586: Kings of Anglia: Toothless against the Dragons

26:23Last 15 minutes of the game didn't really work out that much for him, but you could see the spark and the energy and the creativity that he brought, the way that he picks out little pockets in central areas. He looks up. He's always picking the right pass. He's always finding the runners. He's always able to see those little bits of space, the gaps to thread players in and create things. and that is what Ipswich are sorely missing in the team without him. So, yeah, that's the problem for me. There's reliance on wide players who want to come in and shoot a lot and that means that you're looking at Azon, for example, who played 65 minutes and let's see how many touches the ball he had.

27:05He had 22 touches, one touch in the opposition box in this game. He was starved of service, so you need a player behind who's going to pull the strings and create. And at the moment, Akpom isn't able to do that. He isn't, let's be honest here, it's not just down to a system thing. He isn't performing well enough at the moment. But I think that stylistically with him and with Smoddix, there are some real issues in terms of how they fit into this team in that number 10 role. And yeah, they need a creator to play in that position to get the best out of the other attacking players around them. Rossi, you've unmuted yourself.

27:42So do you have something to say on this?

27:44Ross Halls:Yeah, there is one man who recently spoke in a pre-press conference saying, this is a position you want to be playing in the future, the number 10 role. And that is Sindre Wally Igelli. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about, the Norwegian man. He sort of said that that's the position he wants to be playing in the future. And I think, why not give it a go? But then it's like the right wing, Casey McIntyre, bless him. He's struggling. Had a big chance, didn't he, in the second half. Obviously, Wes Burns has come back, but he won't be chucking in him straight away. So, yeah, but I would like to see Sindre in the number 10 at some point.

28:27The balance just still feels a little bit off in a way, doesn't it? Just trying to find it. And I'll always go back to that press conference that we had with Kieran up at Preston, and we asked about where this team is in terms of making it. That was before Sindra came in, before Azon came in and Nunez came in and he was saying, and Casey McIntyre should be said, and he said, look, the balance of the team isn't right. I think Jack Clark started on the right in that game. And even though you've not got kind of square pegs around holes, you're not playing people at position, it still doesn't feel quite right.

28:59There's still something that isn't working with the balance of the attack. And they have found the answer to that because, look, They've gone away from home and scored eight goals in their last two away trips. It's not like it's some huge issue that's plaguing them week in, week out. But being able to deliver that consistently is a real problem. I'm not sure. I think there's more than one thing behind it. But looking at it from what I saw over the weekend, the big thing that I see is the creativity in midfield. The fact that the wingers, naturally, as they should and have the right to, given the quality that they have, want to get into the box and take people on and shoot.

29:37They're not creators. And that leaves you with this kind of creative void that if Leif Davis isn't delivering, then you're struggling a little bit in that sense. So Davis is a huge part of that. Syndra has kind of both elements to his game, but you can't put that much of a weight on a 19-year-old. And then you're looking at Dara, for example, and his cross-field balls. So they do need to add creativity into the squad. both in the short term in terms of probably getting Marcelino Nunez back in. And I also think looking ahead, that's going to be a big thing for January. We'll be adding a creative element into the squad.

30:15Let me ask you another question about being clinical and not taking chances, AJ, which again is something we've referred to. And it sounds odd talking about this because I think they're still, what, third highest scorers in the division. They have scored a lot of goals this season, yet we're sitting here saying, oh, they haven't got any creativity. Akpom, you've just referenced there, it's not really happened for him.

30:33Mark Heath:And McAteer as well obviously had a huge chance in this game. Could have won the game late on, probably should have won the game late on, should have at least hit the target. What do you do with those two then? You say Akpom doesn't work in the 10, even though that's where he had his success at Middlesbrough. So do you think they should be looking at playing him further forward as the striker? And McAteer, you could argue, on paper, is the most Wes Burns-like player to play that role, but it's just not happened for him. You know, lack of confidence, whatever. He's talked about how tough he's found it, you know, coming down here on his own, leaving the only club he's ever played for, all that sort of stuff.

