to get a point I think we have to take it OK then Kieran McKenna on the draw Stu going to go over to you first of all Where do you want to start?

5:08There was obviously a lot of changes, six changes in total. But overall reflection on the point at Ashton Gate?

5:16Stuart Watson:Three words, work in progress. And I know people are going to increasingly get bored and frustrated hearing that. But they are what they are at this moment in time. They're a group of new players collectively finding their feet as a team, as individuals. And you mentioned there are a lot of changes going into this game. A lot of things to work on defensively, offensively, which we'll discuss in greater depth now. But ultimately, they've come away from Bristol City, a side who finished sixth last season, a side who've made a good start this year. I think they'll be up there again. And they've got an away point.

5:59Stuart Watson:And that's not to be sniffed at in the circumstances, I don't think. Yeah, very much so. So, yeah, Bristol City, not a bad team. I got on the playoffs last year, who, of course, got a new manager. He's Austrian, not German, who I keep getting mixed up with. You were impressed by him, Stu, in his post-match, just with some of his phrases. Yeah, it's just a little bit of lost in translation with Gerard Struber. He described the Bristol City goal as the Rob Atkinson creating a tower to score his header. it's kind of the Austrian version of towering header which I liked uh he talked about a player having handshake qualities which I think uh is it must be a an Austrian term which is kind of trustworthy you know he does does what it says on the tin it's probably the Austrian version of Ronsil um so yeah I like I like some of his turns of phrase and he was he was someone that made sure he shook everyone's hand before and after the press conference came across well um and I thought his team played with a bit of character.

7:02Stuart Watson:They were certainly a real threat on the counter-attack. We knew that he talked about stressful diagonal football, and we certainly saw that in operation last night, didn't we? They were lightning on the counter-attack and caused a few headaches. So I do think that they're a good side. They're a settled side, and I think they'll be up there. So for Ipswich to have done what they did last night, not only get a point but have long periods of dominance in the game, okay. Didn't do enough with that dominance, but I'm still glass half full with the way things are going and also with last night. Yeah, very much so.

7:41AJ, should we talk about the changes? Because we know it's going to be a potential rotation because of the Saturday, Tuesday, Sunday with the derby in mind. But six, are you expecting as many as them? And A few, obviously, first four league debuts for some players? Definitely was not expecting six. I was kind of probably in the camp of maybe four. It was a weird one because I think for me, when I looked at the changes that I would have made, I was kind of getting to the territory of saying, there are players that I want to give opportunities to. It was a big thing. And yes, it's important to rotate.

8:19I think there are still players that could have gone again from the start. it's good to give George Hurst a rest and Jaden Filagin a rest and Jens Kjuska a rest. I think that at least two of those probably could have started this game, but it's also about giving opportunities out as much as it is about resting. And you've got players like Ivan Azon, who made his full debut, who's impressed off the bench in the last few weeks, looked really sharp. You've got others who stepped in. Nunez, of course, is the other full debut within that. Being able to give another start to Jack Clark. Lucky hasn't had one, I don't think, since the end of August, after that little run there.

8:55Tuba Akpom in and out a little bit as well. I think it works. I like the idea of having a settled back line, which is something that the Ipswich, I think, need. Having Davis Greaves, O'Shea and Furlong, that has been what Kieran McKenna has wanted, really, from the start, from his back line, and then being able to tweak what was ahead of him. So it's giving players opportunities. It's obviously resting others. Then it's about finding the right balance. You want to give these guys the chance to impress and to shine. But when you make a lot of changes, it then means that you can end up being a little bit disjointed.

9:28There can be a little bit of, well, things that are lost in translation between certain players because they've not played very many competitive minutes. It's a front four that probably in spells has only played maybe 20 minutes at a time together in certain parts of that team, especially in attack. So that was kind of the balance that Ipswich had to find. Are these players ready to step up and start championship games and impact games, but also respect that this is not an easy situation for them to all come into at the same time?

9:59Stuart Watson:Kieran McKenna's reasoning afterwards was I asked him about six changes and he almost sort of had to stop and think about it and go, yeah, it was six, wasn't it? But he said six sounds worse than it was because it's really only three changes from the unchanged lineups we saw from Sheffield United through to Blackburn and that it was part rotation ahead of the Portsmouth game and this was really edging back towards the teams that were starting to get settled before then. So I can see the logic there. Greaves back in for Kipre. Kipre was pretty solid and assured against Portsmouth, but I think it's right, as Alex says, that some consistency is built across that.