31:05Mark Heath:Does he just need more game time? That seems counterintuitive, a guy who's not performing. You say, well, play him some more. Let's see what he does. Yeah, a couple of ways. I mean, the first point I want to say in terms of the goal scoring, things like that, I feel that Ipswich quite often are a team that in their current guise rely on a moment of real individual quality to get them up and running. And then they're 1-0 up, then the game opens up. look at the last game they had Jack Clark who scored from 20 odd yards against Swansea and then the game opened up look how many times we've seen Jaden Philogene score from 20 odd yards and then the game opens up and it feels like when you don't have that moment of magic and real individual quality that Ipswich as a unit don't have the the creativity to do it so yeah that's kind of the first point in terms of the other two um McAteer I think is the easier one of the two because he's younger, because he's more inexperienced, and because I do genuinely think the answer is just patience.

32:03There's enough in not necessarily what we've seen for Ipswich, but enough from what we know about him physically, from what we know about him from his time at Leicester, for playing for Ireland, for example. There is quality there, and you have to, I think, with him back the coaching of Kieran McKenna to get the best out of him. And he needs his confidence rebuilt because I think he's had a pretty torrid time. He's come in to a totally different club. The first time he's moved away from his boyhood club permanently. He's 24 at the moment. He's having very limited game time. There are a lot of times where he's an unused substitute.

32:40That's going to be demoralizing. Then comes into a huge international break for Ireland, and he's left out of the squad for what's been one of their biggest couple of games that they've had in their recent history. So I think his confidence would probably be on the floor, and that's where I'd look at Kieran McKenna to start building that up again. So with him, I think patience is the thing and also the fact they pay a hell of a lot of money for him means that you have to give him that time and patience to make sure that you get what you've paid for. With Tuba Rakpom, it's harder and to be honest, I don't know.

33:14It feels quite brutal and conclusive saying it like this, but when he signed in the summer, I wasn't quite sure about it, to be honest. Then we spoke about a couple of concerns we had around that one. it's not working in the 10. I don't think it will work as the striker. Where does he fit in? I'm not quite sure. The performances aren't good enough and it doesn't feel like he fits the team. And that's difficult when you've got a player who, if Ipswich Cup this season, will be a permanent Ipswich Town player for£7 or£8 million. I can't remember off the top of my head. So that's one I'm not too sure.

33:43Again, this is someone I think Kieran McKenna was keen to sign. It's on him to find that answer out. To be perfectly honest, I'm really not too sure with Tuba Rackpom. could there be more minutes in the number nine role? I don't know. Is it a case of doing the same with McAteer, put him in the 10 and ride out and hope that he gets one goal and all of a sudden everything starts to flow? It's totally possible. But I'm not 100 % sure what the answer will be with Schuber. I want to ask you both one more question before we move on and hear a bit more from Leif about his contract and his moustache. Cherry Hunt, one of our columnists, has written a piece this morning saying, yes, there are positives to take.

34:23But he still has a number of gripes with Kieran McKenna, one of which is rotation, which we talked about a lot. The other one he says, why is it not possible in terms of the kind of predictability of substitutions? Why is it not possible for Hurst and Nizam to play together up top?

34:37Mark Heath:The old just play 4-4 effing two solution, which tends to be, and I don't mean to stereotype people by age, tends to be something that the older generation of football fans call for in terms of unlocking the door when you're looking for goals. So, Rossi, can you see any reason why they can't do it? I mean, I'll ask AJ as a kind of, I guess, more considered football analysis. But for you sitting on the sideline who watches a lot of football, is that something you'd like to see?

35:05Ross Halls:Yeah, don't get me started with XG, bloody hell. Yeah, I don't know. It is a sort of modern day thing, isn't it, with managers? So I just don't want to play too up top. Definitely when you're chasing a game, you just want to get a goal. that is for me that's me just made the simple football brain that I have just bring on more forwards because they'll help you you know attack the goal um and I don't know if we've seen it yeah we Hurston I think Hurston has on maybe they've been once or twice this season maybe AJ would be better than me to to remember that but I know it's definitely happened this season I know there's been a time where Hurston and Azon has been on the pitch because I think I've got a picture of them together.

35:47Ross Halls:But yeah, I don't know. McKenna doesn't... He can be a little bit predictable, his subs. It's just like, like for like. And yeah, he's Hurst on for Azon, Clark on for Philogene, and then, yeah, Q Stay on for Taylor. And it's just sort of like, oh, I'm sure Wrexham already got that noted down before the game. Like, yep, they're going to probably bring them on. So we're going to target that player then, this player then. But yeah, I don't know. At home as well, just bring on another striker. you know, excite the fans and you never know what will happen. But yeah, it's just that modern day of football.

36:22Ross Halls:Like, yeah, they don't want to go to play two up top. It's 4-4-2. No, they did that back in the 90s. The dinosaurs and all that. But yeah, for me, give it a go. AJ, run your analysis on this then. Why can't they just play two up top? What's the reason? Well, we've seen more of it in the Championship. There are more teams that are doing it. Coventry have done it recently. Mill will play sometimes with that sometimes with a bit of a second striker there are other teams who use that system and we're seeing it more, the 4-4-2 the problems with it essentially there's two bits I see one, it leaves yourself more open and vulnerable simply because you're taking the player who are playing a deeper role you shrug Ross but then you're in a position where you're struck on the counter you're playing a more open 4-4-2 especially when Ipswich's two midfielders do quite often play quite far apart and that can leave the back four exposed you're losing a man out of midfield who would be tracking back and then you lose one nil to rexham and we're talking about no positives at all from the game because they've lost to rexham so there's that side of things the other thing is that adding another striker doesn't always mean goals if i play if we play the team with 10 strikers they're not going to score loads of goals because they don't have anyone to pass them you need someone there again and i'm coming back to the creativity point you need the biggest thing for me is having someone that plays the ball into the right areas.

37:43They only had that a couple of times in this game, but not enough. It wasn't necessarily about having someone in the box to put it in the net. This was about getting it into the right areas, and for all the dominance that they had, for the 63 % possession, for all the time they spent in the opposition box, they didn't do enough for Asom. And if you put Hurst in the box as well, you're not doing enough for Hurst or for Asom. So, yeah, look, it's certainly something you could consider playing that. If you balance out the risks and the rewards to the two things, but I'm not certain it would result in an improvement because, as I say, the finishing I don't think necessarily is the problem.

38:19If you're going to play a system like that, if you're going to play a 4-2-3-1, if you're going to play a 4-3-3, a 3-5-2, whatever, it's about making sure that whoever's leading the line has opportunities to actually touch the ball. Poor even Aslan played 65 minutes. I said, one touch in the opposition's box. They didn't get the ball to him. Is adding George Hurst to that team going to do the same, or do they just get cut off in the final third and they end up touching the ball once each that's the problem for me so yeah creativity is the name of the game creativity right then speaking of creativity someone who is a proven creator is Leif Davis um who signed a new deal last week um I only just agreed a new one not long ago he's now signed another one which is good business from the club you'd have to say um so you boys in the media pack got to speak to him after the game about it.

39:09So let's hear from Leif and what he said about signing this new deal. I was delighted to sign it. I've said a lot of times, I love this club. I'm so committed to being here. When Mark obviously spoke to his about, it was a no-brainer, really. I was really fully committed with my future here. Now it's done, I can just focus on my football for the rest of the season as well. You only signed one a year ago. What were those conversations like with Mark Ashton, the manager, in terms of why this was the right thing for you to sign another one now? The offer was on the table, so there was no reason for us to leave anyway.

39:47There's no reason for us to switch up, to go anywhere else. I'm happy here. I've told Mark at the start of the season when there was interest around the rumours that were going around. I said, I'm fully committed to being here and my full aims are to get this team back to the Premier League. and that's what I want to do. Yeah, the offer is the contract and that's how I couldn't turn it down. So yeah, I was delighted when that happened. AJ, you're chuckling away there. Were you aware that there was some heavy artillery just being moved around just behind you, like some tanks rolling through? The mixed zone is a busy place after a game.