10:44Stuart Watson:Backline certainly in the central defensive unit. Don't think it was any great surprise to see Jens Kuyusta rested in the middle of a busy schedule, given his lack of pre-season and the knee injury that he's managing. important to get Marcelino Nunez up to speed at some point then it was like did the entire front four need to change but then you go through it one by one and I thought Casey McAteer's pace should have been suited to this sort of game as a sort of a counter-attacking type of match Akpom is probably going to be someone that plays a lot of games this season has obviously been brought in to be a key man and started a couple of games before Portsmouth of Hurst, although he'd scored a couple of goals, by his own admittance, hadn't been in top form with his overall game and a few things bouncing off him in his link play not being there.

11:38Stuart Watson:So there's certainly some logic behind mixing that up going into this game. Probably the biggest talking point was dropping Jadon Filagene, a man who's in form and scoring goals. But can you have any real... Jack Clark has been really pushing off the bench, as we've said as well so um there's logic behind probably all of the decisions um it's a very fine balancing act that kieran mckenna faces now he's built this squad with such depth and especially at a time now where there's no no real injuries on one hand he wants to get everybody up to speed he wants to keep everybody feeling happy and motivated and never far away from being on that football pitch but the thing that really i think held them back in the premier league last year was never being able to get a consistent team out, never being able to build any sort of chemistry or partnerships or relationships.

12:31Stuart Watson:And I don't want them to sort of slip into that this season. We're kind of in the search of keeping everybody happy, you're constant chopping and changing and you don't get a settled team. So that's the art of management. And that's what Kieran McKenna faces at the moment. But hopefully some of those players, not just from last night, but from Saturday as well are going to be that little step closer to being fully fit and firing because I think there's a few that are still working their way up to that at the moment. Yeah, very much so. And, yeah, that's the key of the success that each of us had prior.

13:04You know, it was a settled team. You sort of knew everyone was going to be playing. You know, there's a few changes because of injuries or suspension. But at the moment, yeah, there's probably only the back four. That is the only thing that's settled at the moment. But, yeah, four changes for the front four was very interesting indeed. Shall we talk about the first half, boys? Because it wasn't a great half of town, despite having most of the domination. It felt like we were the home team and Bristol City were the eight-way team, which sort of helped Bristol City a little bit. They got their goal.

13:33But yeah, AJ, bring you in. Your sort of reflection on the first half, because yeah, we had all the possession, but yeah, it was Bristol City who got the opener. I really liked the first 15 minutes from Ipswich. I thought they started it really well. and I didn't see a way that Bristol City were going to claw their way back in. And I thought, especially the way that Ipswich were building, and around the quarter of our mark, I felt that they were really starting to grow into the game. I thought, you know what, get the goal. And I think they're really going to struggle to come back into this because it's a Bristol City side that were playing a 3-4-2-1.

14:09It's their natural shape, but they're missing Jason Knight, who is their ever-present man in midfield. He's there every single game. he's literally, I don't think he's missed a I think he's featured in every competitive game that he's played sorry, that Bristol City have played since signing for them in the summer of 2023 that then meant that there was a bit of a restructure and you see Viner coming into midfield, not only is it a 3-4-2-1 but your right side at centre mid is a natural centre back, so I was thinking at that point, get the goal and if you're forcing Bristol City to come up that shell after that, it might be quite difficult for them, especially the way that Ipswich were playing.

14:49It didn't feel at that point like it was too many sideways passes. It felt like they knew what they were doing. They were pulling people out of positions. They were creating space ahead of them. There were some early sites of goal where they just weren't able to pull the trigger. Jack Clark had a good one. There was some good combination down the right, which allowed Furlong to cross just in front of Azon. So bits that I liked there. And then, I mean, yeah, Bristol City, I wrote in my tweet, in that first 15 minutes had the penetration of a wet sponge thrown at a wall, which is really what it felt like.

15:22They just offered nothing. And then the one chance kind of bobbles behind. I think it might have come off furlong off the top of my head. Goes behind. It's a corner. And that's where Bristol City score. And it's not one that Ipswich get horribly wrong from the replays, but it is one where they should be doing a little bit better with just a bit of positioning. The ball kind of scuffs just over the head of Furlong, which I don't think was really expected. And then it's Atkinson with his... What was the phrase again that Struve used? I really like that.