40:25I didn't really notice it. When I listened back to it, to do the transcription for what went up over the weekend, go read the chat with Lee Davis, I didn't really hear it as much but listening to it there it did sound a little a little bit like I was in a wind tunnel that wasn't great but it's good business that might not have been great in terms of audio but it's great that he's signed another new because he's clearly one of town's major assets and he's fully committed to the project here at Ipswich he is and I've said this I think before with Leaf where you can hear players say I'm committed to the project.

41:03The way he talks about Ipswich, you believe it. And the amount of times that we've asked him about it, because he's been linked to half the Premier League at this point, Forest most recently, West Ham, probably Newcastle. There's a handful of clubs he's been linked to in the past. And we've had to come up and say, look, where are you at the moment? He's always been 100 % committed. There's not been any kind of half-heartedness. There's not been any kind of airy-fairy language. he's very much kind of wedded to this project and given where he is in his career 25 i think off my head last time he was at this level bagged copious amounts of assists um is quite a high profile in the division he could easily say look you know what this is now time for me to play in the premier league but he's got his head screwed on he spoke a lot quite openly about um how his confidence was knocked in the premier league and he wasn't ready for it and he needs to go back to the championship and that takes some maturity to do i think um and it also takes some maturity to kind of i suppose repay the faith as well that ipswich have shown in him because he came in from leeds having um not really had that many opportunities to play regular football in his career at all has that million pound move into league one and and now has developed into such are well-rounded, especially attacking left-backs.

42:23So he deserves huge credit for what he's done and deserves huge credit for the way that he's committed to this football club. And obviously from an Ipswich perspective, it's brilliant if we keep signing Leif Davis onto new contracts every single year. It's up the year. Last year, he signed in October. He signed a deal until the summer of 2028. Now November this year, he signed until the summer of 2029. Yeah, let's just keep that one going and he'll be here for a long time. the other thing that Leif Davies is committed to is his new upper lip warmer Ross him and Dara O'Shea are doing Movember we've also seen some pictures of Dara from the weekend with that that moustache as our most notable facial hair wearer what's your take on the look have you ever been tempted to do Movember before we hear from Leif as to why he's doing it

43:15Ross Halls:no unfortunately not I know it's for a very good cause but I would just look stupid I know in a way that's kind of the idea isn't it I think I think Lee's mentioned he's got more ginger than he was hoping it was going to be but yeah like some people it actually suits him a little bit I know there's some of the KOA army doing it good old Ben Diaf was donning it when I saw him in the week Kieran Newsbury good old K-Dog from Wales he's donning it as well and I think there's a few others Tom Baines, Baines he's done it a few times as well and he suits it as well but yeah I know it's for a great cause but yeah, I don't know.

43:50Ross Halls:Maybe one year, maybe we could do a Roscoe sort of journey with the moustache. But that means I have to shave off everything else, don't I? So I don't really shave off the side bits.

44:01Mark Heath:So, I don't know. The thing is, you have a good beard. You have some good growth there. I mean, you could have a really top-tier wing commander style tash. I think it would be worth considering. And don't mention Ben Diath to me. Obviously, I'm still bitter about that. Shall we hear from Leif about why he's doing Movember? Let's do it. November, you're growing it out. There's a bit of a ginger in there. Talk to me about that and who you're doing it with. Yeah, so it was, I think we were sitting on the coach in an away game and we seen it coming up on, I think it was just before November hit. And me and Dara just looked at each other on the coach because I sat next to Dara and I was just like, let's do it.

44:40Like, we might as well in my talking through what I want to go for, go handle boards or just the tash and all that kind of stuff. I was just like, yeah, let's just do the task. It's probably the worst one out of everyone. So, yeah, just me and Dara. But like I say, it's all for a good cause. Something close to my heart as well that I lost a good friend with, taking his own life on back home years ago when I was at Bournemouth. So, yeah, like it was a thing that I was fully committed to doing. And I know it doesn't look good, like, but it's for a good cause. and hopefully we raise the target that we get and we do everything we can to keep pushing with the mental health stuff and not just for men but women as well.

45:23I think we've got to do everything we can to make and be there for each other. Well said, Leif. Obviously, a great cause. It does make you look like an extra from Bread, which you boys have probably never heard of or seen, but that was a look back in the day at that particular sitcom. anything else to mention from this game boys before we move on to Hull because Hull on paper looks like it could be more exciting than than this one again I don't probably want to talk about this game again I think we should very quickly draw a line through it and move on all right let's do it oh yeah here we go come on let's go Ross got one little little stat here

46:00Ross Halls:um obviously shout out to uh renegade stat man the itchwich town stat man um he mentioned about Christian Walton because of course we got a clean sheet which is happy days. He got his 41st ever clean sheet for town and moves him up to joint ninth in history with Bartosz Bielkowski who was a regular goalkeeper. So just a nice little stat that maybe went under the radar a little bit with Christian Walton. 41 clean sheets in 102 free games, something like that because he recently made his 100th appearance recently. So not bad ratio that. That is a good stat. Dear old Bart of course, excellent keeper in his time at Upswich Town.

46:38Shall we talk about Hull City then, AJ?

46:40Mark Heath:This, on paper, has the makings of being an excellent, exciting game. Clearly, there's history there in terms of exciting games against Hull. On paper, you look at Hull, they're in the play-off spots. They score a lot of goals. Second most in the division behind only high-flying runaway leaders, Coventry. They also concede a lot of goals. I think joint second in the entire division as well, in terms of conceding goals. I note their boss was lamenting how many shots they gave away at the weekend. at QPR. 26 shots QPR had, and that's not even the highest that teams have had against them this season.

47:13Mark Heath:Bristol had 29 earlier in the season. So on paper, this might be the sort of game that town absolutely thrive in. Yeah, you've nailed it. Might as well move on. Hull City are nuts. Hull City are the great entertainers of the championship. When they were leading against QPR over the weekend, they were temporarily third in the table. However, to use previous terminology, They wet the bed and lost that 1-3-2. Having won 3-2 the previous week, 3-2 is quite a popular scoreline. Yeah, it does seem to be. Birmingham by that one. They lost 4-2 at Bristol City. They drew 3-0 at Wrexham in the Cup at the start of the season.

47:503-1 win against Southampton. They are nuts. And it's a bit weird when you actually go through and look at the team. They're missing important players. And the actual squad doesn't feel like it. It's that kind of exciting. Gellhart, who's performing ridiculously well. Hasn't done so previously in his career, really, to be honest. He's on loan from Leeds. Eight goals, two assists. Pip Jadon Filagin, of course, to the Goal of the Month award. Last time out, they had Matt Crooks, who I think has been linked to Ipswich a lot in the past, playing in that number 10 role. Carl Joseph, whose finishing numbers are really poor.

48:25He's got three goals this season. Last time they played out with Ennis Destan up front. They're a little bit crazy in terms of how they approach things in terms of the numbers of goals they concede um at the moment it's leading them kind of on the right side of the margins they feel like a team where maybe you know because you score so many goals you concede so many goals is it sustainable to be around the promotion places i'm not too sure at this point i can see them failing out but hell are they fun to watch um so yeah it's set up as well you look at the goals they've scored 28 this season 25 of those have come from open play so they're a team that want to get it down want to go at you want to turn it into a basketball game wants it to be end to end and on paper that suits ipswich um it feels like could we have a repeat of the last trip up to the mkm stadium that was um a real roller coaster the three all draw the week before promotion was secured it's probably one of the best games of football i've seen um that that three all draw but that is the kind of team that that Hull are and under Yakirovic they're just a little bit mental to be honest.