15:54Stuart Watson:He built a tower. Ah, yes. That was it. Atkinson then built his tower in between Greaves and... I can't remember off-top of him, but essentially in the middle of the box is a corner delivered by Mimetti. Brilliant player, by the way, who delivers it just kind of right on top of the goalkeeper as well. So it's kind of right in the mixer territory. Difficult for Ipswich to defend. A couple of little bits off. And that's where a team with big, beefy centre-backs like Atkinson and Dickey in there are able to punish you. So go behind. And at that point, you're expecting a reaction from Ipswich. But it goes the other way, really, in terms of the momentum.

16:30Yeah, but Stu, another set-piece goal. Portsmouth last weekend, which was just a consolation in the end, thankfully. but this was obviously an opener for Bristol City. And like many teams, sometimes when you're 1-0 up, I know you're at home, but they could have defended for their lives and just been happy with 1-0.

16:46Stuart Watson:Yeah, certainly something Ipswich have got to look at. I've highlighted it in a recent piece, and I think it's still the case that Ipswich have the second lowest extra against in the entire division. I would say on the whole, they're looking defensively sound, organised. They're not conceding tons of chances in football matches. But if you include the Blackburn game, they've conceded seven goals in seven games. And if you go through them off the top of my head, the Blackburn goal was a bit of a sort of a direct moment. And the ball ended up looping over Palmer off the post, rebound, finish. Preston, long ball.

17:26Stuart Watson:You meant Birmingham, didn't you? But Blackburn was a penalty. Birmingham, sorry. Yeah, Birmingham from the start. Apologies. Southampton then was just a cross from the right and a header, wasn't it? What did we have after Southampton? Preston away. Long ball, Greaves gives away the penalty, getting a bit of a muddle there. Both the Derby goals were, again, moments, direct balls forwards that created issues. So they've all... And then we get on to these last couple of games. And they're both set pieces. Portsmouth comes from a corner where I think it's Kipro probably loses his man looking back at it and this one sometimes I guess if you score that goal it's a great set piece it's good delivery, it's a towering header fair play but Ipswich had enough bodies around the ball to deal with that look back at it, the commentator talks about four Ipswich players in the vicinity and he's right but we're talking a hair's breath, aren't we, if Furlong gets his head on it.

18:32Stuart Watson:It's well defended, but it just creeps over him and he gets between a bunch of players and it's a good header. But McKenna sort of said there's small details that we didn't get right and that is something that they've got to look at. So, yeah, goals change games. Cliche time, but I think especially with Ipswich having a target on their back in this division, when the opposition gets a leg up, gets a goal, it changes things. And the Fipswich had just built their way into that game a little bit longer, got the first goal. They could have passed the ball around to their heart's content and really put some frustration in the home air.

19:10Stuart Watson:Instead, Bristol City go and get the goal. Hometails are up and things became difficult. Yeah, it did. And I always like to ask this question, AJ. How are you feeling then at half-time? Yeah, you knew where I was going with it. Exactly. A great view. You showed me the picture of you guys. You're right up in the gods at Bristol City. But yeah, hard time. I'm sure you and Stu have a nice little chinwag as you do, doing your type of types. But yeah, how are you feeling at hard time? One of my favourite press box views, the only annoying bit becomes, it's really good to have the Sabutio style view.

19:46But then if you're looking for specifics and close-ups, you then don't have the screens in front of you, like you would say in the Premier League or now at Portman Road. if they had the screens that might be one of my favorite press box views going um but yeah halftime feeling was a bit frustrated and deflated to be perfectly honest because i just thought that ipswich had got themselves into this really strong position in the first 15 then at halftime i thought they were a little bit fortunate not to be 2-0 down the one thing that stood out in my mind was I kind of already at halftime was thinking there's things that aren't really working here and I don't think that time at least in kind of the short term of that match was going to fix things and you were suddenly going to see a big change and already I kind of had one eye on look at the talent on the bench Aghelli, Hurst, Villagene, Smoddix being able to come on those might be your impact players to get something from this but what I saw from the first half didn't exactly put me in a strong position to say I feel good going into the second half but to be fair having really kind of huffed and puffed towards the end of it and got nowhere with it and had to soak up some real pressure especially on the counter Townsley start the second half better

21:04Stuart Watson:Bristol City's game plan was exactly what you said Ross almost to play as the away side at home they are a counter-attacking side and they're very good at it but that's not always going to go down well with a home support that expect you to have the ball and be on the front foot. And they were allowing Ipswich to have loads of the ball. And the longer that game had gone on 1-0, even if Ipswich had got a goal, I don't know if that would go down particularly well with home supporters. But once they'd managed to get that goal, probably a little bit against the runner play, that changed everything because then people are accepting of the fact that they could then sit into, you know, they're playing with wing backs.