49:34Do you remember the Matt Crooks saga Ross when he was going to sign he wasn't going to sign he was going to sign he was going to sign and he didn't sign and now he won't actually play tomorrow I think he's suspended so town won't face him tomorrow. Who should play for town Rossi because clearly there's going to be some rotation and there's a couple of players in the town side with history at Hull of course Greaves and Philogene Greaves I'm sure will be very keen on playing and the pass rotation suggests he will come in for this game. Who would you be looking at playing for this one?

50:05Ross Halls:In that sort of chat again, it's like, will we see more rotation? Because I know a lot of fans are like, oh, just stick with one team and do change as if there's suspensions and injuries. But obviously this team away from home, it's been incredible. So do you bring players who have done well on the road? Jack Clark for Philogene. Obviously, we know Philogene is a different player away from home, although I think he's forgot that he played for Hull. Didn't he, AJ, once? He was like, oh yeah, I played for Hull City. He got asked about them winning over the week. I think it might have been last season and Kieran McKenna came up to him and Jacob Greaves and said it was a good win for Hull.

50:46It was when they stayed up at the end of last season and Jacob Greaves obviously knew all about this and it was like a dramatic last day survival and Jadon Philogene was like, what? Hull, we're in a relegation battle? I had no clue about anything that was going on there. So yeah, fair enough.

51:03Ross Halls:Yeah, but yeah, Jack Clark, I'll start him. I think there's an opportunity for him to have fun in this game. Nunez in the 10, just put him in there. It's just not working with Chubo at the moment. He comes out. Sindre on the right. Maybe keep Azon. Start Azon again up top. Greaves going against his former team. Why not? I'm sure he'll love that sort of homecoming. Matt, I see you up and Q stay. My two centre mids, please. And yeah, the rest sort of picks itself, really. So yeah, there's a few changes there, which on the one who gets annoyed about rotation, but for away from home, sometimes it's okay to have a few changes here and there.

51:43Ross Halls:But I think we need changes after Sally's performance. Yeah, I mean, in terms of rotation, there's an ongoing conversation and narrative around this, which is town, AJ. But clearly you would say in this game and they're also then playing at Oxford on Friday. So three games in very quick succession. This would be the game that you would... There's certainly more justification than ever to make changes in.

52:03Mark Heath:And there are players who would obviously maybe be suited to this sort of game. We already talked about Jenske Uster and the fact this is like to be an open game. What kind of changes would you be looking at making? I'd essentially play the team, Ross has just said. The only thing that I would do is I'd have George Hurst in there. I think looking at Hull, John Egan's going to play for them. experienced centre-back who's played in the Premier League regularly. He needs someone to keep him busy. I think George Hurst will do that better than Azon. Azon is such a different striker, isn't he? But what you get with George Hurst is even though he's not getting the goals and maybe his performances aren't what he'd hoped and all of those things, he keeps centre-backs busy.

52:43And if you do that, that was what brings Jack Clark or Jadon Kilajun into the game. That's what brings Sindra Balak-Egley into the game where you're able to essentially keep the two centre-backs occupied, that will open up the space. So I'd start Hurst in this one. I'm sure the hangover, if he had one, has now worn off. And other than that, I think I'd probably be looking at the same team that Ross has picked. I'll run through it. Walton in goal, Furlong, O'Shea, Greaves and Davis along the back line. Matasiwa and Kajusta as the two in midfield. Syndra on the right, Jack Clark on the left and Nunez behind Hurst is what I would do, Ross Nod if we're up for the app yeah there we go there's your team for tomorrow Is that what we're going to see do you reckon I mean clearly Greaves is going to be desperate to play at Hull against his former side that you're really impressed with but do you think we're just going to see Greaves and Keepreay just rotated like game for game going forward If you asked me this a month ago I would have said no I think that there will come a point where it will settle but there's no suggestion to say that's the case at the moment is there I know that but other people aren't that keen on it.

53:51I know that Stu, for example, really hates it, the chopping and changing of it. But as much as I have some issues with it, Ipswich's defensive side has been really good since October 25th and they beat West Brom 1-0. They recovered from their little hiccups from the Borough and Charlton games. And since then, they've kept a couple of clean sheets and it's been zeros and ones, hasn't it, in the defensive sense. The only goals they've conceded were silly ones against QPR and against Watford and a fairly well-taken goal from Swansea to equalise in that game. So the defensive side isn't a problem for me.

54:29If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If it's working and McKenna's happy with it and he wants to chop and change the two centre-backs to give out opportunities, then so be it, as long as it's not going to jeopardise WIPS, which are doing defensively. And at the moment, we've now got five-game evidence for it. It seems to be working okay. Right then, let's do predictions, Rossi, shall we? None of us scored, of course, over the weekend because we all predicted wins. I think none of us, had we sat there and gone nil-nil, I think everyone else would have gone, what? So it's as you were in terms of predictions.

55:01I am, I think, fourth in the table. So just outside the kind of automatic promotion spots. But, you know, as I say, it's just a bit of fun, isn't it? So it doesn't really matter. Give us your prediction for this one, Rossi.

55:16Ross Halls:Oh, it's definitely going to be an entertaining game. We've got three very big away games. I think this is the toughest out of all three of them. So I'll be happy with a point, which some people go, no, Ross, no, we've got to win. We've got to get points on the board. But we know a bit about hole, don't we? So I'm going to go Desmond 2-2. who's going to score for town? First goal scorer will be the boy, yeah, Sindra, finally get a goal. He'll do like a Mario Hutchinson style, score one of those classic sort of, yeah, you know. Cut in, belt it. Yeah, boom, lovely. He'll open the score and he'll score.

56:05Ross Halls:Then we'll score again and hold that east. Well, no, maybe he'll go 2-1 up and we'll go, no! Then we go and score and that equaliser get a very good point to take us to Oxford. so that's guaranteeing that Casey McAteer will start tomorrow AJ what's your prediction? I spoke about 3-2's I'm going to stick with it, I think Ipswich will win the game 3-2, I think it will be goals, goals, goals Gary goals everywhere first goal scorer, I was going to go down the Sindri route because looking at Hull, Ryan Giles Giles? Giles? Ryan Giles is a little bit Leif Davies-y in the way that he bombs up the flank he's got 7 assists so far this season from left back.

56:45And I think that as good as he is going forward, I think he can be exposed on that side. So I think that Ross's shout is good, but I'll mix it up. And I think that actually it'll be Sindre, a little bit like QPR, will get some space down the road and he won't shoot Amari Hutchinson style. He'll cross and he'll cross onto the head of George Hurst, who will open the scoring. So 3-2, 3-2 up such win and Hurst, first goal scorer from a Sindre Valar-Egerly cross. I'm going to go with a win. I'm going to go again, looking at recent scorelines. I'm going to go 4-1. Three straight 4-1 wins away from home.

57:21This is obviously going to be a game where you expect there to be goals. I think in a game like this, town will always back themselves to come out on top. And given that Hull are especially wobbly in terms of conceding goals as well,

57:32Mark Heath:I'm going to go 4-1. And I think the first goal scorer is going to be, I was going to say George Hurst, but I won't say that now. I will say Marcelino Nunes. Why not? we'll go with Nunes. So 4-1 for me, AJ saying 3-2 and Rossi is saying 2-2. We'll find out what Stu thinks and share that. Nailed on 0-0. Now that we've all said this. A really dire 0-0 game. I hope not. So we'll find out from Stu obviously what he thinks and we'll share that ahead of the game tomorrow. Anything else to mention, boys, before we take our leave? We're almost going to hit exactly the golden hour, which would be beautiful and something to celebrate.

58:10Ross Halls:I'm going to say no other business, so we do get that perfect hour. Excellent. AJ, how about from you? I feel like I need to say something to pad it out to the hour. I'm 57. I've got plenty to pad it out, mate. Don't you worry. Right. No further business. You pad it out, Mr Heath. Because I've got lots of reminders. KOA Live 3 at the Baths in Ipswich, Saturday, December 20th.