21:40Stuart Watson:They dropped into a back five, 5-4-1. At times, it was even more across that back five. And they went to Ipswich. Go on then. What answers have you got? They let them have the ball. They let Ipswich have the ball just over halfway. Loads of possession, but Ipswich didn't really have any answers to it. It moved the ball far too slow. Maybe some of that is the lack of chemistry that we've talked about so far. but they were looking short of ideas and they were looking vulnerable to that rapid counter-attack as well. Bristol City were patient. They bided their time. And then when they nicked the ball, they countered at pace.

22:17And they've got a really good front three.

22:20Stuart Watson:I think Bristol City are the second highest goal scorers in the league at the moment in Mometi, in Scott Twine, in Emil Rees up top. They've got pace. They've got trickery. They've got shooting ability. and they caused Ipswich some real headaches. So I guess that's a positive to take from this game that Ipswich limited one of the most dangerous attacking sides in the league to that one goal from a set piece. But there were some nervy moments and as Alex says, it could have been 2-0 at the break. McCrory had a good-headed chance that he put straight at Palmer and yeah, Alex and I sort of looked at each other and said, work to do in this second half.

23:01Stuart Watson:where's the spark going to come from? How early is Kieran McKenna going to turn to his bench? Yeah, but there was an early leveller. That's how you say it, Ross. It was a penalty, AJ, which, yeah, I will admit, I don't know if we would have been able to find a guy. I think Bristol City were just going to be that stubborn. I don't think we were going to be able to score an open play, but thankfully we got the penalty. Jack Clark obviously stepped up, but was it a penalty in your eyes? I think the first thing it would have been interesting if Ipswich hadn't had that penalty what would have happened would Bristol City have been able to have sat in and defended and struck on the counter for the entire 90 minutes yeah I mean it's possible but it can also be exhausting and Preston for example had the energy of a million men they were right up for that they really were kind of I think sensed a bit of a I guess you could say giant killing they really were up for it.

23:59Would Bristol City have been able to do the same? We'll never know because Ipswich, of course, do get the penalty and they started the second half similar to how they played the first, which was a little bit frustrating, and the first time they start to play football and kind of carve open and create the chance, that's where they win the penalty. So that was the bit that yeah, they needed. They really kind of needed to have that vast fast, zippy style of play that they lacked a little bit in those first bits, when Bristol City were actually really good at those, and they were the team that were able to just kind of zip the ball around really quickly, really accurately.

24:39It comes down to the left, it's Davis, it's Clark, and then it's through to Atpom, tripped in the box, and your next question, is it a penalty? Again, I've not been able to see a proper replay of this, but the one that we saw with the screens in the stadium, the little screen in front of us, made it look like there wasn't much in that one to be perfectly honest but Gerhard Struber said it was a penalty I believe Kieran McKenna was probably going to be in agreement and at first view from where we were obviously a long old way up in the ground it looked stonewall, looked clear as day you can see different angles and slow it down into different bits if I'd seen that at full speed and I was a referee I would have probably given that as a penalty I think should McCrory have seen red he was on the yellow from the first half that's the only other debate i'm not sure exactly what the rule would be there with it being a penalty um but yeah two sides of that one is a penalty and uh jack clark does the business and i know you mentioned stew in your video verdict with aj after the game check that out if you haven't already available for our subscribers but uh yeah i think you've got a bit of flack saying uh what side are you on stew because uh yeah you felt it was a bit soft.

25:50Stuart Watson:Yeah, like Alex in real time at full speed, which I always think is the best indicator to go on instinct. Stonewall looked like he just ran across his heels. Then a few minutes later, I don't know if it was someone in the media team or an analyst at Bristol City, they were a good three rows down in front of us and it was on a fairly small laptop screen that was on a kind of minimised part of the screen as well but they were chopping up the footage and the slowed down footage and Akpom goes past McCrory and there's probably a good half a yard of space before then the sort of the you know his legs collapse and he goes down and you start to think maybe maybe it was a dive maybe it's one he bought and that's why I put some tweets out saying sort of very dubious penalty based on based on that I then got a load of responses saying what you want about it was a penalty then I hear the Bristol City manager say I've got no problems with it then I've watched it back a few more times and I think the defender's reaction says a lot I think that you know it was the very guilty kind of both hands up but certainly wasn't you know, incensed with the referee about it.