58:29Mark Heath:Less than a month away now. Hopefully, history will be made when Town win for the first time on the day of a KOA Live show, because they play Sheffield Wednesday that afternoon. Tickets still available. Links all over our social medias. We'd love to see as many of you there as possible. they're good nights um we have uh obviously a lot of chat about town a lot of banter a lot of nonsense ross is probably going to dress up as santa claus uh and then try and duct tape a horse to a lamppost uh as revealed in the last show that's something to look forward to that's worth a 10 pound alone isn't it um so tickets available uh go and get them now please we'd love to see you there uh latest competition money can't buy competition if you're a subscriber and if you're not a subscriber you should be but if you're not there's the best offer on uh of the year at the moment six pound for six months will take you basically to the end of the season or 26 pounds will take you all the way to the end of 2026 and if you sign up now you get the rest of November and all of December thrown in as well so 13 and a half months for 26 quid can't say further than that and that means you can enter as well as get all the content we put out and watch this podcast and read Stewie's verdict and AJ's ratings and that kind of stuff you can also enter exclusive competitions and our latest competition is the most exclusive exclusive competitions because if you win this one friends you can come with us to a game and this is a feedback we got from our subscribers we asked them what competition you would like to be able to enter and this was the one they said come and watch a game with the kings of anglia so that's exactly what we're offering if you win this competition you can come with us on saturday january 31st to watch town against preston you can join us pre-match in the media center have some media scran hopefully by the sound of it dirty mac and cheese is what we want you can review that with ross on game day you can react to the team news with Ross on game day as well.

1:00:08Mark Heath:Then you can come and watch the game with me, Stewie and AJ in the press box, which is quite an experience. The press box obviously has been significantly upgraded since the days of the old championship. You've got your lovely monitors so you can sit there and watch it with us. And then you can attend the post-match presses with Kieran McKenna post-match as well. So really just get an insight into how the boys work during a match day and obviously an experience that not many people get to have. So please do enter that competition. If you're not subscribed, you can just sign up and enter it you have to be a subscriber to enter and then of course the other thing to mention is our wonderful sponsors i've already mentioned the start of the show so let's mention them at the end stardust spirits use the code koa to get 20 off all that excellent stuff at stardust spirits and they've got a new festive pack friends which i'm i'm showing here now one of their sampler packs um which i've yet to crack open because it's not really christmas yet but these are basically festive spiced liqueurs so you've got a festive spice gin liqueur you've got a festive spice and vodka liqueur and you've got a festive spice rum liqueur that's where their new sampler pack for christmas you can see here as well look all the awards they've won gold gold gold in the uh in the world drinks awards multiple award winner stardust spirits happy to have them on board and hopefully gary and the team will be there at caray live um so you can buy your own stardust spirit stuff and hopefully maybe try a couple of things depending on licensing laws we have to check with the venue um but fingers crossed he'll be there and then of course our other sponsor uh the brilliant molecular uk um if you use the code koa10 at molecular-uk.com you can get 10 off all their um car cleaning products which i'm enjoying using at the moment making my car look very nice indeed despite the weather particularly the interior stuff absolutely fantastic um so get involved with them uh a lacing company and it's great to have two local companies supporting the show so please give them your support if you can uh the other thing to mention is five star reviews if you do enjoy the show and hopefully you do if you could just leave there's a five-star review on itunes just helps us lift us visibility wise in the charts and also apparently i've been i've been uh reading helps lift us in the charts as well because the amount of kind of reviews and engagement you get on that um is all part of the algo for uh lifting you in the charts it's not apparently it's not just about downloads and how many how many downloads you get so that helps again uh more people see us and join the koa army well friends i guess we better crack on busy period we've got a preview for hull and various bits to write um so the boys will be traveling up to hold tomorrow if you go into the game well played fair play uh enjoy it enjoy it and if you can't follow it and follow it all with us uh tomorrow night and then we'll be back at some point later on this week to review that game and look ahead to almost immediately another game on friday night at oxford busy busy times exciting times good times hopefully um so we will speak to your friends next time Thank you.

1:03:16Thank you.

1:03:52Thank you.

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